Black Coffee by Charles Osborne, Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot has been summoned by inventor Sir Claude Amory. Amory has an invention that could change the world but he is afraid that there is something shady going on in his household. And then he discovers that the formula has been stolen so he locks the doors and traps everyone in one room. The lights are turned off for one minute so that the formula may be returned but when the lights come on, Sir Amory is dead. A tangled family story, this book definitely has tones of Christie and is a fun story but there are phrases that are repeated three or four times that sort of took me out of the story.

Four stars

Originally published as a play, adapted 1998

Follows The Underdog and Other Stories

Followed by Peril in End House

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Divided in Death by J.D. Robb

We've seen Roarke's secretary, Caro, in previous books. She's a savvy, competent woman who was skeptical of Eve but has grown to appreciate her through the series. And it's good, because her daughter, who also works for Roarke, is now under investigation for the murder of her husband and his lover.

Of course, first appearances can be deceiving and Eve trusts that Roarke knows his employees and digs deeper, discovering that the husband and his lover were not who they really seemed and perhaps there is more to this death than mere jealousy.

Four stars

This book came out January 26, 2004

Follows Imitation in Death

Followed by Visions in Death

Hard copy I didn't keep 

Opinions are my own

Matilda by Roald Dahl, Sarah Greene

I think that coming to this book later in life may make it difficult to overlook the nastiness of the adults but Roald Dahl generally has his tongue firmly in his cheek while writing and his books have to be taken in with that in mind.
But who can't love a tiny girl, only 4 years old, who toddles herself down to the library. And then, at 5, deciding to get revenge against her parents. And then uses her excess brain power to convince a real baddie that she needs to repent.
Okay, yes, this is spreading dissidence toward parents but even I could tell the difference between these parents and my own while reading this book.

Four and a half stars

This book came out October 1, 1988

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Lady Chosen by Stephanie Laurens

Miss Leonora Carling has lived a quiet life. She runs the house for her uncle and brother who work translating ancient languages.  Recently though, there have been some incidents that seem to ahve started from when someone was trying to buy the house next store. Now the sale has gone through and she is determined to meet the owner.

She meets one of them, Tristan Wemyss, Earl of Trentham. The house has actually been bought by a group of men who are recently retired from being spies and are all titled and hoping to have a quiet place to avoid the people who would like to marry off sisters, daughters, aunts. Tristan actually needs to marry before July or else he loses the money portion of his estate and he will be unable to support his fourteen aunts. Leonora is the perfect answer to who he could possibly find that he wants to live with for the rest of his life. And the two are ready to settle in but they need to clear up that pesky mystery of who keeps breaking in first.

A nice start to a new series built within the same time as Laurens' Cynster series. 

Four stars
This book came out August 26, 2003

Followed by A Gentleman's Honor

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

The Heretic Royal by G.A. Aiken

We are on the fourth of the three Smythe-Ferguson sisters (the third being a scheming bitch who is trying to build an empire), Ainsley, in this book. She feels like a forgotten sister. Keeley, the oldest, loved her brothers and sisters and the forge. Gemma was a fighter and then a war monk. And she was always Ainsley's main sparring partner and now the first to dismiss any of the contributions Ainsley is trying to make. But, now that the dragons have arrived (a crossover from Aiken's Dragon Kin series) and that might change the odds. 

There are SO MANY characters in this book. You will have a little bit of a chance if you've read either the Dragon Kin books or the Scarred Earth books so far but there are still a LOT of people to keep track of. Aiken is great at spinning off side characters and that happens again in this book but we also get a return of the rather large group of characters from the previous book in the series. So, a lot of page space is taken up with these characters. did I still enjoy this book? Mostly, yes. I really wish we had gotten to see more of Gruff, the centaur who doesn't usually talk, especially in the building of his relationship with Keeley. As it's own book, this is about three stars but as an addition to the overall series, four stars.

Scarred Earth Saga #3

Three and a half stars

Follows The Princess Knight

This book comes out November 24, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as ebook from Libby February 2024

Full Bloom by Jayne Ann Krentz

In her late twenties, Emily Ravenscroft is finally feeling like she is coming into her own. She's been under her family's thumb for too long. But this is the last straw, chasing off a man she wasn't even seeing. If her parents or brother had bothered to ask, she would have let them know. Worst of all, they brought back their favorite enforcer, Jacob Stone, who Emily once had an unrequited crush on. 

Jacob Stone has left the Ravenscroft's employ but he came back to help out when he heard it was for Emily. Now a grown woman, Jacob is ready to be with the woman he's always adored. 

This is definitely an eighties book with a masterful man though the woman isn't quite so helpless. Lots of misunderstandings though that drove me nuts.

Two and a half stars

This book came out in 1988

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas

I read the first 30 or so pages of this book and then the last 30 or so pages and wasn't really sure that I wanted to read the middle. But I'm glad I did. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first but I did like seeing the process of Helen and Rhys falling in love. We saw them get engaged in Cold-Hearted Rake when Helen's family was penniless and she thought she'd get engaged to the uncouth but very wealthy Rhys Winterborne. But when Helen's family comes into money, her well-meaning sister-in-law tells Rhys the engagement is off. But Helen doesn't want that. So this book starts with her seducing Rhys so that they'll have to get married. So why is this book so long? Well, it turns out Helen has a secret. One that she doesn't realize until after the seduction might make Rhys call off the wedding.

I'm not sure why this book was so rocky for me. It's frustrating when you can't pinpoint exactly why a book isn't clicking, it just didn't. For regular Kleypas readers, that may not be the case.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 31, 2016

Follows Cold-Hearted Rake

Followed by Devil in Spring

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own