An Unexpected Peril by Deanna Raybourn

When examining the effects of a lady mountaineer, recently deceased, Veronica is shocked to see that the rope holding the woman on her last climb looks to have been cut with a knife. The lady's death was not the accident everyone assumes. Veronica is anxious to investigate and gets her chance when the Princess Gisela of the Alpenwald disappears and, as an unexpected lookalike, Veronica is asked to step into her place. 

As usual, Raybourn has a lot going on in her book but she weaves it together seamlessly in a thoroughly enjoyable story. It did take me a little bit to get through the middle of the book but I enjoyed seeing the character growth in Veronica and Stoker. There was not much building about their relationship but I think there are some hints that there may be more in the next book.

Veronica Speedwell #6

Four stars

Follows A Murderous Relation

Followed by An Impossible Impostor
This book comes out March 2, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Berkley and Edelweiss Plus
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby January 2024

Cubicles That Make You Envy the Dead by Scott Adams

I hadn't read a Dilbert book in quite some time and had a chance to borrow this for free so I thought, "Why not?" 
Not much has changed. All of the characters are fairly one-dimensional. Nobody likes their job. Management is incompetent. Not much, other than the technology has changed.

Two and a half stars

This book came out November 6th, 2018

ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

February Rereads

As always, opinions are my own

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #1)

Three stars

Follows My Last Duchess

Followed by Too Wilde to Wed
This book came out October 31, 2017

Hard copy of mine

Too Wilde to Wed by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #2)

Four stars

Follows Wilde in Love

Followed by Born to be Wilde
This book came out May 29, 2018
ebook on my Kindle

Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #3)
Three and a half stars
This book comes out July 31
Hard copy borrowed from library
Follows Too Wilde to Wed
Followed by Say No to the Duke

Say No to the Duke by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #4)

Four stars
This book came out June 25th, 2019
Follows Born to Be Wilde
Followed by Say Yes to the Duke
ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Say Yes to the Duke by Eloisa James

(Wildes of Lindow Castle #5)

Four stars

Follows Say No to the Duke

Followed by Wilde Child
This book came out May 19th, 2020

ebook borrowed from CloudLibrary

Big Nate: In Your Face by Lincoln Peirce

As always, Peirce delivers a series of strips wherein we get to see Nate interacting with his friends during sports and at school. We see his delusions of grandeur when it comes to all of the above. Of course, he spars with Gina and Mrs. Godfrey (even on the first day of school.) There are a series of strips related to his playing on the soccer team including wanting to get some music to play pre-game and how that quickly fizzles and also believing that he should be scouted (even in middle school) and figuring out that that will mean some extra training with someone he'd rather not spend time with.

It is also Nate's turn to take care of Sherman, the class hamster, and, being Nate, doesn't do it in quite the way one might expect. 

I am really enjoying the addition of Dee Dee. I can't remember when she was introduced but she's been appearing in more and more of the series. She is a great character and it's nice to see Nate actually relating to a female in a positive manner (not just as a despised teacher or sibling or, on the other hand, as a love interest.)

Four and a half stars

Follows The Gerbil Ate My Homework

Followed by Aloha

This book comes out March 2nd

ARC kindly provided by Andrew McMeel Publishing and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Useful Delusions by Shankar Vedantam, Bill Mesler

I liked the idea of this book. When can self-delusion be helpful in our day-to-day life? Can it EVER be helpful? I have always believed that deluding myself works in wonderful ways and Vendatam and Mesler would agree.

I thought one of the most interesting studies was in wine tasting when people's brain scans actually showed that the pleasure center lit up more when tasting a wine they had been told was $90 even though it was the same as the $10 bottle. Does that mean the people who pay more for wine will always enjoy it more? Maybe. But price isn't the only thing that can "trick" our brain like that. It can also be the story behind  a product or brand.

There are several of these studies interwoven with the story of a letter writing scheme where lonely hearts would write to each other. However, it turned out most of the women in these exchanges were semi or wholly fictitious. Yet many of the men defended the fraudster.  Why? Well, the book explains. If you consider yourself a rationalist, this may not be a good book for you because it will change how you define "rational."

 
Three and a half stars
This book comes out March 2nd

ARC kindly provided by W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder at the Mena House by Erica Ruth Neubauer

Jane Wunderly isn't sure why her Aunt Millie chose the Mena House as their place to stay in Egypt but she is grateful. It is a beautiful hotel and she is enjoying the company, especially a handsome man name Redvers. The young woman who seems to have captured the attention of all the young man, Anna Staten, she is not so impressed with. The young woman doesn't seem to like Jane (who, as a thirty-something-year-old widow is sure she isn't competition for a flapper) and spills a drink on her. But that doesn't mean that Jane is wishing death on the young woman. And Jane especially doesn't expect to be the one to find her.  When Jane becomes a main suspect, she is told to restrict herself to the main hotel. She cooperates (sort of) but she also starts to look into the murder herself. 
Meanwhile, her Aunt Millie seems to be hiding secrets of her own, spending time with a young woman golfer, Lillian, and Lillian's friend who is obsessed with Lillian, Marie.
This is definitely a story where regular mystery readers can figure out who the killer is but our heroine definitely doesn't until she is in the crosshairs herself. I'm willing to forgive that in one book, maybe two, but hopefully Jane smartens up by book three.

Three and a half stars
This book came out March 31st, 2020
Followed by Murder at Wedgefield Manor
Borrowed as an audiobook from Libby 
Opinions are my own

Friends Like Us by Sarah Mackenzie

The first part of the book, we hit the ground running. We meet Bree and Jill, friends since childhood. Bree is about to find out whether or not the lump in her breast is cancer. Jill is still reeling from the death of her husband three years ago. We get to see Bree making an anti-bucket list and jumping right in. She sings karaoke and has a one-night stand. Except that she sees him again when he comes to look at doing renovations on her house.
Jill is only just starting to process her own widowhood and I wish we had gotten to see more of her work, both in figuring out how to grieve and her path back to her mother. In some ways, it seemed rather fast but it does sometimes happen that way and this wasn't a long book. 
The ending was rather fast as well. I enjoyed the middle the best where the characters and the relationships were really developing.

Three stars

This book came out January 26th, 2021

eBook borrowed from Cloud Library

Opinions are my own