Cowboy Christmas Redemption by Maisey Yates

Caleb Dalton fell in love with Ellie Bell the day he met her. Too bad she was always fated to marry his best friend, the eminently better man. But her husband died fighting fires and now Caleb is Ellie's rock and his family is helping her to raise the daughter her husband barely knew she was carrying. Without him, Ellie would have been lost. But now she's finally starting to come back to life, to feel as if she deserves something more. She's got a new job and she's ready to start dating. Or at least have sex. It comes as a huge surprise when Caleb is the one man who makes he feel lust. And while Ellie is coming to terms with falling in love with her husband's best friend, Caleb still has some things to work through.
I didn't love the last Big Misunderstanding - I didn't feel like it was consistent with Caleb's arc- but overall a nice Christmas read.

Four stars
This book came out September 24th
Follows Lone Wolf Cowboy
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions are my love

The Write Escape by Charish Reid

Common romance trope: heroine loses both her fiance and her job in less than 24 hours. Job wasn't that great and the fiance was definitely a dud. It sucks, the reason that they break up, but it sure underlines Antonia's nervousness about getting married. She decides that, without a job or a husband, she might as well go on her honeymoon. She could finally work on her novel. But she doesn't count on her dick of a fiancee canceling her reservations. With the local festival going on, she barely finds a room in a cottages 30 minutes away. Tired beyond all belief, she barely realizes she's flirting with the cute Irish guy in line behind her at the grocery.
Cute guy, aka Professor Aiden Byrnes, only has a year before he's up for tenure and he's behind on his publishing. So it's a good thing he's got a week at his annual cottage getaway planned. He's not expecting to see the gorgeous American from the grocery store pounding on his door in the morning telling him that his music is too loud. He's delighted that she is as smart as she is beautiful and, before the week is over, he's plotting ways to help her to stay.
The book was a little cheesy and a little too judgmental of other romance novels but a fast, fun, and fluffy read.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 30th
ARC kindly provided by Carina Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Tis the Season to Read Maisey Yates Sampler by Maisey Yates

A nice glimpse of two of Yates' upcoming books.

Cowboy Christmas Redemption

Caleb Dalton fell in love with Ellie Bell the day he met her. Too bad she was always fated to marry his best friend, the eminently better man. But her husband died fighting fires and now Caleb is Ellie's rock and his family is helping her to raise the daughter her husband barely knew she was carrying. Without him, Ellie would have been lost. But now she's finally starting to come back to life, to feel as if she deserves something more. She's got a new job and she's ready to start dating. Or at least have sex.

Came out September 24th

Rancher's Wild Secret

Holden McCall finally has the last piece needed for his plans and it involves Emerson Maxfield. The beauty wants nothing more than to earn her father's love but Holden thinks she should be working toward something more... 

Comes out November 5th

Stay tuned here for full reviews!

Comes out November 5th

Samplers provided by Harlequin and NetGalley

Once a Spy by Mary Jo Putney

If you've read previous books in the Rogues Redeemed series, you will remember Simon Duval, the man who has helped our other heroes find love. In "Once a Scoundrel," Susan Duval, widow of Simon's cousin, helps the heroine escape a harem, the same harem where she was held for years. It's sort of understandable that she's not real keen on sex at this point. But when Simon suggests they marry for companionship, Susan is read to do it. Shunned by the other French emigres, Susan is not sure about the marriage at first but then she meets his friends and realizes that not everyone is as close-minded. She decides that, if Simon is not serious about wanting intimacy, she's in. So they marry and Simon soon realizes that his desire is not as lost as he thought.
The two work through her issues even as they also have to deal with going to Brussels, even knowing that Napoleon has escaped and England may once again be on the brink of war. They are looking for Simon's cousin, Lucas, who disappeared from a war camp and now may be wandering the countryside as a Franciscan monk.
This is a typical Putney novel, generally fast, fun, and fluffy. There are some heavy themes in this book that aren't exactly treated lightly but they are sort of skimmed over. Readers will again experience an unusual bent into religion, something that happened at the end of the Lost Lords series. I say unusual because it doesn't happen in every Putney book but shows up unexpectedly here and there and I was surprised there wasn't anything about it in the author's note, why was this book different? This time it was a little less preachy and more in the line of miraculous. I don't mind it if it's used consistently in a series but am sort of bemused that we have several fairly straight-forward novels and then one with overt magical realism. It will be interesting to see if future books in the series continue this trend, especially if Lucas gets his own HEA.

Three stars
This book came out September 24th
Follows Once a Scoundrel

Followed by Once Dishonored
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Hardy Agency by Script by Pierre Christin / Art by Annie Goetzinger

I don't know if a book less than twenty years old can rightly be called a classic but this is certainly a reissue of a book that originally came out in 2001 -- one that has the gritty appeal of a 1950s hardboiled detective mystery with some twists that I haven't read before (though I expect they may be more common that I believe): the detective in this case is a female, a widow to be exact, and it's set in Paris.
In this book, Episode One (of three),  Edith Hardy takes on the case of of a parfumier who has lost his lead scientist. Along the way, her young assistant Vittorio, now  in France known as Victor, is caught up in a round of socialist workers. There's a run-in with the KGB, a prescient dream, and.. just a lot going on. Very French.
If you like the Inspector Maigret mysteries, this may trip your trigger.

Three stars
This book came out September 18th
ARC kindly provided by Europe Comics and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Golden Grave by Erin Lindsey

I hadn't read a book in this series and obviously didn't read the description very well -- I completely missed the part about the paranormal mysteries. The part about Rose Gallagher being a Pinkerton agent and, heavily implied, being in love with the man, Thomas, who brought her in to the agency when he recognized her ability to see the spirits/shades. One night, she overhears her handler and his boss seemingly implying that she is not going to be a good fit for the agency, that she's not catching up as soon as she should. So when Sergeant Chapman comes to the door of the house that she's staying at, she immediately takes on his case. It seems six delegates from the Republican Convention are now dead and the sergeant isn't sure it's typhoid as the coroner is implying. In the course of her investigation, she meets Nicola Tesla.
It was an interesting read, especially with Rose trying to figure out how to align a new life, which seemed like it was going to solve so many problems, with the old one. I didn't feel like I missed much by not having read the first book in the series but I still wished I had read it.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 17th
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wrapped Up in You by Jill Shalvis

After a lifetime of heartbreak, Ivy Snow is ready to run her (about to be permitted) taco truck and make some roots with her found family in San Francisco. She's finally found a place to stay and nothing's going to push her out, not even the uber-handsome Kel O'Donnell.  Guy's a cop anyway and Ivy knows that's no good. It's too bad he's the cousin of one of her new-found friends and it sounds like he's going to be hanging out for awhile. And the more they hang out, the hotter he gets...
Kel has been... well. He's not working as a sheriff right now for reasons and he's got some time off from his ranch so he'll help his cousin Caleb with some work for his security business. He doesn't expect to fall in lust with a woman who cooks like a dream. But when her brother comes back into town, Kel just isn't sure that Ivy is someone he can trust.
I love most of Shalvis's work but the ending often don't work for me and this one is the same. It skips too far ahead and too much has happened that I would have liked to know how they actually got to their end point, it would have made the characters a little deeper.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Christmas in Chamonix by Sasha Wagstaff

Everyone knows the story: two best friends, one a guy, one a girl. One or the other realizes that they're in love with the other and, after a a short, turbulent period, they realize that they are both in love and end up with a HEA. Except in this book.

Lily Jackson has only recently realized that she loves her friend Jamie. But when she finally gets up the courage to tell Jamie that she loves him, she discovers that he's already in a relationship. And the woman he's dating? Well, it's just going to be uncomfortable for Lily to stay in the country. Even at Christmas, her favorite time of the year. So she finally takes he friend Imogen up on her suggestion to come to France, to the Chamonix ski resort. Lily has never skied but her job as a masseuse is pretty portable so she picks up and goes. And at Chamonix, she meets ski instructor Luc, a man who hates Christmas. Can she teach him to change his mind? In a typical romance novel or a Hallmark movie, it might be a no-brainer. But this book... who know?

A charming book that actually introduced some darker themes. Maybe a little too much for a Christmas book but it's all wrapped up neatly in the end. An extra bump in the rating for how the women handled the dating situation.

Four stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Canelo and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Seduction on a Snowy Night -- anthology

A Christmas Abduction by Madeline Hunter
Adam Prescott, Baron Thornhill, is expecting to spend his Christmas at his cousin's house avoiding marriage to an eligible heiress who is after his title. He's not expecting to be kidnapped off the coach and taken to a remote location. He's also surprised that one of the two kidnappers is a woman. A very attractive woman. Either way, he's pretty comfortable because he knows that they are going to be disappointed. No one will pay any sort of ransom for him. Even when he finds out that it's about more than money, he knows that he's innocent of the accusation being leveled at him. At least, he's pretty sure he is...
An okay story. Adam seemed like a decent hero but I wish we had gotten to know Caroline a little bit more.
Three stars


A Perfect Match by Sabrina Jeffries
I have been excited for this short story since I read a preview at the end of  Project Duchess. Cass is just trying to protect her young cousin from a rogue, Captain Malet. Several characters try to tell her that she is jealous of her cousin's youth (Cass isn't that old, just poised) and fortune (Cass is also an heiress but doesn't want anyone to know because she's been burned before. At a ball, she is startled to learn that she is not the only one suspicious of her cousin's suitor, Kitty's brother has sent an emissary in the form of Colonel Lord Heywood Wolfe to protect her. When Heywood believes that Malet is going to whisk Kitty away to Gretna Green, he decides to steal both ladies away first.
Like Project Duchess, this story was great for the first 3/4 and then falters. The last Big Misunderstanding didn't need to be there and seemed antithetic to Heywood's character.
Three and a half stars

 One Wicked Winter's Night by Mary Jo Putney
Years ago, Anthony fell in love with a woman who was a little bit older than he but when he proposed marriage, she told him he wasn't grown-up enough yet. It didn't quite break his heart but it definitely made him think twice about marriage. And now that he's a duke, women are knocking down doors to get to him. So, while he's sort of thinking about marriage, he is definitely thinking about it once he realizes that the veiled woman dancing an exotic dance at the home of his sister's friend is his long ago love, Diana.
A nice story that built characters nicely considering it was so short.
Four stars

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Merry Viscount by Sally MacKenzie

Caroline Anderson is on her way back from London after a failed attempt to sell the Home's Widow's Brew beer to a London tavern. In fact, she ended up having to ward off the gentleman from a rather amorous  attempt. Now she's on the stagecoach from hell with a judgmental pastor, a husband and wife who are REALLY annoying, and now a young mother with a six-year-old boy and a baby. Then two inebriated gentleman join the trip. And they decide to take over the reins and immediately drive the stagecoach into a ditch. To her astonishment, Caroline knows where they are, near the home of a man known as Lord Devil, a man who's nephew she played with when they were children. Only now the nephew has taken on the mantle as the Lord and he's holding a Christmas orgy at his house to spite his uncle's memory. However, the lord, Nick, isn't so inhuman that he'd turn people out into the cold so the entire stagecoach ends up at his house. He's astonished to recognize his childhood friend and even more astonished when she suggests that they pretend to be lovers.
Caroline has a really good reason for that-especially since her past was Not Good and she could use the dubious protection of a relationship with Nick but she soon realizes that a fake relationship might turn out to be real after all.
Like all MacKenzie books, this is a fast, fun, and fairly shallow read. Everything is wrapped up neatly without a lot of angst. The perfect book to read if you need something fluffy and light but I wish there had been a bit more character development.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 24th

Followed by Cheers to the Duke
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

Maggie, Katie, and Rosie are all hiding things from each other. Maggie doesn't want to let her daughters know that she and their father are divorcing. Though grown (maybe especially because they're grown), Katie and Rosie have no idea that their parents' marriage is anything but stable. But it could also be that they are so involved in their own lives.
Katie is an ER doctor in an ER that is perpetually understaffed. A month ago, something happened. We don't know what it is for most of the book but it is causing her some severe issues with PTSD.
Rosie is the pivot around which the story revolves. She's twenty-three with a history of making impulsive (not always good) decisions. This time, it's to get married to Dan, a man from Colorado after dating him for three months. Her family, mostly looking forward to one last Christmas in their cottage in England, are aghast.
But, as will happen, on this trip the secrets will start to come out. And maybe, just maybe, that's not such a bad thing.
Another good book from Sarah Morgan. It did take me awhile to get into it and I never really connected with any of the characters but the story moves and the ending seemed realistic.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Lavender & Mistletoe by Donna Kauffman

Avery Kent refers to herself as a Brain. It is her overall scope that allow her to figure out that there might be something more in the snow when she sees a set of tracks sliding across the road in a skid pattern. But she'll need more than that to rescue the pygmy goat she finds, she'll need a vet.
Ben Chandler is only in town to cover for the regular veterinarian who is traveling for a few months. He also has a big brain and is suitably impressed by Avery, even though she seems to be trying to steer him toward her friend, Cheyenne.
Eventually Avery and Ben end up pairing and finding that they really like each other. But what happens when Avery is tied to her place while Ben is a globe-trotting veterinarian?
This was a fine novella and regular Kauffman readers will enjoy. It was an easy romance but it's a novella so not a lot of development.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by

A Dash of Christmas by Samantha Chase

Emery Monaghan's life sucks pretty hard right now. Her fiance, the senator, not only cheated on her, he did some pretty heinous things to a number of women. Rather than supporting her, her parents are aghast that she's not standing by her man. She just needs to get away for a little bit and escape the crazy. Eliza Montgomery provides her not only a place, but a project to do while she tries to figure out the rest of her life.
Carter Montgomery doesn't know that his mother has asked Emery to help him with the cookbook he's putting together for charity. Nor does he realize that Emery is going to be staying in their New York apartment. Neither brings him great joy since he's currently consumed with opening his fourth restaurant. Too bad he can't figure out what to do with it. But maybe meeting Emery again will help him make up his mind.
I really liked the story of Carter and Emery getting to know each other again. The book was just a little too long with a Big Misunderstanding manufactured to add another 150 pages that didn't really add much.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
Follows Suddenly Mine
ARC kindly provided by publisher and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Fake Date by Monica Murphy

Sarah Harrison works in an upscale lingerie boutique. Like, teddies that go for four hundred dollars upscale. So her customers have some money and therefore merit personalized attention. Her least favorite customer? Jared Gaines. He's ultra-rich and ultra-demanding. His attitude is that his time is valuable and no one else's is. Even worse, he's in about once a week buying things for his "friends." Until the day that he buys something and sends it to Sarah. And she's not having it. Except that it turns her on. She's raising her younger brother and sister so she doesn't have a lot of time for extras. And, while Jared is hot, he's not worth the trouble.

Except, Jared needs help. His brother is marrying Jared's ex-fiancee's sister. Awkward to say the least. So what can he do? Maybe bring a really hot date. And he already has his eye on the perfect woman.
I liked most of the story. Murphy did her best to bring a little more agency to Sarah and, while Jared was creepy, he acknowledges it and doesn't go full CG-creepy on Sarah. I am definitely looking forward to Jared's sister's story.

Three stars
This book comes out September 17th 2019

Follows Save the Date

Followed by Holidate
ARC kindly provided by Social Butterfly PR and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Vendetta in Death by J.D. Robb

This is an In Depth book where we know the identity of the killer is pretty early in the book. It's a woman who is bent on settling scores. She starts by picking up a man who, among certain circles, is known to be dropping date rape drugs into women's drinks, taking them home, and doing terrible things to them (very timely). The killer has labeled herself Lady Justice and plans her look to be the most appealing for every man that she is going to kill, the easier to lure them in.
Eve is on to her pretty quickly and I think that is part of my disconnect with this book. There was so much of Eve investigating that I never got the sense of killer as a person. I never really cared how/why  Eve was going to get her because we dived in so soon. It was a perfectly fine addition to the canon but not one of my faves.

Three stars
Followed by Golden in Death
This book came out September 3, 2019

Follows Connections in Death

Followed by Golden in Death
ARC kindly provided by Mamillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023 as audiobook from Libby

A Royal Christmas Wish by Lizzie Shane

Jenny is the prototypical romance heroine. She's clumsy; she doesn't know her own beauty (inner or outer); she has not one but two overachieving siblings; she believes in twu lurv; and she doesn't recognize someone who is arguably super-famous.
When she runs into Dominic, the prince of San Noelle (have we yet identified this as a Hallmark book? No? I'm guessing you did after this name), Jenny is just doing your normal thing you do in New York, walking her favorite rescue dog, Prince Harry (I like this author's sense of humor), in Central Park. Then, she slams into a super handsome guy. A guy that she later sees at a fancy party where she is dressed as an elf. She wishes that she could have gotten Dom's number but a lost snowflake bracelet leads to something almost as good, her wish to have a fairy tale Christmas is granted. It's a chance to see what her life would be like if she were actually married to Dom.  But she only has until midnight on Christmas.
This is just like a Hallmark movie, comforting and low-key. It didn't trip all my joy triggers but I finished it and, other than having to plow through all the generic romance tropes, enjoyed it.

Three and a half stars
This book came out September 10th
ARC kindly provided by Hallmark Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

First Time Embroidery and Cross Stitch: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide by Linda Wyszynski

I have both cross-stitched and embroidered for quite a long time but I am self-taught and thought this book might give me some insight into new stitches or better techniques. There weren't a lot of either but this was a I liked that there were both pictures and drawings of what the stitches would look like. The ideas for projects were unique but easy enough for a beginner.

Four stars
This book came out September 3rd
ARC kindly provided by Quarto Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Mr. Maybe by M. Kate Quinn

Kit Baxter's life has been somewhat...complicated lately. At Christmas, she caught her cousin and her (Kit's) boyfriend kissing under the mistletoe. Now the two are getting married and her cousin wants the bridal shop Kit works at, Kit specifically, to alter their grandmother's dress. The dress that Kit has always wanted to wear at her own wedding. But she can't complain or she'll be accused of being petty. And the shop needs the word-of-mouth anyway. The one bright spot, the fact that she's been able to buy her house on the water. Of course, it's a fixer-upper. And that dead tree did just fall and crush the car she doesn't have comprehensive insurance for. So, she needs a way to make some money.
Shane Dugan needs a place to live. In order to get his dream job as a paid fire fighter, he needs to prove residence in the area. And the apartment he had locked down isn't going to be ready for 3 months. So Kit's neighbor comes up with a plan, Shane lives at Kit's and pays rent; Kit gets money.
Kit isn't so sure it will work, but when she accidentally lies to her aunt and cousin to get them off her back, she decides that, if Shane will pretend to be her boyfriend, he can live with her.
I do like a fake relationship story and this was an interesting setup with Shane already having a girlfriend. Kit and Shane have some low level vibes but absolutely nothing happens before he breaks up with his girlfriend (which I appreciated... there were some glances and feelings but nothing else.)

Three and a half stars
This book came out August 21st
ARC kindly provided by The Wild Rose Press, Inc. and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Bloodlust & Bonnets by Emily McGovern

Swashbuckler Lucy loves to kill vampires.  And maybe people. But using her sword is awesome. So when she meets Lord Byron (yes, that Lord Byron,) who is also hunting vampires,  she hops right on board his giant, psychic eagle, Napoleon. Granted, her first choice would have been to be inducted into the secret vampire society but Byron keeps interrupting her interludes with Lady Violet (who may be a secret vampire cult leader....or a great pretender, if you believe Gladys De Harridan, an EXTREMELY old vampire.)
As Lucy adventures, she and Byron meet a strange cast of characters most of whom have secrets. Except Virginia. Well, she has a secret but she's also pretty inept so.... There is also Sham who, dressed as a lady, is the person Lucy is most interested in.
I was pretty bemused by this book in general (I could mostly follow but got lost a couple times.) I think fans of McGovern's "My Life as a Background Slytherin" will enjoy this book immensely as the wit and drawings are very similar.

Three stars
This book comes out September 17th
ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Question of Us by Mary Jayne Baker

Clarrie Midwinter may not have the most posh life but it's a good one. She's got her mates, she's got her trivia nights, and she's got her best friend, Simon. Except that one of their teammates has been pushed off the team since she cheated on another one of their teammates.
Simon's very serious about getting together with Clarrie but every time he brings it up, she acts like he's joking. Finally, Fate and a bet step in to force Clarrie to move past her anxiety and finally accept that Si might be her lobster.
This was a VERY British book and I'm not usually affected by that but this time... it was a lot. If I had known it going in, it might have been easier to get through. I liked that this was a group book, just as much about the friendships as the romance.

Three Stars
This book came out September 5th
ARC kindly provided by Aria and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Met Her Match by Jude Deveraux

Ever since her mother supposedly left town with a lover, Terri Rayburn has been painted with the same brush. It doesn't help that she's "from the lake" which is definitely not the same as being from "in town." You know who's from town? Stacy, the mayor's daughter. She's also the one engaged to Nate Taggert. Of course, she doesn't know that Nate Taggert is living in Terri's house... and so is Terri.
Of course, like all Deveraux novels, Terri and Nate are perfectly matched. They may not realize it yet but they are. Both tall and muscular and incredibly handy -- perfect. This is unusual for a Deveraux novel in that the hero is engaged to another woman for 3/4 of the book. And there's sort of a mystery but it's in the background and then quickly wrapped up.  Regular Deveraux readers and people looking for a fluffy beach read with no character development will enjoy this book.

Three stars
This book comes out September 17th
ARC kindly provided by HARLEQUIN - MIRA and NeGalley
Opinions are my own

Magic Under the Mistletoe by Lucy Coleman

Leesa Oliver is on a flight, on December 23rd, closing out a contract with the incredibly demanding Cary Anderson who is emailing her from first class, already trying to get her to make updates to a video project. Her employee who does the actual editing stayed behind in Australia to hang out with a woman he's met so she's feeling a little frustrated. And learning that there is a storm that is making it difficult to land and impossible to leave the airport leaves her frustrated. But Cary notices her frustration and offers her a ride to his grandmother's, less than a mile away. He has a ride.

Leesa, decides to take him up on it. And it's then that the misunderstandings start. Cary's grandmother, a famous romance novelist immediately assumes that they are dating. Cary would like to encourage her because it makes her worry about him less. When he hears Leesa's story of how she'll be spending Christmas (with her ex-husband's family after the death of his mother's mother), he bets her that she'll call him before he calls her, needing a fake significant other. It turns out she needs the help first and then they just... keep not dating. 

Fake relationships are one of my favorite tropes. And this one starts so well. And I did appreciate that this relationship took place over the course of a year.. it gave Leesa and Cary time to get to know each other. But there were pieces that felt undone and parts that ended rather abruptly. It was an okay story but I wish it had ended a little more smoothly.

Three stars

Book comes out September 5th

ARC kindly provided by Aria and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Wrapped in Ink by Carrie Ann Ryan

Liam Montgomery's world is spinning. He just found out a Big Secret after a family wedding and it's making him distance himself from his family which is normally close. But he's finding some comfort in his relationship with Arden, a woman who was in the same hospital room that he was in after an accident.
Arden has lupus and she is dealing with having an "invisible" disease. She often has to call off planned engagements because of her flare-ups and it has caused a lot of distress among her friends, most of whom have deserted her because of her "flakiness."
I wish this book had been a little longer. Liam's secret wasn't well developed; it was more show than tell. And while Liam and Arden dealt with one of her flare-ups, I wish we had seen more. I just couldn't get the sense that he was going to be committed enough to stick.

Three stars
This book comes out September 10th
ARC kindly provided by Author Collective 20 and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Remembering the Dead by Elizabeth J. Duncan

When the local squire has a chance to display the Black Chair, a piece of Welsh history awarded posthumously to poet Hedd Wyn in 1917, Penny Brannigan is called in to help arrange a dinner for the local dignitaries. There hasn't been a dinner at the manor for some time and everyone is excited to either attend or help the event go off well.
Unfortunately, not only is the chair gone by the end of the evening, there's a dead body discovered as well. And when it's discovered to be the relative of one of Penny's employees, the grief quickly hits home. Characters both old and new feature in the solving of this mystery which ends up being a bigger planned heist than first thought.
I don't think you will need to have read previous books in the series but it probably helps. I didn't think the mystery quite came together in the end but it was nice to visit some of our favorite characters and to see at least one former baddie get his comeuppance.

Three stars
Follows The Marmalade Murders
This book comes out September 10th
ARC kindly provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Sharon, Lois and Bram's Skinnamarink by Sharon Hampson; Lois Lilienstein; Bram Morrison

I think there are a lot of people in my age group that will remember Sharon, Lois, and Bram from their television show. Now, their iconic song is in a children's book. The illustrations were perfect for the kind of fun and inclusive show. There was a sense of humor. There were also a couple of verses I didn't know. But I have had that song in my head all day now...

Four Stars
This book comes out September 3rd
ARC kindly provided by Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley
Opinions are my own