Tis the Season to Read Maisey Yates Sampler by Maisey Yates

A nice glimpse of two of Yates' upcoming books.

Cowboy Christmas Redemption

Caleb Dalton fell in love with Ellie Bell the day he met her. Too bad she was always fated to marry his best friend, the eminently better man. But her husband died fighting fires and now Caleb is Ellie's rock and his family is helping her to raise the daughter her husband barely knew she was carrying. Without him, Ellie would have been lost. But now she's finally starting to come back to life, to feel as if she deserves something more. She's got a new job and she's ready to start dating. Or at least have sex.

Came out September 24th

Rancher's Wild Secret

Holden McCall finally has the last piece needed for his plans and it involves Emerson Maxfield. The beauty wants nothing more than to earn her father's love but Holden thinks she should be working toward something more... 

Comes out November 5th

Stay tuned here for full reviews!

Comes out November 5th

Samplers provided by Harlequin and NetGalley

Once a Spy by Mary Jo Putney

If you've read previous books in the Rogues Redeemed series, you will remember Simon Duval, the man who has helped our other heroes find love. In "Once a Scoundrel," Susan Duval, widow of Simon's cousin, helps the heroine escape a harem, the same harem where she was held for years. It's sort of understandable that she's not real keen on sex at this point. But when Simon suggests they marry for companionship, Susan is read to do it. Shunned by the other French emigres, Susan is not sure about the marriage at first but then she meets his friends and realizes that not everyone is as close-minded. She decides that, if Simon is not serious about wanting intimacy, she's in. So they marry and Simon soon realizes that his desire is not as lost as he thought.
The two work through her issues even as they also have to deal with going to Brussels, even knowing that Napoleon has escaped and England may once again be on the brink of war. They are looking for Simon's cousin, Lucas, who disappeared from a war camp and now may be wandering the countryside as a Franciscan monk.
This is a typical Putney novel, generally fast, fun, and fluffy. There are some heavy themes in this book that aren't exactly treated lightly but they are sort of skimmed over. Readers will again experience an unusual bent into religion, something that happened at the end of the Lost Lords series. I say unusual because it doesn't happen in every Putney book but shows up unexpectedly here and there and I was surprised there wasn't anything about it in the author's note, why was this book different? This time it was a little less preachy and more in the line of miraculous. I don't mind it if it's used consistently in a series but am sort of bemused that we have several fairly straight-forward novels and then one with overt magical realism. It will be interesting to see if future books in the series continue this trend, especially if Lucas gets his own HEA.

Three stars
This book came out September 24th
Follows Once a Scoundrel

Followed by Once Dishonored
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Hardy Agency by Script by Pierre Christin / Art by Annie Goetzinger

I don't know if a book less than twenty years old can rightly be called a classic but this is certainly a reissue of a book that originally came out in 2001 -- one that has the gritty appeal of a 1950s hardboiled detective mystery with some twists that I haven't read before (though I expect they may be more common that I believe): the detective in this case is a female, a widow to be exact, and it's set in Paris.
In this book, Episode One (of three),  Edith Hardy takes on the case of of a parfumier who has lost his lead scientist. Along the way, her young assistant Vittorio, now  in France known as Victor, is caught up in a round of socialist workers. There's a run-in with the KGB, a prescient dream, and.. just a lot going on. Very French.
If you like the Inspector Maigret mysteries, this may trip your trigger.

Three stars
This book came out September 18th
ARC kindly provided by Europe Comics and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Golden Grave by Erin Lindsey

I hadn't read a book in this series and obviously didn't read the description very well -- I completely missed the part about the paranormal mysteries. The part about Rose Gallagher being a Pinkerton agent and, heavily implied, being in love with the man, Thomas, who brought her in to the agency when he recognized her ability to see the spirits/shades. One night, she overhears her handler and his boss seemingly implying that she is not going to be a good fit for the agency, that she's not catching up as soon as she should. So when Sergeant Chapman comes to the door of the house that she's staying at, she immediately takes on his case. It seems six delegates from the Republican Convention are now dead and the sergeant isn't sure it's typhoid as the coroner is implying. In the course of her investigation, she meets Nicola Tesla.
It was an interesting read, especially with Rose trying to figure out how to align a new life, which seemed like it was going to solve so many problems, with the old one. I didn't feel like I missed much by not having read the first book in the series but I still wished I had read it.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 17th
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wrapped Up in You by Jill Shalvis

After a lifetime of heartbreak, Ivy Snow is ready to run her (about to be permitted) taco truck and make some roots with her found family in San Francisco. She's finally found a place to stay and nothing's going to push her out, not even the uber-handsome Kel O'Donnell.  Guy's a cop anyway and Ivy knows that's no good. It's too bad he's the cousin of one of her new-found friends and it sounds like he's going to be hanging out for awhile. And the more they hang out, the hotter he gets...
Kel has been... well. He's not working as a sheriff right now for reasons and he's got some time off from his ranch so he'll help his cousin Caleb with some work for his security business. He doesn't expect to fall in lust with a woman who cooks like a dream. But when her brother comes back into town, Kel just isn't sure that Ivy is someone he can trust.
I love most of Shalvis's work but the ending often don't work for me and this one is the same. It skips too far ahead and too much has happened that I would have liked to know how they actually got to their end point, it would have made the characters a little deeper.

Three stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Christmas in Chamonix by Sasha Wagstaff

Everyone knows the story: two best friends, one a guy, one a girl. One or the other realizes that they're in love with the other and, after a a short, turbulent period, they realize that they are both in love and end up with a HEA. Except in this book.

Lily Jackson has only recently realized that she loves her friend Jamie. But when she finally gets up the courage to tell Jamie that she loves him, she discovers that he's already in a relationship. And the woman he's dating? Well, it's just going to be uncomfortable for Lily to stay in the country. Even at Christmas, her favorite time of the year. So she finally takes he friend Imogen up on her suggestion to come to France, to the Chamonix ski resort. Lily has never skied but her job as a masseuse is pretty portable so she picks up and goes. And at Chamonix, she meets ski instructor Luc, a man who hates Christmas. Can she teach him to change his mind? In a typical romance novel or a Hallmark movie, it might be a no-brainer. But this book... who know?

A charming book that actually introduced some darker themes. Maybe a little too much for a Christmas book but it's all wrapped up neatly in the end. An extra bump in the rating for how the women handled the dating situation.

Four stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Canelo and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Seduction on a Snowy Night -- anthology

A Christmas Abduction by Madeline Hunter
Adam Prescott, Baron Thornhill, is expecting to spend his Christmas at his cousin's house avoiding marriage to an eligible heiress who is after his title. He's not expecting to be kidnapped off the coach and taken to a remote location. He's also surprised that one of the two kidnappers is a woman. A very attractive woman. Either way, he's pretty comfortable because he knows that they are going to be disappointed. No one will pay any sort of ransom for him. Even when he finds out that it's about more than money, he knows that he's innocent of the accusation being leveled at him. At least, he's pretty sure he is...
An okay story. Adam seemed like a decent hero but I wish we had gotten to know Caroline a little bit more.
Three stars


A Perfect Match by Sabrina Jeffries
I have been excited for this short story since I read a preview at the end of  Project Duchess. Cass is just trying to protect her young cousin from a rogue, Captain Malet. Several characters try to tell her that she is jealous of her cousin's youth (Cass isn't that old, just poised) and fortune (Cass is also an heiress but doesn't want anyone to know because she's been burned before. At a ball, she is startled to learn that she is not the only one suspicious of her cousin's suitor, Kitty's brother has sent an emissary in the form of Colonel Lord Heywood Wolfe to protect her. When Heywood believes that Malet is going to whisk Kitty away to Gretna Green, he decides to steal both ladies away first.
Like Project Duchess, this story was great for the first 3/4 and then falters. The last Big Misunderstanding didn't need to be there and seemed antithetic to Heywood's character.
Three and a half stars

 One Wicked Winter's Night by Mary Jo Putney
Years ago, Anthony fell in love with a woman who was a little bit older than he but when he proposed marriage, she told him he wasn't grown-up enough yet. It didn't quite break his heart but it definitely made him think twice about marriage. And now that he's a duke, women are knocking down doors to get to him. So, while he's sort of thinking about marriage, he is definitely thinking about it once he realizes that the veiled woman dancing an exotic dance at the home of his sister's friend is his long ago love, Diana.
A nice story that built characters nicely considering it was so short.
Four stars

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 24th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own