410. The Water Nymph (Michele Jaffe)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Like the Scarlet Pimpernel, outrageously handsome and brilliant Crispin Foscari, the earl of Sandal, who first appeared in Jaffe's The Stargazer, has carefully built a wastrel's reputation while making quite another as Phoenix, invaluable spy for her majesty, Queen Elizabeth I. Now, however, he is in a spot: he has been given only a little more than a fortnight to find the person who's accusing him of treason. Meanwhile, he is investigating a beautiful and brilliant woman, Sophie Champion, who is suspect in Elizabethan England because she has seemingly endless resources, is a heroine to the street people and may have had something to do with her godfather's death. Crispin is smitten, however, and Sophie assures him she is neither a murderer nor any kind of malefactor, but she cannot be sure that he is above suspicion.

My rating: 5 stars

409. I Got You, Babe (Jane Graves)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Set in Tolosa, Tex., this rollicking romantic comedy explodes off the starting block as beautiful Renee Esterhaus, a self-made woman with a lengthy juvenile rap sheet, jumps bail and tries to flee the state after being falsely accused of armed robbery. To escape a smarmy bounty hunter who is hot on her trail, Renee walks into a country diner and promises John DeMarco a night of mind-blowing sex if he'll take her to his cabin pronto. John, a cop on a much-needed vacation, senses that something is amiss, but his instincts take a backseat to his hormones the minute he sizes up the blue-eyed blonde propositioning him. Instead of the sex he was promised, however, Renee flees, courtesy of John's car and cash. When John catches her in a McDonald's drive-thru, he plans to turn her in, but something about the way she behaves and the stories she tells leads him to lock her in his house instead of the slammer. While John searches for a way to clear her name, he begins to realize that he's falling in love.

My rating: 4 stars

408. Mr. Commitment (Mike Gayle)

Synopsis from Amazon:
At 28, Ben Duffy still lives with his friend in a slovenly London flat, temps at an office while trying to launch a sputtering stand-up comedy career, and sits idly by as his relationship with Mel remains stuck in neutral. To Duffy, everything is perfect, but then Mel proposes marriage, and Duffy (for once) must make a decision: Grow up or lose the love of his life forever. Duffy, naturally, decides to lose Mel forever. He agrees to marriage, but during a trip to IKEA, Duffy's ambivalence toward the impending nuptials is exposed, and Mel stalks off -- for good. On Duffy's journey back, he discovers the value of commitment and the inevitability of change and also has a brief love affair with "TV's Hottest Totty."

My rating: 4 stars

407. e (Matthew Beaumont)

Synopsis from Amazon:
A fast-paced, wickedly funny tale of office back-stabbing and corporate intrigue that unfolds in a succession of escalating e-mails.

My rating: 4 stars

406. An Unwilling Conquest (Stephanie Laurens)

Synopsis from Amazon:
A successful horse breeder and self-proclaimed rake, Harry Lester samples women like wines. But after having his heart trampled upon by someone he actually loved, he has no intention of falling for a woman again, let alone be ensnared by the trap of marriage. Now, with a large inheritance to his name, Harry knows that he'd best start running from London's matchmaking mothers and widows. Harry heads for the racing town of Newmarket, only to encounter Mrs. Lucinda Babbacombe, a beautiful, independent widow. And before he knows it, Harry vows to protect Lucinda from the town full of lonely gambling men, despite her refusal to accept his countless offers of help. Lucinda is extraordinary -- an intelligent, tender, marriage worthy woman -- but will Harry let himself be taken prisoner in this most passionate of traps?

My rating: 3 stars

405. Brimstone (Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child)

Synopsis from Amazon:
As FBI Special Agent Pendergast immerses himself in the investigation of an art critic's bizarre murder, he conjures up clues pointing to the Devil as the culprit. After several killings in the same ghastly manner, similar clues are found. Pendergast teams up with Police Officer Vincent D'Agosta, with whom he had worked in The Relic (St. Martin's, 1996), and they begin a lengthy, intense, and time-driven search for the murderer. Along the way, D'Agosta becomes romantically and professionally attached to New York Police Captain Laura Hayward (Reliquary [Tor, 1998]). Their story runs parallel to the investigation and adds another layer of plot. The peculiar nature of Agent Pendergast, who always seems to get out of any kind of dire straits, complements and contrasts with down-to-earth, practical D'Agosta, and they act as catalysts for one another. The action moves from New York City to Italy and places in between.

My rating: 2 stars

My review: The murders and storyline are interesting. I liked D'Agosta and Hayward but Pendergast was a pretentious twit; I disliked him so much that, midway through the book, I skipped to the end.

404. The Murder Room (P. D. James)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Neville Dupayne, a trustee of the Dupayne Museum, a small, private institution devoted to England between the world wars, plans to veto its continuing operation. After many pages of background on the museum's employees, volunteers and others who would be affected by the trustee's unpopular decision, Neville meets his end in a manner paralleling a notorious historical murder exhibited in the museum's "Murder Room." MI5's interest in one of the people connected with the crime leads to Commander Dalgleish and his team taking on the case.

My rating: 4 stars

403. Deadly Love (Brenda Joyce)

Synopsis from Amazon:
Beautiful socialite Francesca Cahill is a determined bluestocking who prefers learning and good causes to society's dizzying whirl. As a reluctant guest at a family ball, she meets New York's handsome, young, but feckless police commissioner, Rick Bragg, while unbeknownst to both of them, a young child is being abducted next door. Soon a series of cryptic notes begins to arrive, each more terrifying than the last. Francesca jumps into crime-solving, and in the process moves from tentative friendship to passion with the dynamic but mysterious Bragg.

My rating: 2 stars

402. Stolen Magic (Mary Jo Putney)

By Domenichino

Synopsis from Amazon:
Earl of Falconer, Simon Malmain, chief enforcer of the Guardian Council, which oversees the use of magic in 18th-century Britain, has been turned into a unicorn by Lord Drayton, a renegade mage whom Simon charges with encouraging the Jacobite uprising; only a virgin can transform Simon back into human form. Luckily for Simon, animal-loving "Mad Meggie," Drayton's "servant," succeeds in doing so, while Simon breaks the spell that's kept Meg in the dark sorcerer's thrall. Allied in a "pretend" marriage, the pair pool their unusual talents in an effort to ruin Lord Drayton's plan to prevent the Industrial Age from revolutionizing England.

My rating: 1 star

401. Beyond the Highland Mist (Karen Marie Moning)

Synopsis from Amazon:
He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart -- until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland. Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the sixteenth-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length -- but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve. She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side ....

My rating: 3 stars

400. A Gentleman's Honor (Stephanie Laurens)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Penniless Alicia masquerades as the widowed "Mrs. Carrington" to launch her younger sister into the ton and have her make a profitable marriage, but her plans go awry when she finds herself a suspect in a murder investigation.

My rating: 2 stars

399. Ravished (Amanda Quick)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Hiring Gideon Westbrook, the Beast of Blackthorne Hall and a man with a scarred face and dark past, to help her guard her caves from the thieves who would use them to store their booty, Miss Harriet gets in over her head.

My rating: 3 stars

398. The Murder on the Links (Agatha Christie)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
An urgent cry for help brings Poirot to France. But he arrives too late to save his client, whose brutally stabbed body now lies face downwards in a shallow grave on a golf course. But why is the dead man wearing his son's overcoat? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically murdered corpse.

My rating: 4 stars

Publication information:

• 1923 by Bodley Head in London
• Orange cloth with black lettering
• Dust wrapper priced at 7/6
  

397. Come Again (Josie Lloyd, Emlyn Rees)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Friends. You can't live with them -- and you can't live without them. Or so Matt is discovering. His best mate is getting married, leaving him high and dry. No flat-mate -- and no girlfriend. Then he remembers Helen (H to her friends). H has no life outside her brilliant career -- and all her best friend Amy wants to talk about her wedding. Which suits Stringer, because catering the wedding is his first real chance to prove himself. The last thing he needs is to fall for one of the bride's friends, Susie, particularly because she's sworn off men while she sorts out her life -- Friendship, commitment, work, lust and loyalty all come under the spotlight as Matt, H, Stringer and Susie hurtle towards the big day.

My rating: 3 stars

396. Fever Pitch (Nick Hornby)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Fever Pitch is both an autobiography and a footballing bible rolled into one. Nick Hornby pinpoints 1968 as his formative year -- the year he turned 11, the year his parents separated, and the year his father first took him to watch Arsenal play. The author quickly moved "way beyond fandom" into an extreme obsession that has dominated his life, loves, and relationships. His father had initially hoped that Saturday afternoon matches would draw the two closer together, but instead Hornby became completely besotted with the game at the expense of any conversation: "Football may have provided us with a new medium through which we could communicate, but that was not to say that we used it, or what we chose to say was necessarily positive." Girlfriends also played second fiddle to one ball and 11 men. He fantasises that even if a girlfriend "went into labour at an impossible moment" he would not be able to help out until after the final whistle. Fever Pitch is not a typical memoir -- there are no chapters, just a series of match reports falling into three time frames (childhood, young adulthood, manhood). While watching the May 2, 1972, Reading v Arsenal match, it became embarrassingly obvious to the then 15-year-old that his white, suburban, middle-class roots made him a wimp with no sense of identity: "Yorkshire men, Lancastrians, Scots, the Irish, blacks, the rich, the poor, even Americans and Australians have something they can sit in pubs and bars and weep about." But a boy from Maidenhead could only dream of coming from a place with "its own tube station and West Indian community and terrible, insoluble social problems." Fever Pitch reveals the very special intricacies of British football, which readers new to the game will find astonishing, and which Hornby presents with remarkable humour and honesty -- the "unique" chants sung at matches, the cold rain-soaked terraces, giant cans of warm beer, the trains known as football specials carrying fans to and from matches in prison-like conditions, bottles smashing on the tracks, thousands of police officers waiting in anticipation for the cargo of hooligans. The sport and one team in particular have crept into every aspect of Hornby's life -- making him see the world through Arsenal-tinted spectacles.

My rating: 4 stars

395. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J. K. Rowling)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
The long-awaited, eagerly anticipated, arguably over-hyped Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has arrived, and the question on the minds of kids, adults, fans, and skeptics alike is, "Is it worth the hype?" The answer, luckily, is simple: yep. A magnificent spectacle more than worth the price of admission, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will blow you away. However, given that so much has gone into protecting the secrets of the book (including armored trucks and injunctions), don't expect any spoilers in this review. It's much more fun not knowing what's coming -- and in the case of Rowling's delicious sixth book, you don't want to know. Just sit tight, despite the earth-shattering revelations that will have your head in your hands as you hope the words will rearrange themselves into a different story. But take one warning to heart: do not open Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until you have first found a secluded spot, safe from curious eyes, where you can tuck in for a good long read. Because once you start, you won't stop until you reach the very last page. A darker book than any in the series thus far with a level of sophistication belying its genre, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moves the series into murkier waters and marks the arrival of Rowling onto the adult literary scene. While she has long been praised for her cleverness and wit, the strength of Book 6 lies in her subtle development of key characters, as well as her carefully nuanced depiction of a community at war. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, no one and nothing is safe, including preconceived notions of good and evil and of right and wrong. With each book in her increasingly remarkable series, fans have nervously watched J.K. Rowling raise the stakes; gone are the simple delights of butterbeer and enchanted candy, and days when the worst ailment could be cured by a bite of chocolate. A series that began as a colorful lark full of magic and discovery has become a dark and deadly war zone. But this should not come as a shock to loyal readers. Rowling readied fans with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by killing off popular characters and engaging the young students in battle. Still, there is an unexpected bleakness from the start of Book 6 that casts a mean shadow over Quidditch games, silly flirtations, and mountains of homework. Ready or not, the tremendous ending of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will leave stunned fans wondering what great and terrible events await in Book 7 if this sinister darkness is meant to light the way.

My rating: 5 stars

394. The China Bride (Mary Jo Putney)

Synopsis from publisher:
Born to a Scottish father and a Chinese mother, Troth Montgomery dreamed of someday traveling to Scotland, until the death of her father condemned her to a shadowy life as an interpreter in Canton. Then Kyle Renbourne, viscount and adventurer, discovers Troth's true identity and persuades her to be his guide on a dangerous journey into the heart of the Celestial Kingdom. A meeting of the minds flares into searing passion, an idyll that ends when Kyle is captured and condemned to death. A reckless prison cell marriage the night before his execution sends Troth to England, where she arrives at the estate of Kyle's brother. Though accepted as bride and widow, she is haunted by the memory of her dashing husband. Then the past reaches out to Troth, bringing passion, despair, and danger. Now she must draw on her unique heritage to save all she holds dear -- and become the woman she is destined to be ....

My rating: 2 stars

393. Lord of Scoundrels (Loretta Chase)

Synopsis from Amazon UK:
Realizing her attraction to the Marquess of Dain despite her opinion that he is an amoral cad, tough-minded Jessica Trent is scandalized when they are seen in a compromising position and vows to make him preserve her reputation.

My rating: 2 stars