Murder at Morrington Hall by Clara McKenna

A Kentucky heiress, Stella Kendrick isn't much for the social whirl. Which makes it even more surprising that her father has dragged her along to some society wedding in England. Specifically, at Morrington Hall where her father is giving some of his racehorses as a gift. Stella is shocked to find out that she is supposed to be the bride. Strong-willed and independent (she drives!), she's determined that this wedding will not happen. No matter how handsome or understanding the groom is.
Lyndy, Viscount Lyndhurst is bemused by this brash young woman. She doesn't act like anyone he's ever known. Stella certainly doesn't act like she's anxious to be married to an English lord nor is she particularly interested in being the perfect viscountess. And that, along with her beauty, intrigues him.
Their wedding day is stalled, however, when the vicar supposed to marry them is found dead in the library. By Lyndy and Stella no less. This definitely casts a pall over the wedding proceedings but it gives them a chance to get to know each other a little. Lyndy is working hard to convince Stella that he doesn't want her to change while Stella is trying hard to figure out who killed the vicar and stole the surprisingly large amount of money from his coin purse.
An interesting start to a series. The relationship between Lyndy and Stella is only just beginning so we only get to see the two of them starting to figure each other out and I think that was a wise choice. The mystery was a little more rocky for my taste. The motive sort of made sense but I didn't think that the solution was introducted in a logical manner.

Three stars
Followed by Murder at Blackwater Bend
This book came out May 28th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Sweet Cream Ladies, Ltd. by Flo Fitzpatrick

Hasn't everyone come up with a list of people they wouldn't mind dying? Okay, I technically haven't but I could see good reasons for doing so. Babs "Binnie" Harrison and Bootsie Kittredge, both professional actresses, come up with such a list one drunken night. And also joke that other people have similar lists and that the two of them should go into business "helping" others check names off their own lists. But then Babs gets drunk again and starts telling people about their list, the five names including a demanding actress they've both gone up against for roles, both of their ex-husbands, a psychic who helped Binnie's marriage crack up. Then, the people on their list start ding, in just the manner they had proscribed. Of course, they're the first ones suspected and interviewed by the hunky Detective Laramie. But they may need more than just his help to stay out of jail.
It took me a bit to get into the writing style but I eventually caught up. The ending was a bit over the top as well but it was overall a fun read.

Three and a half stars
This book came out May 15th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Summer of Sunshine and Margot by Susan Mallery

Sunshine and Margot are twins who are both at pivotal moments in their lives. They were raised by a grandmother, a beauty pageant consultant, and neither were able to live up to her standards. Sunshine escaped into a series of unsuitable boyfriends while Margot made just one, very unfortunate choice. Now Sunshine is the nanny to an adorable little boy and his widower father while Margo is an etiquette expert. Margot's latest client is an eccentric actress who wants to learn how to navigate in her soon-to-be husband's world of being an ambassador. They're staying at the home of the actress's son, a scholar who specializes in old manuscripts.
This is a lovely story of two sisters. If you are looking for a romance novel, this isn't one. The HEA is sort of wedged in at the end and I felt like the book suffered for it.

Three stars
This book comes out June 11
ARC provided by publisher and Edelweiss and NetGalley
Opinions provided are my own

Bridal Boot Camp Meg Cabot

When a super-built man shows up in her bridal boot camp class thinking that it's yoga,  Roberta “Robbie” James takes pity on him and lets him stay. Ryan Martinez needs help and it doesn't hurt that the super-built guy is hardly hard on the eyes. She kicks his butt in a 45 minute aerobics class and invites him back for the next week. He is up for it since his boss, the sheriff, has required him to take yoga classes to rein back his tension issues and he already has commitments on Wednesday nights.
An interesting start but it's all tease and no outcome.

Three stars
This novella comes out May 28th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Just One of the Groomsmen by Cindi Madsen

Growing up together, Addison "Addie" "Murph" Murphy and Tucker Crawford were just two of a large group of friends. Addison was the only girl in the group but the feeling among the friends was more sibling than romantic. Now one of their group, Shep, is getting married so that means Tucker is home for the first time in two years. And that means that Addie is going to have to wear a dress. Since her normal wear is either yoga pants and a T-shirt or jeans and a sweatshirt, that is going to be a pretty big deal. The next time Tucker sees Addie, she is under a car and he only sees her legs -- that's when he starts to realize that his best buddy might be female. And Addison isn't immune herself. But the move from friendship to relationship is one that is going to be fraught. Especially when both Addie and Tucker are also trying to figure out some other pretty big decisions related to the rest of their lives. 

This was a pretty good book. There is a "big production" to get Addie back at the end after Tucker realizes that he messed up and I'm not a huge fan of those. However, the characters were well built, the romance was solid, and there were some nice openings left for more books in the series.

Three and a half stars

This book come out May 28th
Followed by Always a Bridesmaid

ARC kindly provided by Entangled Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary

Tiffy Moore needs a place to live... fast. She needs to get out of her emotionally abusive ex's apartment as soon as possible. Easier said than done for someone who works for a craft book publisher. She's not exactly swimming in cash and her choices range from moldy to tiny. It's no wonder she ends up picking the option where she shares a flat... and a bed. But not at the same time.
Leo Twomey works nights and spends most of his free time at his girlfriend's so he figures sharing his apartment would be a good way to make some money to pay for his brother's lawyer. He figures having someone else in his flat won't be so hard to deal with.
Told over the course of a year, we get alternating first person views from both Tiffy and Leo. What I appreciated most was O'Leary's approach to Tiffy being in a relationship after her abusive ex. Leo was... awesome. When Tiffy freezes, he backs off immediately, working with her to get to a healthy-for-them sex life. And I also liked that Tiffy got into therapy and wasn't healed by Leo's magical wang. An easy ready but not a quick one because it does deal with some heavier topics.

Four stars
This book comes out May 28th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Smooth Moves by Marie Harte

Jordan Fleming knows that Cash Griffith is trouble with a capital 'T.' Snarling and strong, the man runs toward situations rather than stopping to figure out what is going on and then working through them. She needs his help though; her younger brother is starting to get into a lot of trouble and she thinks Cash can probably reach him.
Cash knows that he has a connection to Jordan but she is an employee of the company he is a a part owner for so she is not on the list of "okay" people to date. She's not even really his type. Except that, smart mouthed and super sexy might actually be his type. In fact, Jordan might be his perfect woman.
Harte does a really good job of exploring a few things in this book. Jordan doesn't see her job in the moving company as long-term but Cash does; neither looks down on the other for their choices. Rafe not speaking up about his problem with math was delicately handled although Jordan's family's interactions were just a little confusing overall.

Four stars
This book comes out May 28
Followed by Handle with Care
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

One Potato, Two Potato, Dead by Lynn Cahoon

Angie starts off the book by volunteering at a soup kitchen and meeting Hope's professor, the one she has a crush on. The next morning, the sheriff comes to tell her that the man is dead.
Angie starts by trying to stay on the periphery of the investigation but ends up getting dragged into looking at Daniel who didn't seem to exist two years ago but suddenly showed up as a professor at the local university before he died. The man also seems to have romanced a number of women, some of whom are quite scary when crossed.
The series probably hasn't changed very much but there is starting to be an element of religion (very light touches) that weren't there before. I'm wondering if that was just for this book (especially since the guy running the food bank ends up not being a great fella) or if the author is heading more in that direction.

Three stars
This book came out March 19th
Follows Killer Green Tomatoes
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Wise and Shine by Robert N. Stonehill

This is supposed to be a book that blends Epicurus and Eckhart Tolle to help you transform yourself. And there are some interesting ideas here but they are often reduced to their simplest terms and then those simplest terms are made to use points that create a misunderstanding of the original idea. Chapter 3 sounded like nothing so much as used car salesman or televangelist making things sound "so simple" until you really think about the explanation -- and it's not what that author is trying to point out. Things like the Feminist Critiques of Development are explained but then never related to the overall whole. My overall biggest problem with this book was that there were a lot of false parallels.

Two stars
This book came out January 10th
ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Mint Julep Murders by Angie Fox

An old asylum doesn't seem like it should be a place that Verity would want to visit. I mean, it is going to be rife with ghosts. But that's where Scalieri is being held, the ghost who has the answer to who killed Frankie. But he's not alone. Of course, there are the ghostly guards keeping him in, but there are also inmates of the asylum who never left. One of who is named Crazy Charlie. Also included are the director of the asylum and one of his dedicated nurses. They are disturbed because the corporeal owner of the asylum is turning it into a haunted house/paintball arena. They just want to live their afterlives in peace.

In addition to all of the ghostly players, there are two people who have paid to sleep in the haunted asylum as well as the owner, Barbara, Verity, and Ellis. A sudden storm traps them all on the island and then something else traps them in the asylum. And someone ends up dead.

A very nice addition to the series and I am really excited to see what Frankie does with the information that's been given to him.

Four stars
This book came out April 25th
Followed by The Ghost of Christmas Past
ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Pursuits of Lord Kit Cavanaugh by Stephanie Laurens

The town of Bristol looks like it's going to be a great place for Lord Christopher "Kit" Cavanaugh to open up his new yacht building business. He's even found a warehouse. It's just too bad about the nonprofit he's displacing. But then he finds out it's a school for impoverished children. And one being run by Sylvia Buckleberry. He decides that he's going to make sure that the school is going to succeed. It has a much to do with wanting to help his new community as much as helping out the lovely Sylvia. But doing that means that he's spending more time with her and figuring out exactly how lovely she is.
For Sylvia's part, she's somewhat bemused by Kit's help but more than willing to take it. She thought he was nothing more than a fancy lord working his way through the debutantes of London. But she's learning that there are depths to this man. Ones that she'll need to rely on as there are people who aren't very excited  about her school moving to a nicer part of town. And enemies from the past that are against Cavanaugh Yachts succeeding.
This was a fine story from Lauren's but there were so many <i>things</i> happening in quick succession that it was annoying. One minor plot point really could have been erased and made the story so much better. I'm not sure why it was thrown in.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Beguilement of Eustacia Cavanaugh
This book came out April 30th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Unbroken Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Before a bull tap danced all over him, Dane Parker was a successful bull rider. Before that he and his sister were struggling to stay afloat in a trailer park. Now she's the owner of a winery and he's struggling to move every morning. And everyone keeps giving him these pity-filled looks. Even Bea, his sister's former sister-in-law. But is she just considering him another one of her wounded animals?
Beatrix Leighton has had a crush on Dane since his sister married her brother. But she hasn't been able to articulate that. She's just not that good with other humans. Slowly, however, she learns to be like that with Dane.

Three stars
This book came out April 23rd
Followed by Cowboy to the Core
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and publisher
Opinions are my own

Need Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Levi Tyler was in prison for five years because the police believed he killed his wife. But said wife has suddenly turned up alive. So Levi has been released. And he is ready to face the world.
Faith Grayson is the sister of former heroes of this series. She is a young architect, one who feels like she is supporting her family. As a former child prodigy, she was the one on whose they rest all their hopes. But she's secretly taken on designing Levi's house. Even though she knows that her brothers would be irate.
Though each knows the other is All Wrong, they are still drawn together. It's almost
It's another of Yates' stories with a young heroine and older hero. They're sort of starting to bleed together for me. This one was a bit different in that Faith's brothers are involved. Faith was beyond naive and the ending was a bit too short and saccharine for me. I may start sticking to Ms. Yates other series.

Two stars
This book came out April 2
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

An Artless Demise by Anna Lee Huber

When it appears that there are burkers once again digging up people (and maybe even killing in order to provide the medical community with corpses), Kiera is pulled back into a spotlight she never wanted to have. One of the suspected victims is Lord Feckenham. A dissolute scoundrel (and not the lovable kind), very few mourn his passing, even his own family. But the family does want to protect their younger son and Sebastian's father has ordered them to help so Sebastian and Kiera are pulled in. As if the threat of Kiera's past being brought up by the burkings, someone is threatening to publish her first husband's journals.
A very nice addition to the series with great character growth and relationships being strengthened.

Four stars
Followed by A Stroke of Malice
This book came out April 2
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

Martha Wood is a perpetual volunteer. She has an inability to say no and therefore doesn't get paid to take on the worst jobs at the library, watching her sister's kids, even washing laundry for one of her library patrons. Her life stopped when her parents needed her and she's been put upon ever since. But at a low point (she spent all day making cookies for a library event that was cancelled, though no one told her), she discovers a book that has been left on the library doorstep. But this isn't just any book, it's one inscribed to her from her long-dead grandmother. One that is dated two years after her grandmother supposedly died. Finding out more about the book threatens to shake up Martha's life and to reshape her past when long-hidden secrets are revealed.
This was a fine book and fairly easy read though it did drag some for me. The best part was Martha's character arc, moving from being put-upon and unable to get out of her rut to making decisions for herself (with a little help from her friends.)

Three and a half stars
This book came out March 26th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Game of Bones by Carolyn Haines

Near Sarah Booth Delaney's home, they've started an archaeological dig on a burial mound but something has gone wrong. One of the main archaeologists has been murdered in a very brutal fashion. The other archaeologist, Frank Hafner, hires Sarah Booth and Tinkie to clear his name. There are a lot of suspects since the murdered woman was a maneater and endeared herself to no one. Peter Deerstalker, the member of a local tribe is also hellbent on making sure that the dig stops so that his ancestors can rest in peace. And there was something odd about the family who most recently owned the property. Could they be coming back to cause trouble?
There was so much crammed into this book that it was hard to follow who was doing what and why we needed to care about anyone other than our main character. The first historical elements introduced (at least in the ARC) seemed a little off but then we got to the bit about Custer and that was  SO wrong that it took me out of the story. I get that this is a fiction book and should get some leeway but whoo-ee, this was bad in that it pulled me out of the story every time after that Haines introduced some "history" of the area. I was already wavering in between two and three stars and the ending took it down for me. There have always been supernatural elements in this series but to add in magic was just too far for me. It made sense in order to tie up the story but the ending came out of left field.

Two and  half stars
Followed by The Devil's Bones
This book came out May 14th
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Humor That Works by Andrew Tarvin

I've been on a business reading kick for awhile. This book was an interesting difference. It's not the straight-up here's-how-to-work-better or a here's-how-to-manage-people book or here's-how-to-find-yourself-the-best-kind-of-job book. Instead, it's a look at how you can inject humor into the workplace from the world's first (self-proclaimed) humor engineer. His thoughts are that humor (the right kind of humor) can make a bad situation more bearable.
I wish there had been some more scientific studies backing up these claims (most were studies already published in other works). Most of the stories, especially in the early chapters, were personal stories about how Mr. Tarvin successfully used humor. Otherwise this was a very readable book which only sometimes reached a little too far in trying to also be humorous.

Three stars
This book came out April 1st
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Lights! Camera! Puzzles! by Parnell Hall

The Puzzle Lady's ex-husband has written a (mostly fictitious) tell-all about their marriage. The book has wrecked her image as everyone's grandma and the lucrative promotions have dried up. So Cora has made a deal with the devil and is a producer on the film the book is being turned into
 She's not happy to begin with and then the body of a staff member is found. And  then there's another.
I hadn't read this series in a while but I am glad to see that Cora has branched out and it made sense for her to find a body in a new place.

Four Stars
This book came out April 2nd
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Burnout by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski

I needed this book so badly. I ended up quitting my job before I started reading this book but it perfectly depicted the many reasons that I ended up making a leap and leaving a bad fit before I had anything else lined up. And this is the life of women - being told that we have to be thin, polished, nurturing humans who make less than men just because we are "other." And we're also told that we're nuts and that that isn't really happening. If I had read this book four months ago, I think it would have opened my eyes that much sooner and I'd have lost out on those months of stress (oh darn...)
This very readable and relatable book looks at the various things in our loves that can and do cause burnout and offers some suggestions on how to close the cycle.
Mu favorite takeaway was: Wellness is not a state of being but a state of action.

Four stars
This book came out March 26
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Burning Issue of the Day by T E Kinsey

Flo and Lady Hardcastle are asked to look into an arson/murder case. A local reporter has been killed and the suffragettes have bee blamed for the crime. Yes, there was a signed note from one of them admitting her guilt but it was pretty flimsy evidence with nothing otherwise proving wrongdoing. The local leader believes it may be someone trying to make the suffragettes look bad.
During the course of the case, Flo and Lady Hardcastle are beset numerous times and come out ahead, though not always unscathed.
A lovely story that was pretty easy to figure out who the baddies were but if you don't mind that, you will not have any problems with.

Four stars
This book comes out May 15th
Followed by Death Beside the Seaside
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

The first time Olive met her twin sister's boyfriend's brother, she was transfixed. Ethan is a very good looking guy. But he seemed so turned off by her curves and they have never been able to connect
after that. Mostly they just snark back and forth at each other when they're in the same room. And that's only if they can't avoid each other.
They're going to be stuck together for the next ten days though. After food poisoning rampages through her sister's wedding leaving Olive and Ethan the only people unscathed, they are encouraged to use The free trip that Olive's sister won as a honeymoon. It's a free trip and can't be rescheduled.
Ten days with someone she hates? But at least she'd be on Maui. Olive doesn't jump at the chance but she does ended up taking it. And it seems that both Ethan and Olive have been working under some misconceptions. Ones that can be cleared up when two people spend so much time together.
A good story though I didn't love the Big Gesture (to be fair, I rarely do.) But I liked the arc between Ethan and Olive and that each got to grow.

Four stars
This book comes out May 14
ARC provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hot to the Touch by Jaci Burton

Growing up, Jackson Donovan was homeless. With a group of other kids, he formed a pack that protected and looked out for each other. One night, they had to split up. He found shelter from a storm with two other boys and they were almost killed in a fire. Instead, they were rescued twice by Josh Donovan.  Once  from the fire and then once from the streets when he and his wife Laurel took them all in.
Now an adult, all three boys work in the same fire station (I didn't think that was allowed?). When they answer a call at a tattoo parlor, they find one of the other kids that they used to hang out iwith, Rebecca "Becks" Benning. When they find out Becks was living above her shop,  Jackson's brothers immediately invite her to move in. They just had a roommate move out so they've got space.
Unlike the boys, Becks never got adopted. She needed up going back into foster care and found a decent family but has no real ties to anyone. So she's happy to move in with her friends, if only Jackson weren't so prickly.
The two figure out how to navigate, especially when they acknowledge the tension between them is a lot related to attraction. But both have their issues stemming from the way they grew up. Jackson especially will have to dig deep if he wants to keep the woman he's starting to love.
A nice start to a new series. I can't wait to read Carmen and Rafe's story.

Four stars
Followed by Ignite on Contact
This book came out May 7
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

One Summer in Paris by Sarah Morgan

Two women, both at crossroads in their lives. Grace, an American, has just been told, on her twenty-fifth anniversary no less, that her husband is having an affair. Audrey is  British and is ready to get out of her alcoholic mother's house. She's not going to college, that's for people who are smart and not dyslexic. Their lives will collide when Grace is mugged and Audrey comes to her rescue. Eventually they realize that they each need something from the other; a chance to step out of their day-to-day.
I really wish this book had been a bit longer. There were some real problems in this book but it felt like the solutions were glossed over or rushed through. I liked Ms. Morgan's other step toward romance light but this book, while worth reading, was not as successful.

Three stars
This book came out April 9
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Murder in the Reading Room by Ellery Adams

Wow. When I requested this book from NetGalley, I thought it was from one of Adams' other series. So when the book opened in the middle of a car chase with characters I didn't remember, I was lost. Even when I finally figured out what was going on, I was still sort of lost.
Jane Stewart is battling the Templars in a race to uncover the Hemingway manuscript that was lost in 1922 (this is the second book I've read this year with this conceit). In fact, her number one enemy has kidnapped hehr boyfriend and is holding him at the Biltmore manor. After the guy kidnapped her kids in a previous book, she's (rightly) pretty pissed. She's just about to figure out what's going on from a gardener when said gardener turns up dead in the library with a book in his lap. And even more revelations are coming Jane's way.
This book is not to be read without reading other books in the series. I have a feeling that the crazy pants aspects of it may build up more slowly and therefore be easier to take. As a first time reader, this was a bad place to start and made it not as enjoyable as I usually find Adams' books.

Two and a half stars
This book came out April 30
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Tightrope by Amanda Quick

Opening with our heroine, Amalie Vaughn, literally on the edge of death, Then it slips into a confusing third person omniscient overlook overlook of almost everyone in the book. It smooths out when Amalie gets to Burning Cove. She's picked up a mansion for a song. Too bad it's because a phony psychic was murdered there. And now that her first paying guest has also been murdered (on stage, by his own robot), she's not very hopeful that the profile of her hotel will improve. And now, Matthias Jones, a known associate of Luther Pell (night club owner and mob affiliate), is in her hotel. She just knows that the gossip is going to go wild.
Add in an enigma machine, a man intent on revenge, a star willing to do anything to reclaim his fading star, and a gossip columnist and this is a wild ride. There is a lot, a LOT going on in this book and it could have been pared down a bit but it was still a fun read.

Three and a half stars
This book came out May 7, 2019

Follows The Other Lady Vanishes
Followed by Close Up 
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Reread June 2022 as audible-owned audiobook

Then Came You by Kate Meader

If you've read other books in this series, you know Aubrey and Grant. Once married, they've been divorced for about a year but the air still sizzles when they're together. At the end of "Illegally Yours," Aubrey showed up to a wedding with her arm in a cast refusing to explain what had happened to her. Grant is understandably worried about how she's going to get back to her parents for Thanksgiving. She can't drive, she doesn't like to fly, and the aging cat Aubrey refuses to leave behind won't be allowed on the train. So he does what any sane person would do, he offers to drive her over to Boston himself and then pretend to still be married for her nearly ninety-year-old grandmother's benefit. It works... a little too well.

This book would have benefitted a LOT from more growth on Grant's part. Dude was unbending and uncompromising the entire book. Everything that happened was Aubrey's fault and they couldn't get back together until she was "healed." He was the white knight there to rescue her rather than helping her figure it out on her own and he wasn't really able to step back enough to allow her to figure it out her way, it all had to be his.

I really like Meader's books in general but this one was just okay. Only the writing saved it from being a two star book for me.

Three stars

This book comes out May 7

ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Sitting Still Like a Frog Activity book by Eline Snel

Get this as a physical book. I got it as an ebook ARC from NetGalley and loading the pages was So Slow. It took up to 5 minutes to load a page and it crashed by reading app several times.
Other than that, this was an okay book. The stories were fairly preachy. It reminded me more of an 1800s primer more than anything else.

Three stars
This book came out April 9
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I Want You Back by Lorelei James

In a previous book in this series, Jaxson Lund had described his daughter's mother, Lucy Quade, as someone barely better than Lucifer himself. At the end of the story, we learned that Lucy may not really be as bad as she seemed. And now that Jaxson has retired from hockey and pulled himself out of the grips of alcoholism, he can admit to himself that she is a really good mother. And a really good woman. In fact, he wants her back.
But Lucy isn't so sure. Mimi was an unexpected baby. She and Jaxson had supposedly been in love but he cheated on her and then dragged her name through the mud. She's dating and looking for something better. Even though that park is still there...
I liked that Jaxson had some consequences from his sleeping around. I did not so much like the flashbacks. I'm not sure why it's so popular right now to flip back and forth between the present and the past in romances but I find it very distracting. Not distracting enough not to read the next book in the series though; I'm really hoping it's the romance between ice skater Gabri and Jaxson's brother.

Three and a half stars
Followed by Want to Want you
This book came out April 2nd
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Justified Murder by Jude Deveraux

Sara, Kate, and Jack are back in a new mystery. When Janet Beeson is stabbed, shot, and poisoned, everyone in town looks to the trio that solved the last big murder. But they aren't interested in helping. That's not what they do. But somehow, they are dragged into the story of a woman who was seemingly the most liked person in town. So who would want to kill her that bad?
This was a completely scattered book with parts of the story stuck in here and there and things said about characters that weren't backed up in the story... and yet Deveraux manages to charm. Sentence structure is odd and unnecessary asides are plentiful but I think people who enjoyed the first book will like this one as well.

Three stars
This book came out February 26th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Southern Lady Code by Helen Ellis

Ms. Ellis gives us a series of biographical essays. Some touch on her own life, some are a list of instructions, all are highly entertaining. She gives young girls instructions on what to look for in a man (hint: nothing from the Bachelor), she talks about living in New York (it is definitely a privileged life but she doesn't hide that), and talks about aging.
I wish it had been longer but I don't regret reading it.

Four stars
This book came out April 16th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Can You Crack the Code? by Ella Schwartz

Schwartz introduces a number of different ways that people could hide messages using numbers, switching letters, or even creating machines. Each chapter focuses on one way to create a code and then provides examples for the reader to try. Weaving a bit of fun with history, this is a book I would have devoured as a middle schooler.

Three stars
This book came out March 26
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Making of a Manager by Julie Zhou

I've been reading a lot of books on management lately and this is the one that has spoken to me the most. Ms. Zhuo has been a manager since she was 25. When she started, no one told her how to go on. She had to figure a lot of it as she went out. Here, she talks about a wide breadth of topics related to management including how to build trust; how not to waste meetings; how to creat a culture for your own team. I got this book from NetGalley but think I will get it for myself.

This book came out March 19th
Four stars
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley