Fall Book

 The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore 

This was super cute. I can see why people say it has Gilmore Girls vibes, but really it's just a small town, it's way more Hallmark than anything. Jeanie and Logan are adorable together and both so relatable. I can only imagine the fear, anxiety, and stress Jeanie experienced when she found her boss dead. So, when given the opportunity to move to a small town and run her Aunt Dot's cafe of course she would jump at it. And I can understand why Logan would not want to be anywhere near the town when it seems like, from his perspective, they were always in his business. Their chemistry was great. The stakeout leading to a cat was adorable. I new it was Norman that was doing the sabotage, but his reasoning was bonkers. And then when Dot finally returned from her trip and confronted him about it! They had both been pining after each other for YEARS and neither had said anything!!! Annie and Hazel are hysterical and I cannot wait for their books! I will definitely be reading the next book in this series!  

The Novellas are the Best Part of This Series

 Hometown Heartbreaker by Maisey Yates 

If this is book 3.5, then why was it attached to the end of book 4? This was a novella so it was supposed to be fast paced, but this was fast paced. Casey is a drifter who ended up in Copper Ridge when her car broke down. She's living in a tent at the camp grounds and working at Ace's bar. Aiden is as straight laced as they come and they meet for the first time when he has to pull his alcoholic father out of the bar and drag him home. He leaves his father's keys with her and says he will be back for them tomorrow. She borrows the car because it'll be much faster than walking back to her tent. But, when he shows up for the car the next day, it's gone. Just as he's trying to figure out what to do she pulls in. They agree that he will meet her after work, she will follow him home in the car then he will take her back to her place. When they get to his parent's house his mom invites her in, feeds her, and offers her the use of the trailer on the property when she finds out she living in a tent. When they get to the tent it escalates. She ends up staying with him instead of in the trailer. After about a week things are going well until his dad's truck gets repossessed and they get into a screaming match about the farm. She tells him she loves him and he doesn't say it back and basically tells her she doesn't know what love is. She leaves. He is miserable. He goes to the bar, apologies, and asks her to stay. He stops taking care of his parents and they sell the farm. He gets a rental and goes to work for the Garrett's. Fast forward 2 years later, they are still together. He bought some land so they can build their dream home and the book ends with him proposing.  Insta-love isn't high on my favorite tropes, but I don't hate it either. It works for a novella.  

Hate Reading at This Point

 One Night Charmer by Maisey Yates 

This book had 2 of my 3 most hated tropes: age gap and pregnancy. Which is a shame because parts of this book were really enjoyable, but I couldn't get past how much I HATE those two tropes. Sierra leaves home because she finally finds out about Jack and she can't look at her dad anymore. She moves in with her brother and his fiancee who everyone hates (some of the best parts of the book were everyone taking trash about Natalie). She gets a job at Ace's bar, because Jack asks Ace to do him a favor. She works hard so it's not a big deal, but they have a lot of chemistry, which is a problem. He is opening a new restaurant, more upscale, and is struggling with some of the design elements and she starts helping him (the initial get together over alcohol tastings was great, until it led to said pregnancy - which I saw from a mile away). Her going to the bigger town with her sister for the pregnancy test was a great scene, all of the scenes with her sister were good. She and Ace fought, a lot. He had lots of issues to work out. Him working them out in a church, with his father, was nice, but a little too easy. If I wasn't so mad at the book I probably would have like how easy that was, truthfully. I have truly enjoyed only one of these books and at this point it almost feels like I'm hate reading them; but the one I enjoyed I really liked and I keep hoping for that same spark because obviously it can happen.  

Cozy Mystery #3

 A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death by Valerie Burns 

This cozy mystery series is continuing to be enjoyable. We have multiple people from Maddy's past show up starting with a frenemy who is truly more of an enemy but in all truthfulness she did her a favor when she stole her fiance. And now she's here to try to make Maddy look bad, except it's not working because Maddy likes her new life. But, she does hit all of her insecurities when she posts a photo with Michael. Then, after arguing with Maddy, she turns up dead and Maddy is the only suspect. We also find out Elliot, the ex-fiance, is here with his new girlfriend (another frenemy). And, we have an art guy who has a package for Maddy from her aunt. But, he is killed before he can give it to her; and Maddy and her father are the ones that find the body. Well, turns out Elliot's new girl doesn't actually like him, she was really in love with the art guy; so we can cross her off of the suspect list. Michael got to punch Elliot, which was satisfying, but unfortunately for us, Elliot wasn't the killer; turns out he broke up with Maddy and dated her friend because said friend told him to do it to humiliate her and in hopes she would come crawling back to him and he was pissed when she didn't (that's what led to him getting punched). The Admiral is in this book a lot, and he has a bit of a flirtation going with Carson Law, the milliner and namesake of the fanciest hotel in town. We also find out that Aunt Octavia didn't use Chris Russell as her attorney, she used his father, but he died right before she did; luckily she had her will and all of her other documents iron clad and Chris couldn't mess with them. When Maddy was cast as a suspect he wanted her to sign a document saying he could make decisions for her should she be arrested, but she wouldn't sign them without reading them, which pissed him off but was smart on her part. Turns out I was right and he was super shady. He was the mastermind behind all of the bad things that have been happening in the books and he killed Octavia. But, now it doesn't matter. Maddy ends up in the hospital and when she waked up she proposes to Michael and he says no because of all of the medication she's on. Also, because he was going to propose to her, he even had a ring. She says yes.  I love a cozy mystery; it's a fun, fast read, and such a good palate cleanser. It gives you a mystery but is low stakes.  

Cozy Found Family Fantasy

 The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong 

I had no idea what this was going to be when I started it and yet it defied my expectations. This is a cozy fantasy meets adventure meets found family. I laughed. I was worried. I was surprised. I was constantly entertained. Tao has the sight, both small and greater. But she refuses to use the greater sight because you can't change it no matter what you do. So, she tells small fortunes. And she is constantly on the move because she is running from the Guild. She stops in town, does her thing, then when she is leaving she gets stopped by a fallen tree and is doing a truly horrible job of breaking it apart when two men appear on the other side. She, of course, is fearful but they help her. She tells Nash that he will give his daughter a kitten and she will name it after a pirate and he doesn't believe her because they are searching for his daughter who has been kidnapped. The three of them agree to travel together and he sees her fortunes start to come true which makes him hopeful. Then, they meet a baker (her goods are delicious but ugly) and she joins them. So the four of them are traveling when a Guild messenger finds them and invited Tao to join, but she declines. Then he finds her in another town and they have to run away. Then they have to do a quest to find a treasure, but it turns out it's a phoenix egg so they leave the treasure. Then she decides to join the Guild to use their resources to help Nash find his daughter because they haven't been having any luck. Turns out the Guild wants her because they think a war is coming; it's not. She reunites with her mom and step-father. She and her mom clear the air about what caused her to leave in the first place. Her friends break into the Guild to save her. She had already struck a deal that she wouldn't stay, but they could call on her again and she could go in peace. So she keeps traveling. They get to another town and find his daughter; she wasn't kidnapped but had instead been playing and fell asleep on a boat and by the time she woke up they were long gone and she didn't know the name of her town so a lady took her in and has been keeping her safe. He takes her home and all of them go to his house. His daughter wants to be a traveler and his wife agrees, so now they are a band of 6 and they travel from town to town and Tao tells small fortunes. This was so good! I will definitely be reading more from this author!  

Historical Romance #3

 The Lord I Left by Scarlett Peckham 

I enjoyed this more than the previous 2 books in this series. There were times when I was full on cackling at the shenanigans. I did not like Henry in the previous book, so I was not convinced he was going to be a compelling MMC, but I was VERY wrong. He was complex. And Anne was a delight. I love it when the roles are reversed and he is the innocent and she is the experienced one and this was so well done. The only issue I had was with the ending because he's not titled or independently wealthy and we are led to believe that she will not be a governess at a whipping house now that they are wed, so what are they going to do for money? Yes, she is writing music for what's her name from book 2, but that can't be enough to live off of. So, the ending was too open ended for me. This series has gotten better as it has progressed.   

I'm No Longer Mad

 Capone III by Jahquel J. 

I owe Capone an apology. I'm sorry I ever doubted him. Because he absolutely stepped up in this book. I didn't think book 1 or 2 was that slow, but compared to THIS? Those book may has well have been a turtle moving in reverse! This was one. thing. after. another. It did not stop, but it didn't feel like action for the sake of action.  In no particular order because I can't decide what's most important! We finally got some resolution on the Timmy situation and while I don't like that Jayden is the one that killed him, I understand it. I appreciate that Capone has been making him learn how to handle weapons, but also that everyone is in agreement that this life isn't for him and that he's still going to college. And when they finally got there, he called Tasha and made her listen?! That was cold blooded. Ella is still the dumbest character in the book, but I don't hate her as much as I did. Yes, a lot of their problems were her fault; she is the reason that C.J. almost got killed, all because she refused to listen and decided to take him out of Capone's house. And then this dummy had been sharing her location with Dante, who Trilla killed (his own nephew!) - all because he couldn't manage to kill a child - and then Trilla used said location sharing to break into Capone's house and attack Erin, Jayden, Jo, Ella, and C.J.; because this child isn't traumatized enough. We met two new characters: the Carters, a drag racing couple who make friends with Capri and end up helping Capone out when everyone is being chased and shot at and they need new cars. Ella and Erin make peace. Capri decides to divorce Nahiem and then he ends up in the hospital and it's real bad for him for a while, but he survives. He and Kincade aren't friends anymore but they are still able to work together. Capri and Kincade are taking things slow. Speaking of Kincade; he's crazy. Like crazy. Capone killed everyone in Trilla's family, including his mom, who was a federal judge, and then he and Kincade showed up at Trilla's house and Capone gave him two choices: 1. you use your own gun to kill yourself or 2. Kincade will slowly strangle you, but not kill you, and keep bringing you back so he can slowly remove your fingers and whatever else he wants, before killing your. Trilla picked the gun. Erin had the baby; a beautiful little girl with down syndrome they named Capri Jo and are calling CeCe. The book ends with Cappadonna getting out of prison and Capone telling him that he's tired of being in charge and he wants to spend time with his family and he's going to turn the empire over to him. Everything about this was so good. The audiobook narrators did a fabulous job. The writing had me on the edge of my seat. Cappadonna's books aren't available on hoopla or libby (yet) and it has me stressing out because I need MORE!  

At Least it was Free

 Thirsty by Lucy Lehane 

I won this book from a goodreads giveaway. This book contains one of my least favorite plot devices, secret keeping. When I entered the giveaway, the blurb did not make that clear, otherwise I would not have entered because I can't stand that trope. But, since I won the book I felt compelled to finish it. The writing was fine. I didn't form an attachment to either of the main characters, but two of the side characters were fun. Charles writes an advice column, anonymously. He's the Wise Old Crone. Except, when he started his column supernatural beings didn't exist, publicly. Now, they have come out of the shadows and that's all that people are writing to him about. And they think that he has the inside track because his moniker is a crone, which implies a supernatural being. So, when he moves back to his hometown and runs into his old friends ex-boyfriend, and he discovers that said ex is in fact a vampire he asks him for help. Well, the ex is holding a grudge against him because Charles is the reason that she broke up with him. Lorenzo (the ex) decides to help Charles with his thesis, because he told him he was a grad student and that nobody would ever read it, but in reality he is going to try to find ways to get even with him. Only, his roommates end up liking Charles and they invite him over places and then the two of them spend time together and it turns out they are attracted to each other. Then, neither can figure out what's real and what's not. Then, Charles convinces Lorenzo to host a gathering of all of the "outcasts" and see how many other supernaturals are also feeling lonely, and Charles' dad shows up and exposes him as the Crone effectively breaking them up. Well, Charles has been getting offers from big publisher for it and as a grand gesture he not only doesn't take the offer, he gets complete ownership and gives it to Lorenzo so he knows it was real. They get back together and with his roommates and Charles' agent turn it into something new and unique for the supernatural community. It was fine; parts were funny and even charming but it all felt tainted because of how much I hate the secret keeping aspect. If you don't mind this trope, then the book would probably be really good; but it colored every good thing this had going for it.