Christmas at Two Love Lane by Kieran Kramer

I was intrigued by the premise of this book. You've got a Southern matchmaker, Macy Frost, meeting a Northerner who just wants to have fun, Deacon Banks. Macy takes her matchmaking role very seriously. How could she not? She comes from a family of matchmakers who may or may not be descended from Cupid himself.
Deacon Banks is a confident tech entrepreneur (isn't that nice and vague?) who just wants to make his aunt happy this Christmas season by appearing to be searching for his true love. As long as the women know what the score is, why would it be a problem? Except that Macy seems to want him to concentrate on true love and Deacon's wondering why he can't be matched to the matchmaker.
I thought I knew Kramer's name and at the end of story, I finally remembered why. I have tried at least a couple of her books before but there is something about her writing that I just do not connect to. Not her fault or mine, it's just not a good match. I really liked the idea of this book and I think her regular readers will be more than satisfied.

Three stars
This book comes out October 3

Hello Again by Brenda Novak

Evelyn Talbot is still working in Alaska trying to decipher the secrets of some of the world's worst serial killers. In this story, she is concentrating on Lyman Bishop, a man who liked to lobotomize his victims. But was he wrongly convicted?
At the same time, she's trying to figure out whether the murder of a woman from her high school class was perpetrated by Evelyn's high school sweetheart, the one who murdered three of her friends and tried to murder Evelyn.
I liked the short story that started this book, the first book a little less, and this one even a little less. The overall arc for Evelyn is just so slow moving. She's more or less the same woman we met in the short story. You'd think that events would change her more. I think people who enjoyed the first book will like this one but this may be the end of the road on the series for me.

Three stars
This book comes out October 4
Follows Her Darkest Nightmare

The Human Workplace by Andy Swann

Nonfiction books, especially books about the workplace can get a little dry. This book was very readable and eminently pragmatic. Definitely a British book, I think there are still applications for those of us in America. My personal takeaway was that you need to have the right person in the right place doing the right actions to make a successful workplace. This is a little more touchy-feely than most of the work-related books I've read and a little bit more than I really wanted in a workplace book but overall a nice read.

Four stars
This book comes out October 3

A Talent for Temptation by Sabrina Jeffries

Meriel Vyse isn't sure about the way her life is going. She has been working for her husband's brother as a spy but she hates the work. And getting to know Quinn Raines has really made her long for a normal life.
Quinn Raines is also in love with Meriel which is why he fakes a kidnapping (really?) so that he can "rescue" her. Little does he know she's perfectly capable of rescuing herself. He finds out when she pulls a knife from her reticule and stabs him.
At under 50 pages, that really is pretty much the whole story. It's a nice story though short. Very, very short.

Three stars
This book comes out October 2

Death in St. Petersburg by Tasha Alexander

Every time I open a new Lady Emily book, I get nervous. This is such a wonderful series but outside of the cozies that I usually stick to. Will I like this book as much as the last one?
Following the pattern of the rest of the series, we get chapters following Lady Emily interspersed with chapters following a non-series character. In this case, it's a ballet dancer. More specifically, Katenka, the dancer who steps in to dance Swan Lake when the woman who was set to become the next big thing, Nemetseva, doesn't return. When she is found dead outside the theater, Lady Emily is the one who notices the Faberge egg near her body. Could it be that the notorious thief, Sebastian, is in Russia as well?
But who would want to kill a rising star? Nemetseva, like many ballerinas, has a lover who is part of the aristocracy. And she has other lovers she has left behind, but few enemies. Lady Emily is ostensibly in Russia to visit Camille but also to be near her husband as he works but she agrees to find the killer so that Nemetseva's lover can be at peace.
Oh, this was a wonderful story. I was on vacation in a beautiful place but could hardly put this book down to pay attention to the scenery. I didn't love the ending but it was an enjoyable read and I a very much looking forward to the next one.

Four stars
This book comes out October 10

Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander

The book opens with brewer Sloan Krause walking in on her husband in flagrante delicto with one of their new barmaids. She'd had a general sense that he might be cheating on her but now there's proof. So she leaves. Not only him but his family's brewery.
But her start at the new brewery in town (a destination town where beer is king) is more than a little rocky. Her ex seems determined to win her back, the supplier seems squirrelly, and Sloane discovers the body of a rival brewer in one of Nitro's beer tanks.
It's an interesting start to a new series but I'm a little trepidatious about whether it will be one that I will continue to enjoy. This book includes a LOT of set up so not as much story.

Three stars
This book comes out October 3

Holiday Spice by Samantha Chase

Finally the last Shaughnessy sibling gets her story. Darcy is the youngest as well as being the only girl. She's twenty-five and still working on figuring out what it is she wants to do with her life. She knows she's good at organizing and that's what gets her a week-long job helping woodworker Benjamin Tanner figure out his book. And it works well. Until she can't get home. And Ben is conscripted to come rescue her so she doesn't have to sleep at the airport.
Their relationship starts off with a misunderstanding and it just keeps going.
There's a lot of sexual tension in this book but I'm not sure that we get to see much else. Both  are sketched out but there's not an arc for either. An okay book but I was hoping for more for Darcy.

Three stars
This book comes out October 3
Follows A Sky Full of Stars