Stuck with You by Ali Hazelwood

Three novellas are loosely connected by a circle of friends but they don't show up very much which is probably fine since the book is so short we don't get to see much of Sadie and Erik anyway. And it turns out that this is one of those books where, if one of the two had talked to the other, there wouldn't be much to the story. And the only reason they are together now is because they are caught in an elevator. 

Three stars

This novella came out March 8, 2022

Follows Under One Roof

Followed by Below Zero

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Under One Roof by Ali Hazelwood

Helena Harding was a kick ass engineer and world class environmentalist. She was also the closest thing Mara had to family. When Helena dies and leaves Mara a house near Mara's new office at the EPA in DC, it seems like it should be a good opportunity for Mara. Except that Mara has actually only been left half a house, the other half belonging to Mara's nephew who works for Big Oil. 

They start off shaky and antagonistic but slowly learn that they may have misjudged each other and finally falling into some severe lust.

Three stars

This novella came out February 8, 2022

Followed by Stuck with You

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Boss Witch by Ann Aguirre

Clem knows there's a witch hunter in town. He's not exactly subtle about it. She wants to protect her friends and family because, if caught, the hunter will take away not only her magic, but her memories.

Gavin Rhys doesn't exactly enjoy being a witch hunter but he wants to make his father proud. He's okay with letting go of some of his responsibilities to spend more time with the gorgeous woman he's met at the bar. He is still looking for the witches in town but maybe he has something better to focus on. 

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the last because the two are inherently lying to each other the whole time they are in a relationship. I did like how Aguirre sort of dealt with that at the end though. 

Three stars

This book comes out April 5, 2022

Follows Witch Please

ARC kindly provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Witch Please by Ann Aguirre

Living as a witch in a mundane world can be dificult. And Danica Waterhouse is navigating just fine, working in her family's fix-it shop (her talent is that she can make things work again, most of the examples are related to appliances). Then she meets baker Titus Winnaker and sparks fly. Almost literally. But Danica's grandmother has drummed into her that their family has a hex whereby, if they fall in love with a mundane, they will also lose their magic. Danica's own mother is pointed to as an example. 

While Danica is fighting her feelings Titus is also having issues. His mother died, his father remarried six months later and now the new wife is pregnant. But Danica helps him through that as well.

I liked the relationships that Danica and Titus had with Clementine (Danica's cousin) and Maya (Titus's sister). There was also some sequel bait with the rest of Danica's coven and potentially Titus's circle of friends -- also good relationship building there. It was a nice book with a nice balance of world building and relationship building which can be hard to do in a first book.

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 7, 2021

Followed by Boss Witch

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Troublemaker by Linda Howard

I know I have a bit of a pet-peeve with condom use but, c'mon, Ms. Howard is a veteran romance writer. There are more reasons than pregnancy to use a condom. At the very least she could sit down and have the characters talk about being tested. More than just "It's okay, I'm on the pill." Blergh. It always takes me out of the story. 
There is a special brand of Howard WTFery that I look forward to in her books. And in this book, while it was a good book, that craziness was way toned down. I mean, the books I think of when I think Linda Howard have agents whose memories have been imperfectly wiped, bear stalkings (again, black bears don't do that), the only road into a small town being shut down so a team of bad guys can retrieve a microfilm, etc. This, this was strangely devoid of any of that-- but still a good book. And what Howard does nicely is depicts small town life. There's a line in her book that even pokes gentle fun saying that people in big cities always expect small-town folks to all know one another but they don't -- one of my major major pet-peeves (see here Fool's Gold, a town of 125,000 where they somehow not only ALL know each other but everyone's extended history).
Anyway, Morgan Yancy is a super-duper, undercover agent who's had a hit taken out on him that was nearly successful. In order to figure out what's going on, his team leader, Axel, sends him to recuperate in West Virginia. The specific person Morgan is being sent to is Isabeau "Bo" Maran, Axel's ex-step-sister. It seems the two had a contentious relationship when their parents were married for eight months and Axel has never quite gotten over it. 
Bo is the chief of police in a small town but her position is supposed to be more clerical than anything, taking care of the paperwork so that her deputies can do the on-the-streets work that they feel more comfortable with. There were some plot points and character issues I had with Bo and this job (she has, like, three) but, again, used to WAY more craziness from Howard so these were minor.
Then there is the plot moppet, Bo's golden retriever, Tricks. I am a huge Goldie nerd and Tricks sounded about right for that breed of dog but, dang, half the book was an ode to the dog. I would have loved to see a little bit more about what was going on in the discovery of who was trying to kill Morgan (view spoiler) or more about their relationship development. Although, I do have to admire the deft touch of covering major swathes of time with a deft touch. It cured the book of insta-love/lust.
Overall, a nice addition to the Howard canon and I think that regular readers will really enjoy the book. I personally missed the crazy (it's the reason I requested the ARC) but others may not even notice it's gone.

Marry Me at Christmas by Susan Mallery

Jonny Blaze, mega-super-action star, needs help arranging a wedding for his one and only sister. So who does Mayor Marsha pick? Could it possibly be the woman who proclaimed her ever-lasting love for Jonny Blaze in the last couple of books? Madeline Krug? Would it be a romance if she weren't the one? Maybe. But probably not.

Madeline seems like a decent person and so does Jonny. They are friends first which was really nice in a romance. In fact, we really see more of their friendship than of the romance. It's a quiet story (surprising since Jonny's a star. Didn't know that? Oh, well it's mentioned. A lot. So is how surprised he is not to be treated like a star. We're almost bludgeoned over the head with it.)
I may have liked this book a little more if "Thrill Me" hadn't hit such a sweet spot for me but I'm not sure. And, as always, shoehorning in past characters was just painful.

Still the One by Jill Shalvis

Darcy Stone is still recovering physically from the car accident that nearly killed her eleven months ago. Emotionally, she has never been stable, especially since her parents were so remote and unforgiving. All of which explains why she's keeping herself so emotionally distant from everyone, even A. J. who is friends with both her brother and sister.
A. J. has always liked Darcy. Yes, in that way. After her accident, he even comped her a large, large amount of money for physical therapy after her insurance company stopped paying. He's trying to keep his distance from Darcy, especially after refusing to have a one night stand to take away her pay. 
But now A. J. needs Darcy's help. He's trying to raise grant money to help veterans whose money has also run out and the man he was supposed ot take has backed out. Darcy doesn't particularly want to spend hours in a car with A. J. and then be stared at, but he's offering to help fund her rescue of unwanted dogs that she's rehabilitating for veterans.
Didn't love that there was no condom use. At least there was some discussion of testing but... meh. I really enjoyed getting to know more about Darcy and A. J. Now I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with her pilot sister, Zoe.

Echo Lake by Carla Neggers

The book opens with Knightsbridge hometown girl Heather Sloan slogging through the snow chasing a golden retriever puppy, Rohan (my favorite breed, I was hooked pretty fast). She isn't dressed for the weather but she can't let the puppy get away. He belongs to Vic Scarlatti, a newly retired diplomat who bought a house in Knightsbridge twenty years ago but has just moved in. He's hired Heather to do the renovations. He also called in Brody Hancock, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent. There have been some strange things going on and Vic is worried that someone might be after him. Brody isn't so sure, and he's not enamored of going back to a town he gladly left behind, but he sure is enchanted by the woman chasing a cute ball of fluff.

A very surface-level romance between Brody and Heather as the stay-at-home girl and traveling man work through their attraction. They were both nice enough characters but I didn't really feel  like we got to know either of them very well. And while the lust was slow burning, the insta-love was there.
Also includes a sub-plot with Vic and his house sitter, Adrienne Portale. Both felt like sequel bait. Well see them again.
Not my favorite in this series but certainly not bad enough to make me quit reading.

A Little on the Wild Side by Robin Kaye

Image linked from Goodreads

Wow. This book was... problematic. It's a word used a lot these days but I'd say that kidnapping a woman from New York to Idaho and then taking away all forms of communication could definitely be categorized in that way (not a spoiler, this happens in the first couple of chapters). I have to say that I was uncomfortable reading this book the whole time. Other people may not have issues with that but if you do, do NOT read this book.
Bianca Ferrari is a ex-supermodel who has been enjoying a string of 72-hour stands with Trapper Kincaid. And now, she's having a hard time dealing with an unexpected pregnancy

which Magically clears up when she again lets Trapper's magic wang inside her. Seriously. Puking so bad she's been put on bed rest, but a few rounds of sex, and she's good to go.

Trapper comes to New York, ostensibly to find Gina's long-lost brother. But instead, he finds out that the girl he just can't forget is pregnant. And in dire straits. So he decides to fly her home. To his home. In Idaho. Without talking to her about it. Which everyone tells him is a bad idea, but nobody seems truly upset about.
And we're told over and over (and over and over) that Bianca is a workaholic... and yet... we never see her asking about work. She gives control of her company to James, no problem. Okay, so he's a good friend who knows the company inside and out. But then, even when she does get ahold of the phone, she doesn't ask about the company. It's annoying.
I didn't particularly like either of these characters and may not have finished the book if it weren't an ARC (not that you have to finish them,I just feel like it's a nice thing to do).

Oh, and, major complaint, Bianca talks about having a 43" inseam. Um, no. Even if she's six foot, that is just WAY to long. At 5'9" (and 3/4 on a good day) I have a 32" inseam. My torso is a bit long but... another foot of leg? Not hardly. Now that I'm typing this, I'm guessing they meant 34" (nope, went back and checked, they typed out forty-three). Hopefully that is a typo that will be fixed in production.

Change of Heart by Jude Deveraux

The best thing I can say about "Change of Heart" is that, between this book and "For All Time," I'm finally ready to give up Deveraux as a Must-Read. I will probably never be able to give her up fully (Sweet Liar alone keeps my hopes up) but the last few two and a half miler books have gotten rounded up to three stars based on sentiment alone.
I actually squeed and did a happy dance when I realized that Eli and Chelsea were getting a story. Children from an earlier Deveraux short story, the two drifted apart but are now ready to find each other and their own HEA.

Wow. Just. wow. I kept reading to see if Chelsea would really put up with all of Eli's shit. I was so hoping that she'd just pop him one. I mean, Eli heads straight past Alpha and sails into Asshole. He sees Chelsea in a picture, decides she's not happy and that he's going to fix her life. She's too skinny, so he changes her restaurant order. She hates camping so he takes her into the woods (and then gets pissed off when she complains). He pours the guilt on her for their childhood friendship ending and her never noticing him as a male, when he never stepped up to show her how much he loved her. And then tells his teenage doppelganger Scully that he knows she would have just laughed at him. And she puts up with all of this shit. I wasn't too impressed with Chelsea either. She complains that no one ever expected anything of her because she was so pretty. This is after Deveraux has clearly shown that her parents did expect more of her and then goes on to explain that Chelsea wasn't even the prettiest of her sisters. Pilar- she doesn't want to work with Eli and doesn't really like him but then they're portrayed to be friends. She helps out disconnecting lights and stealing papers but then tells Chelsea that she's never given any responsibility. And what school in this day and age would let unknown adults attend prom? I just... I can't even... My level of suspended disbelief was so beyond stretched at that point that I... argh.

The Christmas Wedding Ring by Susan Mallery

Image linked from Goodreads

A Susan Mallery book that isn't set in Fool's Gold? No shoehorning every ex-hero/heroine into the book by hook or by crook (hee, I rhymed)? If this story had had better protection worked in (and Goodreads allowed it), it would've rated a four and a half.
Molly fell in love Dylan when he was dating her older sister. He was the bad boy who left when her sister married someone else. As he was heading out of town, he gave her the wedding ring he had bought, and promised that, when she grew up, they could have a grand adventure.
Well, now she's grown up and having a REALLY crappy life at the moment. When the ring pops out of her lingerie as she's packing, she figures, "Well, why the heck not?"
Dylan, now a super successful motorcycle designer, is at a crossroads himself. A two week vacation seems like a great way to clear his mind.
There were many things about this book that should have annoyed me but

I really like the way the breast cancer scare was handled. Molly does a monthly check (which we ALL should be doing) and, granted, she ends up not having it but that has happened to a couple of my friends now so I could buy it. Also, these two fall in love so fast but it wasn't insta-lust, at least on Dylan's side.
Published on Oct. 7, 2014

Dark Witch by Nora Roberts

Iona Sheehan has just arrived in Ireland. She knows that she's special, that her family has powers.

Image linked from Goodreads

She is to be the third, the witch that will help to put away and ancient Big Bad for good.
The Big Bad is delighted that she is there. He sees her as the weak chain in the chain that could take him down. Of course, Iona is tested.
At the same time, she falls into lust with her new boss, the owner of a local stables, Boyle McGrath and has to juggle her burgeoning powers with the feelings that she has starting for this rough man.
Perhaps it's not fair to judge Nora Robers against herself, but this is just not one of her most stellar books. It doesn't have as much depth as some of her other books and just seems to skim along. The bad dude isn't as well developed and neither are her characters. Of course, she is introducing six people and all of their backgrounds and that can be hard to do but I feel like we learned about them all on a superficial level and didn't really get to know our hero and heroine or their relationship.
So far, not as good as the Sisters Island trilogy but I am always willing to keep an open mind.