Heads Will Roll - Josh Winning

 

"After sitcom star Willow tweeted herself into infamy and had to be dragged blind-drunk out of a swimming pool, her agent shipped her off to the woodsy and wonderfully anonymous confines of Camp Castaway. Tucked away in the trees of upstate New York, Castaway is a summer camp for adults in desperate need of leaving behind their mistakes, their social media accounts, their lives. No real names, no phones…no way to call for help.

Willow is relieved to find that her fellow campers seem okay. To her shock, her own favorite actress is here, sitting by the campfire and roasting a s’more. And did that jaded writer, Dani, just wink at her? But the peaceful vibe is shattered when a terrifying woman pops shrieking from the wardrobe in Willow’s room. Soon after, one of the campers vanishes. Is Willow about to get cancelled all over again, this time for good?

Soon, terror grips the group, campers begin to lose their heads—literally!—and Willow and her new friends are on the run. As paranoia grows and disturbing past deeds come to light, this escape from their shallow lifestyles might just lead to a set of shallow graves."

What Worked for Me:

The set up for this worked fantastically.  I loved the idea of this 'unplugged' camp where folks can just decompress and disconnect.  It easily solved the problem in modern slashers of the 'why didn't they just call for help' trope and didn't feel overly contrived.  We get a good mix of characters at this camp - all with different reasons for wanting a reset which helped with the balance.  I also enjoyed the fact that since this camp was basically anonymous, there were some good red herrings when it came to figuring out who the killer might be. 

I also loved the folk horror aspect and there were times where I wondered if we were going to get into supernatural horror territory.  I think the legend was a perfect mix of a little over the top combined with plausible.  Like we could 100% see the real story behind the campfire tale.   

What Didn't Work for Me:

I wanted more character development before the bodies started dropping.  I know that is sort of the point of a slasher is that the characters are basically cannon fodder which normally I'm ok with.  However, with how emotional the other characters got at certain deaths, I felt like there was a disconnect between the characters and the reader.   

I felt the social media message was a little heavy handed in this and at times, felt like this was an 'issue' book instead of a slasher that had some commentary on modern day media.  I think maybe that sort of overt messaging would be better suited for maybe a younger YA book.  I think the message is important, but I just didn't need to be hit over the head with it - the overall plot made the point clear enough.

Most of the kills were off page and the characters would find the body afterwards.  I didn't particularly mind this, at first, due to the overall folk horror elements.  However, there was one fantastic fight scene that just made me wish we got of that action on page.  We do get more as the book progresses, mostly due to the fact that our MC is now involved in the action a lot more, but I think maybe some multi-POV so we could see more of this killer would have been fun.

Overall, I think this just ended up in the 'not quite for me' category.  I really liked the set up and setting, but wanted more character development before the bodies started dropping.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.  Publication date was July 30, 2024

Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret - Benjamin Stevenson

"My name’s Ernest Cunningham. I used to be a fan of reading Golden Age murder mysteries, until I found myself with a haphazard career getting stuck in the middle of real-life ones. I’d hoped, this Christmas, that any self-respecting murderer would kick their feet up and take it easy over the holidays. I was wrong.

So here I am, backstage at the show of world-famous magician Rylan Blaze, whose benefactor has just been murdered. My suspects are all professional tricksters: masters of the art of misdirection.

THE MAGICIAN, THE ASSISTANT, THE EXECUTIVE, THE HYPNOTIST, THE IDENTICAL TWIN, THE COUNSELLOR, THE TECH

My clues are even more abstract: A suspect covered in blood, without a memory of how it got there. A murder committed without setting foot inside the room where it happens. And an advent calendar. Because, you know, it’s Christmas.

If I can see through the illusions, I know I can solve it. After all, a good murder is just like a magic trick, isn’t it?" 

What Worked for Me

Stevenson is wonderfully consistent in this series, so if you enjoyed the first two books I would say 100% pick this one up as well.  We get the same character voice, fun side characters, and interesting investigation plots.  I really love this series so I want to have each of the books be consistent in these ways so I know that when I pick up one of these books, I get what I wanted.  But please don't take that to mean the books are boring or stale - exactly the opposite.  Stevenson does such a great job being consistent with the foundational elements, such as Ernest's voice, that the mysteries can go a little off the rails and the reader is along for the ride. 

I enjoyed that Ernest had extra 'rules' for us this time around given that this was a Christmas special, not just a normal mystery read.  Stevenson did a good job of really capturing the essence of what a Christmas special is.  This series is set in Australia and I believe Stevenson is Australian (although I'm not 100% sure since I could not confirm on his own website) - while I'm American who consumes a good amount of UK/Aussie TV and books. I do find that the execution of the 'Christmas Special' is slightly different in American media vs these other areas and I don't feel that American media really play up these types of specials. That being said, I think the rules we get about what makes a Christmas Special really hit the nail on the head, at least from my experience with UK TV shows, mostly.  

I was sort of expecting this mystery to be a little easier to solve since the book was a bit shorter so I actually paused a few times while reading to really think over the different characters and motives to see if I could figure it out (since Ernest does always give us all the clues, after all).  I couldn't quite put it all together so I was pleasantly surprised with the solution to the mystery.  I think Stevenson does a fantastic job plotting out these mysteries and the different clues/suspects/red herrings.  So far, each of the three books in the series have each felt completely unique and there hasn't been repeated elements that stick out to me.  These are the types of mystery books that I love to read when I want a classic mystery read where we get some bodies dropping, some clues, and a whole cast of characters to evaluate. 

What Didn't Work For Me

This was more of a novella-length read at 192 pages vs the 384/336 pages of the first two books in the series.  As such, I found the pacing a bit rushed to fit in as many investigation twists and turns that we would get usually.  I also thought that the family connection in this book was a bit underplayed and could have had more emotional depth to it in the same way we got some emotional development in the 2nd book if we had just had more pages to explore. 

Overall, this was another fun installment in the series.  I wish it had been longer and the mystery more involved but as Ernest himself said, this was a Christmas Special episode.  I look forward to the next book in the series. 

Romance Wrap-up October 2025

 Dealing with a Desperate Demon - Charlotte Stein

Stein has hit it out of the park yet again!  I really love this series and how much fun and heart it has.  Nancy and Jack are so immediately obviously into each other but they are both playing it cool for reasons that become apparent as the plot goes on.  They were one of those couples where I could see some readers getting frustrated that they wouldn't just tell each other that they liked the other person, but I think Stein does a good job of giving plenty of explanations as to why so this didn't feel like a miscommunication trope book.  Their chemistry was off the charts and I love the dating lessons that Nancy was giving Jack because he was such a cinnamon roll MMC who just wanted to do a good job.  The chemistry between them was absolutely sizzling and I was glad that they were able to act on that chemistry earlier on in the book than I was expecting. We get more world building with the small town setting and even some cameos of the couple from the first book - which is always fun.  Overall, this was a really fun read and I look forward to more books in the series.

Tropes: Supernatural, Dating Lessons, Single POV, Cinnamon Roll MMC

Series: The Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures #2

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was October 7, 2025

My Big Fat Vampire Wedding - Jessica Gadziala

This was a pretty solid book that just didn't quite work out perfectly for my tastes. Based purely on the title - if you liked all the family antics in My Big Fat Greek Wedding - you will like this book.  Unfortunately, I wanted less family and more of our main couple in the book. I get that the whole point of the read is that she a vampire, her whole family are vampires, and he's a human but every time their personal time would get interrupted by someone, I would get frustrated.  Now, that's not to say the family parts were bad or boring - actually I found them to be quite funny and entertaining, but I just thought the balance of the book was leaning a bit too much toward the family antics side.  I thought the chemistry between our two MCs was really great and I loved how their fake dating/marriage of convenience progressed to a real relationship. The spicy scenes were fantastic and really ramped up the romantic tension.  As of now, I can't find any mention of a book 2 in the series, but there were two characters who were certainly set up for one that I would absolutely love to read so I hope we get that book in the future. Overall, this was still a good read, just wish there was a bit less family and a bit more of the main couple.

Tropes: Supernatural, Fake Dating, Marriage of Convenience, Single POV

Series: Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC.  Publication date was August 14, 2025

The Wasp Trap - Mark Edwards

 "A dinner party in a beautiful Notting Hill townhouse turns into a sinister game, as six old friends are forced to spill their darkest secrets…or else.

Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor that brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing.

But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game when the old friends find themselves held at gunpoint. They are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one-by-one.

It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out The Wasp Trap. This and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight."

What Worked for Me

If the premise above catches your eye at all, please pick this read up.  The entire main plot takes place during the dinner party so there isn't a whole lot of fluff to take away from the premise.  I love when reads with these really high level plots just jump right into it without a lot of set up or exposition.  Like, we all know why we picked up the book, let's just dive right in.

In hindsight, I really enjoyed the dual POV, but I didn't love it until the last 3rd of the book.  I think the dual POV mechanic worked very well as a way to give the reader backstory to these characters and that fateful summer without having the characters in the current day plot unnaturally explain things they all already know. It also served as a way to give the reader a break from the tension in the main plot - although I did feel, while reading, that it was too much of a break at times. 

The tension in the main plot was perfection.  When the main conflict kicks off, it ramps up very quickly and at first, I thought it would stagnate.  Instead, Edwards manages to find new ways and new angles to add tension and complications. There were a good number of reveals and twists before we actually got to the resolution of the main mystery, none of which I saw coming.  This was a relatively shorter read at 330 pages, so to fit all of the dual POV, plus twists and reveals, meant the pacing and tension had to be on point.  This really feels like it was meant to be a one-sitting read.

What Didn't Work for Me

The extra ending reveal/twist felt a bit heavy handed and I didn't think it was necessary.  I really enjoyed the main reveal of the core mystery/situation but Edward tacked on a little extra reveal right at the end that I could have done without. It is one of my least favorite tropes in mystery/suspense books (but naming the actual trope would be a spoiler). 

I do wish the past POV would have gotten around to the main plot a little more quickly.  There were a number of times when we switched to the past POV and I thought to myself "why do we keep coming back here? Is it just for a break in tension?  Some easy character development?" And when we do, eventually, get around to the main plot, I was extremely intrigued - I just wanted to get there a little sooner so I didn't feel quite so much like my time was being wasted.

Overall, this was a great read that really paid off on the premise. Fantastic tension and reveals with an interesting dual POV element.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.  Publication date was September 16, 2025

Malice House - Megan Shepherd

 "Of all the things aspiring artist Haven Marbury expected to find while clearing out her late father’s remote seaside house, Bedtime Stories for Monsters was not on the list. This secret handwritten manuscript is disturbingly different from his Pulitzer-winning works: its interweaving short stories crawl with horrific monsters and enigmatic humans that exist somewhere between this world and the next. The stories unsettle but also entice Haven, practically compelling her to illustrate them while she stays in the house that her father warned her was haunted. Clearly just dementia whispering in his ear . . . right?

Reeling from a failed marriage, Haven hopes an illustrated Bedtime Stories can be the lucrative posthumous father-daughter collaboration she desperately needs to jump-start her art career. However, everyone in the nearby vacation town wants a piece of the manuscript: her father’s obsessive literary salon members, the Ink Drinkers; her mysterious yet charming neighbor, who has a tendency toward three a.m. bonfires; a young barista with a literary forgery business; and of course, whoever keeps trying to break into her house. But when a monstrous creature appears under Haven’s bed right as grisly deaths are reported in the nearby woods, she must race to uncover dark, otherworldly family secrets―completely rewriting everything she ever knew about herself in the process."

 What Worked for Me:

The characters in this were absolutely fantastic.  Haven was a really interesting character to follow as much as she was frustrating at times.  I think she had a good balance of being frustrated with the choices she was making but also intrigued with how everything was going to turn out.  The side characters were developed just enough for us to get a sense of them, but they were a little flexible enough that when Haven starts questioning everyone around her, we can also be reasonably suspicious of everyone which made for a fun read.

The world building - both the physical world and imaginary world - was spot on.  The setting of this small town on an isolated island was very eerie and atmospheric.  Plus, we have an old, abandoned house that hold far more secrets than Haven could ever imagine.  The world building in the Bedtime Stories for Monsters was also really well developed and I loved that we would get a little snippet of a story at the beginning of each chapter.  Since these stories became so important to the overall plot, it was really nice to have such a good feel of these spooky characters and what they are capable of.

Speaking of the monsters, they perfectly rode the line between scary and intriguing.  They really felt like The Brothers Grimm fairytale level of scary and, at times, grotesque. We get a lot of interesting relationships between the different characters and stories which makes everything feel more cohesive.  Right around the middle of the book, I was getting spooked just enough that I couldn't read this book after dark.  Shepherd does a great job with her descriptions of the creatures and atmosphere that really got under my skin.

 What Didn't Work for Me: 

 I didn't know that this was book 1 in a series when I requested the ARC so I wasn't expecting the type of 'open door' ending we got.  I generally am not a series reader so this was a little bit of a downer for me.  However, I did appreciate that we get answers to most of the questions posed throughout the book and I think if you stopped here, it was still a satisfying read. It sort of felt like a detective fiction series in that way, we get most of our answers in this book but there is just enough left over to encourage continuing on - which I will be doing.

Overall, this was a super fun and spooky read with great characters, scares, and world building. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Hyperion Avenue for the ARC.  Publication date was October 4, 2022 

The Hunter - Jennifer Herrera

"After reckless behavior costs NYPD detective Leigh O’Donnell her job and her marriage, three suspicious drownings in her hometown cause her to return to Copper Falls, Ohio in the hopes that solving a triple homicide just might get her life back on course. Leigh had stayed away from Copper Falls for decades, even though her trio of loving uncles and her brother still call it home. Because Copper Falls may seem idyllic, but something rotten lies at its core.

Headstrong and intuitive, Leigh isn’t afraid to face a killer. But she will have to do more than that to learn the truth about Copper Falls; she must unravel a complicated web of insidious secrets going back generations and truly confront what the town keeps hidden—as well as what she is hiding from herself.

Both a taut mystery and a deeply affecting examination of the stories and lies we build our lives upon, The Hunter signals the arrival of an unforgettable character and a major new writing talent."

What Worked for Me

The investigation elements were on point.  Very logical progression with few 'summing up' parts that I can find annoying if they are too frequent.  I think this book is a police procedural at its core with some more folklore/folk horror parts sprinkled on top and as such, the investigation needs to be spot on, which it completely was. While we know from the synopsis that Leigh lost her position on the NYPD, we don't find out until later in the read what the exact reason/situation was.  However, I never found myself doubting her actual investigation skills - although she does go rogue a few times, like any good detective in a police procedural read.

We have a great cast of characters in a small town setting.  I loved that we saw not only Leigh's family connections but also many other members of the community.  The setting is a rural, small town, but Herrera does a great job of really showing a lot of different characters from all different walks of life in the same town.  Also, since it is such a small town, we do run into the same characters over and over again which is great during an investigation because we are able to keep progressing the plot without having the main character constantly introducing herself or explaining the situation.

Leigh was a great main character to follow.  Herrera does a good job with her character development throughout the book.  I think we got the perfect balance of Leigh the person coming back to her hometown vs Leigh the investigator doing her job.  Herrera does play around a little bit with the typical character of the detective we see in a lot of police procedural books. 

What Didn't Work for Me

The ending sort of fell apart for me in a number of different ways - not anything too drastic, but I felt it could have been tweaked to fit the rest of the narrative better.  First, the pacing was noticeably faster than the rest of the book.  Now, most endings are faster paced as we ramp up the tension, reveals, and danger but this felt more like a 0-to-100 sort of deal.  I would have liked either a more gradual ramp up or to slow down the ending events just a little.  We get so many details, events, and reveals in the last 10% that I just wish we had more time to breathe.  Also, I found myself missing a sort of 'summation' type of ending that we get in a lot of police procedurals where we tie up loose ends.  There were a number of 'bad guys' that I was missing finding out what happened to them or what the outcome of the investigation was for those characters.  

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.  Publication date was January 10, 2023.

The Swell - Allie Reynolds

 

"The waves are to die for.

Three years ago, passionate surfer Kenna Ward lost her two great loves—after her boyfriend drowned, she hung up her surfboard and swore off the water for good. But she is drawn back to the beach when her best friend, Mikki, announces her sudden engagement to a man Kenna has never met—a member of a tight-knit group of surfers. Kenna travels to a remote Australian beach, entering a dangerous world far from civilization world where the waves, weather, and tides are all that matter. Kenna is tempted back into the surf, and drawn into the dazzling group and the beach they call their own.

But this coastal paradise has a dark side, and members of the group begin to go missing. Kenna realizes that in order to protect Mikki and learn more about the surfers, she must become one of them…without becoming one of their victims. What follows is an adrenaline-fueled thriller packed with twists and turns, exploring the dangerous edge between passion and obsession."

What Worked for Me

This book really nailed the creepy vibes.  It was such a great contrast to have this basically paradise have a constant undercurrent of unease. The book is primarily from Kenna's POV, but we do get a brief chapter here and there from one of the other characters. These other chapters each seem to show a slightly new angle to something Kenna is concerned about.  However, these chapters don't serve to show that Kenna is completely wrong, and often further complicate the situation while posing more questions than answers - which was always great.  This is also an isolated setting with a pretty closed cast and those two tropes always bring certain creepy vibes on their own.

There is a great building of tension and danger throughout the read from multiple different directions. We have environmental danger from the isolated setting and wild ocean along with interpersonal danger that slowly develops over the course of the book.  The pacing is spot on and it is a slow, but steady build until it really ramps up at the end.

The actual reveals we get are excellent especially given the secretive nature of the group overall.  The premise of the book - Kenna meeting this group of people who are wary of outsiders and then being incorporated into the group - really lends directly to some explosive reveals.  Reynolds has so many different people and aspects to choose from as the story builds and I really think she used everything to her advantage.  This is an isolated, closed circle mystery in a more tropical locale which is a really fun contrast to the usual snowy or rainy settings we get a lot.  It reminded me a lot of Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins in that way. 

The setting was fantastic and Reynolds does a great job of really immersing the reader in the nature of this isolated beach.  I don't know much about surfing, but these characters all love it and we get a lot of surfing on page.  The way the surfing was entwined with their daily life on this beach really helped fill in some gaps in my knowledge because Reynolds was able to sprinkle in some details or background info in a more organic way. I loved the way Kenna was a bit of a fish out of water and was not used to the insects, animals, or weather in Australia so we have a natural way of building the setting around her.

What Didn't Work for Me

The multi-POV was a little odd.  As mentioned above, most of the chapters (I'd say around 90%) were from Kenna's POV.  The other chapters did help build some vibes and tension but also ended up taking me out of the flow of the read.  I get so settled into Kenna's POV since we get chapter after chapter of her but then when we get another characters, that flow gets broken.  I love multi-POV isolated mysteries but this was just too lopsided for the POV choices to really work for me. 

Reynolds spent so much time slowly ramping up the tension and danger but I think she should have pumped the brakes a little more at the end.  The pacing really picked up at the end and just kept accelerating more than I wanted.  We get so many reveals right at the end and so many "the answer is A ... just kidding, the answer is B .... no, wait, the answer is C" type of reveals. And when these sort of reveals come too quickly, it ends up feeling like my brain was just getting beat up a bit by the story. I thought the pacing was great until the last 15% or so. 

Overall, this was a really solid isolated, closed circle mystery.  Great setting, tension, and pacing right up until the end.  There were a couple of things that didn't entirely work for me, but they didn't take too much away from the read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.  Publication date was June 14, 2022

The Mountain King - Anders de la Motte

"Criminal inspector Leonore Asker seems to have the leading position at Malmö’s Major Crime Division within reach. But things go awry when, in the middle of a high-profile kidnapping case, management relegates her to the so-called Department of Lost Souls—the unit for odd, cold cases banished to the basement of the police station.

Despite the humiliation, Asker is drawn into one of the more peculiar cases. Someone is placing small ominous figures in town and one of them seems to represent the missing woman from the kidnapping case. As Asker’s investigation takes her to abandoned buildings, she reaches out to a local architecture expert and together they explore the sinister recesses of the city and discover that an unusual kind of evil lurks in the shadows."

What Worked for Me

The characters in this read were incredibly well developed and intriguing. I loved how many different people and personalities we got to meet and see how they are connected with Asker or the case. We get some fantastic details about their individual wants and drives. I think de la Motte does a great job of really getting the reader invested in Anders and the other characters as well.  I found myself rooting for different characters at different times while reading which was great.  I find sometimes these police procedurals really only focus on developing the main character and maybe one or two others and everyone else feels like cardboard cutouts.  This was not the case in this read and I'd be happy to follow any one of the many characters in the upcoming books.

The investigation was incredibly compelling and I loved how it developed from a seemingly small and unimportant type of crime.  The way de la Motte was able to expand the investigation in a very logical and interesting way from that small beginning nugget was truly impressive. I was very interested in the entire investigation and didn't find it lull in the middle like some other books do.  The pacing was on point and we had just enough pauses to recap the investigation that the reader could stay up to date and have a little breather but didn't lose too much momentum.  

The killer was really interesting both in the style of kills as well as their psychology and background. I always love a complex killer in these types of reads rather than just your garden variety psychopath.  We do get to see the killer's POV in the book which was very well done and the killer had a great character voice. I also liked how Asker works out a lot of details about the killer which lead to multiple suspects so it was fun to try and sort out who is the killer.

What Didn't Work for Me

Since this was the first book in a series, we were being introduced to many characters and the start of many different plot threads that will span across multiple books.  I found this a little frustrating because I was so intrigued but ended up feeling like these were sort of put to the side.  I know book #2 in the series will expand on one of these side characters and we will get more of these threads tied up with that book and I hope that trend continues with other books in the series. But as a standalone read, these threads ended up feeling a little abandoned and unfinished. 

This was a bit of a longer read at 464 pages and while I had a great time reading, I did feel like some of the flashbacks weren't really necessary.  They did explain more about Asker's personality and background and they end up sort of coming into play in the later investigation but they really seemed mostly to set up book 2 plot.  Since these parts didn't really directly contribute to the current investigation, I did find myself wanting to skim through these portions. 

Overall, this was exactly what I want out of Nordic mystery/thrillers and I'm excited to have a new series to look forward to.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.  Publication date was January 30, 2024

Everyone on this Train is a Suspect - Benjamin Stevenson

 

"When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. 

The program is a who’s who of crime writing royalty: the debut writer (me!), the forensic science writer, the blockbuster writer, the legal thriller writer, the literary writer, the psychological suspense writer, But when one of us is murdered, the remaining authors quickly turn into five detectives. 

Together, we should know how to solve a crime. Of course, we should also know how to commit one."

What Worked for Me

I'll be honest - pretty much this whole book worked for me.  This was such an absolutely fantastic read that delivered exactly what I wanted.  I've been really wanting to read just some straight up mysteries instead of the mystery/thrillers I usually reach for.  This was exactly the type of mystery I was in the mood for and it was a hit.

This is the second book in the Ernest Cunningham series and our main character, Ernest, has a very distinctive voice and often speaks directly to the reader.  This was one of my favorite parts of the first book in the series and I was so glad to see it was consistent in this second book.  I know that sort of thing isn't for everyone and I've seen some reviews that even mentioned they don't like that sort of mechanic.  I think it works great and really makes for an engaging read that stands out from other mysteries.

I think the actual mystery case and investigation were also fantastic and I enjoyed the premise of all these different mystery writers in one place.  Of course, each of these different authors are involved in the investigation at some point and in some capacity and it was so much fun.  The investigation was very fast paced but had enough pauses where Ernest was basically catching his breath by reviewing what he had learned so far.  These pauses were staggered throughout the read in just the right places that I wasn't overwhelmed or annoyed with them. 

There are a lot of characters that seem to be constantly popping in and out of the book.  Stevenson does a great job of making them all distinct enough that I didn't have a hard time keeping them straight.  Stevenson also made sure to reference characters pretty equally by name and by their title or some sort of other descriptor. 

What Didn't Work for Me

As I said above, the majority of this book was a hit, so these are pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of the read.

Ernest's relationship with Julia was a little off for me.  They meet in the first book, but most of their relationship happens between the first and second book.  Stevenson does give us a brief rundown of how the time between the events of book 1 and book 2 developed, but there was something about how their relationship was presented that made me feel like I missed a romance novella or something in between.  

I also was surprised at how many plot points Stevenson was able to fit into this 320 page book.  When thinking back over all the different things that happened, it feels like it should be like a 450 page book.  While I think the pacing worked really well and I didn't exactly feel rushed, I do think that the read toed the line of pacing that may end up overwhelming some readers. I also read the book in one sitting, which may have made it easier for me to keep track of things since I didn't have to remember what I read a few days prior.  

Overall, this was another fantastic entry in this series and if you liked the first one, I think you'd like this one also. 

Romance Wrap-up September 2025

 

First-Time Caller - B.K. Borison

This was an absolutely fantastic romance and solidified Borison as an insta-read author for me.  The premise was pretty straightforward, a jaded radio host of a romance advice show meets a hopeless romantic single mom and they start hosting the show together.  Borison does a fantastic job of grounding these characters in incredibly human moments that took what could have been a much more fluffy, sweet romance into something with a little bit of grit.  This isn't the type of romance where the jaded cynic learns to love again just because the FMC has that 'special something' that melts his ice cold heart.  In this case, it was so much more and we could actually see Aiden work through his feelings about relationships and love.  This read had so much heart along side some absolutely top tier mutual pining and slow burn romance.  The side characters were also very well developed and I can't wait to continue on in the series.

Tropes: Single Parent, Hopeless Romantic FMC vs Jaded MMC, Dating Game

Series: Heartstrings #1

Addicted to Glove - Kelly Reynolds

I've never had a surprise pregnancy book make me cry out of happiness for the characters before but this one sure did. I normally don't read them unless the author has earned my trust that they'll handle it in a way I'd enjoy.  Childfree by choice over here so surprise pregnancy books can often come across as a little more on the horror side than romance for me personally.  Reynolds and the whole series so far has been absolutely fantastic and after seeing Dani and Brooks in book 2, there was no way I'd be skipping this one just because of the pregnancy stuff.  Reynolds also identifies as childfree by choice in the author's note at the end of the read so maybe she had a different view on writing a surprise pregnancy romance that worked with my brain.  We get to see a lot of the previous couples and the team overall so it was such a fun read where pretty much everyone was happy about this baby coming.  There was so much pure happiness and joy that Reynolds put into all corners of this read that I couldn't help but feel the same for Dani and Brooks.  But then add in some very steamy scenes and this was a great read. 

Tropes: Sports - Baseball, Surprise Pregnancy, Age Gap, Coworkers

Series: Rose City Roasters #3

Stuck in the Middle With You - Frances M. Thompson

This was a pretty solid romance read and I had a pretty good time.  I really enjoy the Gym Bros to Lovers aspect of this as it is a little different than a regular friends to lovers trope. I found both MCs to be very well fleshed out, but they are both in their 40s and really felt much more like they are in their 20s.  Both of them had some pretty significant communication issues for their own reasons.  And while I think the reasons behind these communication issues were really well developed, it just didn't feel like they should have still had as much trouble as they did at their ages. This did lead to a number of mis-communication/non-communication trope situations that I'm not a huge fan of.  However, we do get past those very quickly and they don't really escalate the way they do in some other books.  I loved the very positive queer exploration/realization that Marcello went through in this read and how that Giles and the other characters helped him along that journey.  I thought the mental health impacts (ADHD and OCD) were realistic without feeling overly focused on.  I thought the friendship both in and out of the gym really shined in this read and there were so many times that I was yelling at the book for them to just kiss already.  The friendship really supported and highlighted the more romantic parts of the read, which I loved.

Tropes: MM, Bi x Pan, Friends to Lovers, Sex Lessons, Gym Bros to Lovers, ADHD/OCD Rep, MCs in 40s

Series: Standalone

With A Vengeance - Riley Sager

 "In 1942, six people destroyed Anna Matheson’s family. Twelve years later, she’s ready for retribution.

Under false pretenses, Anna has lured those responsible for her family’s downfall onto a luxury train from Philadelphia to Chicago, an overnight journey of fourteen hours. Her goal? Confront the people who’ve wronged her, get them to confess their crimes, and deliver them into the hands of authorities waiting at the end of the line. Justice will at last be served.

But Anna’s plan is quickly derailed by the murder of one of the passengers. As the train barrels through the night, it becomes clear that someone else on board is enacting their own form of revenge—and that they won’t stop until everyone else is dead.

With time running out before the train reaches its destination, Anna is forced to hunt the killer in their midst while protecting the people she hates the most. In order to destroy her enemies, she must first save them—even though it means putting her own life at risk."

What worked for me

The premise and tropes seemed right up my alley - I love a good isolated, closed circle mystery.  At first, I was a little worried that we were getting too much information in the book's description but there were still plenty of surprises along the way.  The whole book takes place on the train and I liked that we jumped right into things without too much set-up.  

I liked the cast of characters we were following and enjoyed that we got different POVs throughout the story.  The individual characters were hit or miss for me, but I think Sager did a good job of giving everyone a distinct enough personality that they were all easy to tell apart.  And the characters I did like - I absolutely loved and found them well developed and their own backstories had more twists than I was expecting.

The mystery investigation was okay, there were certainly enough suspects that it was fun to follow our characters as they tried to piece everything together.  I didn't enjoy the solutions/twists as much as the initial investigation, but up until about the 75% mark, I was having a great time.

What didn't work for me

The twists and reveals worked the first time around, but I found that Sager used the same or similar enough twists multiple times in the book so the later ones were really dulled.  It ended up feeling very lazy from a plotting perspective and that he just couldn't bother coming up with any other ideas.  While I suppose I didn't expect the same twist twice, and therefore you could say I was extra surprised, it ended up feeling like I was duped and was more of a let down.

Similarly, the ending felt incredibly rushed and like it was the rough draft idea just a bit beyond [put ending here]. While technically we did find out the answers to the questions posed during the trip, it felt very unfulfilling and abrupt and there were some parts that just didn't make any sense from what we know about certain characters.  

The tone of the story wasn't quite consistent with the time the story takes place in.  I didn't realize going into it that the book takes place in the early 1940s and to be honest, I forgot a lot of the time while reading until there was a comment or reference to something.  The tone and writing was so modern as well as I think Sager didn't quite spend enough time with the setting of the story.  It was a strange sort of disconnect that didn't bother me until one of those references jolted me and reminded me that this is actually the 1940s and thus the picture I was working with in my head was wrong.

While some of the characters were fantastic, I found the majority to be pretty flat and annoying.  A few of them felt like they were just there to pad out the numbers to give the investigation more dead ends to run down and make it harder for the reader to keep track of everyone. I wish Sager had spent the time to develop each of the characters just a little bit more so we could understand their motives and circumstances a little more which would make them feel just a bit more human.

Overall, this was an okay read, but I really wanted to like it more than I did.  This had a lot of my favorite tropes but it just didn't quite come together for me at the end. 

Romance Wrap-Up July 2025

 Out on a Limb - Hannah Bonam-Young

This has been on my TBR for a long time and I hesitated to pick it up only because I don't love surprise pregnancy stories.  But I'm so glad I did finally read it due because I ended up having a good time.  I found this leaned more on the friends-to-lovers trope and the pregnancy was more off to the side than in some surprise pregnancy books I've read in the past.  The disability rep was consistent, but not in an overwhelming way meaning their disabilities came up enough and in realistic, daily ways that made the disability just another part of the character.  The tension between our characters was fantastic - they obviously had a ton of chemistry but then both are trying to be so kind during the pregnancy that neither wants to risk their friendship or budding co-parenting arrangement. 

Tropes: Disability Representation, Surprise Pregnancy, Friends to Lovers

Series: Out #1

All Bats are Off - Kelly Reynolds

I'm absolutely not a fan of baseball, but I'm in love with this series.  This novella follows one of the players and a sports journalist who end up having a one night stand that just doesn't end.  I would have eaten this up if it was a full length read, but I still really enjoyed this book. Reynolds does a great job of giving us fantastic character details up front so I didn't feel completely lost in the story.  It was a generally low-angst read so I was bummed that we still had a third act break up based on bad communication when I really didn't feel like it was realistic for these characters.  I think the character development was a little lacking simply due to the page length and there were a few times where I didn't quite understand or believe one of our MCs would do something but I just went with it. Overall, I'll always take more of this series and I'm looking forward to the next full length read from Reynolds.

Tropes: MM, Novella, One Night Stand

Series: Rose City Roasters #2.5

Roll for Romance - Lenora Woods

Obviously TTRPGs (table top role playing games) are gaining popularity recently and this read is very much a love letter to playing these games.  Our MCs are both fairly new to town and have a mutual friend who is starting a TTRPG for beginners and invited them both (and others) to join.  The two become friends and soon romance is blooming both inside and outside the game.  An interesting element of this read is that we get chapters from inside the game.  When it first happened, I found it jarring and since I'm not really a fantasy reader, I wasn't super interested.  However, as the story went on these gameplay chapters were some of my favorites because I was invested in that sub-plot as well as how our MCs were interacting via their characters.  The romance was on the slower side and I didn't feel any real chemistry until the 25% or so point.  Despite the slow start, I did end up really enjoy our MCs and how they were so different but also so similar. I also enjoyed how the main conflict was handled and thought both MCs were being very mature and reasonable. This was a great debut and I look forward to reading more from Woods in the future.

Tropes: Small Town, Opposites Attract, Single POV

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing - Ballantine for the ARC.  Publication date was July 15, 2025

Well, Actually - Mazey Eddings

Mazey Eddings does it again!  This was absolutely phenomenal which is extra amazing considering second chance romances are hard to hit right for me. It felt like Eddings was listening to my thoughts because it really felt like she addressed every one of my concerns with second chance romances.  This had the perfect mix of history between our MCs while also addressing why things failed earlier and what has changed now.  All too often, I find second chance romances have such a good reason to be broken up initially combined with not a lot of significant change which just leads me to believe they will break up later.  Not in this read.  The chemistry between our MCs was always an undercurrent even when they were seemingly completely opposed.  However, the more time they spend together, both in front of the camera and on their own, that chemistry can't stay buried forever. I love fake dating stories so much partly because we get so many individual scenes with the characters interacting and this read was no exception.  I also really enjoyed how the third act conflict was handled in a way that felt really realistic for the characters where the same situation could feel very contrived and overly-dramatic. Eddings really took so many tricky concepts and tropes that could easily become overblown but instead they all tie together perfectly into a really fun and heartfelt read.  

Tropes: Second Chance, Black Cat/Golden Retriever, fake dating

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date is August 5, 2025

You Are Fatally Invited - Ande Pliego

"When renowned anonymous author J. R. Alastor hires former aspiring writer Mila del Angél to host a writing retreat at his private manor off the coast of Maine, she jumps at the chance—particularly since she has an ax to grind with one of the invitees. The guest list? Six thriller authors, all masters of deceit, misdirection, and mayhem. Confess the crimes, survive the tropes.  Alastor and Mila have masterminded a week of games, trope-fueled riddles, and maybe a jump scare or two—the perfect cover for Mila to plot a murder of her own. But when a guest turns up dead—and it’s not the murder she planned—Mila finds herself trapped in a different narrative altogether.  One by one, you’ll lose your turn.  With a storm cutting off the island, and the body count rising, Mila must outwit a killer who knows literally every trick in the book."

This is one of those books where if the above premise interests you at all - just go and read it.  I had such a fun time with this isolated, closed circle mystery and fully recommend it to anyone who enjoys those tropes.  We open with the characters already on their way to the island for the writing retreat so we waste absolutely no time in getting right into the meat of the story.  The bodies start dropping early and often and there are a good amount of twists and red herrings to keep things interesting. I absolutely loved this debut and look forward to reading more from Pliego in the future. 

Just like with any mystery, there are always going to be some readers who can guess every twist seemingly from the beginning.  I'm not generally a reader who makes a point to guess along the way and am happy to be reading along and seeing where the story takes me.  The one mystery I was keen to try and sort out was who Alastor was and I did sort of guess it a few chapters before we get the reveal. I loved that there was an added mystery that came in about half way through the read that injected the plot with a little more urgency and I think would have re-intrigued any readers who were getting a little sick of the deaths we were getting until that point.

The game elements were fantastic and I wanted more of them.  Each of these characters have a secret that they don't know Alastor knows. Instead, their secrets are hinted at through various party games that give just enough information for the particular character to know what Alastor is alluding to but they aren't super obvious when the other characters see.  There is a Clue-like game where they have to match up the name, occupation, and secret of each character and I found that especially well done because the secrets were vague enough that numerous people could claim the same one for different reasons pretty easily which lead to more interpersonal tension as alliances start coming together. 

The character work in this read was fantastic.  I felt like each character was distinct and easy for me to keep straight. We get POV chapters of multiple characters, but not consistently through the read.  The first time a new POV popped up, I was a little annoyed because I was settled into the POV we started with.  However, I ended up really liking this choice because a POV change always happened at just the right moment to propel the plot forward or give the reader some insight into a character that was more on the sidelines but will become more prominent soon. This also eliminates the 'plot armor' of only having one or two POVs and then knowing those characters will most likely make it out alive.  In this story, you can't tell by POV only who, if anyone, will make it out alive.

The ending wrapped things up a little too much for my personal tastes.  With this much murder and mayhem, I didn't expect everything to connect so perfectly by the end.  It didn't necessarily detract from the rest of the story, but I did find myself reacting in a sort of "yeah, alright, I guess..." kind of way.  I loved the way the situation on the island wrapped up but the final chapters that acted as a sort of flashforward/epilogue didn't feel realistic enough given what we now know about these characters and the situation overall. 

Overall, this was exactly what I wanted out of an isolated mystery - great characters, interesting mystery plot, and lots of death. The resolution to the ending fell a little flat for me, but everything up until that very last bit was fantastic.

It Was Her House First - Cherie Priest

 

"Silent film star Venita Rost's malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls. And she's not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan—her eternal nemesis—watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita's unrelenting wrath. Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it's Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen. She arrives armed with an unexpected inheritance, a strong background in renovation, and a blissful ignorance regarding the house's blood-soaked history. But her arrival has stirred up more than just dust and decay. In the shadows, unseen eyes watch. Then, a man comes knocking. He brings wild stories and a thinly veiled jealousy, as well as a secret connection to the house that can only lead to violence. Venita's fury awakens, and a deadly game unfolds. Caught between a vengeful ghost and a ruthless living threat, Ronnie's skepticism crumbles. The line between living and dead isn't as sharp as it seems, and she realizes too late that in Venita's house, survival might be just an illusion."

This was a fun and lighter read than I was expecting.  Lighter in terms of the stakes that Ronnie is facing in this haunted house.  We are told that Venita terrorized previous owners in a seemingly sinister way.  However, we really don't see that on page with Ronnie to the extent I was expecting. I wanted more stakes and more haunted house shenanigans. I thought that because we knew about the ghosts from the book description, that the haunting would get going early on in the book.  Once I tempered my expectations that this was less of a scary haunted house read and more of a Beetlejuice type of haunted house I had a lot more fun.

I did enjoy that we got a POV from one of the ghosts in the house which helped bridge any gaps between the two timelines in the book.  We alternate between the past and present timelines and are slowly watching Ronnie learn about Ventia and the house at the same time that the reader is also seeing what happened in the past.  Priest does a great job of overlapping information just enough to give the reader a full picture without it feeling repetitive.  We also know from the beginning what happened in the past, but not the why behind the events which is always a plot dynamic I enjoy. 

The pacing was pretty spot on and we moved very quickly from plot point to plot point without a lot of down time.  I did find myself wishing we had some more time to sit and learn more about these characters.  Priest does a good job introducing Ronnie as someone who seems to want to ignore her problems by staying busy but I was waiting for the moments where she's alone in the house and can't help but have her own demons start to infiltrate.  We get a little of that character development, but it wasn't as much as I was expecting or wanted and then we were on to the next plot point. 

I loved the ending and how Priest was able to bring everything together.  There were so many little details that felt like a knife hanging over our characters but were small enough that I wasn't sure exactly how it would all play out.  But by the time we are at the finale, I was so excited to see everything come together. 

Overall, this was a fun haunted house story that wasn't exactly what I was expecting but was still a good time.  Priest does a great job of balancing the dual timelines and multi-POVs to make a very engaging read. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is July 22, 2025.

The Bachelorette Party - Camilla Sten

"On a remote, craggy island nestled off the coast of Sweden, four friends—Tilly, Anna, Linnea and Evelina—meet every year. Best friends since childhood, the idea is to drink beer, dance by the water, and shake off the weight of life's expectations. The location of the island is a secret to everyone but them. One night of reckless fun and secret-sharing, and then they return to their normal lives.

 Ten years later. Ever since she was a teenager, Tessa Nilsson has been consumed by the story of four friends who disappeared on their annual trip to a remote island together. As her true crime fervor turned into a wildly popular podcast, Tessa urgently covered Sweden’s most gruesome cases, but could never find the answers behind what happened to these women who disappeared, leaving a few maddening clues but no concrete answers. Now Tessa’s podcast has crashed and burned, any chance she had at uncovering the truth vanishing with it.

 Anneliese is Tessa’s best friend, and before she walks down the aisle, she wants to have a bachelorette party. The Baltic Vinyasa, a sleek, sophisticated yoga retreat on a small island off the coast—one with such similar characteristics to the tragedy years ago that it raises the hair on Tessa’s neck. The idea is to drink gallons of cava, do sunrise yoga, and get in their last chance to bond with the bride. Tessa will not pass this up. It’s her last chance to find out what happened to the four women, once and for all.

 And it’s someone else’s last chance to get revenge."

I'm almost always guaranteed to have a good time with an isolated, closed circle mystery.  And I did have a good time with this read.  However, I did lose some steam when the mystery solving was happening so far after the actual mystery event occurred.  We do get some flashbacks but this felt very much more of a straight up mystery rather than a mystery/thriller which is where most isolated, closed circle mysteries end up for me.  I still had a good time and I enjoyed the reveals, but overall there was less tension and it felt like the stakes were pretty low most of the time. 

The structure of the beginning did throw me off a bit.  The opening chapter introduces to the reader to the four friends who meet their demise at the end of the first chapter.  Then, we switch to follow Tessa for the rest of the book (minus the flashbacks we get).  I didn't love this as I was drawn into the initial four friends dynamic way more than Tessa and the other women attending the bachelorette weekend. That first chapter certainly got the book off to a very exciting start, but then all momentum felt like it was lost as we then had to be introduced to the new characters and have a much longer wind up to the new plot. I did like that we mostly got to see what happened to the four women on the island so we had some touch point for Tessa's investigation. 

I do think Sten does a great job with the individual interpersonal conflicts and tensions.  Each of the two groups of women have their own little rifts and issues that come into play throughout the book.  I loved the constant playing off of the issues between the characters in order to keep the peace.  There's also some wonderful passive aggressive or at the very least foot-in-mouth situations that were expertly done. I think the awkward stage of weddings where old friends and new friends are combined and aren't meshing as well as expected was really well developed.  There were more than a few awkward moments that I felt the cringe in my bones. 

I did find the mystery investigation to be lacking.  There was so much build up that Tessa is going to use this bachelorette weekend to get to the bottom of the mystery of the missing women. And while she does a lot of thinking about investigating, there just doesn't feel like there was enough time and space for her to dig around.  We get maybe 3 instances of her doing some light looking-around before the finale of the book.  And it does feel like the events of the finale (which would have happened without her investigation so it ended up feeling even more pointless.  

Overall, this was a pretty entertaining read.  It wasn't my perfect isolated, closed circle mystery but I enjoyed a lot of the character elements and I had a great time once the pacing picked up in the last 25%.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was June 10, 2025.

Fifty Fifty - Steve Cavanagh

 

"“911 what’s your emergency?”

“My dad’s dead. My sister Sofia killed him. She’s still in the house. Please send help.”

“My dad’s dead. My sister Alexandra killed him. She’s still in the house. Please send help.”

One of them is a liar and a killer.

But which one?"

This is one of those books where the concept is really straightforward - two sisters accuse each other of the murder of their father - and it is expertly executed. I'd say if you are at all intrigued by that set-up, then you should pick up this book.  Full stop.  No notes. 

When I saw this on NetGalley, I had never heard of Steve Cavanagh nor the Eddie Flynn series.  I didn't do any research prior and only found out this is book #5 in the Eddie Flynn series when I went to get the cover art from Goodreads. There were a few spots where Eddie was mentioning his past that I wondered, briefly, if there were previous books but those wonders were quickly dismissed as the book addressed those points in such a way that felt more like book 1 in a series instead of book 5.  I didn't feel like I was out of the loop on anything and would still recommend this read if you've never read any other Eddie Flynn books.  I do plan on going back and reading the earlier books in the series.

The characters in this were great - we get 5 different POVs - and each of them felt very well developed and distinct.  Our POVs are both sisters, Eddie, another lawyer Kate, and then the POV of the killer who we know per the premise is one of the sisters but the specific sister is never named in these killer POV chapters.  I loved that these different characters also all interacted with each other throughout the read so we not only get Eddie's view of Kate but also Kate's view of Eddie.  I think this was a great way to get character development into the story while keeping the main plot moving ahead quite quickly. 

The mechanic of the killer POV was fantastic.  The first time it showed up, I thought it was obviously referring to one specific sister and maybe this read was going to turn into the type where the reader knows more than the characters.  But then the next time we got the killer's POV, it seemed to point to the other sister. It continued like this, flip flopping back and forth between the two sisters, for the rest of the book.  We got so much information, but it was still muddied all the way until the end for me.  

I haven't read a lot of legal thrillers, so I don't have a lot to compare this one to.  I did like that it wasn't too focused on the actual court proceedings and instead felt more like a PI investigation/detective fiction.  The legal stuff we do get on page is very well explained that I think even someone not versed in this genre could follow just fine.

Overall, this was a great legal thriller and I very much enjoyed the characters and POV mechanics.  I will 100% be reading the back books in this series and look forward to reading on in the series as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC.  Publication date was June 3, 2025. 

A Trace of Hares - Sarah Yarwood-Lovett

 "Dr Nell Ward is in the lush, emerald-green hills of Ireland to attend the wedding of two dear friends at a picture-perfect farmhouse. But family tensions are running high in the days before the happy couple tie the knot. And when Nell hears a fox kill a hare in the early morning, the bad omen sends shivers down her spine. Almost like it is a sign of something to come. Then one of the locals makes a gruesome discovery in a nearby peat bog. The habitats are famous for the ancient bodies they can preserve for thousands of years. This woman, however, died much more recently and was clearly a victim of foul play. Nell and her friends are suddenly in the middle of another murder case. Can they trace the truth to unmask a long-hidden killer and save the wedding, before it's too late?"

We are back with another great installment of the Dr Nell Ward Mystery series. Yarwood-Lovett really seems to be finding her groove with these mysteries and each one is more intricate than the last.  I loved that this book is centered around one of the side characters fro the previous books and not Nell herself.  We are in a new setting, with some fresh characters, and there are new secrets to be revealed. 

Yarwood-Lovett does a fantastic job at large group murder mysteries.  She has a real knack for being able to introduce the reader to a large cast of characters in such a way that I have no trouble remembering who is who and how they are all connected.  Being able to keep track of characters is a frequent issue I run across in books with large casts and I know it is primarily a me-problem.  However, there is something about the way Yarwood-Lovett writes that really works with my brain and helps me remember which makes the reading experience so much more smooth.  We have a good mix of characters we know and love as well as some new ones mixed in.  There is a good amount of family tension due to some secrets of the past and Nell and her group, as newcomers, had a bit of catching up to do which allowed the details to be given to the reader without feeling overly info-dumpy.

The mystery itself was expertly plotted and we get a good amount of ecology/science coming into play to crack the mystery which is a main draw of the series for me. I loved that we started with just some family tension and animosity and this wasn't a murder mystery from the get-go.  Instead, thanks to the build up and background info, when the body does drop, the reader already knows the stakes and what this body means to our characters. Solving the mystery was half hard science, half behavioral analysis which I liked very much and found it to be a good balance.  Since we were in a new location, it was interesting to see the group be more on the outside of the investigation than in previous books in the series but they sure didn't let that stop them from investigating anyway. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Embla Books for the ARC.  Publication was March 27, 2024.

The Sharp County Slasher - Andrew Alman

 

"If you like Dexter, you'll love this! In the quiet backwoods of Sharp County, retired detective Hilrey Higgins has spent years burying his past—both as a lawman and as something far darker. But when a new killer emerges, mimicking the gruesome precision of his own long-buried crimes, Hilrey is forced back into the game."

So like any good comp title, the Dexter comparison really drew me in to pick up this book.  I was a bit on the fence because while I love the Dexter TV show, I had some significant issues with the book (review here, if you're interested).  So I was pleased when the comparison was more on the subject matter in the book and not so much on the tone of the writing. I do think the description above makes the book seem like it will have a darker tone than what we actually get on page.  I overall had a good time and found the characters as well as the mystery plot to be well developed.

Hilrey's character is obviously the center of this read and I think he was a really interesting character to follow.  I did find the first chapter or two to be a big info-dumpy with his history - both professionally as well as his past crimes.  After those first few pages, however, we get right into the current narrative and it was smooth sailing from there. I loved that we got the details of Hilrey right from the beginning so this is one of those reads where it wasn't so much of a mystery of what happened in his past, but more so of when the other characters will find out.  Hilrey's character was well developed and had a very distinct voice which I always like in these type of reads.  While Hilrey was retired, he obviously hasn't lost his detective instincts and so following him for this investigation was interesting and I loved seeing the contrast between his history and the newer methods that are used now.  The other characters in this read are also well developed and I got a really good sense of all of their characters.  Since this is book 1 in a series, I hope we get to see more from these side characters in future books.

The mystery of the current murder that Hilrey and Dakota are investigating was really interesting and well plotted.  We get a lot of bodies dropping and a lot of different leads for our investigation team to follow.  We get a lot of leads especially when connecting the current murders with crimes in the past and I think Alman does a great job of leading the reader through these investigation points without anything feeling overly dry or repetitive. Because we had so many victims in only a little over 300 pages, I did find myself not remembering the names of each victim.  So by the end of the book, when they are going over each of the crimes and how they are connected, I couldn't really remember specifically which one they were talking about unless they noted specific details of the kill or something specific to each victim (like their job). I know that the character name issue is something I have and might not be an issue for all readers.  

Alman does not shy away from the kills in this book - both in number and severity.  The horror aspect comes in mostly from the brutality of the kills but the actual descriptions and certainly leans into a body horror sort of descriptions.  The kills reminded me a lot of the kills in the Hannibal TV show where the bodies are mutilated and displayed in certain ways.  The descriptions of these scenes is given in a sort of clinical way and not overly drawn out. 

This is being listed as book 1 in The Campfire Murders series, I wasn't sure how it would end.  There are a couple ending options that this sort of story would naturally conclude with and it somehow manages to touch on each of them.  This does not end up in a cliff hanger, which is one of the ending options I was worried it would be.  It ends in a similar way to most police procedural series where the case is solved but there are other plot points that are left open for the next book in the series. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for the ARC.  

Publication date was February 26, 2025.

March 2025 Romance Wrap-Up

 

A Five Letter Word for Love - Amy James

So I may have picked this up mostly due to the Wordle aspect but I was still pleasantly surprised at how much Wordle was integrated into the romance. This was James's debut romance and I overall enjoyed it.  I did find at parts that it focused more on the FMC's life in a way that read more like a woman's fiction and less a category romance read.  I did find our FMC a little grating at the beginning, but I liked that we quickly saw her starting to change some of her attitude about this small town.  We also get some good challenging of the beliefs of both MCs so those more cringe moments are addressed.  This was a single POV read and I desperately wanted to have chapters from our MMC because he was so quiet during their scenes together.  He is really the strong and silent type and while he shows how much he cares through his actions and our FMC does point out when she notices little changes but I would have loved chapters where we could understand just how he felt.  I think James did a fantastic job on the small town aspect and I would love if we get more books set in this town.

 Tropes: Small Town, Opposites Attract, Single POV

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.  Publication date was December 3, 2024.

 

 

My Big Fat Fake Marriage - Charlotte Stein

I couldn't find anywhere where this was specifically noted as being part of a series, but it is in the same universe as Stein's When Grumpy Met Sunshine and we do get some cameos from those characters in this book.  If the first book was based off Roy Kent, then this one is 100% giving Ted Lasso vibes.  We have an overly adorkable and mustachioed MMC who was so polite and easily flustered.  Now listen, I love me an alphahole MMC at times but Beck (the MMC) was *chef's kiss* perfection. I absolutely adored the chemistry between our two MCs and how their opposite personalities actually worked together perfectly. There's something about their dynamic that most opposite attract trope books don't quite get to where they really feel like puzzle pieces snapping together. The fake marriage portion of the plot was fantastic and just the right amount of ridiculous for this sort of rom-com. This is the third book I've read from Stein, and she is quickly becoming a must-read author for me.

Tropes: Fake Marriage, Forced Proximity, Opposites Attract

Standalone

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.   Publication date was March 11, 2025.

 

 

 If You Give a Single Dad a Nanny - Ann Einerson

This was a really solid single parent/nanny romance but I think that trope just isn't hitting for me much any more.  I liked how our MCs knew each other before the nanny stuff came up (they are neighbors) so they had a history before the romance started.  I loved how different they both were and how they both compromised in order to work out issues.  The small town setting was great and I loved the amount of meddling that happened from the people in their lives.  We get all the typical parts of a parent/nanny romance - the adorable kid, the 'we shouldn't be doing this', the sneaking around so the kid doesn't find out, etc.  It was a well done read and I think if you like the parent/nanny romance dynamic then you will like this one.

Tropes: Small Town, Single Parent, Nanny, Age Gap

Series: Aspen Grove #1

Dom - S.J. Tilly

I absolutely loved books 1 and 2 in this series, mostly due to the interestingly light tone despite them being mafia romances.  This book, which I still enjoyed, felt very much more like a typical mafia romance read.  The tone was more serious, the relationship between our MCs was darker and they had the captor/captive thing to get over before getting their HEA. I loved that we got to see more of the Alliance and the characters from the previous books.  I think the dynamic between our MCs was really interesting but did find some of their continued miscommunication or actively deciding to not talk about their feelings to be a little juvenile.  I wanted these two to talk it out and draw some lines in the sand given the situation but instead it felt like they were playing mind games and just trying to get under the other's skin.  Once they got past all of the annoying parts and actually started working together and trusting each other again, then I found myself being reinvested in the story and their HEA.  It felt like this book was supposed to raise the stakes on the overall plot across the series but it ended up feeling a little out of place.  I think it would have worked better if it matched  

Tropes: Mafia, Captor/Captive, Forced Marriage

Series: Alliance #3

Hans - S.J. Tilly

This was the final book in the Alliance series and we finally get to meet Hans - who was a boogeyman of sorts in the previous books. I absolutely loved that we are back to the sort of unhinged sweetness of books 1 and 2 of the series.  Hans is an absolute weirdo who is crushing on his neighbor across the street but Tilly manages to get the tone just right that he comes off swoon-worthy and not restraining order-worthy.  It helps that our FMC is crushing just as hard on Hans and that the two of them just work so well together. This is a bit more of a romantic suspense read than the previous entries in the series and I really enjoyed every bit of it. As this is the last book in the series, we do get resolutions to some on-going plot points and some cameos from the other couples.

Tropes: Mafia, Obsessed Hero, Romantic Suspense

Series: Alliance #4

Married to the Devil - Lillian Lark

This is the 5th book in the series and while it is technically a standalone, it is recommended that you read book #4 in the series first (Hoarded by the Dragon).  I did not read #4 before reading this one and while I could tell I was missing out on some of the finer details, I was never completely lost without reading that previous book - it just took me a little longer to get my bearings.  This also had a pretty significant tone change from books 2 and 3 in the series.  The previous books in the series were more removed from the political/mafia aspects that this book (and from what I could tell, probably book 4 as well) were steeped very much in.  Not that I minded it at all, I do love me some mafia romances, it was just more serious than I was expecting based on my previous experience in the series.  As in the previous books, I think Lark does a fantastic job with her multi-partner romances to show the reader each of the individual relationships between all parties.  I loved how complex the relationships in this read were and how each character had something to overcome.  The chemistry was off the charts but there was such a heaviness with the emotional stakes that I wasn't  expecting. 

Tropes: FMM, Monster, Marriage of Convenience, Mafia

Series: Monstrous Matches #5

False Comeback - Lily Mayne

I adore this series and loved how this book introduced a bit of a darker tone compared to the previous entries.  The first three books in the series were overall light and pretty fun in both the romantic and non-romantic plots.  However, our MCs in this read were so viscerally at each other's throats that I found Mayne having a lot of ground to cover to make their relationship believable.  But she did it handily and this might be my new favorite of the series.  I don't know if I've ever read anything that could be describes as hate fucking before, but the first few interactions between our MCs certainly fit that description.  But thanks to the expert character development and dual POV, we get to see just how many emotions these interactions brought out in both MCs.  I also loved the amount of backstory we got from both characters - but especially High Lord Crossbody. This is a longer romance read at 515 pages, but I think each and every page was needed in order for the relationship to feel natural and real between these two.  We also get introduced to some new wrestlers which I can't wait to see those characters more in future books in this series.

Tropes: MM, Supernatural, Enemies to Lovers

Series: Goliaths of Wrestling #4

Voyeur Cafe - Jasmine Grace

I read book 3 in this series last month and am now going back to read the other books.  Despite knowing how these two MCs end up together, I absolutely adored this read.  Grace does a fantastic job of giving us really clear characters right from the beginning.  We know exactly who these characters are along with their wants and their potential issues.  I find when you have character development that solid, the relationships almost always feel so much more natural.  I also think Grace does a great job at slowly changing the tone of the relationship overtime.  They certainly start out at a pretty antagonistic point but slowly they develop a more teasing and flirtatious relationship which just blossoms from there.

Tropes: Rivals to Lovers, Age Gap, Coworkers

Series: Heartbeats in the Heat #1

Every Move You Make - Sloan Spencer

 This read exemplifies everything I love about poly romances - everyone has a crush on everyone else and it just works out perfectly in the end.  This is a read for everyone who (like me) discovered rugby through the Olympics and Ilona Maher.  Rugby is integral to the plot but Spencer does a good job of giving a glossary of terms up front as well as working in some pretty good explanations into the book itself.  I loved how the dynamic between all of the character pairings are so different but just work together so well.  I do wish it was a little longer so we could see some more scenes of the different dynamics between our three MCs. 

Tropes: FMM, Sports (Rugby), Virgin MMC, Friends to Lovers

Series: The Rugby Lovers #1

  

Riley Thorn and the Blast from the Past - Lucy Score

We're back with Riley, Nick, and the whole crew for another great installment in this series.  I really enjoyed that the mystery in this one hit closer to home and we get some answers to questions that have been brought up over the past 2 books.  I love a lot of Lucy Score's romances, but I think she could 100% branch off into full cozy mysteries and I think she has really hit her stride with this one.  I loved being back with this wacky cast of characters and since this mystery was so close to home, I really feel like we got some good character details and development from our main cast. We also got a good amount of information and development on Riley's psychic powers and how the overall psychic abilities in this world work. I can't wait to read on in the series!

Tropes: Cozy Mystery, Supernatural

Series: Riley Thorn #3

 

Keep Me - Sara Cate

 

I absolutely loved Cate's Salacious Player's Club series and I love the marriage of convenience trope so I thought this read was going to be a slam dunk.  However, the hate to love aspect of it was just not my jam.  I thought this was going to be more of a grumpy enemies to lovers sort where our grumpy MMC didn't want the FMC there and I absolutely love that.  But I did not expect them to spend so much time absolutely screaming at each other and it really felt like they legitimately hated each other for like months.  I don't like bully romances or full hate to love because I need to see so much character growth over time in order for me to believe that these two even get back to neutral ground about each other, much less love each other. I thought both of our MCs were wonderfully complex characters and we get some great "my wife" energy going on but I couldn't reconcile the flip flopping of that with the screaming names at each other. I will absolutely be continuing on in the series and hope this was just a not for me blip.

Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, Hate to Love

Series: Sinful Manor #1

 

Beef Cake - Jiffy Kate

This was a fun read and I always love being back in the Green Valley universe.  Like many of these 'extended universe' books, there are multiple references that new readers might not immediately get but Kate does a good job of giving any new readers a quick run down.  I loved that this one explored the nuances and intricacies of fighting sports and how they can be similar or different to other types of violence.  Our MCs have very different reactions to seeing violence, for their own reasons, and for a while I was worried these differences would end up getting waved away.   However, I was pleased when they did get taken seriously and discussed in a healthy way. This read had a good mix of fluff and heavier topics that I think Kate balanced well.

Tropes: Sports (Fighting), Small Town, Opposites Attract

Series: Fighting for Love #2

 

American Traditional - E.M. Lindsey

 Another great installment in this series.  We get introduced to Sage and Will's friendship in the previous book in this series so it was nice to get to follow them now.  Lindsey does a good job tackling a difficult or sensitive topic in each of the previous books, but this one felt extra heavy.  We have multiple deaths, abusive relationships, and trauma on all sides.  However, I think that Lindsey does a great job of navigating these topics in a realistic way and since it is a romance, the reader knows it will all work out by the end.  I liked that this one was a bit more of a slower paced romance so it gave both of our MMCs time to find their new normal and decide what they want for themselves and a potential relationship. 

Tropes: MM, Single Parent, Love After Loss, Friends to Lovers

Series: Irons and Works #3

 

Mated to the Monster - Sarah Spade 

This was a solid monster romance and a good first entry into the series.  We get a lot of interesting world building and I loved how Spade was able to give the reader details without it feeling overly info-dumpy.  I wanted more time with our FMC before she summoned the MMC to really get a good sense of her character and what she wants.  This book was pretty fast paced I think due to the fated mates mechanic.  I haven't read a lot of fated mates/instalove sort of romances because I do enjoy following as the feelings evolve over time.  Spade does a great job of setting up the world and leaving the door open for the next books in the series so if book 1 is your jam, I think the whole series would be.  For me, this was more of a one and done situation, but I still enjoyed it.

Tropes: Monster, Size Difference, Supernatural, Fated Mates

Series: Sombra Demons #1