The Importance of Being Wicked by Victoria Alexander

It is a testament to Victoria Alexander's writing that she had not one, but TWO, last-minute-unexpected-wrinkles and I still liked this book. A lot. If it had ended about 40 pages earlier, I would have liked it even more.

The minute Winfield Elliot, Viscout Stillwell (Win), was introduced in What Happens at Christmas, I knew that I wanted to read his story. The man has been engaged three times, three times! But Win is in a pickle not connected to a marriage at the moment. His family home has burned down (mostly, the wings are okay) and they have a limited time to rebuild before the annual summer fete.
Lady Garrett, Miranda, helped her husband with his architectural company. Actually, she was the architect, but let him take the forefront since they live in a time where women aren't allowed to be intelligent. Win's house is very important to her company. She knows that since her husband died, it's more and more likely that her secret will be discovered and she wants to make sure that her employees are going to be okay if her business fails.
I'm really, really enjoying the Millworth manor series (though I haven't read the novella) and read both books straight through. Can't wait to see if we get to read more, like maybe Bianca's story (Miranda's sister who is having problems with her husband... even to the point of considering divorce). Bianca is a caring sister and the glimpses of her character that we see in this book makes me hope that she can find her own HEA.

Mating Intelligence edited by Glenn Geher

An interesting look at how humans play the mating game in the current age.
The writing style an be confusing at times. There is a paragraph where the authors try to make some point about successful artists but I can't figure out what that point actually was. There are a couple of times where they try to compare data but the first sentence would talk about A then B, the second would have data set B then A. I read a lot of scientific articles and, if you want to clearly compare data, you make the sentences equivalent.
However, it's a very informative book. They ask whether creativity is sexy (it is, and very important for short-term mating.) They compare the strategies for short- versus long-term mating.
Some interesting points: Flirting doesn't necessarily have a high correlation to interest
They mainly look at hetero-normative mating, because that is what most of the studies have looked at though there is some look at homosexual relationships as well.

Overall, an interesting and thought-provoking book that just needs a little better editing.

An Affair to Dismember by Elise Sax

I got this book from NetGalley and am thoroughly disappointed because now I have yet another series that I am going to be compulsively buying.

Gladie Burger has been floating through life, trying to find the job she was meant to have. She's lately ended up at her grandmother's house. Gladie's grandmother, Zelda, is the town's matchmaker. She has a... sense about people. Zelda's going to be a hard act to follow and Gladie's not sure she has the same talents. But she's going to have some time to figure it out while she's hot on the trail of a murderer. Of course, there's the expected love triangle (or is it square?) and Gladie is a little bit of the trite, hapless heroine (you know, the really pretty girl who can't help but trip over her own feet but she's so cute doing it.) A little overdone but Elise Sax has come up with a new formula that kept me up late trying to finish this book.

Under the Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis

God, I love Jill Shalvis. Every book of hers is a must-read and I wait for months for new stories to come out. Which is why I'm so bummed to say this novella was only a "meh" for me. I got it off of NetGalley and was so excited to see a new Jill Shalvis that I didn't look closely.
Novellas are generally not enough time to develop good characters and that development is usually pulls me into a story. I read the story quickly, wanting to know what happened with Chloe, Tara and Ford's (from "The Sweetest Thing") daughter. It's an okay story and earned the three mile rating more from getting to catch up with other characters in the series than the romance between Choe and her beau, Nick.
Will other Lucky-Harbor-lovers enjoy this novella? More than likely. If you haven't read the rest of the series... I would definitely start with "Simply Irresistible" and go from there.

Too Dangerous to Desire by Cara Elliot

I just have to get this out of the way. The Sleuth Hound? You've got a book for the

Irish Wolfhound (cool name) and Gryff, which must be like the dog? And then the Sleuth Hound? Because he stole things? Or searched things out for the government? Maybe I missed the explanation but, come on, this was a silly name.

Otherwise, this was a really fun story. Elliot has kept up the tempo of this trilogy, not falling down at the end like some other authors are apt to do.

Sophie Lawrance is in trouble. She's being blackmailed over some papers that could lead people to believe that her father was dipping into the church's coffers. The blackmailer's are wanting a particular piece of paper but they'll settle for money in the meantime. 

That piece of paper also affects Cameron Daggett, Sophie's childhood love, who left her when she wouldn't elope with him. 

Since then, Cameron has picked up some skills that will help Sophie get out of trouble. He feels that his soul is too dark to be in love with Sophie, but he can't stay away.

What Happens at Christmas by Victoria Alexander

It used to be that new releases by Victoria Alexander were a must buy for me. The later Effingtons weren't as interesting as the first and the Last Man Standing didn't really capture my imagination. Oh, don't get me wrong, they were still good, but not the storytelling I had fallen in love with.
I wouldn't say that this book is a return to those early Alexander books because, really, I enjoyed it so much more. Even with having to read it as a teeny-tiny pdf from NetGalley, I tore through this book. "Lord Stillwell's Excellent Engagements" is now on my list to buy and I can't wait even a few days.
The story is sort of simple, Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy, but he waits until the day before she weds someone else to make her aware of his feelings. She, understandably, is more than a little upset about the wait and says some rather harsh things. Then he says harsh things and runs away to America. Neither of them is truly to blame for the mess but they certainly don't do anything to help themselves.
Well, it's eleven years later and Grayson Elliot is back to visit his cousin at Christmas. It turns out that Camille, (the now widowed) Lady Lydingham is going to be at her childhood home as well.
But from there (is this still the first 30 or so pages?), it gets a bit more complicated. Camille has been raised (as most women were in those days, Alexander, through Elliot's character very fairly notes) to marry for money and status. She's always dreamed about a prince and now she's found a displaced one. One who is interested in experiencing a <i>real</i> English Christmas. Except that her family is out of the country. No problem, she'll hire some actors. Of course, Grayson knows that these people aren't her family. He uses the chance to wriggle his way into the "play" and win himself a chance to work his way back into Camille's heart.
Why not five stars? Well, at the end, there kept being more misunderstandings. Normally, this would have immediately knocked the book down to a three-star for me, but Alexander did have the characters wrap it up fairly quickly.

Grandville Bete Noire-Bryan Talbot

Okay, to be honest, I'd give the ebook version three stars but a regular book would definitely be a four out of five star review. 

I had never tried a graphic novel on my Nook and I won't soon be repeating the experience. Other ebook readers may have better luck but the words were absolutely tiny on the screen and pixelated almost to a point past readability when enlarged. However, the story was an interesting one that pulled me in and almost made me forget my frustrations.

It's hard not to compare any graphic novel using animals as the main characters to the classic "Maus." It's been awhile since I read the book but I don't remember any human characters whereas Talbot's world (a steampunk version of a world where Napoleon won) actually has humans or "doughfaces" who are servants to the animals. There are a number of literary references with the villain being set up in "Toad Hall" (another toad obsessed with machinery) as well as main characters who, though working for the police, can only have been based off of Sherlock and Watson. Every time the mouse spoke I heard Nigel Bruce's voice in my head. The author also has artistic flourishes with nods to Magritte (p. 13) and Reubens (which confused me because he was famous for his plump <i>human</i> models). Detective Inspector LeBrock (Badger, which I thought was a wolf even though people called him a badger.) and his friend 

I will be looking for the first two books at my local library.