Bad Boy's Bard by E.J. Russell

We've seen Gareth Kendrick in the last two Fae Out of Water books. The last true bard of Faerie, he's had kind of a crappy life. First his brother sent him to be trained by dead bards (since there weren't any live ones around to do the training. Then his human lover was killed by an Unseelie Fae. And not just any Unseelie, it was none other than the new king!
Niall O’Tierney's life hasn't been any better. He's the son of the last king, half-brother of the new king and he's spent the last two hundred years avoiding his one true love so that he wouldn't be forced to kill the man. Well, to kill Gareth. So when he sees Gareth's shock his first instinct is to fake amnesia. Uh huh. But that's not their biggest problem, there's a threat to all of Faerie that only Gareth and Niall can contain.
Probably my least favorite of the three books. Both Gareth and Niall were just a little too much in their own heads. That being said, I enjoyed this whole series overall and look forward to more from Russell.

Three stars
This book comes out September 11
Follows The Druid Next Door

Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost

Oh. This book started off so well. Holly White is back in her hometown, not because she wants to be there, but because she was dumped by her fiance two weeks before the wedding. Unlike other series, Holly is happy to be home. She loves Mistletoe, Maine, loves the quirky people who live there, and loves being in a place that embraces Christmas so  much. Rather than being resentful that she's forced to return home, it's nice to have a character who is happy to go back to a place that loves her.
Well, except for Margaret Fenwick, the president of the Mistletoe Historical Society. The woman is clearly unhappy and is pretty much trying to drag the rest of the town down to her level of misery. It's just too bad that she's murdered on Holly's family's farm right after a fight with Holly's father.
It's too bad the ending was a) just a little out there and b) so darn cheesy. I'll try the next book in the series but this may not be a series for me.

Three stars
This book comes out October 12

Second Chances -- Anthology

One of my favorite tropes for romance short stories and novellas is the second chance. It makes it infinitely more believable for two people to find their HEA. It clears up the need for a first-meet and makes more room for a good story. This is a really nice mix of stories. I didn't love all of them but I didn't need to, this was more an introduction to the authors and I think that most of these stories probably nice captured the author's tone and writing style.
With sixteen stories, I'm not going to review them all but there were some authors that I'm going to explore further. I definitely liked Cassandra Dean's "Scandalous," a historical story of a woman who was  ruined but then traveled the continent and returned to the man who finally realized he might be good enough for her. If this were a longer book, I think I would have liked it quite a bit.
Another one I would have liked the full-length version of (but enjoyed the story) was Lizzie Shane's "Something Old, Something New," the story of a couple who had been lovers, but then the man ghosted. Now they've met again at his best friend's wedding that she is the planner for.
Overall, a nice sprinkling of romance authors. Every romance reader will find at least one story to enjoy.

Four stars
This book comes out September 12

The Final Score by Jaci Burton

We've met both Mia and Nathan in previous series. He was the son of two previous protagonists while she is the sister of one. Since both those books, these two have become close friends and, one crazy night, lovers.
In this book, Mia is concentrating on starting up her business while Nathan is about to step into his father's shoes as the starting quarterback for the Sabers. Both are busy but still make time for each other... even as they're fighting off sexytime feelings for each other.
And most of the first part of the book is "we should have sex" "no we should just be friends," mostly on the part of a very wishy-washy seeming Mia. And it's her actions at the end of the book that knocked it down an entire star. It was great that Nathan called her on it, but based on her actions in most of this book, it made it hard for me to believe these two were going to get their HEA.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out September 2017
Followed by Shot on Gold 

Eye Candy -- anthology

Generally, I quite enjoy anthologies. Especially ones like this one that take a group of new-to-me authors that might help me expand my reading. I'm also a huge fan of a holiday anthology. 
This anthology, not so much a fan of. Why? Because these were all parts of series that I hadn't read, that I felt I needed to have read, and now won't read. This was not the book for me, neither the stories (which weren't exactly romance more spanning horror and erotica, both of which I enjoy but neither of which I was prepared for). I would recommend it to people who have read and enjoyed at least one of these authors before.

Two stars
This book comes out September 5

A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus

Before her current job as general manager for a theater company, Edwina "Sully" Sullivan was a police officer. That's the reason her cousins come to her for help when her .... uncle-ish person (her mother and his wife were first cousins). She doesn't want to help at first but then the police arrest her favorite cousin, Eric. Sully decides to step in, even if that does mean working with her former husband who is working as one of the lawyers for the family.
I was surprised to see that this was a new mystery. This felt more like something written in the 90s. It was still enjoyable but just felt a little dated. It was also surprising to me that this was the first book in the series. There were several points were I felt like there was some backstory that had already been told that we just weren't getting to see. The ending was incredibly convoluted but I would still read the next book in this series.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 8

A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

The first book in this series introduced the world to Charlotte Holmes, the woman behind the myth of Sherlock Holmes. In this book, her life starts to get more complicated. First, the wife of Charlotte's one-true-love (or at least one of the people she cares most deeply for), comes to Sherlock Holmes for help. She wants to find her childhood crush, a man who supposedly met her every year on the Sunday before his birthday. Never meeting or talking, just a distant nod. This year, he didn't show. And it turns out this man has a mysterious tie to Charlotte.
Charlotte also has to contend with a marriage proposal from a man who courts her with puzzles. She has another mystery of a woman who thinks her father is poisoning her. And she has to figure out how to get back her sisters.
The strength of Thomas in this book is her ability to paint her characters. We get more of the inscrutable Charlotte, seeing that she is not completely unfeeling, just rarely does she feel it deeply enough to express it. We learn more about Inspector Treadles, about how deeply he loves his wife but how much that love may be tested against his notions of how men and women should act. We meet the inspiration for Mycroft: Lord Bancroft, Lord Ingram's brother.
I think I may have rated this book higher except that I was judging it against the first. Three and a half stars is still pretty high.

Follows A Study in Scarlet Women