You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria

I had heard this book reviewed on a couple of podcasts but when it became available at my library on the same day I listened to the Smart Bitches Trashy podcast episode with Alexis Daria, I considered it fate. Her explanation of the story as well as Sarah’s intense enjoyment got me really stoked.
And this is a wonderfully enjoyable story about two stars of a new series. The leading lady, Jasmine Lin Rodriguez, has just made it into the tabloids for all the wrong reasons. Her other big problem is that she doesn’t really speak Spanish. She understands it just fine and has the accent mostly down but it’s not a language she uses every day.
The leading man, Ashton Suárez, is aging and he knows it. He is definitely tending out of “hero” in the telenovelas he’s known for and into “villain.” He didn’t even make it to the finale of his latest series! This series is his last chance to break into American television. He has always avoided interviews because of a fairly valid but secret reason. And, even though he finds himself falling quickly for Jasmine, he doesn’t disclose this secret to her. That does cause a misunderstanding at the end but it is quickly cleared up when both come to their senses.
The melding of Jasmine and Ashton’s stories with the telenovela storyline was just wonderful. It took me a bit to get into the book but when I did get into it, it was just a fun ride.

Four stars

This book came out August 4th, 2020

Followed by A Lot like Adios

Borrowed from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Reread June 2022

The Palace Guard by Charlotte MacLeod

Max and Sarah have been spending a lot of time together. He has a lot of free passes to various events (at least that's what he's telling Sarah) so they've been stepping out. Too bad an evening of music at Madam's (a building the Kellings have a fraught history with the building's original owner) is ruined when one of the security guards plummets off a balcony to the floor below. One of Sarah's many cousins is substituting in as another guard. He is able to tell them some of the behind the scenes information. When another guard dies though, this time by paint remover put into the alcohol bottle he kept hidden in his locker, it all starts to get very, very serious. 

A quick read - we get to learn more about Max and Sarah and the mystery is sound. Unfortunately, there is some casual racism in the book which made me uncomfortable and I'm hoping it doesn't continue in future books. 

Three stars
Follows The Withdrawing Room
Followed by The Bilbao Looking Glass
This book came out July 1st, 1981
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own

Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton

Narwhal and Jelly books are always a little off-kilter but full of fun. And this book is joyous as usual. A little too short and somewhat less developed than usual but still fun.
It’s Christmas-time under the sea though that’s not exactly what it’s called. Again, mixing a fun story with some science facts, Clinton introduces the idea of the Merry Mermicorn who brings gifts to the underwater sea creatures. When a gift is left for Jelly that is just perfect, he knows that he will need to come up with something fantastic for Narwhal as well.

Four stars
This book comes out September 8th
Follows Narwhal's Otter Friend

Followed by Narwhal's School of Awesomeness
ARC kindly provided by Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Shadows in Death by J. D. Robb

After an evening out, Eve and Roarke are stopped by the murder of a young mother. But the night goes to absolute crap when Roarke sees a face from his past and realizes that this is the work of a contract killer. It will take all of our favorite characters to make sure that the killer is brought to justice.

And by all, I do mean all. We see almost every side character that has ever been introduce to the series in this book and that made it feel a little overcrowded to me. Regular readers will have all the feels as regular beats are hit (e.g. Eve becoming a little more human, more of Roarke's past uncovered, etc.) This is definitely not a standalone book because so much of the story depends on knowing what has happened in previous books.

Three stars

Follows Golden in Death

Followed by Faithless in Death

This book comes out September 8, 2020

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby August 2023

Don't Hex and Drive by Juliette Cross

In the last book in the series, we got a glimpse of Devraj Kumar. He was enlisted by another vampire to help get ahold of a precious book. We learned that he is a Stygorn, a particular type of vampire warrior, who roams the world helping others. Usually for a buttload of money. In this book, we find out pretty early that he is also a Bollywood star. A real people-person. The exact opposite of Isadora Savoie who prefers tending to her gardens and visiting the animals in a nearby shelter. There, she uses her powers as a witch, a Conduit who can convey healing and growth, to work with the animals, making them happy and sometimes extending their lives by a little here and there. So she wants nothing to do with Devraj after he accidentally hits her with his car while she’s on her bike. But he just keeps coming around. And he is so very hard to resist...
Devraj doesn’t want to settle down but a single interaction with Isadora has him struggling with that decision. He knows that he can use her help when a band of vampires start grabbing women off the streets and using them for their own nefarious purposes (almost all is off-page with some description of one woman’s injuries.)
This book, since it was dealing with a slight more realistic issue than the first book, didn’t have as much of the fun of that book. It was still a good book and I might have enjoyed it a bit more if I hadn’t liked the first one so much because of its playfulness. I am really enjoying seeing older heroines though (Isadora is (gasp!) thirty-seven).

Three stars
Follows Wolf Gone Wild

Followed by Witches Get Stitches
This book come out September 8th
ARC kindly provided by the author and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Deception at Thornecrest by Ashley Weaver

Hugely pregnant, Amory Ames is just ready to give birth. She is suffering through the planning of the local festival. She does not need a young woman showing up claiming that Amory's husband Milo is also her husband. Even despite their rocky past, Amory is willing to wait until Milo can be reached before she passes judgment. And it's a good thing that she does because it turns out that Milo is, indeed, innocent. It's actually a shadowy figure from his father's past is the person who provides the explanation.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of their troubles when a local stable boy is killed at the festival and more than one person declares that it must be murder.

The mystery in this one was maybe a little disappointing but it needed to be set up that way to introduce a new character. I don't believe that most Amory Ames fans will be disappointed.

Three and a half stars

Follows A Dangerous Engagement

This book comes out September 9th 

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Skeleton Key by Lenore Glen Offord

 Georgine is a widowed mother who is trying to make ends meet during the war by selling magazines. But she’s not very good at it. So when she stumbles into a cul-de-sac of Gettry and one of the home owners mistakes her for a secretary that is supposed to type copies of his scientific treaties. When he mentions the person will get $100, Georgine jumps at the chance. Her daughter is on vacation with family friends so she has the time and this money will get her ahead. But the more Georgine gets involved in the neighborhood, the more she realizes that things aren’t right and that the sense of wrongness really emanates from one man, the local air warden.

During a potential air raid, the man is killed by a supposedly run away Jeep. But Georgine has her suspicions and goes to the police with them. While the inspector seems suspicious, he also at least listens. So does Todd MckKay, the odd man down the street.
I should have been thinking more clearly about this book which I first heard about on the Classic Mysteries podcast. It was written in 1943 and definitely contains the casual racism of the day which, today, can pull a reader out of the story pretty quickly. I did mostly like the story and the mystery was fairly clued but Georgine was a little too Mary Sue for me and Todd pretty glib. The characterizations of the other folks in the book was often broad and stereotypical.

Three stars

This book came out in 1943

Borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own