Life's a Witch by Amanda M. Lee

As usual, there's a lot going on in Bay Winchester's world. First, her great aunt Tillie's sister is in town stirring up trouble. There's always been bad blood between the two and time doesn't seem to have diminished their animosity toward each other. Bay and her cousins are doing all they can to avoid their family and all of the fighting.

Getting out of the house is easier when there's a dead body and the local sheriff and the FBI (well, Bay's boyfriend, Landon) are asking Bay for help. The body is that of a local teen who leaves behind a mother and sister. His sister seems especially miffed at him. 

As usual, there are some shortcuts in this story and things that don't necessarily make sense but still a fun story and regular readers will enjoy.

Three stars

This book came out November 1st, 2015

Follows Witch Me Luck

Followed by Charms & Witchdemeanors

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle

When the book opens, Sedona Snow is being rescued by a dust bunny from a hidden underground lair. While pushing past the armed guards, Sedona discovers she has a new talent and a new pet (now named Lyle). Thank goodness since when she gets out, she finds that she's been gone for six weeks. And her MC husband has moved on. Rumors abound and that she is unable to find work until moving out to Rainshadow island. I loved that previous characters weren't shoehorned into the story. Sedona and Cyrus were able to find their own way. 

For his part, Cyrus is the Guild boss of the newly formed Rainshadow Guild. He's something of an unknown quantity. He's part of the powerful Jones family and, of course, has an off-the-charts, unusual talent. And he falls into insta-lust with our heroine. 

This book moved so past and had so many parts, I feel like I should have been irritated. But most of Castle's books move like that that it wasn't completely unexpected. It was part of the formula, even the "bad guy" was easily identifiable and probably will be for other regular Castle readers. And to be honest, I wouldn't read this book out of order in the series.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 26th, 2014

Follows Deception Cove

Followed by Siren's Call

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

Miss Marple is on vacation in London. Her nephew Raymond has provided her with two weeks at Bertram's Hotel. When she was a girl, Miss Marple had spent a week there and she wanted to see if it were the same. Curiously, it is. It is just the same. But there is something wrong here, if only she could put her finger on it. 

Also at the hotel is the well-known Bess Sedgwick. She's survived a plane crash, a car crash (or two), being thrown from a horse twice. She's been married several times and had one daughter. Feeling that her love of danger would be detrimental to the child, Bess left her daughter with the girl's father who subsequently died. The daughter, Elvira, was then raised by a guardian. She is now nineteen years old and also staying at Bertram's Hotel. While her guardian believes she is naive and innocent, readers find out that that may not actually be the case.

I kept thinking of the 2007 BBC version of this story . It did not completely align with this story so I kept getting the storylines confused. The original was better and made more sense.

Three and a half stars

This book came out in 1965

Follows A Caribbean Mystery

Followed by Nemesis

Borowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

No Choice But Seduction by Johanna Lindsey

Katey Tyler has lived in a small town filled with older people her whole life. Both of her parents have passed away and, having some money, she has taken a maid and decided to travel the world. On her voyage to England, she catches the notice of Boyd Anderson but tells him that she is married. She certainly doesn't want to tie herself down at the beginning of her adventure! So, they get to England and she doesn't expect to see him again. However, she hears an odd noise one night and discovers a girl, Judith Malory, tied up. Katey releases her and is on her way to London to return Judith to the Malory family when Boyd bursts in (being the girl's uncle) and immediately decides that Katey must be the kidnapper.

It goes on from there but most of the story is Judith begin kidnapped and then Katey discovering a surprising connection to the Malorys. I wish there had been more of a relationship built between Katie and Boyd especially since the age gap is so wide.

Three stars

This book came out June 17th, 2008

Follows Captive of My Desires

Followed by That Perfect Someone

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Reread November 2022

The House Without a Key by Earl Derr Biggers

I hesitated to read this series because the movies were so racist and I just didn’t want to read the books. However, an episode of the Classic Mystery Podcast where the author explicitly stated that the books were actually written to try and counteract the racist Chinese characters of other books. This didn’t end up being the first book I read in the Charlie Chan series (series purists shudder here) but the other one I read wasn’t horrible so I decided to start at the beginning and see how it went. 

We don’t actually see Charlie Chan until we are already well into the book. Instead, the Winterslip family is the focus. Minerva Winterslip has been traveling for too long (according to her New England family) so they’ve sent her “puritanical” nephew, James, to Hawaii to come and gather her. This, of course, was back when traveling to Hawaii meant going by boat.

Minerva has been staying with her cousin Dan and, while she gets along with him well enough, the reader gets hints that he might not be an altogether “good guy.” For instance, he hasn’t spoken to his brother for over 30 years. He’s also seeing a woman he’s not really going to marry (not so bad these days). And another cousin hints to James that Dan has a dark past and that his money might not all be from legitimate means. Then, Dan is murdered and there is not an immediate reason why which means that the police, and Charlie Chan, are called in to investigate. 

It did take me a REALLY long time to get into the book. Not sure why as it was an enjoyable read and the mystery, while a little unbelievable in places, was fairly clued.

Four stars

This book came out in 1925

Followed by The Chinese Parrot

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

A Lot Like Adiós by Alexis Daria

I started this book thinking I'd read a chapter and then get on with the chores I needed to do today. Hours later, I am left with a happy book hangover. Daria has knocked this book out of the park. Not quite friends-to-lovers (it's been too long since Michelle and Gabe were truly friends), not quite a fake relationship (they do sort of adopt one for "reasons" but they both acknowledge it is already something more) but it sort of still is both. More, it's two people who have always had simmering feelings for each other and the time apart allows them to jump right into the space they may not have found had they stayed together. And they TALK to each other. Gabe is a little bit of a butthead at the end but he figures it out quickly and gets the girl in the end. I only wish we had seen just a little bit more of Zack and Riva, the space show fanfic written by our main characters that is interspersed throughout the book.

Gabriel Aguilar knows that you can never go home and he doesn't want to. Except that's where his business is taking him. Back to New York and back to his childhood best friend, Michelle Amato. He had basically ghosted her nine years ago and he's not sure of the reception he's going to get but his gym is expanding to NYC and she is a marketing genius whose help they need to grow. 

Michelle is pissed. And curious. Why is Gabe getting in touch now? It's been almost a decade. But she once loved him; both as a friend and almost as something more. And when she makes a list, the pros of working with him outweigh the cons. Besides, maybe she can finally get some resolution about what happened so many years ago.

Five stars

This book comes out September 14th, 2021

Follows You Had Me at Hola

ARC kindly provided by William Morrow and Custom House, and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread June 2022

Narwhal's School of Awesomeness by Ben Clanton

This book is amazing, awesome, entertaining, and educational. Narwhal and Jelly come upon a school of fish who are on their way to school. Unfortunately, their teacher is sick. But Narwhal steps in to teach (wearing sunglasses because teachers are cool) and Jelly serves as the teacher to the teacher since Narwhal doesn't actually know how to teach. There is a lot of knowledge imparted in this short book including the names of different groups of animals, some math, and lots of synonyms.

Clanton's N&J books are always fun but this one made me giggle out loud. Every page is perfection.

Five stars
This book comes out September 7, 2021
Follows Happy Narwhalidays

Followed by Narwhalicorn and Jelly

ARC kindly provided by Penguin Random House Canada and NetGalley
Opinions are my own