Murder at Crossways by Alyssa Maxwell

First-person narrator Emma has accepted a job as the acting editor-in-chief for her friend/love interest, Derek's, paper, the Newport Messenger. She is proud to have the position but all is not well. She is dealing with a series of setbacks that may actually be sabotage. Who doesn't want her working at the newspaper? Is it because she is a woman?

And in her personal life, the book opens with a stunning beach rescue and then the discovery of a dead body. Emma is shocked to see the face of her brother, Brady. But after her shock fades, she realizes that it is someone else. But is it who she suspects?
Combining both her personal and professional life, Emma's society reporter is unable make it to the Harvest Festival held by Mamie Fish so she has to go in his stead. Though the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria, never shows up, and, thought it breaks the hearts of all of the debutantes and their mothers who had hoped to snares prince, it seems he has a very good reason. Earlier in the evening, Otto was killed just like the man on the beach. Can the two deaths be connected? And what will the answers mean to Emma and her brother?

Three stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Good Guy by Kate Meader

After leaving the Special Forces, Levi Hunt is again playing hockey. But he's shocked when he's moved up to the pros after a series of injuries on the Chicago Rebels team. The press is ecstatic for the story but only one person has history with Levi, Jordan Cooke.

Jordan's husband was Levi's best friend. The night he was buried, Levi and Jordan kissed and Levi still feels a massive amount of guilt. Jordan is a little more balanced.
She knows that it was a strange time for them both and that grief can cause people to do things they wouldn't normally. But she's not back in his life to pursue romance; she has the chance to land time on a network if she can get a big scoop. But she's not exactly sure that she wants to be the one to do that to Levi. Sometimes the past is best left covered. Forced proximity and a simmering heat may not lead Jordan to the story of her career, but it may lead her to love.
This was a very frustrating story to read and the end was especially so. It relies on the trope of grown-ass people not just TALKING to each other and assuming that they know what is going on and what is going to be best for the other person. Plus, there is a pretty big bomb and it's sort of resolved but I wish there had been more.

Three stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

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