Dark Age Dawning #2 September 2011 On Sale: September 6, 2011 Featuring: Rosa Cortez; Chris Welsh 336 pages ISBN: 0425242994 EAN: 9780425242995 Trade Size $15.00  Add to Wish List Science Fiction, Romance Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com Staff favorite Midnight by Ellen Connor The change was only the beginning Their desire destroys her defenses. Their love gives him a reason to live. Three years of wandering the post-apocalyptic wasteland has stripped Dr. Chris Welsh of humanity and hope. He’s a dangerous man now, full of dark energy and yen for violence. A harrowing loss drove him from his home, and he hasn’t stopped moving since. Grim and sardonic, he never found anything worth sticking around for–until now. Rosa Cortez runs Valle de Bravo, a haven of civilization amid the chaos of the Change. Soldiers take their orders directly from her–the iron hand within a velvet glove. The last thing she needs is a feral loner upsetting the town’s tentative balance. However, for the good of her people, she lets the sexy doctor stay. He evokes a delicious new longing, but she won’t submit to any man. Tension rises as bloodthirsty raiders strike again and again, bent on possessing Valle and its…

My favorite mysteries have always had elements of romance, going all the way back to the first Agatha Christie novels I read as a teenager. Obviously the solving of the puzzle–who committed the murder and why–should always be at the forefront of a good mystery novel, but that said . . . I love romantic subplots! A BAD DAY’S WORK HOT, SHOT, AND BOTHERED There’s nothing more fun than characters falling in love. For the first book in my Lilly Hawkins mystery series, A BAD DAY’S WORK, I put my main character through the grueling experience of being chased by villains, becoming a fugitive from the police, and solving a murder. The story unfolds in twenty-four hours and Lilly’s life is temporarily ruined. On the positive side, Lilly’s very bad day leads to several realizations about her life, the people in it, and the mistakes she’s been making. It also enables her to lower her guard and fall in love. For the second book in the series, HOT, SHOT, AND BOTHERED, my biggest challenge was making an existing relationship as much fun as characters meeting for the first time. This is no small task. I’m sure any reader of genre…