May Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

Die Like an Eagle by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #20
Four stars
This book came out August  2nd, 2016

Follows Lord of the Wings
Followed by Gone Gull

Owl Be Home for Christmas by Donna Andrews

Meg Lansglow #26

Follows Terns of Endearment

Followed by The Falcon Always Rings Twice

Four stars

Borrowed as ebook from Cloud Library

The Falcon Always Wings Twice by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #27

Follows Owl be Home for Christmas

Followed by The Gift of the Magpie
This book comes out August 4, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from CloudLibrary

The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow #28

Follows The Falcon Always Wings Twice

Followed by Murder Most Fowl

This book came out October 20th, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from CloudLibrary

Frost Burned by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #7

This book came out March 11th, 2014
Follows River Marked
Followed by Night Broken
Borrowed as hard copy from Library

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #8

This book came out March 5th, 2013
Follows Frost Burned
Followed by Fire Touched
Borrowed as hard copy from Library

Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #9

This book came out March 8th, 2016
Follows Night Broken
Followed by Silence Fallen
Ebook from Libby

Silence Fallen by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #10

This book came out March 7th, 2017
Follows Fire Touched
Followed by Storm Cursed
Ebook from Libby

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #11

Follows Silence Fallen
Followed by Smoke Bitten
Ebook from Libby

Smoke Bitten by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson #12

This book came out March 17th, 2020
Follows Storm Cursed
Ebook from Libby

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham

This book came out in 1927

Ebook from Libby

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

Aurelia Ryder #1

Four stars

This book came out January 12th, 2021

Ebook borrowed from Libby

The Vanishing by Jayne Ann Krentz

Three stars

Followed by All the Colors of the Night

This book came out January 7th, 2020

Borrowed as eBook from Libby

Lucky Score by Deborah Coonts

Lucky O'Toole isn't sure what's going on in her hotel and she doesn't like it. A man staggers into her lobby and dies and a Senator is implicated. It probably has to do with the football team coming to town which should be good for business but the players are causing more problems than they're worth. One of them is running a party out of her Secret Suite and Lucky knows nothing about it. Romeo, her cop friend and mentee, is keeping secrets. And then there's the fact that she's wondering whether her incomparable fiance is really the man for her.

Three stars
Follows Lucky Ride
Followed by Lucky Ce Soir
This book came out June 29th, 2018
Borrowed as an ebook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs

Not every werewolf is part of a pack but that doesn't mean that the Marrok doesn't take care of them. Even if there are some wolves that are too wild doesn't mean that they all have to be put down. But when the wildings are targeted and the Marrok has left town, Charles and Anna will have to step up to try and save as many as they can.

Ufda. This book feels like there was more death than usual in it. But also some tie-ins with witches to the next Mercy Thompson which was really interesting to me. There was also a bit more about Bran's relationship with Leah even though he is absent for most of the book.

Three stars

Follows Dead Heat

Followed by Wild Sign

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

This book came out March 6th, 2018

Opinions are my own

Duck the Halls by Donna Andrews

Someone is pranking the churches of Caerphilly. It starts with some skunks at the Chief of Police's church, then there are the ducks at Meg's, and more. Everyone is getting harried but Meg is managing to keep all of the schedules straight. For the most part... But then there's a murder. And, while Meg doesn't officially want to investigate, she does her best to help.

I really enjoyed the light touches of adding the churches into the story. It's a part of day-to-day life and not just sermonizing. I did not enjoy the repetition of facts and ideas. It happened more than once and was fairly annoying.

Three stars

This book came out October 22nd, 2013

Follows Hen of the Baskervilles

Followed by The Good, the Bad, and the Emus 

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

 Reread August 2023

Martha Stewart's Organizing by Martha Stewart

This was an okay book with very pretty pictures. Is it revolutionary in the home organization world? No. Is it a little pretentious? Yes. But Stewart often is. There are definitely some good ideas but nothing you couldn't read in another book. If you love Martha Stewart, I think you will enjoy this book. Even if there are suggestions like removing your phone from it's case weekly and spraying it down. How has time for that?

Three stars

This book came out January 7th, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

An old friend of Charles' calls and asks him to come down to Sedona. They can visit and Charles can look for a horse for Anna. But the visit starts off with a bang when the Charles has to help a dying woman become a werewolf. Her husband's grandfather is the local Alpha and he is less than pleased about the decision because she is witchborn but Charles feels like it is the right decision. The woman had stabbed herself rather than kill her children when she was under some serious fae magic.

It may not be up to Charles and Anna to figure out what is going on but they take it on anyway since they are the only ones around to protect the innocent.  

Three stars

Follows Fair Game

Followed by Burn Bright

This book came out March 3rd, 2015

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own 

Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Anna is worried. She fears that Charles's duties to his father, the Alpha of all Alphas, are wearing on his spirit. She knows that their mate bond isn't what it could be. So she appeals to the Marrok for something else for Charles to do. Instead, Bram assigns Anna to help the FBI solve a particularly heinous group of serial killings. Charles goes with Anna as her bodyguard. And it's good because they'll need both of them before the end of the book.

An interesting book that starts off a series of explosions further down the Mercy Thompson series. A little slow in places but overall a nice read.

Three stars

Follows Hunting Ground

Followed by Dead Heat

This book came out

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own 

Murder With Puffins by Donna Andrews

The second outing in this series takes place when Meg tries to take a vacation with her new beau... but her family decides to follow along.  When a sudden storm strands everyone on the island and a body is discovered, Meg has to take charge. But the mystery is complicated by the fact that her mother has a complicated history with the victim. And, of course, nobody liked him...

Andrews is building a lovely, cozy series with this book. Characters are starting to be really set in stone and subsequent books only build on this story.

Four stars

This book came out June 15th, 2001

Follows Murder with Peacocks

Followed by Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Reread May 2022

Murder With Peacocks by Donna Andrews

I started this series in the middle, something I don't usually do.  And it is a thoroughly wonderful series.  The protagonist, Meg, is a reluctant sleuth, her real avocation being blacksmithing.  Really, she's a blacksmith.  That alone would have kept me reading the series but it's also well-written and entertaining.  Which reminds me... I just re-read the plot for this book and I think I want to read it again.

Meg is remarkably dependable and organized which probably explains why she is the maid of honor in three weddings at the same time. It means she is moving back to her mother's house for the summer to help plan all the weddings. Unfortunately, one of the guests ends up dead. And then, someone seems to be targeting Meg's Dad as the next victim.

Four stars

Followed by Murder with Puffins

This book came out February 7th, 2006

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Reread May 2022

Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews

Meg is back and this time... it's Halloween. And Caerphilly has banded together to put together a holiday festival. Only, there's something deeper going on. First, the break-ins at the haunted house. Then the fake body parts at the zoo. And the bodies that start turning up. Once again, Meg is up to her eyebrows, trying to get her now six-year-old twins ready for Halloween, try to avoid/help the newly hired festival coordinator, and figure out what is once again going on in her small town. 
A very good addition to the Meg Langslow series. Readers definitely won't be disappointed.

Four stars

Follows The Nightingale Before Christmas

Followed by Die Like an Eagle

This book came out August 4, 2015

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible book October 2022, August 2023

How to Find a Princess by Alyssa Cole

Another great addition to the Runaway Royals series, this book has a nice twist ending that falls in line with both characters.

Makeda Hicks's life isn't going exactly the way she had planned. She's a helper, always wanting the best for other people and working to make their lives easier. However, that has made her something of a doormat. And that is coming back to bite her. Her girlfriend is now and ex because Makeda helped her a little too much. Makeda is out of a job because she wasn't able to stand up for herself and prove that she deserved a promotion so, while a coworker got the job, Makeda got the boot. Now, an old story of her grandmother's is coming back once again, the fiction that Makeda's mother was conceived with the king of Ibarania. That story is what caused Makeda's mother to live in a fairy tale all of Makeda's life. 

Beznari Chetchevaliere just wants to prove that her grandmother didn't kill the old queen and that means finding the lost heir of Ibarania. Makeda seems like a good fit since she is in a picture (sent by her grandmother) wearing a ring that looks like it could have come from the kingdom.

The two are immediately attracted to each other but are diametrically opposed to what the end of the heir search should look like.

Four stars

Follows How to Catch a Queen

This book comes out May 25th, 2021

Opinions are my own

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

Electra McDonnell knows that her upbringing wasn't exactly traditional. Raised by her uncle with her three male cousins, she is nearly the last one left at home since the boys have gone off or are soon leaving to fight in WWII. So she and her uncle are carrying on the family business. It's just too bad that their latest job has them caught for thievery. Except that very handsome man, Major Gabriel Ramsey, offers them a way out of jail. Electra will have to help him retrieve a set of blueprints that will help them win the war. She's not expecting to stumble across a dead body. Nor can she believe the deeper plot that she is being drawn into.

This was a good start to a mystery series. Electra is coming into her own as women's roles are changing rapidly. I do like the Amory Ames series a little bit better but mostly because I dislike the love triangle trope so very much and Weaver is definitely teasing it here.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 25th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Legacy by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts weaves together tropes she's worked with before to make a story that is unique. Like many of her contemporary one-offs, Legacy is three parts - when the main character(s) are children with a glimpse of when life first changes for them, the near-present and who they are about to become with another defining moment, and then the present where they find happiness. 

This book brings out all the feels with the deaths of many characters, each of which create a turning point for either our hero or our heroine but brought out a lot of snot and tears in this reader. I liked Adrian but didn't feel like we got to know Raylan very well and their romance didn't really hit until midway through part three which means that there's not a lot of time for the reader trust that they will get an HEA (though, really, it couldn't've been different unless the book got to be unwieldy). Raylan's kids were well developed and escaped being plot moppets since they had their own personalities outside of being there to get the h/h together.

I loved that Raylan's first marriage was a good one but his first wife wasn't held up as a paragon therefore ruining him for all other women. The relationship building of Adrian's family, both blood and found family, was stellar. The progression of her relationships with those people and then the relationships they had with each other was more satisfying than the romance. One of my catnips is seeing how characters connect and this book piled it on in spades.

Adrian Rizzo grew up with a mother who forged a name for herself in the world of video workouts. But that doesn't mean that she's going to shy away from that world nor does it mean she's going to ride her mother's coattails. However, stepping into the spotlight means that she's attracted the interest of people who might not want the best for her. In fact, a stalker looms in the shadows who doesn't even want Adrian to live. 

Four and a half stars

This book come out May 25th

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Undercover Duke by Sabrina Jeffries

Sheridan Wolfe, Duke of Armitage, is asked by his half-brother, Grey, to start making into the death of his brother's father. The whole family is worried that it may have been a murder since their mother's second and third husbands died young as well with Sheridan's own father was poisoned. With his brother's wife in labor, Sheridan has been tasked with questioning Lady Cora Eustace who was at the party for Grey's christening the weekend his father died. She is also Grey's aunt who Sheridan barely knows. Besides, she has a daughter, Vanessa, who Sheridan is... well.. prickly about. Sheridan knows that he needs to marry an heiress and doesn't want to drag Vanessa into his quagmire. Besides, she's enamored of a poet, Juncker.

Vanessa has been using Juncker as a reason to make Sheridan jealous. He doesn't seem to realize that she is full grown and she'll use any means she can to make him realize that she is perfect for him.

The ending wrapped up rather quicker than I had hoped especially since it closed out an arc that has been going on for several books. I was at 80% done and it didn't seem like it was getting close. There was also sort of a rush to the "I love you"s that could have been a little longer to feel more like a real HEA, especially after there was so much deception (some of it from themselves) in the rest of the book. I really do like Jeffries' writing though and up to that end was a lovely story.

Three and a half stars
Follows Who Wants to Marry a Duke

This book comes out May 25th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Serving Sin by Angelina M. Lopez

I really wish that I had known that there was some (mostly off-page) depiction of rape in this book; I would have saved it for another time. I had really enjoyed the first book in this series when I read it a couple years ago and thought this book would be similar. The topics in this one were weightier which I wasn't expecting. I'm also not a huge fan of time hops which this book used to fill in backstory. This will be a book enjoyed by readers who like a powerful heroine and a man who isn't afraid to let her do her thing but also by readers who are prepared for a little more grit in their romance.

Cenobia "Cen" Trujillo is her father's heir apparent. But manufacturing in Mexico isn't exactly ready for a female to be in charge. Nor for her to introduce new technology to the automotive industry and someone is sending her threats. So she seeks hep from the one man she knows can keep her safe, the same one who rescued her thirteen years ago, Roman Sheppard. 

Roman has dark secrets in his past, things that keep him from reaching for happiness. Even knowing that Cen (who he can't seem to call be the name she prefers) is the one who helped pull his adopted country out of debt just makes her more out of reach. He finds her power sexy which is pretty awesome in a hero, even one who needs to pull his head out of his own butt in order to get to an HEA.

Four stars
Follows Hate Crush

This book comes out May 25th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Carina Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Big Surprise for Valentine's Day (, #4) by Jackie Lau

Can you find love in the family planning section of the grocery store? Amber Wong and Sebastian Lam are about to find out. The two grew up in the same neighborhood but haven't seen each other in some time. Now each is just out of a bad relationship and figuring that some hooking up would be perfect for each. 

This is a short book (novella?) with a lot of on page sex so there's not a lot of room for character growth nor for relationships. It's fun and fluffy and great for a right-before-bed-read.

Three and a half stars

Follows A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

This novella came out February 4th, 2020

Borrowed as an ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Bad Luck Club by A.R. Casella

I think I built this book up too much in my own mind so I was sort of disappointed. A lot of the story seems to be building up to another series based on the characters in the Bad Luck Club which meant that there was less time to focus on Blue and Lee. It ended up being an okay book but lost some of the fun earlier books in the series had.
Blue Combs knows from bad luck. She's been attracted to the wrong type of man and finding out her last boyfriend was married was just too much. To help herself, she answered an ad for a club that is supposed to help people clear their bad luck. Basically, they do a series of challenges assigned by a mentor in order to try to change their luck themselves. She can see that her friends' brother, Lee, is in the same sort of situation. She wants to help him, even though he threw up on her shoes in an earlier book.
Lee is definitely ready to change his luck around. He just turned his father in for a giant Ponzi scheme and is considered untouchable by the same people who used to think he had a magic touch. He is feeling brought down to have to work in his family's brewery but meeting Blue might just prove that his luck is changing for the better.

Three stars

Follows Getting Lucky

Followed by Luck of the Draw

This book came out April 8th, 2021

Ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Once Dishonored by Mary Jo Putney

Lucas Mandeville was once an officer in the Royal Navy. Then he became an apprentice to a Franciscan friar who was a bonesetter. Now, he is Lord Foxton and just reemerging into society. He is cautious because he is known as a deserter from the Navy. He was captured by the enemy and tortured but he was not supposed to escape and he finally couldn't take any more so he did. Now everyone in society looks at him askance. So he understands scandal because he sails so close to it himself. He is not afraid to approach the infamous divorcee, Lady Kendra Douglas. 

Kendra is trying to repair her reputation so that she can regain her son. She is astonished that Lucas wants to help but she accepts it readily.

We then get to see many characters from other Putney books. This book was very much in the vein of those other books but moved more quickly from meeting to bedding. This is also one of her books that leans into religion hard, like Lucas-performing-miracles hard. And I don't mind if a whole series does that but it's very disconcerting when it's every five books or so and all of the other books are so rooted in realism. 

Two stars

Follows Once a Spy

This book came out September 29th, 2020
Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

One Weekend in Aspen by Jaime Clevenger

Personal chef Emily Brookstone has been invited to a very exclusive event. Apparently something that is known throughout the lesbian community because her best friend is incredibly jealous. But she's also happy for Emily. It seems that Emily has just gotten out of a bad relationship and is on the rebound. A no-strings-attached weekend in Aspen should be a great place for her to get her mojo back. 

Alex Murphy is sort of tired of these weekends. She's been friends (and sometimes more) with Katherine, the ultra-rich hostess, for a long time but she's trying to extricate herself from the relationship. Or at least dial it back to just friendship. But Katherine doesn't want to let her go. On the other hand, Alex has just met a mysterious woman on the plane ride into Aspen. And a snowstorm diverting them to Denver gives Alex the chance to share a car with the woman and find out more about her.

I actually liked broad swaths of this story and it was hard to put down (but I needed to sleep). However, I didn't like all the sturm and drang caused by the weekend. Or, I would have liked it better had it a) been a smaller part of the story and b) not been smack in the middle of the real relationship development of the story. Clevenger is a good writer and I look forward to more of their stories.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 18th, 2021

Ebook from Netgalley

Opinions are my own

Independent Bones by Carolyn Haines

Sarah Booth is back again. Her partner in their investigative agency, Tinkie is about to give birth and there's a professor of Greek studies with a decidedly feminist bent in town who is stirring up... everyone. At a talk that Alala Diakos is giving, the local prototypical wife abuser calls her out and it causes a scene. Then Sarah Booth finds a gun that was pointed at Alala while she was speaking. But the professor is not the one to die, instead, she becomes the prime suspect in the abuser's murder. It doesn't help that she's been linked to at least two other murders where the man was similarly of the mind that women belonged in the kitchen. 

Sarah Booth will have to be careful because it seems that there is a group getting together who aren't afraid to use any means possible to make sure that their idealized vision of history becomes everyone else's present. And she is setting herself right in their sights.

I think these books have always been a little preachy but this one is even more so. It's a topic that I agree with but was fairly heavy-handed. I am happy that Tinkie had her baby and look forward to seeing how this changes (or maybe doesn't) the dynamic between our protagonist and one of her best friends.

 

Three stars

This book comes out May 18, 2021

Follows Garland of Bones

Followed by Lady of Bones

ARC kindly provided by St Martin's Press and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Crazy for Loving You by Pippa Grant

Daisy Imogen Carter-Kincaid is known in the tabloids as a billionaire party girl. She is footloose and fancy-free. Except that her cousin, famous for giving people one star reviews, has died and left Daisy her child. But Daisy isn't the only person left in charge of the child, so is West Jaeger, former Marine, current contractor. 

West thinks that this is one big joke. His brother Tyler is a hockey player and his team is known for their pranks. But then he figures out someone (who fired him by the way) has really left him a child. And that he needs to stick around so that the child doesn't go to his even worse paternal grandparents.

This may be one of Grant's earlier books because, while it has the absolute crazy-pants parts of the plot that she includes in all of her books, there are plot points that are thin to the point of invisibility and the character development is lacking. We hear that West and Daisy work but there isn't much explanation out of that. 

Two and a half stars

Follows Wild Open Hearts

This book came out November 8th, 2019 (oof, not as early as I had thought)

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own

I Pucking Love You by Pippa Grant

Muffy Periwinkle was introduced in a previous book as the cousin of a heroine. She is a hapless matchmaker who never quite makes the right connection. In the previous book, Muffy even set up her cousin with the ex-boyfriend of one of the cousin's friend who was a complete douchebag. So, she's not doing well. Not helping? Her mother who keeps calling her fat and spends up her credit cards. In order to make ends meet, she's even working at a Long John Silver-esque fish and chips place. And it's at that second job that she again sees Tyler Jaeger.

Jaeger is a hockey player who is in a bit of a funk. His penis hasn't been working since he and Muffy hooked up. He's not thinking she's the forever-one but he's also sort of surprised to find himself volunteering to be Muffy's date for an upcoming... thing. He's not sure what it is but he finds himself wondering whether Muffy might be the answer to his problems.

So, there's a little bit of a road trip and enough of a glimpse of his brother West and West's wife Daisy to convince me to read Crazy for You but otherwise the zaniness of this book (that Pippa Grant does so well) overshadows the actual relationship growth in this book. It was worth a read and I will definitely re-read whenever I read the whole series again but not one of my favorites.

Three stars

Follows Charming as Puck

This book came out April 8th, 2021

Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Nightingale Before Christmas by Donna Andrews

It's Christmas and Meg Lanslow has once again been talked into "being in charge." This time, she's coordinating interior designers in a show house. Of course, while they designers are all PITAs, there is one particular fella who's causing major problems for everyone. Is it a surprise when he turns up dead? Nope. As usual, Meg is solving a mystery while getting everything else on her list done. 

A fun read and enjoyable addition to the canon. Regular Langslow readers will enjoy.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 21, 2014

Follows The Good, the Bad, and the Emus

Followed by Lord of the Wings

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible December 2022,  August 2023

The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews

Megan Langslow's newly discovered grandfather had decided to out local PI Stanley in the track of her grandmother. It turns out that she is dead but her cousin doesn't believe it was an accident as it has been declared. Meg's entire family becomes involved when an emu runs across the street on the way home from her first meeting with the cousin and that pulls in not only her entire family, but an army of volunteers who are willing to help her grandfather with a rescue.
A nice addition to the series. The regular cast expands a bit but otherwise regular readers will enjoy immensely.

Four stars

Follows Duck the Halls

Followed by The Nightingale before Christmas

This book came out July 8th, 2014

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

The Hot Mess and the Heartthrob by Pippa Grant

Levi Wilson is famous. First because he was in the boy band Bro Code but then because of his solo career. Eight years ago, his life changed because of a woman in the crowd of one of his performances. Since then, he's been working toward being a better human being. It doesn't always work (hello, he's a pampered rock star). Today, he's in his home town but still slightly lost. When it seems like some fans might get too rabid, his guard helps him duck into a nearby bookstore. And the owner of that store? The woman from the crowd. 

Ingrid Scott is astonished to see a famous person in her store. Especially since it seems like he's hiding. And then hitting on her. She's the single mom of three children who split with her husband because he was gone so much. How can she be falling for a man who's job description has him never at home?

A solid addition to the Grant canon. The end dragged a bit but I overall liked the kids, the adults as characters, and the kookiness involved with squirrels. 

Three and a half stars

Follows Liar, Liar Hearts on Fire

This book came out January 7th, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Hero and the Hacktivist by Pippa Grant

This book is... crazy. Just nuts. And yet... still sort of fun. The craziness palled after a little bit but it was still a good Grant book.

Rhett Elliot is the brother of a previous heroine in the Girl Band series. He is just looking for someone to hook up with for a night at his sister's wedding. Eloise Jayne (probably her name... well, maybe) is the only single bridesmaid and she seems like she might be down to... well. So they find a room and complete the deed. At least, she does. But then Parker (the sister/friend) comes in before Rhett can really get off. From there, it seems like their relationship should be over. It was a one night stand.

But Rhett is sort of hooked. He is used to chaos, as a Navy SEAL. But his team ran into a problem (that is sort of described but not really) and it seems like the life he loved is no longer attainable. Eloise, however, seems to create her own chaos. 

Eloise isn't as interested in a relationship but she could use the help of a SEAL. She is a hacker-activist (hactivist) who is going after an MLM marketer who is bilking women out of millions of dollars. But the marketer is fighting back and Rhett might be the only person who can help. 

Three stars

Follows Rockaway Bride

This book came out November 9th, 2018

Opinions are my own

Beauty and the Beefcake by Pippa Grant

We've met Ares Berger in previous books in the series. He's tall. He's a brute. He doesn't talk very much. Nor do we see him talk a lot in this book. But Felicity Murphy talks enough for both of them. She's a talented ventriloquist and incredibly smart but (according to her parents) hasn't quite figured out what she wants to do with her life. Many Master's Degrees but she hasn't found a job. Partly because she hasn't found her niche but mostly because her life goal is to work for the Thrusters, the team her brother Nick and Ares both play for. Well, usually. Right now Ares is out with a severely sprained ankle. So Nick volunteers their grandmother's house as a place for him to recuperate knowing that, not only is Felicity studying to be a physical therapist thus being valuable to Ares, but she could use some muscle to protect her from a stalker-ish ex-boyfriend.
Not as good as other books in the series; Ares is fun and Felicity is fine but why the focus on the men that she attracts. So much attention paid to that. Still crazy pants on the Grant level but the fun just isn't quite there

Three and a half stars

Follows Royally Pucked

Followed by Charming as Puck

This book came out May 17th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Pilot & the Puck-Up by Pippa Grant

This book is... I'm having trouble describing it. It's the best kind of bat crap crazy. Zeus Berger is one of the famous Berger twins who tear up the hockey rink. We meet him as he enters a club wearing a tight skirt, high heels, and a girdle. I think it's because there's a bet? But it may just be that he wants to shock all of the people who are trying to show off how much money they've donated before participating in a golf tournament the next day. And Zeus, wearing heels, clocks in at over seven feet so he is a sight to behold. When he is dared to pick up a woman, his friends point out Joey Diamonte.

Introducing herself as Fireball, Joey is at this fundraiser under duress. She's not normally the front person for her zero gravity company, she's the pilot. But Peach has to be at her grandmother's surgery so Joey is at this incredibly boring charity event, trying to drum up an investor who will help take her company to the next level. And she thinks Chase Jett might be that man; but his friend Zeus keeps distracting her. The man is HOT.

The shenanigans in this book start from the opening page and just continue from there including ordering pizza in to the fundraiser, golfing with cans, and more. If you need something to read that is bananapants but still somehow makes you care about the character, this is your book.

Four stars

Followed by Royally Pucked

This book came out February 16th, 2018

Ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Rockaway Bride by Pippa Grant

What do you do when your manager runs away with all your money? This on top of the fact that your father's health is failing, your band's tour got canceled due to low sales, and one of your bandmates is missing? Well, getting drunk and stealing his fiancee probably isn't a good idea. But that's what Dax Gallagher does. 

Willow Honeycutt lives a pretty normal life as a preschool teacher in New York. Okay, yes, her step-father is the king of a small country but she herself is perfectly normal. She does play in an all-girl boy band cover band but perfectly normal. So when she decides to run away from her wedding the night before it happens, then finds out that her fiance actually dumped her first, she has sort of an existential breakdown. Kidnapped? Eh, not really. Willow is smarter than Dax and a better fighter than Dax so she soon becomes the brains of the operation, dragging him along on her bucket list trip around Europe. 

This book is crazy sauce. Absolutely crazy sauce. In the best kind of way. Believable? No. Enjoyable? Highly. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Three and a half stars

Follows Stud in the Stacks

Followed by The Hero and the Hacktivist

This book came out June 29th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Stud in the Stacks by Pippa Grant

Parker Elliott needs a boyfriend so she bids on Tarzan at a bachelor auction. She doesn't win him but she convinces him to pretend to be her boyfriend at her 20-year high school reunion. Her boss is pushing her to go so that they can land her former husband (and isn't THAT a story) as a client. Too bad she accidentally closets herself in a men's room with Tarzan. And that's before she realizes she actually used to babysit him.

Knox Moretti loves two things - romance novels and his job as a librarian. He even writes a blog as Mr. Romance. And it's that blog that gets him in trouble at work (although his boss wants him gone anyway...). So he'll take Parker on as his fake fiancee (much more stable than dating) and maybe they can help each other. 

There were parts that I found more cringe-worthy than funny but overall a fast-fun-and-fluffy book.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mr. McHottie

Followed by Rockaway Bride

This book came out January 5th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs

Leah and Bran's relationship has been touched on in past books but the origins of it have remained murky. It is cleared up a little bit in this story when Leah's past comes to haunt her present. 

The book opens with Leah, Rachel, Sage, and Anna on a girls' outing some time before the beginning of the last book. They are having some drinks (although alcohol doesn't affect werewolves) when Sage gets Leah to open up a little bit about how the two became mated. And even just this section proves Briggs' mastery of timelines as she deftly bobs and weaves between the past and present of two overlapping series.

This new story sends Charles and Anna along with the berserker, Tag, to the California mountains where a whole town has disappeared. They were there one week after being checked on by the Forest Service and then... gone. An old evil has popped up again and is joining forces with a group that has had past interactions with both the Alpha and the Omega as well as the Columbia pack.

I wish we had seen a little bit more with Bran and Leah. After the big set up of learning more about her past, we don't see a lot of them. Of course, the series does focus more on Anna and Charles so that makes some sense.

Four stars

Follows Burn Bright

Gifted an ebook on Kindle

This book came out March 16th, 2021

Opinions are my own

Spring by Janis McCurry and Lynn Mapp

I hadn't read any of The Matchmaker Chronicles before but the premise always sounded like a good one and I thought the cover of this was really cute. Even though this is book four, I didn't feel lost about characters even without an info dump. I was even a little disappointed that it seemed like this was the end of the series.

Matchmakers Maggie and Rina are flummoxed. They've been asked to help Christie find a husband... but not for love. Instead, she wants to get her hands on shares of a medical supply company that her uncle is threatening to sell off but she wants to keep it in the family (as well as make sure that their employees still have a job).

The man she's decided to match herself with is one of Rina's sons who needs the money to develop a gaming theater which sounds REALLY cool. 

Both Christie and Aaron were very mature and I really wish that there had been a little more conversation between the two of them but were some other stories competing for page space. Maggie has her own B plot with a man named Joe who is a world traveler but seems to be settling down. It was nice to see. There was also a side plot of a waitress meeting a wealthy man who is hiding who he is that would have been nice as its own book.

Three stars

This book came out March 18th, 2021

Follows Winter

ARC kindly provided by Mapp & McCurry LLC and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Truth About Lies by Aja Raden

This is an incredibly readable nonfiction book that looks at the lies people tell and why we believe them. Raden discusses several stories that actually overlap with another book on lies that I read recently but comes at them differently. The stories themselves are interwoven with information about why it is so easy to believe them, even when we see proof of "the truth" right in front of our own eyes. And more startling, even when people come out and SAY that they've been lying, people will refuse to believe it.

Four Stars

This book comes out May 11th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews

Caerphilly has started a local Un-Fair to help fill the gap left by the local State Fair (and to fill their city coffers). Part of the fair is also in Clay County. So is the dead man. At least partially. While he wasn't a prime specimen (never helping his wife; now cheating on her), it wasn't necessary to kill the man. Unless he was somehow connected to the thefts and vandalism that are threatening to close the fair. And then there's the added aggravation of the Clay County deputy who is dead set on sticking his nose into every aspect of the case.

Good thing Meg Langslow is on hand to help figure out exactly what was going on.

Three and a half stars

Follows Some Like it Hawk

Followed by Duck the Halls

This book came out July 16, 2013

Audiobook borrowed from Libby 

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews

The town of Caerphilly is in trouble. The ex-mayor has mortgaged the town to the hilt and taken off with all of their money. One town clerk, Phineas Throckmortion, has managed to barricade himself in the basement of the courthouse for almost a year and a half (with the help of a secret tunnel and several townsfolk.) 

However, a vice-president of the Evil Lender has just been found dead in that same basement and it seems like Phineas is the only man who could have done the job.

Three stars

This book came out June 17th, 2012

Follows The Real Macaw

Followed by Hen of the Baskervilles 

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

The Father Hunt by Rex Stout

Lilly Rowan is a good friend of Archie's. One day, her secretary, Amy, asks Archie if he (not Nero) can help track down her father, a man whose name she never knew. Archie demurs, saying he only works for Nero and that Nero is very expensive. Well, Amy comes up with the money to pay Nero's salary and the boys are off on a case that tracks back twenty years and overlaps with the death of Amy's mother.
A good Nero Wolfe book. 

Three stars

Follows Death of a Doxy

Followed by Death of a Dude

This book came out May 28th, 1968

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A wealthy man has died. Since he was ill for so very long, no one thinks much of it. Except his youngest sister, who declares at the reading of his will that he was murdered. Still, no one thinks much of it until the sister herself is murdered. It is then that everything is turned topsy-turvy and it's up to Poirot to come in and untangle this web and figure out what really happened and why.

The solution to this one ends up being a little convoluted but it is a really good story with characters that you start to care about.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mrs. McGinty's Dead

Followed by Hickory Dickory Dock

This book came out in March 1953

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is breaking the barriers of the 1920s by striking out on her own (rather than marrying) and becoming a reporter/photographer (though, don't tell her editor because he doesn't believe women can take pictures.) Her first assignment takes her to Wentwater Court where the tensions are running somewhat high between the family as the father has remarried. His three children are having trouble getting used to their stepmother, especially since she is only a year older than her oldest stepson. To make matters worse, Lord Stephen Astwick has been invited to their house right after the Christmas holiday and he is making decided advances toward the stepmother while the daughter of the house seems to be obsessed with him. Lord Astwick all seems to be an oily snake. So it should not be a surprise that he ends up dead. Daisy and one of her old acquaintances are the one to find him floating in a hole where ice used to be.
Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called in and immediately appreciates the help that Daisy is able to give him. She is levelheaded and insightful, able to provide a clear picture of everyone at the party as well as seeing things in her photographs that aren't necessarily available to the naked eye. 
This was a nice start to a cozy series. Daisy seems smarter than the average amateur; not rushing into danger, sharing her evidence with the professional. I think I've read this series before and eventually she grated on my nerves but I can't remember why so I'm going to continue listening.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Winter Garden Mystery

This book came out in 1994

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own