One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

Julie Parker is looking forward to a chill Christmas. Her grown children are doing their own thing so she's just going to spend the day with her boyfriend. Her twelve-years-younger than her boyfriend. The one her children don't... technically... know about. Then, plans change. And change again. And change again. Julie, her children, her boyfriend, and their partners all have to be flexible. 

Mainly told from Julie's third person point of view, this is a holiday story like most, there's a lot going on so nothing is really developed.

Three stars

This book came out October 1, 2024

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Grumpiest Billionaire by Pippa Grant

Oliver is trying to run away from his life. He's a billionaire so it should all be sunshine and roses, but he's tired of the responsibility, of the weight of bringing his family's company back from the brink of disaster. He wants to live like a normal person. Unfortunately, he has a stowaway in the back of his car. 

Daphne knows how Olivere feels. She rejected her own family's wealth and has figured out a way to live her life without being under their thumb. But it took her a long time to figure out how to do that. So she's been exactly where Oliver was, not really understanding how the real world works (he gets confused every time someone tests the hundred dollar bills he's throwing around.) Daphne was just trying to make sure he wasn't getting back with her sister, but now she's got a new mission; help Oliver learn how to make it through life on on his own. 

Three and a half stars

Small Town Sisterhood #1

This book came out January 8, 2026

Follows The Spite Date

Followed by Faking Cinderella

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own

The Spite Date by Pippa Grant

After their parents died in a fire, Bea raised her three brothers. It wasn't easy since teenage boys are  going to teenage boy. But she's gotten the last one launched and would be focusing on her own dream (well, her father's) if her ex-boyfriend hadn't stolen it from her. And to make things worse, his brother has just arrested her because of a prank. And not even a prank she pulled! One that was pulled on her. Someone ordered a LOT of fish from her food truck (which is usually hamburgers), and then invited her to Simon Lockwood's house. Yes, the super-famous Simon Lockwood who wrote and acted on the television series about weed.

Simon is despairing. He's not sure what to do with his twin teen boys. He grew up with absent, disapproving parents and doesn't want to do the same with his kids. Their mother and he never got married but they are great co-parents. 

It's a convoluted and over-the-top story which is what Grant does best. 

Four stars

Small Town Sisterhood #1

This book came out September 4, 2025

Followed by The Grumpiest Billionaire

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own

Vision in White by Nora Roberts

Mac has known she wanted to be a photographer since she was a little girl playing Wedding Day with her three best friends. One day, while changing her shirt, she runs into Carter Maguire, or, he sees her and then runs into a wall. Though he's clutzy, Mac is immediately attracted to this man who was a Yale professor but gave it up to come back and teach at his high school academy. Carter was just at Mac's studio because his sister is getting married at Vows, the wedding service that Mac opened up with her friends.
He's able to get past her defenses, past her distrust of men and relationships in general. Her mother is a complete bitch and a thorn in Mac's side which Carter is able to help her deal with.

Four stars

Bride Quartet #1

This book came out April 28, 2009

Followed by Bed of Roses

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Murder Wore a Mask; Deadly Cargo; Danger in the Air by by Neil Richards, Matthew Costello, Nathaniel Parker (Narrator)

Follows books 1, 2, 3

Murder Wore a Mask

Aunt Lavinia is throwing a fancy dress ball. Kat and Harry are attending and having fun, but notice that that is not true for everyone. One of the people, Carmody, who was having a hard time (arguing with others) is found dead by the lake. His partner is convinced it is no accident and asks Aunt Lavinia for help.

The suspects include an MP, Palmer, a singer and her fading-star-actor husband, an illegitimate son posing as a footman.

Three stars

Mydworth Mysteries #4

This book came out May 25, 2020

Audible book of mine

Deadly Cargo

We open with the point of view of a lorry driver. He is delivering a dozen radio-phonographs from the Excelsior Radio Company, arguably some of the best radios currently being made in England. The problem is that someone is getting ahold of the delivery routes. Why? To do what exactly happens to this driver, to hold them up and take away their inventory. The problem is that this is the second time it's happened to this particular driver. Luckily, his wife appeals to Kat and Harry for help. 

There was a LOT going on in this little book. Fast, fun, and fluffy if you need a quick read. 

Three stars

Mydworth Mysteries #5

This book came out December 2, 2020

Audible book of mine

Murder, Mess, and the Tangerine Dress by Lynn Rankin-Esquer

This book reminds me of the Stephanie Plum series. The main character, Izzy Bishop, is a chatoic mess, getting food on her clothse and feeding one of her clients a weed cookie. She even has a best friend who is somehow even brasher than her and trying to lose weight. But Izzy has something that Stephanie doesn't - extrasensory powers. They grew after she had a near-death experience in the previous year. That is the the experience that threw off her plan to open an organizing business with her sister so now, rather than being a true partner, Izzy is actually working for her sister. Her younger sister. Her younger  sister who clearly doesn't trust her. Which, to be fair, Izzy is on the manic pixie dream girl end of the spectrum so she tends to have a dirty car and stained clothes (no shame, just not her sister is expecting.)

So, Izzy is late to her appointment for an older widow who is cleaning out her closet. While there, a death occurs and Izzy and the woman nearly die as well. The only reason that they're saved is the woman's dead husband tells Izzy that they need to leave. 

An interesting story that I mainly read because I had also gotten the second book and didn't realize it wasn't the first in a series and I really like to start with the first book in a series. 

Three stars

Order Out of Chaos Mystery, #1

This book came out February 2, 2025

Followed by Murder, Hijinks, and Peridot Cufflinks

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Pretend Fiancé Fiasco by Pippa Grant

Davis Remington is the last member of a former boy band group who isn't in a relationship or married. He was the one who broke up the band (at least in his mind) lo, those many years ago. Now, he does computer stuff. His friends and family are convinced that he is involved in the government somehow but he denies it. It's sort of a plot point but there are a lot of plot points. 
Sloane Pearce is a nurse but she is also a volunteer in the Shipwreck Museum. There's a lot going on since she is helping with a celebrity wedding the same day that her sort-of-ex shows up in town wanting to drag her back and someone breaks into the museum. The ex is there because Sloane told her grandmother that she was dating Davis. When she tells Davis, he's like, okay, let's get married. Because he's done this fake wedding thing before. Multiple times. 
So, lots and lots going on this book. The treasure aspect (oh yeah, there's buried treasure and Davis and a few other people are racing to figure out where it is) is most of the story rather than Sloane and Davis. Also, for a character who is called "Manbun," the guy on the cover sure has short hair. 

Three stars

Bro Code #6

This book came out May 8, 2025

Follows Snowed in with Mr. Heartbreaker

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Guilty by Definition by Susie Dent

10 years ago, Martha's sister disappeared. Today, postcards are arriving at the Clarendon English Dictionary office where Martha now works. The postcards hint at the true series of events that happened. Some of Martha's coworkers today were Charlotte's coworkers then, so there are plenty of suspects, especially when previously held secrets start coming to light. 

I heard about this on NPR's A Way with Words and they were enjoying the wordplay. Knowing of Susie Dent from various game shows, I expected no different. I didn't think there was a lot of plot because there was so much built up around the characters. I also felt vaguely like I had read so many similar books but couldn't really pinpoint one. However, the word use exceeded my expectations. 

Three and a half stars

The Clarendon Lexicographers #1

This book came out August 13, 2024

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Murder, Hijinks, and the Peridot Cufflinks by Lynn Rankin-Esquer

A year ago, Izzy Bishop had a near-death experience that super charged her already average sense of others. In the last book, she finally accepted that she might have some psychic abilities. Now, she's fully embraced the idea but is trying to figure out how to wield it well. Her first sense  of the book almost breaks a couple up. Then she senses something mysterious about one of the organizing client's significant other. This particular client was a sports star who has a LOT of money. When she touches a pair of cufflinks in his closet, she gets a vision of violent death. The person who died? Her archenemy Shania's elderly husband. Ufda. Is Izzy somehow going to be accused of his murder? Yes. Is she going to get another love interest thus cementing my feelings about how similar this series is to reading Stephanie Plum? Yes. Did I still finish the book? Yes.  

Three stars

Order Out of Chaos #2

Follows Murder, Mess, and the Tangerine Dress

ARC kindly provided as ebook by XandL Press and Netgalley

Opinions are my own

The Shop on Hidden Lane by Jayne Ann Krentz

There has been a Harper-Wells feud for generations. Krentz tells us that quite a bit in this book. But that feud seems to have been broken by Sophy's aunt, Bea, and Luke Well's uncle, Deke. And the two have discovered that because Bea and Deke have disappeared.

Luke is in line to inherit his family's company specifically because he has no psychic talent. At least, that's what everyone thinks. However, he is unusually good at pulling data together and coming to conclusions. Most often, this happens when he dreams. He's come to the conclusion that he needs help because he needs someone who can read crime scenes.

Bea is a librarian. She also reads crime scenes and can clear bad energy from a space. In the recent past, she's also had a series of failed experiments, men who have seen her work and then run away. One even called her a succubus.

Of course, these two are going to fit together and they'll figure that out in the three days this book covers. If you enjoy Krentz, I think you'll like this book. 

Four stars

This book comes out January 6, 2026

Loosely connected to the Fogg Lake books
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

It's Jane and Dan's nineteenth anniversary (he seems to think it's their twentieth.) Dan won a reservation to a very exclusive restaurant that were for that same night so they are off to have an adventure. Well, sort of. This is the night that Jane is going to tell Dan that she wants a divorce. Except that, right after they are let in to the restaurant with the world's most expensive dessert, the restaurant is invaded by a group of masked gunpeople. They are after a specific patron, one who is not there yet. 

As the night unfolds, both Jane and Dan will have to confront some home truths about themselves, about their family, and about the beliefs they have about the lives they are living. And also, why this all seems to be unfolding like the book Jane wrote six years ago that only three hundred people have read. 

An interesting book with a fun twist although the end stretched my belief suspension just a little too much, but overall enjoyable.

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 11, 2025

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Double Fudge by Judy Blume

There are two Farley Drexel Hatchers? That's what Pete and his family discover on a trip to Washington, D. C. There, Pete's father rediscovers his cousin, Howie. Howie also has two girls, Flora and Fauna, who are about Pete's age in addition to the Farley who is a couple years younger than the Fudge we've grown to know and love. 

We also get to see past series favorites like Sheila Tubman and Jimmy Fargo, the latter of whom is moving out of the neighborhood with his father which upends Pete's world to no end.

Everything is changing but many things stay the same. A little more out there than some of the books in this series but still enjoyable. 

Four stars

Fudge #5

This book came out September 30, 2002

Follows Fudge-a-Mania

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own