Rival's Break by Carla Neggers

I'm pretty sure I've never read a book that opens with a rash of seasickness, but this one does. Well, really it opens with Colin's brother, Andy, getting married to Julianne (Declan's Cross) but Colin and his marine patrol brother, Kevin, end up leaving the reception to investigate the illness. Colin is surprised to recognize one of the victims as an undercover agent.
From there, they get caught up in the world of nerve agents and mushrooms while Aoife Byrne's work becomes part of the story once again. Were the people on the boat targeted for some reason? Or is someone after the chef whose scientist father is even now in the throes of death?
The mystery was... very confusing. The story was fine but I had really no idea what this did to move anything in the Sharpe & Donovan universe forward.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out August 27th
Follows Impostor's Lure
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin-MIRA and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hold On to Me by Jules Bennett

Jade Mackenzie doesn't particularly like Cash Miller. So when he ends up being the pilot taking her to her cousin's wedding, she's really not thrilled. Especially when they end up making a crash landing and getting to the wedding late. But when Cash steps up as Jade's "date,", she's confused. They don't do nice things for each other. But somehow, making him her fake boyfriend makes it easier to imagine all the things they could do with each other if they were in a real relationship. And then they start doing them... even after they get home. Neither is very interested in telling their friends (at least at first) because what is the point? They're just going to break up eventually. But then fate steps in and forces Jade and Cash to face the fact that they are going to be tied together one way or another for the rest of their lives.

I don't particularly love the game-changing trope in this book but I do like friends-to-lovers and Ms. Bennett in general. I think the regular Return to Haven readers won't be disappointed and new poeple won't have had to read the other books in the series to like this one.

Three stars

This book comes out August 27th

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Lady Travelers Guide to Happily Ever After by Victoria Alexander

James and Viola didn't expect to be married to one another. In fact, James was engaged to Viola's friend. But one drunken mistake (James's) and one all-to-understood-overhearing (Viola's) later and the two are married and then separated faster than you can say lickety-split.
For seven years, Viola has traveled the world. Both she and James have heard rumors of the romances of the other. And now they'll have to face those rumors, and each other, head on because James's uncle, the Earl of Ellsworth has died, and has left strict instructions that James and Viola must follow in order to inherit his estate since the bulk of it is not entailed and the earl was free to leave it to whomever he wants. At least according to his firm of lawyers.
This book gets us to care about Viola and James and shows us a lot of growth out of each. Along with the help with our Lady Travelers who are the ones overseeing whether or not Viola and James stick to the terms of the will. I didn't love that there were a couple of Big Misunderstandings at the end; they could have been done without, but it was overall a nice read.

Four stars
This book comes out August 27th
Follows The Lady Travelers Guide to Deception with an Unlikely Earl
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews

When the Baylor family became a house, they all quickly realized that Nevada, the oldest, was not going to be a good head of house. So, Catalina stepped up. She's only 21 and her entire family is about to lose their three year stay of execution, the time when no other houses can come at them. So it's a very awkward time for her to take on the case of Runa Etterson whose mother and sister have been murdered. But Runa is a friend, of sorts, and Catalina wants to help both her and Runa's brother discover who would want to murder their mother and take out anyone else in the vicinity.
One big wrinkle, her teenage crush, Alessandro Sagredo is trying to stop her from investigating. He is more than the social media star that he seems and rushing Catalina and Runa out of the morgue where they went to test the DNA of the corpses found in the fire that destroyed the Etterson family mansion.
A wild ride, this book has some soft spots but was a fast read and will be enjoyed by regular Andrews readers.

Four stars

This book comes out August 27, 2019
Follows novella Diamond Fire

Followed by Emerald Blaze
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread July 2022

Handle with Care by Marie Harte

During his "real life," Evan Griffith is a high-paid accountant. At the moment, he's helping out with the company he co-owns with his cousins, working as a mover. The physicality is a plus. Also a plus? Meeting the cute gal whose roommate is moving out.
Evan is immediately attracted to Kenzie Sykes but she comes with a lot of baggage. Her physical baggage is her thirteen-year-old brother who she's raised for a long time (although the timing wasn't always consistent in my ARC.) And she's got emotional baggage from the last boyfriend who said he didn't mind that she had sole custody of her brother but then left them both. Now she's just going through her days, running her computer company (details are a little sketchy on this), and trying desperately not to be attracted to Evan. But first she falls into lust and then love (that pesky emotion ever-present in romance novels.) Will she be able to trust that he has her, and her brother's, best interests at heart?
In the main, this was a very good story: I cared about the characters; the overarching storyline connecting the series advanced nicely, and the writing flowed well. Until the end when a few things that had great set ups earlier in the story got chopped down to one sentence resolutions. I had to go back and re-read the last three chapters because I wondered what had happened.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out August 27th
Follows Smooth Moves
ARC kindly provided by SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Party of Three by Sandy Lowe

One night can change your life as friends Sarah, Avery, and Kaitlyn are about to find out. None of them are incredibly excited about the party but Sarah doesn't want to go at all. Her last SO left her with some pretty significant emotional scars, especially surrounding sex. What she needs is someone who can show her that her ex didn't' know what she was talking about.
Avery, on the other hand, is okay with going. But she's startled that the birthday girl's sister is back in town and all grown up. Can this best-friend's-sibling trope work out into an HEA?
Kaitlyn is also in for a surprise. The girl she loved in high school, the one who left, is not only back in town, she means to stay. And to fight for Kaitlyn.
All three stories are fine but none really popped for me. I like a story where I can connect to the characters and I just couldn't.

Three stars
This book came out August 13th
ARC kindly provided by Bold Strokes Books, Inc. and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Normal Sucks by Jonathan Mooney

Starting from the question almost every parent has to answer at some point, "Why aren't I normal?", Mooney uses his own experiences to build a framework around "normal" and how it is determined.  Studied for hundreds of years, humans have tried to find the norm of canceling from our physical selves to our sex lives. But during that study, many scientists have discovered that their is no one person who can completely match the definition.
This definitely reads like a speech that has been adapted into a book. I didn't realize that this was going to be so closely wrapped around Mooney's own experiences and that was a bit jarring for me. I tend toward the nonfiction books written by people who can take a good step back from what they're studying (obviously, autobiographies not included.) There were a half dozen or so studies included in this book but I wish more had been included. If this had been marketed more as a biographical book I may have been on board sooner and enjoyed it more.

Three stars
This book came out August 13th
ARC kindly provided by Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley
Opinions are my own