Welcome to my favorite reads.

Every month or so, I'll post a short review of a special new romance that touched my heart or of an older one that I just had to go back to. Don't expect long plot summaries. I never read them myself but always skip ahead to the whys and wherefores. Or grades. My picks are fours on a four-point scale, fives on a five, sixes on a six. Period. So count on seeing a Georgette Heyer or two. And also count on favorites written by current writers I admire, some of them my friends. Which this first one is.

I was fortunate enough to see this funny, emotional, deeply human book develop as Virginia wrote it. The only drawback to that experience was that she couldn't write it as fast as I wanted to read! It's a pageturner that will make you miss your subway stop, shorten your wait for soccer practice to end, and keep you reading into the night.

Patrick's passion is his four-year-old son Jack who was severely burned in the automobile accident that killed their wife and mother. Since then Patrick hasn't had eyes or time for another woman, certainly not for one like the attractive plastic surgeon who disagrees about the operation Patrick wants for Jack's scarred face.

But Dr. Kate Sinclair does have a way with his doctor-wary son. And Patrick can't stop himself from asking her out and exploring a passion of an altogether different and too-long neglected kind ...

Grim, maudlin, or saccharine, this book is not, although the story line--a burned child, for heaven's sake--would seem to invite all those faults. Instead of grim medical gore, Virginia draws you into a very real, accurately depicted world of medicine where body, mind, and heart are healed. Instead of maudlin, sappy, tear-jerking stuff, her special feel for children and the guarded hearts of cautious lovers will earn real tears and repay with real laughter. Instead of saccharine dreck, you'll immerse yourself in snappy, funny dialogue and carefully crafted prose that just doesn't quit.

And then there's our hero. Patrick is a strong man, all irresistible male. But he's driven by his absolute devotion to his young son. Because Jack needs him so, Patrick resists all thoughts of women until he confronts Dr. Kate. Or rather she confronts him. You'll fall in love with Patrick on page one, and you'll be swept away when he discovers the second passion in his life.

I don't want to give anything away by saying more than that. Set aside some space on your keeper shelf. And be forewarned: Patrick's brothers Con and Sean are on the way.