A Conspiracy in Belgravia by Sherry Thomas

The first book in this series introduced the world to Charlotte Holmes, the woman behind the myth of Sherlock Holmes. In this book, her life starts to get more complicated. First, the wife of Charlotte's one-true-love (or at least one of the people she cares most deeply for), comes to Sherlock Holmes for help. She wants to find her childhood crush, a man who supposedly met her every year on the Sunday before his birthday. Never meeting or talking, just a distant nod. This year, he didn't show. And it turns out this man has a mysterious tie to Charlotte.
Charlotte also has to contend with a marriage proposal from a man who courts her with puzzles. She has another mystery of a woman who thinks her father is poisoning her. And she has to figure out how to get back her sisters.
The strength of Thomas in this book is her ability to paint her characters. We get more of the inscrutable Charlotte, seeing that she is not completely unfeeling, just rarely does she feel it deeply enough to express it. We learn more about Inspector Treadles, about how deeply he loves his wife but how much that love may be tested against his notions of how men and women should act. We meet the inspiration for Mycroft: Lord Bancroft, Lord Ingram's brother.
I think I may have rated this book higher except that I was judging it against the first. Three and a half stars is still pretty high.

Follows A Study in Scarlet Women

A Rake's Guide to Seduction by Caroline Linden

I didn't read the first book in this series but I didn't feel like I was missing anything. We learn from the beginning that Anthony Hamilton (he refuses to use his courtesy title) is something of a rake. Well, he's a giant rake. Or so the gossip says. But people have been gossiping about him since his birth (is he really his father's son?) so who knows the truth?
Celia Reece thinks she knows. He's a good man. But can she really tell? She made such a bad marriage the first time, it's hard to tell. But he seems to be different from her first husband in so many important ways. Then, they're caught in a compromising position and (somewhat) forced to pretend to be engaged.
And I didn't think the plot really needed this point. It seemed... out of place in the rest of the book. But it wasn't so jarring that I stopped reading. This was a fast, fun, and fluffy read and I generally enjoyed it.

Three and a half stars
This book came out August 29

The Essence of Malice by Ashley Weaver

Amory Ames and her too-handsome-for-his-own-good husband have been on vacation in Italy but decide to stop in Paris on their way home. Once again, Amory's husband is mysterious. It turns out his former nanny has called him in to help solve the death of her employer, famed perfumier Helios Belanger. As always in the Amory Ames mysteries, there are layers to the story with the Ames' neighbor in Italy being a former fiance of Helios' daughter. She and his two sons all have stories that make each of them suspicious.
Also redundant in the Ames' mysteries are Amory's push-me-pull-me feelings toward her husband and his refusal to tell her anything of use. She's over his partyboy ways and couldn't care less except that they drive her nuts so she really could less. I really hope Ms. Weaver stops hinting around about Milo soon and makes he and Amory true partners.

Three stars
This book comes out September 5

Turned Up by Erin Nicholas

Since grade school, Dillon Alexander and Kit Derby have been at odds, each fighting with the other, pushing to be the best. But since the big tornado trapped them together in a closet, the emergency room doctor and the psychiatrist have been letting those sparks work for them in a different way. Especially now that another storm has hit, a snowstorm that traps them alone at her grandmother's house resulting in a sexy game of Chutes and Ladders. Eventually it leads them to testing out the possibility of having a real relationship.
And that's where the book starts to fall apart for me a little bit. The road blocks to Twu Lurv seemed artificial and somewhat put up. Then they're resolved ridiculously easily. I don't say this often but this book might have been better as a novella.

Three stars
This book comes out August 29

Wild Ride Cowboy by Maisey Yates

Clara Campbell has been hard-hit recently. Both her parents are gone, her brother died in combat, and now she finds out she doesn't even own her family's property. At least not for another year. Instead, Alex Donnelly is the person who has been, by dint of her brother's will, put in charge of the property and, effectively, her. All she wants to do is ogle to cute guy at the coffee store and live her life. Instead, she has to deal with a brooding ex-soldier.
Alex is in Copper Ridge for two reasons. One is to help Clara and the other is because he inherited a portion of his grandfather's ranch. He wants to fulfill his friend's wishes, especially since his actions saved Alex's life.
I read the first chapter of this in the previous book in the series and immediately wondered if I would really enjoy this book. One of my pet peeves in books is the alpha male who feels he has to save the "little woman" and then there's the false "problem" of my-best-friend's-sister. But I generally enjoy Ms. Yates' books and thought she might be able to overcome my dislike of these tropes. But, unfortunately, Alex was as much of a "me big man, you little woman" as I thought he would be. And Clara is so young. So young. It's not just an age thing, not just a virginity thing, but an overall life attitude that made it hard for me to connect with her.
I will not give up on this series because Yates really is one of my go-to contemporary authors. This book, for me, was just one of her rare missteps.

Two stars
This book comes out August 29

Merry Christmas, Mary Christmas! by Laurie Friedman, Kathryn Durst

The title of this book caught me. I just can't imagine being named Mary Christmas. That poor girl. But her issue with Christmas has more to do with the fact that her family just seems to have to overdo everything about it from the biggest tree to lights that make the rest of the block go dark. But can she find her Christmas spirit in time?

The illustrations are charming. I love that when Mary considers everything from "every angle," she's doing yoga.

Four stars
This book comes out September 1

The Missing Mola Lisa by Trisha Speed Shaskan, Stephen Shaskan

A cute story of second graders solving a crime involving the theft of a painting called the Mola Lisa. There's magic, disguises, and a fun mystery that is clued enough that young readers could reasonably solve the mystery and feel pretty good about it. The illustrations are fun as well.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 1