Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

Oh God. This book was mostly fabulous. The wit and charm of A Week to be Wicked was very evident in this book and Dare ties together two of her series with the sister of Minerva from AWTBW and the brother from Say Yes to the Marquess. But then. There is the Incident. About three quarters of the way through the book. I hated it. Other readers may, may find it charming but I found it out of character for Piers. And I didn't think that the description of trying to figure out "who did whom in the library" really came through in this book. Loved the characters. Loved the plot (mostly) and I think regular Dare readers will feel the same.
Charlotte Highwood is the youngest of three sisters whose mother was desperate to marry them off. One of her sisters married a viscount amid great scandal and her other sister married a blacksmith. Charlotte has seen from both that the true measure of a marriage isn't from how much a woman can get, but how much she can be loved. Which is why she's so vexed that she's caught alone in the library with Lord Granville, especially since she was trying to warn him about her mother's matchmaking.
For his part, Piers is instantly captivated. Yes, he's supposed to be at this house party to discover whether his host is fit for a government position but Charlotte is more important. How can he win her to be his own when she's so obsessed with finding the lovers and thus freeing herself of their engagement?
I wish we had seen the bratty Frances get her comeuppance (or will we discover in future books that she was just protecting her sister, Delia?) and I'm hoping that we also get to see Delia, Charlotte's best friend, find true love.
Four stars
This book comes out September 27

The Unromantic Lady by Lucy Gordon

I generally enjoyed this re-issue of a 1996 book (I like the new cover much better) but the ending really killed it for me. It was a book with fairly low-level drama until the end when it suddenly got ramped up rather needlessly. I feel like this was rather typical of historical categories but I honestly wasn't really reading those at the time so it's a vague sort of notion.
Diantha is a major heiress who has all sorts of fortune hunters who are after her money, even though she's only <gulp> one generation removed from having earned it. But her mother's family is posh so the most needy gentleman are willing to overlook her background. Too bad she can't be tricked into marriage because she doesn't believe in love. In fact, the man who finally manages to convince her is Rex, the one man who also doesn't believe in love. Rather, he puts the marriage to her as a sort of business deal. And those are terms she can accept. They deal rather well together, even her mild flirtations cause no Big Misunderstandings (so refreshing!). There are some rather nice subplots with marriages of love that start to have both characters questioning their earlier stance and then... Big Misunderstanding! Drama! And... le sigh. This may not be a deal breaker for others but it dropped the book a full star for me.

Three stars
This book came out September 5

Radical Beauty by Deepak Chopra, Kimberly Snyder

This was a really well-written book and a nice collaboration. The thoughts about setting up beauty as pillars is very reminiscent of yogic principles and made a lot of sense. I really enjoyed the in-depth discussion of GMOs and the break out sections were fairly useful. An easy read that was well-edited. I liked the mention of moving in ways that weren't forward and the inclusion of some mantras.
But. There was a lot of repetition from other books (including a lot of references to said previously written books; it was really irritating, why add ads for your other publications?), and not a ton of new information if you know anything about Ayurveda, enjoy reading about yoga and healthy living in general, or have read either of these two authors other materials. Other irritations included the sheer number of ways they told us that veggies were super important (repetition within the book!). I got it the first 56 times. Did we really need it again? And, quite frankly, it sent me running for some chocolate. There were a few points that contradicted themselves like telling us naps were bad and then recommending naps in the grass. And there were just so. many. things to follow. I just to see how the average person is supposed to do them all.

Three stars
This book comes out September 20

A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy

Lady Alkmene Callender is a bit ahead of her time. She's wanting to do more with her life than just sit at home while her father travels the world searching for rare plants. And she gets her chance when she overhears a man proposing to someone but being told that the woman's uncle would never approve. There is a joke that she could marry whomever she pleases when the old man passes away. Lady Alkmene then meets the woman, American actress Evelyn Steinbeck. But, she doesn't meet her for very long. instead, she spends some time talking to her hostess, the Countess of Vivienne, and learns that Evelyn and her uncle were at the theater when a young man came and caused a scene.
It will come as no surprise to mystery readers that the uncle is killed two days later. Alkmene immediately jumps to the conclusion that it was murder and decides to head out and discover if anyone else feels the same. She encounters the countess sitting with a young man who ends up being a reporter. Or a private detective. Either way, he has a lot of contempt for the aristocracy. But he allows Alkmene to tag along because he thinks there something to this issue as well. It's an adventure that's going to take Alkmene out of London and out of her everyday life.
This was definitely a first book. The characters felt fuzzy around the edges, like she was still trying to figure out who they were. And the story is also a bit scattered with story threads not really weaving in smoothly. The author mentions that she did a lot of online research to get clothes and cars, etc. right but the tone... I just finished a mystery actually written in the '20s and the language was SO different. There were so many words and phrases that were just too modern and kept pulling me out of the story.
An okay story but I probably won't keep reading the series.

Three stars
This book comes out September 19
Followed by Diamonds of Death

Courting the Countess by Anne Stenhouse

Melissa, Lady Pateley, has a lot going on. Her beloved husband died (I think three years before the story started?), a recent housefire not only had her caught under a roof timber, she ended up with burns over a lot of her body, and now she's been kidnapped. Not by George Gunn, the man who has made ever-increasingly fervent advances (notable even among the many fortune hunters who hope to marry her right before she dies and leaves them her wealth), but by his second (or more removed) cousin, Harry Gunn.
It seems that Harry's great-uncle has grown concerned over the way George is acting toward Melissa. It's the same way that his father acted toward a debutante, a passion that ended with him climbing into the debutante's room, being captured and sent to the mad house.
Harry is trying to protect Melissa by whisking her away but doesn't realize that his formidable sister, Mrs. Duart, is bent on making sure that Melissa and George marry. Which gives them both pause.
I kept trying to figure out if this was a reprint because this seemed more like an old-skool romance than something from today. There was just SO MUCH going on. It's only 165 pages but there are secrets and then other secrets and then partial secrets... It was a lot. A Lot.
Overall a fast and fluffy read with a light romance not going farther than some heated kissing.

Three stars
This book came out September 9

Baba Jaga by An Leysen

Overall a very nice story. A play on some very familiar storybook themes (one version of Hansel and Gretel has them escaping with a comb and mirror; Cinderella/Snow White with the evil stepmother; Little Red Riding Hood with going to visit a relative; Baba Yaga, the Russian witch who lives in a house with chicken legs). This book has Olga, an orphan whose father has remarried, being sent to her stepmother's sister to ostensibly borrow some needle and thread. However, the real plan is for Baba Yaga to eat Olga. Luckily, because Olga is kind, she has some help in escaping.
Though translated from the original Dutch, this is, in the main, a very nice book.
The illustrations are are absolutely fabulous and the book is worth reading just for those alone.

Four stars
This book comes out September 13

Autumn Allure by Allie Boniface

Was I the only one weirded out that the title is "Autumn Allure" and Autumn is the name of our hero's daughter? I get that "allure" doesn't necessarily mean something, well, mature, but it sure implies it.
Anyway. Reading this book was some slow going. I thought that maybe this was the author's first book because the sentences didn't really flow. It was just sort of choppy. And I never really connected with the characters and couldn't really figure out why they were connecting with each other. I finished it and was okay with the end but couldn't help to wish for a little more.
Maxine "Max" Abbott is a librarian who, in her late twenties, still lives with her mother. Her mother is a former beauty queen who jumped from man to man and is now embarking on a quest to get on the town council.
Nate Hunter is a bar tender who loves his life. He's jumping around from girl to girl all while being footloose and fancy-free. And then. An ex-lover he barely remembers comes and tells him that he has a daughter. Suddenly, the guy who throws out pans and dishes rather than cleaning them is going to be raising a child. At least until her aunt gets back into the country. But his sister is leaving the house they've been sharing and Nate will be on his own with a four-year-old girl.
When Nate overhears Max's mom trying to bully her into being more of a girly-girl and then notices that she seems to connect with Autumn in a way that he can't, he comes up with a solution. Max can move in and help him take care of his daughter.

Three stars
This book comes out September 15