definitely, possibly, maybe

i always forget how much i love victorian era set stories. especially those that delve into the victorian fascination with spiritualism and the occult. there's just something so entrancing about this moment of time, and i enjoyed the ruin of evangeline jones quite a bit because of it. that said, i wish the pacing on this had been a little tighter. how these two reach their happily ever after isn't the most common way, and there's enough uncertainty where one could argue that it's more a happy for now. but even so, it's romantic and swoony and all the things you want in a historical. **the ruin of evangeline jones will publish on april 27, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing in exchange for my honest review. 

annabeth's latest series focuses on a group of smokejumpers and it's oh-so-hot. like so, so hot. burn zone finds lincoln reid battling the attraction he's always felt for his best friend's younger brother, jacob. oh, and by the way, the best friend is dead. and he died on the job. so jacob joining the smokejumping team makes no one happy except for poor jacob who has been working toward this for years. and also he's basically spent the same amount of time dying to jump lincoln's bones only to be denied at every turn. but then they just can't stop the fire that burns between them. and the risks of the job, the risk of loving each other, it's all worth it. and annabeth just delivers on another emotional and sexy story. **burn zone will publish on april 27, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/carina press in exchange for my honest review.

full disclosure: i am janet's agent. so biases, whatever, i'll own them. janet and i had some near misses on connecting on salt + stilettos . (by the way, one of these days i'll spell stilettos right on the first try, it's become a personal challenge, and embarrassingly hasn't happened yet.) some crossed wires where she thought i'd sent her a rejection, but was actually asking her to revise and resubmit it. i thought she didn't like my suggestions, she thought i didn't like the manuscript. oops. luckily, life intervened and we were able to sort those misunderstandings. and that's how you see this lovely book in living color. the leads in this story are what make it so compelling. brett and will are total opposites. she's all cool sophistication and will is bumbling shyness. but it's who they are at their core that makes them a perfect match. both will and brett are deeply broken people. and their connection heals them both in ways that

picking up where creole kingpin left off, madam temptress brings magnolia and moses’ story to its epic conclusion. as always there is romance and suspense and some killer revelations as these two crazy kids claw their way to an hea. they have to fight for their happiness, but the harder the fight, the greater the rewards. and the answers to all of magnolia’s questions are worth the wait. it’s always good to spend time in new orleans and this duet was just another knockout from meghan march.  **madam temptress will publish on april 14, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of meghan march. keep reading for more info about the book...

the thing about natalie is that she is, and everyone in the world around her is, terribly self-absorbed. and on the one hand, she is a teenager, and the main characters are all teenagers, but the adults are also just as guilty of self-absorption here. it sounded better in my head  spends a lot of time in natalie's head. and sometimes even if she thinks it sounded better, it really didn't. natalie is charming, and you root for her, even when you know she is being dense. she's a teenager. and acts like it. and since this is a story written for teenagers, it's all good. i promise. i just wanted to like natalie more than i did. this is undoubtedly her story, and so if you aren't fully engaged with her voice and all her foibles, it makes for some tough going. this didn't quite grab me, but it doesn't mean that it's not enjoyable. **it sounded better in my head will publish on april 7, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/flati

the war between the fairy courts comes to a head in the iron crown .  lugh, the youngest of queen mab's sons has spent his life avoiding the shadows of the dead and living among the wild hunt. his best friend, the love of his life, kieran, his ever-present companion. the hardest thing about this story is that if you've read books 1 and 2, you have information that the characters do not have, so part of the time i read, i was just desperate for them to catch up to where we left off in book 2. however, you kind of need to have read books 1 and 2 to really enjoy and understand what is happening. this is a complex and detailed world, and not having some of the context from the earlier stories, you will be a bit lost. lugh and kieran's love story is a satisfying slow burn, and the story is resolved in a very satisfying way. i couldn't put the book down as soon as i picked it up, it's just that engrossing. **the iron crown will publish on april 6, 2020. i received

when the practical jokes between sidney and asher go too far and they are forced to co-habitate with each other and their families to keep their summer tradition real, they band together to with a revenge plot. the math in meet me at midnight is a little wonky, because they've been summering together for 6 years, but repeatedly talk about the first summer they were 14, but the characters have just turned 18 and it just, well, okay it's not wonky it's wrong. but whatever. that's a minor nitpick. the key is that before the pranks began in earnest, the two characters really liked each other, and it was a misunderstanding that brought things to a breaking point. and things basically get to a breaking point again and it takes a long ass time for these two to make up, but eventually they manage it and it's all in good fun. it's a breezy, fun summer read. one of those perfect escape books where you end things on a smile. **meet me at midnight will publish on a