April 1998
By A Janine Taylor

IT'S SPRING and there is plenty of new romantic fiction to be found. The novels coming out in April and May aim to appeal to a variety of readers' tastes, ranging on the TV spectrum from the traditional western Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman-type romance to the sci-fi Alien Nation. The best part is that there is no need to fight him for the remote. So if you're looking for some light entertainment without any commercial interruptions, here are a few titles for your consideration.

The Best Man By Maggie Osborne

(Warner Books - Historical Romance) $6.99
Generally I dislike stories with unsympathetic female characters and western settings don't appeal to me either, but The Best Man is an exception.
The three "worthless daughters" of Joe Roark enlist the help of down and out trail boss, Dal Frisco, to try to win their inheritance. Their father's will requires them to participate in a grueling cattle drive, delivering 2,000 steers to market or forfeit their father's money to his "fourth and worst wife, Lola".
Three love stories for the price of one is a nice bonus, but the strength of this book is the redemption of this bunch of losers. Freddy, Les and Alex are not merely misunderstood, they're rotten. They are truly annoying characters _ self-centered, sanctimonious, self-pitying, petty and pretentious. The cattle drive forces them to finally face difficulty and in the process they, and the men around them, find inner strength they didn't know they had.
This "on-the-road" story is hard to get into at first, but stick with it. Although not Maggie Osborne at her finest it's still an absorbing story. Osborne can be counted on to deliver an emotional tale and in this, The Best Man is no exception.
The Best Man: Unusual and satisfying 

Garden of Dreams By Patricia Rice

(Fawcett Gold Medal Romance) $6.99
Patricia Rice creates characters that earn your empathy and respect. The mystery element, which seems to be the new requirement for contemporary romances, moves the plot along and actually adds to this romance.
JD Marshall is the perfect modern-day Californian hero_ a successful computer geek with James Dean's style. He's on the run from investors and stranded in a backwater Kentucky village with a smashed van, a newly discovered teenage son and a pile of computers.
The local high school teacher, Nina Toon, is JDs salvation. She rescues him from the wreckage and allows him to room in her home while his van is fixed. Nina also helps supervise his son, asks no awkward questions and stirs up some awkward romantic feelings in JD Nina is no fool. She cannot trust JD, of course, but his offer to help fund her dream botanical garden project is too irresistible to pass up. So they play a waiting game, but what no one counted on was a murderer on JDs trail.
This is a busy plot, yet neither the romance nor the mystery seemed an afterthought. Garden of Dreams shines with complex character development and great romantic suspense.
Garden of Dreams: Spunky and smart. 

Orchid By Jayne Castle

(Pocket Star Books - Romance) $8.99
Orchid is set on the colony planet of St. Helen's and is predictably unconventional.
Rafe Stonebraker's primitive, off-the-scale psychic ability helps him with his hobby as a private detective. His exotic talents make it hard for any marriage agency to match him with a potential wife, which is essential to his plan to take control of the family firm. Rafe decides to hunt down a mate on his own and finds Orchid Adams, a professional psychic with Psynergy Inc. He hires her to help him with an investigation and decides that Orchid is his match. He has to convince her to marry him while they dodge psychic vampires, illusions and murder.
Jayne Ann Krentz, an incredibly popular and prolific writer, has established a standard of excellence whether writing under her own name or pseudonyms Amanda Quick and Jayne Castle. Her Jayne Castle series offers fans something very different from the everyday. This is Castle's third sci-fi romance with a flower title _ Zinnia and Amaryllis were the first two. The idiosyncratic style that establishes this futuristic setting was rather amusing when the series began, but it wears thin after a while.
Orchid: A quirky treat