Hope at Christmas by Nancy Naigle

Sydney Ragsdale is grateful that she has her grandparents old house to retreat to after her divorce. It is cold and drafty but full of good memories. She has a job that will start in a few weeks and she hopes that her daughter, Ray Anne, will be happy there. Sydney is especially excited to have a part-time job at the local bookstore run by Bea. 
Kevin "Mac" MacAlea loves Hopewell. It's the reason he moved back here to be a teacher at the high school as well as a baseball coach. He's raising his son on his own after the boy's mother just walked out. So far, he's not feeling like he's missing anything. But he does see Sydney and figures he can always help a new neighbor learn to love his town too. 
There was a Big Incident at the end which seemed a little overwrought to me but otherwise was a good book. I also wished we had gotten to see a little bit more of Sydney and Mac's relationship since the book ended more or less at the beginning of a relationship.

Three stars

This book came out October 10th, 2017

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Her Big City Neighbor by Jackie Lau

I only discovered Jackie Lau last year even though the Smart Bitches have talked about her for years. Her characters are captivating and her stories are generally pretty fun even if the last Big Misunderstanding in this one was a bit forced.
Victor Choi is still mourning the loss of his brother five years ago. And I did think the mourning was handled realistically (having lost my own brother just over 2 years ago, I connected with him.) He was always the more serious sibling but now he is downright dour. His new neighbor, Amy Sharpe, is exactly the opposite. 
Thirty years old and entering grad school, Amy inherited a house in Toronto from her great aunt and is delighted. She gets to try new foods, she gets to meet new people... like the hottie next door who tends to mow his grass with his shirt off (we hear about that a LOT). Sure, he's handsome and good in bed but he needs to step it up. Amy spent years in a relationship where she put in the majority of the work. But first he needs to pull his head out of his own ass.

Three and a half stars

Followed by His Grumpy Childhood Friend

ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

This book came out September 8th, 2020

Bait and Witch by Angela M. Sanders

Josie Way used to work for the Library of Congress but, after entering the witness protection program, she moves to Oregon where she becomes the librarian of a small town. What she quickly discovers is that the library, the legacy of one of the town's now disgraced founding family, is soon to be demolished. But she is ready to fight for the library, especially when the books begin whispering to her. 
First books often have the heavy lifting of having to establish not only characters but the world in which they live. Josie is only just finding out that her family has magical powers so there is a lot of story before we even find out more about where her powers come from and how they manifest. IT was an okay book but I hope the witchy side is built out more in subsequent books.

Three stars

Followed by Seven-Year Witch

This book came out December 29, 2020

ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Badass Habits by Jen Sincero

Benjamin Franklin had a theory that some people are abstainers and some people are moderators. Jen Sincero is definitely a moderator and seems to assume that everyone else is as well. If you know yourself to be an abstainer, this book is not going to be for you. Otherwise, if you know that you are a moderator and that you love Sincero's books, I think you will delight in this new addition.

Two and a half stars

This book came out December 1st, 2020

ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Recycled Citizen by Charlotte MacLeod

Sarah is about eight months pregnant but she and Max are still out and about even visiting the Senior Center her cousins Dolph and Mary run. It is somewhat a charity but really allows homeless seniors a place to stay that is warm and dry. They can volunteer to earn things like stockings (most of them preferring not to get money) or they can bring in recycling that the center can then turn in for money. In a previous book, Dolph had inherited a house stuffed-full of ... well, stuff. In this book, our favorite characters decide to auction off all of that stuff in order to raise money for the center and the warehouse they are turning into housing. Unfortunately, one of the seniors has been found dead by an apparent mugging and it sends them all down a rabbit hole.
The storyline was engaging and character development lovely. The mystery itself was... well, just an odd solution but in line with the rest of the books in the series.

Three stars

This book came out in 1988

Follows The Plain Old Man

Followed by The Silver Ghost 

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Must Love Familiars by R.E. Butler

This book was a really interesting mix of super sweet and innocent (yucky, make out, etc.) and sort of dirty (the sex is open door.) It took me awhile to get into the story but I'm really glad that I got to the end where I read about the publishers. This particular book may not have really resonated with me but I love what they are trying to do. 
It took me awhile to get into the book because a lot of the beginning sentences were so simple so there were a lot of stoppers. And there was a LOT of world building in there. But it was an interesting story between a vampire and a witch. He's a sheriff and she is in charge of the local shelter. And this particular shelter is for familiars only. I wish we had seen more of the shelters and the adoption process; there were no successes only one failure though that failure was well explained.

Three stars

This book came out February 1st, 2021

eBook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Hopcross Jilly by Patricia Briggs

This book focuses a little bit more on Jesse Hauptman though parts still are told from Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson's point of view. It is a nice addition to the Mercy Thompson series but I wouldn't suggest reading it unless you've read other books in the series.
Mercy and a pack of wolves discover a skeleton one night while they are out hunting. It turns out that there are actually four skeletons, pointing in the four cardinal directions. And as the police come in and start looking, those aren't the only four.
At the same time, Jesse is being ostracized at school because of her relationship with the wolf pack. But there is one new girl, Jillian, who seems interested in being her friend.  But she's just a little odd herself and Jesse isn't sure she's a friend worth having.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 10th, 2015

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own