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Show innpjfitf: "r-Tis the season for romance "" ) tot BY SANDY HUSEBY Ever since Dickenss A Christmas Carol, writers have found special reward in telling inspirational stories of Christmas joy. In Katherine Stones poignant A Midnight Clear (Warner, S6.99, 0446606782), two lost souls travel across the Atlantic to confront their ghosts of Christmas past. Jace Colton keeps his humanity ngidly guarded behind an austere surgeons mask ever since a broken promise made in boyhood led to two deaths until, that is, he finds a soulmate in Julia Anne Has ley. Julia is celebrating Christmas for the first time since the untimely loss of her disabled baby sister, Winnie. Jace and Julia together discover that for a few brief, stolen days the shadows of the past can be dimmed by the glittering magic of London. Reality intrudes all too soon, however, as Jace HOLIDAY! heads off to pmv ide medical care to war victims and Julia flies to Seattle to begin a new life. As life quickens within her. Julia reaches out only to leant Jace has been kidnapped by terrorists. A Katherine Stone's magical touch makes Midnight Clear a story for all seasons. R takes a village and a man Sometimes, it takes a village to save Christmas especially when the Christmas in question is a tiny Minnesota hamlet on the verge of becoming unincorporated. Losing the towns identity is unthinkable to the citizens of Christmas, Minnesota, who bund together to save it in Pamela Bauers delight- Saving Christmas (Harlequin, $3.99, 0373 68039). Sara Richards gets the unenviable task of spearheading the rescue, and her plan for a one-davillage festival is at the mercy of the weather, the sw ift passage of ful y Sr The master of true crime. Patricia Cornwell I'M who makes a man out of mud." Mick Tremore is a Cornish rat catcher who's set loose on the proper, genteel Edwina Bollash. tutor of aristocratic young ladies. Mick is used to being propositioned by women who want a brief wallow in the mud of the lower classes, hut nothing he's experienced has prepared him for the challenge of his tutor. Edwina wants to prove she can teach the free-h- v ing Mick how to be a proper gentleman, even if she has to do some learning of her own. Judith Ivory 's The Proposition evokes live warmest human passions in this radiant tale. the calendar, and one genuine bah humbug nemesis, her old high school fantasy man. Joe Gibson. Joe's back in town to take his mother back to California But Sara's and Joes moms and a town full of romantic spirits are com inced that the best place for Sara and Joe is in Christmas together. Taking a delightful spin on the Twelve Days of Christmas," Pamela Bauer makes Sav ing Christmas a treat of a tale. -- A real catch Historical romance superstar Jude Deveraux turns contemporary w ith a suspenseful quest for missing treasure in High Tide (Pocket, $24. 0671814161; Simon and Schuster Audio, $24.0671046233). The last thing New York businesswoman Fiona Short takes Robyn Care takes readers behind the scenes and into the lives of wnters in The House on Olive Street (Mira. $5.99. 1551 66545XL Four friends begin their most important collaboration yet as they archive the papers of their friend Gibby. Elly. Sable. Bartvara Ann, and Beth discover unexpected truths about themselves as they work to make Cubby s dream and SUSPENSE Burkcnhalter ants fishing trip in the Everglades . . . w ith a guide named Ace. But Ace proves to be helpful when Fiona awakens to the crush of a dead body in her arms. When Fiona and Ace lcam they're the prime suspects and chief heirs of the murder v ictim. they set out to find the real killer and solve a mystefy. In this escapade, Jude Deveraux delivers adventure and romance as mysterious and sultry as the Everglades themselves. w is a three-da- y d My In fair gentleman The Proposition (Avon, S6.50. 0380802600), Judith Ivory puts a new spin on the story of Pygmalion as she tells the sparkling tale of a spinster Dakota. and lakeside near Arm, Minnesota. She is online at SHusehyt a aot.com. nn Undaunted by the prolific determined to cast back for centuries to compile millennium booklists, we're happy to remind you of these terrific novels published in the past year. Great, entertaining stories with a little something more make these books Sandys favorites for 1939. rs 0451-40755-- $6.99 ; ; ; ; . abridged, $17.95, 156740S265; Brilliance, unabridged, $39.95, 1567404065) Night Gardening by LL Swann (Hyperion, $15.95, 078686438 Brilliance, unabridged, $24.95, 15674082571 HTutf the Heart Knows by Kathleen Eagle (Avon, 0380377052) New York Times bestselling author Jerry Bledsoe details the shocking true crime story of Velma Barfield, the first woman to be executed in the United States by lethal injection. member of Penguin Putnam Inc. Visit Onyx online at www.penguinputnam ! w-- A com Cioad Hint by Luanne Rice (EDO, $19.35, C55311CS32; Nova Audio Books, abridged, $17.55, 1567408176; Brilliance, unabridged, $24.53, 1567400965) 0a Mystk Lake by Kristin Hannah (Crown, $19.95, 0603602437; Nova Audio Books, 42 DECEMBER EEST ! , ! The Saving Craces by Patricia Gaffney (HarperCoiSns, $24, 0060191929; Random House AudloBooks, $24, 03754071461 Jemts of the Sm by Nora Roberts (love, $7.50, 0515126772; Nova Audio Books, abridged, $17.95, 15S740S633) |