The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren

Can romance be crunched by data? According to a new app, they can look at your DNA and calculate who in their database is going to be your soulmate. Jessica "Jess" Davis probably wouldn't have been interested if she hadn't been dragged along by her best friend, Felicity "Fizzy", to the headquarters. Even then, they probably wouldn't have even gone if the app hadn't been run by "Americano," the man who comes into their favorite coffee shop every morning at 8:24. Jess might be a statistician but that doesn't mean she's going to be playing by the numbers, even if she matches with none other than her coffee nemesis, Dr. River Pena. A 98% match though is not only going to be good for Jess's potential future but also for the company so she agrees to at least test the relationship waters with the man. Lord knows he's amazingly hot. But she's trying not to drag her daughter into the mess; Jess grew up with a mother like that and she doesn't want to do that to Juno.

This was a really fun book and I liked that the relationship took a bit of time. A little insta-lust but a lot of getting-to-know-you. I didn't love the Big Misunderstanding at the end nor how it was resolved but if you love Christina Lauren or even just contemporary romance, you will really enjoy this book.

Four stars

This book came out May 18th, 2021

Followed by The True Love Experiment

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

Brother to Theo Stephens from The Wedding Party, Stephen is the eternal playboy. He loves 'em but he makes sure that they understand that there is nothing there before he leaves 'em. Picked to join a pitch to a big company, he knows that he is the token minority thrown in to impress the clients. Especially since this latest client's commercials are featuring Anna Gardiner a prominent Black actress. When all of the higher ups in Ben's company are stuck at the airport, he steps in for the pitch and impresses Anna so much (yes, she decided to attend the pitches), she picks their company to continue the campaign.

Anna's not too hot on relationships either. Her goal in life is to get to the top of the Hollywood elite. Her recent panic attacks not to mention some pictures that didn't do so well aren't helping her. But she's got an amazing team, including an agent, Simon (who, can we vote for future books? He needs one) and her best friend. And her relationship with the bestie is a great reason to read this book. But her relationship with Ben isn't supposed to be real. Well, they are for sure hot for each other but she needs some newspaper print and dating an ex-backup dancer with a heart of gold is just the way to go.

I really appreciated that there was honesty in how these two treated each other. A little misunderstanding in whether feelings can change but overall they were up front with where they thought the "relationship" was going. Guillory writes amazing characters whose HEA I can definitely believe and this book makes me want to start the series over again just so I can enjoy Ben's character growth. The addition of a secret sibling, honestly, could have been cut for me but I guess it did add some to that same growth. 

Four stars

This book came out July 13th, 2021

Follows Party of Two

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Silhouette in Scarlet by Elizabeth Peters

One of my favorite heroines is back again. Vicky Bliss is on the case once again as she's searching for a lost cache of Scandinavian treasure. One perfect rose (not, alas, a limousine for either she or Dorothy Parker) sends her off on a trip to the land of her ancestors. A trip where she encounters a lost love, a bad guy who does silhouettes, and an extended stay on a millionaire's island. 

Another great story and very enjoyable as an audiobook, not as good when I reread as a physical copy. Rosenblat makes the angst fun but it was a little overwrought in the written word. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1983

Follows Street of the Five Moons

Followed by Trojan Horse

Borrowed as an ebook from the CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston

This was a hard one to grade because it was a good story, just not as good as the first. I enjoyed the addition to the world building. 

Jace Berisha used to be married to the leader of a cult, a cult her mother still belongs to. Jace was subservient, meek, and never spoke back. All that changed when he killed her. She was granted special powers by a goddess and became a part of the Crows. Now she's part of a group of women that work to serve the goddess. And they're going up against a Big Bad. One they thought they had defeated. And one that they'll have to get their traditional enemies to buy in and work together in order to defeat for real.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 29th, 2016

Follows the Unleashing
Followed by The Undoing
Opinions are my own

What the Hex by Alexis Daria

It's been five years since Catalina Cartagena left Isla Bruja. She was a clothing bewitching whiz and burned out early. She's been in New York and hasn't used her magic since then. Now she's back for her oldest sister's wedding. But something is amiss on the magical island and the only other person who seems to realize that something is wrong is Diego Paz, Cat's high school nemesis and brother of the groom. Not wanting to alarm anyone over the fact that the groom seems possessed, Cat and Diego work together to make sure that their respective families' power isn't overtaken and they don't have niblings that are literal demon spawn. 

A short story but richly woven. Alexis Daria creates a magic world with deft strokes and minimal description. The characters have a depth that is surprising in such a short story. My only complaint is really how short it is. With Daria's skill, this would have been an amazing full-length novel. I really hope this isn't the only book set in this world. 

Four and a half stars

This audionovella came out July 1st, 2021

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

The Grumpy Player Next Door by Pippa Grant

Tillie Jean Rock is the sister of baseball superstar (well, at least he's really well known in Copper Valley) Cooper Rock. She got involved with one of his teammates ONCE and now her brother is paranoid about her seeing anyone else. Sure, she flirts with most of them but they all know it's not serious. The only one who might reasonably hold her interest is Max Cole but he's avoiding her because Cooper is his best friend on the team and he doesn't want to screw up that relationship. Plus, he had a really complicated childhood and doesn't want to inflict his angst on to anyone else. 

But Max has moved next door to Tillie Jean in the off season and suddenly the close proximity means all bets are off...

One of my least favorite tropes is the "we can't date because you're my sibling's friend." And this book leans hard into Cooper not taking their relationship well. Grant tries to turn it around and make the prank war between Tillie Jean and her siblings amp up because of it but it didn't really click for me. Also, I never really saw that Max was trying to work through his issues with romance. In a romance novel. I wish we had seen more introspection and working toward healing from his crappy childhood but it mostly seemed magically resolved. 

Three stars

This book came out July 8th, 2021

Follows Real Fake Love

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Herring-Seller's Apprentice by L.C. Tyler

What is a mystery writer but someone who sells red herrings? And Ethelred Tressider certainly counts as a writer. In fact, he counts as three of them -- two mystery series and one romance. His publisher, Elsie Thirkettle doesn't think much of any of them but they earn him enough to live on so he keeps churning them out. Until his life is derailed by a real-life mystery, the murder of his ex-wife, Geraldine. It seems she left him for his best friend about a decade ago but never really changed her will so Ethelred is still in charge of her estate. 

Elsie is immediately suspicious because she is immediately suspicious of anything having to do with Geraldine. The woman was a menace and she still kept Ethelred flopping on a line. And apparently he wasn't the only one. Geraldine was building some sort of scheme and had bilked a large number of people out of money so there were lots of reasons for someone to want her dead.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Ethelred and Elsie, this book is an interesting introduction to a new series. Rather than have a stellar author with all bestsellers, the main protagonist (we have far more Ethelred chapters than Elsie chapters) is middling at best. His "partner" looks down on him with some scorn, some affection and she too sort of bumbles into the solution in the end. 

The book occasionally got bogged down and, even with this being my second Ethelred and Elsie book, I'm not sure I like either of them but I'm definitely going to still read the next book. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 2007

Followed by Ten Little Herrings

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own