Labyrinth by Catherine Coulter

This book starts with a literal bang when Sherlock is t-boned at and intersection. As she is spinning out of control, she hits a man who then disappears. But what was he doing in the intersection in the

first place? Adding to the mystery, Sherlock's head injuries are such that she gets amnesia and can't remember anything about what happened. In fact, she can't remember anything at all.
At the same time, Agent Griffin Hammersmith is taking some time off in Virginia when he hears a psychic scream. A woman is being attacked. But when local law enforcement arrives, they're more interested in covering up than in helping.
Carson is in the store when a man just starts <i>thinking</i> at her. He's ruminating on the death of one of three missing girls. She inadvertently draws attention to herself and wakes up in a basement. Rather than interviewing an eminent scientist, she is now trying to escape with her life.
Griffin has the FBI to throw so throw he does. But the secret that they uncover is big enough that they need both Sherlock and Savich. But the Ss still need to find Justice, the man who Sherlock hit. As a CIA agent, he holds the key to uncovering a major conspiracy.
The two stories are not well connected but it was otherwise a good read.

Three and a half stars
This book came out July 30th
Follows Paradox
Followed by Deadlock
ARC kindly provided by Gallery Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrews

Meg's grandfather has been asked to lead a series of bird talks on the cruise line Pastimes. In return, he got a friends and family discount. So the entire clan has packed up and headed to Florida to get on the boat. Even waiting to embark is sending up red flags since the porter does not seem willing to take aboard her family's 32 bags. The trip only gets odder after Meg meets a group of 4 writers who had a friend die recently; the woman they blame, Desiree, has also joined the cruise. It becomes quite quickly obvious that Desiree is a exactly as the other writers describe her, thoroughly despicable. Is it, however, a surprise that her shawl and shoes are found on deck 4 along with a suicide note. This happens on the same day that the boat's engines go silent.
With the officers of the boat behaving as if all is well (it very noticeably is NOT), the staff size mysteriously small, and the appearance of a body (not Desiree's), Meg is up to her eyeballs in mystery.
Andrews usually does a great juggling her large cast of minor characters and mostly does okay in this book but there are some places where it feels like there are a LOT of people introduced; this will probably be confusing for new-to-the-series readers but not as hard for those of us who are Langslow fans. I appreciated that the book was moved out of Caerphilly but was never really pulled into the story.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out August 6th, 2019

Follows Lark! The Herald Angels Sing

Followed by Owl Be Home for Christmas
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Reread as Audible book December 2023

Let's Fake a Deal by Sherry Harris

I liked that this book moved Sarah Winston out of the rut the last couple of books had been in. I didn't love the ending (the wrap up didn't make sense with most of the rest of the books; not enough clues had been laid) but it was overall an enjoyable read.
The book opens with Sarah starting a garage sale for a cute young couple who are downsizing now that they've moved to town. Too bad all of the furniture is actually stolen and Sarah is the number one suspect. But her friend Michelle has it even worse. In line for a promotion at the Air Base, she's just had a big charge made against her and she's not allowed to know what it is or who made it. However, she can pretty well figure it out. Too bad he ends up dead in her car.
So Sarah is trying not only to save her friend Michelle but herself (and her DA boyfriend Seth whose reputation is also on the line). It's a lot to juggle but she might just figure out some things along the way.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
Follows The Gun also Rises
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Murder at Crossways by Alyssa Maxwell

First-person narrator Emma has accepted a job as the acting editor-in-chief for her friend/love interest, Derek's, paper, the Newport Messenger. She is proud to have the position but all is not well. She is dealing with a series of setbacks that may actually be sabotage. Who doesn't want her working at the newspaper? Is it because she is a woman?

And in her personal life, the book opens with a stunning beach rescue and then the discovery of a dead body. Emma is shocked to see the face of her brother, Brady. But after her shock fades, she realizes that it is someone else. But is it who she suspects?
Combining both her personal and professional life, Emma's society reporter is unable make it to the Harvest Festival held by Mamie Fish so she has to go in his stead. Though the guest of honor, Prince Otto of Austria, never shows up, and, thought it breaks the hearts of all of the debutantes and their mothers who had hoped to snares prince, it seems he has a very good reason. Earlier in the evening, Otto was killed just like the man on the beach. Can the two deaths be connected? And what will the answers mean to Emma and her brother?

Three stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Good Guy by Kate Meader

After leaving the Special Forces, Levi Hunt is again playing hockey. But he's shocked when he's moved up to the pros after a series of injuries on the Chicago Rebels team. The press is ecstatic for the story but only one person has history with Levi, Jordan Cooke.

Jordan's husband was Levi's best friend. The night he was buried, Levi and Jordan kissed and Levi still feels a massive amount of guilt. Jordan is a little more balanced.
She knows that it was a strange time for them both and that grief can cause people to do things they wouldn't normally. But she's not back in his life to pursue romance; she has the chance to land time on a network if she can get a big scoop. But she's not exactly sure that she wants to be the one to do that to Levi. Sometimes the past is best left covered. Forced proximity and a simmering heat may not lead Jordan to the story of her career, but it may lead her to love.
This was a very frustrating story to read and the end was especially so. It relies on the trope of grown-ass people not just TALKING to each other and assuming that they know what is going on and what is going to be best for the other person. Plus, there is a pretty big bomb and it's sort of resolved but I wish there had been more.

Three stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

You don't earn a lot of money on Wall Street without making some enemies.  Or without keeping a lot of secrets. Sylvie, Vincent, Jules, and Sam know that better than anyone. The four have been working as a team for a lucrative financial firm. Well, formerly lucrative. Layoffs are happening and anyone could be cut. But these four all know each others secrets. All of them. Which is why none of them are any too happy to be instructed that they have to attend a team building exercise using one of the building's elevators as an escape room. But the longer these four are locked in together, the more likely it is that secrets will be spilled. And perhaps some blood as well.
I thought the prologue actually took away from the book a little bit, told a little too much of the end of the book. I also didn't love all of the interspersed chapters, those of Sara Hall. It might have built up more of the story to start those in the latter half of the book. I think most of the same information could have been conveyed. Still, an interesting book from a genre I rarely read.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean

Henrietta "Hattie" Sedley wants one thing in life, her father's business. But she is a woman and, even though she is better at the business than her brother, Augie is the one that has been put in charge.  Unfortunately, Augie's an idiot's. Example:  The man who's tied up and in Henrietta's carriage when she goes out to start the first night of the Year of Hattie.  The man is built like a Greek God and she is immediately attracted but she's got a plan and even the most beautiful man isn't going to stop her.
Beast  Wakes up to a beautiful  Woman tapping his face trying to get him to wake up. And then she unceremoniously throws him out of the carriage. But not before stopping for a kiss. Luckily she throws him out in the area of London that he runs and he's able to find her almost immediately. He discovers that she is a part of the family that has been systemically robbing him. And that's an issue.
The pre-end was a little fast as was the wrap up but generally a fun book and nice addition to the series.

Four stars
This book comes out July 30th
Follows Wicked and the Wallflower
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Cowboy Up by Stacy Finz

Aubrey McAlister is nobody's favorite person in Dry Creek. She has committed the unforgivable sin of (gasp!) calling off her wedding to the most popular man in town. She has her reasons but is

keeping them hidden in order to save the inevitable heartbreak for a friend who has already been through a lot. Her car is vandalized, her coffee may or may not have spit in it, and her job prospects have dried up (the downside of working for your fiancé). Basically, Aubrey's life is crap.
Cash Dalton knows from crap. He is a former FBI agent (the "former" part is not his own choice) and now he's in town trying to help his cousins keep the ranch that has been in his family for generations. Speaking of generations, it seems that Cash unknowingly contributed to the next-he apparently has a daughter whose mother never bothered to tell Cash existed. So he's dealing with his own crap and now the crap of a teenage girl whose mother died and now has to live with a man she was told didn't want her.
There was a lot going on in this book and I'm not sure it all really gelled for me. Finz is a fantastic writer but it might have been too many stories to fit into one book. The ending was fine but I have a feeling I will feel better after the next book (assuming we get to see more of Aubrey and Cash there.)

Three stars
This book comes out July 23
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Hard Body by Renee Roman

I did not realize that this was a short story when I requested it from NetGalley so I was disappointed at the length. Roman did manage to pack a lot of story into 28 pages when Sharon's crush and roommate, fire fighter Case finally notices her as well. I wish we had gotten more of the story about their longing and glimpses of Case's feelings before this and maybe how the relationship grows but this was a pretty good story.

Three stars
This story came out July 16th
ARC kindly provided by Bold Strokes Books, Inc. and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory

Alexa Monroe found love in Guillory's "The Wedding Date." In "The Wedding Party", she has asked her two best friends to stand up with her. The biggest problem for her friends,  and Theo? They don't really like each other. They started off on a bad foot at their first meeting years ago when Theo talked only about himself except to denigrate Maddie's job. Years later, they still aren't fond of each other... even the night that they have sex. Ten months later, it happens again. Realizing that they are probably going to end up in bed over and over again (despite not particularly liking each other), they decide to be Enemies With Benefits. And NOT to tell Alexa who is sure to go overboard about them being in a... well, they're sure not in a relationship.
Except, that life has ways of throwing people together in ways that could make them see each other in a different light. Maybe even love.
This was definitely a slow start kind of book. And there are some very odd time jumps that took me out of the romance a bit. But it ended strong and I enjoyed it a lot.

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

Killer in the Carriage House by Sheila Connolly

In the first book of the series, Kate Hamilton returned to Asheboro, Maryland at her friend's request. Asheboro is a dying town and Kate's friend thought she might be able to help. She got a boost when she and a visiting historian found letters from Clara Barton.
Now, she's trying to convince the town to go along with her plan to set it up similar to Williamsburg but more early 1900s. That's when the town was built and a lot of the stores on Main Street still have their fixtures underneath all of the updates.
Along with that, she and the history professor are working with an archivist to move all of the papers from the local manor into the town's library. The library that has been closed since the librarian was found to have been... well, not keeping it up correctly in the last book. A young man interrupts her work one day looking for his relatives. The next morning, he's discovered dead after having broken into the library. Suddenly, Kate is in the middle of another mystery.
Unfortunately, the mystery is a little thin. There is more about the set up for the town and papers than anything else which is good because that's more interesting than the killing. We don't get to know the victim at all, the reason for the killing isn't shown until the last quarter of the book, and the killer are barely involved in the story.

Three stars
This book came out July 9th
Follows Murder at the Mansion

Followed by The Secret Staircase 
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Rainbow Brite by Jeremy Whitley, Brittney Williams

Rainbow Brite was a major favorite of mine while growing up and I'm delighted that there's a new artist bringing her to life. The story is basically how a girl named Wisp becomes Rainbow Brite. Well, probably. We get to see Wisp and her friend, Willow, LARPing as a wizard and a warrior. That evening, Wisp sees some mysterious creature standing next to her mother's car which used to be blue. And that is her introduction to the minions of the Shadow King who is trying to suck all of the color out of his world, and now has moved on to Wisp's.
It may turn out that Wisp is Rainbow Brite, she has been able to use the scepter, but they haven't yet found the rainbow belt.
A nice story, the characters have shifted from my childhood memories but overall enjoyable reading.

Four stars
This book  came out July 2nd
ARC kindly provided by Diamond Book Distributors and NetGalley

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

Nina Hill likes herself just fine, thank you. She tracks her days down to the minute, including her time to do "Nothing" (aka reading time.) Her work at the bookstore and her trivia team satisfy her need to see people and she is pretty happy being the only child of a globe-trotting photographer mother.
But her life is about to change with the news that her father is dead. The father she never knew. The father who signed release paperwork releasing all claim to Nina even before she was born. Suddenly, her stress levels are skyrocketing- she has a sprawling family, a potential love interest from a rival trivia team, and her beloved bookstore is in danger of being closed forever.
The book started off a bit too twee but moved past it quickly. The ending also was sort of out of step with the middle which was frankly the best part of the book. I would recommend this book to readers who like characters breaking out of their shells and get to have a small dose of romance.

Three stars
This book comes out July 9th
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Under Currents by Nora Roberts

Major trigger warnings for both spousal and child abuse.
Like many of Roberts' non-series contemporaries, this one opens slowly and then quickly ramps as Emily Bigelow admires her home and thinks about what a great life she has. We quickly learn that this is HER version of great. For her kids, not so much.
In the first seven chapters, we get great character sketches of each of the four people in her family as well as some of the people who will be players in the later story.
Chapter 8 opens with Darby McCray deciding to move to Lakeside after her mother's death. She is ready to start her landscaping business in a new place and this one fits her specifications. This coincides with Zane Walker's (the Bigelows' son) return. He's now a lawyer, apparently a good one since he buys a huge house and is ready for Darby to install spme pretty extensive landscaping.
The two kind of slide into a relationship based in mutual admiration (physical and mental) as well as an understanding of each other's histories. And the course of true love never can run smooth and we learn that it is good thing that both Darby and Zane are smart, neither try to play detective, and that Darby has that black belt in kung fu.
I liked this book a lot. Darby was her own heroine a lot of the time but Zane got to help as well, a true team. There were a couple of little things that I didn't love, the swiftness of the romance, so many villains, and then the lack of a talk about protection and how to stay healthy which Roberts has been able to skillfully add to other of her books.

Four stars
This book comes out July 9th
ARC kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Pack Challenge by Shelly Laurenston

One of the things I tend to do in terms of self-care is to re-read books. It doesn't really matter what books, it is just nice to know that I don't have to read every single word because I know the story pretty well already. And romances are a particular favorite because the definition for a book to be in this genre is that it will end happily. I have been big on audiobooks lately because it means that I can get other things done (a LOT of cleaning) while still enjoying the book


Sara Morrighan has had a rough life. She was attacked by a mountain lion when she was 8. The same attack killed her father. Then she was sent to live with a grandmother who was more strict than loving. She had to rely on her friends Mike and Angelina to find acceptance and love.
Well, until Zach Sheridan showed up in town. He knew at first glance that she was going to be for him. And when she finally discovers his secrets, one that includes her, it's going to be interesting to see if they end up being a perfect match.

I like Laureston's later books better but it was amazing to see how much world building she put in even this first book of her shifters series.

Three books
Followed by Go Fetch!
This book came out October 1st, 2006
Audiobook from my local library

Reread as Audible Plus book January 2024