Book roundup: Chance at romance By Deirdre Donahue, from USA TODAY

Book roundup: Chance at romance

By Deirdre Donahue, from USA TODAY

Cozy up to these offerings from Bette Ford, Nora Roberts, Rachel Gibson and Lisa Kleypas. 

Can't Get Enough of You
By Bette Ford
Avon, 384 pp., $7.99

Omigod. A love story set in Detroit, not Manhattan or Regency London. Where the hero and heroine reconnect over soda cans, not plasma products. OK, the hero is another pro athlete, this time an ex-NBA star. But what do you want, investment bankers? They might be rich, but rarely are they 6-foot-8 and dazzlingly sexy like Scott, the male star of this tale of love lost and regained. Mr. NBA has never gotten over Jenna, the college coed who broke off their engagement. Now an economics professor, she remains focused on her dream of reconnecting with the sister and brother she lost contact with when the three siblings were put in foster care. Complications ensue when that dream is achieved.

The Search
By Nora Roberts

Putnam, 488 pp., $26.95

The Search opens up with a 3-year-old boy who vanishes. Oops. TMS — too much suspense — for this romance purist, even though for the boy and his parents, the HEA — happily ever after — arrives quickly. The Search highlights Roberts' crisp, often salty dialogue, NASCAR-fast pacing, egalitarian spirit and, most of all, her ability to craft appealing characters, including four-legged ones. The novelcenters on Fiona, a professional dog trainer and canine search-and-rescue volunteer living on Orcas Island. Romance enters in the shape of a wild puppy and his desperate owner. But Fiona also is attempting to rebuild a life shattered by a serial killer whose legacy includes inspiring a copycat admirer.

Nothing But Trouble
By Rachel Gibson
Avon, 383 pp., $7.99

Set in Seattle, this love story crackles with sexual tension, clever repartee and psychological insights into fame. The heroine is a plucky actress up from L.A. but down on her luck. She's had plenty of screen time, most of it drenched in fake blood and screaming before being killed off in various slasher flicks. Her part-time gig working as a personal assistant to various psycho stars hasn't helped her self-esteem, either. Things hit bottom when her twin sister arranges for her to assist a rage-aholic NHL star who totaled his career as well as his SUV in a car accident. (It's part of Gibson's series about an imaginary pro hockey team called the "Chinooks." ) Warning: A touch graphic to be left out for kids.

Married by Morning
By Lisa Kleypas
St. Martin's, 352 pp., $7.99

For readers who wasted long wonderful summer afternoons devouring Jane Eyre, nothing makes the heart beat faster than a novel in which a plain-looking governess is underestimated by her employer. At first. That's the setup for the fourth novel in Kleypas' best-selling series about the Hathaway family. Everyone loves governess Catherine Marks. Except Lord Ramsey, who feels she is a disruptive influence on his sisters. But Ramsey has a pressing problem: Within a year he must marry and produce an heir or lose the family estate. Set in 19th-century London, this escapist delight features clever banter, sexual tension, a zesty pace and the unraveling of various mysteries, including why people fall in love.

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