Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Gift of Gold by Jayne Ann Krentz

Jonas Quarrel doesn't expect to find the true love of his life in a slightly scary cantina in Mexico but sometimes life is funny. He ends up finding her and becoming the dishwasher at her upscale vegetarian restaurant. He knows they're fated to be and he's going to push and push until he gets his way.
He's also got a talent for touching an object, ones used for violence, and reliving the moment that the item was used.
This book is incredibly a sign of the time in which it was written. It did not age really well. I remember enjoying the book but winced through most of it in re-reads. 

Two and a half stars
This book came out in 1988
Gift #1
Audiobook from Audible
Opinions are  my own

Monday, March 31, 2025

Monthly Rereads March 2025

As always, opinions are my own

Four stars
This book comes out October 10, 2023




Four stars
Meg Langslow #35
This book comes out August 6, 2024
Hard copy from library




Rockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews
Three and a half stars
Meg Langslow #36
This book comes out October 15, 2024
Hard copy from library



Tightrope (Burning Cove, #3)


Tightrope by Amanda Quick
Three and a half stars
Burning Cove #3
This book came out May 7, 2019
Follows The Other Lady Vanishes
Followed by Close Up 
Audible book



Close Up by Amanda Quick
Burning Cove #4
Three and a half stars
This book comes out May 5, 2020
Follows Tightrope
Followed by The Lady Has a Past




The Lady Has a Past by Amanda Quick
Four stars
Burning Cove #5
This book came out May 4, 2021
Follows Close Up
Followed by When She Dreams
Audible book






When She Dreams by Amanda Quick
This book came out May 3, 2022
Burning Cove #6
Followed by The Bride Wore White
Audible book






The Bride Wore White by Amanda Quick
Burning Cove #7
Three and a half stars
This book came out May 2, 2023
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own




Shattering Dawn by Jayne Anne Krentz
This book came out January 7th, 2025
The Lost Night Files #3
Hard copy from library





Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews 
Innkeeper Chronicles #1
Four stars
Followed by Sweep in Peace
GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus





Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
This book came out November 13, 2015
Innkeeper Chronicles #2
Follows Clean Sweep
Followed by One Fell Sweep
GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus








One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews
This book came out November 13, 2015
Innkeeper Chronicles #3
Followed by Sweep of the Blade
GraphicAudio borrowed from Audible Plus


Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews
This book came out December 2018
Innkeeper Chronicles #4
Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart
GraphicAudio of mine




Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews
Innkeeper Chronicles #4.5
This book came out December 20th, 2016
Ebook of my own on Kindle








Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews
Innkeeper Chronicles #5
This book came out December 13, 2022
Follows Sweep with Me
Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla









Friday, March 28, 2025

Homicide in the Indian Hills by Erica Ruth Neubauer



stars
This book came out March 25, 2025
Jane Wunderly #4
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wednesday, March 26, 2025

Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh

Thrillers aren't my favorite but the blurb for this book intrigued me. I didn't realize it was part of a series which may have given me more pause. It was an okay book and people who read the genre more often may enjoy it more. There was a little too much going on in this story for me to fully enjoy it and my suspension of disbelief was burdened because of that.
Ruby used to be one of the wealthy elite but now is a nanny and maid for the same. One night, she witnesses a murder. Will this help catapult her back into the level she wants to be or will it lead to more death? 

Three stars
This book came out March 25, 2024
ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own


Friday, March 21, 2025

The Toymaker's Curse by C.J. Archer

The books are getting rather formulaic (and, really, have been for a bit) but there are only a few left in this series so I'm going to finish it out.
In this book, Matt and India encounter a toymaker who claims his magic was diminished by a  curse. When the toymaker is murdered, they are thrown into yet another mystery surrounded by magic.
Aunt Leticia is working on making Willie and Farnsworth fall in love... perhaps even get married. 

Three stars
This book came out March 2, 2021
Glass and Steele #10
Follows The Kidnapper's Accomplice
Followed by The Spymaster's Scheme
Borrowed as ebook from Libby
Opinions are my own



Tuesday, March 18, 2025

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

Rarely am I sad that a novella ends. Especially one that is creating a world. I really do wish that this had been a full-length novel though and hope that we see more in this series. Waite starts this series in a trope that is familiar (spaceship) but with some twists (libarary books that hold "people"; drinks that can evoke specific memories.) 
Dorothy Gentleman went to "sleep" some three hundred years ago. In this world, that is not long as your "self" can be recreated from books that are housed in the library and then downloaded into new shells that take on your own features. She is abruptly woken up when the ship's AI, Fairy, senses someone has destroyed Dorothy's book. As one of the ship's detectives (and the aunt of the person spearheading this ship), Dorothy was one of the few people who had a backup. Unfortunately, the other reason Dorothy has been awakened is because there has been a murder.

Five stars
This novella came out March 18, 2025
ARC kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own


Monday, March 17, 2025

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose

One day, Pomona Afton is the toast of the town. Her wealthy family gives her entree into any number of soirees and parties and ensure that she never has to work. And hers is as disfunctional as any number of books have described wealthy families. Though they don't interact often, Pomona's grandmother rules the roost. Even so, Pomona does ignore her when she starts texting and leaving messages. She assumes she'll have time to find out what her grandmother wants. Too bad her grandmother is savagely murdered. Even worse, her grandmother recently updated her will so that, if she did die, all of the family assets were to be closed up immediately meaning Pomona has no home and no money with only 30 minutes to get out. 
For awhile, she's able to live with her brother and his girlfriend but soon realizes that is too small of an apartment. She decides to take her old nanny up on her offer to live with the woman's son. His apartment is even worse but at least she has the opportunity to work in the coffe shop he manages. And it's at his place that she decides she's going to solve her grandmother's murder.
Large parts of this story are improbable and some aren't even the zany stretches I so often enjoy but there is some real growth in Pomona's character (it seemed awfully fast though there were some hints she was ready to change before her life was turned upside down which helped.) It's fluff that wasn't fairly clued but provided me with some entertainment. 

Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 18, 2025
ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own