Dating by the Book by Mary Ann Marlowe

Owning a bookstore in small town Indiana is all Maddie Hanson ever wanted to do.  And she's living her dream. To bad it came at the expense of her with marriage. 6 months ago her fiance issued an ultimatum it was either him or the town. She chose the town.
Now she's struggling to pay back her ex for his part of the store's mortgage, trying to keep up on shop repairs, and emailing the guy who gave her about-to-be-published debut novel a three star rating. The last starts as a scathing reply to his review and ends up as a back and forth between two people who are starting to get to know each other.
As a woman in her late 20s, one who was going to be married just a year ago, Maddie is very obsessed with finding the hero of her story. She is a romance reader in the sense that she tends towards the classics, she discusses Jane Eeyre, Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Gone with the Wind. And other readers may find it a bit much but I think there is a time in your life when you really do look at everyone you encounter as a possible romantic lead in the story of your own life. I wish there had been more with Maddie's relationship with her mother and her friend Layla.

Four stars
This book comes out June 25th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Clause & Effect by Kaitlyn Dunnett

After her husband died, Mikki Lincoln didn't want to stay in Maine. She discovered that her childhood home was for sale and immediately moved back. Her current pension can't support both her and her home repairs so she is taking on work editing. But she has also been roped in to helping the hamlet put on their 225th anniversary celebration complete with updating the play used at the 200th. But something is amiss. The original play used the wrong story. And then there's the body found wrapped in plastic inside the walls of the library.
Mikki also is dealing with the rift between her best friend and the friend's sister, an unexpected distant relative, and the fact that she's a known sleuth, meaning that someone is worried that she is looking into the murder.
I didn't read the first book in the series and I don't think that I missed much except maybe some character building. I got a gloss of Mikki but not much more than that. She's almost 70 and not quite crochety but maybe heading there? It's hard to tell in this story.

Three stars
This book comes out June 25th
ARC kindly provided by Kensington and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

Lady Betsy Wilde's mother ran away from her father during a scandalous affair. Gossips claim that one of her children (Betsy's sibling) may not be the Duke's child. And Betsy knows that she has her mother's blood. Before she settles into a nice, sedate marriage with no passion, she wants to rack up as many proposals as possible, just to show those snobs from her boarding school that she is better than them. Fourteen proposals later, she has snared one from a duke. But she's annoyed that he proposes in front of the family hanger-on, Lord Jeremy Roden.
Lord Jeremy doesn't have much time for Betsy. He knows what she wants and he disapproves. In his opinion, she should be living her life to the fullest extent possible and not settling for the staid Thaddeus. He is willing to indulge Betsy when she proposes a billiards match. If she wins, he will take her on an adventure. And, while this is a trope we've seen before, Jeremy is surprisingly pragmatic about it. He wants to make sure that they are properly chaperoned, even on the adventure. He is also very aware that his PTSD makes him a freak in his lifetime.
This is definitely not the normal adventure story. For one thing, Betsy's other suitor and his mother come along as well as her aunt. And I liked that twist. I did not like that there was a "villain" sort of squished into the story just so that there would be one. Other than that, I do hope that we get to see Thaddeus again because he seemed like a genuinely good guy and his mother is amazing.

Four stars
This book comes out June 25th
Follows Born to Be Wilde
Followed by Say Yes to the Duke
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins, NetGalley, and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Reread as hard copy from the library June 2024

The Lemon Sisters by Jill Shalvis

Brooke's life isn't going great. Rather than being out in the field, shooting the travel documentaries that she loved, she's behind the scenes as a producer. Her OCD is barely contained and one of the guys she's working with is also someone she's sleeps with occasionally which is usually okay but can also cause some tensions. Next to her perfect sister, she feels like she's a mess.
Mindy's always been the one who got straight As. She married her high school sweetheart and has three beautiful children. She's living the dream. So why is she outside Brooke's door right now? And weeping in Brooke's bed while her children run around?
The sisters will learn that they need to work with each other to resolve the issues in their past that will help free up their future.
There is a trend right now for romance authors to work more in the Women's Fiction genre and that's what this book felt like to me -- more about the bond between sisters than any romance. And that made it kind of flat for me because I didn't really relate to either Brooke or Mindy. It's Shalvis, so I liked it but her strengths are usually her characters and they just weren't there.

Two and a half stars
This book comes out June 18
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Some Like It Scandalous by Maya Rodale

Daisy Swann has hated Theodore Prescott the Third since he named her Ugly Duck Daisy. She knows she's plain. She's known it since they were kids. She doesn't need people quacking at her as she walks into ballrooms to remind her. Especially since Teddy is an annoying example of male perfection.
But Teddy's life isn't all grand. He's finally landed himself in a scandal large enough for his father to finally cut him off. And Teddy knows that, other than being charming and handsome, he doesn't have a lot going for him. He's not especially good at anything except coming up with rude names for young girls.
It's too bad that their parents would like Daisy and Teddy to be married. Neither is happy about that idea but it is Daisy who suggests that they go along with it... for awhile. Hopefully she can get her cosmetics company started up to make money before her father's bankruptcy is discovered.
This is a romance, so of course their plans will go awry. But it is a lovely journey seeing how Daisy and Teddy learn to understand each other and learn to work with each other to face the world. And I really liked the author's note for this book. Rodale's explanation for how and why she developed the characters that are showing up in this series brought the characters even more to life.

Four stars
This book comes out on June 18th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Cowboy to the Core by Maisey Yates

The youngest Dodge sibling, little sister Jamie gets her HEA in this story from the Gold Valley series. In previous books, we've gotten to see that she is restless. Growing up without a mother, she is positive that she couldn't miss what she never had. There's been nothing that has made her want to be a girly girl or become "pretty," she's just beyond ready for a change in her life. Ready to take charge of her own life and become a barrel racer. To do that, she's accepted a job taking care of retired rodeo horses at the Dalton place.
Gabe Dalton never wanted to be a bronc rider. Rather than going into the rodeo, he wanted to be a rancher. He saw how his father, also part of the rodeo scene, cheated on his mother and how unhappy it made both of them. Short-term? Sure. Can he do that with one of his employees? He's sure willing to try. Surprisingly (okay, this is a romance so maybe not SO surprising), something that's supposed to be just physical starts helping both Jamie and Gabe grow in ways they never expected.
I really wish Ms. Yates would branch out from the innocent young virgin and overly experienced older man. Like, Gold Valley is somehow populated with pristine young ladies but yet the male population has enough other women to be so practiced they probably should be getting tested even years later.  Good Time Cowboy had a woman who was previously married but that's the only one I can recall. Would be nice for more of a shake-up.

Three stars
This book comes out June 18th
Follows Unbroken Cowboy
Followed by Lone Wolf Cowboy
ARC kindly provided by Harlequin and NetGalley
Opinions expressed are my own

Reading while unemployed

Today would have been the 14th anniversary of my time with my former employer had I not quit about a month ago. It was becoming more and more clear that the company's priorities were different than they had been. And I was never going to measure up to the (unrealistic?) expectations set by a revolving door of bosses. So, I saved up my money, found a couple of contract jobs, and turned in my resignation.
During the last month, I've employed a number of self-care techniques including travel (which isn't something I normally do) and reading (which is a life-long passion.) I've also taken the time to nook-and-cranny my house and my online life. What does that mean? I'm going through everything, everything, to see whether or not it serves me. And what am I noticing? If I had been paying closer attention, I would have noticed my unhappiness a lot sooner.
When my life is going well, I never let my blog posts pile up. I had to go through almost 2,000 posts to catch up. When my life is going well, my ratings on books are inevitably higher (I'm guessing that's true for everyone). There were a lot of two and three stars reviews from me 7/8 months ago. When my life is going well, my TBR is usually at the same level or going slightly down (unless I go to book conferences... but that's another story) and it was going up and up and up and stressing me out.
Right now, I am thankful. Thankful that I am in a place where I don't have to work in a job that is so toxic just to make the rent. Thankful that I am getting to a place where I am exercising every day, even if that only means a 30 minute walk with my dog. Thankful that I can take some time to cull down my TBR as well as re-read old favorites. I am thankful that the friends who have been telling me for over a year that it is time to get out aren't saying, "I told you so" although it is well within their rights. Thankful that my therapist was able to cut through the bullshit and figure out what was really bothering me.

tl;dr Take care of yourselves -- try to use your books to figure out when you're in a life slump -- self-care is never a bad thing