Spy x Family, Vol. 2 by Tatsuya Endo, Casey Loe

Anya has made it into a prestigious school. She makes a new friend but not the one that her father would have liked. Lots of story potential there and her new friend seems a little suspect but we'll see if more comes out of the relationship. 

We are also getting a new character in Yor's little brother who seems to be on the hunt for... her husband.

Lots going on but starting to create a really interesting story.

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 1, 2020

Follows Vol. 1

Followed by Vol. 3

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Wedding Bells and Deadly Spells by Danielle Garrett

Anastasia "Stacey" Winters has just been let go from her dream job. Reeling, she still wants to help her friend Francois who is under examination as having poisoned the groom in her last wedding (that death contributed a LOT to her firing.) While figuring out who the actual killer is, she is also able to take the next step in her professional career.

This was sort of a weak story but still fun and the series ends on a high note.

Three stars

This book came out April 12, 2019

Follows Couture and Curses

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs

Mercy has barely recovered from the events of the last book when Marsilia shows up and tells her to find Wulfe. That, if Mercy can't find him, the Pack will be blamed. And rumors start up soon after that the Pack can't actually protect the people it claims to protect. A number of magic users (not very powerful but having some magic; mainly witches and goblins) have gone missing. Could it be the Soul Taker? 

There is a movie that has just finished filming that purports to be based on a local urban legend involving a young man who was possessed by a scythe and compelled to murder. Mercy discovers it was not so much legend as truth since Zee was called in to destroy the artifact. But he might have been slipped a fake. That seems especially like a possibility since similar deaths are cropping up. And at least one ghost isn't allowed to leave this plane of existence.

Regular readers will really enjoy this book but I would not recommend starting with this one. We get quite a bit of history for a couple of characters, one that adds a little bit of a wrinkle for pack dynamics.

Four stars

This book came out August 23, 2022

Follows Smoke Bitten

Followed by Winter Lost

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

Vivi's cousin Gwyn meets her match in this book and it's Rhys's brother Lwellyn, better known as Wells. He is the oldest brother, the Golden Child of their father's eye. But being the Golden Child is wearing on him and he is ready to escape. Why not to Graves Glen? It's a place he can convince his father that it would be good to have a Penhallow (obviously Rhys doesn't count since he married a Jones woman) and it's not like the pub in Scotland is even getting any customers.

In Graves Glen, Wells first finds a bachelorette party in his family home (invited there by his brother.) Then he engages in a not-so-friendly rivalry with Gwyn when he sets up a true witch shop (as opposed to her... plastic pumpkins) right across the street, and he also encounters a face from the past who may or not be evil.

This was, overall, an enjoyable story though it meandered and crossed over itself without seeming rhyme or reason. I never really did understand why Gwyn and Rhys would be drawn to each other but, for folks looking to get into the Halloween season, this is a great read.

Three and a half stars

The Ex Hex #2

This book comes out September 20, 2022

Follows The Ex Hex

Followed by The Wedding Witch

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyage and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

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