Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

Meg's grandfather has been asked to lead a series of bird talks on the cruise line Pastimes. In return, he got a friends and family discount. So the entire clan has packed up and headed to Florida to get on the boat. Even waiting to embark is sending up red flags since the porter does not seem willing to take aboard her family's 32 bags. The trip only gets odder after Meg meets a group of 4 writers who had a friend die recently; the woman they blame, Desiree, has also joined the cruise. It becomes quite quickly obvious that Desiree is a exactly as the other writers describe her, thoroughly despicable. Is it, however, a surprise that her shawl and shoes are found on deck 4 along with a suicide note. This happens on the same day that the boat's engines go silent.
With the officers of the boat behaving as if all is well (it very noticeably is NOT), the staff size mysteriously small, and the appearance of a body (not Desiree's), Meg is up to her eyeballs in mystery.
Andrews usually does a great juggling her large cast of minor characters and mostly does okay in this book but there are some places where it feels like there are a LOT of people introduced; this will probably be confusing for new-to-the-series readers but not as hard for those of us who are Langslow fans. I appreciated that the book was moved out of Caerphilly but was never really pulled into the story.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 6th, 2019

Follows Lark! The Herald Angels Sing

Followed by Owl Be Home for Christmas
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Reread as Audible book December 2023

Let's Fake a Deal by Sherry Harris

I liked that this book moved Sarah Winston out of the rut the last couple of books had been in. I didn't love the ending (the wrap up didn't make sense with most of the rest of the books; not enough clues had been laid) but it was overall an enjoyable read.
The book opens with Sarah starting a garage sale for a cute young couple who are downsizing now that they've moved to town. Too bad all of the furniture is actually stolen and Sarah is the number one suspect. But her friend Michelle has it even worse. In line for a promotion at the Air Base, she's just had a big charge made against her and she's not allowed to know what it is or who made it. However, she can pretty well figure it out. Too bad he ends up dead in her car.
So Sarah is trying not only to save her friend Michelle but herself (and her DA boyfriend Seth whose reputation is also on the line). It's a lot to juggle but she might just figure out some things along the way.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
Follows The Gun also Rises
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

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