Book Review: "The Wild Beneath" by Kelly Anderson

This book felt a bit like a cross between Wild Dark Shore, The Scent Keeper, and Where the Crawdads Sing, but with an extra dash of magical realism. It definitely hit me square in the feels.

“How can you put it into words? The push and pull of the tides, the way they never falter. Sails that fill up in the wind. Tracking the sky to stay on course. The massive wave and everything that was taken away.”

Annie was born to the sea. She was raised by her parents on a sailboat, and she learned to swim before she learned how to walk. Sea creatures, sand dollars, and shells were her playmates. Everything she learned was with the sea as perspective, and they rarely came ashore to the small Pacific Northwest town where her father was raised.

But when a tsunami strikes, Annie loses her parents and is left stranded on land, afraid of the very sea that brought her such joy. Her grief is crushing, and although she has her grandmother and Evan, her childhood sweetheart, she doesn’t know how she’ll survive this loss.

Amidst the wreckage she finds a man named Walker. He speaks very little but he emits a hum that only Annie can hear, which gives her visions of the life and heartbeat of the sea. She is torn between Evan, who is dealing with his own grief and only wants to protect her, and Walker, who reminds her of the place she feels most at home. How can she find her way?

Kelly Anderson’s prose is luminous. I found this to be a quietly emotional read and a powerful reminder of all that nature gives us. It definitely requires you to suspend your disbelief a bit, but if you can, and you can handle some of the vagueness of the plot, you’ll definitely find beauty.

Book Review: "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" by Deesha Philyaw

Can I get an “amen”? Deesha Philyaw’s first novel is deliciously gossipy, thought-provoking, steamy, and emotional. Having been an enormous fan of Philyaw’s debut story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, I’m not surprised how good this is. But it’s a lot of fun, too.

“And you know what? I own all the parts that are true. The lies and the lessons. The messes and the mistakes. Because they are the stones that forged the path leading from my difficult past to my beautiful present.”

Scharisse Freeman is the much-younger wife of Rev. David Freeman, pastor of the Hope in Christ Baptist Church, one of the largest Black megachurches in the U.S. Given the age difference and the fact that Scharisse had no real religious background before marrying her husband, it’s taken quite a while for some in the church to warm up to her as First Lady. But she hasn’t let that stop her from using her brand to make millions of dollars.

What she craves more than anything, however, is acceptance from the First Ladies of other churches. Yet a misstep when she was first married has made her a pariah. But when she finally gets an invitation to compete in the First Lady USA pageant, she believes that winning will be her ticket to acceptance.

However, she doesn’t anticipate being in the middle of a huge scandal, which calls her reputation into question. It also highlights the hypocrisy of many so-called devout people, as well as the double standard that exists between men and women where infidelity is concerned. She needs to find her own path and be her authentic self—no matter what.

Schar isn’t always the most sympathetic character, and when miscommunication occurs a few times, I wanted to shake her a bit. But she is a woman who wears her heart on her sleeve, and definitely doesn’t suffer fools! I really enjoyed this.

The book publishes 9/29.

Book Review: "See You Next Tuesday" by Kate Stayman-London

I loved this book for several reasons, but one of them is that it reminded me of what it was like to be excited by a political candidate and be hopeful for the future. Lord knows we could use a lot of that in the U.S. right now!!

Nothing gets Anya more energized than working on a political campaign. She loves helping candidates she believes in, candidates she thinks would make a difference. When she meets Gabe, she is awestruck by his handsomeness, but his ego and what she sees as his lack of principles irritate her to no end.

They keep running into each other, either working in different roles on a campaign, or being brought together by mutual friends. There’s no doubt that they’re attracted to one another, but they can’t be around each other for long before they’re arguing again. They try to at least be friends, but one always makes the other one mad fairly quickly.

The book follows them through more than a decade of working on campaigns—local, state, and national. When they work together for a charismatic woman running for the U.S. Senate, they become friends, and both want more, but they’re too afraid to admit their feelings. Yet the two stand by each other through difficult personal times, and then they finally fall in love.

But when Anya and Gabe both get jobs working for Democratic presidential candidates, suddenly they’re rivals. Anya feels strongly that her candidate is the right one for the country. While Gabe might not feel the exact same way, he knows his candidate is more electable. Can they be opponents at the same time as being lovers?

I really enjoyed the way the book not only portrayed the frenzy, the highs, and the lows of political campaigns, but also how challenging it can be to hold onto yourself. I loved how the book explored grief and moving on, and while Anya could get a little self-righteous at times, I thought she and Gabe had great chemistry.

Book Review: "Before You Were Anne" by Emiko Jean

“Love is just creating something the world can take away.“

This book was one of my most anticipated of September, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Emiko Jean’s last book, The Return of Ellie Black, was one of my absolute favorites of 2024, and this was a worthy sequel!

Detective Chelsey Calhoun is a few months pregnant, but she’s not ready to go public yet, because she doesn’t want to get stuck behind a desk. Yet when she and her partner have to investigate the murder of a woman and the disappearance of her teenage daughter, she’s not prepared for the case to hit so close to home.

The murder victim was a woman named Anne, but behind that simple name was a frightened woman who had to find her own way again and again. She was raised on a farm in a remote Japanese town, only to get involved with the yakuza in Tokyo, then flee to Idaho for a new start, only to seek refuge in Seattle. Her 16-year-old daughter Naomi is missing, and Chelsey is worried that she might meet the same fate as her mother.

The more Chelsey and her partner dig into Anne’s past, the more secrets are uncovered about her past. For Chelsey, who was adopted as a young child, the questions about Anne make her wonder about her own past. But she also finds that if some secrets find the light of day, it might prove deadly.

This is both a twisty mystery and an emotional story. Chelsey’s pregnancy definitely made her even more focused on finding Naomi before it’s too late. The book is narrated by Chelsey, Anne, and Naomi, and each voice is slightly different. I hope we’ll get back to Seattle in another of Jean’s books!

Book Review: "Ship Happens" by Mason Deaver

Breakups are never easy. Owen and Jacob’s relationship ended when Jacob got an offer to move to the UK and work on a research team. Owen, who isn’t great with traveling, couldn’t fathom moving to another country, no matter how much he loved Jacob. So he let him go.

A year has passed, and Owen is still hurt and angry. It would be easier to hate Jacob, but he misses him too much. Yet when Jacob returns to San Francisco for the holidays, his presence is almost too much to bear for Owen, although he’s left with a huge jumble of emotions.

Then their best friends surprise the group with a 7-day, all-expenses-paid Alaskan cruise as an opportunity to bond. Owen’s first thought is to pass—can he really stand being in such close proximity to Jacob for a week without going crazy? But he knows this is important to his friends, so he agrees to go.

They both try to be nice to each other, and there are times when the memories of what they used to be confront them. They agree that neither is good at being an ex, and Jacob proposes that they try to be friends. Isn’t that better than not having each other in their lives?

Owen feels a bit lost, that all of his friends are moving on with their lives while he is stagnating. On top of that, he’s never stopped loving Jacob, but knows that when the cruise is over, they’ll go back to their regular lives. Then what?

I really enjoyed Owen and Jacob’s relationship. You could tell how much they cared for one another, and particularly, how protective Jacob was of Owen. But I could understand the struggles they had deciding what to do with their feelings. I’ve been a fan of Mason Deaver’s since their debut, and I love how easily they can shift from YA to adult romance.

Book Review: "Philippa Flynn's Year of Panic and Piracy" by Jacqueline Firkins

Philippa Flynn is a history professor. She doesn’t love her job, especially the college bureaucracy and the treatment she gets as the only woman in the department. But she’s content to keep plodding away—until she nearly gets swallowed up by a sinkhole on the way to work one morning.

She sees the sinkhole as a sign that things in her life have to change, because you never know how much time you have left. So she quits her job, breaks her apartment lease, dumps the guy she’s been sleeping with, and plans to move into the dilapidated house on the water in Maine, which she inherited from her grandmother.

Her grandmother was a prolific writer of swashbuckling pirate romances. When she got sick, she started working with Dylan, another writer, to help her as her strength started to wane. Dylan has been living in the house for the last several years, although he and Philippa haven’t met in person. Imagine her surprise when she discovers that Dylan has been the cover model for her grandmother’s books!

Philippa hopes to pull her life together and come up with a plan. When she and Dylan find her grandmother’s plans for her next five books, they decide to tackle them together. But of course, they’ll have to separate fictional romance from the one happening to them in real life…

I enjoyed this book a lot. It’s definitely a bit of a slow-burn romance, but I was fine with that. My main issue was how absolutely horrible her parents—particularly her mother—were to Philippa. It hit a little too hard and I just wanted her to stand up for herself. But I enjoyed the chemistry between her and Dylan.

Book Review: "Well Versed" by Jen DeLuca

OMG!! I’m so happy that Jen DeLuca has taken us back to the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire with another book in her Well Met series! Reading this book really brought me so much joy. Thanks so much to Berkley Romance and NetGalley for the advance copy!

When she was a teenager, the Willow Creek Renaissance Faire was Caitlin’s favorite place to be. She loved working there each summer, singing and portraying the queen’s lady in waiting. But when she turned 18, she had her heart broken for the first time, and she no longer enjoyed any of the magic.

Now, six years later, she had to move back to Maryland after getting laid off from her job. She’s being pressed into service as the queen’s lady in waiting once again, as her aunt Emily is filling in for the queen this season. She just has to survive four weekends of wearing the same costume she did when she was in high school.

Returning to the Faire brings back lots of memories and helps her rekindle some friendships. But the last thing she’s expecting is to see Alex, one of the sword-wielding performers, who broke her teenage heart six years ago. His old act is gone, but he now performs Shakespeare on demand, and he’s even hotter than he was back then.

Caitlin is absolutely not going to let Alex derail her summer. But of course, they’re thrown together at every instance, so they start to become friends. Caitlin insists she will not fall for Alex again—but that’s easier said than done. But with them both going their separate ways after the summer, there’s no chance of them having a future, right? What if that’s exactly what they both want?

It was so great to return to these characters and see how they’ve been living their lives since the last book in the series was published. As always, DeLuca imbues her books with so much heart and humor, and I wish I could be there at the Faire. I hope we’ll get to return again!

The book publishes 9/22.

Book Review: "Summer Coven" by Kat Hillis and Rosiee Thor

I was so excited to see that my favorite vampires/bed and breakfast owners were back for a second adventure! Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Arthur Miller (no relation) and his husband, Sal Conte, finally feel at home in Trident Falls. Business at their bed and breakfast (called Dead & Breakfast) is booming, especially with the summer solstice festival coming to town. And since Arthur was able to solve a murder (and clear Sal as a suspect), they’ve finally made friends in town.

The summer solstice festival is absolutely packed, and all of the food and activities bring out Sal’s inner child. When he takes their cat, Rumble, to a pet psychic, there is a bit of a kerfuffle. Later that day, the pet psychic is found dead, apparently poisoned. (She obviously couldn’t intuit she was drinking poison.)

At first, Sal once again is the primary suspect, but Arthur is able to quickly clear his name. But his skills as a VAMP (Very Astute Married Paranormal) PI are requested by Ambrosia, the head of the Celestine Coven, a group of witches essentially operating an MLM of sorts. Of course, Arthur hasn’t solved his other case yet—the disappearance of their friend’s missing mother—but he realizes the two cases are connected.

It turns out Ambrosia isn’t the benevolently powerful witch she’s pretending to be. The coven is getting investigated for fraud, and Ambrosia (who used to be called Amanda) may not even be a real witch. Can Arthur expose the real criminals before it’s too late? How many diversions can Sal create?

This is a fun series. Arthur and Sal are an adorable couple, as each balances the other out. Sal is flighty, flaky, and utterly melodramatic, while Arthur could use a little more loosening up. I hope to see them again in another book!

Book Review: "Kiss Slay Replay" by Rachel Harrison

Over the last few years, I’ve become a huge fan of Rachel Harrison’s books, despite the fact that I don’t read much horror. But her upcoming book, Kiss Slay Replay, may be my most favorite yet. Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Being a wedding guest can definitely be stressful, even when your best friends are getting married. Willa is dreading her friends’ wedding because she recently ended her own engagement, and her ex will be there, too. She knows that breaking up with Ravi was the right thing, but why is she so conflicted?

Despite her misgivings, she drives up to the wedding. It’s being held at a posh summer camp-turned-wedding venue, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. All of her best friends are there and they quickly fall into old behaviors and routines. And then she finds out that Ravi has brought a date to the wedding.

Before she can completely spiral, she meets Danny, an old friend of the groom’s. They flirt and mess around a bit, and plan for more—but then a masked killer comes out of the woods and starts murdering everyone. Willa and Danny try to rescue people but nearly everyone has been killed—and then the killer comes after them. And just as she gets killed…

…she wakes up in her apartment, having had the craziest nightmare. But it turns out it’s the morning of the wedding again. She’s freaked out but knows she has to try and save her friends this time. No luck, however. She’s fallen into some type of murderous time loop, and each time she relives the wedding, the killing gets more and more brutal. Can she escape and stay alive?

This is definitely bloody and more than a bit disturbing. But apart from the horror, this is a poignant look at how our lives take different paths from our friends, and what do you do when things don’t go the way you planned? I loved this.

The book will publish 9/1.

Book Review: "The Blue Flame" by George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos is one of my favorite crime writers of all time. He’s definitely an author that should be so much more of a household name because his books are really excellent. I was so excited that he had a new book come out and that it featured a familiar character, PI Derek Strange.

“Everything that used to be complicated and laborious was easy now. But an investigator still needed to know how to talk to people and do the job.”

Derek Strange is still working as a private investigator, still operating out of his office in Washington, DC. And he’s still as dogged as ever when trying to figure out a case. When he’s approached by a drug lawyer, asking him to help clear his client of a murder charge, Derek is ready to search for answers.

What Derek discovers is a series of crimes affecting young men who grew up together, playing football in high school. But now one is dead, one is accused of his murder, and the younger sister of another is the link between the two. He figures out what happened and tells the police, although he keeps some of the details to himself.

Shortly thereafter, another murder occurs, and Derek feels a responsibility to clear it up. Of course, the police have warned him about interfering, and he finds himself treading in some dangerous neighborhoods, but it’s all in a day’s work.

I love the amazing details Pelecanos brings to his books, both in setting and habits of his characters. This is a crime novel but it’s also about greed, family, protecting your own, and second chances. I hope we’ll see Derek back again—I’ve missed him!

Book Review: "Bridget and Gabe Are Not Okay" by Lex Croucher

It’s time to return to Camelot for the sequel to Gwen & Art Are Not In Love. Thanks so much to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the advance copy!

All is not happy in Camelot. With the death of the king, his son Gabriel has (reluctantly) assumed the throne, and he’s so ill-at-ease that it’s starting to cause a crisis in the kingdom. And since he became king, Gabriel has ended his relationship with Arthur, despite how much he loves him.

Meanwhile, Gabe’s sister Gwendoline is also having a romantic crisis. Bridget, the only female knight in the kingdom, left several months ago and hasn’t responded to any of Gwen’s letters. Bridget, who has always been unshakable when a challenge arises, suddenly can’t win a joust.

In a move to engender goodwill among his subjects, King Gabriel convenes a new round table. He and his knights will travel throughout the kingdom, investigating the rumored sightings of the questing beast and the green knight, and determining whether the holy grail has been found. Of course, Gabe’s anxiety increases at every appearance he makes, and he’s rapidly coming unglued.

Can Gabe become the king he was born to be? Can Bridget recapture her jousting skills? And can love return to Gabe and Arthur, and Gwen and Bridget?

I really love these characters so it was great to have a sequel. This book is a lot more serious and less playful than its predecessor, dealing with grief and anxiety and recovery. But the found family and the romance at the book’s core warmed my heart and made me smile.

Book Review: "Man, Overboard!" by Kathleen Rooney

Patrick was on a cruise with his family for Thanksgiving. He remembered drinking a lot when they boarded the ship. But then he finds himself floating in the Gulf of Mexico, the cruise ship heading in the other direction. Did he fall overboard? Did he jump?

“But it’s appropriate that I’m in the Gulf of Mexico, because it felt like there was a gulf already. Between me and everything. Like everyone else was fine and I wasn’t and I couldn’t fix it and I don’t know why. But now all I want is to get back to all that.”

As he treads water and hopes he’ll be rescued, Patrick reflects on the many issues he’s dealing with in his life. He works as a physical therapist, with a part-time job as a personal trainer. But he’s been secretly attending classes to learn how to be a clown, and that has been bringing him some of the only joy he’s been experiencing.

Much of Patrick’s thoughts are about his mother, who battled cancer when Patrick was young, but after she recovered, she left the house one day and never came back. He hasn’t spoken to her in years, but recently she’s reached out to him via email and social media. He’s totally conflicted about whether or not to respond.

Each chapter of the book marks another hour that Patrick is treading water and hoping to be rescued. At various points he hallucinates that sea creatures are talking to him and giving him advice, and some even chide him for his immaturity. He wonders what his family will say when (or if) they realize he’s missing from the ship. Will it even matter?

I can’t even imagine this happening to me. Kathleen Rooney does a great job in making you feel as if you’re adrift in the gulf with Patrick. He’s not necessarily a sympathetic character, but you start to see how he could’ve wound up where he was. This was a bit of a slow burn but I enjoyed it a lot.

Book Review: "You'll Love It Here" by Natalie Sue

This book snuck up on me with its charm and humor. I didn’t realize how much fun I was having until I was finished!

Mona is a workaholic, climbing the corporate ladder at her marketing firm. She’s hoping that once the big piece of business she’s been working on gets finalized, she’ll get promoted. Then she can move out of her apartment building, a place she never intended to be for long.

But in a split second, she nearly ruins her career by angering a big client. Her boss puts her on disciplinary leave, which leaves Mona with nothing to do except have staring contests with her goldfish and deal with the guilt she feels about not reconciling with her father before he died.

When Irene, her landlady, winds up in the hospital, she asks Mona if she could fill in for a few weeks. Irene’s niece is a realtor who thinks her aunt needs to sell the building, so she enlists Mona’s help in getting the building into better shape. In return, she promises Mona a fancy new apartment.

She barely knows her neighbors, but definitely has opinions about many of them. Yet as she starts to bring order to the building’s chaos, she realizes that she’s started to care about her fellow tenants. She even starts to fall for Sami, the handsome owner of the diner next door. But what will happen when the building sells and everyone has to find a new place to live?

I love the found family trope, and the characters all turned out to be more multidimensional than I thought. The book is funny, but it’s also poignant, and I love the way Natalie Sue embraced the Persian heritage of Mona and Sami. This was quirky and heartwarming.

Book Review: "The One Day You Were My Husband" by Rosie Walsh

You know when a book has been moving along and then all of a sudden it takes off running and you’re left breathless? The last 20 percent of this book was exactly like that!

Carrie had never really been in love when she met Johan. Both of them fell completely and needed to be together all the time. After a few months, while on vacation in Thailand, they impulsively decide to get married on a beach. As they’re having their first dance, armed policemen swarm the couple and take Johan away.

She never saw Johan again. Now, 12 years later, Carrie and her husband live on a moor in England, raising twins. Carrie is about to revive her career as a surgeon. She has a meeting in Stockholm with a former mentor, and in the process of looking for a place to stay, stumbles upon a beautiful guest house. And then she gets the shock of her life: Johan owns the house and has apparently reinvented his life. How did she not know this? How did no one let her know?

She’s torn whether she should go to Stockholm, because what if she runs into Johan? She can’t miss the meeting with her mentor, however. And when she sees him in her hotel bar, she can’t believe it. She needs to know what happened on their wedding night and why he never got back in touch with her after he got out of prison in Thailand.

The thing is, Carrie doesn’t know what to believe, but she’s obsessed with knowing the truth. What she doesn’t understand is that the truth is very dangerous. Is she willing to gamble on the life she’s built and the career she loved simply to understand what happened on what should’ve been the happiest moment of her life?

I felt like the book started out slowly, and while I appreciated all of the background of everyone’s stories, I just wanted to know what happened to Johan. But I also wanted to shake Carrie for some of the choices she made. I wound up really liking the book when it picked up steam. Rosie Walsh is truly a talented storyteller!

Book Review: "Etna" by Paul Yoon

“‘You found your purpose,’ the dog said. I thought about how to answer that. I said, ‘I learned to be good at it.’”

Etna may be a short book but it’s definitely one that left an impression. I found it moving and thought-provoking, a commentary on the cost of war to humans and animals. It’s a particularly timely book given the circumstances of our world at those point in time.

A puppy is taken from the farm where he lived, from his mother and siblings. He is taken by a military doctor, who names him Etna. She has the rare gift of being able to communicate with dogs.

Etna becomes a military dog, trained by soldiers during a devastating war in a fictional country. His companion is Fuji, a dog who was taken at the same time as he was. She is even fiercer and braver than Etna, until one day she runs away, never to be seen again.

When the war ends, it leaves destruction and grief in its wake. With nothing left to do, Etna decides to try and find the farm from where he was originally taken. He knows his family hasn’t survived but he still wonders if it’ll feel like home, remind him of his younger days. He sets off on a journey filled with interesting and sometimes frightening encounters, as well as with people who aren’t sure what to make of their lives now.

I’m definitely a dog person, and I could picture Etna on his journey. I was really worried about animals being harmed or hurt during the war, but Paul Yoon doesn’t spend a lot of time dwelling on that. I was really touched by Etna’s courage and his kind nature. We definitely don’t deserve dogs.

Book Review: "Meet Me in Paris" by Kristin Harmel

C’est magnifique!! I had a feeling when I picked up this book that it would leave me all kinds of emotional, but wow! This was sappy and beautiful and moving and just excellent.

“It’s in our nature as human beings to search for logical explanations for everything, but sometimes, all we need to do is find space in the quiet to listen to what our hearts are telling us.”

Julia has returned to Paris after nearly 30 years, bringing her daughter, Piper. Julia is dying, and wants this trip to be full of memories her daughter can cherish. Piper meets a handsome waiter and Julia surprises herself by falling for an American man, but how can she tell him she’s dying?

Jackson, a singer, had the biggest song of the 1990s. He’s in Paris to kick off a tour he hopes will revive his career, but he’s not counting on love, too. Ninety-nine-year-old Henry wrote Jackson’s big hit, inspired by his love for a French woman during WWII. He thought she died during the war, but he was wrong—so he’s returned to Paris to see if, despite her dementia, she remembers him at all.

Lou and George became friends as soldiers in Vietnam, and are in Paris for a tour for veterans. But there are secrets both have kept from one another. Shelby is on a trip with her two best friends, supposedly celebrating her divorce. However, celebrating is the last thing she wants to do, and when she meets Russ, a bar owner, she finally starts to see the woman she knows she is.

These stories, as well as a few others, unwind over several days. Kristin Harmel said she was inspired by Love Actually, so that was more than enough incentive for me! I was fully engaged in all of the stories, and just wish Lou and George’s story got as much page time. But this was such an amazing book.

Book Review: "Lost and Found" by Tarah DeWitt

Oh, Tarah DeWitt. Once again, I’m left in a puddle of tears after reading your latest book, feeling utterly overwhelmed by the love and joy and strength and recovery the characters carried. I know Spunes, Oregon is a fictional town, but I sure do wish I could go there!

“‘As someone who’s lost my fair share of people…the grief is never going to be gone, anyway. It’s like…’ He flips on his blinker before he makes a turn. ‘Like weight training. The weight itself never gets lighter. You just get more accustomed to lifting it.’”

Bea has been laid bare by the death of Merritt, her best friend since childhood. She is knocked further for a loop when she learns that Merritt had her eggs frozen before she began treatment for cancer, and has left the eggs to Bea in her will. While Bea has always wanted to be a mother, this isn’t how she imagined it, but how could she not try and fulfill one of Merritt’s dying wishes?

Determined to do all she can to have Merritt’s baby, she turns to her longtime friend, Silas. The two of them have nursed more than a crush on each other for years, but circumstances have never aligned. Silas, a firefighter, is still feeling vulnerable after a near-fatal accident, and he’s grappling with his own grief. But he’s all too willing to help Bea prepare for IVF.

Despite the strong chemistry between them, Silas and Bea vow to keep things on a friend level. But the lines get blurred more than a few times, and it’s not long before both have fallen completely for each other. However, both are so frightened of hurting the other—and getting hurt themselves—that they have to find a way to let their hearts be unguarded.

This is DeWitt’s third book in her Spunes series and it was so fantastic. It’s joyful and sad and funny and immensely steamy and utterly beautiful. The characters she creates are so vivid, you wish their stories wouldn’t end when the books do.

Book Review: "Murder with a Side of Shrimp and Grits" by Skylar Warren

I’m so thankful that this book wound up on my radar. Of course, I’m utterly starving after reading it, but this cozy mystery absolutely warmed my heart. You’ve got to love a book that makes you wish you could somehow teleport into the town it’s set in!

Honeybee’s Hideaway diner has been feeding the bellies and the souls of Willow Bluff, Georgia for 50 years now. Jessie Haynes is running Honeybee’s now, following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother. The smell of butter and garlic, with just a hint of cinnamon, has filled Jessie’s life for as long as she can remember.

On the day of the diner’s 50th anniversary celebration, the mayor comes in and orders his usual shrimp and grits. But after the first bite, he has trouble breathing, and he collapses quickly thereafter. When word gets out that the mayor died, the townspeople immediately suspect Jessie, despite the fact they’ve seen her cooking since she wasn’t tall enough to see over the counter.

Jessie is devastated by what happened to the mayor, and the damage his death does, not only to her reputation, but to the future of Honeybee’s. Suddenly she’s the topic of gossip and speculation all over town, and some are even trying to capitalize on her misfortune.

When they find a wrapper from a peanut packet in the diner’s pantry, it quickly becomes obvious that the mayor’s death was no accident. And clearly someone wanted to hurt Honeybee’s in the process. So Jessie, along with her mother, her best friend Tee, her young waitress, and the town’s handsome new therapist band together to clear Jessie’s name and find the killer.

I absolutely love books in which cooking and restaurants play a part. And while I’m craving nearly everything Jessie cooked in this book, I so enjoyed the warmth of Willow Bluff and all of the characters. I’m excited that this was the start of a new series, and the second book will be out in October!

Book Review: "Hot Girl Murder Club" by Ashley Winstead

I’ve read all of Ashley Winstead’s books, and one of the things I love about her is she’s never content to write the same book twice. Every one of her books is different from the next, and she always keeps me guessing!

Ten years ago, Scout Sage’s younger sister Georgia was murdered at a Hollywood executive’s Christmas party. The alleged killer was never brought to justice.

Now, with her musical career just on the cusp of exploding, Scout is always surrounded by a posse of beautiful women. Some of them are famous for having overcome abusive relationships or other toxic situations. But with a string of revenge-type murders occurring, suddenly Scout (and her so-called “Hot Girl Murder Club”) is the prime suspect.

Detective Grey Holloway is tapped to lead the investigation, despite her youth and Barbie-like appearance. Is Scout a vigilante murderer, or is someone trying to frame her and call her out for her past transgressions? The deeper Grey digs, she finds that there have been many crimes perpetrated against women in Hollywood that have gone unpunished, and there may even be a more personal tie to these incidents.

This book is really quite timely given the way the pendulum has swung back from the #MeToo era. There are characters in the book who give voice to the anti-woke, pro-male perspective that seems to be prevalent in today’s society.

There are A LOT of characters in this book and a lot of perspectives. I found the two main narrative threads to be the most interesting, and when either of them were the focus, I was much more dialed in. But I love some good vigilante justice, and Winstead again delivered a compelling read!

Book Review: "Love & Other Killers" by Brynne Weaver

“Everybody’s gotta have a hobby, even if it is hunting the most wretched pieces of shit on the planet in a blood sport competition, and I intend to maintain my run as champion of the Annual August Showdown.”

I haven’t read any of the books in Brynne Weaver’s Ruinous Love trilogy yet, but after reading this, I definitely need to! This was a fun, twisty, dark, and steamy story.

Sloane and her husband Rowan, along with his two brothers and her best friends, have an annual competition each August. But it’s not quite your usual competition. The six of them are all serial killers, and each year they challenge each other to hunt down a cold-blooded killer. Whoever makes the kill—the more brutal, the better—gets bragging rights.

This year’s target is Allan Munster. He’s a chicken farmer with a moonshine distillery on the side. He goes to church every Sunday. But he’s also a monstrous murderer who has covered up his actions. Or so he thinks.

So it’s women versus men to see who can take Munster down first. They’re lying in wait. But Sloane can’t help but wonder what the appearance of someone from their past earlier in the day means…

I thought this was great. The characters and their banter were fantastic. (One character called another “Budget Batman” a few times and it made me laugh.) There’s lots of steam, too. Suffice it to say, I’m heading for the Ruinous Love trilogy now!