America's Favorite Holidays by Bruce David Forbes

A look at five holidays that seem to be a major part of the American (at least United States culture); Christmas, Valentine's, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.
I liked his point about the variety in Christmas celebrations not only being religious vs. cultural but also parts of various branches of Christianity.
It was interesting to read about Valentine's that it was a fully-commercialized holiday long before Hall ever created Hallmark. I also enjoyed Forbes' discussion of how the symbol of the heart became part of our culture and discussion on why it has that particular shape.
All of the holidays had interesting stories and links to various "beginnings." An interesting read with okay writing but sometimes the repetition of specific points or ideas gets to be a bit much.
Three stars.

Death Crashes the Party by Vickie Fee

I'm starting to find a divide in the cozy mysteries that feature a perky heroine with a niche job: those heroines that do it smart (let the police in on the clues they find, tell people where they're going, etc.) and those that are idiots. Unfortunately, Liv falls into the latter category. She does some really dumb things like breaking into houses and taking evidence that could have been used in court to nail the bad guys. Basically, hindering the cops. Like, a lot. This may not annoy other readers though. And the premise of having her be a party planner could get her into some interesting places without the author having to contort reasons for her to run into bodies. I did also love the fact that Liv is married (to Larry Joe, how's that for a name?), so no love triangles!
Book comes out Dec. 29, 2015

Anything for You by Kristan Higgins

LOVED this book. Loved it. 4 1/2 stars. There was a B story that I felt was distracting and not needed but we finally get to see restaurant owner Connor find his HEA. He's already found his true love. Hell, he found her 21 years ago. But they've had a rocky road and Jessica has very valid reasons for why she doesn't want to have a "real" relationship and we get to see many of those reasons as we skip along their relationship's past. And Higgins once again tugs on the heart strings while creating a truly happy-ever-after.

Four and a half stars
Comes out on Dec. 22, 2015
Follows: In Your Dreams

An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels

This book starts off with a Big Secret... which could lead to a Big Misunderstanding and I was a bit trepidatious, but this was Kasey Michaels so I trusted her. And I was so glad I did. She not only had the hero talk to the heroine about the Secret, she gave the heroine a Big Secret of her own and they talked about it. It was so lovely to read.
Okay, so the Big Secret is actually introduced after the prologue wherein our hero and his three friends entrust some instructions for a large battle to a young man who, instead, runs to safety. And then his father bought a medal for him. So Gabriel Sinclair is pissed. Well, not as pissed as he used to be since it's over a year later. Instead, he's more concerned that his uncle, the duke, has retired to his bed. It seems the last five dukes have all died close to their sixtieth birthdays and he is rapidly approaching that age. Meanwhile, Gabe's aunt has just returned from the United States and is bringing a surprise.
Dorothea, "Thea" Neville is twenty-two and this trip seems to be her last chance for marriage. She's not particularly interested in Gabe, even though he's the ducal heir. But there's something about his wit (he feels the same about hers), and their mutual attraction that seems to be pulling them together.
A fast and fun read. I also enjoyed the B plot of Thea's maid, Clarice, being elevated to companion and getting engaged to Gabe's friend Rigby (the requisite "silly" one of the group.)
Next up, is Cooper Townsend, recently given the title of Baron, who also had several pamphlets written about him. He needs to get married so women will stop chasing him. I do love those stories.
Book comes out December 29, 2015.

The Big Bad Book of Bill Murray: A Critical Appreciation of the World's Finest Actor by Robert Schnakenberg

I'm not a HUGE Bill Murray fan (I like his work, but am not obsessive) but thought this looked like a fun book offered from NetGalley so I requested it. I guess Murray is pretty darn private so there didn't seem to be anything groundbreaking about the book. I'm guessing that this book might be more geared toward the hard-core fans but I could be wrong. For someone who doesn't know much about Murray other than his general body of work and the fact that he seems to photobomb an ungodly number of people, it was just okay.

Meditations on Intention and Being by Rolf Gates

A really interesting read. I loved most of the meditations and even got some ideas for some new ones of my own. There are many that could be adapted for yoga classes or other group settings. I wish there had been a bit more background about meditation but maybe that is more in his first book which I haven't read. Definitely a book that could be read by beginners to expert level.
4 stars
Comes out Dec. 8, 2015

Broken Resolutions by Olivia Dade

Being a librarian, it can be hard to read a book that has one as the main character because the setting/people are often so far off what a professional librarian would be/do. However, Olivia Dade was a librarian (assuming in a public library since that's where she set her book) so this rings a bit more true. Although few librarians I know would have been able to run as many "risque" programs as Angie. Although she didn't really run the New Year's program this is centered around. She tricks her friend Penelope into it. Penelope is wanting to spend the evening at home with a burger and TV but she trades all of the Saturdays in January for this one evening (assuming that they are both salaried, this could work (What? it's harder for me to suspend disbelief for librarian books, this thought actually crossed my mind). While at the New Year's Eve party, Penelope meets Jack Williamson and they are instantly and majorly attracted to each other. There are library shenanigans as games are played (it's a singles event), all of which are again, risque being fairly focused on erotica.

I was annoyed with the last little twist. Especially considering that they both thought they had found their soulmate after less than 6 hours of first laying eyes on each other but it was overall a fast and fun story and I wanted to know what happened with Angie so I immediately got the next book (review to come on Jan. 12, 2016).

This book comes out Dec. 8, 2015