Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, Stephen R. Covey

Why are the conversations we most need to have often the hardest to actually sit down and have? Because they are HARD. We don't let information flow freely for various reasons.

Know your motives going in. Stick to those reasons during the discussion. Make sure that you stick to facts, not to your story OR tell your story as a story. 

If you need to have a crucial conversation, make sure that you blend confidence and humility. Make sure you listen.

Lots of advice, some will be hard to implement. Will probably re-read at some point. 

Three stars

This book came out September 16th, 2001

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reckless Miles by Claire Kingsley

I would not have enjoyed this book nearly as much if I hadn't listened to Jessen and Juliette on the "Smart Women Read Romance" podcast squee so much over it. I didn't love it quite as much (the characters were more New Adult, which is not my favorite, and the insta-love was a little hard to grasp, especially since Cooper had been set up as a man who enjoyed... the favors... of many women, never sticking to just one and Amelia had quite literally just been dumped at the altar) but I am enjoying the series in general and will more than likely read more by Kingsley.

Cooper Miles usually babbles somewhat incoherently but not usually at strangers. And not strangers who understand him so well. But this woman in a wedding dress sitting next to him seems to understand him. And she's really hot. AND willing to follow him home and spend some time on a "Cooper-moon" while she sorts through her options. 

Amelia is pretty used to doing what other people tell her to do. She sort of falls in with Cooper but then falls in love both with him and his slightly crazy family. Is it a little too fast? She wonders about that as well but she does feel like this could be the real thing.

There is a subplot with Cooper's dad that seems to be the running thread through all of the books and takes up a LOT of the book. 

Three stars

This book came out September 21st, 2018

Follows Forbidden Miles

Followed by Hidden Miles

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Dating Playbook by Farrah Rochon

A worthy successor to The Boyfriend Project. You definitely don't have to have read the previous book in the series but if you do happen to read it out of order, this book has the same heart, sense of humor, and deftly drawn characters and so, if you liked this one, you should definitely check out the other.

Taylor Powell was able to parlay her fifteen minutes of fame into a little bump in her personal training business but it wasn't quite enough to keep her afloat. Working with NFL player (well, he was and now he's hopeful to return, Jamar Dixon, might be the boost she needs. The interesting thing? She tells him they CAN'T appear to be in a relationship. It will make her look bad and just bring out the trolls. Of course, that goes out the wayside quickly and they are soon in a fake romance that is starting to turn distressingly real. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out June 9th, 2021

Follows The Boyfriend Project

Followed by The Hookup Plan
ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Haunted Homecoming by Angie Fox

It's fall which means Homecoming in Sugarland, Tennessee. Verity Long is ecstatic because her peripatetic mother is coming to visit. She doesn't understand why her mother feels the need to travel all over the country when she could be living in the best place on earth. Her mother is especially excited to see a friend of hers she hasn't seen since high school, Ashley. Everyone else is excited because a big donation means a new scoreboard and the placement means that the school's time capsule is going to be dug up. Unfortunately, the capsule holds more than just good memories. There is a body in the capsule and it's wearing the same dress that Ashley was last seen in. Verity's mom begs her to figure out what happened to her friend.

Once again, Verity is running around talking to ghosts. And also meddling in their business. Well, Frankie and Molly business anyway. It seems Frankie is getting some cold feet about spending "Forever After" with Molly because... well, they're ghosts. And forever after is a darn long time for them.

I think you definitely will have want to have read other books in the series. It may not be absolutely necessary but it adds layers to the story.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 17th, 2021

Follows Southern Bred and Dead

Followed by Give Up the Ghost

ARC kindly provided by Moose Island Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Silver Ghost by Charlotte MacLeod

Max and Sarah are attending... some sort of function. I started this book awhile ago and it really didn't hold my interest. But there's a lot going on at this thing. Morris dancers, big dinners, the theft of some valuable cars and a murder. The solution seemed rather convoluted and depended on a plot device that has since been disproven but we got to see a bit more in the life of the Bittersohns and the eccentricities that surround them. 

Three stars

This book came out December 7th, 1987

Follows The Recycled Citizen

Followed by The Gladstone Bag

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Four In Hand by Stephanie Laurens

Four gorgeous sisters in town for the season, all wards of one dangerous duke, or are they? In actuality, the oldest sister, the one who the duke is the most attracted to, is no longer in his care, and therefore not off-limits. But he doesn't want to let her know so he can stay close. Especially since these girls are rare beauties and he knows exactly what men are after. Even his friend and his brother who are the front runners for two of the girls. Can the girls get their men without giving up their virginity?

This is obviously an earlier romance novel with heroines who are arch but innocent and heroes who are rakes but in love.

Three stars

This book came out in 1993

This was a hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason by Susan Kandel

Cece Caruso is thirty-nine, divorced, and the mother of a twenty-one-year-old daughter.   Her latest biography of a mystery writer is due soon but she is blocked. She just can't identify with Erle Stanley Gardner, the writer of Perry Mason mysteries (and more!) But, in his correspondence, she finds a letter from an inmate who swears that he is innocent. Gardner left a note that the case rang a bell for him. So, Cece decides to follow up. And she is soon chasing down the story of a man whose wife was murdered and, left without an alibi, her husband was imprisoned. But Cece thinks the an is innocent. And she's procrastinating her book anyway...

She is also having to deal with the fact that her daughter's marriage is crumbling and there is an added character of her gardener who keeps trying to talk to her about her yard. An interesting first book in a series. I liked the addition of all of the biographical notes about Gardner. The mystery was a little shaky and I didn't completely understand why Cece was getting involved but this could be a fun series.

Four stars

This book came out May 4th, 2004

Followed by Not a Girl Detective

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own