In case you haven't noticed, I love linked series. And Devon Monk is great at it! She started with her Ordinary Magic romance series, spun that into the Souls of the Road romantic suspense series, spun that into her Mystic Crossroads series and has now returned to the scene of the original crimes, giving us a new trilogy of cozy mysteries, the Ordinary Oregon Mysteries.
So, I spent a little time recently re-reading two books that I haven't thought about in awhile. These stories are in KJ Charles' A Charm of Magpies world. A Queer Trade takes place during the second Magpie Lord book, A Case of Possession, while Rag and Bone takes place during the sequel/standalone/spin-off book, Jackdaw.
I'm a fan of the whole series, but these two books are...gentler, in a way? I dunno. They're both great, low-angst reads. And it's always such fun to see the main characters from the series appear as such total side characters.
The first book--The Wedding Game, by Meghan Quinn--is the second book I've read recently that revolves around a reality TV show. And, just like the other one, both heroes are jaded divorce lawyers. Go figure. Have I just discovered a secret trope?
https://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Game-Meghan-Quinn-ebook/dp/B0899QWN9Y/ref=sr_1_1
USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn’s latest bauble is the charming story of a crafting queen battling a jaded divorce lawyer on a wedding reality show.
Luna Rossi is a veritable crafting genius—she can bedazzle and bead so hard her Etsy site is one of the hottest in the world. So it’s only natural that Luna would convince her brother and his husband-to-be to compete on The Wedding Game, a “do-it-yourself” TV show, for the title of Top DIY Wedding Expert.
As a jaded divorce lawyer, Alec Baxter scoffs at weddings and romance. But when his recently engaged brother begs him to participate in The Wedding Game, Alec grudgingly picks up a glue gun and prepares for some family bonding.
Both fierce competitors, Luna and Alec clash on national TV as harsh words and glitter fly with abandon. But as they bicker over color swatches and mood boards, they find themselves fighting something else: their growing mutual attraction. While Luna is torn between family loyalty and her own feelings, Alec wonders if he might have been wrong about love and marriage all along…
The Wedding Proposal (by Sue Moorcraft) is not technically a wedding book--but it starts with a botched proposal, so I think it counts. It opens with a forced proximity trope--two former lovers find themselves sharing space on a houseboat in Malta.
Asher Wright has spent his career creating and concocting the perfect dishes and is about to open his very own restaurant. Life is good. His love life, however, is far from cooking! He hasn’t thought about Lucy Gray in years – not since they both graduated, reeling from the shocking loss of her then boyfriend and his best friend Kris, who tragically died at 18. So when he witnesses the breakdown of her wedding in all its humiliating glory - old wounds and long-buried emotions resurface.
As Lucy lands a right hook on her soon-to-be ex-fiancée in front of their entire wedding party, she has a moment of realization... Love is not on the menu for her! Fate, however, has other plans... A chance twist of events lands Asher as the private chef for Lucy’s spirited grandmother, Mitzi, and what begins as awkward encounters in Mitzi’s Portland mansion soon evolves into a simmering connection she never expected.
As Asher and Lucy work through their past they discover a bond that feels both familiar and excitingly new.
So, this book was a surprise. It doesn't appear on Lanyon's website--as far as I can tell. Personally, it's not my favorite site to try and navigate. It's not in "standalones" which it wouldn't be since I believe it's part of a series. It's also not on the series page, however. Although, to be honest, I'm not sure which series it belongs to, so I might have missed it. She's got quite a few books with FBI characters and it's been awhile.
Lanyon is one of those authors--like me and so many others I know or knew or try to follow--whose output has slowed dramatically in the past ten years. It's been rough.
Anyway, this is one of the better books I've read lately, even if it still catches me off-guard how emotional her FBI characters tend to be. I mean, they all claim to be good at compartmentalizing, but I think that's just one more thing they're in denial about.
That having been said, her profilers are a lot better at reading people than the run of the mill agents, so maybe it's my own (completely non-existent) experience with FBI agents that's at fault?
For Lucy Greco Cavanaugh, life is a dream come true. She has it all. The perfect family. The perfect husband. The perfect marriage. What more could she wish for? Other than the chance to do it all again. To experience once more the agony and ecstasy of falling in love with the man of her dreams. To recapture the joy and uncertainty that comes with starting over.
As far as Dan Cavanaugh is concerned, his life has become a nightmare. His storybook marriage is on the line when Deirdre Shelton-Cooper, the runaway daughter of a former girlfriend arrives in Oberon intent on proving Dan is her father. Even though he's convinced the girl's claims are false, Dan decides his only chance to keep from losing everything lies in keeping her very existence a secret from his wife and family.
But, sometimes, what you don't know can hurt you--and those you love. When Deirdre, masquerading as a surfer girl named Monica, accidentally hooks up with their son, Seth, Lucy and Dan are left to wonder: has their perfect, fairy-tale romance, turned into a classic Greek tragedy?
Sometimes you get exactly what you wish for. And it's more than you'd ever dreamed.
Have I mentioned how, so much of the time, Charles' regency world reminds me of Georgette Heyer? Not a complaint. It's like finding Easter eggs when you're least expecting to. This book, for example has a premise very similar to the one in Heyer's The Reluctant Widow, which I wrote about earlier this year. And honestly? I think Charles does it better.
I first read this book a few years ago after I lost my dog. We lost our other dog the following year and my grandson's puppy the year after that. So no, I am not okay. And while I am starting to get to the point where I think about maybe adopting an older pit bull (one who gets along with smaller dogs and will not try and kill the neighborhood cats) I'm not quite there yet. But I digress.
One of the things I found most interesting about this book was how much the author talked about pet rats that she and others had had. It was unusual. Most pet psychics seem to stick to more mainstream animal companions--dogs, cats, horses. Rats are outliers to some extent. Of course, there are people who might say the same about horses, but that's beside the point.
I was at yoga last week and overheard the teacher talking about his pet rats (all dead now) and how he was thinking about getting a new one and about reincarnation, wishing he could communicate with his former pets, etc.
I couldn't wait to suggest this book to him. And now to all of you, as well...
So, I love books that involve characters having to deal with being part of a reality TV show--mostly because my own reality TV book series (Inked in OakTown) has been stalled for some time. This story also features a heroine who writes romance and a hero who despises the genre--at least at the beginning.
It was surprisingly intriguing, although I must admit the rules of the challenge confused the hell out of me. It was also very When Harry Met Sally meets the Great British Bake Off. IYKYK.
So I think this is the end of this series, which is sad, although everything was wrapped up in a very satisfactory manner. The Pride seems to be an off-shoot of Hawk's earlier series, Hexworld, which I think is my favorite of all her series. So...it feels sort of like I'm saying good-bye all over again.
Anyway, they're both really similar in feel to Allie Therin's Magic in Manhattan series (which also has a spin-off or two)
So if you like prohibition-era, paranormal, m/m romantic suspense with shape-shifters, bootleggers, flappers and the like--these are the series for you!
The first book--Let's Call the Whole Thing Off, by Andie Elliott--takes place during her book, I Could Write a Book, which I talked about earlier this year. The elevator in question gets stuck during a wedding with two of the wedding party inside.
Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
Andie Elliott
https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Call-Whole-Thing-Off-ebook/dp/B0D87L24QN/
Serious-as-a-heart-attack reporter Robert Ryan is here, as promised, because frankly he couldn’t think of a way to get out of being in his rival—er, colleague’s—wedding.
Sunshiny actor turned groomsman-for-hire Jamie Daley is here because the guy who was supposed to walk down the aisle with Robert decided he had better things to do.
And now they are both stuck in an elevator because the Park Palace clearly needs to do more frequent inspections of their equipment.
What could possibly go right?
You Rock My World opens with two people trapped overnight in an elevator, which sounds amazingly uncomfortable. It's insta-love with a rock star hero, which normally isn't my favorite, but I like the way the author spun it into more of a right time, right place kind of thing.
Still, she’s having a great time travelling the world for work, until she’s assigned a secret mission: Travel to New York with her handsome and charming boss Jordan and swap out a contract from under his nose. It should be easy, but the more time Liberty spends with Jordan, the more she realises he might not be the bad boy she thought he was. But it turns out they’ve both got a lot to unpack, and Liberty still needs to complete her mission if she wants to keep her job - which means not breaking the one golden rule: do not fall for the boss!
