IT’S THE MIDDLE of July, prime time for fluffy vacation reading. Try one of these current releases for a few hours of happy escape.

• "Until the Knight Comes," by Sue-Ellen Welfonder (Warner, $6.50, 337 pages). What’s a holiday reading program without a slightly magical Scottish medieval? Worthless, lassies, and downright pathetic. Real women adore great braw laddies in kilts. Lady Mariota Macnicol certainly does, and it’s gotten her into trouble.

First there was the bonny Bastard of Drumodyn, Hugh, for whom she sacrificed her honor. When he dies in compromising circumstances, Mariota finds herself accused of murder. Worse, she’s designated as a human sacrifice for the local water-horse, a Scottish river demon. No one believes her claim of innocence. With her life on the line, she flees to a remote half-ruined and uninhabited keep, Cuidrach Castle. Unbeknownst to Mariota, Cuidrach has recently been given to Sir Kenneth MacKenzie, a base-born knight with an aversion to fallen women. Betrayals in the past, blah, blah, unforgiven hurts, etc., etc. Kenneth and Mariota knock each other clean off their respective socks, even though both of them are terrified of entering into a new affair.

Welfonder does a fine job capturing the intensity of the lusty imperatives of young love. "Until the Knight Comes" is a fun, sexy, well-told romance with likable characters and a sweet view of life.

• "Man Camp," by Adrienne Brodeur (Ballantine, $12.95, 212 pages).

Brodeur’s debut novel is a cute, sassy chick-lit tidbit based on the conceit that there are so many modern guys out there who need to macho it up — make fire, fix things, blow things up — it’s justifiable shipping them off to a Man Camp where a good ol’ boy will whip ’em into shape.

This is a book that works best in the context of its Manhattan characters. Despite this being the 21st century and all, most of the men I know would still profit more from finishing school: manners, thoughtfulness, consideration, that sort of thing. However, this is summer fun reading. We willingly suspend reality to enter the world of Brodeur’s thirtysomething Manhattanite heroines, biologist Lucy Stone and actress Martha McKenna. Lucy has a boyfriend she really, really likes, but his dismal performance on a roughing-it weekend rankles. Adam has no survival skills whatsoever, and much as she wishes she didn’t, Lucy thinks less of him for it. Martha has a business called FirstDate, where her clients take her on a date and she critiques their social skills. It’s a sad, sad world. The men of Manhattan need more than Martha can give them in a one-shot deal.

Enter Cooper Tuckington, Lucy’s best friend from college, the good ol’ boy needed to get Man Camp off the ground. Cooper’s a dairy farmer in West Virginia, and he can break things, fix them up again, and make a woman feel like a woman. Plus, he needs free labor on his struggling farm. He welcomes the Man Campers.

"Man Camp" is a total potato chip of a book. Silly, charming, and fun, it’s ideal beach (lake, mountains, hiding-from-visiting-in-laws) reading.

• "Angel with Attitude," by Michelle Rowen (Warner, $6.50, 363 pages).

Rowen veers into the silliest territory yet with her second novel, "Angel with Attitude." Valerie Grace is a bona-fide angel — was an angel, until she got kicked out of heaven for one of the Seven Deadly Sins. In her case, pride. She lands with a splash in a killer whale tank at a tourist attraction in Niagara Falls, N.Y. She bumbles her way to the Paradise Inn, a run-down motel where the owner takes her on as a maid. This isn’t an easy adjustment for Val. To make matters worse, she must cope with every fallen angel’s nemesis, a Tempter Demon, sent from hell to lure her Down There (and I don’t mean the Antipodes). Val’s demon is Nathaniel, and he is definitely tempting. Hot, hot, hot. And surprisingly protective. Go figure.

Val, however, will not be tempted. She hatches a plan to get back into heaven using a long-lost Key given to the Paradise Inn owner. Unfortunately, another demon steals it, and Val has to find him. She needs a demon to help her, and the only one she knows is Nathaniel. She befriends a witch who helps her summon him, also handily binding him to obey her, and off they go to save the Key and stop the bad demon from using it and destroying the universe. Rowen’s vision of paranormal comedy draws heavily on other pop culture expressions, such as TV show creator Joss Whedon’s "Buffy"/"Angel" worlds, "Charmed" and a host of novels in a similar vein. It’s not original, but it’s cute, and it hangs together tolerably well. And there’s the advantage of no vampires, of whom I’m currently sick to death.

"Angel with Attitude" will read very nicely on a plane or in a pool chair.