Love, Accidentally by Jaime Clevenger; Aurora Rey

Amelia Stone is not having a great day. She's moving in with a woman she just met, Veronica, and Veronica isn't even in town to help her move. That's okay, she'll make it work. Until a dump truck hits her moving rental and Amelia ends up in the hospital with all number of injuries. Sure, the EMT is cute but her whole world is now upside down. 

Finn Douglas was burned by love, spent a lot of time playing the field, and now is just sort of stagnant. Her EMT partner teases her pretty incessantly. Especially after Finn seems so smitten with Amelia. And then Finn takes charge of Amelia's cat. When she tries to return the cat, Finn meets Amelia's grandmother and they immediately strike up a friendship. Amelia notices this especially since it is in such contrast to how Veronica and her grandmother interact. Eventually, Amelia realizes that Veronica isn't the woman for her but Finn is leery of being a rebound. 

This is a fun love story though there is a lot of drama at the end that wasn't necessarily needed and the relationship does move fairly quickly. 

Four stars

This book come out November 16th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Bella Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke

I'm not sure about this series yet but I've got the second one queued up from the library so I finished it and I'm glad I stuck with it because I almost put it down after the first chapter. It was a really big info dump. But it could be an interesting series. 

Odessa Dean is living the high life in New York. Or, sort of. She's housesitting and cat sitting for her aunt who has a VERY nice apartment. But she's also working at a bookstore/cafe and learning about NYC. Before she came to the big city, she lived in the bayou. And boy was that different. (I did appreciate that the drawl wasn't "spelled out".)

One of Dessa's coworkers leaves work one day but then ends up dead. And Dessa starts to investigate because she listens to a lot of true-crime podcasts (cue internal eye roll). Granted, the detective in charge doesn't actually believe it was a murder but Dessa is more on the end of clueless detective and I do really more enjoy the professional but I liked that this was a unique take on a contemporary cozy.

Three stars

This book came out February 2nd, 2021

Followed by No Memes of Escape

Borowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Guild Boss by Jayne Castle

The Vortex saga continues... on another planet in the future. This time, the Jones family is brought in through Gabriel. He's a special sort of Hunter, one who is after a specific person in the book's beginning, Lucy Bell. It seems like she wandered away drunk from a wedding and got lost in the underground tunnels. Her family has put out a big bounty for her and Gabriel is the one to notice that there is a dust bunny showing up to get a free pizza every night. He follows the bunny, Otto, and finds the girl.

BUT, that is just the beginning of the story. Lucy objects to the fact that everyone blames her; in fact, she was drugged. But that's not what makes a good story and she loses her clientele. And she blames Gabriel for that fact because... he left? I guess fiction doesn't have to make sense but this seemed odd for a character who otherwise was fairly level-headed.

Gabriel does come back though. He needs someone with Lucy's particular set of talents and he knows what she can do underground. Plus, he just wants to see her again.

There is a lot going on in this story which, even though it's number 14 in a series, seems to be setting up some new storylines. With all of Krentz's books lately, the endings seem to go on and on as in, you think this is the end of the book but then there's another chapter. And another. I also wish we had seen more interactions with Lucy's family. However, Gabriel and Lucy were both great characters and I liked seeing how their relationship went from rescuer/rescued to equal partners. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 16th, 2021

Follows Illusion Town

Followed by Sweetwater and the Witch

ARC kindly provided by Berkley and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed by Helene Tursten, Marlaine Delargy

I would definitely read the first book in this series before reading this one. There is some information about both the stories and the character that are important to this book. 

After the events of the last book, Maud decides to head back to South Africa and get away from the police for a little bit. While on the plane, she has some dreams about some of the first times she (maybe) committed murder or at least set out on a path that some people wouldn't call so very nice.

This is such an odd set of stories and yet I still enjoyed them. 

Four stars

This book came out October 5th, 2021

Follows An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Fast Track by Julie Garwood

Cordie and Aidan got their HEA!

I have really been looking forward to this book and can say that if you have been enjoying Garwood lately, you'll like this book.

Cordie has been in love with Aidan since she was five years old. But he's always looked at her as a sister. When her father dies, Cordie decides it's time for her to get over Aidan, move away, and get on with her life.

Her friends are conspiring not to let her leave and, while helping her to search for the mother that she never even knew was alive, Aidan starts to realize that Cordie might just be the woman he's been looking for....

I recently read "Change of Heart" by Jude Deveraux and have been struggling to figure out why that alpha male annoyed me so much more than Aidan. Both were supremely confident and autocratic, but I think that Aidan was more receptive to Cordie and her demands. Also, I think their shared history helped to create more of a bond than what I saw in the other story. Where Eli really did seem to be just a jerk, Aidan actually cared and had a (current) connection to Cordie. 

While this book shows a slightly softer Cordie than I had gotten from previous books in the series, I still enjoyed the ride. And hearing my friend laugh out loud as she read it also opened me up I some of the more hilarious parts of the story.

Four stars

This book came out July 29th, 2014

Follows Hotshot

Followed by Wired

Borrowed as hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

Nobody Does it Better by Samantha Chase narrated by Carly Robins

Oh man. I generally enjoy Chase but this book was basically a "no" for me though other regular readers may not mind it as much.  Carly Robins is a fantastic narrator though and I enjoyed her interpretation of the story. I will be looking for more books that she is involved in. 

There was so much about this book that was cringe-y. Yes, there is an age gap between Parker and Ryder. How do we know? It's brought up. A lot. And Ryder sure does treat Parker like she is a little girl even though she is in her mid-twenties and is running a successful business. the two have seen each other at her family's events but they haven't interacted until he buys a business that she's been saving up for for years. And then she throws a fit. Which, okay. That makes sense. You're going in to cross the line of a goal you've had for years and someone has swooped in and taken it. So she runs and yells and then somehow falls in love after a near-death experience which culminates in a night with one bed. And, boom, relationship. One where every single male in her family seems to feel like they need to issue a warning and Ryder feels like he needs to rebuff (Patriachal Ew) instead of... maybe all of these males trusting Parker to know her own mind and stand up for what she wants. 

Then Ryder reverted to treating her like a child which is very much at odds with how he is treating her otherwise. And Parker is acting more like a New Adult character than one in a Chase romance. 

Two stars

This audiobook comes out November 11, 2021

Followed by Since You've Been Gone

ARC kindly provided by Dreamscape Media and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Murder Most Actual by Alexis Hall

I liked this book based on the cover and even more based on the author. The chapter titles? Adorable. The blend of "Clue" and "Murder By Death"? Laugh out loud funny. The relationship between our two heroines? Rocky but we really get to see how they are working on repairing it and why their relationship of ten years will last at least that much longer. 

Hanna and Liza are floundering. Neither feels like their relationship is sustaining them any longer. Hannah has peremptorily gotten them a weekend in Scotland. It's a castle, but a castle in the middle of a snowstorm. And a castle with murders. Six of them to be exact. 

With characters like Emmeline Wright, Ruby, a man dressed in green, etc., this is a contemporary take on a locked room mystery with the characters of Clue. Only better. The deft flourishes of language add little tidbits of delight and it takes a writer of great skill to show us two characters finding their love in the middle of a murder-filled vacation.

Four and a half stars

This book comes out November 9th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Kobo Original and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Libby September 2023