The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez

Sloan Monroe was introduced in "The Friend Zone." She was the best friend of the heroine and was engaged to be married. But at the end of the last book, her fiance was killed. Now, it is two years later and Sloan is still grieving the life, and the promise of a new life, that has been lost to her. She's on her way to the cemetery one day when a dog runs in front of her and then leaps into her car. The dog has a tag with a name and number. For two weeks, Sloan tries to get a hold of Tucker's owner but then decides to keep him.
Jason thought that the woman he was sort of seeing would take care of his dog. Mostly because she said she would. Instead, she took off for New York. Now Sloan has his dog. She isn't swayed that he is out of the country and won't tell him her address but she does reply back to his flirty texts.  And their conversations go back and forth with their alternating viewpoints on how the relationship is going.
Like The Friend Zone, this book starts off incredibly strong. Good relationship development is one of my catnips. Unfortunately, the slow build at the beginning of the book starts speeding up as we get to the back half. It's like going down a hill as they start moving faster and faster so, while we get to see some of the bumps in the relationship road, we miss more of the reasons that these two might make it to an HEA.

Three stars
Follows The Friend Zone
This book came out April 14th, 2020
Borrowed this as an ebook from the library
Opinions are my own

Remind Me by Samantha Chase

Mallory Westbrook had a hot and heavy affair with her great-grandfather's next-door neighbor, Jake Summerford. But it ended and then she overheard and misunderstood a conversation Jake and her great-grandfather were having about her.
Years later, she is back in town after a hurricane destroyed her great-grandfather's house as well as for his funeral. Jake now owns the house next door and he wants to help Mallory get through her grief. As well as maybe convince her to stay.
This was an okay book but a lot happened in a short time because it is a shorter story. I was alternately irritated with Mallory and wondering why we didn't get to know more of her. I'm still looking forward to the next book in the series because light and fluffy is just what I need right now.

Three stars
Followed by A Girl Like You
This book came out March 12th, 2019
Borrowed as ebook from the library
Opinions are my own

Beach Read by Emily Henry

When two authors, both with writer's block, live next door to each other for the summer, will they be able to help each other through? Short answer, yes. Longer answer, there is a history between the two authors than the blurb demands. And did we need to have that backstory? I don't know. It built on their history but it took up pages that could have gone to developing their current relationship. Usually I like a second chance romance but this book almost would have been better without it so the readers could have discovered the romance along with the main characters. The beginning dragged a bit (our romance writing heroine has had her happy-ever-after-believing soul shaken twice recently; both stories are ruminated on a lot but wrapped up oddly quickly) and the end could have developed a bit more (though I did like the image of linked Happy-For-Right-Nows rather than an HEA) but the middle was a lovely story of two people falling slowly in love.
I always wonder if stories like this come from someone who had writer's block but overall, a nice story with some interesting glimpses into the life of a writer.

Three stars
This book comes out May 19th
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Scoring the Player's Baby by Naima Simone

Kim Matlock got divorced from a football player after it came out he had been extensively cheating on her. Feeling burned, even a year later, she is excited to have a one night stand with a man she meets at a bridal show (I know, right? but he's there with his sister). And she's loving it ... until she learns he is also a football player. And she just can't handle that. Until they meet again and she becomes pregnant. Now he's trying to get past the guilt of loving someone other than the ex who died and she's trying to prove to herself that she's good at her job, even if her father (who has literally told her he wishes she weren't born) doesn't think so.
And, to some extent, it felt like these two characters were in different books. This wasn't as good as the first two books but not as bad as a two star book. I really wish we had seen Ronin's mom... at all. She seemed like she would have been a fabulous character.


Three stars

This book came out July 9th, 2018
Follows Scoring off the Field
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James

Viola Astley knows she's not a real Wilde. Her mother married into the family when she was two. Though the Duke and all of her siblings have accepted that she's a true "Wilde Childe," Viola has worked herself into such a thought pattern that she is physically ill before balls, even before just meeting eligible men. She isn't a Wilde by blood and, shorter than the rest, plumper than the rest, she doesn't even look like she belongs. But then she meets the new local vicar and falls in love. Too bad he already has a fiancee. And really too bad that a duke seems to have set his eyes on her.
Devin Lucas Augustus Elstan, Duke of Wynter, is ready to get married. He might as well marry a Wilde, but not the adopted daughter. Instead, he'll check out the one who is generally known to not be a Wilde by blood but is by name. Even his uncle pushing him to meet Miss Astley doesn't make him interested in Viola. But when she stands up to him, well, that catches his notice.
This is a fairly quiet book. Not a lot of conflict and that was just lovely right now. Even the last misunderstanding wasn't a Big Misunderstanding because they actually talked to each other.

Four stars
Follows Say No to the Duke

Followed by Wilde Child
This book comes out May 19th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy from the library June 2024

Chaos Reigning Jessie Mihalik

As a child, Catarina von Hasenberg was often sick. But what no one other than she, her father, and a handful of scientists know that she wasn't really sick, her family was experimenting on her trying to play with her genes to make her faster, stronger, etc.  She was the youngest in a family of six so she was more expendable and her father is more interested in a way to gain power than keeping his family alive. Her bonds with her siblings are tight and Catarina is willing to help them in the fight against the Syndicate, a group that is trying to take over power from the Royal Consortium of which the von Hasenbergs are one of the three High Houses.
Cat has been invited to a house party at one of the family's that is suspected to be plotting against the Royal Consortium. Her sister Bianca is worried about her safety and sends two people along with Cat, Alex and Aoife. Aoife will be her bodyguard and Alex is going to pose as Cat's newest boy toy. Since no one knows about Cat's skills, she chafes against the restrictions but realizes why her sister might want to send her extra help, especially since she's the youngest and everyone is used to thinking of her as being weak.
I would definitely read the first two books in the series before this one. I don't think you necessarily have to but the series as a whole is amazing and worth reading. Of the three heroines, I think I connected to Cat the least but I couldn't put my finger on why. She is just as kick ass as her sisters  but I think the mask she had to wear annoyed even me. It also took me a bit of time to get into the story but, once it picked up, it really became wonderful.

Four stars
Follows Aurora Rising
This book comes out May 19, 2020
ARC kindly provided by Harper Voyager Trade and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Crossing Over Easy by Nova Nelson

Normally, a horrific car crash might not mean that someone will be able to walk away. But Nora Ashcroft does. And she follows a talking dog to a restaurant that includes fauns, witches, and the Grim Reaper (though he prefers "Ted.") Her brain can barely comprehend what's happening when she discovers a dead body. She also finds out that she is a Witch of the Fifth Wind; she can talk to ghosts, especially those who were murdered and help to set things right.
And because of who she is, she gets involved in solving the mystery of who killed Bruce the werewolf.
This is a short book but sets up some good worldbuilding (including the fact that Eastwind has a larger than normal murder rate which easily sets up the rest of the series and solves the usual problem with small town murder mysteries.) An interesting series and a nice first book.

Three stars
Followed by Death Metal
This book came out February 26th, 2018
Borrowed as audiobook from the library
Opinions are my own