Thread Doodling by Carina Envoldsen-Harris

A little bit of a different look at crafting. You get the requisite beginning pages teaching you some basic stitches. I hadn't seen the butterfly before so that was neat. I also liked that Envoldsen-Harris really encourages you to make designs your own but also has suggestions on how to do that if you aren't particularly a natural at doing things like that (points to self.) 

Is this book going to set the crafting world on it's head? Not really. But there are fun designs that you can print out and transfer, vibrant colors, and a sense of whimsy that you can gather in and update in your own style.

Four stars

This book came out August 4th

ARC kindly provided by Search Press and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Duke Effect by Sophie Jordan

A female in a time when women aren't allowed to be doctors, Nora has taken on her deceased father's name in responding to correspondence about medical matters. But one specific set of letters comes back to bite her.
Formerly of the King's army, Colonel Constantine Sinclair's three male cousins have all died and he is now the direct heir to a duke so he's back in England to learn his new position. He is not happy to learn that the man whose letters he so looked forward to are from a twenty-year-old girl. But then she decides that she is going to insert herself into solving a family medical mystery and proving to Constantine that she really can do the things she promised.
I really struggled with the rating on this one because Jordan is an amazing writer but... I really disliked Nora. She was SO annoyingly headstrong, not listening to anyone else in the story. That can sometimes be overcome if a character's decisions make some sort of sense but Nora's aren't very logical to the context of the story. 

Two and a half stars

This book come out October 27th

Follows The Virgin and the Rogue

ARC kindly provided by HarpersCollins Publishers and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

My Last Duchess by Eloisa James

Hugo Wilde, the Duke of Lindow, has just received his divorce decree. His faithless second wife is no longer "his wife." His twin sister is encouraging him to go to London and try to find a third wife. Hugo is not excited at the thought but he is realistic. While his oldest four children are close to grown, his younger four will definitely need a mother. At his first ball, he spots Ophelia, Lady Astley and falls immediately in love. And for the purposes of the novella, it is a pretty true love but when she says to back off, he does (what? I love it!) because the course to true love can't run smooth even for a duke in a novella. 

This was a fast and fun read even with one of my least favorite tropes (love at first sight). Getting to see how Hugo convinced Phee to marry a man with eight children (though his kids seemed to do most of the convincing) was the light story that I needed right now.

Four stars

This book comes out October 27th

Prequel to Wilde in Love

ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins Publishers

Opinions are my own

One True Pairing by Cathy Yardley

Hailey Frost loves Mystics, a sci-fi TV show with three male leads, but that doesn't mean that she expects Jake Reese to wander into her second job, hiding from a horde of screaming, clothes-ripping fans. Nor does she expect that she will enter into a mutually beneficial fake relationship with him; she'll help boost his Q store but creating a romance story between a star and his fan while he'll boost her family's failing bookstore.

A fun and quirky story with characters that were easy to relate too. Hailey might have been a little too prickly and Jake just a little too cinnamon roll but I did get past that eventually.

Fours stars

Followed by Game of Hearts

This book came out July 25th, 2017

Borrowed as an audiobook from Audible Escape

Opinions are my own

The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman

 I've had mixed results reading the books off the NPR's Book Concierge. I had read Lolita in high school and reading about the story behind the book seemed interesting. 
The book is an okay read if you can past the subject matter (for instance, I could only read this during daylight hours). There's not a lot of focus on the story and Weinman talks a lot about the lack of information surrounding the case. Instead, we get quite a bit of speculation. Which, to be fair, she does clearly state when it's happening.

Three stars

This book came out September 11th, 2018

Borrowed as a hard copy from the library

Opinions our my own

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen

 The President is in town and that means his most ardent supporters, including a group of wealthy white women known as the POTUSussies. Too bad one of them has disappeared... and in a truly gruesome manner. What follows is a classic Hiaasen romp with a story that layers upon itself in delightful ways. You've got a one-handed, vindictive poacher who is chasing down the person we follow most in this series, Angela 'Angie' Armstrong, former felon and vet student, now someone who comes in and cleans out the animals you don't want in your home. Or on your golf course...

If you like Hiaasen, you will enjoy seeing characters from earlier books in the series. If you've never read Hiaasen but enjoy a good political satire, this is also going to be the book for you.
Four stars

This book came out September 29th, 2020
Borrowed as a hard copy from the library
Opinions are my own

The Vampire’s Fake Fiancée by Kristen Painter

This was one of my favorite books in the series with a heroine who hides her light under the bushel of being a librarian. She does love books but part of that is an effort to run away from what she was born to be, a Valkyrie. But right now, she’s a fake fiancée.
Sebastian Ellingham promised his mentor that he would marry the man’s daughter, a cosseted brat who didn’t get any better once she was turned into a vampire. Now, she’s back in town but Sebastian just wants one thing, to get a divorce. That’s where Tessa Blythe comes in. He needs a fiancée, she needs a job. It turns out he has a job to offer if she can pretend to be his lady love until his wife leaves.



Three stars
Follows The Werewolf's Christmas Wish
Followed by A Vampire's Valentine Surprise

Borrowed as an audiobook from Audible
This novella came out February 8th, 2016
Opinions are my own