The Fatal Flying Affair by T. E. Kinsey

 Flo and Lady Hardcastle are once more pretending to be relaxing in the country but then they get the chance to learn to fly. Well, regular readers will know that Lady Hardcastle will foot the bill for the plane while Flo will become the pilot (which, by the way, she is very excited to do.) Except is the chance to fly the only reason they're checking out the Bristol Aviation and and Aeronautics Company? Of course not. Lady Hardcastle's brother has called on them to come to the aid of their nation once again. It seems that someone is leaking information about the Top Secret Project to the Germans. And, while no one is currently at war, it seems that Germany might be gearing up for it so they need to figure out what is going on and fast. All this while figuring out what they are going to do for the Littleton Village Show.
A wonderful addition to the series. You don't HAVE to have read the other books in the series but I highly recommend it. There were three words I had to look up in this book which meant that, not only was it entertaining, I was learning things as well.

Four stars
This book comes out December 3, 2020
Follows Death Beside the Seaside

Followed by Rotten to the Core
ARC kindly provided by Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Ten Things I Hate About the Duke by Loretta Chase

Outspoken Cassandra Pomfret has just arrived back in London and she's already gotten her father's back up. In fact, her latest stunt means that her sister Hyacinth, who absolutely loves the social whirl, can't go out until Cassandra is married. And that is completely antithetical to anything that Cassandra wants. So she runs away. Or tries to. But she's throw off track (and off her carriage) when the Duke of Ashmont discharges a gun as she is riding by.

Lucius (more often called Ashmont) is disgustingly drunk. He almost killed his best friend over pride. And frustration. Because Ashmont went to all the trouble of finding a woman, courting her for weeks, and then Ripley stole her. On their wedding day. I can see how that might be frustrating. But now there's this redhead and she's traveling with the famous Tom O'Keeffe. The same O'Keeffe who was almost trampled to death on the racetrack who is now struggling to breathe because Ashmont wasn't sober. Luckily, Ashmont and his two friends often raise hell in the town and they have a doctor more or less on retainer (in fact, the whole town tends to forgive them because they overpay for any mischief that they cause.) And that means that Ashmont has more time with Cassandra. But that doesn't mean that Cassandra wants more time with him.

I loved that Chase circumvented the obvious route of Cassandra being ruined by Ashmont. At least the first time. I didn't love Ashmont. I think it was true to character for him to be a little slow on the uptake (he had never really had to work for anything before) but he was a little annoying throughout most of the book. A nice addition to the series... now hopefully we'll finally figure out what's going on with Alice.

Three stars
Follows A Duke in Shining Armour
This book comes out December 1st

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

I often wonder why I don't love the rest of the series as much as I love this book (other people love ALL the books) but I think the crux of this one for me was the added "love story" between Amelia and Emerson. I mean, here's this thirty-two-year-old spinster who's got some money and some freedom for the first time in her life. She's more practical and headstrong than most of the women in her time period. Who else would pick up an obviously starving young woman off the streets and decide to keep her? Evelyn turns out to be a wonderful acquisition, fallen woman though she is, but it's still an unexpected event. For anyone other than Amelia Peabody. And then there's her love of Egypt. It's not just because the country is popular. No. Amelia is really interested in the past and her love of languages interests even the irascible Radcliffe Emerson. Yes, he yells at everyone, including her, but digging up the past is serious work and he believes that no one can do it like him. Throw in a mysterious mummy and you've really got some issues for him to deal with.

Great book, totally worth reading and re-reading. And listening to.

Four and a half stars

Followed by The Curse of the Pharoahs

This book came out in 1975

Borrowed as audiobook from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Riley Thorn and the Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score

 Divorced and single at 34, Riley Thorn just wants to be normal. But she's been cursed with psychic powers. She can hear the thoughts of others and now is apparently clairvoyant because she keeps seeing her next-door neighbor get killed. When he is actually killed, her world gets even more complicated with a hot spiritual trainer sent to her by her grandmother to develop her powers, a handsome detective who may or may not believe her, and a PI who insists that Riley be his fake fiancee.
There is a lot of craziness involved in this book and, while it wasn't quite the level of Aiken/Laurenston-crazy, it was still a three and a half star rating.

Three and a half stars
This book came out August 27th, 2020

Followed by Riley Thorn and the Corpse in the Closet
Ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Last Dragon Standing by G. A. Aiken

Keita has been described in previous books as something of a "slag." Like, girl got around. But there have been shades that she is going to be something more, especially since her mother, the Dragon Queen, hates her so much. 

Ragnar has also been in previous books. He's a little full of himself and thinks very little of Keita. Well, he thinks about her a lot but doesn't actually think she's good for anything. Even so, he is really good at apologizing when he makes a mistake. Like, none of that, "I'm sorry your feelings were hurt" BS.

Together, the two will work to keep Keita's mother on the throne.

The story doesn't hang together well and doesn't make sense toward the end but is so fun it's hard to care.

Three stars
This book came out September 7th, 2010
Follows What a Dragon Should Know
Followed by The Dragon Who Loved Me
Audiobook from library
Opinions are my own

Ride the Tide by Julie Ann Walker

I've been enjoying the Deep Six stories and this is one is no different. We've seen glimpses of the romance between historian Alexandra "Alex" Merriweather and former SEAL Mason McCarthy. She's  a twenty-seven-year-old virgin who has made it plain that she'd like her first to be with Mason. Petite and red-headed, she fascinated Mason but his first marriage burned him to the point where he is not going to be good for any woman. Or so that is his overriding belief. But he also knows that, if he has even just one taste of Alex, he'll never be able to let her go.

And that is very similar to other romances but the Deep Six series also has the search for sunken treasure and baddies that persist in trying to kill one or all of the team. There was a b-plot romance as well that is set up to be the next book but it did take away some from Alex and Mason.

 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 24th

Follows Devil and the Deep

Followed by Deeper than the Ocean

ARC kindly provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Awakening by Nora Roberts

When Breen discovers that her mother has been hiding secrets about Breen's father (including a large amount of money that should have gone to Breen), she decides to wrest herself from under her mother's thumb and then grabs her bestie/roommate Marco and goes to Ireland. There, she hops to learn more about her absent father. And what she finds is beyond imagination. She's going to find inner stores of strength and power that she will need in order to help save her father's land and his legacy. This is La Nora so, of course, there will be romance on the way.

This book, like many of Roberts' lately, has a LOT of backstory and character building. The entire first of three parts is just Breen finding out that she doesn't know everything about herself and doing some exploration. The middle dragged a little for me but I am enjoying this dip back into fantasy.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 24th

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own