Monthly Rereads March 2025

As always, opinions are my own

Let it Crow! Let it Crow! Let it Crow! by Donna Andrews

Four stars

This book comes out October 10, 2023

Follows Birder, She Write

Followed by Between a Flock and a Hard Place

Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews

Four stars

Meg Langslow #35

This book comes out August 6, 2024

Follows Let It Crow, Let It Crow, Let It Crow

Followed by Rockin' around the Chickadee

Hard copy from library

Rockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews

Three and a half stars

Meg Langslow #36

This book comes out October 15, 2024

Follows Between a Flock and a Hard Place

Hard copy from library

Tightrope by Amanda Quick

Three and a half stars

Burning Cove #3
This book came out May 7, 2019

Follows The Other Lady Vanishes
Followed by Close Up 

Audible book

Close Up 

Burning Cove #4

Three and a half stars
This book comes out May 5, 2020
Follows Tightrope

Followed by The Lady Has a Past

The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick

Four stars

Burning Cove #5

This book came out May 4, 2021

Follows Close Up

Followed by When She Dreams
Audible book

When She Dreams by Amanda Quick

This book came out May 3, 2022

Burning Cove #6

Follows The Lady Has a Past

Followed by The Bride Wore White

Audible book

The Bride Wore White by Amanda Quick

Burning Cove #7

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 2, 2023

Follows When She Dreams

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Shattering Dawn by Jayne Anne Krentz

This book came out January 7th, 2025

The Lost Night Files #3

Follows The Night Island

Hard copy from library

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews 

Innkeeper Chronicles #1

Four stars

Followed by Sweep in Peace

GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

This book came out November 13, 2015

Innkeeper Chronicles #2

Follows Clean Sweep

Followed by One Fell Sweep

GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

This book came out November 13, 2015

Innkeeper Chronicles #3

Follows Sweep in Peace

Followed by Sweep of the Blade

GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

This book came out December 2018

Innkeeper Chronicles #4

Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart
GraphicAudio of mine

Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #4.5

Follows Sweep of the Blade

This book came out December 20th, 2016

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews

Innkeeper Chronicles #5

This book came out December 13, 2022

Follows Sweep with Me

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Homicide in the Indian Hills by Erica Ruth Neubauer

stars

This book came out March 25, 2025

Jane Wunderly #4

Follows Secrets of a Scottish Isle

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh

Thrillers aren't my favorite but the blurb for this book intrigued me. I didn't realize it was part of a series which may have given me more pause. It was an okay book and people who read the genre more often may enjoy it more. There was a little too much going on in this story for me to fully enjoy it and my suspension of disbelief was burdened because of that.

Ruby used to be one of the wealthy elite but now is a nanny and maid for the same. One night, she witnesses a murder. Will this help catapult her back into the level she wants to be or will it lead to more death? 

Three stars

This book came out March 25, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Toymaker's Curse by C.J. Archer

The books are getting rather formulaic (and, really, have been for a bit) but there are only a few left in this series so I'm going to finish it out.

In this book, Matt and India encounter a toymaker who claims his magic was diminished by a  curse. When the toymaker is murdered, they are thrown into yet another mystery surrounded by magic.

Aunt Leticia is working on making Willie and Farnsworth fall in love... perhaps even get married. 

Three stars

This book came out March 2, 2021

Glass and Steele #10

Follows The Kidnapper's Accomplice
Followed by The Spymaster's Scheme

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Rarely am I sad that a novella ends. Especially one that is creating a world. I really do wish that this had been a full-length novel though and hope that we see more in this series. Waite starts this series in a trope that is familiar (spaceship) but with some twists (libarary books that hold "people"; drinks that can evoke specific memories.) 

Dorothy Gentleman went to "sleep" some three hundred years ago. In this world, that is not long as your "self" can be recreated from books that are housed in the library and then downloaded into new shells that take on your own features. She is abruptly woken up when the ship's AI, Fairy, senses someone has destroyed Dorothy's book. As one of the ship's detectives (and the aunt of the person spearheading this ship), Dorothy was one of the few people who had a backup. Unfortunately, the other reason Dorothy has been awakened is because there has been a murder.

Five stars

This novella came out March 18, 2025

ARC kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose

One day, Pomona Afton is the toast of the town. Her wealthy family gives her entree into any number of soirees and parties and ensure that she never has to work. And hers is as disfunctional as any number of books have described wealthy families. Though they don't interact often, Pomona's grandmother rules the roost. Even so, Pomona does ignore her when she starts texting and leaving messages. She assumes she'll have time to find out what her grandmother wants. Too bad her grandmother is savagely murdered. Even worse, her grandmother recently updated her will so that, if she did die, all of the family assets were to be closed up immediately meaning Pomona has no home and no money with only 30 minutes to get out. 

For awhile, she's able to live with her brother and his girlfriend but soon realizes that is too small of an apartment. She decides to take her old nanny up on her offer to live with the woman's son. His apartment is even worse but at least she has the opportunity to work in the coffe shop he manages. And it's at his place that she decides she's going to solve her grandmother's murder.

Large parts of this story are improbable and some aren't even the zany stretches I so often enjoy but there is some real growth in Pomona's character (it seemed awfully fast though there were some hints she was ready to change before her life was turned upside down which helped.) It's fluff that wasn't fairly clued but provided me with some entertainment. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 18, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Library Game by Gigi Pandian

 stars

This book comes out March 18, 2025

Secret Staircase Mystery #4

Follows A Midnight Puzzle

ARC provided by Minotaur Books and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Kidnapper's Accomplice by C.J. Archer

I think most reviews will start with the shocking reveal that, in this book, Willie wears a dress. It's a bet with Lord Farnsworth that goes wrong but it's not as large a part of the story as the blurb might want you to believe.
The bulk of this book is the repercussions of magicians coming out in the open and one particular magician who wants India to use her magic to extend his spells. When she refuses, he pairs up with another magician to take drastic measures.
We do see that India has been working on new spells with Fabian and they have created a flying carpet which eventually comes in handy. Also, we learn a little bit more about the mysterious Sir Charles.

Three stars

This book came out September 1, 2020

Glass and Steele #10

Follows The Imposter's Inheritance
Followed by The Toymaker's Curse

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot

I love this book. A lot. It is a great thing to pick up and read when I need to go to sleep 'cause I know it so well that it doesn't make me want to stay awake but enough to hold my interest if I can't go to sleep.

By the same author as the "Princess Diaries," this book is about a screenwriter whose boyfriend left her right after she created a vehicle that shot him to instant stardom. The movie was the "Hindenberg," an obvious reference to Titanic that is pretty hilarious.
Well, the author, Lou, is doubly screwed because the actor on her latest show is Jack Townsend, the man who sets her teeth on edge and is the ex-boyfriend of the woman with whom her ex eloped. So she's having a bad day. One that only gets worse when the pilot of the plane that Jack and Lou are on points a gun at Jack's head and announces that he's going to die. Even though they overpower the pilot, it's too late and the plane is crashing. So now, Lou is in the frozen woods of Alaska with people trying to kill the man she's with and a major snowstorm coming in.
It seems like this would be a strange time for romance, but it works.

Five stars
This book came out December 3, 2002

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

The Imposter's Inheritance by C.J. Archer

In previous books, India had been given a secret. She kept the secret, but someone else didn't and now Matt's familiy is being threatened. There are a number of other things happening in this book meaning it did get a little chaotic. For such short books, there is a lot going on in them. 

The promise to Lord Coyle is dealt with, there are any number of characters whose stories move forward a little bit but it feels like India and Matt have more or less stalled where they are, like their story has stopped now that they're married. 

Three stars

This book came out February 4, 2020

Glass and Steele #9

Follows Prisoner's Key
Followed by The Kidnapper's Accomplice

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Socialite's Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets by S. K. Golden

Evelyn is just trying to make it through life with agoraphobia. Plus, her paramour, Mac, took off at the end of the last book. But she's maintaining. At least until someone sends her a tiara. It's that tiara that attracts the attention of a group of ladies lunching at The Gold Room. Their leader appears to be a woman named Lois. And it's Lois who ends up dead. 

While dealing with the fallout from that death, Evelyn is also working around the rumors of the Gentleman Thief. He robs the wealthy leaving only a red pocket square behind. 

I enjoyed this book. I really liked that Evelyn is getting out of the hotel more often (whether by hook or by crook.) Didn't love the end of her foray into the city but I am excited to see what happens in the next book. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out March 11, 2025

Follows The Socialite's Guide to Death and Dating

ARC kindly provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt by Mick Conefrey

I picked up this book based on a review from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. The review came out in 2015 so I may have had more excitement had I been able to track the book down sooner and/or read it right after I tend to not re-read reviews before reading the book but it would have been helpful in this case and would have reset my expectations and perhaps I would have enjoyed it more. I picked it up a couple of years ago. I was expecting more of a deep dive into a few prominent explorers, especially those women who had climbed Mt. Blanc. Instead, there are a series of explorers, most with only a couple of paragraphs, many about whom the author seems to be smirking. 

Three stars

This book came out March 15, 2011

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Wrecked in Yellowstone by Mike Stark

As soon as Yellowstone was made a national park, there were people anxious to make money off of it. E.C. Waters is generally known as being the most tenacious. He leaped on the chance to run hotels in the park before landing in a scheme to ferry visitors from West Thumb to the Lake Hotel. In between, he was fined and expelled from the park any number of times for trapping/poisoning animals, soaping geysers, and running any number of other schemes.

Definitely needed some editing but I enjoyed many turns of phrase that the author used.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 9, 2016

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave by Elle Cosimano

In an unusual twist, Finlay and Vero are not the ones dealing with dead bodies. Well, not dead bodies they've created (as it were.) Instead, it's nosy neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty who is taken away in cuffs,  a body having been discovered in her backyard. Mrs. Haggerty is quickly released but her house is still a crime scene. So what does she do? She has her nephew bring her to Finlay's where she strongarms her way into Finlay's bedroom.

That's bad enough, but after Mrs. Haggerty is cleared, the police start looking at Steven, Finlay's ex. Now, the man may be an cheater but he is NOT a murderer. Evidence is mounting that he had an affair with the man's wife but Finlay isn't so sure. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out March 4, 2025

Follows Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice

ARC kindly provided by Minotaur Books and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga

I'm not sure what it was expecting but it wasn't an allegorical conversation between a youth and a philosopher. I suppose I should have read more reviews but I liked the title and decided to pick the book up. I really loved the ending but, ifda, it was a slog to get ti there.

The youth is combative and wanting to know how to be happy. The philosopher is telling him it is a choice and walking through different philosophies to prove that thought to be true.

There is a lot of discussion on Adlerian philosophy but some of the advice boils down to, "it's  none of my business what other people think of me."

In the end, it boils down to your own self being the only one who can change the world. If you shift your philosophy, the world will shift for you.

Three stars

This book came out December 12, 2013

Hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Lead Bigger by Anne Chow

Was this book groundbreaking? Maybe not. Was it informative? Yes. Was it entertaining? Also yes. 

Chow writes, as the title says, about leading bigger. Really, (as she says), she means leading more inclusively. It's not exactly DEI but it's not NOT DEI. And I like that she explicitly says that equal doesn't always equal fair. 

I also enjoyed her analysis of how birth rate contributes to job satisfaction. The interviews at the end were with some big names and contributed nicely to the points Chow was trying to make. 

Four stars

This book came out September 10, 2024

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own