Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis

Lanie Jacobs isn't running away from life per se. She's just sort of licking her wounds, recovering from the discovery that her husband was not just her husband. He had, in fact, married at least three other women that we hear about within the first 50 pages or so. Her choice of hideout? The Capriotti winery. She's spending two months living and working there, helping them to rebrand. What she didn't expect was a tight-knit family unit that invites this stand-offish woman into their fold.
Mark Capriotti is a single-dad who is working to make a good life for his six-year-old twin daughters. They are pretty much plot moppets but not super-annoying.
I didn't love Lanie's story. The B plot in this book was not really needed, especially since it was what took up most of the drama in the last third of the book and took away from us seeing Mark and Lanie developing.

Three stars
This book comes out May 30
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley
Follows The Good Luck Sister

Too Wilde to Wed Eloisa James

In the first book of this series,  Lord Roland "North" Northbridge Wilde tried to impress Miss Diana Belgrave by becoming the most fashionable man in London. But she left him anyway. An heir to a duke and he was dumped. He ran away to the war on the Continent. Two years later, he's back... and finds that his family rescued her from poverty. She's been working as his stepmother's governess.
Diana doesn't mind working. It allows her more freedom than living as a debutante ever did. What she does mind is the thought that she may have run him away from his family.
The time they have together lets them get to know each other much better than the time they spent as an engaged couple ever did.
I liked that these two finally did talk to each other... but it took a long time. The ending was a little twee but I've read worse.

Four stars

Follows Wilde in Love

Followed by Born to be Wilde
This book comes out May 29
ARC kindly provided by Edelweiss
Followed by Born to be Wilde

Reread as hard copy from library May 2024

Bitten Under Fire by Heather Long

Bianca Devlin's boss thinks that she needs a vacation. Which is why she's at a posh resort which got attacked and she was pulled into a kidnapping when she instinctively tried to protect a diplomat's son. Bianca is used to dangerous situations. She travels around the world helping people who are less fortunate than she is. But she never expected to end up here. And definitely did not expect that she would get bitten by a wolf.
Carlos "Cage" Castillo didn't mean to bite Bianca. She just accidentally got in the way of the bad guy he was trying to take down. He admired her guts but now he feels like he has to follow her to make sure that he's bite didn't cause any unintended consequences.
I'm somewhat new to shifter books and, while I didn't like this book as much as the Laurenston series, this was an okay read that I think regular readers of shifter novels will enjoy.

Three stars
This book comes out May 28
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Mystifying Mathematical Puzzles by Joseph S. Madachy

This book was pretty disappointing. From the description, I thought it would be a book of puzzles for the reader to solve. Unfortunately, 3/4 of the book was descriptions on how famous puzzles have been solved. For someone who is more interested in the explantions, this would be a good book. If, like me, you are more interested in being the solver, I would skip it. Also good to know, this book was published first in 1966 so some of the puzzles are a little dated.

Two stars
This book comes out May 16

Hot Asset by Lauren Layne

Lara McKenzie has one goal in life. She wants to work for the FBI putting white collar criminals away. And the SEC is a stepping stone to get there. If she can get one big case, she's guaranteed entry.
Ian Bradley made a killing on a stock that everyone else lost their shirts on. Lara's boss has a tip that it's because of insider trading. Just because the man is super-hot doesn't mean that Lara is going to fall under his spell like so many other women.
This was an okay start to a new series. I didn't love that Lara and Ian were supposedly falling in love during such a stressful situation. We didn't get to see much of the relationship.

Three stars
This book comes out May 22
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Fowl of the House of Usher by J.R. Ripley

Amy Simms' ex is in town. Along with the young and gorgeous psychologist he dumped Amy for. The young and gorgeous psychologist who has invited Amy (and her beau) to a dinner party. A dinner party at the Usher House, known in local parts for its... rather eerie atmosphere. Amy's boyfriend can't come and neither can her best friend Kim's. So it's the two of them, headed up the mountain at the start of a snow storm for the most awkward dinner party. Besides the ex and the redhead, there are two couples that Craig is trying to woo into a business proposal and then the caretaker couple that is at the house. The snow builds up, everyone is trapped in the house, and then there's a murder. And another. It's up to Amy to try to figure it out. As long as she's not next on the list.
I didn't love the resolution of the book, it was a little outside what was fairly clued and didn't make much sense. But as locked room mysteries go,  it wasn't bad and I'll keep an eye out for the next in the series.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out May 15
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley

Charmed Bones by Carolyn Haines

Cozy at home, Sarah Booth Delaney is not happy to called out to the Sunflower County Board of Education meeting by Tinkie. It seems that three sisters are applying for state recognition for a boarding school they're opening. The reason people are upset? It's going to be a Wiccan school.
The Harrington sisters have bought a load of property from Trevor Musgrove, a local artist who will be allowed to live on the property until his death. And this isn't a problem until people start dying and the sisters get blamed.
A decent story. The ending was a bit overwrought but I don't think that regular reader's in this series will mind at all.

Three stars
This book comes out May 15th
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley