Just One of the Groomsmen by Cindi Madsen

Growing up together, Addison "Addie" "Murph" Murphy and Tucker Crawford were just two of a large group of friends. Addison was the only girl in the group but the feeling among the friends was more sibling than romantic. Now one of their group, Shep, is getting married so that means Tucker is home for the first time in two years. And that means that Addie is going to have to wear a dress. Since her normal wear is either yoga pants and a T-shirt or jeans and a sweatshirt, that is going to be a pretty big deal. The next time Tucker sees Addie, she is under a car and he only sees her legs -- that's when he starts to realize that his best buddy might be female. And Addison isn't immune herself. But the move from friendship to relationship is one that is going to be fraught. Especially when both Addie and Tucker are also trying to figure out some other pretty big decisions related to the rest of their lives. 

This was a pretty good book. There is a "big production" to get Addie back at the end after Tucker realizes that he messed up and I'm not a huge fan of those. However, the characters were well built, the romance was solid, and there were some nice openings left for more books in the series.

Three and a half stars

This book come out May 28th
Followed by Always a Bridesmaid

ARC kindly provided by Entangled Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

Tiffy Moore needs a place to live... fast. She needs to get out of her emotionally abusive ex's apartment as soon as possible. Easier said than done for someone who works for a craft book publisher. She's not exactly swimming in cash and her choices range from moldy to tiny. It's no wonder she ends up picking the option where she shares a flat... and a bed. But not at the same time.
Leo Twomey works nights and spends most of his free time at his girlfriend's so he figures sharing his apartment would be a good way to make some money to pay for his brother's lawyer. He figures having someone else in his flat won't be so hard to deal with.
Told over the course of a year, we get alternating first person views from both Tiffy and Leo. What I appreciated most was O'Leary's approach to Tiffy being in a relationship after her abusive ex. Leo was... awesome. When Tiffy freezes, he backs off immediately, working with her to get to a healthy-for-them sex life. And I also liked that Tiffy got into therapy and wasn't healed by Leo's magical wang. An easy ready but not a quick one because it does deal with some heavier topics.

Four stars
This book comes out May 28th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Smooth Moves by Marie Harte

Jordan Fleming knows that Cash Griffith is trouble with a capital 'T.' Snarling and strong, the man runs toward situations rather than stopping to figure out what is going on and then working through them. She needs his help though; her younger brother is starting to get into a lot of trouble and she thinks Cash can probably reach him.
Cash knows that he has a connection to Jordan but she is an employee of the company he is a a part owner for so she is not on the list of "okay" people to date. She's not even really his type. Except that, smart mouthed and super sexy might actually be his type. In fact, Jordan might be his perfect woman.
Harte does a really good job of exploring a few things in this book. Jordan doesn't see her job in the moving company as long-term but Cash does; neither looks down on the other for their choices. Rafe not speaking up about his problem with math was delicately handled although Jordan's family's interactions were just a little confusing overall.

Four stars
This book comes out May 28
Followed by Handle with Care
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

One Potato, Two Potato, Dead by Lynn Cahoon

Angie starts off the book by volunteering at a soup kitchen and meeting Hope's professor, the one she has a crush on. The next morning, the sheriff comes to tell her that the man is dead.
Angie starts by trying to stay on the periphery of the investigation but ends up getting dragged into looking at Daniel who didn't seem to exist two years ago but suddenly showed up as a professor at the local university before he died. The man also seems to have romanced a number of women, some of whom are quite scary when crossed.
The series probably hasn't changed very much but there is starting to be an element of religion (very light touches) that weren't there before. I'm wondering if that was just for this book (especially since the guy running the food bank ends up not being a great fella) or if the author is heading more in that direction.

Three stars
This book came out March 19th
Follows Killer Green Tomatoes
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wise and Shine by Robert N. Stonehill

This is supposed to be a book that blends Epicurus and Eckhart Tolle to help you transform yourself. And there are some interesting ideas here but they are often reduced to their simplest terms and then those simplest terms are made to use points that create a misunderstanding of the original idea. Chapter 3 sounded like nothing so much as used car salesman or televangelist making things sound "so simple" until you really think about the explanation -- and it's not what that author is trying to point out. Things like the Feminist Critiques of Development are explained but then never related to the overall whole. My overall biggest problem with this book was that there were a lot of false parallels.

Two stars
This book came out January 10th
ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Mint Julep Murders by Angie Fox

An old asylum doesn't seem like it should be a place that Verity would want to visit. I mean, it is going to be rife with ghosts. But that's where Scalieri is being held, the ghost who has the answer to who killed Frankie. But he's not alone. Of course, there are the ghostly guards keeping him in, but there are also inmates of the asylum who never left. One of who is named Crazy Charlie. Also included are the director of the asylum and one of his dedicated nurses. They are disturbed because the corporeal owner of the asylum is turning it into a haunted house/paintball arena. They just want to live their afterlives in peace.

In addition to all of the ghostly players, there are two people who have paid to sleep in the haunted asylum as well as the owner, Barbara, Verity, and Ellis. A sudden storm traps them all on the island and then something else traps them in the asylum. And someone ends up dead.

A very nice addition to the series and I am really excited to see what Frankie does with the information that's been given to him.

Four stars
This book came out April 25th
Followed by The Ghost of Christmas Past
ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

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