The Lost Twin by Sophie Cleverly

Ivy has been summoned to Brookstone. Her twin sister Scarlet, the more vibrant twin, has died of the flu and Ivy is to replace her. Literally. She is to <i>become</i> Scarlet. But that seems like an impossible mission even before Ivy finds Scarlet's diary. Is it possible that there is more to the story? And what is the mysterious reason that Penny seems to hate Scarlet so very much?
By becoming Scarlet, Ivy finds reserves within herself that she never knew she had. Up to and including standing up to the very mean Penny and the truly terrifying headmistress.
A fast and fun read. A mostly satisfying ending but I was glad to see that this was only the first in a series since there are some threads left undone.

Friday Night Brides by Samantha Chase

It's an interesting book that can weave together the stories of four women (three just falling in love, one in a long-time committed relationship). Of course, it did mean that some relationship issues were skated over rather quickly and the characters weren't super-well developed but for what it was, it wasn't a bad book.
Hailey, Becca, Ella, and Angie have been friends since they were five years old. And since that time, they've participated in the Friday night shows (ranging from intimate to conference size) that Hailey's mother, a bridal shop owner has put on. They've grown through flower girls to attendants and now brides. Each has her own set of issues concerning romance (that would have been fun to see developed in a full-size or at least novella length for each). Hailey has been infatuated with one of the groom models for over a year but hasn't made a move. Becca's just been dumped by her high school crush after six months of dating (cruelly, and in front of a hipster(!)). Angie met a fantastic man who she had been hooking up with until he ghosted months ago. Ella has been dating her dream man since sixth grade, they're just having problems getting to the wedding of their dreams.
Some grammar issues which I didn't count against the book since it was an ARC but I hope it gets fixed before it's printed. Also didn't love the ending which suffered because of trying to wedge four HEAs into the end of one book.
Three and a half stars
Book comes out on May 3

Fire Bound by Christine Feehan

Major trigger warnings in this book. No seriously. Lots of trigger warning scenes to be had.
Lissa Piner has figured out that she's destined to be paired with a Prakenskii. But that doesn't mean she has to be happy about it. Especially when she finds him posing as a bodyguard at her uncle's house. The uncle that the rest of the women in this series know nothing about. Oh! That's because she has a whole double-life. One that Casimir Prakenskii is going to help her break out of. And, like, 4/5 of the book is them going after her enemies. And then the Big Bad from the rest of the series, the guy that put Casimir and his brothers through these torturous schools? He's met and dealt with in the final 1/5 of the book.
Why did I give this book two and a half? I don't know. I had so many, many... many issues with this book. Issues like the fact that Casimir is a douche. Not even barely likeable. Which makes me wonder about the last book in the series with a hero who seems like he might be douchier. I quite frankly couldn't really tell how his "dominance" was different from that of the supposed bad guy. Another problem I had with this book? The ENDLESS repetition of details. I get that you might have to repeat things once. Twice seems like overkill, so when this happens with more than one point of fact.... blergh.Oh. And there's sex on a horse. So there's that.In a series of crazy-pants stories, this is the craziest-pantsiest of them all. I'll probably read the last book in the series and then lay off Feehan for awhile. Though it is a testament to her writing that I had such HUGE issues and didn't DNF. And that it came out above two stars.


Two and a half stars
This book comes out April 26

How to Manage a Marquess by Sally MacKenzie

I was so excited for this second book in the Spinster House series and, while it was pretty much a regular MacKenzie romp, I was thrown off by a couple of things. First, the word "cock" was used a lot. A LOT. I have no issues with the word but, Good Golly, how many times does this need to be mentioned. Also, I really didn’t like Anne’s father. I get his storyline as an impetus for Anne to need the Spinster House but it sort of felt forced. Sort of like the way Anne and Nate kept getting forced together.

Anne Davenport is twenty-six years old and it appears that her father is about to marry a woman who is twenty-five. She is used to a life of independence and thinks that the Spinster House is a perfect way to keep in control of her life. Too bad her friend Cat wins the draw.

Nate, Marquess of Haywood, is relieved that Cat will be living in the Spinster House. That means she won’t be marrying his cousin, the Duke of Hart. See, there’s this curse… oh, just read the first book. Nate's not interested in marriage for himself because he has to keep his eye out for his cousin. Too bad the tempting Anne Davenport keeps drawing his eye.

Followed by When to Engage an Earl

Best of My Love by Susan Mallery

I am getting very excited because with numerous mentions of Aidan's brothers being in Happily, Inc. (a destination wedding town) it seems like we might get a similar series to Fool's Gold but one where every-single-character from the series won't have to be added into every-single-book. Ugh.  Although, the wedging is getting more subtle. Which is nice.
And this whole book was just nice. With Shelby trying to make friends with Aidan Mitchell so that she can heal her psychic scars and figure out how to find a good man. She figures he'll be able to move past seeing women as conquests.
Aidan likes his life. He sleeps with tourists and there is therefore no chance that any of them will be wanting to turn it into anything more. Until one day, one of them returns. And it causes him to take a good hard look at himself. So when Shelby suggests a friendship-nothing-more, he's up for it.
This is a romance novel so the idea of just being friends is a LONG shot. And it would have been nice to see more friendship and less pining but regular Susan Mallery readers won't be disappointed.

Three stars
Comes out April 26, 2016

Pistols and Petticoats by Erika Janik

This is an interesting history but very broad and very shallow. I do enjoy histories like that but there was a lot of sacrificing of a deeper story in order to fit in more information. I really wish this had been two volumes of a hundred or so years each. More details would have made this book more compelling. Instead, it's just story, story, story with no deeper information. But a good book for that all the same.
Women have been detectives in fiction longer than they have IRL. In both streams, it took a long time for them to be more mainstream.
I do wish this had been more chronological as well. It jumped around a bit in time which got a bit confusing. The author marched through the fictional detectives up through the 1950s then jumped back to the nonfictional 1910s. With some fictional touches.

Mug Shot by Caroline Fardig

Juliet Langley is only just beginning to recover from finding a dead body and a murderer in the first book and now she's found another! At least she finds it with her ex, cop Ryder (though why this somehow clears her of suspicion seems odd to me.) The book actually opens with Juliet hanging out with Stan at his grandmother's funeral. She doesn't really like Stan but her best friend Pete is also there with his super snotty girlfriend, Cecelia who is also Stan's sister. Cecelia is a bitch but that doesn't mean it's okay for someone to stick a coffee thermometer in her neck. And it's really not okay that the police seem to think that Pete did it. So Juliet dives feet first into trying to help her friend out so that he can leave jail.
I really didn't like Juliet in this book. She made a lot, a LOT of stupid (I started with "questionable" and then realized that wasn't quite right) choices that made me question what kind of idiot she is. And it wasn't just the typical "oh, isn't she kooky" sort of trouble that most contemporary cozy mystery heroines get into. The woman is thirty years old and barging into murder situations all while lying to herself and everyone around her about what she's doing. Even after being physically assaulted and getting not one but two friends in trouble because of her investigations, she still keeps on keeping on.
Even with my dislike of Juliet growing as the book went on, I still mostly enjoyed this book and will probably still read the next in this series because I do like Ms. Fardig's overall style. I just really hope that A) this love triangle finally gets figured out because, really, why? It's just annoying and B) Juliet stops putting herself in such stupid situations.

Three Stars
Book comes out April 19
Follows Death Before Decaf
Followed by A Whole Latte Murder