365 Ways to Live Generously by Sharon Lipinski

This book was literally a day-by-day list of small paragraphs helping people to grow their generosity through 7 habits that they will work on, one for each day. None of the ideas and exercises are spectacular or new (I recognized most of them from other self-help books I've read; I read from a wide variety and it appears the author does too) and include meditating, journaling, and specific exercises for donating both time and money. I was honestly hoping this would be more of an overarching book (by week, not by day).
It's an okay book if you haven't read anything like it before but really nothing new under the sun.

Three books
This book comes out January 8

The Perils of Paulie by Katie Macalister

This whole series has been fairly madcap and this book takes the adventure to TV. Our heroine, Paulie, is the daughter of a floor magnate. A floor magnate with Russian ties. An overprotective super-paranoid floor magnate with Russian ties. Oh, and at twenty-nine-years-old, she's still living at home. Yeah, she tried to leave but her father nearly had a heart attack, literally. But her stepmother, who seems adept at walking the line between Paulie and her father, suggests that Paulie join a reality show. It seems that stepmother is related to Mercy, a character from a previous book. And the reality show is right up Paulie's alley, a modern day remake of the 1908 New York to Paris race and of Nellie Bly's around the world trip, a heroine of Paulie.
Dixon is also on the race, having had a previous relationship with the producer when he was filming at his family's estate on their archaeological dig.
The two immediately feel a vibe. And like the hero of the last book in the series, Dixon has an issue that might make him seem somewhat different than normal. He doesn't like to be touched. And Paulie gets that right away. Which is really nice.
I had some issues with how fast they got together and, damn, Paulie was getting annoying at the end. Also, some parts of the storyline were a little loose, but that is not unusual for McAlister's contemporaries so I don't think regular readers will be disappointed.

Three stars
This book comes out January 3

The Secret Life of Fat by Sylvia Tara

For a book that is tackling a  fairly complicated subject, this was a nice, easy read. Normally, I don't like reading one-person examples (they just can't be spread out to the larger public) but this book made it work by peppering the beginning, middle, and end between the more laborious and intensive scientific studies. It gave each of those studies a more personal feel while giving the personal stories more credence.
I'm not sure on the last chapter with the author's experience. She talks about losing her extra weight but it's SUCH an extreme diet. And, again, it's that one-person-one-outcome that I don't love.

Four stars
This book comes out December 27

Four Weddings and a Sixpence: An Anthology

Something Old by Julia Quinn
The set up of the book. Four girls meet at Madame Rochambeaux's Gentle School for Girls (perfect name for a book about fate and working to choose your own). One day, they discover a sixpence in a mattress and come to decide that it must bring luck. Anne, claims it first even though she's the youngest by two years, because she needs to be married before she's twenty-one (though in the ARC, it says twenty-five in the intro and twenty-one in the story, I assume that will be fixed) leading us into...

Something New by Stefanie Sloane
I hadn't read Ms. Sloane before but am delighted that I haven't missed many books. As far as novellas go, I'm usually very disappointed in how fast characters have to fall in love to make the story work but she played this meeting and relationship beautifully.
The beginning was a bit rough with the exposition being told to a dog but Anne is delightful as is Rhys, the Duke of Dorset. He respects her and she is smitten with him though neither wants to marry the other, he being far too young (a familiar trope) and she being leery of love after seeing her parents' tempestuous match but they spend more and more time together, eventually falling in love.

Four stars

Something Borrowed by Elizabeth Boyle
In the opening, Cordelia was a wealthy young woman but by the time we get to her story, most of her family's wealth has been squandered by her father who has since died. She has been putting off her aunts' urgings to marry by saying that she's engaged. Of course, that's not true. But her rather unorthodox companion has a solution, just ask her childhood friend Kipp, now the fourteenth Earl of Thornton.
Kipp remembers Cordelia well. He also remembers their hope for adventure in the future. But when his older brother died, Kipp had to step up to try and save the family estate. To that end, he's all but proposed to a wealthy and beautiful cit's daughter. But when Cordelia calls on their childhood promise, he's ready to help.
A little too love-at-first-sight for me but generally a good story.

Four stars

<i>Something Blue</i> by Laura Lee Guhrke
Lawrence Blackthorne is not only friends with Kipp, he is long acquainted with the Daventry family. More specifically, Elinor (Ellie) Daventry. It seems her father is something of a scoundrel and Lawrence wants to make sure that Ellie isn't going to try and ride to his rescue. Especially since she's already given up Lawrence, her childhood sweetheart, because he wouldn't stop from prosecuting her father for his crimes. But that doesn't mean he wants to see her married to a pompous ass just because the ass's father sits on the review board.
I didn't like Lawrence as much as the other heroes we've seen thus far. He is very dictatorial and autocratic. Still, a readable story from an author I enjoy.

Three stars

... And a Sixpence in Her Shoe by Julia Quinn
Beatrice (Bea) was the skeptic among the girls. She didn't think that the coin had any powers and definitely doesn't want to get married; it would mean leaving her aunts on their own. But one day she bumps into a man in the street as she's studying the heavens. It's not the eye patch that startles her, but rather the fact that his uncovered eye is the exact color of the sky.
Lord Frederick doesn't realize this. He assumes she's aghast by his disfigurement. When he then meets her again in a paper shop, the encounter goes a little better but it is outside the the butcher that he shows himself to his best form, thwarting a would-be sixpence thief.
The two start to spend more time together and realize how much they have in common.
A little too insta-lovey for me and I didn't feel like we got to know Bea and Frederick as well as the characters in the other stories but I don't think it will spoil the tale for Ms. Quinn's regular readers.

Three and a half stars

Overall 4 stars
This book comes out December 27

Lady Claire Is All That by Maya Rodale

Lady Claire Cavendish is all that is unfashionable, the glasses, the intellect, the gall to be an American. That is why Lord Mowbray chooses her in a bet with Lord Fox to be the woman that Fox can transform her. 
Fox has just suffered a Set Down. He was involved with the most popular woman in the ton, Arabella Vaughn, who jilted him for an actor. An actor. So he decides to salvage his Male Pride (annoyingly in all caps, mentioned frequently) by accepting a bet to make Claire the most popular woman in the ton. But as he gets to know Claire, he stops thinking about Arabella and starts concentrating on what he's learning about this bluestocking. Mainly what he's learning is that he'd very much like to get to know her more.
I mostly enjoyed this book. The Male Pride thing, as I mentioned earlier, was a bit annoying and there was just a teeny bit too much going on so that parts didn't get quite as developed as one might hope. But I'm still looking forward to the story of James and (I hope) Meredith Green, the girls' chaperone.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out December 27

In The Market For Murder by T E Kinsey

The book opens with Lady Hardcastle and Florence, "Flo," going slowly as Lady Hardcastle recovers from the gunshot wound she sustained at the end of the last book. Then they're attend a local market where they  meet a man who is later to die under suspicious circumstances. But that's not the only suspicious thing happening in town. There's a ghost, a medium who may or may not be a fake, and the theft of a trophy from the local rugby club.
All of the mysteries are woven together pretty nicely... until the end. Then it feels a little choppy. But overall a fast and enjoyable read.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out December 20
Follows A Quiet Life in the Country
Followed by Death Around the Bend

Something Foul at Sweetwater by Sandra Bretting

I thought I had read the first book in this series but actually had not. So it was a little interesting jumping into the series mid-stream but it was fairly easy to catch up.
Missy Dubois is a hat designer, specifically wedding hats. I had no idea that someone did that still so it was an interesting premise there. She is very interested in the local mansions and is ecstatic to discover that one is on the market for only $250,000. And the realtor is an old sorority sister. Unfortunately, an old sorority sister who ends up dead. Missy is determined to solve the mystery.
I really liked that there was no ridiculous love triangle in this book. There are two men but one is firmly in the friend category and even encourages Missy to go after the other guy.
Interestingly, Missy is encouraged in her investigations by the main cop, something you don't normally see.
Overall, it was an okay series. But there was a lot going on. A LOT. Especially for a book under 200 pages. I'm not sure if I'll read the rest of the books in this series but I definitely believe there are people who will like this book more than I did. Those who like sweet contemporary cozies set in the South will for sure like this book.

Three stars
This book comes out December 20