The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

You don't earn a lot of money on Wall Street without making some enemies.  Or without keeping a lot of secrets. Sylvie, Vincent, Jules, and Sam know that better than anyone. The four have been working as a team for a lucrative financial firm. Well, formerly lucrative. Layoffs are happening and anyone could be cut. But these four all know each others secrets. All of them. Which is why none of them are any too happy to be instructed that they have to attend a team building exercise using one of the building's elevators as an escape room. But the longer these four are locked in together, the more likely it is that secrets will be spilled. And perhaps some blood as well.
I thought the prologue actually took away from the book a little bit, told a little too much of the end of the book. I also didn't love all of the interspersed chapters, those of Sara Hall. It might have built up more of the story to start those in the latter half of the book. I think most of the same information could have been conveyed. Still, an interesting book from a genre I rarely read.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

Henrietta "Hattie" Sedley wants one thing in life, her father's business. But she is a woman and, even though she is better at the business than her brother, Augie is the one that has been put in charge.  Unfortunately, Augie's an idiot's. Example:  The man who's tied up and in Henrietta's carriage when she goes out to start the first night of the Year of Hattie.  The man is built like a Greek God and she is immediately attracted but she's got a plan and even the most beautiful man isn't going to stop her.
Beast  Wakes up to a beautiful  Woman tapping his face trying to get him to wake up. And then she unceremoniously throws him out of the carriage. But not before stopping for a kiss. Luckily she throws him out in the area of London that he runs and he's able to find her almost immediately. He discovers that she is a part of the family that has been systemically robbing him. And that's an issue.
The pre-end was a little fast as was the wrap up but generally a fun book and nice addition to the series.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
Follows Wicked and the Wallflower
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Cowboy Up by Stacy Finz

Aubrey McAlister is nobody's favorite person in Dry Creek. She has committed the unforgivable sin of (gasp!) calling off her wedding to the most popular man in town. She has her reasons but is

keeping them hidden in order to save the inevitable heartbreak for a friend who has already been through a lot. Her car is vandalized, her coffee may or may not have spit in it, and her job prospects have dried up (the downside of working for your fiancé). Basically, Aubrey's life is crap.
Cash Dalton knows from crap. He is a former FBI agent (the "former" part is not his own choice) and now he's in town trying to help his cousins keep the ranch that has been in his family for generations. Speaking of generations, it seems that Cash unknowingly contributed to the next-he apparently has a daughter whose mother never bothered to tell Cash existed. So he's dealing with his own crap and now the crap of a teenage girl whose mother died and now has to live with a man she was told didn't want her.
There was a lot going on in this book and I'm not sure it all really gelled for me. Finz is a fantastic writer but it might have been too many stories to fit into one book. The ending was fine but I have a feeling I will feel better after the next book (assuming we get to see more of Aubrey and Cash there.)

Three stars
This book comes out July 23
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hard Body by Renee Roman

I did not realize that this was a short story when I requested it from NetGalley so I was disappointed at the length. Roman did manage to pack a lot of story into 28 pages when Sharon's crush and roommate, fire fighter Case finally notices her as well. I wish we had gotten more of the story about their longing and glimpses of Case's feelings before this and maybe how the relationship grows but this was a pretty good story.

Three stars
This story came out July 16th
ARC kindly provided by Bold Strokes Books, Inc. and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Alexa Monroe found love in Guillory's "The Wedding Date." In "The Wedding Party", she has asked her two best friends to stand up with her. The biggest problem for her friends,  and Theo? They don't really like each other. They started off on a bad foot at their first meeting years ago when Theo talked only about himself except to denigrate Maddie's job. Years later, they still aren't fond of each other... even the night that they have sex. Ten months later, it happens again. Realizing that they are probably going to end up in bed over and over again (despite not particularly liking each other), they decide to be Enemies With Benefits. And NOT to tell Alexa who is sure to go overboard about them being in a... well, they're sure not in a relationship.
Except, that life has ways of throwing people together in ways that could make them see each other in a different light. Maybe even love.
This was definitely a slow start kind of book. And there are some very odd time jumps that took me out of the romance a bit. But it ended strong and I enjoyed it a lot.

Four stars
This book came out July 16th
ARC kindly provided by Berkley and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Killer in the Carriage House by Sheila Connolly

In the first book of the series, Kate Hamilton returned to Asheboro, Maryland at her friend's request. Asheboro is a dying town and Kate's friend thought she might be able to help. She got a boost when she and a visiting historian found letters from Clara Barton.
Now, she's trying to convince the town to go along with her plan to set it up similar to Williamsburg but more early 1900s. That's when the town was built and a lot of the stores on Main Street still have their fixtures underneath all of the updates.
Along with that, she and the history professor are working with an archivist to move all of the papers from the local manor into the town's library. The library that has been closed since the librarian was found to have been... well, not keeping it up correctly in the last book. A young man interrupts her work one day looking for his relatives. The next morning, he's discovered dead after having broken into the library. Suddenly, Kate is in the middle of another mystery.
Unfortunately, the mystery is a little thin. There is more about the set up for the town and papers than anything else which is good because that's more interesting than the killing. We don't get to know the victim at all, the reason for the killing isn't shown until the last quarter of the book, and the killer are barely involved in the story.

Three stars
This book came out July 9th
Follows Murder at the Mansion

Followed by The Secret Staircase 
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Rainbow Brite by Jeremy Whitley, Brittney Williams

Rainbow Brite was a major favorite of mine while growing up and I'm delighted that there's a new artist bringing her to life. The story is basically how a girl named Wisp becomes Rainbow Brite. Well, probably. We get to see Wisp and her friend, Willow, LARPing as a wizard and a warrior. That evening, Wisp sees some mysterious creature standing next to her mother's car which used to be blue. And that is her introduction to the minions of the Shadow King who is trying to suck all of the color out of his world, and now has moved on to Wisp's.
It may turn out that Wisp is Rainbow Brite, she has been able to use the scepter, but they haven't yet found the rainbow belt.
A nice story, the characters have shifted from my childhood memories but overall enjoyable reading.

Four stars
This book  came out July 2nd
ARC kindly provided by Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley