The new release list from the Oklahoma Romance Writers of America (OKRWA), offers something for everyone and every taste.

Need a little elegant romance in your life, try Amanda McCabe’s well researched, The Shy Duchess.

Christine Rimmer, Vickie McDonough, Tina Radcliffe and Linda Goodnight bring us the sweeter side of romance. I’ve noticed (since I’m a new NOOK owner) that several of Christine’s books are available for download.

Debra Cowan has a new historical romance set in 1886 West Texas. Debra also writes romantic suspense.

And speaking of suspence,  Sharon Sala ‘s Blood Stain looks fantastic. I love the trailer, with just the music and words.

Want your Romance to be hot and steamy, with a touch of the bad boys? Check out the new titles by Jaci Burton, Myla Jackson and of course, Gena Showalter.

And very exciting, Merline Lovelace has a new Samantha Spade book I haven’t read yet called, Catch Her If You Can.

The holiday is over (and for some of us none too soon), but the Romance continues. . . .

Recently someone questioned my reading romances. Just when you think everyone has gotten past that sort of silliness. So I was talking to one of my romance reading colleagues about this and she didn’t get it either. Here’s why we think women continue to read romance (and the statistics prove it);  the women are always strong characters, they don’t settle for second best.  They usually have a good sense of humor, and interesting jobs.  The men are strong and good looking, but once caught are devoted to the one girl. (no off to Argentina with a soulmate for these guys) They are not afraid to be romantic. And we know It’s all going to work out in the end, the right girl, the right guy. Nothing wrong with Happily Ever After.  If you need unhappily ever after just turn on the television, pick up a celebrity rag or surf the net.

I do get the reality of relationships, I just like to take a break. So for those scrooges of romance,  here’s my favorite poem by Marge Piercy.

What’s That Smell in the Kitchen?

All over America women are burning dinners.
It’s lambchops in Peoria: it’s haddock
in Providence; it’s steak in Chicago:
tofu delight in Big Sur; red rice and beans in Dallas.
All over America women are burning food they’re supposed to bring with calico smile on
platters glittering like wax.
Anger sputters in her brainpan, confined but spewing out missiles of hot fat.
Carbonized despair presses like a clinker
from a barbecue against the back of her eyes.
If she wants to grill anything, it’s
her husband spitted over a slow fire.
If she wants to serve him anything it’s a dead rat with a bomb in its belly ticking like the
heart of an insomniac.
Her life is cooked and digested,
nothing but leftovers in Tupperware.
Look, she says, once I was roast duck
on your platter with parsley but now I am Spam.
Burning dinner is not incompetence but war.

What have you been reading these last dog days of summer?

Here’s what’s on my nightstand:

• Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable by Bruce Hood (Beyond culture and the handing down of beliefs, Hood thinks there is something inherent in our nature that makes us believe the unbelievable.)

• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde (An adventure in an alternate world, where people really–I mean, *really*–value literature. What kind of drugs is this author taking?)

• The Great Fables Crossover by Bill Willingham. (Latest installment of maybe the best comic/graphic novel series ever!)

(If you’ve been following this blog, you may be interested to know that Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land is no longer on the nightstand!)

And what has been taking up Miss Kitty’s time?

• No Going Back by Lyndon Stacey (An ex-cop and his retired police dog solve a crime.)

• Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth (It’s about our relationship with food.)

• The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe (A modern-day woman discovers she has a connection to the Salem Witch Trials.)

Plus, Kitty says she’s so fed up with this weather she’s getting ready to read a Christmas romance: Scrooge and the Single Girl by Oklahoma’s own Christine Rimmer.

OK, now it’s your turn. What have you been reading this hot, hot season?

Hmmm… with all these titles, I wonder how many categories I should tag? Let’s see…

Odom has his Adventures in Writing , looks like he’s freezing at home like the rest of us this week. He also has BookHound, my personal favorite. Mel also contributes to Blogcritics magazine.

Gena Showalter, is hot, hot, hot. Start at her blog. And I just mentioned Showalter and low and behold I find her and Merline, on Merline Lovelace’s website in a Youtube video. (Be patient it takes a while to load).

Jill Monroe, who is also on the video has a blog. Jordan Dane, has a three book series out (which I’m the proud owner of, but haven’t finished yet so you won’t get any information out of me).  Here is her myspace page blog.

What’s progressing with C.J. Cherryh?

Christine Rimmer is an incredibly generous author who gave free books to the Oklahoma Department of Libraries for our women correctional institutions.   Much appreciated.

And I need to add a mystery writer to the list, William Bernhardt, and might I say Congratulations on your marriage!! We just received his new book, Nemesis, at the library.

So start looking for others to add to this list and I’ll be happy to post them.