Marching into Spring reading with a few April showers on the way

I'm not sure what the official Groundhog's Day predictions were for the arrival of spring this year but it will come,as certain as taxes and a new season of Celebrity Apprentice(a fate worse than death). While times are tough right now,and may be for a while,we can still find some good old fashioned entertainment between the pages of some of these great books set to bloom at a bookseller near you.

TAKING THE SCENIC ROUTE WITH SOME SMART AND SAVVY LADIES



A hot ticket item for April,Beyond Heaving Bosoms:The Smart Bitches' Guide To Romance Novels brings to life all of joy,sass and snark of the popular website,Smart Bitches Love Trashy Novels.

Written by SB founders Candy Tan and Sarah Wendell,the book discusses the everlasting appeal of the romance genre and the love/hate relationship with it that audiences still have today. The approach taken here is smart and funny,which is appreciated by both readers and writers in the field:





Susan Jane Gilman relives a cultural harrowing journey of her own in Undress Me In The Temple Of Heaven. Back in 1986. Susan and a fellow college buddy of hers decided to embark on a global backpacking tour,starting with the newly open to foreigners country of China.

The only guidebooks that they took along were Linda Goodman's Love Signs and the works of Nietzsche ,which didn't fully prepare the gals for the obstacles that awaited them on the streets of Shanghai.

Gilman has written two other well spoke of memoirs,"Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress" and "Kiss My Tiara",so no doubt that her clever wit and wiles will make this latest account of hers just as compelling to read(March).

LOOKING FOR SOME HOT STUFF?



The latest chapter in the Kitty Norville series,Kitty Raises Hell,has our favorite werewolf talk show hostess on the defensive as her enemies from Las Vegas start a literal flame war on her home front.

With only a team of paranormal experts who do ghost hunting on TV and a couple of vampire alliances that may have more than one agenda,Kitty and friends must try to quench these deadly demonic fires that threaten more than just their inner circle. I've read this one already and take my word for it,this book is smoking hot with a view to a kill (March):





If you prefer to sample a fresh new series,Jaye Wells has someone she'd like to introduce you to. Sabrina Kane is a product of two very diverse paranormal races,vampire and mage,which makes the Red Headed Step Child of both.

Sabrina's loyalties have usually been with the Dominae,the vampire masters who trained her to be an assassin, but her most recent assignment threatens the balance between both sides which forces her to think about which one deserves her devotion the most.

This book is the first of three and ,with any luck,perhaps we will get more of an insight into this deviously dangerous realm of Jaye Wells. Certainly worth checking out there(April).

IT'S NOT JUST ANOTHER HOUSE AND GARDEN SERIES



Detectives Lomax and Biggs are at it again,taking on the home renovation racket in their new book,Flipping Out by Marshall Karp.

A prominent mystery writer in LA also has a partnership with a house flipping company that turns all too realer than real estate when one of the house flippers dies just before the author's new book(which places a fictional murder in one of their latest makeover showpieces)hits the streets.

The case becomes even more of a sticky wicket,due to the victim having been a ex-wife of a police officer. Figuring out who the real target is gets to be a major priority as the possibility of someone near and dear to them being next on the killer's list is becoming a scarily safe bet. Sounds like another check in the writer's winner column for Karp(April).

MISS INDEPENDANT'S DAY



Alberto Ferraras' debut novel,B as in Beauty,has a larger than life heroine named Beauty Marie Zavala whose extra weight may be holding up her career advancement.

Instead of taking it on the chin,Beauty fights back with some confidence boosting from a matchmaker dedicated to finding her a rich man who can fully appreciate her inner beauty.

With a stronger self esteem(plus a stronger desire for revenge),Beauty feels ready to take on the world but her heart remains the ultimate stumbling block to her goal of true happiness. Make room on your shelves for another member of The Big Girls Are Beautiful Club,folks(April):





In Jane Hamilton's upcoming book,Laura Rider's Masterpiece,the title lady in question is pleased with her platonic state of affairs in her marriage until her husband Charlie starts up an e-mail correspondence with popular local radio show host Jenna Faroli.

Instead of being jealous,however,Laura makes use of the opportunity to hone her writing skills and teams up with Charlie on a "project" to create some interesting e-mails to Jenna that take on a life of their own. Hamilton is like literary lightning,she never strikes in the same place twice. Her imaginative impact is always electrifying and sparks up the mental doldrums of the day(April).

LAST BUT NOT LEAST....



Seems that Dickens revival I was talking about is very real,indeed. Another fictional take on the author is due out in March,this time from Matthew Pearl,best known for The Dante Club.

In The Last Dickens,the death of Charles Dickens prompts his American publisher,James Osgood, to send trusted clerk Daniel Sand to seek out the unfinished manuscript of the author's final novel,The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

When Daniel is found dead by the London docks,Osgood must travel to England to discover the truth about both the murder and the ending of Drood that is worth many lives to those wanting to conceal it from the world. Talk about the game being afoot here! This romp into the dark Victorian depths of Dickens' England should open a few more doors for others to follow thru(March).

With these recommendations,you should have plenty to amuse yourselves with,folks. For those of you who intend to indulge in Spring Break,just remember that taking along a little brain food in your beach bag is not necessarily a bad thing. Spending your spring break with Bill Moyers(or something just as PBS like) is preferable to waking up at the beach with a mysterious tattoo and babbling about hot dogs,trust me on this: