Review: The Engagement Party

2023 was the year I fell down a Darby Kane rabbit hole.  I burned through the first three standalone suspense novels and then patiently waited for The Engagement Party - a December release.  Touted as a mix of And Then There Were None and I Know What You Did Last Summer, I buckled myself in and got ready for a ride.  Unfortunately it was a ride I found bumpy and a little lacking.

Emily Hunt was murdered the weekend of her college graduation at an affluent New England liberal arts college. At the center of the mystery are her closest college friends, tragic Mitch, power couple Alex and Cassie, and emotionally bankrupt Will.  Emily's murder haunts all of them, naturally they know more than they're letting on, and they'll do anything to keep the past well and truly buried.

Then Will, poor dumb bunny Will, gets engaged. For like the fourth time, but who's counting?  His fiancée Ruthie wants to get the friends together to celebrate their engagement and picks a remote house on an island in Maine. As a storm is blowing in. Convenient.  Also joining this house of horrors is Sierra, Mitch's business partner - who also happens to be in love with him. They're not on the island long before random weirdness starts happening and the first body is discovered in the garage.

I'll be honest, it was the comp to And Then There Were None that made me pick up this book, and when that comp is dangled before me I just expect certain things.  I expect to hate pretty much everybody (check) and I expect nearly everybody to die (yeah, not so much).  I mean, half the fun of this type of story is that the characters you hate are the bodies that start dropping.  And while I quite literally hated everybody in this story, not nearly enough of them ended up dead in the end. Sorry, not sorry. In fact, the first two dead bodies are tertiary characters we never meet alive on the page. This is a problem because Kane does such a good job of making me hate everybody that to have most of them not die is just, well, a bummer.

I realize how this sounds, but if you're a suspense/thriller fan this is IYKYK kind of thing.

Sierra is the innocent bystander character that we, as the reader, are supposed to rally around. The one who gets sucked into the madness only because she's an idiot who's in love with Mitch. And ultimately that's what annoys me about her. Everybody in this story, literally everybody, wants to protect "poor, tragic Mitch."  Look, I get it - his childhood was jacked up. But he's such an unlikeable, almost passive aggressive in his sarcasm, character that I just wanted him to die.  And no, I won't tell you if he does or not.

Besides the fact that the body count isn't nearly high enough, the suspense thread is a blunt instrument. With a plot of this nature I want Machiavelli. Sorry, just do. I want twists, turns, who can you trust?  This is more like a cudgel upside the head. 

All that being said, there is a very nice twist at the end that I did not see coming and it was really good.  Unfortunately by then I just felt a little worn down by it all.  Too many of these horrible people left alive, not enough deviousness on the part of our villain. It's not terrible, but it's not really what I wanted.  And well, it's all about me.

Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge 2023: The Night Before Christmas

The Book: The Night Before Christmas by Brenda Novak, Day Leclaire, and Molly O'Keefe

The Particulars: Contemporary romance anthology, Harlequin, 2009, Out of print, not available in digital (but at one point it was so check your digital pile and/or local libraries).

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Molly O'Keefe is an autobuy. Her story won the RITA for Best Novella in 2010 and it's a Harlequin Christmas anthology. I am but a mere mortal.

The Review: Once again I waited until the 11th hour to pick out my TBR Challenge book, let alone actually start to read it - so I did what I always seem to do - I went diving into my cupboard of Harlequins and hit upon this anthology.  And like most anthologies, it was a wildly uneven affair.

"On a Snowy Christmas" by Brenda Novak is distasteful and insulting, especially when you account for the fact this story was published in 2009 (I realize that was 14 years ago - but hear me out...).  Spoilers Abound!

Adelaide and Maxim are political rivals, facing off in the primary. Maxim took over the Senate seat after Adelaide's husband died in a car accident.  Maxim has since strayed from her husband on matters of politics and also implied not nice things about him - which makes Adelaide mad enough to take a run at the Senate seat. She's already garnered support from several wealthy donors which has knocked Maxim back on his heels, but he's not out yet. They're both on the same charter flight down to Los Angeles for a political engagement with the governor when they crash in the Sierra Nevadas. In the middle of a snow storm. One thing, naturally, leads to another.

There's probably a decent story here somewhere but the whole politics thing already had me turning up my nose.  Add to that Adelaide behaves a bit like a dumb bunny, and the Big Secret about her dead husband that Maxim has uncovered, but chosen not to use in the campaign against her?  Well, there's corruption - which would frankly be enough - but no, Dead Hubby was also having an affair with an 18-year-old intern.  A male intern. To be fair, the fact that he was having an affair with a teenager is portrayed as distasteful.  Unfortunately just as much distaste is spent on the fact that it was a gay affair. And folks, I'm just too tired and too old to read this bullshit in 2023 and know it was published in 2009.  This isn't a Harlequin Presents from 1985 (not that it wouldn't have been annoying back then either - but you catch my drift).  Oh, and did I mention Dead Hubby was infertile but bumping uglies with Maxim two times results in Adelaide getting knocked up?  And the first time they have sex she pretends it's her dead husband and Maxim knows she's pretending he's her dead husband? Ugh. I wanted to light this on fire.

Final Grade = D-

"The Christmas Baby" by Day Leclaire starts out distasteful but the author pulls it off in the end by leaning in on the farce. Carrie is having the worst Christmas Eve ever. She woke up late for work, got caught in terrible weather on her commute, showed up to work only to be laid off, and came home to her crummy apartment to receive an eviction notice. Then, her ex, Chaz, has the nerve to show up. She ended things with him when it became apparent that he was a workaholic who would continue to push off making any sort of serious commitment to her because it was never going to be "the right time."  Well, Chaz may want her back, but she's not convinced he's changed. She kicks him out only to have the next knock on her door be an elderly lady leaving a Christmas gift a Chaz. A large box with, wait for it, a baby inside. 

So yes, distasteful. Instead what ensues is a bit of comedy of errors between Chaz, Carrie, Chaz's brother, the brother's former girlfriend and Chaz's estranged parents.  Misunderstandings and shenanigans ensue. The whole thing feels very cinematic and would make a decent Hallmark-style rom-com. Naturally, in the end, all the couples are back together - although I'm nowhere near convinced that any of the male leopards have truly changed their spots because....novella length.  Not my thing, but I can recognize this was well-executed.

Final Grade = C

"The Christmas Eve Promise" by Molly O'Keefe is the gem of the bunch and worth tracking this anthology down at a library or used bookstore.  Merrieta "Merri" Monroe is back home helping out at the family diner and she feels like an utter failure. No job, no more fiancé, and she's 3 months pregnant. A teeny little fact that nobody but her and her rat-fink ex know about. Also back in town?  Gavin McDonnell, the boy she made herself a fool over and the boy she done wrong back in high school.  He and his brother now run a shop repairing and building motorcycles. Gavin is divorced and his teenage son has just come to live with him.  Lucas has become a regular at the diner, him and Merri get roped into helping with the town's annual Christmas celebration, and they both end up spilling their secrets to each other. They agree - she has to tell her parents about the baby and he has to be honest with his Dad by Christmas Eve. 

This was a cozy, small town read with just enough angst to keep the plot humming along. O'Keefe typically does well writing younger characters, and Lucas is a gem. A scared 14-year-old boy at a crossroads, already turned out by his mother and afraid his dad will do the same. Merri is the woman who had big ideas on how her life would turn out and naturally it's been one curveball after another. She needs to learn to be open, honest and to stop running away from happiness as it's smacking her in the face. 

I'll be honest, the romance is a little light here. The author leans hard into the fact that the couple has a past history to help carry us to the finish line, but I could have used a couple more chapters, a few more pages, to beef up this aspect of the story.  But it's a heartwarming story that, frankly, washes away most of the distaste left in my mouth over the Novak entry.  This was fairly early on in O'Keefe's career with Harlequin and you can see all the groundwork here for the superior Harlequin SuperRomances she published while writing for them.

Final Grade = B+

So yes, a fairly typical anthology reading experience. A story I wanted to light on fire, a well-executed story that just wasn't for me, and a superior story that made the experience worthwhile. Added bonus that the best story was also the last in the bunch - meaning I ended the 2023 TBR Challenge on an upbeat note.

Deck the Halls: Unusual Historicals for December 2023

Hey, so it's December. Don't ask me how we all got here. What I'll remember most about 2023 is the hazy blur of exhaustion I seemed to live with. 2024 might be the year that I finally need to knuckle down and take better care of myself - but that covers all the very not-fun stuff like nutrition, exercise, the buzzword du jour "mindfulness." It's all so bothersome, truly. In the meantime we're going to ring out (OK, more like kick out...) 2023 with the final Unusual Historicals post of the year. Once again, many thanks to AztecLady for uncovering a good chunk of these for me.  December is traditionally a pretty slow month in publishing and we have six books this month!

Whiskey War by Stacy Lynn Miller

At the height of Prohibition and the dawn of the Great Depression, lesbian couple Dax and Rose look forward to a clandestine life together in Half Moon Bay, hiding a treasure trove of stolen whiskey.

To save their floundering restaurant, Dax tries to offload the barrels in San Francisco, only to rouse her estranged brother-in-law, Logan. He sniffs out their stash, and soon they all get a taste of the dark side of bootlegging.

Enter Grace Parsons, Rose's glamorous ex and Hollywood elite, offering a way out. But her intervention ignites a violent feud that puts everyone at risk. Can Dax and Rose survive the whiskey war they never wanted?

Prohibition! San Francisco! My apologies folks, but this is actually the second book in a series featuring Dax and Rose, but now that it's on all our radars, we can back-track to book one if we so desire. Per the author's bio, she's former military and likes to infuse her stories with suspense as well as romance - also looks like there will be a third book in this series.

The Knight's Substitute Bride by Melissa Oliver

 

Could the wrong bride…

Be right for him after all?

For the sake of his family name, Lord Robert must marry to seal an alliance with an Irish clan. Only, the woman at the altar isn’t who he was promised! Instead, it’s her sister, Lady Mairenn! The sharp-tongued Irish beauty is as reluctant to wed as Robert, but as friction turns to fire between them, she’s further derailing Robert’s plans for this purely pragmatic arrangement…

Ah, the ol' I show up at the altar and it's not my intended but her sister instead trope. But alliances are alliances, and come hell or high water, a marriage there will be.  This is the second book in the multi-author Brothers and Rivals series, the first book being featured in November's Unusual Historicals post.

Art of the Chase by Tracy Brogan

Above the glistening waters of Trillium Bay, the majestic Imperial Hotel awaits its first guests. It’s the summer of 1888, and names like Carnegie, Astor, Pullman, and Bostwick line the premier resort’s registry as society’s elite gather on its grandiose front porch to see – and be seen.

But Chase Bostwick isn’t interested in being seen. As the second son of a wealthy financier, he’s only interested in work – in Chicago – so being tasked by his father to chaperone his wearisome mother and boisterous little sister during their Michigan summer holiday is Chase’s personal purgatory masquerading as paradise – for never was a man more ill-suited to leisure.

Emerson McKenna isn’t interested in being seen, either – but she does want her artistic talents to be noticed. As the illegitimate daughter of a renown portraitist more infamous for his romantic dalliances than for his work, Emerson has schemed her way into a position at the hotel teaching doe-eyed debutantes to paint. She says her goal is to commission enough portraits from the resort’s wealthy patrons to finance her dreams of studying in Paris.

But Chase has his suspicions…

Thinking to ease his ennui, he sets about to unravel the mysteries of this enigmatic Miss and her tattered satchel full of secrets, but what he learns – from her questionable marital status right down to the potentially felonious embellishment of her artistic credentials – leaves him feeling captivated. And protective. When his misplaced chivalry sets in motion events which may do more harm than good, Chase and Emerson must work together to keep her safe – and in his arms.

OK, not gonna lie - I'm really intrigued by this one. For one thing it's set in my home state of Michigan and for another, it's set at a hotel. Boardinghouses and hotels in historical romance flip a switch for me.  Throw in an artist heroine with secrets to hide and well, I'm only human.

An Unlikely Match for the Governess by Lauri Robinson

The most unlikely match…

might be the best fit!

After the young twins she cares for are orphaned, their governess, Aislinn, will do anything to stay with them. So when their maverick uncle—aristocrat turned rancher—Luke returns to England determined to gain guardianship, she proposes a convenient marriage! As an unexpected connection develops between them, Aislinn begins to long for a real future with Luke. But his home is in Montana… Could it be hers, too? 

I'll admit it, I have baggage. In the early aughts many a good historical western author defected for across the pond, but before that it was like publishing was setting us up.  The cowboys were now going to England or the blue-blooded daughters were the fish out of water in Texas or some such state. Eventually the pretense was discharged and historical westerns got rarer than hen's teeth.  Harlequin Historical was about the only outfit still publishing them, but they killed them a few years back.  But dare I hope? Maybe this new one by Robinson is Harlequin's way of testing the waters on westerns again - even if it's the story of "a spare" coming back to England after setting up shop in Montana.  People, I'm desperate. This one goes on the pile.

The Gentleman's Gambit by Evie Dunmore

Bookish suffragist Catriona Campbell is busy: An ailing estate, academic writer’s block, a tense time for England’s women’s rights campaign—the last thing she needs is to be stuck playing host to her father’s distractingly attractive young colleague.

Deeply introverted Catriona lives for her work at Oxford and her fight for women’s suffrage. She dreams of romance, too, but since all her attempts at love have ended badly, she now keeps her desires firmly locked inside her head—until she climbs out of a Scottish loch after a good swim and finds herself rather exposed to her new colleague.

Elias Khoury has wheedled his way into Professor Campbell’s circle under false pretenses: he did not come to Oxford to classify ancient artefacts, he is determined to take them back to his homeland in the Middle East. Winning Catriona’s favor could be the key to his success. Unfortunately, seducing the coolly intense lady scholar quickly becomes a mission in itself and his well-laid plans are in danger of derailing...

Forced into close proximity in Oxford’s hallowed halls, two very different people have to face the fact that they might just be a perfect match. Soon, a risky new game begins that asks Catriona one more time to put her heart and wildest dreams at stake.

Let's be honest here - this book could go either way. It could be good (Suffragette heroine! Hero with secrets! Oxford!) or it could be a hot mess (historical romance doesn't have the best track record with "exotic" characters - including the use of the word exotic...).  Also chatter I've read on this series in particular has been all over the map.  Readers seem to love them or loathe them, with not a lot in between. But so many of them have fallen under the "unusual" banner that I really need to give one of these a whirl via my library.

Second Duke's the Charm by Kate Bateman

The wedding-night death of her much older husband left Tess Townsend the Dowager Duchess of Wansford—and still a virgin. Now she and her two best friends investigate London’s most scandalous crimes, and while Tess longs to experience physical pleasure for herself, she can’t risk losing her treasured independence...

Cynical shipping magnate Justin Thornton never expected to inherit a dukedom, but he’ll do his duty. When the ravishing woman he kissed at a party turns out to be the Dowager Duchess, Justin sees an obvious solution: a marriage of convenience that will suit them both.

But the passion that sparks between them is anything but convenient. As Tess works on a new case at the request of Queen Charlotte, her increasingly suspicious behavior makes Justin question her motives—and her past. The infuriating woman clearly can’t be trusted, but Justin doesn’t believe in love, so there’s absolutely no danger of him falling for his own wife...is there?

VIRGIN WIDOW! I figure half of you are already one-clicking while the other half are all "no thank you ma'am."  What intrigues me here is the premise of three best friends (all women) investigating crimes and shenanigans.  Oh, and a hero who inherits a dukedom he hadn't planned on thinking the heroine and a marriage of convenience is the solution to all his problems.  Oh, you poor deluded man. Also, while I haven't been able to find confirmation, this smells like the start of a new series.

Whew! I hope you all enjoy a happy, healthy end to this hellscape year and that many fantastic books, including Unusual Historicals, await all of us as we step into 2024.

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is December 20

We made it! The final month of the 2023 #TBRChallenge! The magic day is Wednesday, December 20 and this month's (always) optional theme is Festive.

I've been hosting the Challenge since 2011 and this is the month where I think most of the participants groan out loud. My love of Christmas romances is pretty well known but I also understand that some readers really don't care for them (I totally "get" that).  Hence what has been a tradition for the last several years of the Challenge - the optional Festive theme.  Festive can mean a lot of things: holidays (not just Christmas), personal milestones, parties of all stripes (including house parties!), balls (masquerade or otherwise), heck any Regency where The Season is featured (um, which would be a lot of them...).  Folks, there's lots of ways to run with this month's theme.

That being said, remember that the themes are completely optional. The goal of the challenge has been, and always will be, to read something (anything!) that's been languishing in your mountain range of unread books. 

I want to thank everyone who participated and followed along with this year's Challenge.  A couple of years ago I was really starting to burn out on blogging in general, this Challenge started to feel a little too much like work, but then 1) I stopped being stubborn, 2) asked for help and opinions and 3) y'all stepped up and showed out.  The 2024 #TBRChallenge has been announced and sign-ups have begun! To learn more about the Challenge, head on over to this blog post.

Review: The Nurse's Christmas Temptation

2023 will be remembered as the year my reading mood was all over the place. While I have several suspense novels by favorite authors waiting for me, what was I in the mood for? A cozy Harlequin with Christmas in the title.  Some folks watch Hallmark movies, I read Harlequins with Christmas in the title. Don't hate the player, hate the game.  Anyway, a Medical sounded good so I went diving into my Kindle to find the first one with "Christmas" in the title and lucky day - it was The Nurse's Christmas Temptation by Ann McIntosh.  I discovered McIntosh about a year ago and she's quickly moving to the top of my list for comfort read authors.  This was a delightfully cozy read - the literary equivalent to a warm fuzzy blanket, a nice cuppa, a crackling fire in the fireplace.

Harmony Kinkaid has lost a lot in a short amount of time: her job, her boyfriend, and her grandmother. Christmas is fast approaching, the first since her beloved grandmother's death, and Harmony is already not looking forward to it when her mother drops the bombshell that she's going to spend the holiday with her new beau and finally meet his family. Harmony doesn't begrudge her Mom's newfound happiness (the woman deserves it) and she does invite Harmony to come along - but she just can't. She wants to crawl into a hole to wait out the holidays and she gets her chance when a temp job on a remote Scottish island falls into her lap.  She jumps on it.

What Harmony didn't bargain for is that the Scottish island is considered "the North Pole of Scotland" and every year it's like Christmas throws up all over it. They hold a winter festival every year and it brings in a fair amount of tourism, which the island needs. On top of this? Her new temporary boss is the local "Laird" (a bit of an honorary title given to him by the locals) - Dr. Cameron MacRurie. The attraction is instant for both of them, and very unwelcome on her part. Not only is he her boss, he's a bit of a daredevil - just like her father. He has a long-term health condition,  just like her father, and despite that health condition he takes risks with extreme sports with total disregard to life and limb. Her father's death from an extreme sports accident left a gaping hole in Harmony's life, made her mother's life exceedingly harder - nope, a daredevil man is the last thing Harmony needs in her life. So why can't she stay away from Cam?

This is a soft, big-hearted read and just what the doctor ordered.  Cam and Harmony both have interesting baggage and spark off each other well. She's orderly and a little uptight. He's devil may care and charming as hell. The island and local village serves as it's own secondary character and the inhabitants add charm and color to liven up the Christmas setting. 

The conflict relies heavily on internal angst and the fact that both Harmony and Cam are trapped by their own fears borne out of their respective childhoods - her, the death of her father, him, a mother who coddled him to the point of suffocation because of his Type 1 diabetes. Naturally they can only ignore the attraction for so long, fall into bed, and fall into love - which brings these fears bubbling right up to the surface.

This was a perfect holiday read. Warm, cozy, with enough small town charm to lighten my cold black heart. I really liked our couple and I was rooting for their happy ever after the whole way. McIntosh is definitely a newfound favorite.

Final Grade = B

Lemon Drop, Cartoon Covers and Smexy Surprises

Long time blog readers know of the existence of my youngest niece, Lemon Drop. Back in the day she was a regular fixture on this blog, appearing in my, now defunct, monthly reading round-up posts. As my Day Job got more demanding, and more importantly, Lemon Drop hit school age, I felt it was best to retire her from blog appearances.  She is now, Lord help us all, 13 years old. I know!  And much to my delight, she's a romance reader.

Here's the thing - she likes romance, kissing and sex off page is fine but graphic descriptions are not her thing. She still, quite frankly, finds the thought of the actual act a bit disgusting.  I mean, she's 13 - and also I have to admit I find this refreshing given the fact that kids grow up too darn fast these days anyway.  So I say, shine on Lemon Drop.

Well, here's the problem. The genre seems to love the idea of slapping illustrated covers on every blessed adult romance being published these days, regardless of tone and/or content. I will preach this with my last dying breathe - cartoon covers convey fun, light, frothy - they do NOT signal angst or hot, graphic smexy times.  They just DON'T.  So for that reason part of this exchange with my sister enrages me, but I also find it pretty funny because, hello, this is my niece we're talking about.  Here's how it went down:

Wendy's Sister: I'm in Lemon Drop's room. I see A Very Merry Meet Cute on her dresser. I read the back cover and see ADULT FILM STAR in the first line of the summary.  Um, Lemon Drop, did you start reading this book?

Lemon Drop: No but I think I should sell it. I went to put a bookmark in it so I could start reading and saw a bit that maybe isn't for me.

WS: (opening to the page where the bookmark is and seeing the word COCK). Um, well, yeah, the summary mentioned an adult film star. Didn't you notice that? It means porn, so like there will be sex in this. Probably a bit more graphic than you want.

LD: I thought that just meant a film star in regular movies. Not kids movies!

WS: 😂

Aside from my sister: I reminded her that I'm fine with her reading whatever but maybe I should at least check since she's not really wanting full graphic sex in her books. Gotta love her sweet naïve mind.

Insert Wendy grumbling about cartoon cover trend then "Bless her heart though."

(Wendy aside - Sierra Simone writes HAWT which my sister didn't know but Julie Murphy wrote frickin' Dumplin' for cripes sake which my sister did know and well, here we are)

WS: I just skimmed a page and read "warm hot cunt."  I started laughing and Lemon Drop said "Can you stop laughing at my failure?!?" 😂  Seriously, blog fodder. Lemon Drop and smut...

Lemon Drop: Are you gonna let this go? Can't we get past my humiliation for this holy holiday? 😂

WS: Seriously, I'm dying. My kid cracks me up.

Wendy: This is going on the blog for sure.

WS: She's so sweet. Cracks me up. But yes very naïve. Nobody should mess that up or I'll kill them. LOL.  I mean, she knows everything but knowing and REALLY knowing are two different things.

Wendy: My Man says enjoy it while it lasts 😂

Review: Fall

Fall by Tracy Clark is the second book in her Detective Harriet Foster series for Amazon's Thomas & Mercer imprint. I'm still a bit put-out that Clark's Cass Raines private detective series for Kensington seems to be put on ice, but the Foster books have been an enjoyable consolation prize and once I found the spoons to start reading I zipped through this in 24 hours.

Marin Shaw is getting out of prison after 3 long years. A former city alderman she was locked up for corruption, managed to get sober behind bars (she's an alcoholic) and she didn't take anyone down with her - which she most certainly could have. Marin knows where some bodies are buried.  Needless to say her getting out is big news - to the press who smell blood in the water and to her fellow aldermen who are worried she's out for her pound of flesh. However all Marin really cares about is repairing her relationship with her young daughter and divorcing her sack of crap husband.  Then, well, the bodies start dropping. 

The first alderman is found shot to death in a parking garage. The second one, stabbed to death in his office. Found with the bodies are baggies filled with 30 dimes. Harriet Foster has caught the case and while both dead aldermen were connected to Marin it feels too neat. There's also the minor problem that they don't have a ton of hard evidence to make an arrest stick to her.  The powers that be are at full froth and the pressure is on to make an arrest - but are the dead bodies tied to Marin's case or is it something else entirely the police aren't seeing?

Half the joy in Clark's books is that they're set in the city of Chicago, and she writes about the city well. However, rather unbelievably, this is the first of her books to really mine political corruption - which is about as Chicago as Irish cops, Chicago dogs, and Wrigley Field. Needless to say, I fell into the plot pretty hard and there was just enough political sleaze on the page to keep me invested. Normally I'm not a huge fan of politics in my entertainment because, hello, real life - but when political bodies are dropping, well I'm only human after all.

The mystery hums along well and while Marin is the obvious suspect the author takes the narrative on a few twists.  That said, I did have a pretty good idea from the jump who our murderer was and it spins out to a climactic, albeit slightly unhinged, finish.

What didn't work so well for me was the introduction to a secondary plot thread planted, I suspect, for the third book in the series. Harriet's former partner committed suicide, leaving behind a husband and two sons. Harriet and her partner's widower start receiving threats, and whoever it is wants to leverage Harriet to do his dirty bidding (presumably fix cases, make evidence disappear etc.) in exchange for the safety of Glynnis' children. It doesn't go much of anywhere in this book and honestly takes focus away from the main storyline.  Also, if I'm being honest, I'm still butt-hurt that this tactic was employed in the fourth book of the Cass Raines series and a fifth book has yet to appear - and likely won't for a long while (if ever).  The Raines series was published by Kensington, and Clark now seems wrapped up in this Foster series for Amazon.  So yes, I have baggage.  On the bright side, as of the time of this posting, Amazon does have a listing for the third book in this series, slated for next December. Hopefully that release date will stick.

I didn't like this one as much as the first book in the series, but I still enjoyed it. The story was strong, the sense of place was dynamite, and Harriet is capable, smart, with underlying vulnerabilities that make her interesting.  I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Final Grade = B-

All Aboard! Sign-Up for the 2024 #TBRChallenge!

I want to thank everyone who took the time to fill out my poll soliciting theme suggestions for the 2024 TBR Challenge. There were a bunch of really great suggestions and this year every single theme came from the poll!

For those of you stumbling across my blog for the first time, you're probably wondering - what is the #TBRChallenge?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: once a month pull a dormant book out of your TBR pile and read it.  On the 3rd Wednesday of the month, talk about that book.

Participation is as easy as being on social media!

• If you're on social media all you need to do is use the #TBRChallenge hashtag - there's no need to sign-up and your participation can vary throughout the year.
• You can use this hashtag on any day, at any time - but we're still going to concentrate on the 3rd Wednesday of every month to kick our commentary into high gear.  
• The idea is to have at least one day a month where we can always count on there being book chatter.

Want to let your blogging freak flag fly?  If you have a blog and want to post TBR commentary there, drop me a comment on this post with a link to your blog or hit me up on Twitter, Bluesky or Mastodon.  I like to post links to the various blogs on my TBR Challenge page so those who follow along can start following you.

Sound good?  Of course it does!  So what are the themes for 2024?  So glad you asked!

January 17 - Once More With Feeling
February 21 - Furry Friends
March 20 - Not in Kansas Anymore
April 17 - No Place Like Home
May 15 - With a Little Help From My Friends
June 19 - Bananapants!
July 17 - What a Wonderful World
August 21 - Everyday Heroes
September 18 - Drama!
October 16 - Spooky (Gothic)
November 20 - It Came From the 1990s!
December 18 - It's a Party!

I know some of these are going to require a bit of planning on my part, but remember - if it all seems like too much bother - the themes are always optional. The goal of this challenge isn't so much what you read, so long as you're reading something (anything!) out of your TBR.

My hope is always for this Challenge to be low-key, stress-free and fun!  So I hope you'll consider joining this year. Be like me - use this Challenge to delude yourself into thinking you're actually making some progress on your book hoarding 😉.