Cover images and book descriptions are now posted for all the June releases, including the latest rollicking mystery from Christie Craig.  Click here for more.

You can also get a peek at what we have coming in June on the Coming Soon page. One cover to check out out now is the gorgeous (if I do say so myself) STROKE OF GENIUS by Emily Bryan, now in the right-hand sidebar.

I’m also beyond thrilled to announce that Dorchester’s message boards are back up and running.  Actually, these are all new boards with loads of new features.  Even if you’ve posted previously, you’ll have to register.  But it’s quick and painless–promise.  Voting for America’s Next Best Celler will start there on Monday.

SPELLBENT by Lucy A. Snyder

A woman in Ohio who’s learning magic accidentally opens a portal to Hell and releases a demon (oops!), who then snatches up her teacher/lover.  So she’s left to figure out her powers and rescue the guy. 

From Bantam/Del-Rey.

SEDUCING THE HEIRESS by Olivia Drake

This is the first of “An Heiress in London” series in which a rich family of commoners take London Society by storm.  The great endorsements from from Susan Wiggs and Christina Dodd along with that stunning red cover immediately caught my eye.

From St. Martin’s.

PROOF BY SEDUCTION by Courtney Milan

I was surprised to see that this is Milan’s debut novel because it seems as though her name has been everywhere lately.  I think this is one a lot of people are looking forward to, especially since it recently got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and Julia Quinn calls it “One of the finest historical romances I’ve read in years.”   The premise: a scientific-minded lord is determined to prove a fortune-teller is a fraud.

Coming from HQN.

HEARTS AND BLOOD by Gail Dayton

This is a sequel to her Victorian fantasy, NEW BLOOD, which I recently read a preview of and really enjoyed.  From the back cover:

Pearl Parkin, a gently reared lady struggling to survive in London’s slums, sees magic as a way out of the life she finds herself trapped in. But blackmailing master conjurer Grey Carteret into making her his apprentice has unexpected consequences. As they plunge into the hunt for a murderer, Pearl discovers that the things she once desperately wanted are not as important after all, and that she must risk her blood, her heart and her very life to grasp the love she needs. 

From Tor.

SUNRISE is also the first book in our new lineup of Publisher’s Pledge titles, books the editors have hand selected as being so strong that we’re willing to offer readers a refund if they don’t absolutely fall in love with the story.

Hope you also enjoy the larger cover images!

And on the Coming Soon page is a listing of ALL the May 2010 books on the Dorchester schedule, along with a new excerpt for PRIDE MATES, the first book in Jennifer Ashley’s Shifters Unbound series, coming in February.

And check out Coming Soon for a peek at April books and links to these recently posted excerpts:

• “The Longest Night” by Jennifer Ashley from A CHRISTMAS BALL – October
• DESTINY’S CAPTIVE by Kate Lyon – November
• SILVER SILENCE by Joy Nash – November
• THE GIFT by Deb Stover – November
• QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS by C.L. Wilson – November
• FALLEN ROGUE by Amy Rench – December
• STOLEN SEDUCTION by Elisabeth Naughton – January
• A MIDWIFE CRISIS by Lisa Cooke – February

The Lightworld/Darkworld series by Jennifer Amintrout

These will be released in consecutive months from Harlequin, starting in October.  I thought the covers looked stunning together and were also an interesting direction for what’s presumably paranormal romance or fantasy romance–further evidence (in case you needed any) of genre blending.  The premise behind the series is that fairy-tale creatures were expelled from the human world and created two kingdoms – light and dark.

Sins of the Flesh by Caridad Pineiro

This is Pineriro’s debut with Hachette, to be released in November.  To me, the title and cover look like erotica.  But according to the back cover, it’s about a mercenary sent to find a genetically enhanced woman who’s been accused of murder.  A little sci-fi, some suspense, and probably pretty hot too. 

Night Tides by Alex Prentiss

This gorgeous cover immediately caught my eye in the kits for Bantam.  I originally had it marked as a December release, though it looks as though now Random House is listing it as February.

RH has changed their kits so that now many covers have no marketing information.  I’m not sure exactly how they’re categorizing this book, though it sounded like paranormal suspense.  According to the cover copy, a woman has an affinity for water spirits and in return for their protection, she has to help their people.  But now young women in her town are going missing, and she’s not sure whether the spirits are at fault.  The copy also made it sound as though there might be some erotic content, but again it was hard to tell.

But all of this does make you think about how important the cover image and copy are as tools to determine a book’s category and contents.

Coming up, we have:

September

Originally published by Dorchester in 1996.

October

Originally published by St. Martin’s in 1996.  Parts have been rewritten and updated.

A trade-size edition from Harlequin containing Outrageous and Riley.

There are a bunch of others as well–Grand Central is redoing  some Jayne Ann Krentz futuristics in early 2010, Harlequin is packaging some Nora Roberts’ books into double trade-size editions, and Bantam is re-releasing the movie tie-in of The Bourne Identity.  And these are just ones I noted from recent kits.  We don’t receive sales info from Kensington or Penguin (Berkley/Jove/NAL), but I”m sure they’re doing it as well.

It’s a big advantage to be able to get out a lot of copies for not much money.  The advance is already paid, and depending on how old the book is, the publisher may not have to pay to re-typset it.  So usually it’s just new art and the printing costs. 

For readers, the best way to tell whether a book is new or a reissue is to check the copyright page.

 We wanted to showcase these books in a special way.  Hence a new Home in the Heartland banner, making its first appearance with Caroline Fyffe’s debut, WHERE THE WIND BLOWS. 

This is not a new line.  There is no set number of titles we’re looking for. 

Future books in the series include Lisa Cooke’s A MIDWIFE CRISIS, which is currently featured on my sidebar, and Sharla Rae’s debut, HOW TO TAME A TIMBERMAN, coming in May 2010. 

A quick way to get a feel for the books is to watch Caroline Fyffe’s video preview.  Invest the extra time to write your version of the last line of her book, and you could win a stay at a California dude ranch.  Check out her Under the Western Sky contest for further details.

And Gemma Halliday debuted her new book video for SCANDAL SHEET, coming in November.