Playing for Keeps by Jill Shalvis

Caleb Parker and Sadie Lane have been circling around each other. Both are attracted but neither wants to get involved. Sadie has a dark past including an ex who was a suit, like Caleb, and who treated her very badly. Caleb is a little more interested but doesn't really want to get involved with anyone. He was a sickly child, almost died as a baby, and his history has made his family more than a little overprotective.
One night, Caleb is trying to coax a three-legged stray out of the rain when Sadie comes to help. Because they both helped, they decided to coparent (or "co-pet") and that leads to more and more interactions where each can discover who the other truly is.
Shalvis is the queen of building characters and both the h/h are fleshed out amazingly well. There were a couple Big Misunderstandings too many but this was otherwise a really enjoyable book.

Four stars
This book came out January 22
ARC kindly provided by publisher and Edelweiss

Three Little Words by Jenny Holiday

I've been ready to read Gia's book for awhile. She's a jet setting model who seems, in the last few books, that she has something to hide. And she is definitely going through some life changes. About to turn 30, her body just isn't working the same way it used to. It's out of her control. In her control? Getting Wendy's dress from New York to her Florida wedding. So when a storm hits and Gia isn't going to make it on time, she goes nuts.
Bennett Buchanan knows entitlement and isn't impressed by it. But when he realizes he is connected to the woman throwing a hussy fit, he decides to help.
Eventually the two decide to drive to Florida and that means enforced time in close proximity.  And in a romance novel, you can be sure that will lead to an HEA.
Maybe my expectations for this book were too high. I felt like Gia's problem was too quickly solved by Twu Lurv and that the romance between the two felt shallow. I get that they spent a lot of time together but a LOT of that time was spent with misconceptions and irritation rather than dawning feelings of love.

This book comes out January 29th
Three stars
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Whole Package by Marie Harte

Naomi Starr is running her own PR company. She just needs a few more good clients to prove to the "Big Fish" that she's the perfect person to help run their campaign so she can take her company to the next level. To that end, she knows that he's a veteran and she thinks that helping Vets on the Go!, a moving coming, will help prove how good she can be.
Reid Griffith, now out of the Marines, is trying to get enough business to support his whole team. But when one of his moving groups foils a robbery, they are instantly famous. And he understands that Naomi can help them channel that fame.
There are some problems with this story, it's the first in the series so there's a lot of world building (i.e. setup for future books in the series (e.g. the mover that looks exactly like Reid's (half?) brother)). There is also a LOT of back and forth on Reid and Naomi's relationship being a real relationship but they shouldn't be doing it because he's a client but she's so hot... blah, blah, blah.
Overall though, a nice fast, fun and fluffy read that didn't perturb me overly much.

Three stars
This book comes out January 29
Followed by Smooth Moves
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Murderous Marriage by Alyssa Maxwell

Lady Phoebe Renshaw is worried about her sister. She knows Julia is in love with Leo but she is marrying Gilbet Townsend who is wealthy, but decades older than her. Gilbert's sister Phoebe doesn't seem to like either Golbert or Julia and his secretary is weirdly possessive.  Phoebe was surprised that the honey.oon was to be aboard a yacht and is aghast that Gilbert's best friend is slated to accompany the newlyweds on their honeymoon. There are many things that are off about the scenario. It gets worse when Julia has a spat with her husband that evening and flees the boat. But she decides that she has to return. The next morning, her husband is found dead in the water and Julia is the main suspect. It will be up to Phoebe and the family maid cum surrogate mother Eva to figure out what is going on.
This was a good book by Maxwell but I am enjoying her other series just a little bit more.

Three stars
This book comes out January 29
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

Fifty Scams and Hoaxes by Martin Fone

A short and sweet book. The stories are often less than a page which I was not expecting. I was thinking there would be more extensive research and longer chapters. If you are looking for a gift for middle-schoolers, this might not be a bad book though there are definitely some adult ideas.

Three stars
This book comes out January 28
ARC kindly provided by NetGalley; Opinion is my own

Illegally Yours by Kate Meader

Lucas Wright loves being a fancy-free divorce lawyer. Yeah, some of his clients aren't the best but he really, really likes his life. Well, most of it.
Trinity Jones likes her work. She's like a sommelier but for whiskey. And she is good at her job. Her personal life is... more complicated. Especially when she meets Lucas and sparks immediately fly. But he's the man who is representing her sister's soon-to-be-ex-husband. And that relationship is already complicated. So how is this going to play out.
I liked Lucas. He was generally an adult and was trying to do the right thing. Mostly. Trinity was a bit of an enabler and I had a harder time connecting with her because it was frustrating to see what she was doing. Overall, an okay book -- didn't love the middle-endish but the ending felt like they might have a chance at HEA.

Three stars
This book comes out January 22
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley

The Golden Tresses of the Dead by Alan Bradley

The last Flavia De Luce book felt a bit flat but this one was a return to form.
Flavia and Dogger have opened a detective agency and have their first customer. But she ends up dead. And it seems that her death may be connected to the object found in Ophelia's wedding cake. Add in two missionaries and you have connected mysteries.
Undine is starting to get more involved but she is feeling an awful lot like a plot moppet. And I'm not sure that this book was fairly clued though it felt like it was supposed to be.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out January 19
ARC kindly provided by publisher and NetGalley