Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis

Caleb Parker and Sadie Lane have been circling around each other. Both are attracted but neither wants to get involved. Sadie has a dark past including an ex who was a suit, like Caleb, and who treated her very badly. Caleb is a little more interested but doesn't really want to get involved with anyone. He was a sickly child, almost died as a baby, and his history has made his family more than a little overprotective.
One night, Caleb is trying to coax a three-legged stray out of the rain when Sadie comes to help. Because they both helped, they decided to coparent (or "co-pet") and that leads to more and more interactions where each can discover who the other truly is.
Shalvis is the queen of building characters and both the h/h are fleshed out amazingly well. There were a couple Big Misunderstandings too many but this was otherwise a really enjoyable book.

Four stars
This book came out January 22
ARC kindly provided by publisher and Edelweiss

Three Little Words by Jenny Holiday

I've been ready to read Gia's book for awhile. She's a jet setting model who seems, in the last few books, that she has something to hide. And she is definitely going through some life changes. About to turn 30, her body just isn't working the same way it used to. It's out of her control. In her control? Getting Wendy's dress from New York to her Florida wedding. So when a storm hits and Gia isn't going to make it on time, she goes nuts.
Bennett Buchanan knows entitlement and isn't impressed by it. But when he realizes he is connected to the woman throwing a hussy fit, he decides to help.
Eventually the two decide to drive to Florida and that means enforced time in close proximity.  And in a romance novel, you can be sure that will lead to an HEA.
Maybe my expectations for this book were too high. I felt like Gia's problem was too quickly solved by Twu Lurv and that the romance between the two felt shallow. I get that they spent a lot of time together but a LOT of that time was spent with misconceptions and irritation rather than dawning feelings of love.

This book comes out January 29th
Three stars
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Whole Package by Marie Harte

Naomi Starr is running her own PR company. She just needs a few more good clients to prove to the "Big Fish" that she's the perfect person to help run their campaign so she can take her company to the next level. To that end, she knows that he's a veteran and she thinks that helping Vets on the Go!, a moving coming, will help prove how good she can be.
Reid Griffith, now out of the Marines, is trying to get enough business to support his whole team. But when one of his moving groups foils a robbery, they are instantly famous. And he understands that Naomi can help them channel that fame.
There are some problems with this story, it's the first in the series so there's a lot of world building (i.e. setup for future books in the series (e.g. the mover that looks exactly like Reid's (half?) brother)). There is also a LOT of back and forth on Reid and Naomi's relationship being a real relationship but they shouldn't be doing it because he's a client but she's so hot... blah, blah, blah.
Overall though, a nice fast, fun and fluffy read that didn't perturb me overly much.

Three stars
This book comes out January 29
Followed by Smooth Moves
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Murderous Marriage by Alyssa Maxwell

Lady Phoebe Renshaw is worried about her sister. She knows Julia is in love with Leo but she is marrying Gilbet Townsend who is wealthy, but decades older than her. Gilbert's sister Phoebe doesn't seem to like either Golbert or Julia and his secretary is weirdly possessive.  Phoebe was surprised that the honey.oon was to be aboard a yacht and is aghast that Gilbert's best friend is slated to accompany the newlyweds on their honeymoon. There are many things that are off about the scenario. It gets worse when Julia has a spat with her husband that evening and flees the boat. But she decides that she has to return. The next morning, her husband is found dead in the water and Julia is the main suspect. It will be up to Phoebe and the family maid cum surrogate mother Eva to figure out what is going on.
This was a good book by Maxwell but I am enjoying her other series just a little bit more.

Three stars
This book comes out January 29
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Fifty Scams and Hoaxes by Martin Fone

A short and sweet book. The stories are often less than a page which I was not expecting. I was thinking there would be more extensive research and longer chapters. If you are looking for a gift for middle-schoolers, this might not be a bad book though there are definitely some adult ideas.

Three stars
This book comes out January 28
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley; Opinion is my own

Illegally Yours by Kate Meader

Lucas Wright loves being a fancy-free divorce lawyer. Yeah, some of his clients aren't the best but he really, really likes his life. Well, most of it.
Trinity Jones likes her work. She's like a sommelier but for whiskey. And she is good at her job. Her personal life is... more complicated. Especially when she meets Lucas and sparks immediately fly. But he's the man who is representing her sister's soon-to-be-ex-husband. And that relationship is already complicated. So how is this going to play out.
I liked Lucas. He was generally an adult and was trying to do the right thing. Mostly. Trinity was a bit of an enabler and I had a harder time connecting with her because it was frustrating to see what she was doing. Overall, an okay book -- didn't love the middle-endish but the ending felt like they might have a chance at HEA.

Three stars
This book comes out January 22
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

The last Flavia De Luce book felt a bit flat but this one was a return to form.
Flavia and Dogger have opened a detective agency and have their first customer. But she ends up dead. And it seems that her death may be connected to the object found in Ophelia's wedding cake. Add in two missionaries and you have connected mysteries.
Undine is starting to get more involved but she is feeling an awful lot like a plot moppet. And I'm not sure that this book was fairly clued though it felt like it was supposed to be.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out January 19
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Ashford Place by Jean Copeland

When her aunt died, Isabelle Ashford inherited her house. She's a teacher with the summer off so she decides to fix what she can in the house and then flip it. It's a small town so she quickly gets to recognize the major players including Deputy Sheriff Ally Yates. While the two begin a romance, they also start to investigate why a baby's skull was found on the house's property.

I did like that Isabelle didn't go completely off on her own but the story was somewhat awkward and there was rather a lot going on.

Three stars
This book comes out January 15
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Now or Never by Victoria Denault

Told in alternating first person, we get the story of Winnie and Holden. It starts when they are both teens and she decks him for saying something about her brother. We then come to the present day and Winnie's father has passed away and she's grieving. His death has opened her eyes to many things, including the fact that her relationship with her boyfriend has been over for some time. She just wants to stay at the family's summer home and lick her wounds. Little does she suspect that her brother has hired Holden to renovate the house while the family  is supposed to be gone.
Holden is shocked to discover Winnie in the house. While they have a past (and his is certainly dark), he is still attracted to her. They embark on a relationship that is just going to be physical. But this is a romance novel so...
This was an okay story but I didn't get a real sense of an HEA in their future and the last Big Misunderstanding wasn't really needed.

Three stars
This book comes out January 15
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Live and Let Pie by Ellie Alexander

Julie Capshaw is helping her mother look for a home when she hears shouting from the lake below. Two girls were swimming in an abandoned town that was flooded and one of them found a skull. Julie immediately calls her stepfather. This mystery overlaps with the current day where a lot on Julie's block is up for sale and there are a lot of sharks circling to take the land.
I thought this was one of Alexander's other series and was surprised to find myself in the middle of a series but read it anyway. While it was good, I'll probably stick to the other series.

Three stars
This book came out December 18
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Millie and Reid are part of a group of friends who mostly hang out and play board games. But they're also invited to a fancy soiree where Barack Obama will be showing up so they've all got to find dates. One of the friends suggests online dating. Millie ends up making a second profile and matching with Reid without him realizing it's her. Then the two end up in a physical relationship, all while talking to other people online. At least Reid is.
A pretty good book. The hidden aspect of the relationship went on a bit too long but overall very readable.

Four stars
This book came out December 4th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

One Night with the Millionaire by Shannyn Schroeder

Tess Howland's life is as full as she can stand it. Full-time caretaker, part-time nurse, full-time mom to three kids... she doesn't need another complication in her life. She's ready to let loose every so often with a random hook-up and leave it at that. 

Miles Prescott is okay with his life. Yeah, his family is pushing him to take on a role he doesn't really want and maybe he's a little tired of going out with so many women but he's definitely not expecting the connection he feels to Tess. Nor the urge he feels to meet her children.

Tess isn't ready for someone who's going all in but Miles is wondering where this connection might take them.

Four stars

This book comes out January 14

ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Untouchable by Jayne Ann Krentz

Jack Lancaster was introduced to us in previous books in the series (though I do not believe you have to have read them in order to enjoy this book). He is one of a trio of boys who were fostered by  Salinas after their mothers died in a fire caused by a cult leader, Zane Quinn. The cult leader that the rest of the world thinks perished in the last fire he set. But Jack and his family know better. They know that Zane is still out there pulling strings. And Jack is using his skill as a lucid dreamer who closes cold cases to go after Zane.
Winter Meadows is a meditation therapist who helped to get Jack past his last block. She is hiding in Eclipse Bay after having a really bad experience with a client at her last job. Normally, she wouldn't date a client, but Jack has just ended his sessions and is now fair game. Except that Jack may have to help her face an old enemy. And then she may have to help him.
There was so much going on in this book that refers to other Krentz books that it kept me somewhat removed from this story. I also didn't get the feeling that Jack and Winter had found an HEA. Their relationship didn't seem any deeper than attraction.

Three stars

Follows Promise Not to Tell
This book comes out January 8
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Frame-Up by Meghan Scott Molin

This story revolves around a comic book writer. And she's a girl! (woman) which makes it more fun. It's her expertise that helps solve the mystery when she is consulted as an expert after making an off-hand remark about the murder scene resembling an old comic. She's in line at the coffee shop and the remark is made to a handsome guy who turns out to be Detective Kildaire (that name!).
I felt bad because I never really warmed to MG -- the trope of "I'm going to investigate even when I've been told not to and then bumble my way through completely screwing up the investigation but still somehow solve the mystery" annoys the heck out of me. And she has a giant chip on her shoulder that somewhat comes off at the end but is a little too late for me.

Three stars
This book came out December 1
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Appleby Talks Again by Michael Innes

I haven't read a lot of the Appleby books but I hear about Innes' work on the Classic Mysteries podcast quite often. That made me very excited to see this book on NetGalley and even more delighted to get the ARC. The stories are interesting but very short which makes it hard for a plot to really develop. They were interesting, to be sure but I also felt the lack of character development. I really suspect it would be different had I read more Appleby stories.

Three stars
This book came out November 19
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Fashions Fade, Haunted is Eternal by Rose Pressey

Cookie Chanel is back again. This time she's got the ghost of a 1920s flapper who joins her in a cemetery where a fashion shoot is going on. Cookie is the clothing expert. Too bad the photographer is a jerk. A dead jerk before all is said and done. A dead jerk who also joins Cookie's crew as a black cat.
This book was okay but not at all up to the levels of the others in this series. This was definitely more disjointed and the story lines just sort of petered out.

Three stars
This book came out December 18
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Uneasy Lies the Crown by Tasha Alexander

With her dying breath, Queen Victoria asks Colin Hargreaves to be a protector to the crown. This becomes very important when it seems that a serial killer may be after the new king; bodies are turning up all over London dressed as dead kings. It seems fairly obvious. And Colin and Lady Emily, along with her friend Jeremy are on the case.
The "historical" story interwoven with the "current day" story is stronger than the last couple of books but the ties between the two seems a bit weak. An okay addition to the series but not my favorite.

Three stars
This book came out October 30
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and the publisher