Vacations in the mind.(romance)(Book review)

VACATIONS IN THE MIND Though summer and vacations go hand in hand, with the economy as it is, not everyone will be heading this year for two weeks in the mountains, at the lake, or at the beach. But vacations are also about mental R&R, and there's nothing like a good book to get you there. Whether you want your "trip" lively or relaxed, steamy or sweet, contemporary or historical, paranormal or down-to-earth, suspenseful or comforting, this summer's romances have something for every taste--and often in multiple formats. So fill up your beach bag or load up your ebook reader, and let these summer titles take you away.

Abe, Shana. The Time Weaver. Bantam. (Drakon, Bk. 5). Jun. 2010. c.336p. ISBN 978-0-553-80686-1. $23. FANTASY/TIME TRAVEL

Having felt like a misfit within her powerful drakon clan, timid Honor Carlisle is almost 15 when a letter from herself--in the future--changes everything. Not only Gifted, she is also the only Time Weaver among the drakon. But this Gift is as dangerous and unpredictable as it is addictive, and as Honor weaves through time, she is drawn irresistibly to Zaharen prince Alexandru, beginning a relationship that has the potential either to heal and rebalance their magical world or to destroy it. VERDICT Stunningly lyrical, sensual, and mesmerizing, this enthralling tale pairs a time-traveling heroine with a hero who can literally read between the lines; a stellar addition to Abe's imaginative shape-changing dragon series. Abe (The Treasure Seeker) lives in Colorado.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Andre, Bella. Never Too Hot. Bantam. (Men of Fire, Bk. 3). Jun. 2010. c.368p. ISBN 978-0-440-24502-5. pap. $7.99. CONTEMPORARY

Heading for his grandparents' remote lakeside cabin to recover mentally after nearly having died two years earlier in a wildfire that left him badly scarred, forest firefighter Connor MacKenzie is unprepared to find the cabin already inhabited. But recently divorced Ginger Sinclair has four months left on her lease and is not about to let anyone push her out--even someone as surprisingly appealing as Connor. The cabin, however, needs repairs, which Connor must do in time for his brother's lakeside wedding. Ginger agrees to let him stay until he finds another place, and it doesn't take long for the sparks sizzling between them to explode into flames. VERDICT A pair of badly damaged, vulnerable characters find unexpected love, as well as new purpose, in this emotionally gripping, supersexy story that will have fans reaching for the ice. Andre (Hot as Sin) lives in Sunnyvale, CA.

* Bourne, Joanna. The Forbidden Rose. Berkley Sensation: Penguin Group (USA). Jun. 2010. 368p. ISBN 978-0-425-23561-4. pap. $7.99. HISTORICAL

Falling in love is the last thing an English spy and a French aristocrat who heads up a covert network helping guillotine-bound victims escape should do. But when William Doyle discovers Marguerite de Fleurignac …