A Yuletide Kiss -- Anthology

When We Finally Kiss Good Night by Sabrina Jeffries 

Konrad Juncker has been introduced in other books of the "Duke Dynasty" as the person posing as a playwright so that one of the dukes can be anonymous. We've also know that he had a romance with Flora Younger when they were in their teens (at least she was) but something happened and they did not marry. 

 In this story, Konrad and Flora are stuck in the same in the same inn during a snowstorm and truths about their past start to come out. Including that she would have waited for him and that he didn't think he was good enough for her. And both have identities they wouldn't want the rest of the world to know about. But they both are still attracted and have hope for a future together. And even though this is a short story, there is still room for a Big Misunderstanding (sigh). 

Fours stars 

The Unexpected Gift by Madeline Hunter 

Overlapping with the previous story, we see the viewpoint of the inn owner. Jenna Waverly is dealing with a snowstorm and is grateful that she doesn't have many mouths to feed when one of her team, Peter, brings in an unconcious man. One who is probably a lord based on his clothing. And this year is already not turning out as she had planned. Instead of her normal routine where she gets to relax with no people, she is forced to share the inn with a group of unexpected travelers. 

Lucas Avonwood is sick and Jenna feels as though she needs to tend him herself. It is his illness that allows them to be vulnerable with each other. He is searching for a broach to make sure that his cousin isn't caught out by a rogue and her brother mortgaged the inn (which is in both their names) without asking her. It may be that their problems are a shared one. Since it is a short story, we don't really get a sense of how the two will really get an HEA but okay nonetheless. 

Three stars 

When Strangers Meet by Mary Jo Putney 

Again overlapping with the other stories, we get the tale of two of the other people caught in the snowstorm at the White Rose, Kate Macleod and Daniel Faringdon. He is in line for a barony and she... she is his wife. 

It seems that seven years ago they were both in Bombay. Her uncle, an unscrupulous man, swooped in to pick at the coffers after her parents died. Since Kate was of a an age, he auctioned her off and Daniel was the lucky recipient of her hand. He never believed the marriage was legal but here she is, stating just the opposite. So he suggests that they use their time snowbound to determine whether or not they should remain married. Again, for a short story, there is not a lot of room to explore why an HEA would work for them but overall a nice story. 

Four stars

Four stars

This book came out September 28th, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

American Witch by Thea Harrison, narrator Sophie Eastlake

There have been weird things happening to Molly Sullivan for months. And it culminates on the night that she is putting together a party for her husband and finds another woman's panties in her bed. In her bed. First, she runs away, but then she confronts her husband in front of all of his business associates, including the new DA (her husband is a lawyer), and then she hightails it out of there taking clothes, jewelry, and everything in their shared safe. 

In the safety of a hotel, she discovers papers that show that not all of her husband's dealings were above board. She is also shocked to discover that the new DA, Josiah Riverdale, has followed her to the hotel. And he says that she is a powerful witch. 

While Molly is at first skeptical, she starts to realize that the past few months have all been pointing her in this direction. And that this opening to her own power coincides with a time when she might need it most.

The late middle got a little mushy with a lot of time skips but I overall really did enjoy this book. Sophie Eastlake, the narrator was top notch as well and I'm looking forward to the next one in the series. Read about this on Dear Author.

Four stars

This book came out May 23rd, 2019

Followed by

Audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Save the Date by Monica Murphy, Ava Lucas

Okay, the first maybe third of this book is about Caroline Abbott discovering that her newest bridezilla at the stationery store is engaged to Caroline's first kiss, then discovering that bridezilla is cheating on the hotel scion, and then telling Alexander. And that's all before they even decide to fake date so that Alexander's family can close a business deal in France. 

And it's all nuts but... somehow Murphy makes it work. And the narrators definitely add to the story.

Four stars

This book came out June 14th, 2019

Followed by Fake Date

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Miss Moriarty, I Presume? by Sherry Thomas

When Moriarty shows up on Charlotte Holmes's doorstep, she is immediately ready to put into place the safeguards she's put up and she gets ready to run. But Moriarty shocks her - he wants Holmes to find his daughter. They were not close but he still worries when he hasn't heard from her in a long while. 

Living as Miss Baxter, the daughter has good reasons not to contact her father. But is she safe behind the walls of the Garden of Hermopolis? Or is it a cult that has sucked her in and will not allow her to leave? And why, when Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to the remote locale, is everyone loathe to talk to Miss Baxter? Or even let them see her?

I enjoyed having the third person view focused on Mrs. Watson. It is definitely a throwback to the Doyle stories and made the story interesting, even if we had a narrator who might not be observing everything and decoding it like Charlotte did. 

Four stars

Follows Murder on Cold Street

Followed by A Tempest at Sea
This book comes out November 2nd, 2021
ARC kindly provided by Berkley and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

October Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

 The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick

Burning Cove #5

Four stars

Follows Close Up

This book comes out May 4th

Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik

Four stars
This book came out February 5th, 2019
Followed by Aurora Blazing
Borrowed this book from the library

Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

Four stars
Follows Polaris Rising
Followed by Chaos Reigning
This book came out October 1st, 2019

Grave Reservations by Cherie Priest

Leda Foley has sort of always considered herself sort of a minor psychic. She gets flashes but they are mainly small things like preventing someone from spilling a coffee. Heck, she doesn't even have any information about her fiance's death three years ago. But then she gets a big flash and, in the course of her job as a travel agent, reroutes an LA detective off of a plane that blows up on the tarmac. It's a good thing that she's been slowly building her psychic muscles by holding objects for people and then picking a karaoke song because she's going to need all the skill she can get in order to help the detective solve a cold case. A cold case that might help her find some closure for herself.

The connection between the two cases was a bit tenuous and there were a lot of people introduced in the story but I liked that Leda actually acted like she had some brains and didn't rush into dangerous situations like is so common for amateur detectives in contemporary novels. A bit quirky but fairly fun. 

Three and a half stars

This book cam out October 26th, 2021

Followed by Flight Risk

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Second Chance Road Trip for Christmas by Jackie Lau

If you can get a grunt out of Greg Wong, you should consider yourself lucky. But he would talk with Tasha Edwards. And he was probably her last good boyfriend which is sort of sad considering that was high school and they are now in their thirties. Now they are both living in the big city and Tasha needs a ride to Mosquito Bay for the holidays so Greg's mother has volunteered him. Too bad they are caught in a snowstorm. They are just lucky to get a room, even if it doesn't have heat and only has one bed...

A cute story though not as good as the first book in the series and awfully short. I wasn't quite sure how the two of them would stay together but... eh. As a part of the larger series, I would bump the rating up a bit. 

Three stars

This book came out November 12th, 2019

Follows A Match Made for Thanksgiving

Followed by A Fake Girlfriend for Chinese New Year

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own