Book Review: She Regrets Nothing by Andrea Dunlop

She Regrets Nothing by Andrea Dunlop
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: Washington Square Publishing

Well this was certainly a page-turner. I don't want to say too much and give the whole thing away but I wish to tell it all in a spoiler-filled rant (mostly about one character). I picked this up because the author has a book due out this year (We Came Here to Forget: A Novel) that I'm looking forward to reading and wanted to read one of her works to get a feel of her writing style. I had no expectations but the blurb did sound interesting so I dove in.

Book Review: The Bayern Agenda: Book One of the Galactic Cold War by Dan Moren

The Bayern Agenda: Book One of the Galactic Cold War by Dan Moren
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: Angry Robot (March 2019)

This had a bit of a slow start that while mildly interesting was more focused on making sure the reader knows that the characters have good banter and prior history. I didn't mind that but it seemed to almost eclipse the set up of the thing that, according to the title is the bigger deal: The Bayern Agenda also known as, the plot. For the first 20% or so there's nary a mention or seemingly any urgency by Kovalic, his ops team or handlers to do something, anything with the scant intel they got from the asset who was killed in the opening of the story. I was a more than a bit surprised that that great opener wasn't capitalized on.

Book Review: The Winter Mystery (Jenny Starling #2) by Faith Martin

The Winter Mystery by Faith Martin
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: Joffe Books

This is the winter themed book that caught my eye and prompted me to read this series, to begin with, and it delivered on all the Christmas & snow promise. It's the second in the Jenny Starling series and once again the reluctant sleuth has landed in another murder investigation in between cooking delicious meals over a fortnight at Christmas time.

Book Review: Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton

Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton
My rating: 🌟🌟 (2 stars)
Publisher: Delacorte Press

My YA reads are far and few between but when I saw this one, its science fiction and futurology hooks got into me so I put it on my TBR list. I picked it up to read and surprisingly got through it in about a day (started in the evening, finished next morning), so it earned points for swift readability.

Book Review: The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda

The Favorite Daughter by Kaira Rouda
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟(4 stars)
Publisher: Graydon House (May 2019)

No one leaves a star. That's what makes one a star.
- Norma Desmond (Sunset Boulevard)

Jane Harris is a modern-day Norma Desmond but with a smidge more crazy, tracker apps and a higher body count.

Book Review: The Birthday Mystery (Jenny Starling #1) by Faith Martin

The Birthday Mystery by Faith Martin
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟(3 stars)
Publisher: Joffee Books

To begin another cozy series is kind of what I don't need but I find resisting them difficult and so, here I am having read the first in a series. Actually, it was the second book that originally caught my eye as it has a Christmas/winter theme and I'm still in the mood for my mystery reads to be snowy. I like to be orderly so I read The Birthday Mystery.

Book Review: The Perfect Liar by Thomas Christopher Greene

The Perfect Liar by Thomas Christopher Greene
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3 stars)
Publisher: St Martin's Press (January 2019)

This is a 3.5 or 3.75 for me. I have to admit that the first third was good but felt too familiar to me. The setup with Max being this arch liar and the circumstances of how he became the storied Max W all felt to me like I knew this story. Is there such a thing as deja vu in reading?

Book Review: Behind the Throne (The Indranan War #1) by K.B. Wagers

Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟(3 stars)
Publisher: Orbit

I was gifted this book by a friend a Christmas or two back, and also its sequel so I'm glad that by the end of this, I was interested in reading the next. It was hard going and quite a slog in the first third owing to the main character Hail and her petulant, self-involved and generally juvenile personality traits (btw, she's 38). She was downright annoying and that sapped most of my sympathy for her plight (pulled back into a royal life after the death of her significant other, three more of her family members are murdered & finding out her mother, the Empress, has a dementia disorder). When you're tired of the whining and whinging of someone who's sustained all that loss, you know they're a hard case. At about the halfway mark, she showed a sign of being worth continuing on reading about which is good, because if not for one moment at a festival ceremony, I'd have quit this book.

Book Review: The Au Pair by Emma Rous

The Au Pair by Emma Rous
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟4 stars
Publisher:  Berkley Books (January 2019)

This was my first read of 2019 (when I read this back in August 2018) and I was both thrilled and sad. Thrilled that I'd read such a great story and sad that I'd read it already. When it arrived in the post months before, I sat it aside to take on vacation. So I read it on vacation and it was such an engaging read, I started to get a bit resentful of having to put it down to participate in vacation activities. And I'm one who plans in reading time!

Book Review: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
My rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 stars)
Publisher: HarperCollins UK (January 24, 2019); William Morrow US (February 12, 2019)

Talk about a good read for a winter's night! I'm a sucker for the Christiesque set up in The Hunting Party (I grinned at the "little grey cells" mention). A group of college friends sequester themselves away at a remote resort for several days leading into New Year's Eve and right from the opening, the reader knows one of them hasn't made it to the second day of the year. Add in an epic snowstorm, long-held resentments to one friend's long reign of cruelty, two resort staff members with their own secrets and struggles and just to keep things interesting, a serial killer on the loose in the adjacent area and two random guests who even with all this strangeness, seem out of place and you have all the makings for a gripping read.