The Sweet Taste of Sin by Ember Casey

This might be an interesting series later but this book needed just a little more character growth for me to believe that this was going to be an HEA.
Ashlyn is happy (more or less) running her bakery and avoiding her one and only True Love Dante Fontaine, yes, of the Hollywood Fontaines. But then she runs into him (in a situation that is one that pops up in romance novels but isn't one of my favorites.) And he realizes that she is still his True Love and he might have a chance (or something like that). Then he keeps running after her because he wants her even though she repeatedly says "No, nope, nopity nope." Usually I would DNF after about the third instance of this but I was tired and somehow kept going. 
They eventually do end up together but there was not near enough groveling and I'm not exactly sure why she took him back other than her lady bits kept telling her to.

Two stars

Followed by The Lies Between the Lines
This book came out February 5th, 2019

Ebook of mine on Kindle

Opinions are my own

The Way the Story Goes by Samantha Chase

Mia Kingsley, thriller writer, is in Magnolia Sound battling a bad case of writer's block. She escaped from Boston because her house is being renovated and the noise was too much. Beach in the off season? Why yes, that might help her write. And being around her best friend/assistant might help as well. Not helping? The construction sounds coming from next door. They start early, end late, and are often accompanied by 80s songs and a man's off-key singing.

Austin Coleman needed some time away from Baltimore. His hot temper made it easy to jump at the chance to do a renovation for his friend's brother. While Austin is an architect by trade, he can apparently jump in and do some... carpentry? general construction? (not really explained in the book) to keep the house moving along. He didn't realize that there was someone living next door. Nor does he look before he heaves a sink over the deck, narrowly missing Mia.

And thus begins their romance. Chase's books are usually a smidge under 200 pages and I think they could often be longer. In this book, we don't really get to see Austin grow past the issues he had that got him out of Baltimore. Nor do we ever see Mia really standing up to her parents. It's a short book and I really did believe that they might have an HEA because they did, for the most part, talk to each other. 

Three stars

Follows Last Beautiful Girl

Followed by The Way the Story Goes

This book came out January 12th, 2021

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Last Beautiful Girl by Samantha Chase

Sydney Albright has returned to Magnolia Sound to take care of her twelve-year-old niece, Haley. Haley's parents died in an accident and Sydney doesn't have the heart to move her out of the home that her parents just bought. Too bad it is a BIG fixer upper. Like, the people in town have started raising money to help her pay to get it livable fixer upper. And it's just her luck that Kyle Jones is the man who is spearheading the renovations. 

Kyle is ecstatic to get a chance to grow his career but is leery about  seeing Sydney again. But this is a romance so the two start feeling Those Old Familiar Feelings and they become a couple. There are a few speed bumps along the way but about halfway through the book, they are already talking about love and are careening toward forever. Which, of course, means that there will be a BIG SOMETHING (not a misunderstanding) that will still stand in their way. In my mind, it is sort of a series of things connected to Haley and I could understand the first part and, while the second might actually happen in real life, It was a little overblown for my tastes.

Three stars

Follows Can't Help Falling in Love

Followed by The Way the Story Goes

This book came out September 28th, 2020

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

Diana and Jeremy know each other when both are young. She is on the marriage mart and already knows that her best hope at a bright future is going to be a brilliant match. Therefore, she has little interest in Jeremy who is a fine enough gentleman but he is often drunk and doesn't seem to be building the family coffers.

Five years later, Lady Templeton is now widowed and is a good friend of Jeremy. In fact, they are well-known for making a series of bets with each other. Their latest wager is that Jeremy will be married within a year. It is somewhat hobbled by the fact that Jeremy, though known to have hopped into the beds of most of the married women of the ton, is now doubting his own prowess based on comments from his last mistress... er, lover. While he could have broken it off with her in a better manner (while still in bed with her after making love), he still wonders if she is telling the truth.  Jeremy thinks they could have some mutual gain by embarking on an affair. He can find out the truth of his skill in bed and Diana can let other men know that she is accepting lovers. A house party at Jeremy's seems the perfect place to begin an affair and to get Jeremy set up with the perfect woman... Lady Helen.

However, this is a romance so not all goes as expected.

Diana was delightful. She knew (for the most part) what she wanted in life and she went for it. Jeremy was also built out really well and I enjoyed seeing them go from friends to lovers. So much that I might even check out Waters' first book which I didn't think I'd enjoy but I'm curious about the characters.

I really hope that we get a story with Emily and her beau, Julian Belfry.

Four stars

This book come out April 6th

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Unicorn Famous by Dana Simpson

Another fabulous book from Dana Simpson. Though the stories show the life of a grade schooler, she doesn't talk down to them and even includes a glossary in every book because her vocabulary might be above their reading level.

Phoebe and Marigold are back again talking about unicorn fashion and going to the goblin awards as well as a water park. We learn more about unicorn lore including what unicorns used to think about thunder and a story about caring what others think. 

One of my favorite storylines is the relationship between Phoebe and her frenemy Dakota. I'm loving seeing how they went from mean girl and the person she bullied to both of them slowly growing. 

Four and a half stars

This book comes out April 6, 2021

Follows Virtual Unicorn Experience

Followed by Unicorn Playlist

ARC kindly provided by Andrew McMeel Publishing

Opinions are my own

Reread May 2022

March Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

 

Dragon Actually by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #1

This book came out September 1st, 2008

Followed by About a Dragon

Hard copy of mine

About a Dragon by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #2

This book came out December 1st, 2008
Follows Dragon Actually
Followed by What a Dragon Should Know
Hard copy of mine

What a Dragon Should Know by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #3

This book came out September 1st, 2009
Follows About a Dragon
Followed by Last Dragon Standing
Hard copy of mine

Last Dragon Standing by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #4

Three stars

This book came out September 7th, 2010
Follows What a Dragon Should Know
Followed by The Dragon Who Loved Me

Hard copy of mine

The Dragon who Loved Me by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #5

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 1st, 2011
Follows Last Dragon Standing
Followed by How to Drive a Dragon Crazy

Hard copy of mine

How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G. A. Aiken

Dragon Kin #6

Three and a half stars
This book came out September 4th, 2012
Follows Dragon Who Loved Me
Followed by Light My Fire

Hard copy of mine

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

I hadn't read other books in the series and I did feel like I missed parts of the romance between Maud Demille and Armand, the Marshal of House Krahr, but the story swept me up quickly anyway. (When I read the other books later, this book was even better). The world building is amazing and the look into made up politics is... beyond. I lapped it up.
Maud had been married to a vampire whose bid to take over his family's house was rejected and so were he, Maud, and their daughter. Maud wasn't as concerned for herself but she was shocked that her daughter had been kicked out as well. Of course, Helen is half-vampire, half-human but that shouldn't have mattered to a species that usually reveres its children. She is exiled to a planet where the living is hard and water is scarce. Her husband has been killed and Maud is working on avenging him in a slow and methodical manner. 
The book begins with Maud's sister, Dina, coming to rescue them, but then there are swaths of story missing because they are in other books. What we get to see here is Maud and Armand figure out their relationship when Maud travels to his family's stronghold and begins to see whether and how she can fit in with his life.

Four stars
Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart
This book came out December 2018
Ebook of my own on Kindle
Opinions are my own

Reread January 2022, July 2022 as Graphic Audiobook from Libby, September 2022 as Audible book, December 2022, August 2024