Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Kate is no longer working for the Order; she's set out on her own. She's not had any clients so far but then there's an unmanned vampire, the PAD is in her yard, and all hell is breaking loose. Her best friend Andrea has just showed up after eight weeks of no word and Kate finally gets her first client. And then she gets two new employees (Derrick and a 15-year-old Bouda). And she is going to get ready to go to battle (again). Just in time for her adopted daughter Julie to show up.

Lots of action in this book but I wish we had seen more character development. Still a good book in the series.

Three stars

Follows Magic Bleeds

Followed by Magic Rises

This book came out April 25th, 2011

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Broken (in the best possible way) Jenny Lawson

 

If you haven't read Jenny Lawson before, you may want to start with her other books but only because they are so amazingly awesome and worth reading as well. This book had me laughing out loud so hard it hurt my throat. It also had me crying. 

Lawson tells stories from her own life that cross topics from her childhood to her marriage to her mental illness. And it is really the last that has garnered her the most attention. She honestly describes her (at times crippling) depression. She doesn't whitewash the pain it has caused her or her family. But she also highlights the hysterical parts of life (the Twitter thread she accidentally started about people's most embarrassing moments makes me feel better about how I people) as well as those parts that are amazingly poignant (her grandmother's dementia.) 

Four and a half stars

This book comes out April 6th

ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

The Bargain by Mary Jo Putney

Lady Jocelyn Kendal needs a man. Preferably one not long for this earth. Her father's convoluted will left her all of his money but only if she married by the time she turned 25... and that birthday is fast approaching. She needs more time to convince a certain duke that she could be his perfect woman. 

While visiting the local veteran's hospital, she meets Major David Lancaster, a very nice man who is on his deathbed. And it seems that the major has a sister that he is worried about. In exchange for an immediate marriage, Jocelyn will support his sister. It's a win-win situation. At least, it is until David doesn't die. 

I liked that David and Jocelyn were both perfectly decent people, each caught up in circumstances that were not of their own making. Their romance is fine but I REALLY liked the B romance between David's managing sister and the surgeon who saves his life. A little bland in places but overall an enjoyable read. 

Three stars

Followed by Petals in the Storm

This book came out October 1st, 1999

Borrowed as an ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

The Sweet Taste of Sin by Ember Casey

This might be an interesting series later but this book needed just a little more character growth for me to believe that this was going to be an HEA.
Ashlyn is happy (more or less) running her bakery and avoiding her one and only True Love Dante Fontaine, yes, of the Hollywood Fontaines. But then she runs into him (in a situation that is one that pops up in romance novels but isn't one of my favorites.) And he realizes that she is still his True Love and he might have a chance (or something like that). Then he keeps running after her because he wants her even though she repeatedly says "No, nope, nopity nope." Usually I would DNF after about the third instance of this but I was tired and somehow kept going. 
They eventually do end up together but there was not near enough groveling and I'm not exactly sure why she took him back other than her lady bits kept telling her to.

Two stars

Followed by The Lies Between the Lines
This book came out February 5th, 2019

Ebook of mine on Kindle

Opinions are my own

The Way the Story Goes by Samantha Chase

Mia Kingsley, thriller writer, is in Magnolia Sound battling a bad case of writer's block. She escaped from Boston because her house is being renovated and the noise was too much. Beach in the off season? Why yes, that might help her write. And being around her best friend/assistant might help as well. Not helping? The construction sounds coming from next door. They start early, end late, and are often accompanied by 80s songs and a man's off-key singing.

Austin Coleman needed some time away from Baltimore. His hot temper made it easy to jump at the chance to do a renovation for his friend's brother. While Austin is an architect by trade, he can apparently jump in and do some... carpentry? general construction? (not really explained in the book) to keep the house moving along. He didn't realize that there was someone living next door. Nor does he look before he heaves a sink over the deck, narrowly missing Mia.

And thus begins their romance. Chase's books are usually a smidge under 200 pages and I think they could often be longer. In this book, we don't really get to see Austin grow past the issues he had that got him out of Baltimore. Nor do we ever see Mia really standing up to her parents. It's a short book and I really did believe that they might have an HEA because they did, for the most part, talk to each other. 

Three stars

Follows Last Beautiful Girl

Followed by The Way the Story Goes

This book came out January 12th, 2021

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Last Beautiful Girl by Samantha Chase

Sydney Albright has returned to Magnolia Sound to take care of her twelve-year-old niece, Haley. Haley's parents died in an accident and Sydney doesn't have the heart to move her out of the home that her parents just bought. Too bad it is a BIG fixer upper. Like, the people in town have started raising money to help her pay to get it livable fixer upper. And it's just her luck that Kyle Jones is the man who is spearheading the renovations. 

Kyle is ecstatic to get a chance to grow his career but is leery about  seeing Sydney again. But this is a romance so the two start feeling Those Old Familiar Feelings and they become a couple. There are a few speed bumps along the way but about halfway through the book, they are already talking about love and are careening toward forever. Which, of course, means that there will be a BIG SOMETHING (not a misunderstanding) that will still stand in their way. In my mind, it is sort of a series of things connected to Haley and I could understand the first part and, while the second might actually happen in real life, It was a little overblown for my tastes.

Three stars

Follows Can't Help Falling in Love

Followed by The Way the Story Goes

This book came out September 28th, 2020

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters

Diana and Jeremy know each other when both are young. She is on the marriage mart and already knows that her best hope at a bright future is going to be a brilliant match. Therefore, she has little interest in Jeremy who is a fine enough gentleman but he is often drunk and doesn't seem to be building the family coffers.

Five years later, Lady Templeton is now widowed and is a good friend of Jeremy. In fact, they are well-known for making a series of bets with each other. Their latest wager is that Jeremy will be married within a year. It is somewhat hobbled by the fact that Jeremy, though known to have hopped into the beds of most of the married women of the ton, is now doubting his own prowess based on comments from his last mistress... er, lover. While he could have broken it off with her in a better manner (while still in bed with her after making love), he still wonders if she is telling the truth.  Jeremy thinks they could have some mutual gain by embarking on an affair. He can find out the truth of his skill in bed and Diana can let other men know that she is accepting lovers. A house party at Jeremy's seems the perfect place to begin an affair and to get Jeremy set up with the perfect woman... Lady Helen.

However, this is a romance so not all goes as expected.

Diana was delightful. She knew (for the most part) what she wanted in life and she went for it. Jeremy was also built out really well and I enjoyed seeing them go from friends to lovers. So much that I might even check out Waters' first book which I didn't think I'd enjoy but I'm curious about the characters.

I really hope that we get a story with Emily and her beau, Julian Belfry.

Four stars

This book come out April 6th

ARC kindly provided by Atria Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own