A Fire at the Exhibition by T. E. Kinsey

Lady Hardcastle and Emily are caught up in another mystery when the spring brings an art exhibition to the village of Littleton Cotterell. People are buzzing over the jewel-studded copy of Shakespeare's folio. This is, of course, one of the items that goes missing when a small fire is set causing everyone to panic and run out of the hall. Also missing are a bust and a painting of the local Grange.

The thefts are bad enough but then a man is murdered during the local bicycle race. Luckily Lady Hardcastle and Emily are among the first on scene having recently taken up  the art of cycling themselves. 

There are any number of suspects including an old friend of Emily's from the circus, treasure hunting twins, and even the Farley-Strouds themselves.

A nice addition to the series and I look forward to reading more. 

Four stars

This book comes out September 5, 2023

Follows An Act of Foul Play

ARC kindly provided Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Enchanted to Meet You by Meg Cabot

Does anyone really want to be the Chosen One? Jessica Gold is sure shocked to find out that she might be. Especially because of the... incident... when she was a fledgling witch. But when handsome Derrick Winters shows up and says she's going to help save her town from the demons that come out every 90 years, Jessica isn't so sure but all of the evidence does seem to be pointing to the fact that he may be telling the truth. Along with the Bringer of Light, Jessica will help to save the world (or at least their corner of it.)
This was an okay start to a new series. A lot of world building meant that we missed out on the romance and that the characters weren't as well fleshed-out but it was a cute story and an okay start to a series. 

Three stars

This book comes out September 5

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager

Opinions are my own

August 2023 Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

The Unleashing by Shelly Laurenston

Call of Crows #1

This book came out March 31st, 2015

Followed by the Undoing

Connections in Death by J.D. Robb

In Death #48

This book came out February 5, 2019

Follows Leverage in Death

Followed by Vendetta in Death

Vendetta in Death by J. D. Robb

In Death #49

This book came out September 3, 2019

Follows Connections in Death

Followed by Golden in Death

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Golden in Death by J. D. Robb

In Death #50

Follows Vendetta in Death
Followed by Shadows in Death
This book came out February 4, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Shadows in Death by J. D. Robb

In Death #51

Follows Golden in Death

Followed by Faithless in Death

This book comes out September 8, 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Faithless in Death by J.D.Robb

In Death #52

This book came out February 2nd, 2021  
Follows Shadows in Death

Followed by Abandoned in Death

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Forgotten in Death by J.D. Robb

In Death #53

Four stars

This book came out September 7th, 2021

Follows Faithless in Death

Followed by Abandoned in Death

Abandoned in Death by J.D. Robb

In Death #54

Follows Forgotten in Death

Followed by Desperation in Death
This book came out February 8, 2022

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Forgotten in Death by J.D. Robb

This book came out September 6, 2022

In Death #55

Follows Abandoned in Death

Followed by Encore in Death

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Check, Please! Book 1 by Ngozi Ukazu

This book came out September 18th, 2018

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews 

Meg Langslow #14

Three stars

This book came out June 17th, 2012

Follows The Real Macaw

Followed by Hen of the Baskervilles

Hen of the Baskervilles

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 16, 2013

Meg Langslow #15

Follows Some Like it Hawk

Followed by Duck the Halls

Audiobook borrowed from Libby 

Duck the Halls

Three stars

This book came out October 22nd, 2013

Meg Langslow #16

Follows Hen of the Baskervilles

Followed by The Good, the Bad, and the Emus 

This book came out October 22nd, 2013

The Good, the Bad, and the Emus by Donna Andrews 

Four stars

This book came out July 8th, 2014

Meg Langslow #17

Follows Duck the Halls

Followed by The Nightingale before Christmas

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

The Nightingale before Christmas by Donna Andrews 

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 21, 2014

Meg Langslow #18

Follows The Good, the Bad, and the Emus

Followed by Lord of the Wings

Listened to on Audible

Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews

Four stars

This book came out August 4, 2015

Meg Langslow #19

Follows The Nightingale Before Christmas

Followed by Die Like an Eagle

Listened to on Audible

Die Like an Eagle by Donna Andrews

Four stars
This book came out August 2, 2016

Meg Langlsow #20

Follows Lord of the Wings
Followed by Gone Gull

Listened to on Audible

Payback in Death by J. D. Robb

The first two chapters of this book show us a rare glimpse of Eve and Roarke on vacation. But the relaxed mood is short-lived. The night they return to New York, Eve gets a call from an old friend, one who needs a favor. His mentor is dead and it has been set up to look like a suicide. But there are a number of reasons to believe it is a setup. 

Because the deceased was an IAB (internal affairs) detective, he had many enemies over his long career. So Eve, Peabody, and the team begin the long process of crossing names off. And there are many people who do still bear grudges but just as many who seem to have moved on.

There are some side stories with more being done on Mavis and Peabody's house; one of our side characters getting a promotion; and an IAB cop who seems to have it out for Eve. 

A lovely addition to the series

Four stars

This book comes out September 5, 2023

In Death #57

Follows Encore in Death

Followed by Random in Death

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby September 2023, hard copy from library June 2024

The Heist by Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg

Original review from 2013: Meh. Not as bad as Metro Girl (thank god) but not particularly good or even any new ideas.

Kate O'Hare is hot on the trail of Nicolas (Nick) Fox when the book opens (ha ha, the rabbit chasing the carnivore, I kept fixating on the fact that her last name is an airport though). She's an FBI agent after an international jewel thief. The rest of the story is fairly easy to guess (I'll hide the rest of my review for potential spoilers) and ends up following a very "Leverage"-like escapade. I'll give the second book a chance but am not sure it's going to be worth more than a quick run through.

Kate captures Nick fairly early in the book which means that he's going to escape. And based on the escape it's pretty easy to figure out that he's going to end up working for the FBI (it takes a thief and blah, blah, blah.) It's interesting that it's all off the books but still. 

They gather a team that don't know who they are to take down the big bad. I liked that Kate was the muscle and Nick was the brains, but then Nick got all muscle-y and Kate was just the ubiquitous "chick with guns." Not much for her to do though I hope that she gets more of a chance to show off her brain power as well in the next book

After 2023 reread: I listened to this as an audiobook this time. I"m not sure if my tolerance for nonsense has gone up or whether narrator Scott Brick made a difference but I'm upping my review from a two to a three. Really, I think I was able to look past the name=airport and Kate's character reduction.

Three stars

This book came out February 25, 2014

Followed by The Chase

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

How to Fake-Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall

Emma Willowby has been trying to break into the local coven for awhile now. She grew up without a group or family to call her own so she's trying to find her place. One of her problems is that she hasn't quite figured out what her magic actually is yet so she can't really judge her own strengths. Something that would definitely get her into the coven would be successfully planning and pulling off the Beltane Ball but, in order to be chosen as the planner, she needs a venue. The most fabulous venue around would be the local duke's estate. But she'll need his buy-in and he's notoriously hard to get a hold of. 
Alaric is bemused by the woman that he meets first in the local pub's men's bathroom, then as the goat she is working on training headbutts him. She is refreshing, unique, and doesn't seem to be entranced by his title or his pots of money. So when his grandmother, who has been looking rather worn lately, asks about his fiancee, Alaric sees Emma as his perfect chance to make his grandmother happy. 
There are, of course, the requisite misunderstandings and deceptions around a fake relationship. There is also the last Big Misunderstanding which is blessedly short but a little out of left field. I think a number of people will make note of the fact that the title of this book has the word "vampire" in it but, other than the fact that they live the same number of years as humans and drink blood in their dinner drinks, we don't get to learn much about the lore of vampires in Hall's world which is disappointing. 

Three stars

This book comes out August 31, 2023

Follows The Modern Girl's Guide to Magic

ARC kindly provided by Bonnie Doon Press

Opinions are my own

Full Moon Over Freedom by Angelina M. Lopez

In the first book of this series, Gillian Armstead-Bancroft seemingly had the perfect life with her husband and two children. But cracks were beginning to show and we see them emerge in this book. She is battling her husband through a contentious divorce (he is using the children as weapons), she can't seem to get hired, and her skills as a bruja aren't working the way they should. So what does she decide to do? Try and turn her life around by doing the opposite. While driving in her friend's car, she nearly runs down a man and discovers it's Nicky Mendoza, the boy she had a sexual relationship with in high school. 

Nicky is ecstatic to see Gillian again but only barely manages to evade her advances. She doesn't know how much she hurt him when she left. It certainly will be an interesting summer having her be working on the grant that brought him (famous mural painter) back to town to help revitalize Milagro Street. 

A little bit slower than the other book, I actually enjoyed this one more because Nicky and Gillian had the history so we got to see more of their relationship. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out September 5, 2023

Follows After Hours on Milagro Street

ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley

Opinions are my own