Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe by Melissa de la Cruz

In this gender-flipped, updated version of the beloved P&P, Darcy Fitzwilliams is high-powered, beautiful, and rich. She doesn't get home to Pemberley, Ohio very often but her mother has suffered a heart attack so she's back for the Christmas season. She's been "dating" a family friend, Carl for eight years on and off but hasn't been able to commit. It is that lack of commitment that caused an estrangement between she and her father. It's at her parents annual party that she realizes another reason she hasn't committed, there are no sparks. At least, not like the sparks she's getting with Luke Bennett. They've had a contentious relationship since high school and it's morphed into... well, one hot kiss. But then they get engaged quickly afterward. To other people.
This book had a nice start but it veered too far from the original story. The best adaptations show the author's love for the original work but I didn't really even get that de la Cruz had even read P&P much less enjoyed it. The heart of that book are the relationships that already exist between the main characters and the new ones they are starting to build. Elizabeth and Luke barely interacted.
I liked that Darcy's best friend Bingley was still male and that he fell in love with one of Luke's brothers. But then there was a lot of exposition that was just... bleh. And Luke's explanations for his behavior both in present day and in high school were just gross.

Two stars
This book comes out

Murder Over Mochas by Caroline Fardig

I was more than a little trepidatious when requesting this book from NetGalley. The previous couple of books have pissed me off more than made me smile from enjoyment of reading. This book cleared up most of my issues. Juliet is finally settling in to being a PI. She's not bumbling around but actually doing her job. Well, sort of. It seems she needs to use her developing skills to prove that she didn't kill her ex-fiancé. The one who stole her life. The one who just walked back into it. The one she punched in the nose.
I didn't love the crossover. Maybe those who regularly read about Lizzie and Blake would enjoy. I did love that the romance triangle (quadrangle?) is finally resolved.

Four stars
This book comes out October 24

With This Christmas Ring by Manda Collins

The cover blurb on this one is a bit misleading. Miss Merry Parks isn't exactly a wallflower. After all, she was once engaged to Alex Ponsonby, Viscount Wrotham. That was, admittedly five years ago and she hasn't gone out much in society since but she's about to come face-to-face with the man again because of a deathbed promise.
Alex is delighted to see Merry. He never understood why she left him so many years ago.  He might have been happier had she not shown up with a baby in tow. But when he finds out it is his cousin's child and her mother is dead, his disappointment knows no ends. As the head of the family, he is duty-bound to make sure that the child is well cared for. If that means he can wrangle some extra time with Merry... well, okay.
It's always nice to have novellas where the two main characters already know each other. It means an author can skip the meet cute and head straight to the HEA. The ending  was a little TOO happy, happy, joy, joy it-was-actually-misunderstandings all around for me but a nice enough read anyway.

Three stars
This novella came out October 3

Fowl Language: The Struggle Is Real by Brian Gordon

This was an interesting read as an ebook in that a lot of the punchlines would be on the next page-- an extra swipe and some processing time really disrupted some of the flow of the book. I would definitely get this as a paper book. Those who love Brian Gordon though will still enjoy this book.

Three stars
This book comes out October 10

Necessary Roughness by Julie Brannagh

Tanner Cole was a football star until one bad tackle took him out of the game. Now he’s just struggling to get through rehab and move on with his life. Too bad he doesn’t really know what he wants to do. Physical therapy is not one of the things, he knows that. Too bad his physical therapist is dealaing with his own mending after a car accident which means that Tanner is about to get reassigned.

Jordan loves her job. No, like really, enjoys going to work every day. Until she meets Mr. Full-of-Himself Tanner. Him, she doesn’t like. His house, she does. And since she needs a place to live (not a great plot point) and he has space (and the hots for her), she moves in. So that she can be his in-house physical therapist. Or something. Living together leads the two to believe that the sparks between them might be more than just annoyance with each other.

Wow. This book REALLY struggled with pacing issues. The first 2/3ds was just a discussion of how much Tanner and Jordan really disliked each other with some growth toward friendship. Then, suddenly, in the space of 10 or so pages, they’re suddenly desperately in love and dying to be together even though they’re geographically apart. And whatever happened with Star? She was set up to be a much larger plot point and then just ended up as the psycho ex-girlfriend.

If this weren’t from an author I know could do better, I don’t feel like I’d be as disappointed.

This book comes out October 10

Two and a half stars

Hope for Christmas by Stacy Finz

In a previous Nugget book, we met Emily and Clay McCreedy. She's a famous cookbook author while he's a rancher. They've created a blended family with his two sons but Emily can't ever forget her daughter. Especially now that there are calls claiming that somebody has her. After seven years, can it possibly be true? And what does that mean? Not only for Emily but for her ex-husband and his new wife.
A nice addition to the Nugget series. I like that everything wasn't solved neatly and some ties were left undone. This is definitely not a story for people who haven't read the rest of the series.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out October 10

Lumberjanes: Unicorn Power! by Mariko Tamaki

I love the Lumberjanes, their friendships, their propensity for exploring, and the tongue-in-cheek stories. This chapter book continues all of those properties created in the graphic novels. And I might have liked this book even just a teeny bit more because we got more story in this book. We've got the adventure (climbing the highest mountain; one that didn't seem to have been there before), the supernatural (the Cloud People), and the humor (the unicorns smell bad, really, really bad.)
Definitely worth reading.

Four stars
This book comes out October 10