Any Shape or Form by Elizabeth Daly

Henry Gamadge has been invited to a party next door. He's maybe not particularly interested but his cousin encourages him to go. And it is there that he meets a colorful cast of characters. He knows the Drummonds, nearby neighbors but the young Malcolm siblings are unknown to him. And they are equally unknown to his neighbor's aunt, even though she was their step aunt. And there is the added complication that their father left his money to her for the extent of her lifetime. So they are potentially wealthy, but only on expectations. Until then, they live off Vega's largess and the allowance their father left them. 
Vega herself is a colorful lady. Her name has only recently been chosen as she has joined a cult that worships the sun. She even gifted the home owner, her nephew Johnny, with a sculpture that was possibly originally Apollo but now is rather faded and missing whatever it once held. 
There are undercurrents all around the party but Gamadge doesn't expect Vega to be shot, while he's standing next to her in the garden no less. The perpetrator could have been anyone as they had all split up previously. 
An unexpected guest shows up and then she is also murdered. The police are looking at the wrong person and it will be up to Gamadge to set them right.
I am not sure that this was really a fairly clued story but it was a good one. Recommended by Classic Mysteries podcast.

Four stars

This book came out in 1945

Follows The Book of the Dead

Followed by Somewhere in the House

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own

Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty MacDonald

I love the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle stories. She is wise and kind and always helps kids and parents in inventive
ways. Kid's a show-off? Make it so that he turns invisible so no one watches him. Got a crybaby? Tears that will flood a house.

This one is good but a little more preachy than the others in the series. 

Three stars

This book came out 1955

Follows Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle

Maybell Parrish doesn't really like the real world so she spends a lot of time in her Alternate Universe (AU). But the real world has finally come up with some good luck. Well, sort of. Her great aunt, the one with whom Maybell spent a wonderful summer when she was eleven, has died. And she left Sarah everything. At least that's what Maybell is told to begin with. However, she learns to her horror that she is actually a co-inheritor. The other is a man whose face she knows. It's the face her (now erstwhile) friend used to catfish Maybell. Used to being quiet and now faced with a man that she thought was fictional (and largely is thanks to her imagination), Maybell has a decision. Does she give up the first good thing in her life or does she work toward a brighter future?

I think that Hogle may just not be an author I enjoy. Maybell spent a lot of time in her imagination and I'm not sure how it really ended up serving the story. It meant that we got less time with Wesley who seemed like a good guy with his own issues that might have been interesting to explore. I was also having trouble figuring out how time flowed in this novel and some of that was the fact that these two didn't ever interact with anyone else in the story except for the great aunt's caretaker who was more of a plot point than a true character. 

Three stars

This book came out April 6th, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton

A fun and frothy book, this was a perfect book to bring to the beach and just enjoy the ride as Kate and Drake meet and begin their HEA. Some good points about celebrity and assumptions. I would've liked a little less showboating on Drake's part and to have seen a little bit more of his family because their ties seem awesome and a bit more of Kate's family and their eventual acceptance of her career choice. I am hopeful that his two brothers and Kate's bestie, publishing agent Imani, might be some sequel-bait. 

Kate Sweet has one goal in life, to win an EVPLEX, a major award given to Event Planners. But, while she has some great renown for her weddings, wedding planner don't usually win. So when her best friend calls with a proposition for Kate to fill in and complete a horror writer's book launch, she's hesitant but decides to take a chance. 

However, the first meeting with said publisher goes horribly with a series of events that culminate in Kate being on top of him when Imani walks in... with the director who is optioning Drake's book (but also helped Drake's ex publish a tell-all about him). 

Drake is bemused by this woman who comes in and plans the exact wrong kind of event for his book launch. In fact, he fires both her and Imani. But then he realizes that he's being a jerk and rehires her. And then he realizes that she is actually pretty good at her job and that he just needs to slow down and listen because she and he might be creating something pretty grand together.

Four stars

This book comes out July 13th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Perfect Hope by Nora Roberts

Hope Beaumont was introduced to the series in book one, The Next Always, when she joined the Boonsboro in as the innkeeper. When she and Ryder Montgomery saw each other for the first time, a bolt of lightning hit each. Then they took an instant dislike, each assuming the other was some sort of snooty or snotty. So of course, we the readers knew they were some day going to fall in love. 

It's a good, steady Roberts story with a little bit of the supernatural thrown in. In this book, we get to find out about Lizzie and her lover and they get their happy ending as well (it's a romance, this is not a spoiler.)

Three and a half stars

This book came out November 1st, 2011

Follows The Last Boyfriend

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Flare Up by Shannon Stacey

I wish I had read this book closer to the time I had read the others in the series because I had forgotten most of Wren and Grant's back story (some of which was seen in other books) and I couldn't remember most of the rest of the characters which made me feel slightly disconnected. I think it would have been different if I just hadn't read the series at all but knowing that I had read about these people but just couldn't remember their stories frustrated me a little. I also didn't realize that there were two or three chapters at the end of the book from another of Stacey's series and was sort of startled at how quickly the ending wrapped up when I was expecting so many more pages.

Grant Cutter was well on his way to the HEA that all of his other friends were experiencing. Then Wren Everett just disappeared, breaking his heart. He is therefore fairly shocked to see her again when he is called to a fire in a not-so-great part of Boston. 

Wren is also surprised to see Grant again. She ran to protect him when she feared that her abusive ex had found her again. But now that Grant is back in her life, she isn't sure she can walk away again.

I liked that Grant didn't immediately try to swoop in and rescue Wren when she lost almost everything in the fire. Instead, he was respectful of what she needed. He was a little less understanding about why she ran in the first place but I was actually more shocked that some of the women in his life were less understanding as well. 

Three stars

This book came out 

Follows Under Control

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

Not my favorite Agatha Christie for sure but an okay read nonetheless.  Part of my yuck includes casual racism and romanticizing of physical violence. 

Short synopsis: Girl, who recently lost her father, sets out to find adventure. When she witnesses an accidental death on a train platform, it sets off a train of excitement which leads to South Africa as well as several attempts on her life. Colonel Race is actually a minor character but the events in this book do lead him in to his life of fighting crime.

Three stars

This book came out August 22nd, 1924

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own