All He Ever Dreamed by Shannon Stacey

Another common romance trope (friends-to-lovers) with another common theme (Wha-huh? My best friend is a girl?) that Stacey manages to breathe some new life into.
Josh Kowalski is anxious to get out of town. He was the default caretaker for his family's lodge and finally admitted to them that he wants his own life, not the one that was left to him.
Katie Davis grew up alongside the Kowalskis. Her mother was their longtime housekeeper and default mother when their own died. She's been in love with Josh since they were kids. And everyone knows it. Except, of course, for Josh. But when Katie's mom falls ill and she moves back to the lodge, it might finally be time for Josh to open up his eyes and see what's been right in front of him all along.

Four stars
Follows All He Ever Desired
Followed by Love a Little Sideways
November 19th, 2012
Listened to on Audible Escape
Opinions are my own

Tide Dance by Danielle Garrett

It's the height of summer and lots of strangers are in town but only one is a silver-haired teen with purple eyes who is caught for stealing. But there's more to her than meets the eye....
REALLY short but just fine. Not sure if it's going to be significant in the series.

Three stars
Follows Lucky Witch
Followed by Tide Dance
This novella came out September 19th, 2018
Borrowed this book as an audiobook
Opinions are my own

All He Ever Needed by Shannon Stacey

I was on quite a Shannon Stacey roll and this book really helped to keep it going.
Mitch Kowalski is in town to help out at the family lodge while his brother recuperates from a broken leg. He left town to evade the gossip and the past that everyone thinks they know about him. But, as long as he's back, he might as well scout out the fresh meat (my terms, Stacey's words are much classier.)
Paige Sullivan has been in town for two years and has finally set down the roots that were missing during her nomadic youth. She's not really interested in a fling with Mitch (though most of the rest of town thinks that she should definitely go for it, and they tell her).
I liked the secondary characters in this book. Yes, they're almost all sequel bait, but their stories are in the background with just enough setup to get a feeling for who they are without taking away from Paige and Mitch's story.
I love the Stacey's books avoid the Big Misunderstanding. When Mitch or Paige has the feels, they tell each other. There is no drawn out, "Oh, he'll change his mind and love me soon..."

Three and a half stars
Follows Yours to Keep
Followed by All He Ever Desired
September 10th, 2012
Listened to on Audible Escape
Opinions are my own

Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

Would you want your husband's ex-wife living with you? A wife who is known for manipulating the people around her? I sure wouldn't. But Mercy Thompson is a kind person who wants to help everyone, especially her stepdaughter's mother. Even if that means that she's made to feel uncomfortable in her own house as the ex hides from a recent bad breakup. Like, he killed her last boyfriend bad breakup.  And... it might be that he's a slightly crazy fire-godlike-creature. Oops.
It will take the might of the full wolf-pack as well as Mercy's vampire friend Stefan to make sure that everyone makes it out alive.
This was a nice, fast read and a good addition to the series. I didn't love seeing Christy getting to walk all over Mercy but at least we're finally starting to see the pack rally behind her.

Three stars
This book came out March 5th, 2013
Follows Frost Burned
Followed by Fire Touched
Borrowed from Library
Opinions are my own

Murder by Milkshake by Eve Lazarus

This book caught my interest when Book Riot talked about the method of killing - arsenic delivered by milkshake. And Lazarus does a deep dive into the story but it's very interesting that, as a biographer, she inserts her own opinions into the story. It is most obvious at the end but it is sort of a thread throughout the book.
I was also slow to wade through the vast amount of information at the beginning and the end. I get that Lazarus did a lot of research (and probably needed to pad the book length) but it was not really interesting to read nor did I really feel like it added anything to the overall story. And there may not have been the research material to learn more about Rene but I wish we had heard more about him in particular.

Three stars
Borrowed this book from the library
This book came out October 1st, 2018
Opinions are my own

Laughter Yoga by Madan Kataria, M.D.

I started this book right before the COVID-19 pandemic got bad in my area and finished it during quarantine. It is definitely hard to read a book about laughter yoga when it seems like the whole world is falling apart. And to that end, I wish that the chapter on laughing without laughter had been longer (and probably would be on rewrites.) Other than that, I think Dr. Kataria did a great job of trying to to describe why laughter yoga works and to utilize it correctly. I vacillated on the overall rating because, though the book was well-written and laid out, there was a lot of self-congratulation that played into the writing. Overall a useful book.


Three and a half stars
This book comes out April 7th
ARC kindly provided by Penguin Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Murder at Enderley Hall by Helena Dixon

In the first book of the series, Kitty Underhay discovered that she had more family than she knew. Now, she's been invited to go visit. And the family lives in a grand estate and have several people other than Kitty visiting. Kitty meets many of them on the first day, including Nanny Thomas who was her cousin Lucy's nanny and is now companion to Kitty's aunt. She is a dithery sort of old woman who is ruthlessly bullied by the lady of the house. But she doesn't know much of anything about anything. So why, after a set of papers relating to the Ministry of Defence go missing, is Nanny the one who ends up dead?
Kitty calls Captain Matthew Bryant, who now has his own investigative agency, to come down and investigate. He is able to come down to help her figure out exactly what is going on.
It took a bit for me to get into this book and I wish there had been more development between Kitty and Matt. Also, the ending was a bit flat but overall a nice book that, when it moved, moved quickly and I'm looking forward to the next.

Four stars
Follows Murder at the Dolphin Hotel
This book came out March 19th
ARC kindly provided by Bookouture and NetGalley
Opinions are my own