The Heart of Devin MacKade by Nora Roberts

Devin MacKade has loved Cassie Dolin since high school. She married her high school sweetheart; he became the sheriff. Then he stood silently by while her husband beat her. He wanted to help but he couldn't until she pressed charges. And she finally did, in one of the earlier books in the series. Now Cassie is steady, her children are happy, and Devin is ready to make his move.
This is very much a nineties story but it doesn't age as badly as the next book in the series though some of it - treating Cassie like a fragile bird even though she's proven her strength - might be handled differently today.

Three stars

Follows The Pride of Jared MacKade

Followed by The Fall of Shane MacKade

This book came out March 1st, 1996

Ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own

Borrower of the Night by Elizabeth Peters

Vicki Bliss is a historian who has just had the find of a lifetime fall into her lap, proof that a shrine built by Remenschneider (I listened to the book so spelling may be suspect) actually existed. A race between herself and her lover, Tony Lawrence, as well as treasure hunter George Nolan, takes them all to Germany in an old, supposedly haunted castle.
In the setting of the book, the castle is now a hotel run by the final countess (who married into the family) and the last surviving Drachenstein, Irma. The Grauphin, the old countess, is an iron-fisted besom while her niece is a “perfect heroine” including to the point of being a fainting flower. There is also at the castle a Doctor Blankenhagen who may or may not also be looking for the shrine. The countess also has a séance-loving friend and there is an older gentleman, Schmidt, who round out the party.
Peters infused the book with a sense of humor about the whole gothic atmosphere, at one point, Vicki says something along the lines of, “A secret passage? That was all we needed.” Love those bits of self-awareness.

Four stars

Follows The Camelot Caper

Followed by Street of the Five Moons

This book came out in 1973

Borrowed as an ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

When examining the effects of a lady mountaineer, recently deceased, Veronica is shocked to see that the rope holding the woman on her last climb looks to have been cut with a knife. The lady's death was not the accident everyone assumes. Veronica is anxious to investigate and gets her chance when the Princess Gisela of the Alpenwald disappears and, as an unexpected lookalike, Veronica is asked to step into her place. 

As usual, Raybourn has a lot going on in her book but she weaves it together seamlessly in a thoroughly enjoyable story. It did take me a little bit to get through the middle of the book but I enjoyed seeing the character growth in Veronica and Stoker. There was not much building about their relationship but I think there are some hints that there may be more in the next book.

Veronica Speedwell #6

Four stars

Follows A Murderous Relation

Followed by An Impossible Impostor
This book comes out March 2, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Berkley and Edelweiss Plus
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby January 2024

Cubicles That Make You Envy the Dead by Scott Adams

I hadn't read a Dilbert book in quite some time and had a chance to borrow this for free so I thought, "Why not?" 
Not much has changed. All of the characters are fairly one-dimensional. Nobody likes their job. Management is incompetent. Not much, other than the technology has changed.

Two and a half stars

This book came out November 6th, 2018

ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

February Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #1)

Three stars

Follows My Last Duchess

Followed by Too Wilde to Wed
This book came out October 31, 2017

Hard copy of mine

Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #2)

Four stars

Follows Wilde in Love

Followed by Born to be Wilde
This book came out May 29, 2018
ebook on my Kindle

Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #3)
Three and a half stars
This book comes out July 31
Hard copy borrowed from library
Follows Too Wilde to Wed
Followed by Say No to the Duke

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #4)

Four stars
This book came out June 25th, 2019
Follows Born to Be Wilde
Followed by Say Yes to the Duke
ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #5)

Four stars

Follows Say No to the Duke

Followed by Wilde Child
This book came out May 19th, 2020

ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Big Nate: In Your Face by Lincoln Peirce

As always, Peirce delivers a series of strips wherein we get to see Nate interacting with his friends during sports and at school. We see his delusions of grandeur when it comes to all of the above. Of course, he spars with Gina and Mrs. Godfrey (even on the first day of school.) There are a series of strips related to his playing on the soccer team including wanting to get some music to play pre-game and how that quickly fizzles and also believing that he should be scouted (even in middle school) and figuring out that that will mean some extra training with someone he'd rather not spend time with.

It is also Nate's turn to take care of Sherman, the class hamster, and, being Nate, doesn't do it in quite the way one might expect. 

I am really enjoying the addition of Dee Dee. I can't remember when she was introduced but she's been appearing in more and more of the series. She is a great character and it's nice to see Nate actually relating to a female in a positive manner (not just as a despised teacher or sibling or, on the other hand, as a love interest.)

Four and a half stars

Follows The Gerbil Ate My Homework

Followed by Aloha

This book comes out March 2nd

ARC kindly provided by Andrew McMeel Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Useful Delusions by Shankar Vedantam, Bill Mesler

I liked the idea of this book. When can self-delusion be helpful in our day-to-day life? Can it EVER be helpful? I have always believed that deluding myself works in wonderful ways and Vendatam and Mesler would agree.

I thought one of the most interesting studies was in wine tasting when people's brain scans actually showed that the pleasure center lit up more when tasting a wine they had been told was $90 even though it was the same as the $10 bottle. Does that mean the people who pay more for wine will always enjoy it more? Maybe. But price isn't the only thing that can "trick" our brain like that. It can also be the story behind  a product or brand.

There are several of these studies interwoven with the story of a letter writing scheme where lonely hearts would write to each other. However, it turned out most of the women in these exchanges were semi or wholly fictitious. Yet many of the men defended the fraudster.  Why? Well, the book explains. If you consider yourself a rationalist, this may not be a good book for you because it will change how you define "rational."

 
Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 2nd

ARC kindly provided by W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley

Opinions are my own