In the Eye of the Storm / Catering to the CEO by Samantha Chase

In the Eye of the Storm
It's 2 a.m. and Holly Abrams is on her way to pick up her overly demanding boss, Stephen Ballinger. First he demands 12-14 hour days, then he steals her weekend mornings, now this? Holly lets loose, giving Stephen a piece of her mind. He's shocked that she feels that way; he thought that they had a great working relationship. This makes Holly even madder. Then downed trees make it impossible for her to get back to her house and she has to stay with Stephen at his giant mansion. Somehow, seeing Holly wet, in sweatpants, and without makeup makes Stephen wake up to how truly beautiful she really is.
I would hope that if this book were written today, the Big Misunderstanding would be greatly changed. As it was, it made me very aware that this was a re-issue.

Three stars

Catering to the CEO
Adam Lawrence didn't become a millionaire CEO by letting people walk all over him. Cassie Jacobs, caterer, doesn't seem to care. She has a contract that says that he can't make changes two weeks before his event, so when he tries to do so 11 days in advance, she walks out. That would be the end except that they see each other again that night when they discover that her dad is dating his mom. It is seeing Cassie outside of work that makes Adam really discover that she's a beautiful woman underneath. Too bad I can't say the same about him. Adam is a real alphahole. Like, think late 80s alphahole only concerned with his problems and only wanting Cassie when he can't have her. I actively disliked him and wouldn't have finished this had it been a full book.

Two stars.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out April 3
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Claim Me, Cowboy by Maisey Yates

It all started with an ad...
Joshua Grayson's father wants nothing more than for his son to fall in love, get married, and have babies. So he puts an ad out into the world and now Joshua is getting all sorts of unwanted attention from women he doesn't really want to connect with. So Joshua puts out his own ad. One for a thoroughly disreputable woman. One who will get his father off his back. And the woman who answers his ad is perfect. Danielle Kelly is too young, too poor, too hipster, and too-carrying-an-infant for his parents to attach. Except that Joshua seems to be ready to attach...
Danielle grew up the child of a teen mother. Her mother was dirt poor but would drag Danielle around as she moved from man to man, trying to find stability.
I never really connect with characters in the "New Adult" category, even ones who are super-mature for their age.  And I never really felt like Danielle and Joshua connected (well, beyond the sex). Would have loved to see more scenes where the two connected outside the bedroom. Regular Yates readers will probably be satisfied but I'm looking forward to a better story in the next book.

Two and a half stars.
This book comes out April 3
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Follows  Smooth-Talking Cowboy

The River House by Carla Neggers

Felicity MacGregor really enjoys her life. She's an event planner and, while there's not a ton of work for her in Knights Bridge, there's more than enough work in the surrounding areas. Enough that she's gotten herself out of the mountain of debt she was in three years ago plus be able to buy a house. She does have a slight hitch in her stride when she hears that Gabriel Flanagan is going to be back in town to help out with a business bootcamp that she's putting on. Gabe, the man that was her best friend for ears until he bluntly told her that she wasn't living her best life.
Gabe's not sorry he did it. He feels like he did what was best for Felicity and he feels hurt by the way she lashed out when she left after crashing on his couch for a week. So he decides that he's going to sleep on her couch, and maybe even deepen their relationship.
This wasn't one of Neggers' better stories. I never really got that Felicity and Gabe should be more than friends. They lashed out at each other, acted like children, then somehow, we're supposed to believe they're in love. And, just to create some more angst, there's a potential female stalker after Gabe. Just, ew. It wasn't horrible though, just waiting for the next one and hoping it will be better.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out March 27
Follows Red Clover Inn

Chloe #3: "Frenemies" by Greg Tessier

Chloe is a freshman who has to do an internship because... I'm not sure why? But the original one she has set up falls through but there is an opening at the same place as her frenemy (though I don't see how the two are actually friends). At first, it seems that Chloe and a rather slovenly boy named Yanni aren't going to do well at the internship but Chloe helps to guide him. Too bad she won't be happy for long since she's going to hear some bad news about her boyfriend, Alex.
The cover of this book was interesting and so I requested it from NetGalley. This isn't a series you can jump into the middle of. And it was incredibly short. A fine story that would be worth buying if it were in a volume with others in the series.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out March 6

The Yoga of Leadership by Tarra Mitchell

I requested this book because it was an intersection of two things that I am very interested in lately. However, this wasn't really a book on leadership in the workplace which I was disappointed about. It took a long time for the author to find her rhythm and it ended up being more of a book on yoga themes than about leadership. It was okay but not anything I haven't read before.

Two and a half stars
This book came out December 12
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Unraveled by Lauren Dane

For over a year Maybe Dolan has been cutting hair at the barbershop (just off a bar) owned by Alexsei Petrov and has been denying her attraction to him the whole time. But Alexsei, out of a serious relationship and tired of chasing women, is ready to step into a relationship with Maybe.
He's a family-oriented man (even his ex is still a part) while her family is pretty broken up. Her parents never treated her like she was an accepted part while doting all their attention on her sister. After her sister went through a fairly horrific experience, Maybe's parents wanted to wrap her up in cotton while Maybe wanted to help her live life. Her parents hate her for that.
This was a three-star book except for Maybe's name. Oh good god. This is a cute name when you hear it but when you have to read it and then try to figure out every sentence and that it doesn't start with "Maybe today she would." The process smoothed out for me about 2/3 of the way through the book but that is a long time to wait.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out January 30th
Followed by Jagged

Thread the Halls by Lea Wait

The Mainely Needlepoint group is ready to celebrate Christmas but an unexpected guest shows up and brings even more people with her. Patrick's mother, the famous film star Skye, is going to spend Christmas in Maine. It seems that the actors on her latest film aren't getting along and there is some hope that a group vacation will do them some good. Too bad one of the actors gets killed the night they arrive. Especially disappointing after all of the hard work Angie and her friends put in trying to make the house festive.
I haven't read the other books in the series but felt fine jumping in at number 6. I liked the character development and most of the story but the end of the book was just... disappointing. The entire wrap up took something like, 10 pages? An okay dip into this series but one I won't continue.

Two an a half stars
This book comes out October 31
This book was provided as an ARC by NetGalley

MAD Librarian by Michael Guillebeau

In a tragic mirror of real life Serenity Hammer is a librarian who has to fight for every penny to keep her library open. But the Powers That Be won't oil just any squeaky wheel, just the ones that oil them back. So Serenity decides that she's going to take matters into her own hands, whether it's legal or not.
As a former librarian, this book really hit home. The story is a good one. The execution... (sigh). The writing is rather stilted; it makes the reading less than smooth. Characters are just a little too broad and stereotypical. This was obviously a labor of love and I like that some proceeds from the sale go to a library but I probably wouldn't generally recommend this book.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out December 1
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Gin and Panic by Maia Chance

This is the first book I'd read in this series but it didn't take long for me to catch up to what was going on. Lola Woodby is the main character in this book. She's supposed to be part of society but doesn't really have the money for it. She and her former cook, Berta, have opened up a "discreet retrieval agency" in order to make ends meet. In this book, she's supposed to have a simple retrieval, getting a rhino's head off a hunters wall. But it turns into diamond smuggling and murder and nothing is what it seems.
I thought this would be a fun mystery novel and for some readers it may be. It was just a bit too cutesy for me. Lola was actually pretty annoying what with not actually working on solving the case... ever. And she's food-focused? How is that new or interesting in a female detective?

Two and a half stars
This book comes out October 24

Necessary Roughness by Julie Brannagh

Tanner Cole was a football star until one bad tackle took him out of the game. Now he’s just struggling to get through rehab and move on with his life. Too bad he doesn’t really know what he wants to do. Physical therapy is not one of the things, he knows that. Too bad his physical therapist is dealaing with his own mending after a car accident which means that Tanner is about to get reassigned.

Jordan loves her job. No, like really, enjoys going to work every day. Until she meets Mr. Full-of-Himself Tanner. Him, she doesn’t like. His house, she does. And since she needs a place to live (not a great plot point) and he has space (and the hots for her), she moves in. So that she can be his in-house physical therapist. Or something. Living together leads the two to believe that the sparks between them might be more than just annoyance with each other.

Wow. This book REALLY struggled with pacing issues. The first 2/3ds was just a discussion of how much Tanner and Jordan really disliked each other with some growth toward friendship. Then, suddenly, in the space of 10 or so pages, they’re suddenly desperately in love and dying to be together even though they’re geographically apart. And whatever happened with Star? She was set up to be a much larger plot point and then just ended up as the psycho ex-girlfriend.

If this weren’t from an author I know could do better, I don’t feel like I’d be as disappointed.

This book comes out October 10

Two and a half stars

She Be Damned by M.J. Tjia

Heloise Chancey is not a prostitute. She is an actress and a courtesan who helps solve mysteries on the side. And that's why she's posing as a prostitute, in the hopes that she can help figure out why these women are turning up dead, all of their sexual organs removed. It becomes personal when her maid is accused of the murders.
The book is as much (if not more) about Heloise's exploration of her past as it is about solving the murders. There is an exploration of what it was like to be a courtesan in London, the views of abortions in those times (touches on today), and racism.
I was sort of surprised to learn that M. J. Tjia was a woman. The first person point of view felt a bit uncomfortable, as though it rang a false note. At first I thought was a gender thing but I think it may be more of a time period thing. Heloise seems very much like a modern woman who was plunked into the 1800s. Not that that couldn't have existed, but it felt very odd. And it kept me disconnected from both the character and the book. I actually connected more with the Li Leen interjections than with Heloise.
I'm not sure who to recommend this book (novella? It's not even 200 pages). I feel like some people might enjoy it but it was not a good book for me. I would give it two stars but it was an interesting enough book that it made it up to two and a half.

This book came out August 1

Archie Archives: The Double Date and Other Stories (Volume 3)

I loved reading Archie in the 90s so the chance to pick up an ARC with some of the original Archie comics seemed like a great opportunity. And it was really an okay book. We get to see some of Archie's development but not really anybody else's. Except for hair color, Betty and Veronica are fairly interchangeable. We don't get to see much of Jughead or even Reggie. The character we get to see most other than Archie is his dog. There was one "game" page and several written stories that I don't remember being a part of later comics. A nice bit of nostalgia I guess but  nothing I would have wanted to read otherwise.

Two and a half stars
This book came out November 22

Continental Crimes by ed. by Martin Edwards

I usually enjoy the stories picked out by Mr. Edwards for his anthology series. And the book started off well, I enjoyed "A Bracelet at Bruges" and "The Secret Garden." But the rest of the stories didn't really hold my attention. I think that these were perfectly fine stories, they just didn't resonate with me at this point in time.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out August 1

An Earl by Any Other Name by Lauren Smith

I was excited to read a new-to-me author. And the blurb sounded pretty good. Leopold Graham, Lord Hampton, is saddled with a debt-ridden estate on the death of his father. The rather scandalous death of his father. He needs to marry well in order to save the family coffers. He has a woman in mind but his mother and Ivy Leighton think that she is the better choice. Of course, she's brash and loud, not what Leopold wants. Or so he thinks.
This could have been a nice book if it were only longer. At under 100 pages, we don't really get to know that much about Leopold or Ivy. I wish we had gotten to see more of Leopold's journey from rake to stolid family man. Or learned more about why Ivy was still so obsessed with Leopold years after they were children.

Two and a half stars.
This book comes out August 1

Dog Night at the Story Zoo by Dan Bar-el

Argh. I feel so bad because somebody spent a lot of time on this book and I just didn't enjoy it. I couldn't figure out who it was supposed to be geared toward. It had fun pictures and a cute premise (animals coming out for open mike night) but the stories seemed like they were more geared toward adults. It was an interesting dichotomy what one that made the stories work a little less.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out

If the Haunting Fits, Wear It by Rose Pressey

Cookie Chanel is on the road helping a client, Danielle, dress for the Kentucky Derby. While attending one of the parties, she discovers the dead body of Danielle's jockey, Ramon. Of course, his ghost starts following her around. He joins regular ghost Charlotte and another woman who had joined earlier in the book, Maureen.
Cookie decides to stick around to see if she can help solve Ramon's murder. While there, both of her beaus (Love-triangle alert! Seriously?) follow her and try to help out. Not helping out? Heather, the woman who owns the B&B where Cookie is staying. Also not helping, the fact that Ramon doesn't seem to have been a nice guy. It makes it hard to find out who murdered you when there are a number of people lining up for the chance.
In comparison it to other books in the series, this book was just not as good. The love triangle with Cookie took up a lot of space (and didn't really add to the mystery), Maureen took up a lot of space (and definitely didn't add to the mystery), and there just wasn't enough room to develop the main mystery.
And don't even get me started on that horrible ending. I hope it gets changed before publication.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out June 27
Followed by A Passion for Haunted Fashion

The World's Greatest Chocolate-Covered Pork Chops by Ryan K. Sager

 Zoey Kate is twelve-years-old and she's an adventurous chef combining things like chocolate and pork chops. So she's decided to take on some debt. Fifty thousand dollars to be exact. Why does she want to do this at such a young age? In order to win a prestigious cooking award. Adventures and mayhem ensue.
There was a lot of pop culture in this book. A lot. I'm not sure what felt off about this book for me but I felt a hard time connecting. It's possible that I'm not in (in fact, way out of) the age range this book is meant for but that doesn't usually bother me. Zoey was just a little too annoying, too perky, too sure of herself.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out June 20

Nothing Like a Duke by Jane Ashford

I'm sure we know more of Laura and Roberts backstory from earlier books in the series, but I've only read the first one. I didn't especially feel like I was missing out because of that mostly because of the superlong expository scene where Robert picks up a small dog and then talks to him. And, while I realize the dog isn't child, it is a plot moppet extraordinaire. He always seems to know what's going on, he always wants people to follow him into places they should go, and he always seems to be the wisest of all the characters.
This was a nice little story, even with the dog, it was slow and gentle but there seem to be a lot of extraneous subplots. Robert is attending a house party, trying to get Flora, but then he's delighted that she's there. There is literally no angst about the fact that the woman that he's trying to get away from her suddenly showed up where he is. And we get the daughter of the house trying to wrangle her self into position as Roberts wife, but she is easily shaken off as well.
One of my biggest peeves with this book is not the fault of the author but with the back cover blurb which was nothing at all like what the story was, and less the blurb author was reading some different version of the story. They played up the villain who ended up not being in the book very much at all except for a scene that was sort of thoughtlessly tacked onto the end.
A nice enough read but with a lot of problems.

2 1/2 stars
This book comes out May 2

Bound Together by Christine Feehan

I loved the Sea Haven books and wanted to finish out the Sisters of the Heart, even though I felt the series was getting farther and farther away from what was making it good. But, I finally got the story for Viktor Prakenskii. We've known for some time that he's married to Blythe Daniels and he's finally coming home to get her. Oh. And he's bringing eighteen of his chose family home to her so that she can heal them just like she's going to heal him. And the kids that he's bringing home, the ones that have been the victims of some pretty horrific sexual abuse. But it's okay because he's going to make it be okay.
Blythe isn't so sure about letting Viktor back into her life. He got close to her, married her (she's pretty sure about that point but it's a bit fuzzy), and then murdered her stepfather right in front of her. Then disappeared for five years without a trace. But he's back now along with his motorcycle club that seems to have no boundaries. And that's no problem because Viktor keeps telling her it's no problem.
I had so many issues with this book. It was really more of a two and a half but I rounded up. I just really need to stop reading Feehan's books because they aren't my cup of tea and yet I keep picking them up. To be honest, this book was just darn hard to follow. The sequel bait was an entire motorcycle club all with real names and nicknames. And this book is FULL of the thing that drives me nuts about this author, she doesn't just give you information, she slaps it upside your head four or five times to make sure that you know that Savage and Reaper are blond. And brothers. And the one is more broken. I couldn't even tell you which because, even after all that repetition, we had the motorcycle club to keep track of, the previous H/Hs from five books in the Sisters of the Heart series PLUS there was a tie-in to the 7 Sea Haven books.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out March 21

The Art of Vinyasa by Richard Freeman; Mary Taylor

I would definitely skip over the "teaching" sections of this book and go straight to the "practice" sections. Because, whoa, I'm not sure who this book is aimed at but I definitely wouldn't steer newbies this way. Within the first 40 pages, there were what seemed like a dozen deep thoughts that were skimmed over. This is definitely for a more intermediate yoga practitioner.
I always feel bad for leaving a low rating on a book, especially when you can tell that an author has tried really hard to get everything just right.And that's the problem with what I'm calling the "teaching" sections, where Mr. Freeman is giving details on history or expounding on ideas, he is trying to get everything so perfect that you don't get a sense of his own voice. The yoga books that I resonate most deeply with are the ones where the teacher's own sense of style comes through and you can get a sense of their personality. Most of this book, especially in the beginning, were just myriad facts thrown at you in rapid succession. There is not a real sense of flow and there is a striving for perfection that makes me think of the yoga classes that make you tense up and send your thoughts into monkey-mode trying to get every molecule into perfect alignment rather than the classes that just let you relax into the moment and enjoy your practice.
And this was part of the big bummer for me because I actually really enjoyed the more practice-based sections of this book when we got to experience some of Mr. Freeman's teachings. 

Two and a half stars
This book came out December 27