It isn’t easy to write a contemporary novel with serious subject matter and still keep it light and moving quickly.  I had my work cut out for me with Liza McKnight and Dare Barron because the event that links them in the past is a party where a teenage boy died.  That night caused both of their lives to change and ultimately is what brings them together as adults.  Dare and Liza want to be good people.  They live their lives trying to do the best they can and think about others before themselves, while Liza’s brother, who lied in the past and caused the boy’s death, is wallowing in pain, guilt and alcohol.  So Liza enables him while Dare arrests him and tries not to be like him. Light moments? You’d think there aren’t any.  And yet I don’t think of KARMA as a dark story.  Liza and Dare – to me – are so perfectly matched. I find his caring for her charming.  I find her search for love, and allowing herself to be loved, disarming. So at heart, I think this story more than most, needed balance between light and dark.  And I hope, in bringing you…

New Releases: ENCHANTED by Alethea Kontis. (Harcourt) It isn’t easy being the overlooked sibling to six older sisters. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, and her new friendship with an enchanted frog. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises. The prince returns intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. She distrusts her mysterious attraction to this prince almost as much as she distrusts the Rumbold himself, not to mention the twisted secrets in his past – and hers? Mystery, romance and magic in this charming, stand alone fairy tale retelling. HEMLOCK (Hemlock #1) by Kathleen Peacock. (HarperTeen) Mackenzie’s life has been turned upside down by the murder of her best friend Amy. Since her brutal killing, Amy has haunted Mac in her dreams. To end her nightmares, Mac decides to investigate Amy’s murder and discovers secrets lurking in the shadows of her hometown of Hemlock. Lupine syndrome—also known as the werewolf virus—is on the rise across the…