Ivy Get Your Gun by Cindy Brown

Ivy is still working on figuring out her life. I missed one of the books in the series but I didn't feel like I missed too much of the story.
Still working for her uncle's detective agency but also working as an actress, Ivy is trying out for "Annie Get Your Gun." She is somewhat sidetracked by the appearance of Arnie's son (supposedly). Nathan has borrowed money from Arnie (actually, it was Marge's money) to start a live-action Western town. Add to that, Arnie and Marge's pug, Lassie, has recently run away to run with a pack of feral Chihuahuas.
So, Ivy's working at the town, trying out for a play, searching for Lassie, and trying to figure out how to keep her relationship going when her boyfriend live  an hour away. It's a good book, much in keeping with the first one. A fast, fun, and fluffy read, it's perfect for a summer pick.

Four stars
This book comes out May 16
Followed by The Phantom of Oz

Love Me Again by Jaci Burton

When the book opens, Loretta Simmons is still trying to figure out her relationship with Deacon Fox (and, seriously, is that not the best romance hero name ever?). Things are still awkward between them after she broke up their grand high school romance because her parents had better things in mind for her. But now Deacon is working on the shop next door to her bookstore so they're seeing each other every day. And Loretta's nine-year-old daughter, Hazel, is super-interested in anything dirty (e.g. construction) and is also somewhat looking out for a father-figure.
Deacon is wary at first but <gasp> is adult enough not to hold a grudge for something that happened over a decade ago. The two start hooking up and then fall deeply in to love.
And that's pretty much the story with a Great Dane who is more of a plot moppet than Hazel is. I was only a little disappointed with Loretta's "resolution" with her parents (but, arguably, it's a work in progress and therefore truer to life). The part with her ex-best friends could have been fleshed out a bit more but I think served to introduce us to Josie and set up her romance with Zach (who I really, really hope ends up owning the fancy cabin they all went to in this book because he made a ton of money from writing romance novels.)

Four stars
This book went on sale May 2
Follows Don't Let Go

Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return by Brian Lynch

I loved both Bill and Ted movies when I was growing up so I jumped at the chance to be able to review this. The first story was about the two of them going into the future and trying to stop Chuck de Nomolos from killing them. At first it seems like they succeed in befriending him but then his evil plan comes to light and he takes over their lives. It was a good story totally in keeping with the Bill and Ted oeuvre.
There are several other shorter stories with different types of art that aren't as good as the main story but somewhere enjoyable. Definitely a book worth picking up if you're a Bill and Ted fan!

Three and a half stars
This book came out May 2

The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick

The book opens with the murder of Anna Harris' boss. It seems her boss had an extremely valuable notebook. One that she left for Anna. So Anna quickly heads out the door and quietly disappears to California, becoming newspaper reporter Irene.
Too bad she gets tangled up in another murder. Well, it actually seems to be a series of drownings. She finds an informant dead in the pool of a very exclusive pool, a pool that Irene herself has to swim across in order to get away from the murderer. So now there are two murders and we're barely three chapters into the book.
Overall, this was a fun book, very much a throwback to some of the early Krentz works that I adore. If you're a regular Krentz reader, I think you'll figure out the "twist" in the story. The pacing was a bit uneven with the beginning and ending being WAY fast while the middle was long and slower (not slow, just slow-er). I got an ARC so there were also a few anachronisms but hopefully those will be weeded out before the final book.
I really hope that we will see Ogden's secretary Raina Kirk getting together with Luther Pell, somewhat shady club proprietor, in a future book.

Three and a half stars (honestly, will probably be four once it's better edited but I can only judge what I read)
This book comes out May 9, 2017

Followed by The Other Lady Vanishes

ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2022 as audiobook from Libby

A Perfect Manhattan Murder by Tracy Kiely

Nic and Nigel, the gender-swapped, modern day Thin Man couple, are back for another fast-paced, quip-exchanging mystery. This was VERY loosely based on "Another Thin Man" but don't think that if you know the movie, you'll be on an inside track to figure out the murderer. This book is very fairly clued though and you should probably be able to figure it out.
Nic and Nigel are back in New York City to watch her friend Penny's new play. They are also seeing a third friend, Harper who is married to, Dan, the play critic for Vanity Fair. Nic and Nigel aren't excited about a dinner with Dan and Harper since the man is an egotistical bore. Harper just had their baby six months ago but Dan couldn't care less. He's even rented a "weekend apartment" so that he can work without having to listen to the baby cry.
When Dan turns up dead in the apartment, Harper is the most obvious suspect, though far from the only. He angered a lot of people with his reviews; he was working on a book that was going to be an expose of sorts and threatened to reveal a lot of people's secrets. And it's possible he was having an affair.
If you liked the first book, you'll certainly like this book. If you like books that are fast, fun, and fluffy with rapid-fire dialogue a la The Thin Man (sometimes quoted directly from the movie), you'll like this book. I don't think having seen the movies is a must, but it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Four stars
This book comes out May 8
Follows Killer Cocktail 

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Even though the title says that the book is for people in a hurry, I wasn't expecting it to be just over 100 pages but that was a nice surprise because I'm not the worlds best science-y type person. In addition to being short, this book is very readable taking the history of the universe and making it well, not easy to understand, but at least palatable. I'm not sure how much of it I'm going to retain, but I'll takeaway the feeling of having read a very nice shorts intelligent book.

Four stars
This book comes out May 2

Nothing Like a Duke by Jane Ashford

I'm sure we know more of Laura and Roberts backstory from earlier books in the series, but I've only read the first one. I didn't especially feel like I was missing out because of that mostly because of the superlong expository scene where Robert picks up a small dog and then talks to him. And, while I realize the dog isn't child, it is a plot moppet extraordinaire. He always seems to know what's going on, he always wants people to follow him into places they should go, and he always seems to be the wisest of all the characters.
This was a nice little story, even with the dog, it was slow and gentle but there seem to be a lot of extraneous subplots. Robert is attending a house party, trying to get Flora, but then he's delighted that she's there. There is literally no angst about the fact that the woman that he's trying to get away from her suddenly showed up where he is. And we get the daughter of the house trying to wrangle her self into position as Roberts wife, but she is easily shaken off as well.
One of my biggest peeves with this book is not the fault of the author but with the back cover blurb which was nothing at all like what the story was, and less the blurb author was reading some different version of the story. They played up the villain who ended up not being in the book very much at all except for a scene that was sort of thoughtlessly tacked onto the end.
A nice enough read but with a lot of problems.

2 1/2 stars
This book comes out May 2