A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
Mystery/Suspense
December 3, 2019 by Berkley
ARC

Stepping into the mystery/suspense genre Nalini Singh introduces readers to the small town of Golden Cove, New Zealand and a newly widowed, classical pianist home again after a long absence.

This is very much a character driven story as Ms. Singh slowly introduces all the inhabitants of this small town and the intricate, and sometimes messy, way they fit together. When a young woman, full of joy and life goes missing, every member of Golden Cove helps in the search, but this case brings back memories of three previous missing hikers from years before that were never found and readers can’t help but be suspicious of pretty much everyone as their backstories and motivations are revealed.

There is something to be said for setting a suspense book in such a beautiful, yet mysterious environment. It really set the tone for whole book. I stayed up well into the morning in order to finish because I really had to know how it all wrapped up. For fans of this author and her romances, there is a lovely romantic relationship that blooms between two of the main characters that ends with a definite HEA.

I ejoyed this first venture into suspense by this author and hope for more in the future.

Final grade- B

KINDLE * GOODREADS

My Fake Rake by Eva Leigh
The Union of Rakes #1
Historical Romance
November 26, 2019 by Avon
ARC

I was intrigued by this romance as soon as I discovered Ms. Leigh basically flipped the script and took a penniless, scholarly hero who was already enthralled with the heroine and had the heroine set out to remake him into a rake in order for the heroine to fake an admirer to catch the husband she really thought she wanted. I mean who wouldn’t be intrigued?

I’m going to be honest and say that it took me awhile to get into his book and I don’t know why. Friends to lover is one of my favorite tropes after all. It wasn’t until they encountered Rotherby (who kind of plays matchmaker right from the beginning) that I fell into this book.

Sebastian is shy and awkward, yet has a good heart and already likes Grace very much when they agree to this charade His inner thoughts were pretty amusing. Grace is smart and dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge, but has her own issues with self confidence. It took awhile, but it was a lot of fun watching these two realize that they were perfect for each other.

This should be a really fun series. Looking forward to book two.

Final grade- B-

Kindle * Goodreads

Blitzed by Alexa Martin
Playbook #3
Contemporary Romance
December 3, 2019 by Berkley
ARC

I’ve really enjoyed each book in this series. Blitzed features Brynn Larson, owner of Hers, and Maxwell Lewis, who plays for the Denver Mustangs. Both of them have been kind of hovering around each other for a while, but it isn’t until Max does something shocking and completely out of character that Brynn decides maybe she doesn’t want to get to know him better.

If you’ve read the previous books in this series, you will be familiar with the cast of characters, pretty much all of them make an appearance. For some reason I found this book to be a bit slower paced in parts and it took me awhile to really become invested in this couple’s relationship. Which kind of makes me sad.

I think the other thing that brought me out of the story a couple of times was the constant comments amongst the female characters about how fine the Mustang men were. Do sports wives do this? About each other’s significant others? It felt kind of weird. Hmmm… maybe it’s just a me thing.

Overall I some issues, but did enjoy this book. I look forward to whatever this author puts out next.

Final grade- C+

Kindle * Goodreads