A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet

Cat lives in anonymity. She joined a circus eight years ago when one of the performers discovered her at 15, near starvation with blisters on her feet. Her past is hidden and she has been in hiding ever since. But now, someone seems hyper-focused on her. She's got many magical tools including visibility and the ability to absorb and return power but will it be enough to save her?

Griffen, the man who helped overthrow the current monarchy and set his sister up as queen, knows that a person like Cat, a Kingmaker, only comes along once every two hundred or so years. She will help to cement his family as the rulers of Sinta. Except that she doesn't want to help him. To be fair, he kidnaps her from the circus and holds her as a captive by means of a magic rope from which she cannot escape. Does it become Stolkholm syndrome? Maybe. But Cat comes to realize that Griffen and his team and his family are nothing like the rulers she left in Fisa. 

However, Cat is a powerful tool and she is too valuable for her family to let her go and there are going to be many battles before she will ever be able to relax, no matter how good Griffen is at avoiding magic.

There is some interesting world-building in this story with a lot of name dropping from Greek mythology. I'm curious as to how the series will build off of this and continue the relationships as the main characters seem to have gotten together in this book. 

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 2, 2016

Followed by Breath of Fire

Borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Rocky Road to Romance by Janet Evanovich

This book did not age well (it's chock full of the types of romance tropes that you would see in the late 80s and early 90s) and it is very nonlinear but it was fun enough to at least finish.

Daisy Adams is a graduate student who is working several jobs and volunteering at a couple more. When the traffic reporter at her radio job (a five minute spot every day) breaks a leg, she's right there, ready to take on the role.

Steve Crow has his doubts but no one else wants to do it and this seems like an opportunity to get into Daisy's pants so, why not? Well, in the course of her reporting she manages to foil not one but two crimes and at least one of them is seeking revenge for being foiled so Steven moves Daisy, her 14-year-old brother, her 60-something bodyguard, and a sheepdog named Bob (bought just to have an excuse to see Daisy) into his house (also newly bought). Mayhem ensues, the job is basically forgotten, and we meet a ton of people who have little to nothing to do with the story.

Three stars

This book came out March 1, 1991

Follows Wife for Hire

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer

It was nice to read a story about a character with a chronic illness. In the case of Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt, she has ME or "chronic fatigue." The description of her illness and the way that people treat her seemed very true-to-life. But that doesn't mean she can't fall in love. And she discovers that when she comes back in contact with her first love, Jacob Greenberg.

Jacob is happy to see his first love once again. He figures they can resume their relationship where they left off but Rachel is hiding too many secrets including the reason she wants a ticket to the Matzah Ball, the party his firm is throwing. 

Rachel is hiding not only her illness but the fact that she, daughter of the famous Rabbi Goldblatt, is a bestselling author of romances... Christmas romances. 

I liked this book overall but there was a lot of reiteration about the importance (or lack there of), really, in the Jewish faith and, while Rachel's fixing of the menorah seemed believable, fixing everything else was a stretch. 

Four stars

This book came out September 28th 2021

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Wrapped Up in You by Talia Hibbert

Oh, I hope that this book is the start of a new series. Hibbert is amazing and this book only underscores her talent. Best friend's sister? Of course the best friend is all in and doesn't even miss a beat. Grumpy/Sunshine? Let's gender-flip and make the sunshine a movie star who is maybe not the smartest cookie in the drawer but he knows his own limitations and maximizes his talents based on words by the heroine. And the heroine is grumpy because of a bad divorce? Of course she's in therapy and her mental illness is normalized and stabilized. 

I wish this had been a full-length book because there was just a little too much drama for a novella but the history these two had made their HEA believable.

Four and a half stars

This book came out November 18th 2020

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Humbug by Amanda Radley

Known as "Christmas Girl," in her company, Ellie Pearce is abruptly promoted demoted when CEO Rosalind Caldwell's personal assistant quits. The Caldwell & Atkinson Christmas party is really well-known and a parting remark by the last PA makes Rosalind think that she might need a miracle to make sure that this year's party goes off without a hitch. Is Ellie that miracle? Rosalind doesn't think so at first but she eventually begins to see how Ellie's understated charms and wicked smarts might just save Christmas after all.

This is definitely a quiet story but and enjoyable one all the same. There was a little too much focus on Ellie's issues and the fact that she worked miracles in spite of them but otherwise a nice story. 

Four stars

This book comes out December 14th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

Opinions are my own

The Big Four by Agatha Christie

Hastings finally manages to surprise Poirot by showing up on his doorstep. Also there? A mysterious stranger who collapses more or less in the doorway while holding a slip of paper covered in the number four. From there, Poirot (and Hastings) are plunged into a mysterious world where four people are known to be running a large criminal organization. A series of small mysteries add up to one big showdown with the introduction of Poirot's twin brother, Aristotle.

Poor Hastings isn't treated very well in this book. He keeps thinking he is being so intelligent but he is just a pawn, not only of the Big 4 but of Poirot as well. 

Three stars

This book came out January 27, 1927

Follows The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Followed by The Mystery of the Blue Train

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

Jerry Burton has come to the supposedly quiet village of Lymstock to recover from a plane crash. Also with him is is sister Joanna. But it seems that this formerly sleepy village has been shaken up by a number of anonymous letters. And then one of the recipients commits suicide. She is the mother of one twenty-year old woman, Megan, who doesn't seem to have any goals in life and then two young sons with her current husband. 

All of the characters in this book are painted so vividly including the Burtons' landlady, Miss Emily Barton who is short on funds and the last of five sisters who grew up under their mother's thumb. Also pictured is Mrs. Caleb Dane Calthorp, the reverend's wife who is odd but wise. And then Owen and Aimee Griffith, the shy local doctor and his gossipy wife. 

The series Marple put Jane in more of the mystery than she was in the book but it captured the spirit of this book quite well.

Four stars

This book came out in July 1942

Follows The Body in the Library

Followed by A Murder is Announced

Hard copy from library

Opinions are my own