Bound Together by Christine Feehan

I loved the Sea Haven books and wanted to finish out the Sisters of the Heart, even though I felt the series was getting farther and farther away from what was making it good. But, I finally got the story for Viktor Prakenskii. We've known for some time that he's married to Blythe Daniels and he's finally coming home to get her. Oh. And he's bringing eighteen of his chose family home to her so that she can heal them just like she's going to heal him. And the kids that he's bringing home, the ones that have been the victims of some pretty horrific sexual abuse. But it's okay because he's going to make it be okay.
Blythe isn't so sure about letting Viktor back into her life. He got close to her, married her (she's pretty sure about that point but it's a bit fuzzy), and then murdered her stepfather right in front of her. Then disappeared for five years without a trace. But he's back now along with his motorcycle club that seems to have no boundaries. And that's no problem because Viktor keeps telling her it's no problem.
I had so many issues with this book. It was really more of a two and a half but I rounded up. I just really need to stop reading Feehan's books because they aren't my cup of tea and yet I keep picking them up. To be honest, this book was just darn hard to follow. The sequel bait was an entire motorcycle club all with real names and nicknames. And this book is FULL of the thing that drives me nuts about this author, she doesn't just give you information, she slaps it upside your head four or five times to make sure that you know that Savage and Reaper are blond. And brothers. And the one is more broken. I couldn't even tell you which because, even after all that repetition, we had the motorcycle club to keep track of, the previous H/Hs from five books in the Sisters of the Heart series PLUS there was a tie-in to the 7 Sea Haven books.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out March 21

Baker Street Irregulars: Thirteen Authors With New Takes on Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is hella popular these days with movies, television shows, and books all re-imagining how these books could be reinterpreted -- brought into the modern day or different genres. This book invites thirteen different authors to do just that.

Locked Mike Strauss
Set up as Sherlock and Watson being on some sort of reality show where Sherlock solves crimes and Watson plays the bumbling fool, who in fact is is league with the producers to make Sherlock look good. I didn't really get a good feel for the show or for Sherlock. The premise was interesting (basically the producers hire people to commit crimes so that Sherlock can solve the case) but didn't play out well in a short story.

 Three stars

Identity: An Adventure of Shirley Holmes and Jack Watson Keith R. A. DeCandido
There have been a LOT of gender-swapping of the Holmes and Watson characters. Some more successful than others. This story not only plays with gender but with race. Set in the modern day, Watson encounters Martha Hudson while covering for her oncologist. It plays close to the beloved Sherlock Holmes we all know except that Shirley is her niece in this case and Martha wants someone to move in and keep an eye on her. The case they solve will be familiar to Holmes fans with some nicely updated twists.
 Four stars

The Scent of Truth Jody Lynn Nye
A futuristic sci-fi Holmes. In this case, the Holmes-character is a dog-like being from another planet (named Baskur, naturally) and he has mainly retired but is lured into another case by a middle-aged journalist. There was some really nice world-building for a short story in this one and the info-dumping was kept short and tight.

Four stars

The Adventure of the Reluctant Detective Ryk Spoor
I swear I've read this one before. Or at least a similar version. Supposedly a case that takes place somewhere in the middle of the Holmes canon, soon after Mary dies, it starts with a strange woman entering Sherlock's apartment. She is not quite... right. For the woman she claims to be, there are some glaring discrepancies. To tell too much more would give the ending away but it wasn't quite up to the snuff of ACD.

Two and a half stars

A Scandal in the Bloodline Hildy Silverman
Suppose that Watson became a werewolf after an encounter with the Hounds of the Baskervilles. And that Sherlock was turned into a vampire at the edge of the Reichenbach Falls by Irene Adler. Now it is present day and Irene's huband, the paterfamilias, is missing. If he dies, she will go to. As will Sherlock.

Three stars

The Fabulous Marble David Gerrold
An interesting take where Watson is... some sort of computer program? Not an AI, exactly, since that's more what Marble does/is. There is a particular brand of sexbot, the Lorelei, that can become whatever the user desires; man, woman, other. Several bots that have been dismantled and their... well their male options have been removed. This one was a little too weird for me but a nice idea.
Three stars

The Scarlet Study by Jim Avelli
In a world where Big Brother makes people take drugs to keep them dumb, Sherlock Holmes has a brief, shining moment of reversing the trend. Three stars Delta Phi Heidi McLaughlin If Watson were a love-struck frat boy and Sherlock an oblivious girl on campus, it would take a very special case to bring them together. I love romance novels, I love cheese, this was a little too much.

Two stars

Beethoven's Baton Austin Famer Sherlock and Watson are violinists in Ludwig van Beethoven's orchestra but it seems like someone is plotting to kill the great man. Again, a little too much of a reach and the ending was bonkers.

Two stars

The Adventure of the Melted Saint Gail Z. Martin
Quirky. Very quirky. Sherlock was not the main character in this one. It felt like she (Shelley is transgender in this story) was just stuck into another story. As a Sherlock Holmes story, it was maybe a two/two and a half but I liked the idea of a Museum collecting objects that have ghosts attached, waiting for their mysteries to be solved. 

Three stars

Automatic Sherlock Martin Rose
Dr. Jovan Watson is Russian, working on a robot that will perform the perfect surgeries. But instead of his dream being realized, he is left with a robot that can... solve crimes? Might have been better as a more developed story.

Two and a half stars

The Hammer of God Jonathan Maberry
A really interesting take where Sherlock Holmes and John Watson become a novice and her mentor who are called in to solve a series of crimes that seem to have been perpetrated by God himself. Not sure how I feel about this as a Sherlock story but I liked the idea. Three stars Code Cracker Beth W. Patterson Sherlock is a crime-solving parrot. Do I need to say more? The idea was interesting, the story was just meh.

Three stars

Overall Three stars
This book comes out March 21

Can You Solve My Problems? by Alex Bellos

I really enjoyed most of this book. I did a lot of logic puzzles when I was younger and this reminded me of them. Most of these were puzzles I hadn't read before and I enjoyed that there were all levels of puzzles and the explanations were clear and coherent.
After awhile it did get a bit boring so it might be good to portion the puzzles out. I also would not recommend getting the ebook. It was really annoying to try and flip back and forth between the front and back on a digital version, so much easier with a physical book.

Four stars
This book comes out March 21

The Devil's Triangle by Catherine Coulter; J.T. Ellison

The book opens with Kitsune "The Fox" stealing the "Staff of Moses." She overhears her employers arguing right before they try to kill her. When they don't succeed in that, they manage to somehow not only manage to discover her true identity, they are able to kidnap her super elite soldier husband. So she contacts Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine for help.
They bring the Covert Eyes team to Eruope and discover that Kitsune's clients, the Koaths - brother and sister, are planning to bring the world to its knees by controlling the weather. They are descended from Moses himself and are therefore able to use his staff to cause mass destruction.
I have generally enjoyed this series but this book felt like it was jumping the shark. Slightly outlandish storylines have become cartoonish in their leaps from logic. And the villains... ufda. They just are not well-developed. We get glimpses of some depth but mostly Ajax and Cassandra are fairly one dimensional.
I really do wish we could get a better glimpse at Kitsune as she seems like an amazing character who, despite her propensity toward thievery (she is called "the thief" something like a-billionty times in this book), is so far fairly likable.

Three stars
This book comes out March 14

Yoga FAQ by Richard Rosen

I requested this book through NetGalley because it looked like a nice introductory book into yoga and, quite frankly, had a fun cover. But this is not a light book, the author dives right into the depths of yoga. And, I'm gonna be honest, this threw me off for the remainder of the reading. Especially with the subtitles, I was expecting something a little... more basic. A reference you could flip around in and look for answers to various questions.
This is a perfectly nice book about yoga. There are proposed questions and answers, sometimes with accompanying stories related to yoga or short bunny trails containing more, related information.
I'd say that this book is more geared to the advanced practitioner or slightly-past-the-beginning-teacher than newbies; especially since there are a lot of references that those just starting on their yoga path just won't get.

Three Stars
This book comes out March 7

Pressed to Death by Kirsten Weiss

With the Harvest Festival under way, Maddie Kosloski is shocked when her arch-nemesis Laurel wants to take away her main attraction, a haunted wine press. It seems that the previous owner has called it in as stolen and Laurel is only too happy to confiscate it, even though Maddie has the receipts to prove that she is the rightful owner. Too bad Maddie is later the one to discover the previous owner, Romeo, dead in the grapes that were supposed to be used in her mother's grape pressing contest. But she's not as serious a suspect as the man's wife, his estranged son, and even some of the people who are part of his Death Cafe group (where they discuss aging).
Not only does Maddie's mother get her involved in solving the case in order to help the Ladies' Aid group, but Maddie also gets roped in to helping set up a room in the annual Haunted House and she's working to keep her assistant, the dead man's estranged son, out of jail. Oh, and something is going on with her sweetie, Mason.
And the Mason storyline was just annoying. It's maybe not a plotline used in cozies much but I've read it over and over in romance novels. Maddie is fairly adult about the whole thing (she actually TALKS to Mason) but I just wish that this particular plot point hadn't been used. And there were some other plots that got short shrift since there was so much going on. But over all a good story that I quite enjoyed.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 8
Follows The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum

Geekerella by Ashley Poston

OMG was this a darling story. You've got Elle, fanblogger extraordinaire, and then Darien, the guy taking over her favorite character on her favorite show. Now, Elle's not in a really good place what with her evil stepmother and two evil stepsisters ruining her life. Her dad is dead and really she's just biding her time until she can get away from her "family." She's treated like the family drudge and doesn't feel appreciated by anyone. Now she learns that some popular actor from a show that her stepsisters love is going to be taking over the role of Carmindor and she is... not impressed. An excoriating review that she writes goes viral.
Darien is hurt. He knows Starfield, it was one of his favorite shows. In fact, he even went to some cons before his best friend sold him out to the paparazzi. Now, the idea of attending a con is just painful. Especially since the Starfield fanbase doesn't seem to be impressed by his resume. When he's blindsided by a promise to attend Exelsicon, he tries to contact the organizer but ends up with Elle's number instead (since her dad created the con and she inherited his phone.) From there, the two end up with a text message flirtation that starts to become something more.
I liked the alternating first-person of this story. We got to know both of the characters so they were more than just stereotypes. I didn't love the ending but it was mostly a very lovely story.

Four stars
This book comes out March 7