What I'm Reading: February 2011

I've been reading a lot of non-Regency work recently - this always happens when I'm slogging thickly through my own story, since reading in my own genre can be too distracting. So, my recent reads are heavy on the paranormal elements:

• FIRST GRAVE ON THE RIGHT by Darynda Jones. This is a smashing debut from one of my fellow 2009 Golden Heart winners - and holding her (gorgeous, hardcover) book in my hands at Borders gave me chills even though I'm on the teensiest edge of the periphery of her supernova success. Okay, that may be melodramatic. Still, her voice is incredible - the best way I can describe it is that the book has the best of the early Janet Evanovich/Stephanie Plum books (kickass, slightly ridiculous heroine, not yet mired in a love triangle) with all the heat and awesome paranormal elements that I'm loving with that side of the genre. I would totally recommend this even if I didn't know Darynda (and recommend it even more because I do).

• THE GHOST SHRINK, THE ACCIDENTAL GIGOLO AND THE POLTERGEIST ACCOUNTANT by Vivi Andrews. This is starting to look like nepotism, since Vivi is another of my fellow 2009 Golden Heart winners - but I'm way behind on reading the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood's stuff, and Vivi's novella hit the spot exactly when I needed it. While the story has paranormal elements (in fact, precisely the elements listed in the title - shocking!), at its core it's really a sweet, fun romp with a lovely woman who desperately needs to get laid and the unbelievably hot man who's more than willing to help her take care of that problem. It was just as sweet and fun as the heroine herself (and Vivi, for that matter), and a great afternoon read.

• WARRIOR by Zoe Archer. I'd heard great things about this series, and so far, so good. I got the bundle a couple of months ago and devoured Warrior in one sitting sometime in late January. Having a kick-ass heroine definitely helps, and the hero was one of those uncannily-good warriors I love so much (which explains my deep, abiding love for Aragorn from Lord of the Rings).

Up next, Kresley Cole's DREAMS OF A DARK WARRIOR releases this week, and it's already on the way to my doorstep. I also have a stack of novels as tall as me waiting for when I finish the final draft of my current project - which can't come soon enough, or else my TBR pile is going to bury me.

What are you reading? Are there any recent or upcoming books that I should add to the pile?