[Druckfrisch] 21.–28. März 2012

Heute im Wesentlichen englische Bücher – darunter einige Knaller. :)

J.R. Ward: Black Dagger Brotherhood 10 – Lover Reborn
In the darkest corners of the night in Caldwell, New York, a conflict like no other rages. The city is home to a band of brothers born to defend their race: the warrior vampires of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

Now back in the Brotherhood – and unrecognisable as the vampire leader he once was – Tohrment is physically emaciated and heartbroken beyond despair. When he begins to see his beloved in his dreams – trapped in a cold, isolating netherworld – Tohr turns to a self-serving fallen angel in hopes of saving the one he has lost. When he’s told he must learn to love another to free his former mate, Tohr knows they are all doomed . . .

Except then a female with a shadowed history begins to get through to him. Against the backdrop of the raging war with the lessers, and with a new clan of vampires vying for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between the buried past, and a very hot, passion-filled future . . . but can his heart let go and set all of them free?

Louisa Edwards: Rising Star Chef 03 – Hot Under Pressure
Henry Beck thought he’d already faced the toughest kitchen challenge of his life. After all, what could top sweating it out as a Navy cook on a submarine? But when he learns his competition for the title of Rising Star Chef is the sweet hippie girl he married…and left…ten years ago, the heat is on.

Now Beck and Skye Gladwell are going head to head in the finals…and sparking up old flames every time they touch. But Skye wants more than a win over the man who abandoned her when she needed him most—she wants a divorce! Then her sexy almost-ex makes a deliciously dangerous proposition. He’ll give in to her demands, but if his team wins the RSC, he has a demand of his own…one last taste of the only woman he ever loved.

Lori Wilde: Jubilee, Texas 01 – The Cowboy Takes a Bride
Ex-champion bull rider-turned-cutting-horse cowboy Joe Daniels isn’t quite sure how he ended up sleeping in a horse trough wearing nothing but his Stetson and cowboy boots. But now he’s wide-awake, and a citified woman is glaring down at him. His goal? Get rid of her ASAP. The obstacle? Fighting the attraction he feels toward the blond-haired filly with the big, vulnerable eyes.

When out-of-work wedding planner Mariah Callahan learns that her estranged father has left her a rundown ranch in Jubilee, she has no choice but to accept it. Her goal? Redeem her career by planning local weddings. The obstacle? One emotionally wounded, hard-living cowboy who stirs her guilt, her heartstrings, and her long-burned cowgirl roots . . .

Susan Mallery: Blackberry Island 01 – Barefoot Season
Michelle Sanderson may appear to be a strong, independent woman, but on the inside, she’s still the wounded girl who fled home years ago. A young army vet, Michelle returns to the quaint Blackberry Island Inn to claim her inheritance and recover from the perils of war. Instead, she finds the owner’s suite occupied by the last person she wants to see.
Carly Williams and Michelle were once inseparable, until a shocking betrayal destroyed their friendship. And now Carly is implicated in the financial disaster lurking behind the inn’s cheerful veneer.

Single mother Carly has weathered rumors, lies and secrets for a lifetime, and is finally starting to move forward with love and life. But if the Blackberry Island Inn goes under, Carly and her daughter will go with it.

To save their livelihoods, Carly and Michelle will undertake a turbulent truce. It’ll take more than a successful season to move beyond their devastating past, but with a little luck and a beautiful summer, they may just rediscover the friendship of a lifetime.

Meredith Duran: At Your Pleasure
Glittering court socialites and underworld cutpurses alike know that Adrian Ferrers, Earl of Rivenham, is the most dangerous man in London. Rivenham will let nothing—not the deepening shadow of war, nor the growing darkness within him—interfere with his ambition to restore his family to its former glory. But when tasked by the king to uncover a traitor, he discovers instead a conspiracy—and a woman whose courage awakens terrible temptations. To save her is to risk everything. To love her might cost his life.

Lady Leonora knows that Rivenham is the devil in beautiful disguise—and that the irresistible tension between them is as unpredictable as the dilemma in which Nora finds herself: held hostage on her own estate by Rivenham and the king’s men. But when war breaks out, Nora has no choice but to place her trust in her dearest enemy—and pray that love does not become the weapon that destroys them both …

Miranda Neville: Burgundy Club 04 – Confessions from an Arranged Marriage
In London after a two-year exile, Lord Blakeney plans to cut a swathe through the bedchambers of the demimonde. Marriage is not on his agenda, especially to an annoying chit like Minerva Montrose, with her superior attitude and a tendency to get into trouble. And certainly the last man Minerva wants is Blake, a careless wastrel without a thought in his handsome head.

The lights and din of her debutante ball set Minerva’s teeth on edge. Surely a moment’s rest could do no harm . . . until Blake mistakes her for another lady, leaving Minerva’s guests to catch them in a very compromising position. To her horror, the scandal will force them to do the unthinkable: marry. Their mutual loathing blazes into unexpected passion but Blake remains distant, desperate to hide a shameful secret. Minerva’s never been a woman to take things lying down, and she’ll let nothing stop her from winning his trust . . . and his heart.

Tessa Dare: Spindle Cove 02 – A Week to Be Wicked
When a devilish lord and a bluestocking set off on the road to ruin . . . time is not on their side.

Minerva Highwood, one of Spindle Cove’s confirmed spinsters, needs to be in Scotland.

Colin Sandhurst, Lord Payne, a rake of the first order, needs to be . . . anywhere but Spindle Cove.

These unlikely partners have one week:

to fake an elopement
to convince family and friends they’re „in love“
to outrun armed robbers
to survive their worst nightmares
to travel four hundred miles without killing each other
All while sharing a very small carriage by day and an even smaller bed by night.

What they don’t have time for is their growing attraction. Much less wild passion. And heaven forbid they spend precious hours baring their hearts and souls.

Suddenly one week seems like exactly enough time to find a world of trouble. And maybe . . . just maybe . . . everlasting love.

Mary J. Putney: The Rake
…Disinherited and disgraced, Reginald Davenport’s prospects cried for a dire end. But fate has given him one last chance at redemption – by taking his rightful place as the heir of Strickland, his lost ancestral estate. Davenport knows his way around women, yet nothing prepares him for his shocking encounter with Lady Alys Weston. Masquerading as a man in order to obtain a position as estate manager of Strickland, Alys fled a world filled with mistrust and betrayal. She was finished with men – until Strickland’s restored owner awakens a passion she thought she would never feel. A passion that will doom or save them both …if only they can overcome their pasts… (Re-issue)

Suzanne Enoch: The Scandalous Brides 02 – Taming an Impossible Rogue
One year ago, Lady Camille Pryce left her haughty fiance at the altar – for good reason. Not only was the marriage arranged before she could even walk, her betrothed was too smug to exert himself to meet her! Now, disowned, with no husband or family to support her, she’s left with one option: go to work in the notorious Tantalus Club…A gentleman’s gaming house run by a woman, the Tantalus is no place for a proper lady; so, to save face, her jilted fiance must retrieve her. But banned from the club, he’s forced to employ his ne’er-do-well cousin instead. A handsome, experienced rogue, Keating Blackwood is the perfect man to lure Camille away. But the moment they meet, Keating instead wants to save her …for himself. Impossible? Perhaps. But if Camille can make the ultimate player lay his cards on the table – and risk his heart – all bets are off…

Jenny Brown: Lords of the Seventh House 03 – Perilous Pleasures
Lord Ramsay believes in fate. But is it chance or something more sinister that has the daughter of his worst enemy delivered into his hands? Finally, the stars are in perfect alignment for his revenge. But Ramsay isn’t prepared for the vulnerable, courageous woman he finds—a woman with powers of her own.

Zoe didn’t inherit her mother’s cruel heart, but that doesn’t stop the tall stranger who kidnaps her. Now, she has only one weapon against the fate that awaits her . . . seduction. Yet even as Zoe uses her charms to bewitch her abductor, Ramsay’s haunted Pisces soul weaves a sensual spell around her too. Soon, the two will be bound together by a burning passion as bright as the stars—and locked in a desperate struggle against an ancient sorcery that can be vanquished only by love.

Sophia Nash: The Royal Entourage 02 – The Art of Duke Hunting
The Duke of Norwich has two rules: never marry and never go to sea. So on the morning after the most extravagant royal bachelor party of the century, he is stunned to find himself aboard a storm-tossed ship and locked in the arms of a proper lady.

The Countess of Derby has two rules as well: never give away your heart and never let anyone get in the way of your life’s deepest passions. But Esme cannot resist Roman when all seems lost at sea. Yet when their ship returns to London, everything will be forgotten . . . as long as they can keep their secret from the Prince Regent. For if the future king commands them to marry, all their fondest dreams will be ruined. But where love is concerned, some rules are made to be broken . . .

Julia London: Secrets of Hadley Green 03 – The Seduction of Lady X
The surprising news that dashing steward Harrison Tolly, illegitimate son of the Earl of Ashwood, is the rightful heir to his father’s estate comes at a most inopportune time. With a wedding on the horizon and a baby on the way, a new life of privilege and prestige would be a blessing but for one problem: his heart belongs to another woman.

Harrison keeps his desires for his employer’s wife, Lady Olivia Carey, so hidden that even she does not know of his devotion. Her callous husband, Marquis Carey, went into a rampage after Olivia’s troublesome younger sister returned from her tour of Spain pregnant, and Harrison impulsively stepped in to save the entire family from scandal. Now, like Olivia, he is trapped in a loveless arrangement. When a tragic accident claims the marquis’ life soon thereafter, can Harrison seize his chance and cast aside one sister for another? Or will doing so expose the Carey family’s darkest secret—and ruin his only chance to win Olivia’s heart?

Tracy Deebs: Tempest 01 – Tochter des Meeres (OT: Tempest Rising)
Seit sie denken kann, erfüllt Tempest eine tiefe Sehnsucht nach dem Meer. Das geheimnisvolle Erbe ihrer Mutter, einer Wassernixe, lässt sie nicht mehr los. An ihrem 17. Geburtstag ist sie gezwungen, eine Wahl zu treffen: Für ein Leben an Land mit ihrer Familie und ihrem Freund Marc oder ein Leben in der faszinierenden Welt des Ozeans … Scheinbar eine klare Sache. Doch dann taucht der geheimnisvolle Surfer Kona am Strand auf und bringt Tempests Welt ins Wanken, so verbunden fühlt sie sich ihm. Doch ist er wirklich ihr Beschützer oder stammt er auch aus der Welt der Wasserwesen? Die Zeit läuft Tempest davon: Sie hat drei Monate, um sich zu entscheiden, bevor ihre Verwandlung endgültig einsetzt.