"Appearances can be deceiving"

READING BETWEEN THE LINES is great! It pairs two of my favorite authors together in one book with a common theme.

Vicki Lewis Thompson's MR. VALENTINE is a rerelease of one of Ms Thompsons' older Temptations. It is great for readers who are just now discovering Ms. Thompson and are looking for her backlist, or for those who have been reading Vicki Lewis Thompson for years to replace that worn out copy. Krysta Luekenhoff is forever trying to get her best friend Jack Killigan to see the error of his ways and to get a better job then the one working on the docks of the paper plant they both work at. Unknown to Krysta though is that Jack is a wannabe writer.

Jack gets the call the that Manchester Publishing is interested in buying his manuscript. They want him to fly out to New York City for a publicity campaign and to meet the editor. There is only one problem, Manchester doesn't know that the author named Candy Valentine is actually Jack Killian.

Jack convinces Krysta to impersonate Candy for a week. How will Krysta react when she finds out that Jack has more then platonic feelings for her?

I hadn't read MR VALENTINE in a long time and I found that it was just as enjoyable now as it was then. It was fun to watch Krysta realise that there is more to Jack then she thinks there is.

In Leslie Kelly's THRILL ME, Sophie Winchester is known as the sweetheart of Derryville, Illinois. Working as the church secretary, everyone looks out for her and feels overly protective. There is one thing that the good citizens don't know about their sweet little Sophie and that is that Sophie is really popular horror author RF Colt.

Daniel Fletcher loves his life in Derryville. Having moved there to take over the Chief of Police from Detroit, he likes people knowing his name and the close knit community of the small town. Daniel becomes convinced that Sophie is in danger, when someone finds a note that details a gruesome murder and it looks like Sophie is the intended victim.

THRILL ME by Leslie Kelly is a thrill to read. Only Daniel can see through the facade that Sophie projects to the rest of the town and the more he sees the more attracted he is to her. Ms. Kelly has created a fun, small town with hopefully lots more secrets to explore.

Barb Hicks

Reviewed by Barb Hicks
Posted December 28, 2003

Summary

Sometimes reality can be hotter than fiction!

Mr. Valentine (reissue) by Vicki Lewis Thompson
Romance author Candy Valentine is actually the very rugged, very masculine Jack Killigan. But nobody knows that—including his publisher! So when Jack discovers he's just been signed up to do a book tour, he's stuck...until he convinces his best friend, Krysta Luekenhoff, to be "Candy" for the week.

Only, between sharing hotel rooms and reading Jack's steamy novel, Krysta's curiosity is at a fever pitch. Can Jack make love as well as he writes it? There's only one way to find out....
(originally published in Harlequin Temptation #624 02/97)

Thrill Me (new) by Leslie Kelly

Sophie Winchester is the all-American small-town girl—except for her secret life creating mayhem as horror writer R. J. Colt. So when notes for her latest novel land on the desk of police chief

Daniel Fletcher, he's convinced someone's out to murder her.

How can she tell Daniel she's not in danger—especially when she's so enjoying having Daniel protect her, day and night?