Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

I didn't even read the description of this book; I loved the title so much I requested it from NetGalley. And really, really enjoyed it. Petersen takes aspects of what women aren't supposed to be in today's culture and applies it to famous women. Melissa McCarthy is too fat, Nicky Minaj is too slutty, etc. Then she dissects why these women (and their adjectives) are so divisive. Is it the women themselves or the norms that they're bucking?
A highly enjoyable book and a fast read.

This book came out June 20
Four stars

Mind Over Matter by Nora Roberts

This book was originally published in 1994 and I should have suspected that I had read it before but the description on NetGalley didn't sound familiar. Once I started reading the story, I did remember more. While it feels a wee bit dated, this book actually isn't too bad for being 23 years old. Hero David Brady is a little alpha-male-ish but it's not any worse than some of the more recent books I've read. He's a big-shot documentarian (think Ken Burns) who is doing a show on psychics.
AJ Fields is the agent for one of those psychics, Clarissa. But she's reluctant to put Clarissa to yet another battery of tests. And she's even more reluctant to explore the draw she's feeling for David. But we get to see the two of them fall in love, figure out their relationship, and find their HEA.

The ebook comes out July 17
Three and a half stars

Women In Sports by Rachel Ignotofsky

I really enjoyed the layout of this book. Each of the women got a page describing their feats as well as trivia around the edges of the main text. They author chose fifty women and showed how they contributed to a wide range of sports.
It got a little wearing after a while to read these short snippets. It didn't hold my attention. So while this book may not have been a good fit for me, someone who loves short, tight writing in their informative fiction might really enjoy this book.

Three stars
This book comes out July 18

Heart Stop by Radclyffe

Olivia Price is peeved. She has narrowed down her choices for the three fellowship positions but has just been told that she must make room for Jay Reynolds. She's definitely not enthused. Especially after meeting Jay.
Jay isn't exactly sure that she wants to move into the morgue after having been a trauma surgeon. Being a surgeon was the culmination of a lifelong dream. Working with dead people. Not so much. Until she starts working with the delectable Olivia Price and Jay realizes exactly how much she can learn.
A nice short story but there is a lot of overlap from previous books in the series which means we don't get as much of Jay and Olivia's story as I would have liked.


Three stars
This book comes out July 18

Bonnie and the Beast by Alexa Black

At 26 pages, this was a really, really short book that was mostly... well, it wasn't character development, that's for sure. It would have made a nice first chapter for a book but since it was set up as being an entire book... not as enjoyable.
This is a twist on Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is a woman who actually seems to have grown to enjoy her beast-hood. Bonnie (our erstwhile Beauty), meanwhile, has a few more tricks up her sleeve than just looking good.

Three stars
This book comes out July 19

Killer Party by Lynn Cahoon

Jill Gardner is getting used to living with her sheriff boyfriend Greg and now she's joining him and his  high school friends at a local museum/historical site/hotel-ish type thing. Levi, it seems, is about to get married and he wants a bachelor party weekend. But Jill is not amused when it seems like the men's needs come first while the women are left to fend for themselves. And Greg's high school friends seem stuck in the past and that includes a lot of juvenile behavior. Don't even get her started on the groom-to-be. When he ends up dead in a pool, there are a number of suspects. The friend who invested with Levi and lost his life savings is one. Then there's Levi's fiancee who seems to be hiding something. There's a mysterious disappearance from the men's past that might be coming up again.
One of my frustrations with this book is that there are a lot of well-developed possibilities for the killer but the end comes out of left field. Mid-left field because I saw it coming but I really hoped that it wasn't so. And that ending? Ufda.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out July 18
Followed by Memories and Murder

Spellbinder by Thea Harrison

How do you take the villain from the first book, and not just the villain, but, like, a super bad no good horrible very bad villain, and make him the hero of your second book? Well, somehow Thea Harrison manages.
In  Moonshadow, a gender-flipped, slightly differently spelled Morgan le Fae is a wicked wizard/lycanthrope. In this book he's revealed to be a slave to the evil Isabeau, bound to follow her every command. So when she commands him not to come into her sight until he's healed, Morgan takes full advantage and makes plans to stay injured for as long as possible. While he's "on vacation," he hears about Sidonie Martel. She is a fabulous violinist and Morgan has always been drawn to music even if he doesn't play anymore. He, like many of her audience, is completely entranced. Too bad his interest brings Sidonie to the attention of Robin/Puck who kidnaps Sidonie and delivers her to Isabeau in an effort to get even with Morgan.
Sidonie has no idea what's going on. One minute she's on the road after a concert, the next she's in Avalon, the prisoner of vindictive queen who has her hands broken. But then, a mysterious force comes to heal her and protect her. Over time, she learns to trust this man she doesn't see, but isn't sure how they can ever be together.
A lovely story that continues the world-building I enjoyed in the first book.

Four stars
This book comes out July 18

Follows Moonshadow
Followed by Lionheart