A Regency Christmas by Leslie Lynn, Joan Smith, Barbara Metzger, Jennie Gallant

Greetings of the Season by Barbara Metzger

The Earl of Montraven fires his secretary when he discovers the man has been sleeping with the earl's mistress. As a last act, the secretary decides to mix up the cards going with the gifts to the earl's all-but-engaged-fiancée, the mistress he's dismissing, the woman he had hoped to replace her with, his mother,  his sister, and their companion. Of course, this leads to him discovering that the woman he should marry may have been under his nose all along.

Home for Christmas by Jennie Gallant

This short story is actually quite bemusing. A young woman, Elizabeth, is being pushed to marry an older, disreputable man, Baron Rathborne. He has sent her a necklace as a betrothal gift that is later stolen from her. Luckily, Lord Wyckholme is there to help her get out of that engagement and right into another. 

I originally read this book around the time it came out and her uncle infuriated me then... he still infuriates me now. I mean, I try to think the best of people but this man goes into willfully naive

Love a La Carte by Joan Smith

Cybele has put all of her money into a new restaurant, but it has been roundly panned by food critic, Monsieur Bongout. She is desperately trying to save her investment but is also trying to avoid the attentions of the man she may actually love, Lord Sinden. 

The Christmas Ball by Leslie Lynn

Persephone may not have the use of her legs but she has a bright mind. She knows that her sister Athena deserves love. It is Persephone who encourages Athena to attend a masked ball. And it is there that Lord Andrew Finchley falls in love with a mysterious woman.

Are these the best stories ever? Maybe not. And I may view them with a lot of nostalgia but they are quiet romances that hit a very sweet spot.

Four stars

This book came out October 1, 1994

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Ghost Hunter by Jayne Castle

When Elly found out that Boone Cooper was only engaged to her because it was good for the Guild (of which he is the Aurora Springs boss), she broke off their engagement and fled her small town for the big city. When she calls him, he's quietly sure that she's ready to come back to him. It comes as a big shock when she asks for help finding a lost friend. It's even more shocking that finding her friend pulls them into a drug ring conspiracy and hunting down a man determined to kill Boone.
Decent story in the Harmony series though not one of my faves.

Ghost Hunters #3

Three stars

This book came out May 28, 2006

Follows After Glow

Followed by Silver Master

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

After Glow by Jayne Castle

Lydia Smith is having issues. Her love life is a little uncertain (she loves Emmett but isn't sure of his feelings), her job isn't her favorite (but Shrimpton's House of Horrors is beginning to grow on her), and now she's found another body. This time it looks like an overdose. But why did Professor Maltby call her? And what the heck is going on with Emmett?

Ghost Hunters #2

Four stars

This book came out February 24, 2004

Follows After Dark

Followed by Ghost Hunter

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

After Dark by Jayne Castle

Lydia Smith experienced a "Lost Weekend" wherein two of the Hunters she was underground with claim she went rogue and ran away. She can't dispute the claim since she can't remember exactly what happened. But she's too cautious to have ever done something as stupid as run away from the men who were supposed to be protecting her. After the incident, she lost her university job and is now working at Shrimpton's museum of horrors. And she's just discovered a body. One that's not supposed to be there. The body of a man who was a ruin rat and sort of a friend. Whatever will the first client of her fledgling antiques-finding business think?

Emmett London is hard to disconcert. After all, he was the Guild Boss of a neighboring city and managed to completely overhaul that group's reputation into being something less than hired thugs and more like any other large business. Of course he hasn't told Lydia that he's a hunter. He's read her file and knows that she blames hunters in general for her lost weekend. Emmett just wants help finding an curio cabinet his family brought from Earth when they came through the Curtain and he thinks she might know some of the... less savory places to look.

Despite their total differences, Lydia and Emmett manage to not only find the curio cabinet, but in the process they take down a group working illegally in the tunnels, and rescue Emmett's nephew as well.

Ghost Hunters #1

Four stars

This book came out January 1, 2000

Followed by After Glow

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Belong to the Night by Shelly Laurenston, Sherrill Quinn, Cynthia Eden

"The Wolf, The Witch, and Her Lack of Wardrobe" takes place ten months after the first story in this series. I am sorry that the series hasn't been finished yet because it is an interesting overlap of the Smith Pack with some witches.
In this town, Tully Smith is the mayor. He's laid back, takes care of his people, and walks everywhere so that he can be available to his townspeople. But he will work hard if they need protection. And Jamie Meacham, the lead of the witches is bringing trouble to his doorstep. She's been called to be a warrior for a god and that is bringing all sorts of odd creatures into town. Creatures that can be driven out by sex magic. Too bad that won't work on his father. 
Not full developed but, to be fair, it is a short story. 

Long Island Coven #2

Three stars

Follows My Kind of Town

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

I had had this book recommended to me in a couple of different ways and had one copy which I gave away and then another that sat on my TBR for a few years. Finally, I picked it up and realized why people were recommending this book. It did take awhile because this book was more memoir than I realized and I thought it was more about business. It does get there but it is woven in. What finally hooked me was a quote on page 65, "Service is a monologue... Hospitality is a dialogue." 

Meyer gives some other great ideas like looking for an employee that is a 51 percenter - someone whose skills re 51% emotional hospitality and 49% technical excellence. These people have five core skills that he divides out as optimistic warmth, a thirst for learning, a natural tendency to work as well as it can be done, a connection to how other people feel, and an understanding of what makes people tick. On that last one he also tacks on a natural inclination to do the right thing. 

Meyer talks about the the many people who have helped him develop his restaurants as well as his philosophy. One bit that he took from a mentor, Erika Andersen, is that people would far rather be heard than agreed with.

There is a lovely section on traits that his team looked for when hiring managers. There are nine in total and I think I'm going to be trying to hit at least one of these every week until the rest of the year:  infectious attitude, self-awareness, charitable assumption (assume the best), long-term view of success, sense of abundance, trust, approving patience and tough love, not feeling threatened by others, and character. 

The last thing that really resonated with me were the five As for effectively addressing mistakes. I've seen them in various aspects but not necessarily all in one place. He talks about awareness (knowing that the mistake happened), acknowledgement (letting people know that you have had mistakes), apology (in the AHLEI GSG, this is 'Recovery'), action (fixing it if possible; letting people know what you are doing), and additional generosity (extra action if people have been good sports).

Four stars

This book came out October 1, 2006

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Montana Sky by Nora Roberts

Willa Mercy didn't grow up with her two half sisters but now they're all together for their father's funeral. She's the only one who grew up on the ranch so she's astonished to learn that the ranch has been left to all of them equally as long as they all stay for a year. None of them are excited about that thought.

Tess is a Hollywood screenwriter so she is, of course, not excited to stay. But the family lawyer, Nate Torrence, a long drink of water, is making her rethink that stance.

Third sister, Lily, is glad to be at the ranch for the year as she is running from her abusive ex-husband. She's finding herself falling in love with Willa's (maternal) half brother, Adam.

I did read this book when it came out but think it held up fairly well. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out March 12, 1996

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

The Love Match by Catherine Fellows

Sara Heywood didn't expect to become an heiress to a large and rambling manor. She just wanted a legacy that would allow her to live in a small village, far away from the damp country she's grown up in. Instead, she is given the house, as long as she lives in it, until she marries. No one else in her family will receive their inheritance either. Her great aunt points out that she could solve everyone's problems by marrying one of her three cousins. It's probable that they (or Sara's brother) might try to knock her off instead as Sara's death would also release the manor. And there are some very suspicious things happening to Sara....
This was more a mystery than a romance (which is the reason I had it on my list in the first place) but entertaining for all of it's brevity. 

Four stars

This book came out in 1976

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Sweet Ruin by Kresley Cole

At eight, Jo was found wandering the streets with a newborn clutched in her arms. By eleven, she and her brother Thad were mostly on their own. Though there is the kindly librarian who has taken to giving them baskets of food.

One day, Jo is out righting the wrongs of her neighborhood when she gets shot in the face by the gang members she's been playing pranks on. She wakes up I floating out of the body bag at the Morgue. Jo isn't sure what she has become but she likes it. Her first goal is to get revenge and then to get back to her brother. She goes and takes the gang members that shot her out and discovers that drinking their blood makes her stronger. But when she tries to get her brother, no one recognizes who she is including her brother and she is forced to give him up. The librarian adopts Thad and Jo is able to leave him in that happy home for 10 months until his adoptive father dies.  She's about to take him back (only one parent? That's not any better than living with her) when the librarian's mother moves in and Thad once again has two parents. We next meet Jo when she's spying on Rune as he has sex with three nymphs. Rune the Insatiable has been cursed for millennia with an appetite for sex that cannot be sated. He has black blood and will poison anyone who kisses him.

When he meets Jo, Rune is instantly attracted and confused. Especially since she seems to be able to resist his legendary charm, even stealing his favorite talisman, the one that was given to him by his mother. Then he discovers the Jo was able to withstand his poisonous black blood. Could it be that even a dark fey has a mate?

Still like the world building of the immortals. Definitely going to look for more books by Kresley Cole. Wish there hadn't been quite so much repetition this book but it was overall highly enjoyable.

Four stars
This book came out in December 1, 2015

Follows Dark Skye

Followed by Shadow's Seduction

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Dark Skye by Kresley Cole

Lanthe and Thronos were children when they met and were convinced that they would be in love forever. And they were, until Thronos betrayed Lanthe's parents. Since then, his family has been torturing hers. And he just won't let her be. Even to the point of following her onto an island of torture. When they are (somewhat) freed, he immediately captures her. 

But their time together means that past lies and misunderstandings might finally come to light. It took a little bit longer than I really would have enjoyed but this is overall a nice addition to the series. 

Four stars

This book came out 

Follows MacRieve

Followed by Sweet Ruin

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

MacRieve by Kresley Cole

Chloe Todd is out there living her dream- playing soccer and getting to try out for the Olympic team. Yeah, she might be a little off lately, not eating or sleeping as much and finally getting interested in sex. And she's really thrown off by somehow being able to overhear her father's phone conversation even though she's in the middle of a packed stadium. Her life gets even worse when she's attacked by a big scary guy and then walks out of her house and falls into an abyss.

Uilleam MacRieve knows that his actions got his parents killed. He's carried that guilt with him for centuries. His life got even worse when he was captured by the Order and tortured for weeks. When he finds out the daughter of the man in charge is on the auction block, he is raring to go. But what does he smell when he gets there? Is that his mate? Why yes, yes it is. So he grabs her and runs away. You'd think it might be all sparkles and flowers as the two are wildly attracted to each other but there is at least one more surprise waiting for them.

I really enjoyed this book. Even though there is a lot of discussion about McRieve's being stuck in the past which makes sense because it's not like there was therapy back when he was a kid.

Four stars

This book came out May 9, 2013

Follows Shadow's Claim

Followed by Dark Skye

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole

Bettina is just living her life when she's captured by four Vrekeners and tortured until she loses her Sorcerii powers. It's that mistake that leads to her agreeing to be the prize in a supernatural contest. She will be the winner's bride. And she knows just who should win, her childhood friend. Too bad Trehan Daciano has just discovered that Bettina is his fated mate and he's not going to let anyone else win.
I couldn't connect with this book and I'm not sure why. Maybe it was too much of the just Bettina story in the beginning and it took a while for the two of them to meet. I get this book's place in the series but may skip it on re-reads.

Three stars

This book came out November 27, 2012

Follows Lothaire
Followed by MacRieve

Hard copy I own

Opinions are my own

Nobody's Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Dr. Jane Bonner grew up a freak (in her words.) She was beyond intelligent and it disgusted her father and gave her (more a less) a complex. For her children, she wants something different. She wants them to be normal. At 34, she is ready to have a baby with somebody stupid so that her children have a chance to be "normal." When a chance to sleep with Cal Bonner, quarterback for the Stars football team, comes up, she grabs it with both hands.
Cal only dates women in their early 20s. So when his friends hire a 28-year-old (he is told) prostitute for his 36th birthday, he doesn't expect to be intrigued. And he really doesn't expect to find out that she only slept with him for his sperm. He decides that his child won't be a "stray," forces her into marriage, and whisks her off to a tiny mountain town in North Carolina.
This book holds up surprisingly well and I think a lot of it is due to the humor that SEP injects into her stories but also the relationships she builds with her characters. Most of the story is Janie and Cal figuring each other out but there is a big chunk of Jane interacting with her mother- and grandmother-in-law and the relationships that these women build. Add in a B plot of Cal's parents rekindling their own romance and you have a story that even new readers will enjoy.

Four stars

This book came out February 1, 1997

Follows Heaven, Texas

Followed by Dream a Little Dream

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Lothaire by Kresley Cole

Lothaire, the Enemy of Old, has never been the Big Bad in this series but he has definitely not been on the side of good. He even brought back to life a long dead goddess (who was better off dead) by stealing her ring. And he wants to raise another, the one who is going to be his fated mate. Of course, they have to figure out how to get rid of the human host so she can keep the body. But Ellie Peirce doesn't exactly want to go. The more she sticks around, the more intrigued Lothaire is. 

The drama is still dialed up to 11 in this book and got to be a little too much toward the end but I am still enjoying the series. 

Four stars

This book came out January 10, 2012

Follows Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Followed by Shadow's Claim

Hard copy I kept

Opinions are my own

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie

Probably Crusie's best story. Or at least my favorite.

Agnes Crandall's life seems like it should be perfect, she's got the house of her dream, a great-looking fiancé, her best friend's daughter is getting married with Agnes providing the food, and her Cranky Agnes food column has spawned her one bestselling cookbook with another in the works. But lately, her writing is about the only thing that seems to be going well. Her fiancé is being evasive and the wedding on which her keeping her house hinges, is threatening to implode. But the worst happens in the opening scene of the book when an armed intruder comes into the house wanting to kidnap her dog. Agnes has a history of violence and it comes to good use when she smacks the intruder with a frying pan and he flies through a previously hidden door into the unknown basement, breaking his neck.

Opening up this basement opens a door to the past, when Joey, her cooking mentor, and Frankie Fortunato along with another man robbed a train of five million dollars. But then Frankie disappeared with the money and the basement was covered up. 

Joey immediately calls in his nephew Shane to protect "Little Agnes." Shane is on another job but he immediately comes back to his hated hometown to help his uncle. The situation is not one that he's excited about but he is excited about Agnes. He likes her disposition as well as her figure. When Agnes' fiancé turns out to be a total jerk, Shane is there to help her get over her disappointment.

I just got this as an audiobook and was really disappointed. The points when we get to hear Agnes's thoughts are faded and a completely different volume than the rest of the story. And that happens a lot in this book. 

Five stars as hard copy; three and a half as audio

This book came out August 21, 2007

Audible book I own

Opinions are my own

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

For the past couple of books in this series, Declan Chase has been the big bad. He's in charge of the group that has been capturing and torturing immortals. Or at least, he seems to be in charge. When Vakyrie Regin the Radiant is captured, she is devastated to discover that he is the most recent reincarnation of her mate, Aiden. The two have been cursed to be kept apart; any time they finally find each other and then have sex, Aiden dies. 

When he was young, Declan's family was tortured and killed by a group of immortal creatures. He was rescued by a group that would let him get revenge although they did drug him up quite a bit. Turns out, they were suppressing his true nature. 

When the facility they were in goes up in flames, Declan switches his loyalties to work with the Immortals. And they are surprisingly fast to accept him. True, one of the people he escapes with is an old friend but he tortured these people and now they accept-ish him. 

This was a really hard book to read. I see where Cole was trying to go but there was not nearly enough groveling. However, this book did set up the next in the series, Lothaire, very nicely. The Enemy of Old seems to be slowly moving over to the side of the good guys.

Three stars

This book came out February 15, 2011

Follows Demon from the Dark

Followed by Lothaire

Hard copy I kept

Opinions are my own

Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

Malkolm Slaine grew up poor, very, very poor, with a number of other memories that would traumatize anyone. And this was before he was forcibly turned into a vampire becoming that thing of myth, a vemon (vampire demon). Now he hangs out on his mountain trying to get revenge on the demon that betrayed him. 

Carrow Graie is a party girl. She gains her powers from other people's emotions, happiness is preferred. When she's kidnapped, given a collar that mutes her powers, and thrown into a cell, she's not really happy. At all. Then her kidnapper tells her she has to go seduce some vemon and lure him back or else they'll kill her young cousin, she's really not having a good day. But she goes. She does. And she discovers that she might just be Malkolm's true mate. 

It took me quite a long time to get into this book because it got pretty dark (I know, some of the other books do as well but this is a different kind of dark (TW child abuse)). I don't regret reading the whole things but will probably skip wide swathes on reread. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 24, 2010

Follows Pleasure of a Dark Prince

Followed by Dreams of a Dark Warrior

Hard copy I own

Opinions are my own

Pleasure of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole

We've seen glimpses of this love story in other books of this series. A dark werewolf who has been watching over a Valkyrie archer who cannot miss or else she feels excruciating pain. The pain Lucia feels is the result of a pact made with a god when she nearly died. 

Many, many years ago, Garreth, prince of the Lykae, realized that Lucia was his one true mate. He also realized that she wasn't ready to acknowledge it. So he's been watching over her from afar (don't do this is real life, folks; this is stalking and super creepy). 

Lucia has a life mission and that is, every five hundred years, she has to make sure that an apocalyptic evil doesn't occur when Crom Cruach rises. As that time is nearing, she cannot be distracted by a werewolf right now, matter how intriguing she finds him.

There is a long stretch where we read about their history, another where they finally start to sort of get together, then a lot of travel over the world ending up with a long stretch in the Amazon where they awaken another potential world ender but end up with an arrow that can kill a god. Then, as usual, everything is wrapped up in a whirlwind in the last 50 pages or so.

Four stars

This book came out January 25, 2010

Follows Deep Kiss of Winter

Followed by Demon from the Dark

Hard copy I kept

Opinions are my own

Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole

The four Wroth brothers, vampires all, get to find their Mates in this series. This particular story is Malcolm's turn. He's in New Orleans around the time of book four (Dark Need at Night's Edge) when he suddenly sees his female, but he is not the only one seeking her. There are ice fey after her as well. Which is interesting because Daniela "Danii" is half (one third?) ice fey and half Valkyrie. The other fey are after her because she is, in fact, in line to inherit the throne of her people but the current king (a usurper) would rather not have that happen. So it will be up to the two of them to figure out how to make her safe while also dealing with the pesky problem that they can't touch otherwise they burn each other. 

This book is somewhat shorter than most of the others in this series but not, by any means, short in comparison to most books. That means that, though the story is packed with much of the history and trivia of the Lore, the relationship between Danii and Malcolm doesn't suffer. In fact, it could have been even a little shorter because there were Just So Many misunderstandings but an overall nice addition to the series.

Four stars

This book came out October 13, 2009

Follows Kiss of a Demon King

Followed by Pleasure of a Dark Prince

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

Sabine, Sorceress of Illusions is a well-known evil. She has killed other people with power to gain their powers. Except that she really hasn't because she only makes illusions and talks to animals. But she knows she is the fated mate of Rydstrom Woede, the demon who should be king. 

Rydstrom has waited centuries to regain his throne. The throne that was stolen from him by the last Big Bad, Omort, who, by the way, is Sabine's half-brother. A half-brother who really wants to bed her but, as a virgin, their society dictates she cannot be taken against her will. But she has just captured him and is teasing him into trying to have sex so that she can bear his heir, as prophesied. But Rydstrom really just wants to take back his throne and is trying as hard as possible to resist her wiles. 

As always, there is just So Much going on in this book and, yet, I really enjoy it. Fun book, really moves the overall story along.

Four stars

This book came out January 1, 2009

Follows Dark Desires After Dusk

Followed by Deep Kiss of Winter

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own