Happily This Christmas by Susan Mallery

 Many a romance has started with the guy next door and this one is no different. Wynn Beauchene has a 14 year old son but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t admire Garrick McCabe, the cop who lives next to her. When he comes to her asking for help with a pregnant 21 year old, Wynn is taken aback,
until she realizes the woman is his daughter. It seems that Garrick and Jolyn were close when she was younger but now their relationship is more strained, especially since Jolyn’s pregnancy has been difficult and that isn’t helped by the fact that her husband is currently deployed.
As Wynn and Garrick spend more time together, attraction starts to grow. Both have been burned in the past though and the upcoming holiday season brings family obligations and outside expectations that they might not be willing to bend to.
A typical Mallory novel: mostly closed doors for the romance; nice character development; an attempt to involve almost everyone from previous stories in the series; just a low-stakes, sugary, and fun read.

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 29th

ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Shadows in Death by J. D. Robb

After an evening out, Eve and Roarke are stopped by the murder of a young mother. But the night goes to absolute crap when Roarke sees a face from his past and realizes that this is the work of a contract killer. It will take all of our favorite characters to make sure that the killer is brought to justice.

And by all, I do mean all. We see almost every side character that has ever been introduce to the series in this book and that made it feel a little overcrowded to me. Regular readers will have all the feels as regular beats are hit (e.g. Eve becoming a little more human, more of Roarke's past uncovered, etc.) This is definitely not a standalone book because so much of the story depends on knowing what has happened in previous books.

Three stars

Follows Golden in Death

Followed by Faithless in Death

This book comes out September 8, 2020

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby August 2023

The Switch by Beth O'Leary

Another lovely story from the Author of "The Flatshare." And this is a different sort of lovely. Still with the great character building and the people with very real problems but still a happy ending. Yes, that includes some love interests but you just know that Elaine and Leena would be fine without them.  A little dramatic and definitely a trigger warning for sibling death (ufda -- if I had read this a year ago it would have been MUCH worse.)
Leena has an amazing job with an even better mentor. So good that her mentor tells her that she is NOT dealing well with her sister's death and that Leena now has a two month paid sabbatical. Of course, Leena does not believe she needs one. But when she talks to her grandmother, the original Elaine, they both discover that they could use a little vacation from their lives. And that the town mouse switching with the country mouse might mean they each appreciate their own lives a little more.
Also, major props for Elaine having a thriving sex life at seventy-nine.

Four stars
This book came out August 18th
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Just Make Believe by Maggie Robinson

Addie is at a house party when her somewhat-less-gone-than-he-should-be husband, Rupert, appears. Luckily it is just as she's being thrown by a horse. Unluckily, it's because there is trouble heading her way.
The host and hostess, Hugh and Pamela, have a decent marriage, but his lungs were damaged in the war and he has a bullet lodged in his spine. Small wonder, then, that there are rumors flying about his wife having an affair with a much older man, a landscape designer, Simon Davies. Also present are three of Hugh's friends from the war and some young ladies.
Rupert's prediction comes true and there is a death, the lady of the house, Pamela. But then another body, that of a young soldier turns up in the garden.
The whole thing ends up being very convoluted but still a good story.

Three and a half stars
Follows Who's Sorry Now
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own

The Falcon Always Wings Twice by Donna Andrews

It's time to get out of town for the summer! Meg's grandmother is hosting a Ren Faire on her property. Of course, hyper-organized, super-solver Meg is involved, especially behind the scenes, and her professor/actor husband is in charge of the semi-improv actors one of whom, Terrence, has set himself up as the jerk of the troupe. Technically, that is his role in the fair but he tends to act that way both on the job and off. Thus it is no surprise to the reader that he is the one who gets bumped off.
The murderer was fairly easy to guess but does anyone really read to try and solve the mystery? Longtime readers will love this book as Andrews does what she does best. All of our favorite characters grow, even with the requisite time jumps (which are an awesome plot device; not only does she move the place around but adds in these breaks of, sometimes years, so that the sheer number of bodies Meg runs into seem a little more plausible. Okay, not a ton but a little.)
Could first time Meg Langslow readers start with this book? I think so but you'd miss some of the depth of the characters that regular readers have gotten to know and love. Plus, you'll just want to go back to the start anyway so why not just begin there?

Four stars
Follows Owl be Home for Christmas

Followed by The Gift of the Magpie
This book comes out August 4, 2020
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread January 2022

Chaos Reigning Jessie Mihalik

As a child, Catarina von Hasenberg was often sick. But what no one other than she, her father, and a handful of scientists know that she wasn't really sick, her family was experimenting on her trying to play with her genes to make her faster, stronger, etc.  She was the youngest in a family of six so she was more expendable and her father is more interested in a way to gain power than keeping his family alive. Her bonds with her siblings are tight and Catarina is willing to help them in the fight against the Syndicate, a group that is trying to take over power from the Royal Consortium of which the von Hasenbergs are one of the three High Houses.
Cat has been invited to a house party at one of the family's that is suspected to be plotting against the Royal Consortium. Her sister Bianca is worried about her safety and sends two people along with Cat, Alex and Aoife. Aoife will be her bodyguard and Alex is going to pose as Cat's newest boy toy. Since no one knows about Cat's skills, she chafes against the restrictions but realizes why her sister might want to send her extra help, especially since she's the youngest and everyone is used to thinking of her as being weak.
I would definitely read the first two books in the series before this one. I don't think you necessarily have to but the series as a whole is amazing and worth reading. Of the three heroines, I think I connected to Cat the least but I couldn't put my finger on why. She is just as kick ass as her sisters  but I think the mask she had to wear annoyed even me. It also took me a bit of time to get into the story but, once it picked up, it really became wonderful.

Four stars
Follows Aurora Rising
This book comes out May 19, 2020
ARC kindly provided by Harper Voyager Trade and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

How to Be Fine by Jolenta Greenberg and Kristen Meinzer

I quite enjoy the By the Book podcast. Greenberg and Meinzer take two weeks and live strictly (sometimes not so strictly) by various self-help books. For those people who aren't avid self-help readers, they might wonder if there are really that many books out there. Oh yes, there are. Books that range from really useful to downright ridiculous and the authors of this book have read over 50 at this point. If you have ever wondered about self-help books, listening to the podcast is definitely worth it. If you have ever wondered more about the authors, this is a great book. In alternating chapters, Greenberg and Meinzer talk about the books that they have read and what has really helped them. They also answer letters that listeners of the podcast have sent regarding  particular episodes, books, and whether the authors were "right" in their assessments of books.
A lot of this was information that I had already heard on the podcast but it was fun to relearn a lot of it. I liked the honesty about the things that worked and the things that didn't. And both authors are up front about why things worked for them and why they might not work for other people.

Four stars
This book comes out March 17th, 2019
ARC provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

If I Never Met You : A Novel by Mhairi McFarlan

Laurie has been in a relationship with the same man for eighteen years. They've just started talking about having children when he abruptly breaks up with her. Laurie is... adrift. It just gets worse when she discovers, three months later, that his new girlfriend is two months pregnant. Working with her ex is agony. Getting trapped in an elevator is worse.
A noted ladies man, Jamie Carter knows how to play the game. But he and Laurie work for an old-fashioned company that likes its partners to be paired up and Jamie doesn't want to do that. So getting trapped with Laurie sparks an idea, they can use each other to get what they want: a partnership and revenge.
I liked the message that Laurie told herself- she could cope. But the book took too long to get to the meat of the story for me. There was so much about Laurie and Dan and then Laurie on her own. If there had been a downplay of her relationship with Jamie (maybe more finding herself - more with her friends, Emily was awesome) or less of the journey to get to the beginning of the relationship, I would have liked the book better. And I never really got the feeling that Laurie was the kind of person who would revenge date anyway so that part of their relationship seemed flimsy.  Once the story got started though, I liked watching them fall in love.

Three stars
This book comes out February 26th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Golden in Death by Nora Roberts

On a clear April morning, a beloved pediatrician opens an unexpected package. Inside is a golden egg. When he opens the egg, a small cloud of gas erupts, killing him. Eve and Peabody are called in to investigate. But they can't find anyone with a grudge against the doctor. He truly was a man that everyone liked. A second death-by-egg helps them to find a thread and uncover a reason for the killing.
There wasn't as much character development in this book as usual, either for the killers or for our leads. It was a fine book but without some of the introspection that make the other books more fun.

Three stars
Follows Vendetta in Death
Followed by Shadows in Death
This book comes out February 4, 2020
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby August 2023

Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar

The Wayside school is back and strange things are happening. But normal things are too. The children in Mrs. Jewell's class on the thirtieth floor are learning about the number one million. To that end, they are collecting one million nails. They are also having recess and eating Mrs. Mush's food. But they are also operating under the Cloud of Doom. Kathy is... pleasant. Faces are freezing. Gusts of wind blow children all the way up to their floor.
I was obsessed with the Wayside books. I could understand the puns and the weirdness. Every time I read them there was something new to find. And all the old favorites are here. The Erics, Mr. Pickell, Louis... a great addition to the series, fans old and new will enjoy.

Four stars
This book comes out February 5th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Finding Christmas by Karen Schaler

Emmie loves Christmas. She LOVES Christmas. And she is sure that her boyfriend will love Christmas as well-especially when she puts together a seasonal game ending at a quaint B&B in the heart of a town that is all about celebrating. Too bad Grant doesn't get her card; instead, a mystery novelist with writer's block gets the hunt. Having been told by his agent that she's sending him something to get him started, Sam isn't worried about the hunt that takes him to a small town. In fact, he's sort of delighted by it. Even when he finds out that he's on the game as a mistake, Sam stays at the B&B. He gets to know Emmie and the town and decides there might be something long term about both...
A little too sweet for me but an enjoyable story and one worth picking up as a fun winter read.

Three stars
This book came out October 15th
ARC provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Tell Me No Lies by Shelley Noble

Philomena Amesbury, Lady Dunbridge helped solve the murder of her  friend's husband and that makes her a somewhat more likely person for financier Luther Pratt to come to when a young man is murdered at his home. The night before, Phil had gone to a party at his house and met Perry Fauks, heir to the Copper, Coal and Steel fortune. This morning, he is dead.
The immediate suspect is Perry's valet but the death is being quickly hushed up and Phil wonders why. Add in a friend from England who was coming to meet with Perry to discuss selling her mines, Agnes, Luther's daughter who was engaged to Perry but seems to love the family secretary, and Agnes' cousin Maude who would love to have been the one in Agnes' shoes as well as a smattering of other characters and it is a conundrum indeed. And Phil's unknown benefactor is still pulling strings  and giving her hints and instructions on how to navigate this mystery.
The mysterious benefactor/spymaster is getting to be a little too much for me. I really hope that there will be more developments with him in the next book as it is getting to be too over the top right now.

Three stars
This book comes out November 5th
Follows Ask Me No Questions

Followed by A Resolution at Midnight
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Nancy: A Comic Collection by Olivia Jaimes

I loved Nancy as a kid and was excited to see this collection. Olivia Jaimes is a newish Nancy author, it sounds like from the introduction. Unfortunately, I think a lot of the charm was from reading the jokes from that time period. And probably from not understanding just how grating her personality might be from an adult perspective. While I think it's me that's changed, not her, Nancy in the teens is not my favorite.

Three stars
This book comes out October 1st
ARC kindly provided by Simon & Schuster and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

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

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

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

Meg's grandfather has been asked to lead a series of bird talks on the cruise line Pastimes. In return, he got a friends and family discount. So the entire clan has packed up and headed to Florida to get on the boat. Even waiting to embark is sending up red flags since the porter does not seem willing to take aboard her family's 32 bags. The trip only gets odder after Meg meets a group of 4 writers who had a friend die recently; the woman they blame, Desiree, has also joined the cruise. It becomes quite quickly obvious that Desiree is a exactly as the other writers describe her, thoroughly despicable. Is it, however, a surprise that her shawl and shoes are found on deck 4 along with a suicide note. This happens on the same day that the boat's engines go silent.
With the officers of the boat behaving as if all is well (it very noticeably is NOT), the staff size mysteriously small, and the appearance of a body (not Desiree's), Meg is up to her eyeballs in mystery.
Andrews usually does a great juggling her large cast of minor characters and mostly does okay in this book but there are some places where it feels like there are a LOT of people introduced; this will probably be confusing for new-to-the-series readers but not as hard for those of us who are Langslow fans. I appreciated that the book was moved out of Caerphilly but was never really pulled into the story.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 6th, 2019

Follows Lark! The Herald Angels Sing

Followed by Owl Be Home for Christmas
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Reread as Audible book December 2023

Under Currents by Nora Roberts

Major trigger warnings for both spousal and child abuse.
Like many of Roberts' non-series contemporaries, this one opens slowly and then quickly ramps as Emily Bigelow admires her home and thinks about what a great life she has. We quickly learn that this is HER version of great. For her kids, not so much.
In the first seven chapters, we get great character sketches of each of the four people in her family as well as some of the people who will be players in the later story.
Chapter 8 opens with Darby McCray deciding to move to Lakeside after her mother's death. She is ready to start her landscaping business in a new place and this one fits her specifications. This coincides with Zane Walker's (the Bigelows' son) return. He's now a lawyer, apparently a good one since he buys a huge house and is ready for Darby to install spme pretty extensive landscaping.
The two kind of slide into a relationship based in mutual admiration (physical and mental) as well as an understanding of each other's histories. And the course of true love never can run smooth and we learn that it is good thing that both Darby and Zane are smart, neither try to play detective, and that Darby has that black belt in kung fu.
I liked this book a lot. Darby was her own heroine a lot of the time but Zane got to help as well, a true team. There were a couple of little things that I didn't love, the swiftness of the romance, so many villains, and then the lack of a talk about protection and how to stay healthy which Roberts has been able to skillfully add to other of her books.

Four stars
This book comes out July 9th
ARC kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

Lady Betsy Wilde's mother ran away from her father during a scandalous affair. Gossips claim that one of her children (Betsy's sibling) may not be the Duke's child. And Betsy knows that she has her mother's blood. Before she settles into a nice, sedate marriage with no passion, she wants to rack up as many proposals as possible, just to show those snobs from her boarding school that she is better than them. Fourteen proposals later, she has snared one from a duke. But she's annoyed that he proposes in front of the family hanger-on, Lord Jeremy Roden.
Lord Jeremy doesn't have much time for Betsy. He knows what she wants and he disapproves. In his opinion, she should be living her life to the fullest extent possible and not settling for the staid Thaddeus. He is willing to indulge Betsy when she proposes a billiards match. If she wins, he will take her on an adventure. And, while this is a trope we've seen before, Jeremy is surprisingly pragmatic about it. He wants to make sure that they are properly chaperoned, even on the adventure. He is also very aware that his PTSD makes him a freak in his lifetime.
This is definitely not the normal adventure story. For one thing, Betsy's other suitor and his mother come along as well as her aunt. And I liked that twist. I did not like that there was a "villain" sort of squished into the story just so that there would be one. Other than that, I do hope that we get to see Thaddeus again because he seemed like a genuinely good guy and his mother is amazing.

Four stars
This book comes out June 25th
Follows Born to Be Wilde
Followed by Say Yes to the Duke
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Some Like It Scandalous by Maya Rodale

Daisy Swann has hated Theodore Prescott the Third since he named her Ugly Duck Daisy. She knows she's plain. She's known it since they were kids. She doesn't need people quacking at her as she walks into ballrooms to remind her. Especially since Teddy is an annoying example of male perfection.
But Teddy's life isn't all grand. He's finally landed himself in a scandal large enough for his father to finally cut him off. And Teddy knows that, other than being charming and handsome, he doesn't have a lot going for him. He's not especially good at anything except coming up with rude names for young girls.
It's too bad that their parents would like Daisy and Teddy to be married. Neither is happy about that idea but it is Daisy who suggests that they go along with it... for awhile. Hopefully she can get her cosmetics company started up to make money before her father's bankruptcy is discovered.
This is a romance, so of course their plans will go awry. But it is a lovely journey seeing how Daisy and Teddy learn to understand each other and learn to work with each other to face the world. And I really liked the author's note for this book. Rodale's explanation for how and why she developed the characters that are showing up in this series brought the characters even more to life.

Four stars
This book comes out on June 18th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Who's Sorry Now? by Maggie Robinson

When the first book ended, Lady Adelaide had sincerely believed she would not see her dead husband again. And yet, here he is in the same New York underground club surrounded by Bright Young Things and telling Addie that the club is about to be raided. He helps get her and her sister, Cecelia "Cee", out the men's room window.
They make it back to England but Addie once again hears Rupert as Cee drinks out of her friend's glass and immediately falls over. This after a string of BYTs have been poisoned to death. Luckily, Adelaide jumps into action and saves her sister. She immediately offers to help the hunky Detective Inspector Dev Hunt in his search for the killer.
I liked this book better than the first. Robinson has built her world and now is able to work into the story a bit more.

Four stars
This book came out June 1
Follows Nobody's Sweetheart Now
Followed by Just Make Believe
ARC kindly provided by Poisoned Press, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
Opinion is my own