The Stand-Up Groomsman by Jackie Lau

In Donut Fall In Love, Vivian Liao, banker, met a man she's had a crush on forever, comedian Melvin Lee. That meeting... was awkward as hell. Mel derided her profession and couldn't believe that she would be happy with her life doing something boring for her job while leaving her art on the side. He had done the same and it crushed his soul. 

Now, the two are going to be thrown together as the characters from that book are getting married. Mel is the best man and Vivian is a bridesmaid. 

The relationship between them moves slowly from antagonism, to a sort of friendship, to sex, to love. It is a lovely journey and we get to see a lot of growth from both Mel and Vivian. Not all of the side stories that led to who they are get entirely wrapped up and I kind of like that (life isn't a neat package tied with a bow) but other readers may find that frustrating.

Four stars

This book comes out October 25, 2022

Follows Donut Fall in Love

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai

This book is a lot of wacky and requires a LOT of suspended disbelief but, if you can buckle up for the ride, it's awfully fun. 

Amira Patel (actually, Mira) ran away from most of her family, changed her name, and became an upstanding citizen. Of course, not having a "good family" is hindering her matchmaking prospects. In the past two years, she's been out with thirteen men, all introduced to her by Hema Auntie, one of Los Angeles's premier Indian matchmakers. She was accepted because her good friend's mother is a former client of Hema's and vouched for her. She dumped all of the first twelve but now the thirteenth has dumped her. She knows she's not getting any more matches. Not from this matchmaker. Which stinks even worse because the one family member, her aunt, that she was in touch with has just died leaving her alone in the world. Mira is shocked to hear her aunt left a will and even more shocked when the attorney ends up being her first match. The one she dated for six months and then basically ghosted after a short text.

Naveen Desai is shocked to see Mira in his office. He thought they were done for good. He's even more shocked when she is attacked in the parking garage and the attackers take him as well. 

This starts Mira and Naveen off on an adventure that will have them running all over Las Vegas, dodging shady FBI agents, and uncovering Mira's past. There is a lot going on in the book and, if I think about it too closely, there are a lot of thing that were left dangling but I really enjoyed the read. 

Updated to add that the audiobook is absolutely amazing. The narrators are just... perfect. 

Four and a half stars

This book comes out October 18, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager, and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook January 2023

One Bad Witch by Danielle Garrett

Still trying to replace Lacey (who left to be in her own series), Holly, Adam, and Evangeline are getting a new roommate. Again. We haven't seen all of them but we do get to meet Narissa. Narissa is a reporter who may or may not be involved with a series of werewolf deaths and is getting closer to their friend Nick.

Three stars

This book came out December 28, 2018

Follows Lucky Witch

Followed by A Royal Witch

Borrowed as audiobook

Opinions are my own

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

For the past couple of books in this series, Declan Chase has been the big bad. He's in charge of the group that has been capturing and torturing immortals. Or at least, he seems to be in charge. When Vakyrie Regin the Radiant is captured, she is devastated to discover that he is the most recent reincarnation of her mate, Aiden. The two have been cursed to be kept apart; any time they finally find each other and then have sex, Aiden dies. 

When he was young, Declan's family was tortured and killed by a group of immortal creatures. He was rescued by a group that would let him get revenge although they did drug him up quite a bit. Turns out, they were suppressing his true nature. 

When the facility they were in goes up in flames, Declan switches his loyalties to work with the Immortals. And they are surprisingly fast to accept him. True, one of the people he escapes with is an old friend but he tortured these people and now they accept-ish him. 

This was a really hard book to read. I see where Cole was trying to go but there was not nearly enough groveling. However, this book did set up the next in the series, Lothaire, very nicely. The Enemy of Old seems to be slowly moving over to the side of the good guys.

Three stars

This book came out February 15, 2011

Follows Demon from the Dark

Followed by Lothaire

Hard copy I kept

Opinions are my own

Home Sweet Christmas by Susan Mallery

I wish that either River and Dylan or Camryn and Jake had gotten their own books. Both relationships had some big problems (well, one person in the relationship had Big Problems) that were solved relatively quickly and it would have been nice to see a little more introspection. Also, I really don't love the meddling mother trope. 

Camryn Neff is only in Wishing Tree long enough for her twin sisters to graduate high school and then she's going back to Chicago. At least, that's the plan until Helen Crane picks her as a contender in a project to marry off her son, Jake. The first thing Camryn does is to find Jake and let him know what is going on. He's charmed, she's charmed by him and they decide to have a short-term affair. And there are a lot of little things that crop up that are usually solved within 2-3 pages, just, so many things. 

River Best is new to Wishing Tree. She's really good at computers and very shy having grown up with scoliosis and not really getting to participate in regular life growing up. But she consents to having her name put in for the Snow King, a tradition that has been dormant in Wishing Tree but is being resurrected, purely so that Helen (yes, Jake's mother) can also find a wife for Dylan Tucker, the local craftsman. And they're attracted, but Dylan has a big secret that he is unwilling to share with River, even though she's opened her heart to him.

Three stars

This book came out October 4, 2022

Follows The Christmas Wedding Guest

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Case of the Counterfeit Colonel by Christopher Bush

Ludovic Travers runs a private inquiry agency in the days after the great war. One day, a man named Henry Clandon comes to him and asks if Travers can find a man by the name of David Seeway. Apparently, Seeway saved Clandon in the war and now Clandon would like to talk to him again. Seeway also mentions the name Archie Debbins and the town of Bassingford. So, Travers is off on a journey that twists and turns around itself. A fairly straightforward mystery throughout most of the book, Travers is able to locate one of the men, but, when he shows up, the man has been murdered. Then, it just gets really complicated and there is a giant exposition dump at the end of the story that I felt didn't so much fill in holes in the solution as create it from whole cloth.

I picked up this as a result of listening to the Classic Mysteries podcast.

Three stars
This book came out in 1952

Follows The Case of the Happy Medium

Followed by The Case of the Burnt Bohemian

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

A Poisoning in Piccadilly by Lynda Wilcox

The Great War is over and Lady Eleanor Bakewell is one of the Bright Young Things, living life to the fullest after being so close to death. But death can find you anywhere, even in a sparkling club as Eleanor discovers when Henry Eisenbach dies in her arms. Though the American millionaire was older, there is something suspicious about the way he went down. And Eleanor saw enough death during the war to know that something is terribly wrong. 

I've been suggested a large number of 1920s female sleuth mysteries by Kindle Unlimited. Two of them even have heroines with the same name. After this book, I'm definitely going to keep reading this series. Eleanor seems fairly competent and not ONLY a busybody which I do enjoy. 

Four stars
This book came out August 16, 2019

Followed by A Burglary in Belgravia

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own