Controlled Burn by Shannon Stacey

When Jessica Broussard was contacted about her grandfather taking a fall, she was shocked. She knew her father hadn’t spoken to his parents in years. But he wasn’t dealing with the problem and she was curious about the family she’d never known so she hopped on the plane from San Diego, deciding along the way that she was going to help them however she could, even if that meant helping them move into a new home.

Rick Gulotti also thinks that Joe and Marie need to move out, but he doesn’t think they should do it just because some granddaughter they never even knew about is pushing them out. He has been renting their third floor for years and has been taking care of them the whole time. This long-legged blonde from California isn’t pushing them out before they want to go.

This is a romance, so of course they start to find some middle ground. And that does start with some great sex. It was a little… shallow. I never got the sense of a deep connection between the two but that didn’t destroy the book for me. Maybe not as good as the early Kowalskis but still good.

I didn’t finish the first book in the series before reading this one and was just fine with catching up. Quite frankly, I appreciated the light touch of bringing in some of the characters from the first book without being hit over the head with them.

Three and a half stars
Followed by Fully Ignited

Living Mindfully: At Home, at Work, and in the World by Deborah Schoeberlein David, David Panakkal

This book starts off a little slow for those who have practiced meditation in the past or read any books about it. But for those who haven't, this might be a nice way to begin. And the middle section is a fabulous re-read, even for those who have tried these techniques before. The writing and editing make this an incredibly easy read.
I wish that the last chapter hadn't been quite so preachy, but it's overall a book worth reading.
Four and a half stars
This book goes on sale November 24, 2015

Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle

Warren is an unusual little boy with crooked teeth and a face like a toad, but long luxurious blond locks. He lives in a hotel but it is nothing like Eloise. It used to be a rather grand hotel but all that changed when his father died five years ago. Then Uncle Rupert took over. But Uncle Rupert is lazy so eventually all of the guests stopped coming. The only staff member left is Chef Bunion. Even worse, Uncle Rupert married Aunt Annaconda four months ago and she is certain there is treasure hidden somewhere in the hotel, The All-Seeing Eye. 
All of the action starts on a day that an automobile finally comes to the hotel. Who is this mysterious visitor, all wrapped in bandages and only communicating through picture cards? Is he just a guest? Or is he after the treasure? Is he even a he? 
All of this is just the beginning of a rather fun little story with some fantastic illustrations. I had some frustrations related to pages not coming up on my ereader. Since mine was an ARC, that may not happen on other devices but I suspect this books would be more fun as a hard copy anyway.
Comes out November 24, 2015

The Master of the Prado by Javier Sierra

I grabbed this book because something about the description reminded me of "Shadow of the Wind" and I enjoyed that book a lot. I wasn't disappointed. It was like a mix between that and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children with a touch of Da Vinci Code. It's the story of what happened to our first-person narrator punctuated by paintings from the Prado (and some other museums). There were places that dragged and I didn't always follow the logic being told to us by the Master but it was overall an entertaining read.

p. 24 "Following the trail of events like these can lead us to the very origins of our written culture, and can also bring us warnings about the future"

Thus sets our narrator on a trail of what story was being unfolded by the great masters including Da Vinci, El Greco, and more. It is being explained to him by an older gentleman who approaches him at the Prado and leads him down what may or may not be a garden path.

This book comes out Nov. 17, 2015

Death before Decaf by Caroline Fardig

This seemed like almost any fun and fluffy mystery that I've read lately. Main character is down on her luck, her last man (in this case, fiance) left her in the lurch, she's picking up the pieces of her life with the help of friends (potential love interest, Pete, who has her managing his father's coffee shop where she worked in college) but has to solve that pesky murder that she's suspected of perpetrating.

I think I need to get off the cozy-mysteries-with-a-cute-but-quirky-narrator train for awhile. I've read a LOT of them lately. Maybe cleanse my palate with some romance novels.
So, Juliet returns to the coffehouse near Vanderbilt where she quickly gets herself in trouble by reprimanding the staff rather harshly (and then trying to apologize later which I thought was dumb, she had good reason to say what she did and that staff needed a wake-up call). The one who gives her the most grief, Dave the cook, is, of course, the one who winds up dead in the dumpster. But, luckily for Juliet, Dave wasn't a very nice person (when are they ever?) and had lots of enemies.
A good book but nothing new under the sun. Will still probably try to read the next one to find out what happens with Juliet and Pete.
Comes out Nov. 17, 2015
Three stars

Followed by Mug Shot

How to Bewitch an Earl by Ally Broadfield

This was a fun little novella, as with most shorter books, I wish it had been longer so we could see more of the development of Isabella and Edward's romance. Also, the plotting was a bit uneven but I will most definitely be looking for the next book in the series.
Edward is somewhat obsessed (we're told that he is but don't really see it) with finding a lost family treasure, a tiara with pink diamonds. But he's been somewhat of a wastrel (again, told, but not seen, we generally only see a good guy who even sets up a fake engagement so that the other ladies at his party can begin to look at the other men for marriage possibilities.
Isabella is more consistently developed with a love for her family and trying to adjust to what she knows is her new station in life. I didn't especially warm to her but I understood her motivations.
Can't wait to see what happens between Thornfield (Edward's friend) and Louisa (Edward's sister).
Three stars.
Comes out on Nov. 30, 2015

Lady Intrigue by Sabrina Darby

Gah. I remember reading the plot for this book and thinking, "This is not a book I'd like to read" (even though I've quite enjoyed two of Darby's other books) but I must have accidentally hit the "Request" button because it turned up in my NetGalley queue. And I think it was her writing that made me not... hate this book. It took me awhile to get into the book and I never quite connected to Jane and never really got the connection between these two. There's insta-love and then there's insta-love and this just didn't quite make me buy them as a long-lasting couple. There is also the issue a lot of early series book face with trying to introduce at least one of the people who will feature in later books -OR- an overabundance of secondary characters.