May 2024 Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

The Escape by Mary Balogh

Four stars

This book came out July 1, 2014

Survivors' Club #3

Follows The Arrangement
Followed by Only Enchanting

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Only Enchanting by Mary Balogh

This book came out October 28, 2014

Survivors' Club #4

Follows The Escape

Followed by Only a Promise

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Only a Promise by Mary Balogh

Four and a half stars

This book came out June 9, 2015

Survivors' Club #5

Follows Only Enchanting

Followed by Only a Kiss

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

When Stars Collide by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Three stars
This book comes out June 29th, 2021

Chicago Stars #9
Follows First Star I See

Followed by Simply the Best

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Hot Zone by Jayne Castle

This book came out August 26th, 2014

Rain Shadow #3, Ghosthunters #11

Follows Deception Cove

Followed by Siren's Call

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Guild Boss by Jayne Castle

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 16th, 2021

Ghost Hunters #14

Follows Illusion Town

Followed by Sweetwater and the Witch

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Sweetwater& the Witch

Three and a half stars

This book come out September 20, 2022

Ghost Hunters #15

Follows Guild Boss

Followed by People in Glass Houses

Howl for It by Shelly Laurenston; Cynthia Eden

Four stars
This book comes out January 30, 2018

Pride #0.5

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James

Three stars

Wildes of Lindow Castle #1

Follows My Last Duchess

Followed by Too Wilde to Wed
This book came out October 31, 2017

Hard copy of mine

Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James

Four stars

Wildes of Lindow Castle #2

Follows Wilde in Love

Followed by Born to be Wilde
This book came out May 29, 2018
ebook on my Kindle

Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James

Three and a half stars
Wildes of Lindow Castle #3

This book comes out July 31
Hard copy borrowed from library
Follows Too Wilde to Wed
Followed by Say No to the Duke

Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen

I've actually read this book before but hearing it just emphasizes the craziness that is involved. Keyes is a private detective, former newspaperman, whose old co-worker and ex-girlfriend have set off a chain of events, including many murders, that are designed to get the tourists and other interlopers out of Florida. It's a great story which makes no sense but it's certainly a fun ride.

Three and a half stars
This book came out in 1986

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own
 

Murder and a Christmas Gift by Sonia Parin

It's Christmas and the young Earl of Woodridge is back at Halton House. Evie wants to make his holiday special but can she top Tom's gift of a pony? Maybe, with his family's Christmas decorations. So Evie and Tom are off to find them. But, they get caught in a dense fog and are forced to take shelter in a nearby manor house. That normally wouldn't be an issue but someone in the village died recently and the people decide to hold a seance that seems... odd. Could it be that the man was murdered? Why? 

This was a quick read. Mostly about the mystery but an odd number of other little side stories for such a short book.

Three stars

Evie Parker Mystery #7

This book came out December 25, 2019

Follows Murder in the Third Act

Followed by Murder at the Fashion House

Mistletoe Murders 2 by Ken Cuperus

The first story of this book starts 10 months after the last story in the other book. 

Emily is still sticking her nose into local mysteries even though her habit caused the cooling of her relationship with Detective-Constable Sam Wilner. 

The first story centers around a fire at the diner where Emily usually gets her coffee. The owner's nephew was killed in the blaze. We do see other characters that have been in the series before. 

The second story includes Emily getting on the stage when a local stagehand is killed by a falling bridge in a Christmas adaptation of Twelfth Night. The cast includes the local gossip, the local handyman, and an actor who was famous several decades ago but still thinks he has charm.

The last story takes this book a little out of the realm of cozy/Hallmark movie when one of the people Emily has interacted with in several other stories is killed. While it was set to look like suicide, Emily has her doubts.

The ending of this story introduces a character from Emily's old life.

Three and a half stars

Mistletoe Murders #2

This book came out November 30, 2022

Follows Mistletoe Murders

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Garden of Lies by Amanda Quick

Ursula Kern's dearest friend is dead. But was it suicide, an accident, or murder? Ursula is afraid that it's the last. So she's going to find out which by going undercover. But first she has to get out of her current job. 

Even though they've only worked together twice, Slater Roxton isn't ready to let Ursula go. Especially into something that promises to lead to great danger. And he knows great danger after having been left for dead (though he doesn't blame his friend) after a cave in. He wandered the labyrinth of caves for days before he made his way out and then was stuck on a desert island for over a year. Luckily, there was some sort of ashram where he learned The Principles of the Three Ways. Since his recent return, his legend has grown. And not just because he, his father's first-born, but bastard child was put in charge of his brother's finances. Nope. All sorts of legends swirling around this guy. And some of them true. As we're told over and over and over...

A perfectly good Quick book in the tradition of her non-Arcane series but I have to admit that I missed the paranormal.

Three stars

This book came out April 21, 2015

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Mistletoe Murders 1 by Ken Cuperus

A series of short stories that link together to make a series. This reminds me a lot of old time radio shows. The stories in this audiobook all center around Emily who lives in a small town and runs a Christmas store. She has a light flirtation with the local law enforcement and a mysterious past. 

In this book, we have a story wherein a man is murdered in a Christmas tree farm. It seems he may have been poisoned by a cookie from Emily's store.

The second story revolves around a young heartthrob who was part of the local drama. He left a few months ago but no one thought he was dead. In fact, no one knows he's dead until they find him under the water when the local skating festival starts.

The last story is set in a recently renovated, supposedly haunted mansion. The ghost is thought to be the remnants of an old mayor who may or may not have been murdered by his valet. The murder weapon itself is on display and ends up being used in a modern day murder as well.

Three and a half stars

Mistletoe Murders #1

This book came out November 8, 2023

Followed by Mistletoe Murders 2

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Illusion Town by Jayne Castle

Hannah West is known online as the Finder. Her psychic ability to "talk" to her doppelganger during sleep helps her find objects for people (this is sort of sketchy how this works, takes some suspension of disbelief). She has recently helped Elias Coppersmith track down a family heirloom and now she's accepted a dinner date. But she wakes up the next morning with no memory of the evening before and a marriage certificate in her purse. She and Elias will have to work together to piece together the evening before, figure out why they're being chased by biker dudes, discover a lost Arcane archive, and rescue a team of his people from a hidden gate.
This was very reminiscent of several other books in this series. The female character being the only one who can work the dreamlight and open a gate where people are trapped. Biker dudes chasing our main characters down. And some shadowy subplot with a secret location. It was a good story but felt a bit repetitive and a little disjointed. A fast, fun read and I'm not going to be giving up on the series any time soon.

Three stars

This book came out July 15, 2016

Ghosthunters #13

Follows Siren's Calll

Followed by Guild Boss

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Sure, I'll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford

Definitely absorb this as an audiobook. Maria Bamford's voice is so distinctive and it's a delight to listen to her. Her tone is wry, her stories sometimes hard to digest but she does, indeed, have a rich history of joining various groups that could be classified as cults whether it's a religion, a diet scheme, or any number of "anonymous" organizations. 

Four stars

This book came out September 5, 2023

Book borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Siren's Call by Jayne Castle

I would definitely recommend reading more in the series before this one but I don't think you'll be very lost if you don't. 

Ella Morgan is a Siren(!). She can literally sing (along harmonic lines, out loud? She can't carry a tune) a person to death. And we see her use her talents almost to that point in the beginning of the story. There was a lot of action bunched at the beginning which was a little annoying but we get an immediate introduction to Ella's talent and a glimpse of our hero, Raphael "Rafe" Coppersmith. 

There is a gap of three months between Rafe and Ella's first meeting. I was a little annoyed because Ella kept thinking "Oh, he's never going to call" and then getting mad because he didn't call, but I guess that's normal(?). 

Also, the reason that Rafe and Ella are together gets solved awfully quickly. I'm guessing there was a LOT of set up in this book for the rest of the books in the series because there were also some plotlines that were started and never finished (DND, Vortex, actually doing any mining).

I know this review seems nitpicky, especially for a four-star review, but overall, this was a book that I really enjoyed and now I am already ready for the next book.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 26th, 2014

Rain Shadow #4, Ghosthunters #12

Follows Hot Zone

Followed by Illusion Town

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Would you like to be stuck in a time loop? Davi sure isn't enjoying hers. She's on round 300-somethinig (is she keeping count correctly? Who can tell?) Davi hasn't been killed by the Dark Lord or their minions on every round of her life but it's been more often than not. So her question becomes, does she keep getting killed or does she become the killer?
I had a hard time connecting with Davi. Yes, there was some language. Yes, there was some sex. Yes, there is a surprising amount of pop culture for a woman stuck in a time loop. All are parts of this story that pointed at this being a catnip book for me. But. There just wasn't much character development for her. The sex is overused. The violence is overused. The footnotes were interesting but became annoying. I found myself skimming just to get to the end.

Three stars

This book comes out May 21, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Orbit Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Sunshine State by D.P. Lyle

Billy Wayne Baker, admitted serial killer, has contacted Jake and Nicole. Sure, he's killed some people; but he's offended. He's only admitted to five but has been convicted of killing seven. He wants them to figure out which two are the ones he didn't kill. But he's not going to tell them which ones.

So, with the help of Pancake and Ray, they are going to head to Pine Key. They are going in under the guise of seeing whether the story of the murders there would make a good movie. Luckily, Nicole's Uncle Charles is a major producer and is willing to go in on the plan.

At first, the solution seems obvious, but as they dig, some town secrets will be uncovered. It's a good thing both Jake and Nicole have been taking Krav Maga.

Three stars
This book came out May 21, 2019

Jake Longly #3

Follows A-List

Followed by The OC

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Lights, Camera, Bones by Carolyn Haines

There's a movie production in town and everyone is atwitter. Famous actor Marlon Brandon is doing a film about his family who have been movers and shakers in Greenville for a very long time but this film focuses on the flood of 1927. But, this being Greenville, there's something going on. A gaffer, Jules is missing. And there are people in town who aren't happy that this movie is being made. 

When Marlon goes missing, there are any number motives that come out of the woodwork though most seem to center around the past. So who is behind the murder and the disappearance?
The Sarah Both Delaney stories are often a little out there (I mean, there's a ghost in every story) but this story includes a shark. Yes, in freshwater. I get that this is a thing that can happen but... it was set up as a major part of the story. 

Three stars

Sarah Booth Delaney #27

This book comes out May 21, 2024

Follows Tell-Tale Bones

Followed by Blue Christmas Bones 

ARC kindly provided by Minotaur Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann

Lucky Hart is auditioning to be on a reality show. But not just any reality show, one that involves a haunted house. See, she has powers and thinks that she may be able to connect to the house. If chosen, she'll become the caretaker of Hennessee House. 

Through her explorations, there's also the people she meets along the way including a man named Maverick and his daughter, Rebel.

The first two-thirds of this book were really great. I enjoyed the character building and the world building. We get to see some characters that really communicate with each other. However, then there's too much going on and Lucky and Maverick stop talking for... reasons (?) in the third act and the whole story just sort of fell apart from there. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 21, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Last to Pie by Misha Popp

I'm still rather bemused by this series. The characters are well-developed, the premise is interesting (murder by magic pies... cool). The plots are not always coherent and heavy topics are sometimes explained oddly. I think regular readers won't find this book to be very different from the first two.

Daisy is up against a crooked cop in this book. He is beating his wife and she needs help. But it's not just one cop and, in the end, Daisy and Melly may be fighting for their own lives in addition to the client's. 

Three stars

This book comes out May 21, 2024

Follows A Good Day to Pie

ARC provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma

Have we read books before where the two best friends of the hero/heroine from the first book fall in love? Why, yes, yes we have. But have they perfectly played off the repartee of Beatrice and Benedick? Maybe. But I haven't read them. Highly enjoyable book although I thought the B-plot was a bit rough and really could have been left out.
Bobbi and Bunty have been thrown together for some wedding planning. He became her number one enemy when he, well-known chef, turned her down in for catering a wedding. She lost a lucrative contract and her uncle lost confidence in her. Now the man that raised her seems like he is pulling her dream further and further out of reach.
Bunty is trying to juggle the life he wants with the expectations of his family. While he is still in food, his father is trying to woo him back to the family business, frozen naan. To add to the complications, it is on the West Coast while his friends, and Bobbi, are on the East Coast. What is going to be more important in the end?

Three and a half stars

If Shakespeare Was an Auntie #2

This book came out August 1, 2023

Follows Dating Dr. Dil

Followed by Marriage & Masti

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Castleton Affair by Benedict Brown

Marius and Bella have a mysterious visitor one day. He's from the government and he needs their help to retrieve an agent who has been taken. They are eager to jump on (at least Bella is) and they follow a series of clues to rescue Earnest Castleton. But that's only the beginning of the story.

Suddenly, they are swept up into government secrets, spies and lies. In addition, Marius has to pretend to be Gilbert (Bella's fiance who he doesn't like) in order to attend a house party. That's where all sorts of things are going down, including murder. 

I would definitely have read the other two books in this series before this one. An enjoyable read but it didn't quite all fit together for me.  

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 15, 2024

A Marius Quin Mystery #3

Follows The Hurtwood Village Murder

Followed by A Body at the Grand Hotel

ARC kindly provided by Storm Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse C.J. Archer

A famous actress is dead. But was it by her own hand? Or was there something more sinister at play? 

Cleo made a little bit of a name for herself solving the murder of a man in her uncle's hotel. Because of that, the actress's lover asks her to look into the death. We get to see more of the people who work at the hotel, including Cleo's maid Harmony and the others who help her in her inquiries. We also see a bit of Mr. Armitage, although, he mostly refuses to join Cleo so there's not much of him. 

Cleo seems determined to get her name next to his on his detective business though. She sort of blunders her way around and there was at least one informant that there is some foreshadowing around, that he may not be innocuous and seems to have settled his focus on Cleo. 

Three stars

This book came out May 31, 2021

Cleo Fox #2

Follows Murder at the Mayfair Hotel

Followed by Murder in the Drawing Room

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

You May Now Kill the Bride by Kate Weston

Five friends have been tight since they were girls. Now, one of them is getting married. Technically, two of them are but this book focuses on the first wedding, Tansy's. Mainly because the hen party is about to go off the rails. 

It starts off bad enough that Tansy has a new influencer, ahem, "content creator" friend. Plus, she's gone all vegan in the last few years so her bachelorette is at a retreat that has no alcohol, no sugars, and nothing that makes a party fun. Plus, the five friends all have secrets including one big one. Tansy is particularly stressed because she is being blackmailed. She's not sure why. Or, to be more specific, she's not sure which one of her secrets is going to be exposed. Of course, it could be worse. She could be dead. And that's exactly what happens. But she's not the last to die...

There were so many arch comments that were dropped at the end of chapters. I felt like I was reading a serial radio show... but find out what happens in the next chapter! This was definitely fairly clued and the end was a bit over the top but a good story. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 14, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Old Girls Behaving Badly by Kate Galley

Told in alternating viewpoints by Gina and Dorothy, we get to see these two women becoming friends. Gina is seventy-one and has just been told by her husband that he no longer wants to be married. No real reason other than the fact that he's bored with his life and thinks she's boring as well. So, while she's trying to figure out what her next steps are (with little help from her daughter who seems to blame Gina though her son is somewhat more sympathetic,) she sees an ad for a companion. 

Dorothy's granddaughter is getting married and, though she is generally just fine on her own, her family want someone to keep an eye on her; she just had a fall and she is older. 

Dorothy does her best to run off all of the potential caregivers but she clicks with Gina. But she doesn't want Gina as just a companion, she wants help getting back a painting that was stolen from her husband. The person who she believes took the painting is the same person hosting the wedding at his estate, Leonard. So the opportunity has presented itself. 

But there may be more than just a stolen painting that Leonard has that includes shady dealings. And it's those dealings that may be leading to the many "accidents" happening to Leonard. Before the book is over, will there also be someone dead?

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 23, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Boldwood Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Death Comes to the Rectory by Catherine Lloyd

Sir Robert Kurland is somewhat astonished to hear that his aunt is pregnant. She's not exactly old but she has a grown child, Henrietta. True, Henrietta isn't very pleasant and her husband, Basil, is even worse. And, since she's married to his wife Lucy's father, it's not as though he wanted to think of them like... that. It's just unfortunate that Basil and Henrietta have decided to visit right as that announcement is made. And it's while any number of other family members are visiting for the baptism of Lucy and Robert's younger child. 

It's the odious Basil who ends up dead in the rectory study. Henrietta is quick to blame Lucy's father. Is it because she believes her accusation or because she knows that her mother has signed a will making the reverend her new beneficiary. 

There are any number of suspects as Northam was not only a blackmailer, he put together a Ponzi scheme that ruined any number of people who are in the immediate area.

As is usual in this series, there is a very convoluted ending but overall an enjoyable listen.

Three and a half stars

This book came out 

Kurland St. Mary Mystery #8

Follows Death Comes to the Nursery

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla
Opinions are my own

Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by C.J. Archer

Cleopatra "Cleo" Fox has been told her whole life that her mother's family was wealthy but that they had cut her and Cleo's father off from any of their wealth. But now her father's family is completely gone and she's been invited to live with her aunt and uncle, the Bainbridges, in her uncle's ancestral home which has been transformed into a hotel. She finds that the past might not be interpreted in the same way by her uncle and that the family is more welcoming than she expected. But all is not right at the hotel and a guest is murdered. Cleo, wanting to be helpful, immediately leaps in and tries to help. She doesn't wish to marry, nor does she want to live off her family's largesse so she is trying to learn skills to be able to support herself. Unfortunately, not everything she does in the course of the investigation helps everyone involved.

A little slow in places, I'm willing to give the series another shot at some point because it was a good mystery.

Three stars

This book came out December 1, 2020

Cleopatra Fox #1

Followed by Murder at the Piccadilly Playhouse

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Death Comes to the Nursery by Catherine Lloyd

Finally, Lady Lucy and Sir Robert Kurland have their longed-for child. And he's about to have a sibling. Agnes is going to need some help in the nursery. She recommends her cousin, Polly. But, when she arrives, Polly is unexpectedly attractive. And there are soon fights over who will get to go walking with her. Unfortunately, that only leaves more suspects when Polly is found dead. And solving this murder becomes only more tangled when they discover that Polly... isn't actually Polly. So who was she? And how did she get into their house?
The ending on this one was a little convoluted but most of the story was very enjoyable and there are even some breadcrumbs set up for the next book in the series. 

Three and a half stars

Kurland St. Mary Mystery #7

This book came out January 28, 2020

Follows Death Comes to Bath

Followed by Death Comes to the Rectory

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own 

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

Told mainly from the point of view of the heroine, this book explores a fake dating situation that, of course, turns into a full blown relationship by the end of the book. 
Writer and barista Emily Hung has a mother who is full bore into matchmaking. Emily is the second of five girls and her youngest sister just got married leaving her as the only single child. Add in the fact that she's working in the arts and she just feels like her mother doesn't approve of Emily's lifestyle. Enter, Mark Chung. The son of Emily's mother's friend, he is held up as a paragon. And at her sister's wedding, Emily is forced to spend time with the man. Mark, spends most of that time on his phone. Obviously, he isn't very interested either. But, to get her mother off their backs, they decide to fake date. This gets very involved with cake decorating dates and meeting to sync their stories.
It is during these meetings that Emily starts to notice that Mark may be different than she originally assumed. Not quite as lofty and maybe, just maybe, he is interested in her too.
I wish we had gotten more time with Mark. I think we were almost three quarters of the way through the book when we switch to his perspective. Because we saw so much from Emily's side, I was left feeling that there was more to explore from him. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out April 7, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder at Tanton Towers A by Amy Myers

There's a body at the Towers. Cara Shelley was just thinking about how much she enjoyed working at the Tanton Towers having opened a cafe there and now, one of the people that she calls a friend (well, at least she didn't hate Daphne) is dead. And worse, the DCI who's investigating the case, Andrew Mitchem, is the same man who argued with her on whether she is baking her huffkins the "correct" way. There is no way to trust this man to find the murderer. He's obviously deranged. Especially when he settles on Daphne's husband, Mike, as the main suspect.

Cara goes looking on her own to figure out what is going on. Though we mainly see her point of view in the third person omniscient, we see the points of view of many of the other characters as major clues turn up. I did not figure out who the killer was and I'm not upset about that. It did take me awhile to get into this story. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have kept going except that this was an ARC. It took almost half the story for Clara to come into focus as a character and there is still a lot about her that could have been added to make her more interesting. 

British Stately Home Mystery #1

Three stars

This book comes out May 7, 2024

ARC kindly provided by Severn House and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

People in Glass Houses by Jayne Castle

Molly Griffin is a crystal tuner and the biggest job of her career is jeopardized when a man is found dead in her shop. It's not like her life isn't complicated enough. Her sister was part of the Hollister Expedition, the one that was lost in the underground Glass House sector three weeks ago. But her mothers finally found the one person who made it out alive, Joshua Knight. 

His psi vision burned out after the expedition, Joshua doesn't have any memories from that night. He's recently escaped from a psychiatric institute and is living in a house of mirrors; one so spooky the town gifted it to him at no cost. He's startled to see Molly show up on his doorstep but he can't turn her away as the local fog is getting too intense. That night starts their relationship as Molly ignores one of Joshua's rules but then saves him. 

The story is a little disjointed but I think regular Ghost Hunters readers will enjoy it.  

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 7, 2024

Follows Sweetwater & the Witch

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Unicorn Crush by Dana Simpson

Dakota is feeling the brunt of not being popular so she turns to Phoebe for help. Of course, it doesn't last long. Though they are moving ever closer to being... friends. And we also see her with Sam, the older girl she wants to be friends with. 

It turns out Marigold is in therapy, with Tod of all people. We get a lot of discussion in "Rar" (which is nice that Marigold gets her privacy. Then, when Marigold is ready to spend more time with Phoebe, we get to read about Phoebe's comic strip. 

New character Sparkleface McGee makes an appearance. It is a being of pure energy. And we see Marigold talking in another new language. 

Infernus the Unicorn of Death also stops in. 

Five stars

This book comes out May 7, 2024

Phoebe and Her Unicorn #19

Follows Unicorn for a Day

ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

A Most Murderous Wedding by Bianca Blythe

Ruby Irving is all set to marry the man she... well, likes well enough. But, at the altar, he decides that he doesn't want to marry a tycoon's daughter. Maybe it's because she's from Nevada? Her father is livid and threatens to kill the groom. Of course, when he ends up dead, her father is the main suspect. But Ruby believes in her father. He's not a murderer. And she's going to prove it.
I liked her character. The story was not quite as cohesive, it was, in fact, a little disjointed and the ending came out of nowhere but I am interested in reading the next book in the series to see if it smooths out. 

Three stars

This book came out January 30, 2024

Murder Most Gilded Age #1

ARC kindly provided by Somerset Park Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Only Beloved by Mary Balogh

A nice ending to a wonderful series.

We've met both George, the Duke of Stanbrook, and Dora Debbins, spinster music teacher, in the previous Survivors' Club books. George is the older duke who had lost his son in the war and then created a hospital where many of the worst cases from the war were sent; those with both mental and physical ailments. 

Dora had once thought that she would marry and have a family. But the year of her come out, her father caused a scandal that ended in her parents' divorce. So Dora stayed home and helped to raise her sister Agnes. Agnes married once, was widowed, and then married one of the Survivors, Flavian, in Only Enchanting. In the meantime, Dora has been teaching music in a small town. It's a cozy life that leaves her mostly content. Until the day, over a year after she met him, the duke comes to propose marriage.

George has watched his six friends get married. And he doesn't begrudge them that. Even though his own marriage wasn't good and it ended when his wife committed suicide. But now he's realizing that he is lonely. He's not interested in the very young women that society would believe him to pick for his wife. And whenever he imagines the rest of his life, he sees Dora in his mind. And, yes, she's old (at 39) but he doesn't need an heir, his nephew Julian is good enough. So, the duke goes to propose.

They both go into the marriage with open eyes, knowing that contentment is the goal. But perhaps, there may be just a little more...

Four stars

This book came out May 3, 2016

Survivors' Club #7

Follows Only a Kiss

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own