A Night in Paradise by Heather Graham is full of laugh-out-loud moments about a pair of octogenarians who meet in a convalescent home and decide to marry. One mistaken assumption after another leads relatives into battles of will when they converge on the Florida town of Paradise to put a stop to what they perceive as old-age lunacy. But in true Romance fashion, love wins out for multiple generations of the two families, and even other residents of the elder-care home get in on the fun and festivities with hilarious results.

Adam by Jennifer Blake combines crime and suspense with romance and the paranormal on a sultry night in the rambling house of a former Southern plantation. The writer’s take on telepathy poses interesting challenges for the belle whose family is known for witchy powers and a solidly disbelieving tech specialist who had chosen to help a cop friend find a fugitive. Needless to say, with the mob after the same woman, bullets fly as fast as sexual sparks.

Garden Cop is the third story in With a Southern Touch, and Diana Palmer outdoes herself with humour when a none-too-perfect new FBI agent mistakes tomato plants for marijuana in the front yard of his mother’s neighbour. This tale provides more laughs than sexual sizzle and proves yet again Diana Palmer’s capacity to write enthralling love stories.