Her Darkest Nightmare by Brenda Novak

Oh man. Novak is good at the feels. Very good. And when she turns her mind to a thriller. Oofta.
I read the prequel to this book and it was bad enough. I was going to say "scary" but this is something deeper.
Doctor Evelyn Talbot has opened up a unique facility in the Alaskan wilderness, a house for psychopaths, killers who she and her team study (Hanover House). There are supposedly 250 inmates (which has to be twice the number of a lot of small Alaskan towns). Dr. Talbot is no stranger to killer psychopaths since she was almost killed by one when she was 16. Now she's trying to figure out why they do what they do so that she can prevent more murders in the future.
Sergeant Amarok is seven years Evelyn's junior, but that doesn't mean that he's not wildly attracted to her. And he knows the trauma of her past and is ridiculously romantic in being patient with her. They went their separate ways after the first novella because Evelyn has issues but a massive snow storm in the beginning of the book means that he's given a second chance when Evelyn's car goes out and she's forced to stay at his house for the night. But that same night, there's a murder. Is an escapee from the Hanover House or something more sinister.
The beginning of the book was so great plotting-wise and world building. We get to meet so many of the characters and start the suspense. But the middle started to get a little whirligig-ish and by the end, there was just Too Much going on. This was a solid four star book most of the way through but the last third was definitely a two.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out August 23

Follows Hanover House (novella)
Followed by Hello Again

Insidious by Catherine Coulter

I know some readers will disagree but I was so relieved that this book broke just a bit from the more recent formula. You know, Sherlock and Savich bring in a new investigator who falls in love with someone l, there's paranormal, crazy-pants antics and everyone ends up with an HEA. Some of that happens in "Insidious," but it's not the absolute same well-worn path.
Sherlock and Savich are called in when Venus Rasmussen, famous eighty-year-old billionaire entrepreneur, suspects that she's being poisoned by one of her family members. We get to meet all of the family members, including the black sheep who has some insta-love of his own with Delsey, a character we met in a previous FBI Thriller.
There is, of course, a B story with Special Agent Cam Wittier who is traveling to Los Angeles to help deal with a serial killer who has been slicing the throat of young actresses.
I'm really hoping that we get to see more of Cam Wittier and a bit more of Coulter straying just a bit from the FBI Thriller formula that was starting to get a bit tedious.
Four stars
This book comes out August 9

Friday Barnes Under Suspicion by R.A. Spratt

This book picks up right where the last one left off. Friday has been carted off to the police station having been accused of terrorism. There is a man there who has been accused of stealing a sapphire bracelet (though it is referred to as a necklace as well.)
It follows the same format as the first book with Friday solving smaller crimes at her school and eventually solving one overarching crime. A fun read, I can't wait for the next.

Four stars

This book comes out August 9

The Club by AL Brooks

I've been trying to branch out on my romance reading lately and thought this might be an interesting read. And it certainly was. Not a ton of buildup to romance even though there is a lot of sex. Instead of really getting to know a couple of characters, there is a rotating cast of women falling in love (or further in love) based around one place: a lesbian sex club. It's a safe place for women to come and enjoy anonymous sex but safely, with a lot of rules. Not my usual read but not a bad book, especially for one that essentially wove together several novellas in less than 200 pages.

Three stars

This Earl is on Fire by Vivienne Lorret

Left for dead on the doorstep of one of his properties, Liam Cavanaugh, the Earl of Wolford, is sure that he has wronged some jealous husband. And that he's definitely going to die. But his renters might have something to say about that.
The Pimm family is like no one he's ever met before. They're open, they're trusting, and they're managing to live without their servants. And their daughter Adeline is lovely. Too bad he doesn't want to marry for thirty years.
Adeline has issues. Her leg was broken when she was born, making it so that it is much shorter than her other leg. She knows how much a deformity like hers can make her a pariah, her parents used to bribe the children of their small town to come and pretend to be her friend. So she's sure that she's not going to like being in the ton; she's just in London to have adventures.
While this was a perfectly nice story, the side characters felt a bit flat, especially since at least a few of them (Julia and the Marquess of Thayne, Liam's cousin Gemma, and I'm guessing even the Earl that Thayne borrowed a horse from at the end of the story) seemed like sequel bait. The ending was also a bit rushed. Though she wasn't as well developed in this book, I remember Julia from the second book in this series and can't wait for her to get her HEA.

Three stars
This book comes out August 2

Fatal Affair by Marie Force

I got a copy of this book from NetGalley as a re-release in anticipation of the 10th book in this series being released. I have been reading her Green Mountain series and (mostly) enjoying it so I thought I'd request this book and see what's what. For me, it was three and a half stars. I honestly forgot I had read her other series so it was nice to have that change of voice. It was a little long at just over 400 pages and there was definitely some fat that could have been trimmed and the ending was a bit rushed, but I overall came away from this book with some good feelings.
Nick Cappuano is annoyed that his boss, Senator John O'Connor, is running late on the morning of an important bill. It's possible he overslept. Maybe he was up late with one of the many women that he's juggling. It's nothing new. But what Nick doesn't expect is to find is his long-time friend dead, murdered in a truly horrific manner.
Detective Samantha "Sam" Holland remembers Nick well. They went on one memorable date six years ago and she never heard from him again. But that's not the big issue in her life right now. It's the fact that she's been handed her first high-profile case after a shooting that went very, very wrong. Now she's juggling an incredibly difficult case, an old love who is a new suspect, and her own set of personal issues.

Three and a half stars

The Darkness Knows by Cheryl Honigford

I liked the cover of this book, the setting (1938 Chicago), and the description of the heroine (up-and-coming radio star) so I requested it from NetGalley. And Edelweiss. Oops.
And it is exactly the kind of cozy that I was expecting. The heroine, Vivian "Viv" Witchell, is snappy and quick on her feet. Even when she finds the network star of their most popular series dead in the radio station with a note that seems to indicate that Viv is next. While she may have grown up in the lap of luxury, Viv is more than used to doing for herself and she's not going to let someone else watch over her, even if that some <i>is</i> the handsome detective, Charlie Haverman, that her serial is based on.
Generally, I liked this book. But the way that Charlie treated Viv, though it may be time period appropriate, just made him go down in my book as a lot less likable than he had been. And the same was true of Viv, I just never completely warmed to her. She was ambitious, but not. And she liked Charlie but still felt things for her costar. She was supposed to be smart but did some really dumb things. At least, I think she was supposed to be smart. And, yes, humans are generally contradictory, but SO MUCH contradiction really made it hard for me to find her relatable.

Three stars
This book comes out August 1