Yours In Scandal by Lauren Layne

After eight years, Robert Davenport has to step aside from being the mayor of New York City, a job he has loved. The next logical step (at least as far as what his advisers are telling him) is to run for governor. But the man who is currently governor will be hard to unseat. But the man does have an Achilles heel; his daughter was a wild child and her name was splashed across the gossip columns for a long time. Five years ago, she abruptly disappeared. Robert's team has tracked her down and think that she might be convinced to release some of her father's secrets.
Adeline Blake changed her name, changed her hair color, and dropped out of sight. She did not have an easy childhood living with a man who was so dedicated to appearing like the perfect candidate to the world while living a completely different life behind the scenes. She just wants to plan events and stay out from under the microscope of public opinion. She definitely doesn't want to hop back into the political realm that burned her before. Working with Robert is starting to teach her that maybe not every politician is the same.
It's definitely smart to release a book about politics in the 2020 election cycle, especially with a politician everyone can connect to. Except I never really connected to either Robert or Addie. Even so, I don't think regular Layne readers will be disappointed.

Three stars
This book comes out March 10th
Followed by Yours to Keep
ARC kindly provided by Montlake Romance and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Clearer, Closer, Better by Emily Balcetis

There are so many books out there in the world that are related to help meeting goals, what really makes this one stand out? The focus on visual perception which I had not read a lot about before. I am a visual learner so narrowing my focus, widening my bracket, materializing my plans and progress, and controlling my frame of reference make a lot of sense. I loved that she mentions making To Do lists for the week.
Balcetis is a social scientist and she does use a lot of examples of "success" but weight/body image are mentioned in almost every chapter and that is more than any other theme which makes it less like a book that I can connect with and also makes it seem more focused on one goal than I think the author meant it to be. Like any self-help book, I'd read this one, try the suggestions (e.g. I'm running a 10k in a couple of weeks and going to use the "pass the next person" theory), keep what works for you, and forget the rest.

Three stars
This book came out February 25th
ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Run to the Finish by Amanda Brooks

I liked the title of this book. There are a ton of books out there that talk about how to increase speed or run long distances. There are fewer that just talk about how to love the run and how to keep doing the thing you love. I wish there had been a little bit more on the love of running or some descriptions of the author's run but I did enjoy the inclusion of lists of possible causes of injuries, exercises, and training. The inclusion of cross-training, especially the off days (restorative yoga was a nice touch), was also nice. While informative, some of this information was a little dry but overall a nice book for those of us who aren't elite athletes but just can't seem to quit the sport.

Three and a half stars
This book came out March 3rd
ARC kindly provided by Hachette Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Felicity Carrol and the Murderous Menace by Patricia Marcantonio

It's the time of Jack the Ripper and, even though the man is mainly working in England, Inspector Jackson Davies has heard of a similar murder in Placer, Montana. So Felicity Carrol, heiress, scientist, and mystery-solver (as we are told in a giant info dump and repeatedly) decides to go to America to see if she can discover anything more about the murder there. And, in fact, she does discover who Jack the Ripper is but she is also injured. She also has a bit of romance with the local sheriff.
This was an okay story and I think that most readers of Sherlock Holmes will not quibble with a woman who knows all and can solve all. It took me a long time to get into this story that I think wouldn't've happened had I read the first book.

Three stars
This book came out February 11th
ARC kindly provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Cowboy for All Seasons by Caitlin Crews, Nicole Helm, Maisey Yates, Jackie Ashenden

Spring by Caitlin Crews
After the death of their grandmother, four women are tasked with staying at her house, each of them for one season. The first is Keira Long. Keira was raised by a con man father and a mother who thought that he was everything leaving no room for anyone else. The only place Keira felt loved was at her grandmother's. And then with Remy West. But his parents didn't approve and Keira felt like she needed to find out who she was on her own so she left when he proposed. That was five years ago. And now she's back, living in her grandmother's house on the same land the Remy lives on, helping with the cattle. Could it be that both of them of matured into people who can be together?

This was the best story of the four. We got to know both Keira and Remy. Was Keira a little bit more adult about them being together? Yes. But we got to see that both were human. Four stars

Summer by Nicole Helm
JJ is back for the summer and has promised to fill in for her grandmother, caring for Cade Mathewson's two girls. She remembers Cade from visiting her grandmother in the summer; he was the only boy that didn't get upset when she beat him at footraces. She is falling in love with the girls but can't deny that their situation (their mother decided to leave and hasn't seen them since) mirrors her own. It brings up a well of emotions that help her heal and maybe bring her to the life she wants to have.
I wish we had seen more of Cade realizing why JJ was so good for him. Of course, this is a short story so we don't get to see a lot but it was an okay story. Three stars.

Fall by Maisey Yates
Lila isn't sure why she's sticking around. It's not like she's organized enough to help run the Red Sled Holiday Bazaar but for some reason, that's what her grandmother asked her to do. And it's being run on Everett McCall's land. Yes, the same Everett that Lila confessed her love to when she was 17. At his engagement party. He's the whole reason she hesitated coming back to Jasper Creek, even ten years later. But working on this together might be a way to finally show the man that she's loved for so long that she is worth loving too.
I never did connect to Lila. She didn't get the closure with her mother that I was hoping for. An okay story but not one of Yates' best. Three stars

Winter by Jackie Ashenden
Bella is the last of the four cousins. She stopped coming back to Jasper Creek when her mother decided that it wasn't worth going. Now, after having all of her money stolen (and why wasn't there more follow-up on this? The bank can't just tell her that they won't replace her money), selling her grandmother's house is her last hope for opening up a cafe. But she has no money, no clothes, and little hope when she comes to the house. Luckily, her ex-stepbrother, Noah is keeping an eye on her. The same stepbrother she always loved. And he offers to help her get the house ready for sale while she... draws her cafe ideas? I guess that was supposed to show that he was helpful and dedicated but it would have been nice to see Bella make more of an effort. There are definitely going to be readers who want to read about a man taking care of a woman like that but I prefer more of a equal relationship. Two and a half stars'

Three stars
This book came out February 25th
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

My Life in Thirty Seven Therapies by Kay Hutchison

I'm going to start this review with saying that Hutchison is a very good writer in terms of putting together sentences and creating a good flow. But this book was not what the blurb made it out to be. It is a "memoir" in the sense that the author talks about her life and going through some hard times. It is not a memoir in the sense that we never get to see anything more than what the author actually did. Yes, she went through 37 therapies but we don't get any sense of why those therapies were picked or what she learned from any of them. And without that connection, this is an okay book but mostly feels self-indulgent and definitely nothing that makes me want to pick up anything else by the author. What could have made this book better? Mix the Glossary in with the actual therapies. Get more into the history. Tell us more about which therapies actually worked and why it worked for her.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out March 3
ARC kindly provided by Belle Media and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

On the Corner of Hope and Main by Beverly Jenkins

Bernadine probably thought she had seen the last of her ex. Regular Blessings readers probably thought so as well since we haven't seen him in a couple of books (at least that I remember). But he's going to pop up again trying to cause trouble for the town while making money for himself. His plan this time is to back disgraced former mayor Riley Curry.
Riley has some competition though. Barrett Payne, formerly in the military, currently in charge of security for the town thinks that he is going to be a shoe-in. But his wife, Sheila, decides that she's tired of hiding her light under a barrel and decides to run herself. Of course, the Julys have to through in a family member as well.
We also get updates on various town members. Robyn, now living with her aunt, Pastor Paula, is slowly starting to learn how to live in Henry Adams. Mal and Bernadine work toward a better resolution of how their relationship ended. Cletus, the pig who formerly belonged to Riley is now famous and his team would like to bring him back to Henry Adams for a home town parade.
Jenkins is an incredibly steady writer. Readers who have loved previous books (and there are so many characters with intertwined stories, I really would recommend reading those books first) will enjoy this one to the same extent.  I personally enjoy the books but there is something that keeps me from diving right in and enjoying the story. Part is just the flow - with so many stories you don't stick on many for long. Part is also the characters. We've gotten to know the characters over the course of 10 books but there are sometimes big life changes without really getting to see the character's motivation or getting to see why certain decisions are made because we are looking at so many people. To be fair, this series has always been that way so it's not like Jenkins is just piling on more characters. We do get one or two more in each book but the additions are judicious.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 3rd

Follows Second Time Sweeter

Followed by A Christmas to Remember
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own