Lark! The Herald Angels Sing by Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow is once again embroiled in a Christmas mystery. This time, she is in charge of the Christmas pageant when a second baby Jesus shows up. But this one is a girl and the note that was left with the baby points at Meg's brother Rob as being her dad.

This is bad because Rob was planning on proposing to his girlfriend and, with a rash of past girlfriends popping up, Delaney doesn't seem like she's going to accept any time soon.

All of this is tied into a murder in nearby Clay County (often the bad guys in this series) and it will take Meg to tie it all together.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 16th, 2018

Follows Toucan Keep a Secret

Followed by Terns of Endearment

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible book December 2023

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

I adored these books as a child. Kid doesn't want to take a bath? Let her get dirty enough to plant radishes on. Child doesn't want to clean up his toys? Well, let ti get to a point that he can't get out of his room and then throw a parade. I loved this book because Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was so pragmatic. It was magic and yet not. 

As an adult, I don't like the references to the outdated notions of how Native Americans behaved nor the fact that the mothers defer to the fathers in everything and that the fathers are so quick to mete out corporal punishment. Would a child notice these things? Maybe not. These things are (in my opinion) light and could probably be omitted if read aloud. 

Four stars

This book came out in 1947

Followed by Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby February 2023

The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is off to another manor house to take pictures and write up the history for her magazine. She is somewhat regretting that this house will not have the same excitement as the last one. After all, it's not like another murder is going to be committed, right? Well, certainly not while she is there. But a dead body is discovered in the Winter Garden.

And it's not like there weren't undercurrents to begin with. Lady Valeria Parslow rules her family and the village with an iron fist. No one is allowed to step out of line. Her son Sebastian, a beautiful man, is kept on a particularly short leash. His sister Roberta ("Bobby") is actually the one who invited Daisy in the first place. Lady Valeria was not happy about it and her ire only grows when Daisy, fearing that the local police force is too intimidated by Lady Valeria to investigate properly, calls in Scotland Yard. Detective Inspector Alec Fletcher to be exact.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 15th, 1995

Follows Death at Wentwater Court

Followed by Requiem for a Mezzo

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own 

Witches Get Stitches by Juliette Cross

When she was sixteen, Violet Savoie's aunt predicted a true love for Violet. It is many decades later and the man hasn't turned up yet. However, two years ago she had a really hot night with werewolf Nico Cruz. But it was just the one night. He did find her later but they ended up having a pretty good friendship and what promises to be a heck of a good business partnership once the tattoo parlor opens. And especially once Violet perfects the spells that she wants to weave into the tattoos she gives to supernaturals.

Nico has a plan too. He wants Violet to be his forever. If she can figure out how to help him tame his wolf, even better. But he's not the only one interested in the respite Violet's magic might bring and his past may come back to haunt both he and Violet. 

The ending was a bit odd. It was set up to be a big fight and... well. Hm. I liked the second book in the series better but I think regular readers won't be disappointed.

Three stars

This book comes out July 20th, 2021
Follows Don't Hex and Drive

Followed by Walking in a Witchy Wonderland

ARC kindly provided by the author and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

I had heard about this book from many different podcasts and they all raved. It is for a good reason. This is a really interesting story to introduce a new series. 

Self-named Murderbot is a security android supplied by the "Company." His (using this pronoun for ease -- the audible narrator was a male) job is to protect the humans on any mission. But he has secretly learned how to circumvent the required updates from the Company and is more unfettered than anyone knows. This could be a problem but most of his free time is spent downloading old TV shows and watching them. He still does his job but is doing his best to stay under the radar.

Unfortunately, there is something going terribly wrong with his current mission. Even though all explorations are supposed to be approved by the Company, someone has arrived on the planet and killed off all of the researchers in the other facility. Murderbot doesn't necessarily connect with the humans on this trip but he doesn't want to have his memory erased and besides, after that other mission went so horribly wrong, he doesn't want to be disassembled.

I'm not as in love with the series as other people have been but I am enjoying the world building and liked the story.

Four stars

This novella came out May, 2017

Followed by Artificial Condition

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor by Ally Carter

April is an orphan. She doesn't know much about her past except for the key hanging around her neck. Her mother never told her what it was for but she's sure that all will be explained when her mother returns.  A trip to the local museum finally gives her a clue when she sees the crest on her key in the Winterborne exhibit. Always good at noticing things, April figures out how to get back into the museum that night. She doesn't mean to set the exhibit on fire. But when she wakes up in the aftermath, there is a mysterious woman, Ms. Nelson, who is taking her to a new group home. But first, they pick up two other children, the nearly silent Violet and her apparently self-appointed protector, Tim. When they get to the home, it is Winterborne house and there are two other children already in residence.The first is Sadie, an inventor, the daughter of scientists who used to work for the Winterborne family. The second is Colin who started living in the house after his mother posed as the fiancee of the long-lost Winterborne heir, Gabriel.

Everyone in Gabriel's family died in a boating accident except for his uncle. The fame and the wealth became too much for him and he disappeared ten years ago and is presumed dead. But mysterious happenings in the house make April wonder if the truth is something different.

There is enough time for some character development in this book but it is mostly world building. This might be a very interesting series as Carter has started a story but there is much room to grow.

Four stars

This book came out March 3rd, 2020

Followed by Winterborne Home for Mayhem and Mystery

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor by Shaenon K. Garrity

Haley is obsessed with gothic novels (Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc.) It's to the point where she dresses like she's a princess and has been banned from using the gothic novels for book reports. If she lived in a castle, life would probably be just fine. 

One night, when she's walking home from school, she sees a man drowning. She doesn't quite mean to fall in the river but she does manage to rescue him. But the other side of the river isn't the town she left. It's another reality. One that she knows immediately from all of her reading down to and including guessing that there are three brothers who live there.

But in this alternate universe, life is not as easy as it would be in some of Haley's books. It is threatened by a neighboring universe of bile that wants to take over the small universe and then Cecily's own. 

This book is amazing in the fact that it builds an entire world while trying to adhere to many of the tropes of the gothic novels. Oldest brother Laurence is the steadfast heir. Cuthbert, the youngest, is feckless having debts despite never having gambled. Montague, the one Haley rescued, is... a middle child. 

This book is charming, self-referential in the best ways, and often funny. I love that the prototypical heroine umbrella came in useful and that this adventure Haley figured out which role she truly would play in a gothic novel.

Four and a half stars

This book comes out July 20th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Simon and Schuster's Children Publishing, and NetGalley

Opinions are my own