Brace for adventure when reading Amanda Bouchet's Nightchaser, the first in a new sci-fi romance series. Captain Tess Bailey is on the run, having stolen a valuable, dangerous serum from a conformist galactic government that brutally insists on order and restraint. Finding temporary refuge after a particularly close call, the captain meets cocky and charming Shade Ganavan, who says he can provide much-needed repairs to her ship and perhaps some personal diversion, as Tess is weary of always watching over her shoulder. But danger is headed their way—will Shade prove to be ally or foe? This is pure, engrossing entertainment as Bouchet deftly builds a galactic world that desperately needs rebel champions like Tess and her crew. Characters' backgrounds and motivations are slowly revealed throughout what is otherwise a fast-paced, action-packed story. There's mystery, tension and more than enough romance to grab the heart.

Jayne Ann Krentz offers a smooth blend of romance and suspense in Untouchable. Cold case investigator Jack Lancaster is making strides in overcoming his horrifying nightmares with the help of Winter Meadows, a hypnotist and meditation guide. He might not know exactly what lies beneath her positive attitude and bright smile, but he's intrigued enough to take their business relationship in a different direction. But when Winter's life is threatened, Jack becomes worried that someone from his past might have tried to hurt him through her. In order to protect Winter, he must hunt down the man who tried to burn him alive many years ago. Some satisfyingly creepy villains, the atmospheric Pacific Northwest setting and a splash of potent sexual chemistry between the two leads let the reader know they're in the hands of a master storyteller.

First loves find another chance in The Duke I Once Knew by Olivia Drake. The youngest daughter of landed gentry, Abigail Linton devoted her early life to caring for her invalid mother. Now her parents are gone, and at nearly 30, Abby opts to take a governess position on a neighboring estate. Caring for the absent duke's younger sister will give her a new and independent life, so she ignores her worries that she'll encounter the lord of the manor, Maxwell Bryce. Max was Abby's first love, but she hasn't seen him in 15 years. Then, unexpectedly, the duke returns and is astonished when he meets the newest member of his household. Learning to trust one another is the essence of all good romances, and that's what Abby and Max must do, or else lose out on an opportunity for lasting love in this sweet and tender tale. 

 

This article was originally published in the January 2019 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

FBI consultant Jack Lancaster is moving ever closer to the edge despite the best efforts of his meditation therapist. What's worse, Quinton Zane begins a campaign to ditch his father's foster sons, with Jack first in line. Third in the Zane story cycle.

Leaving the academic world to write books on the criminal mind and privately pursue cold cases (especially those dealing with fire), Jack Lancaster quietly excels at his job. Still, when his unusual talent for using lucid dreaming to resolve his investigations begins to threaten his grip on reality, he reluctantly seeks help—and finds it in tiny, out-of-the-way Eclipse Bay in the form of meditation instructor Winter Meadows, who has an unusual hypnotic talent of her own. As Winter helps Jack sort out the fiery mazes of his visions—and nightmares—their relationship turns romantic. Then things turn deadly as Winter is accosted by a client-turned-stalker who ends up dead, and Jack realizes this is connected to his decades-long search for the madman responsible for his mother's death. VERDICT Incorporating emotional electricity, smart dialog, and her trademark soupçon of paranormal glamour, Krentz pens a twisted tale of insane greed and obsession that brings an uncommonly wicked villain to justice and deftly concludes the story begun in When All the Girls Have Gone (LJ 12/16) and Promise Not To Tell (LJ 12/17). Krentz also writes historical romantic suspense as Amanda Quick and futuristic/paranormal romantic suspense as Jayne Castle; she lives in Seattle. [See Prepub Alert, 7/9/18; previewed in Kathryn Howe's "Love Changes Everything," LJ 10/15/18.]

Krentz's formulaic and lackluster third Cutler, Sutter, and Salinas romantic thriller (after Promise Not to Tell) follows hypnotist Winter Meadows as she gets sucked into cold-case investigator Jack Lancaster's quest to find Quinton Zane, the pyromaniac con artist who murdered Jack's mother. Jack has the unique ability to use extended lucid dreams to sort through clues on his investigations. When he turns to Winter for help controlling this ability, the pair of former foster kids develop an unexpected bond, a connection that escalates when Jack saves Winter from a former client who has stalked her to remote Eclipse Bay, Ore. Jack's conviction that the stalker was manipulated by Zane proves correct, as Zane, deep in his latest and most personal con, attempts to eliminate all possible threats against him. Jack and Winter's ensuing investigation is a game of cat and mouse between a criminal who always assumes he is the smartest in the room, and a budding couple with new-age tricks up their sleeves. Though there is little to set this romantic thriller apart, Krentz's fans will enjoy the familiar elements and callbacks to previous installments. Agent: Steven Axelrod, the Axelrod Agency. (Jan.)