Death of a Bachelorette by Laura Levine

I had read a few Jaine Austen books but ended up giving up on the series.  There are a lot of cozy series I really enjoyed and this one didn't really hook me. I liked the premise for this one though. Jaine becoming a writer for a TV show based on The Bachelor. Not far-fetched since shows seem to have been chasing that dream ever since the show started.
Jaine is on more of a "Bachelor in Paradise" show where the women are competing to marry a prince, er, a man who is 87th in line for the throne. She's replacing the last writer who gives her a cryptic warning about the show. Well, not so cryptic. Basically, Jane lands and is told that the job sucks and she better be prepared for the worst. Well, having packed up herself and her cat, Jaine is ready to dig in. Even if it means dealing with three bitch contestants. And a room on the third floor where there is no air conditioning. In a tropical climate. And the food is unused airline meals. Dessert is from a vending machine. Oh, and one of the contestants just got murdered. While dealing with all of that, Jaine has to also fight off the king of the island who wants to make her his twelfth wife (his first wife is none to happy about that).
This was a fun and fluffy story. Jaine is still just slightly annoying to me and the whole subplot of the island king seemed superfluous. For readers who enjoy the series, I think this will be a book they enjoy.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out June 27

The Pleasures of Passion by Sabrina Jeffries

We've heard about Niall Lindsey in all of the other books in this series. He was forced to flee the country after he killed a man in a duel over his sister's honor. But nobody except his sister and her husband know that. Everyone else thinks that it is because he slept with the wrong man's wife. You see, he was a bit of a scoundrel. Or, he had been until he met Brilliana (oh, I had such a hard time with this name) Trevor. But theirs was a secret affection. He tried to get her to come with him, but she stayed to be with her dying mother.
Now it's seven years later and they both have lingering resentments. Bree believes that Niall had another lover while Niall thinks that Bree was just trying to capture a rich husband with the evidence being that she married mere months after he left, rather than waiting for him. The pair will have to work together though to discover who is passing counterfeit bills. Niall owes the man asking them to do this and Bree just wants to clear her father's name since he's the person that they know has been passing around the bills.
A nice addition to the Sinful Suitors series, the romance was a little rushed for me and the Big Misunderstanding a little bit to drawn out. Definitely still looking forward to Ms. Jeffries' next book.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out June 20
Follows The Danger of Desire
Followed by The Secret of Flirting

The Big Bad Fox by Benjamin Renner

Poor fox. He just can't seem to get it right. When he goes over to the farm he's expected, but not feared. No one is afraid of him, not the pig, not the rabbit, not the chickens. And the guard dog doesn't even work up a sweat about seeing him in the farmyard. Even help from the wolf doesn't work. Until the wolf helps him distract the farmyard dog so that the fox can steal some eggs. But then the wolf thinks that they should hatch the eggs to have something more substantial to eat. Too bad the chicks think that the fox is their mother.
A cute story that went on a bit long. I thought from the cover that this was a children's book but would put it at a slightly more advanced reader. The jokes/story went on a little long but this might be fun for a somewhat reluctant reader who would be able to understand the jokes and read the short snippets.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out June 20

The World's Greatest Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops by Ryan K. Sager

 Zoey Kate is twelve-years-old and she's an adventurous chef combining things like chocolate and pork chops. So she's decided to take on some debt. Fifty thousand dollars to be exact. Why does she want to do this at such a young age? In order to win a prestigious cooking award. Adventures and mayhem ensue.
There was a lot of pop culture in this book. A lot. I'm not sure what felt off about this book for me but I felt a hard time connecting. It's possible that I'm not in (in fact, way out of) the age range this book is meant for but that doesn't usually bother me. Zoey was just a little too annoying, too perky, too sure of herself.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out June 20

The Totally Unscientific Study of the Search for Human Happiness by Paula Poundstone

With the absolute mountain of self-help books out there that are promising happiness to everyone, it seems like there are also a mountain of books offering to test those books and let you know how it goes. I love Paula Poundstone and was excited to see how she would approach the topic. I think I set my expectations a little too high.
Each chapter is set up as a science experiment with descriptions of conditions, hypothesis, procedure, environment, etc. She tries things like exercise, being positive, going into nature.
Part of my problem with the book was that it was so fragmented by chapter. Ms. Poundstone took a long time to write the book so there wasn't a lot of flow.

This book came out May 9
Three stars

The Best Max Carrados Detective Stories by Ernest Bramah

The claim to fame of Max Carrados is that he is blind. Blind detective, it's been done but Max was one of the first. His adventures are somewhat interesting but some of the solutions seem like great leaps of logic. I enjoyed the first few stories in the book but then it got sort of... convoluted. Good example of the time period but maybe not my faves.

Three stars
This book came out May 17

Death Around the Bend by T E Kinsey

Lady Hardcastle and her trusty sidekick/maid Florence "Flo" Armstrong are leaving home and heading to the country estate of Lord Riddlethorpe, also known as "Fishy." He is a racing man and the two ladies are sure they can talk him into letting them drive his cars. It turns into even more fun when he sets up a ladies' race and Flo gets to take the place of one of the lady guests who doesn't want to participate. But neither lady gets a turn behind the wheel because the male guests end up racing first and one of them dies. 
The man wasn't inoffensive but he certainly didn't deserve to have his brake lines cut. Lord Riddlethorpe asks Lady Hardcastle (and his butler asks Flo) to investigate. One more person will die before the culprit is found but Flo and Lady Hardcastle prevail.
Even though the feint was obvious, I still enjoyed this book. The ending was a bit... meh.. but overall a fun, fast, and easy read.

Four stars
This book comes out June 8
Follows In the Market for Murder
Followed by A Picture of Murder