Second Chance Girl by Susan Mallery

In the first book in this series, we learned a lot about Mathias Mitchell. He's an artist, he sleeps with the numerous bridesmaids that come through their destination-wedding town, and he's entranced by his neighbor, Carol Lund. Well, it's just a flinch, but this is a romance series so we all know what's what.

Carol considers herself a peahen (which, thank god, she let go of after the three times it was mentioned in the first chapter. She's a gamekeeper in her family's recycling center/game preserve and she has a massive crush on Mathias. But they're friends and she doesn't want to ruin that. Plus, he only goes after peacocks (which is not a good analogy, especially for someone who knows animals).
For his part, Mathias is fascinated by Carol. And also more than a little hesitant. His parents have a ... strange relationship and he doesn't want to pull Carol into the maelstrom that is sure to result if he falls in love.
Mallery often twines love stories in her shorter series and stand-alones but she did it in this book as well, linking Carol's sister to a handsome duke.
There were moments that were a little too twee and we didn't get to see as much of Carol and Mathias because of the B plot but I am very much enjoying this series and am looking forward to Ronan's story

This book comes out September 26
Four stars

PTL by John Wigger

I have been interested in the PTL because I live near the CUT and my interest has expanded to the wider religious field. This book was interesting but would have been better served by being cut down by about 100 pages. At least 50. There was a LOT of extraneous information that felt like filler. There were several times where I thought, "Oh, it's coming to an end" and, when I looked, there were still a hundred pages left. Other than that, this was a nice book with a lot of behind-the-scenes.

Three stars
This book comes out August 2

An Earl by Any Other Name by Lauren Smith

I was excited to read a new-to-me author. And the blurb sounded pretty good. Leopold Graham, Lord Hampton, is saddled with a debt-ridden estate on the death of his father. The rather scandalous death of his father. He needs to marry well in order to save the family coffers. He has a woman in mind but his mother and Ivy Leighton think that she is the better choice. Of course, she's brash and loud, not what Leopold wants. Or so he thinks.
This could have been a nice book if it were only longer. At under 100 pages, we don't really get to know that much about Leopold or Ivy. I wish we had gotten to see more of Leopold's journey from rake to stolid family man. Or learned more about why Ivy was still so obsessed with Leopold years after they were children.

Two and a half stars.
This book comes out August 1

Gone Gull by Donna Andrews

The book opens with Meg Langslow helping her grandmother Cordelia run Cordelia's artist retreat. There have been several incidents of misbehavior as well as some out right sabotage. Both Meg and her grandmother suspect the work of another artist cooperative, one that is not as well run (because Meg's family does everything flawlessly).
However, when the mischief escalates to murder, Meg is not amused. Then a second body turns up.
Regular Andrews readers will probably be delighted. I was little bummed that we didn't get a little more character development but there isn't usually a ton in these books.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out August 1, 2017

Meg Langslow #21
Follows Die Like an Eagle
Followed by How the Finch Stole Christmas

Reread as audiobok from Hoopla August 2023, audiobook from Audible November 2024

The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by Martin Edwards

There's unfortunately not a lot to say about this book. Martin Edwards has put together several good anthologies of classic mysteries based on various themes: crimes on the continent, locked room mysteries, winter crimes. Here, he writes short descriptions of the 100 books that have helped to frame mysteries as we know them today. These are not the 100 best books by anyone's standards but it is a nice mix of names that I knew and names that were new to me.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out August 1

Mabel Opal Pear and the Rules for Spying by Amanda Hosch

Mabel Opal Pear is not your ordinary almost-11-year-old. For one thing, her parents are spies. For another, she's a spy-in-training. She knows immediately that something is wrong when her parents disappear and her Aunt Stella, Uncle Frank, and Cousin Victoria show up. Victoria is mean, Frank is clueless and Stella is something else. Normally Aunt Gertie takes care of Mabel but she's in jail. So it's up to Mabel to not only run the family spoon museum but also figure out the mystery.
I couldn't quite get into Mabel's world. I'm not sure where the connection was missing. It seemed like a serviceable story with some interesting world-building but... not for me.

Three stars
This book comes out August 1

My Rotten Stepbrother Ruined Beauty and the Beast by Jerry Mahoney

I wasn't sure what this book would be and I think that helped me enjoy it a little bit more. It appears to be at least the second book in a series since our main characters, Maddie and Holden, get sucked into a fairy tale and quickly take it in stride.
Of course, the main lesson that Maddie learns is that beauty is on the inside and I'm not sure what the irrepressible Holden learns but I enjoyed that there was a twist on the Beauty and the Beast trope with Maddie hopping into Beauty but Holden becoming a whole new side character. One who doesn't speak French. In France.
A fun book and I look forward to reading another in the series.

This book comes out August 1
Four stars