Love Sucks by Cynthia St. Aubin

Hannalore "Hanna" Harvey is still reeling from the news she found out in the first book (I highly recommend reading that book before this one.) She's not sure she wants to make any big choices at this point in her life but that doesn't sit well with her boss and love interest Mark Abernathy. In fact, he decides to make himself scarce for a good portion of the book leaving Hanna with some quirky characters including some names that almost every reader will know. She is suddenly also besieged by suitors, most of whom she doesn't really want.
A light, fun read. Hanna does have some feelings (and interactions) with the man who is being built up to be the overall hero of the series so if that gives you feelings of squick, this may not be the series for you. A little crazy, lots of mythical creatures, perfect reading for when you need a book just to pick up and plow through.

Three and a half stars
Follows Love Bites
Followed by Love Lies
This book came out May 19th, 2020
Ebook from Kindle
Opinions are my own

Love Bites by Cynthia St. Aubin

Sometimes you have to stretch the truth just a little. Sometimes you feel like you have to stretch the truth a whole lot which is what happens when Hannalore "Hanna" Harvey does with her resume in order to land a job as an assistant in a... well, it seems like a cross between an art store and a curiosity shop. But all is not as it seems. There are artists that live on-site and some interesting... quirks... about her new boss, Mark Abernathy. Inspector Morrison of the local police is trying to make Hanna believe that Abernathy is a killer. And Hanna is beginning to believe that all the clues are adding up to prove just that. 

This book is nuts. There are some weird plot points and obvious plot holes and just some things that make no sense but I overall loved the book, stayed up WAY too late reading it and ordered the second book the next day.

Four stars

Followed by Love Sucks

This book came out November 4th, 2019

Ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own

Nobody But You by Jill Shalvis

Damn it Jill Shalvis. Another book that I loved so much I read it too darn fast. And even a day later, thinking about the things I didn't like, this book still gives me warm fuzzies.
Sophie Marren knows she isn't perfect. And she's too impulsive. Why else would she have asked for her husband's boat in the divorce proceedings rather than some money. Or her car. Or something that didn't make her seasick. And it's just her luck not to have thought about the fact that she'd need both day and night permits on this darn lake. Oh. And that a sexy ranger seems to have stumbled upon her latest "secret spot."
Readers will probably know Jacob Kincaid as the absent brother from the first two books in the series. He ran away from the family, including his own twin brother, when he was eighteen and hasn't really checked in since. But now his best friend from the army is dead and he needs to be home. Even if that means going back to Cedar Ridge without really letting his family know. Thank goodness there's a spunky redhead out on his boat dock, distracting him.
The first 3/4 of the book were a definite four-and-a-half-stars for me. Then came the last Big Misunderstanding. And it wasn't really as dramatic as your regular BM, but for these characters, it seemed out of proportion to how they had been set up in the rest of the book. A discordant note that threw me off for the rest of the book. Especially since it seemed like it was such a Big Deal but was resolved super-quickly.
And I really didn't like the epilogue for a couple of reasons but mainly because it makes me suspect we're not going to get Kenna's story. What's going on between her and Mitch? What gets her from grumpy ex-ski star to happy in love?

This book comes out March 29, 2016

Follows: My Kind of Wonderful

The Friends We Keep by Susan Mallery

THESE books are the reasons I keep reading Susan Mallery. The Fool's Gold series is okay in my opinion but it's the books outside of that series that I want to read as soon as possible.
While we get Nicole from The Girls of Mischief Bay, there isn't really anyone else from that series (blissful!) Instead, while Nicole is exploring dating after being divorced, we also learn more about Gabby Schaefer, a stay-at-home mom who has less than 60 days until she gets to go back to work, and Hayley Batchelor who desperately wants a child but is aware that another pregnancy might kill her.
While the Fool's Gold series is a little lighter, these other books are more along the lines of Kristan Higgins' non-series books having all the feels. Gabby's stepdaughter is petulant and a bit spoiled and.. well, there's more there. Hayley's husband isn't happy that she's sacrificing so much to have a child, even to the extant of threatening her own life. And Nicole isn't sure that she's ready to risk her heart again, even for an attractive children's book author.
Some of the stories were a little too broad, but that was minor in a very good book.

Followed by A Million Little Things

The Scam by Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg

Evanovich and Goldberg are really hitting their stride in this book. I tore through every chapter enjoying almost every moment. The absolute craziness of the series all comes together in this story. I liked this one even better than The Chase. Would this be a good stand-alone? I don't know. I feel like the build up of the first three books is nice to have so that you can understand exactly how the utter zaniness of this book (using modified land mines to deter coyotes, Kate's dad taking on a member of the Yakuza, bringing in a driver whose last misdeed was to steal a tour bus... with the tourists on it) is central to the series.
I am also really enjoying the interplay between Kate and Nick. With some series, it's just like "Get ON with it already already!" but I tend to feel that more keenly with love triangles (I'm looking at you, Joanne Fluke). Evanovich and Goldberg have created (probably more the former, based on her other books) a great repartee between the two where the sexual tension is at a nice simmer.
This time, Kate (FBI agent) and Nick (sorta-not-really-reformed criminal) are after a casino magnate who is laundering dirty money for some really bad dudes. It's up to them to infiltrate the casino and bring the bad dudes to justice. AND doing it while meting out justice for a friend of Kate's dad and even managing to have some fun.

Four and a half stars

This book comes out September 15, 2015

Follows The Job

Followed by The Pursuit

Ebook from Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby August 2023