review: the scoundrel in her bed by lorraine heath

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After the Duke of Thornley's bride-to-be ran off, he found love with Gillie Trewlove in When a Duke Loves a Woman. As luck (or Lorraine Heath) would have it, one of Gillie's brothers is who Thornley's betrothed actually loves. The Scoundrel in Her Bed goes back to when Gillie's brother Finn first met Lady Lavinia. Theirs is quite the love story, especially as neither knows the true reason for their eventual separation. When they do find each other again, there's even more heartache to be had. With the story initially including numerous flashbacks, the plot feels a little disjointed but the romance is always strong.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.

review: murder from scratch by leslie karst

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Sally Solari just can’t seem to stay away from murder mysteries. In the fourth book of the series, Sally becomes involved when her father asks her to take in a distant cousin whose mother has died. Although there’s a suicide note, Evelyn believes her mother was murdered. Things just don’t add up and Sally agrees to investigate. As Sally and Evelyn uncover clues (like misplaced items in the home Evelyn shared with her mother), the murderer closes in on them as well. Murder from Scratch has plenty of red herrings to keep the mystery going, but the subplot with Brian that's continued from the previous books is an unnecessary distraction.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: between you & me by susan wiggs

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When a young Amish boy sustains a life-threatening farming accident, his guardian goes against the community's wishes and allows a helicopter to take the boy to a hospital. That's how Caleb along with his nephew Jonah and niece Hannah come into the life of Reese, a surgical resident at the hospital. Soon Reese and Caleb are connecting and trying to navigate the tremendous differences between them.

Between You & Me opens with someone, clearly Amish, abandoning a baby at a hospital. It was initially unclear how this would come into the plot, but eventually Susan Wiggs clunkily works it in. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel until that point. Once the baby is found (very appropriately in the safe haven box), the previously open-minded Reese becomes extremely judgmental. Wiggs also completely misrepresents Pennsylvania law which does allow a baby to be left at a safe location such as a hospital without there being any consequence to the parents. It's unfortunate that Wiggs twisted what had been a well-written love story into an agenda against safe haven laws.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.

review: the devil's daughter by lisa kleypas

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Two years after the death of her husband, Phoebe is still not ready to remarry despite the pressure from her husband's cousin who Phoebe's husband had expressed a desire to have take his place and is overseeing the family estate. Phoebe isn't happy with the arrangement, but even so, she never expected to fall for the man who bullied her husband when they were at boarding school. Despite West's reputation, he proves to be kind to her children and concerned about the management of the land Phoebe's eldest son will one day inherit. It's a sweet romance (that gets steamy at times) of a pair who prove to be perfect complements. It was especially cute how the cat repeatedly brought the pair together.

Devil's Daughter works well as a standalone, although it’s the fifth in The Ravenels series as well as a crossover with The Wallflowers series as it features the daughter of Sebastian and Evie from Devil in Winter.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.

review: the girls at 17 swann street by yara zgheib

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Told partly through medical reports, but mostly through Anna's almost stream of consciousness narration of her days, Yara Zgheib's debut novel tells of Anna's stay at 17 Swann Street as she battles anorexia. With a tragic childhood and her days of being a professional ballerina in Paris behind her, Anna struggles with a new life in America after her husband takes a job in Missouri for, as Anna puts it, "St. Louis was not a ballet kind of town." The Girls at 17 Swann Street is a powerful tale with Anna experiencing realistic struggles, heartbreak, and triumph. Anna, her husband, and the other women at 17 Swann Street are all amazing characters who are beautifully brought to life by Zgheib.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, St. Martin's Press.

review: one taste too many by debra h. goldstein

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Sarah Blair is starting over at 28 after divorcing her wealthy husband, who happens to be an owner of the restaurant her twin, Emily, works for. Debra H. Goldstein's new cozy mystery series opens with Emily informing Sarah that her ex is dead and the police suspect Emily. With the police focusing their attention on Emily, the twins launch their own investigation and uncover numerous lies and a bit of a conspiracy.

As with some first books in a series, One Taste Too Many introduces a lot of characters. The leads are memorable and fleshed out (especially in regards to those who interacted with RahRah, the cat), but the secondary characters who work at the restaurant are one-dimensional and forgettable—I had to flip back in the book to figure out who someone was when plot developments involving those characters occurred. The mystery unfolded well though with some pretty great twists and plenty of entertaining moments with both Sarah's cat and her kitchen blunders.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: a duke changes everything by christy carlyle

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As the second son, Nick never expected or wanted to inherit his father's title. When he does, his immediate plan is to sell the property and return to his life in London. But for as much as Nick loathes Enderley Castle, the estate steward loves it and the people who work there. Mina is determined to change Nick's mind, but they both get more than they bargained for in the first book of a new series from Christy Carlyle.

The romance between Nick and Mina develops slowly and naturally, but there's plenty of drama to keep the plot moving along. It was also nice to get both Nick and Mina's perspectives as it allowed both characters and their motivations to be better understood. Carlyle nailed it with this one.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon Books.