MaryJanice Davidson. Undead and Unwed. 2004.

This is a fun, quirky series about a woman named Betsy Taylor who gets run over by an SUV only to wake up as a vampire. She is more outraged to find that her step-mother put her in the coffin wearing cheap shoes than with the realization that she is a vampire. Betsy finds out that she is Queen of the Vampires and is therefore pledged to Eric Sinclair, a dark and sexy vampire who will be her king. The series follows their relationship, her adventures, the lives of the friends that share her secret and her shoe fetish. Davidson relies on snappy, snarky dialog and outrageous plot twists, it's amusing even if it isn't high art. Entertaining, sexy fluff that will appeal to readers of Charlaine Harris's southern vampire series.

Christine Feehan. Predatory Game. 2008.

The much anticipated sixth book in Christine Feehan’s Ghostwalker series, Predatory Game doesn’t fail to meet expectations. First introduced to Jesse Calhoun, ex-Navy SEAL turned genetically and psychically enhanced Ghostwalker in book two of the series, this book picks up where Mind Game left off. Now wheelchair-bound, Jesse writes songs and runs a radio station. Saber Wynter shows up at his door to reply to a "DJ wanted" ad and Jesse is immediately compelled to hire her and rent her the upstairs of his house. What Jesse doesn’t know is that Saber was once a subject of the same experiments that left him enhanced, but she wasn’t a volunteer. Saber is hiding from her past, never staying in one place too long, but can’t resist Jesse and can’t bring herself to leave the sanctuary she feels in his home and in his presence. But there is also an unknown stalker who is determined to destroy Jesse and break Saber and we follow his descent into madness. Other Ghostwalker books are filled with lots of militaristic action but this book is more suspenseful and psychological as Saber and Jesse’s pasts emerge.

Jeaniene Frost. Halfway to the Grave. 2007.

In this debut book, Frost introduces us to a wonderful new heroine. Catherine (Cat) Crawford loathes vampires with every bone in her body, with due reason. Her mother was raped by a newly-turned vampire 23 years-ago, resulting in Cat, the vampire/human half-breed. Her grandparents think she is an abomination. In an effort to atone for sins that are not hers, she trolls bars and clubs, looking for vampires to slay. One night, she’s captured by Bones, a vampire-slaying vampire. At first, he thinks she is working for the bad guys, but ultimately she convinces him that she has no clue what he is involved in. He agrees to let her live on the condition that she trains under him in vampire slaying. The passion that ignites between Bones and Cat is both fierce and gentle at the same time.

Laurell K. Hamilton. A Lick of Frost. 2007.

Meredith Gentry is an Unseelie princess of the Faerie realm, was raised in the "mortal" world, and lives in both. Because of court intrigue in the faerie realm she has fled to the mortal world. As the book opens, she finds herself and her "guards" accused of a "heinous crime" by the king of the Seelie court - a life or death situation ensues as legal proceedings are begun by the mortal world. Did the crime actually occur? Continued court intrigue, and the desperate need for Meredith to have a child so she may inherit the throne - the best hope for the faerie realm, keeps the story moving.

Lori Handeland. Blue Moon. 2004.

First in a series featuring Jessie McQuade, an athletic, gutsy, tall, but romantically insecure police officer who lives and works in Miniwa, Wisconsin. Wolf attacks are on the rise in Miniwa and people are acting strange. Is it rabies – or werewolves? When a wolf totem is found near the first attack, Jessie consults with Will Cadotte, a gorgeous expert in Native American lore. Jessie falls in love but worries that Will could never be seriously interested in her. He also scares her with his seemingly inhuman strength and speed. Could it be that his knowledge of wolves is based on personal experience...as a wolf?

Charlaine Harris. Grave Sight. 2005.

Ever since Harper Connelly was struck by lightning, she's been able to locate dead bodies and determine how the victims died. Now she makes her living using that gift, assisted by her stepbrother, Tolliver. However, a job in a small town in the Ozarks becomes more than she bargained for when threats are made against her.

Karen Kelley. Double Dating with the Dead. 2007.

When they arrive at the old Garvey County Hotel, Selena James, psychic and newspaper columnist, and Trent Saunders, a writer who said on TV that Selena was "obviously delusional," hate each other. Selena's mother challenged Trent to spend two weeks in this supposedly haunted place with Selena, without reversing his skepticism, and Trent plans to use the time not only to prove her wrong, but also to gather material for a book exposing Selena as a fraud. Of course both are drop-dead gorgeous--and their antagonism gives way to sizzling attraction, then reluctant friendship, then love. Despite the predictability of the plot, this romance is a funny, fresh read. The high jinks of the hotel’s ghosts, lovebirds Dixie and Wesley, make for enjoyable comedy and Kelley’s dialogue-heavy, colloquial style is easy reading. This novel might appeal to fans of Julie Kenner and MaryJanice Davidson.

Lynn Kurland. When I Fall in Love. 2007.

When accomplished violinist Jennifer McKinnon decides to escape the stress and chaos of modern New York City life with a trip to visit family in England, she has no idea that she's about to embark upon a journey back to the 13th century. With a little help from three grandfatherly, fairy godfathers, Jennifer is catapulted through a time gate and almost immediately into the arms of one of history's most famous knights: Nicholas de Piaget. Desperate to keep the circumstances of her appearance a secret, Jennifer is trapped between her desire to return to her music and family in the 21st century, or stay in the past and pursue her growing feelings for Nicholas who also has secrets of his own: his sister's husband is also a time traveler from the future, and Nicholas knows where to find a time gate that could easily return Jennifer to her own time. But hopes there is enough time to woo Jennifer into staying with him in the 13th century. This book (4th in the de Piaget and 10th in the MacLeod family sagas) provides enough sexual tension to satisfy readers who are seeking the heat of a romance and an entertaining story of a most compelling couple.

Stephanie Meyers. Twilight. 2006.

Bella has come to the small town of Forks on the gloomy Olympic Peninsula to be with her father. At school, she wonders about a group of five remarkably beautiful teens, who sit together in the cafeteria but never eat. As she grows to know, and then love, Edward, she learns their secret. They are all rescued vampires, part of a family headed by saintly Carlisle, who has inspired them to renounce human prey. For Edward's sake they welcome Bella, but when a roving group of tracker vampires fixates on her, the family is drawn into a desperate pursuit to protect the fragile human in their midst.

C. E. Murphy. Heart of Stone. 2007.

After meeting a strange man in Central Park one evening, Margrit Knight finds out that he is a suspect in a series of horrible murders. When the man, Alban, finds out that Margrit is a lawyer, he contacts her for help. He insists on his innocence and also shares his secret with her: he's a gargoyle, turning to stone during the day. Gargoyles are only one of the ancient races who hide as humans in the city, as Margrit will find out as she gets entangled in their schemes.

Jennifer Rardin. Once Bitten, Twice Shy. 2007.

Jaz Parks, who narrates the story, is a C.I.A. assassin with a traumatic past. Her boss gives her an unusual partner: a 300-year old vampire named Vayl. Together they travel to Miami to crash the party of a doctor who is funneling money to a terrorist organization. Once there, they find that he is involved in a dangerous conspiracy involving other vampires and possibly a senator, and it could result in the deaths of countless people if they don't intervene. During their time together, Vayl seems to want to form a lasting bond with Jazz, though she first has to work out her confused feelings and confront the events of her past. To be honest, I didn't really like this. The narrator was way too irritating - we're supposed to believe that she's deeply traumatized, but she comes off giggly and chirpy and every scene is interrupted with her thoughts involving random pop culture references. The author couldn't make up her mind if she was being serious or silly.

Nora Roberts. Blood Brothers. 2007.

This is the first in a trilogy (Sign of Seven) using Roberts usual format of three interconnected romances with a focus on one couple in each book. Three male friends with the same birthdate gain some mysterious powers and accidentally unleash some satanic influences when they camp out at the Pagan Stone in their small Maryland town on their tenth birthday. For a week, every seven years after that date, the town is beset by madness and violence. The boys, now men, are hoping to stop the evil before it makes its third appearance. Led to the town for various reasons, three women join the group and the battle. The romance focuses on Caleb, the bowling alley owner, and Quinn, an author who explores paranormal mysteries.

Vicki Lewis Thompson. Over Hexed. 2007.

This is a 2008 PEARL award winning title for fantasy and magic. The setting is Big Knob, Indiana, population 947. Sean Madigan is 28 years old and all the women of Big Knob are after him. Although he has slept with most of them, he is tired of being their sex object. All he wants to do is earn enough money to make a down payment on his childhood home. Dorcas and Ambrose are a witch and wizard match making team who put a spell on him to strip Sean of his appeal. His sexy body changes to flabby, his thick wavy hair becomes constantly disheveled and he now needs to wear thick, large, black glasses. Maggie Grady works for a big out of town development company and comes to Big Knob to look at potential property where a big box type store called SavALot can be built. Sean and Maggie meet while they’re both looking at the property. Sean knows he wants her, but Maggie constantly rejects him. Gradually Sean wins Maggie over with Dorcas and Ambrose’s magical help.

Laura Whitcomb. A Certain Slant of Light. 2005.

It was the storyline that intrigued me when I read a book review in the Washington Post that led me to pick up this first book by Laura Whitcomb, but it was her writing that made it hard to put down. Helen, who has been dead for 130 years, has been haunting a series of mortal hosts without attracting attention until one day, in her host's English classroom, she becomes aware that a male student can see her. James inhabits the body of the teen whose spirit is empty as a result of drug abuse and domestic violence. Quickly drawn to him, Helen allows James to teach her how to enter the body of another "empty" teen. What follows is a sensuous courtship complicated by the living situations of their contemporary hosts and the personal hells they each must escape to reach the other side.

Rebecca York. Killing Moon. 2003.

The last thing Megan Sheridan expected to discover was her client shot and unconscious. Ross Marshall had requested her lab to run genetic tests on him, but instead of taking a blood sample, she wound up caring for his woumds. Then a strange attraction occurred. Ross tries to deny the ancient instincts clamoring for him to take Megan as his mate, to do so would sentence her to a lifetime of sorrow. But now Ross has a more urgent reason to stay away from Megan: the killer he's been hunting has turned the tables, and is now hunting him... Excellent myth building about the scientific reasoning for a werewolf to exist as well as the mating habits of the werewolf.