Pokko and the Drum by Matthew Forsythe

The description of this book from the 2019 NPR Book concierge made this book sound fun and the cover is delightful so I requested this book from my library. I did NOT regret it. With sly humor (I giggled at more than one depiction of Pokko) and beautiful pictures, readers will adore the story of Pokko's whose parents' "biggest mistake" was giving her a drum. 

Five stars
This book came out October 1st, 2019
Hard copy borrowed from library
Opinions are my own

Holiday for Two -- Anthology

All Through the Night by Maggie Robinson

Carrie Moore is an assistant for a famous mystery writer (think Jessica Fletcher on copious amounts of gin.) But she has failed in her latest mission - to make it onto the ferry with Christmas dinner before a snowstorm settles in. And now she's stuck with the mystery writer's nephew in the blinding snow. But a snowstorm might be the perfect time for a personal assistant and an English viscount to spend a little time getting to know each other
A little slow in places and a big bunch of insta-love but I finished it. 

Two and a half stars
While it Was Snowing by Elyssa Patrick

I usually like a novella where the characters have a past. It means that there will be some basis of a relationship that might make sense. In this case, Felicity and Harry's families have been friends for years. Now, Felicity is ready to take things to the next level. But Harry is scared. And a virgin. He's not sure that changing their relationship is going to be good and he accidentally rejects her harder than he means too. Luckily (for him), a snowstorm traps him in the cabin and the two are forced to face each other and what their future could be.
This story was fine but just fine. I didn't connect to either character or have any real faith in their HEA (even though we were shown it in an unusually-long-time-later epilogue.

Two and a half stars

This book came out December 9th 2013

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own

Beyond Compare by Candace Camp

 I loved listening to the first book in this series and immediately ordered the rest of the series through PaperBackSwap.com. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I didn't like it as much because it wasn't audio or if this book was just harder to connect to but it took me a LONG time to finish this book. 

Kyria Moreland is incredibly beautiful but still unmarried. Rafe McIntyre is a friend of her sister's husband. American and incredibly attractive, Kyria is intrigued. She gets to spend more time with him when a mysterious box is sent to her family's house and the courier dies practically on the doorstep. His last words? Kyrie.

Bullets, knife fights, and kidnapping ensue. But it does go on a little bit long with not as much movement in the romance as there is in the mystery. 

Three stars

Follows Mesmerized

Followed by Winterset

This book came out April 4th, 2004

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Ship of Fools Cathy Yardley

 High school sweethearts Ren and Rachel broke up. Well, he broke up with her and broke her heart. His parents explained to him that it would be too hard to be across the country and maintain a relationship especially since they would both be in school. And he listened.

Ten years later, Rachel needs a favor that only a billionaire (or a billionaire’s kid) can help with. So she calls Ren. And he uses the opportunity to try and get back in her good graces. But Rachel isn’t really happy about that. She decides to give him one week to figure out his whether or not he can fit her into his life. But will Ren crack under the pressure from Rachel adding to the pressure he’s already under from his parents?

I felt like Rachel was a little harder than she needed to be and Ren was just a little too perfect but it was a overall a fast and fun book.

Three and a half stars

Follows Playing Doctor

Book borrowed from Audible Escape

This book came out September 30th, 2018

Opinions are my own

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

As a detective, Nevada Baylor usually goes after divorce cases or insurance fraud. But she's now being forced to go after a rogue fire starter. A very, powerful fire starter. Who's also sort of hot. But is an egomaniac. 
Also after Adam Pierce? Connor "Mad" Rogan. He is known for killing. A lot of people. He also has a lot of magic, one that can be used sort of like telekinesis. Nevada doesn't feel like she has a chance; her magic is just the ability to tell lies. What can she do against two such powerful men?
With so much world building (people have magic, there are different types of magic, how the families with magic work, etc.), there isn't a ton of room for building characters. We learn more about both in later books but I wish there had been just a little bit more to connect to.

Four stars
This book came out October 28, 2014

Followed by White Hot
Audiobook from Overdrive
Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible book I own July 31, 2022, September 2023

When All the Girls Have Gone by Jayne Ann Krentz

 The book opens, not unlike many of Krentz's contemporaries, with a murder. We see it through the eyes of the killer. And it seems rather obvious who the killer is as the book goes on, but this is a Krentz novel.
To that end, we do get a hero and heroine. Max Cutler is a former profiler. A case went horribly wrong, stirring up ghosts from his past, and he decided (or the decision was made) for him to leave D.C. He ended up in Seattle, working as a private investigator. His current case involves a dead woman who the police believe to have died from an overdose. Her cousin isn't so sure. He things it's murder. 
Normally Charlotte Sawyer considers herself fairly boring. She works in a nursing home as an the activities coordinator. It's true that her former fiance left her at the altar, but she's working to get over that.  Charlotte step-sister, Jocelyn, says that she is too trusting, and Charlotte agrees. But it doesn't follow that she is also stupid. 
Max and Charlotte's paths cross when Charlotte, watching Jocelyn's house while she's on a tech-free month-long retreat, is the one who picks up the package sent to Jocelyn from the dead woman.  A packages that sends her on an adventure. 
Regular Krentz readers will definitely enjoy the book. It's very much in the rhythm of her recent contemporaries. The love story was a bit fast and furious and the multiple "epilogues" were a bit tedious but overall a fast and fun read. I do hope we get to hear about Max's brothers, Cabot and Jack and find out whether the guru Zane really did die.

Three and a half stars
Followed by Promise Not to Tell
This book came out November 29th, 2016
Audiobook from Cloud Library

Opinions are my own

The Santa Sleuth by Heather MacAllister

Amanda Donnelly just wants to move to the next level of reporting (the hard stuff! Isn't it always?) but is relegated to fluff. For example, her current assignment of picking a child who will rate the Santas around Houston. She wants a bright child with all their teeth but ends up with Virginia who is missing a tooth and who seems to bedevil her teachers/principal though that was very much a case of Show, not Tell since she doesn't seem unusual except for being fairly precocious and creating a lot of the pivot points for the plot.
Of course, (this is a romance novel, after all) Virginia has a single father, Kirk, who relies on his coterie of assistants to help take care of his daughter but seems to deny it. He also demonstrates questionable decision making when he sends Virginia out on location with Amanda after having met her once (maybe it was twice, but still.)
I did finish the story and if you're looking for something sweet and easy to read, this book will be it. It was just a little too sweet for me.

Two and a half stars

This book came out November 1st, 1994 (this explains a LOT)

Got as a free book from Kindle

Opinions are my own