The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

The town of Bristol looks like it's going to be a great place for Lord Christopher "Kit" Cavanaugh to open up his new yacht building business. He's even found a warehouse. It's just too bad about the nonprofit he's displacing. But then he finds out it's a school for impoverished children. And one being run by Sylvia Buckleberry. He decides that he's going to make sure that the school is going to succeed. It has a much to do with wanting to help his new community as much as helping out the lovely Sylvia. But doing that means that he's spending more time with her and figuring out exactly how lovely she is.
For Sylvia's part, she's somewhat bemused by Kit's help but more than willing to take it. She thought he was nothing more than a fancy lord working his way through the debutantes of London. But she's learning that there are depths to this man. Ones that she'll need to rely on as there are people who aren't very excited  about her school moving to a nicer part of town. And enemies from the past that are against Cavanaugh Yachts succeeding.
This was a fine story from Lauren's but there were so many <i>things</i> happening in quick succession that it was annoying. One minor plot point really could have been erased and made the story so much better. I'm not sure why it was thrown in.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Beguilement of Eustacia Cavanaugh
This book came out April 30th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Unbroken Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Before a bull tap danced all over him, Dane Parker was a successful bull rider. Before that he and his sister were struggling to stay afloat in a trailer park. Now she's the owner of a winery and he's struggling to move every morning. And everyone keeps giving him these pity-filled looks. Even Bea, his sister's former sister-in-law. But is she just considering him another one of her wounded animals?
Beatrix Leighton has had a crush on Dane since his sister married her brother. But she hasn't been able to articulate that. She's just not that good with other humans. Slowly, however, she learns to be like that with Dane.

Three stars
This book came out April 23rd
Followed by Cowboy to the Core
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and publisher
Opinions are my own

Need Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Levi Tyler was in prison for five years because the police believed he killed his wife. But said wife has suddenly turned up alive. So Levi has been released. And he is ready to face the world.
Faith Grayson is the sister of former heroes of this series. She is a young architect, one who feels like she is supporting her family. As a former child prodigy, she was the one on whose they rest all their hopes. But she's secretly taken on designing Levi's house. Even though she knows that her brothers would be irate.
Though each knows the other is All Wrong, they are still drawn together. It's almost
It's another of Yates' stories with a young heroine and older hero. They're sort of starting to bleed together for me. This one was a bit different in that Faith's brothers are involved. Faith was beyond naive and the ending was a bit too short and saccharine for me. I may start sticking to Ms. Yates other series.

Two stars
This book came out April 2
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber

When it appears that there are burkers once again digging up people (and maybe even killing in order to provide the medical community with corpses), Kiera is pulled back into a spotlight she never wanted to have. One of the suspected victims is Lord Feckenham. A dissolute scoundrel (and not the lovable kind), very few mourn his passing, even his own family. But the family does want to protect their younger son and Sebastian's father has ordered them to help so Sebastian and Kiera are pulled in. As if the threat of Kiera's past being brought up by the burkings, someone is threatening to publish her first husband's journals.
A very nice addition to the series with great character growth and relationships being strengthened.

Four stars
Followed by A Stroke of Malice
This book came out April 2
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Martha Wood is a perpetual volunteer. She has an inability to say no and therefore doesn't get paid to take on the worst jobs at the library, watching her sister's kids, even washing laundry for one of her library patrons. Her life stopped when her parents needed her and she's been put upon ever since. But at a low point (she spent all day making cookies for a library event that was cancelled, though no one told her), she discovers a book that has been left on the library doorstep. But this isn't just any book, it's one inscribed to her from her long-dead grandmother. One that is dated two years after her grandmother supposedly died. Finding out more about the book threatens to shake up Martha's life and to reshape her past when long-hidden secrets are revealed.
This was a fine book and fairly easy read though it did drag some for me. The best part was Martha's character arc, moving from being put-upon and unable to get out of her rut to making decisions for herself (with a little help from her friends.)

Three and a half stars
This book came out March 26th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Game of Bones by Carolyn Haines

Near Sarah Booth Delaney's home, they've started an archaeological dig on a burial mound but something has gone wrong. One of the main archaeologists has been murdered in a very brutal fashion. The other archaeologist, Frank Hafner, hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie to clear his name. There are a lot of suspects since the murdered woman was a maneater and endeared herself to no one. Peter Deerstalker, the member of a local tribe is also hellbent on making sure that the dig stops so that his ancestors can rest in peace. And there was something odd about the family who most recently owned the property. Could they be coming back to cause trouble?
There was so much crammed into this book that it was hard to follow who was doing what and why we needed to care about anyone other than our main character. The first historical elements introduced (at least in the ARC) seemed a little off but then we got to the bit about Custer and that was  SO wrong that it took me out of the story. I get that this is a fiction book and should get some leeway but whoo-ee, this was bad in that it pulled me out of the story every time after that Haines introduced some "history" of the area. I was already wavering in between two and three stars and the ending took it down for me. There have always been supernatural elements in this series but to add in magic was just too far for me. It made sense in order to tie up the story but the ending came out of left field.

Two and  half stars
Followed by The Devil's Bones
This book came out May 14th
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Humor That Works by Andrew Tarvin

I've been on a business reading kick for awhile. This book was an interesting difference. It's not the straight-up here's-how-to-work-better or a here's-how-to-manage-people book or here's-how-to-find-yourself-the-best-kind-of-job book. Instead, it's a look at how you can inject humor into the workplace from the world's first (self-proclaimed) humor engineer. His thoughts are that humor (the right kind of humor) can make a bad situation more bearable.
I wish there had been some more scientific studies backing up these claims (most were studies already published in other works). Most of the stories, especially in the early chapters, were personal stories about how Mr. Tarvin successfully used humor. Otherwise this was a very readable book which only sometimes reached a little too far in trying to also be humorous.

Three stars
This book came out April 1st
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own