Confounding Case of the Carisbrook Emeralds by Stephanie Laurens

I had thought of this as being Laurens' mystery series but, as usual, it is more about the relationships and the characters than the actual mystery. Which I am okay with. We have a very lovely romance between Hugo Adair and Cara Di Abaccio. 
We are dropped in when Cara's aunt accuses her of stealing the Carisbrook emeralds. Of course, she is innocent but no one is willing to go against her aunt. No one except Hugo that is. He immediately realizes someting is wrong when she doesn't come to church and finds her at Scotland Yard. Of course, Inspector Stokes immediately also realizes that she is innocent and sets out with Barnaby and Penelope to clear her name. 
The solution ends up being rather convoluted with many layers but I don't know if people are reading these for the mysteries.

Three stars

Follows Loving Rose

Followed by The Murder at Mandeville Hall

This book came out June 14th, 2018

Opinions are my own

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

I was really not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. The cover and the description drew me in. I hadn't read the first book and felt physically disappointed that I hadn't when I finished The Dating Plan. The characters were well drawn. I really felt like I knew Daisy and what made her tick. Would my family ambush me with a prospective date at a convention? No, but they have at church. It's embarrassing no matter how you cut it. But Daisy, who doesn't admit to having many social skills, handles it. Not with ease. Especially since she's just seen her ex-boyfriend making out with her ex-boss in the bathroom. And what's worse is that she was thrown off by seeing her brother's childhood best friend at the conference. The same guy who stood her up for her senior prom. But that was ten years ago, so she's not bitter. Really. Oh heck, she sure is.

Liam Murphy is delighted to see Daisy again. Her family was warm and welcoming to him when his own was not. Surely she must be over the whole prom thing... oops. Even better, because when he needs to be married for a year in order to inherit his grandfather's business, who better than someone who hates him?

Four stars

Follows The Marriage Game

Followed by The Singles Table

This book comes out March 16th

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai

Layla Patel has become famous. And not for a good reason. Too bad her loss of anonymity also led to the loss of her boyfriend, her apartment, and her job. Now she is trying to get her own recruitment agency started up above her parents' restaurant while also trying to live up to the ideal image her parents have of her brother who died. It was, in fact, his idea to move the family business to this larger location. Now she's also trying to keep it together when her dad has a heart attack the day she returns. She doesn't need to deal with a guy claiming that her office space is his own.
Sam Mehta has a rough family history as well. He gave up a promising career to become a surgeon when his sister's husband through her down some stairs paralyzing her. But the hospital where both Sam and the husband worked refused to hold him responsible. So Sam is now a corporate downsizer, the man who comes in and fires people. He's not exactly happy but he has plans to get even. But Layla is distracting him. Apparently her father was trying to find her a husband and the ten candidates are nowhere near good enough.
A lovely book. I read the second book in the series and enjoyed it a little bit more but this one was good as well.

Four stars

Followed by The Dating Plan

This book came out June 9th, 2020

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

Harriet "Hal" Westaway is at the end of her rope. Her mother died three years ago and she is barely hanging on to her apartment and her lease at the pier where she tells fortunes. There is a loan shark after her and she is frightened. When a letter comes from a lawyer telling her that she has an inheritance, she is delighted. And then defeated. The letter obviously isn't meant for her but for someone else. She decides to spend the last of her money anyway and go to the funeral for Mrs. Westaway. 
It is there she meets the Westaway clan. They have a past like any other family but theirs seems especially dark and Hal is going to have to think quick to make it out alive.
I didn't like this book at first; it was sort of slow going. But then I got sucked in and enjoyed the story.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 19th, 2019

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Well Played by Jen DeLuca

Willow Creek is fine for a small town but Stacey always thought she'd leave. But it's been years since her mother had a nearly fatal heart attack bringing Stacey back. The highlight of her summers has been the local Ren faire and even there, she hasn't changed much since she started in as a teen. That is really brought home to her when her friends Emily and Simon get engaged and start planning the wedding. They are moving forward but Stacey is not. 
One evening after a little too much wine, Stacey emails her summer hookup seeing if there might be something more. He responds and the two are soon in an epistolary relationship. We still see everything from a third person omniscient side of Stacey as she starts to slowly fall for the person on the other end of her screen.
I loved that the potential Big Misunderstanding was cleared up early but didn't love that it was twisted in the end. Still, a good book and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

Three stars

This book came out September 22nd, 2020

Follows Well Met

Followed by Well Matched

Borrowed as an audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Street of the Five Moons by Elizabeth Peters

 A great example of why I love this series even though it's ... 40 years old? Good Lord. So self-referential (you would never meet the villain at the end) and wry. Vicky Bliss is a fantabulous character. A blonde with a body like a centerfold, a mind like a steel trap, and the wit to keep you reading.
This time, there are replicas of famous items that are being put out into the world, including one from her very own university. So Vicky's off to Rome to figure out what's going on. Her adventures are fun and fascinating. As is John Smythe, the Englishman she meets along the way. 
The mystery is fairly clued with the reader able to guess the villain(s?) fairly easily. And all of the characters are painted so vividly including secondary characters like Herr Schmidt, the Italian principessa, Bruno, the Italian count as well as his son, his mother, and his mistress. Even Caesar the dog.

Three and a half stars

Follows Borrower of the Night

Followed by Silhouette in Scarlet

This book came out in 1978

Borrowed as an ebook from the CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Fall of Shane MacKade by Nora Roberts

Shane MacKade's brothers are dropping like flies. He loves women as much as the rest of them, but, only one for the rest of his life? Uh uh, no way. 
Then, Regan's younger friend comes to town. Dr. Rebecca Knight is interested in... well, everything. She's a nerd. It's only been the last few months that she's been able to come into her own, as a woman. Before that, she was your quintessential workaholic. Shaggy hair, no makeup, the whole nine yards. But she's put herself together and is on to her latest research, haunted houses. And, well, Shane has one of those. 
So, the fact that they're highly attracted to each other is somewhat inconvenient. Especially since Shane's not a settling down kind of man, but Regan is most definitely a marrying kind of woman.
I usually read this book when I read the rest of the series but probably wouldn't read it otherwise because Shane is definitely an alphahole womanizer who is changed by the love a magical, virginal vageen.

Two and a half stars

Follows The Heart of Devin MacKade

This book came out April 1st, 1996

Ebook from Kindle

Opinions are my own