Sweetwater and the Witch by Jayne Castle

When the book begins, Ravenna Chastain is a profiler for the FBPI (Federal Bureau of Psi Investigation). She's not really supposed to be in the field but she volunteered to pose as a witch. Well, as the type of woman a specific cult is targeting as witches. But the FBPI isn't exactly knocking down the door of the cultists to rescue her. It's a good thing she has her fire talent and a dust bunny she names Harriet who ends up being an inveterate pen collector. It's that night that causes her to pivot into matchmaking. It's there that she meets Ethan Sweetwater. He has, of course, lied on his application making it hard for Ravenna to find him a match. But, they both have events coming up that would be nice to have someone else at. So they agree to go as each others dates.

This is a plot point that Castle has used a lot in this series. And this book feels like a mishmash of a number of other books she's written (which, at this point, is probably really hard not to do.) The whole time I was reading this book though, I was thinking of Filomena from "The Main Attraction"; she is basically the same character as Ravenna. Small, red haired, volatile (the scene with Ravenna's family felt like a major Krentz throwback; heroine embarrasses herself by being too emotional while the hero is uber calm and makes the family love him even more than the actual family member.) Overall, the book was fine but it felt like a lot of retread to the 90s with shallow characters and a plot that was not as tightly woven or fleshed out as more recent books. 

Three and a half stars

This book come out September 20, 2022

Ghost Hunters #15

Follows Guild Boss

Followed by People in Glass Houses

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible May 2024

Snowed In for Christmas by Sarah Morgan

From the outside, the Miller family seems fairly perfect. Mom, Dad, Grandma, and three kids who would be the seventh in a generation of making shortbread cookies in Scotland. But none of the children stayed with the family company. Instead, Ross struck out on his own, Alice became an emergency doctor, and Clemmie works as a nanny. Glenda, their mother, is disappointed that none of them have settled down to get married. And last Christmas, with a little too much gin, she made that a little too clear. So the children aren't especially looking forward to the holiday season this year. Besides, they all have other issues they are wrestling with. Alice's boyfriend just proposed and she's not sure why she isn't screaming "yes," Clemmie has made a decision about children that her family isn't going to like, and Ross is married to his job. And their father Dennis has news of his own. 

This Christmas though, a number of secrets are going to come to light when the Scrooge Storm blows through, blocking  everyone in, along with Lucy Clarke who just happens to be the person Clemmie and Alice were basing Ross's fictional girlfriend off of. 

Lucy is not happy to be caught in the storm. She just wanted to drop off a marketing proposal for Ross's firm and then be on her way. After her grandmother, her only family, died two years ago, Christmas hasn't been the same. And here is this perfect family... yes, there are some underlying tensions she doesn't exactly understand but they are together and clearly love each other. 

When Morgan does a book with feels, she does it really well. Because there are so many people, we don't get to know each of them as well as we might and some of the plots are a little less developed than some of her other books but this is a really lovely story especially heading into the holiday season. 

Four stars

This book comes out September 20, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb

Ufda. This one was a hard read. Robb often deals with dark subjects and this particular book hits close to home for Eve.

The first chapter opens with a little history for Dorian Gregg. She was taken off the streets and now lives... exists... in the Pleasure Academy. She's not sure how long she's been their but she knows she doesn't like it. Well, most of it. The French is okay but the pleasure classes? A no go. So when she meets Mina and Mina has a plan to get out? Dorian is all in. Except that they don't make it far. Mina dies and now Dorian is on her own, hurt, in New York City.

Lots of characters from the past come back though we do get a little bit of character growth for Dallas as well as one of her employees. Hard reading; justice in the end (though it could have lasted a little longer.)

Four stars

This book came out September 6, 2022

Follows Abandoned in Death

Followed by Encore in Death

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

The Trouble With Witches by Amanda M. Lee

Clove is about to meet Sam's parents and she is terrified. The situation becomes complicated when Bay starts seeing ghosts on the tanker that Sam has recently brought onto his property. Also seeing the ghosts? Little Annie. And that makes the situation that much harder.

There are a couple of other things going on including Landon (and possibly his snotty partner) moving from Traverse City to their own small town. And there's a firebug who seems to be escalating.

The two stories don't actually intertwine which was sort of interesting (as even the characters note). If you liked the rest of the books in this series, this will be no different.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 31, 2016

Follows Charms & Witchdemeanors

Followed by Murder Most Witchy

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Gnome Schooled by Erik Henry Vick

There is a new Grand Cynosure in town and he is declaring a war on snacks. He had ties to a gnome extremist group but has supposedly cut those ties many years ago. But that war becomes even more important when an angel turns up dead of an overdose on Cheez Its. It's a murder that sends Dru and Leery to work with Ice Cofy, a man who is both Claw and Warder. They will also be sent to a number of different factions in order to figure out who actually supplied the drugs that killed the angel.

Lots of little in jokes to the TV series here. The story starts and ends with the GC but it is so loosely tied to the meat of the actual story (the drug dealers) that it doesn't make much sense but it was highly entertaining.

Three stars

This book came out August 28, 2020

Follows They Ate Gatsby

Followed by A Tail of Two Cities

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Matchmaking a Single Dad by Denise Grover Swank, Angela R. Casella

Holly Mayberry and Cole Garrison do not like each other. Not a little bit. Not at all. Yet sparks fly when they are around each other. Because they dislike each other so much. It has nothing to do with a series of misunderstandings that occurred after they kissed almost a decade ago. But now they are thrown together when Holly starts working with a number of students after school and Cole's (incredibly precocious) daughter Jane is included in the group. 

Unbeknownst to the two of them, they are also matched in the dating app that Holly is helping to develop. It will take the two of them banding together against Cole's in-laws who are trying to take Jane away in order for them to figure out that they can, at the very least, be enemies with benefits. 

The timeline in this book was very confusing to me. I do enjoy this series but this story was maybe not as well plotted as some of the others.

Four stars

This book came out August 11, 2022

Follows Matchmaking a Billionaire

Followed by Matchmaking a Grump

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

They Ate Gatsby by Erik Henry Vick

Key witness J. Gatsby is not in court and he's got a good reason, he's dead. His ghost points toward a group of vampires known as the Dead Set. This is a super exclusive group that only someone who moves in high social circles would be able to infiltrate. One who might want to bring along her werewolf partner along as a bodyguard.

This book has an unexpected ending but it was better than the last book because Dru has, finally, stopped talking like a little girl.

Three stars

This book came out July 24, 2020

Follows Silkie Stalkings

Followed by Gnome Schooled

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own