Echo Lake by Carla Neggers

The book opens with Knightsbridge hometown girl Heather Sloan slogging through the snow chasing a golden retriever puppy, Rohan (my favorite breed, I was hooked pretty fast). She isn't dressed for the weather but she can't let the puppy get away. He belongs to Vic Scarlatti, a newly retired diplomat who bought a house in Knightsbridge twenty years ago but has just moved in. He's hired Heather to do the renovations. He also called in Brody Hancock, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent. There have been some strange things going on and Vic is worried that someone might be after him. Brody isn't so sure, and he's not enamored of going back to a town he gladly left behind, but he sure is enchanted by the woman chasing a cute ball of fluff.

A very surface-level romance between Brody and Heather as the stay-at-home girl and traveling man work through their attraction. They were both nice enough characters but I didn't really feel  like we got to know either of them very well. And while the lust was slow burning, the insta-love was there.
Also includes a sub-plot with Vic and his house sitter, Adrienne Portale. Both felt like sequel bait. Well see them again.
Not my favorite in this series but certainly not bad enough to make me quit reading.

First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen

Image linked from Goodreads

I was so nervous when I started reading this book. A continuation of "Garden Spells," the first book I ever read by Allen, the book that started her magical realism series, couldn't possibly be as good as the first?
Why did I doubt? This is a fairly simply plotted story with some conflict but it seems fairly gentle. Instead of a rollicking tale, we get a character study of who Claire, Sydney, and Bay have become. We even learn a little more about the husbands of Claire and Sydney and how they've adapted to ten years of living with Waverly women.
Addison's world building is so complete. With women who have just a hint of magic, but nothing spectacular. We find out that Claire has shifted into candy making rather than catering (though she's very unhappy about this). Sydney is still doing hair and excelling at it, but she feels like her husband needs a son and she's worrying about the lack. Bay is now fifteen and she's come into her own. She knows where things, and even people, belong. This has caused her some heartache since people don't always like to be told that they're not where they're supposed to be.

Four stars

Waverly Family #2

Follows Garden Spells

Opinions are my own

A Little on the Wild Side by Robin Kaye

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Wow. This book was... problematic. It's a word used a lot these days but I'd say that kidnapping a woman from New York to Idaho and then taking away all forms of communication could definitely be categorized in that way (not a spoiler, this happens in the first couple of chapters). I have to say that I was uncomfortable reading this book the whole time. Other people may not have issues with that but if you do, do NOT read this book.
Bianca Ferrari is a ex-supermodel who has been enjoying a string of 72-hour stands with Trapper Kincaid. And now, she's having a hard time dealing with an unexpected pregnancy

which Magically clears up when she again lets Trapper's magic wang inside her. Seriously. Puking so bad she's been put on bed rest, but a few rounds of sex, and she's good to go.

Trapper comes to New York, ostensibly to find Gina's long-lost brother. But instead, he finds out that the girl he just can't forget is pregnant. And in dire straits. So he decides to fly her home. To his home. In Idaho. Without talking to her about it. Which everyone tells him is a bad idea, but nobody seems truly upset about.
And we're told over and over (and over and over) that Bianca is a workaholic... and yet... we never see her asking about work. She gives control of her company to James, no problem. Okay, so he's a good friend who knows the company inside and out. But then, even when she does get ahold of the phone, she doesn't ask about the company. It's annoying.
I didn't particularly like either of these characters and may not have finished the book if it weren't an ARC (not that you have to finish them,I just feel like it's a nice thing to do).

Oh, and, major complaint, Bianca talks about having a 43" inseam. Um, no. Even if she's six foot, that is just WAY to long. At 5'9" (and 3/4 on a good day) I have a 32" inseam. My torso is a bit long but... another foot of leg? Not hardly. Now that I'm typing this, I'm guessing they meant 34" (nope, went back and checked, they typed out forty-three). Hopefully that is a typo that will be fixed in production.

Scandalous Summer Nights -- Anthology

I got this book for free from one of the authors, who I generally like. And... it took me a long time to read it because I just wasn't loving the stories and I felt bad about leaving a bad review for a free book. But then, I told myself, "These book reviews are opinions, they asked for your opinion, so just freaking put it up!" And, in re-trying, I've once again discovered something about sync. Sometimes, some books just don't capture you at one time, but when you re-read, you find something more. That's what I found with this book. I did not enjoy it when I got in the spring, but, at a different place some months later, I quite enjoyed it.
The Widow Vanishes by Grace Callaway
Will McLeod sold his commission eight years ago and has been working for various cutthroats doing the hard jobs ever since. His latest payment? A night with one of the man's whores. Who does he pick? The upright widow who is trying to work off her late husband's debt. An interesting premise,but it didn't work well for me. Scandal before Sunrise by Sabrina Darby Abigail Billings was known as the girl most likely to be caught in a compromising position. It's this title that draws younger son Honorable Elliot Jones to her. But Abigail is trying to overcome this name since she's trying to get married before news of the "great family scandal" can make its way to London. An okay story. I liked both Abigail and James but just wanted to knock them both over the head.
A Highlander's Heart by Jennifer Haymore
This story opens with Robert Campbell waking up on the battlefield of Waterloo. It's then that he sees an angel. One with the face of his wife. She's come to be with her husband. Whatever it is that she may find there. Because she wants to make amends. This is my favorite sort of short story. Where the characters already know each other so there's a reason they can fall in love in ~100 pages. Or less. This is a great story of two past lovers finding their way back to each other. And sets up a new series.
Lord Lucifer's Disciple by Sue London
Mr. John Howards is an incredibly shy man. His family and his schoolmates have put him down so much that he never believed in his own worth. At a masked ball one night, he manages to overcome the shyness by pretending to be someone else and flirting with a young lady. Elisa is an heiress of much renown. Men have been circling for years. But until that night at a masked ball, none have caught her fancy. But will she be willing to forgive when she finds out who he really is?
How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days by Kate McKinley
This seems to be a popular title. I've read a book recently and seen another with the same (though one did say 10 instead of ten) In this one, Miss Pippa Welby, our heroine, is the daughter of a wealthy man. The upper echeclons of the ton have always sneered at her. So when the Duke of Arlington, Lucas Victor Alexander, tells her that they are to be engaged, announced at a ball ten days hence, she knows that she needs to act fast. I really didn't like Lucas. He was too used to getting his own way, and rather than subverting it, Pippa seemed to fall pretty handily in line.
  Miss Amelia lands a Duke by Sandy Raven
Amelia Manners-Sutton is acting as chaperone for her social-climbing aunt. The woman, a viscountess, has her eyes set on a duke. But the duke... well he seems to have eyes only for Amelia. Quite a May-December romance though. More like January-December. I know it happens....
  Lady Northam's Wicked Srrender by Viviennne Westlake
The Countess of Northam, Rowena, is shocked to find out that her former suitor, her husband's best friend, Simon, the Earl of Waverly is staying at the same house she's just braved a storm to get to. There was a Big Misunderstanding that probably would have been better played out in a full book since this one took way too fast for her to forgive and he was more than a little bit of an ass.

As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley

Image linked from Goodreads

While I generally stick to romances on this blog, I actually tend to read across many different genres. This book, is part of a series featuring a young girl in 1950's England. I would most definitely read the whole series in order.
I think Bradley might be trying to avoid the Cabot Cove effect (i.e. how do so many bodies keep turning up in such a tiny village)
The book opens with Flavia boating across the ocean toward Miss Bodycote's academy in Toronto, the alma mater of her mother. She is being escorted by the school's chairman who has not really taken to her, nor she to him. When Flavia is dumped at the academy, she finds it cold and lonely. She's woken up to another girl attacking her. When that girl hides up the chimney, she dislodges a body which immediately sends Flavia onto another adventure.
We meet a lot of new people in this book. A LOT. I think that I may have confused some of them sometimes but I didn't let that worry me too much. This book didn't capture my imagination like the last one in this series but it didn't completely turn me off either. It leaves me, like the last book, wondering where Flavia is going to go from here.

Followed by The Grave's a Fine and Private Place

The Importance of Being Alice by Katie MacAlister

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While the romance in this story is a little fast for me and the "madcap adventure" just a teeny bit too madcap for me, I overall enjoyed the story.
Alice is about to get engaged to Patrick. Well, they were about to get engaged. They even bought tickets to a cruise in Europe, but then Patrick found somebody new. That somebody is his friend Elliot's sister.
Elliot is in sort of a hash himself. He's inherited a falling-down castle and doesn't want to accept help. His family is the general sort of crazy that you see in this type of story. And sequel bait (but bait I definitely look forward to being baited by.) As a writer, he needs quiet so he jumps at a chance to take Patrick's ticket, on the understanding that Alice is not going to be there.
But that is where Patrick has once again done his almost-fiancee wrong. Alice shows up for the trip. Now, she's generally a go-with-the-flow type of gal. But finding out that her trip of a lifetime is on a boat that's falling a part and there's a lordly gentleman with a stick up his ass already in her room... she's not to excited. Until she gets to know the lord a little better.

Husband Hunters by Genevieve Gannon

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Three women come together at a society wedding. They've all given up hope of true love. Clementine's boyfriend is married. Which makes it hard for her to believe that her work as a marriage psychologist is doing good things. Daniela has found her true love -- but he just sees here as a friend and business partner. Annabel is an ex-model (I know, poor her) but most men only want her for her looks.
Throughout the books, each woman has to work through her own issues to find the man that she truly belongs with. They decide to make lists of what they want in a husband, but is that what they truly need?