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...

sarah turner needs someone to teach her the ropes to owning her own ranch in cowboy for hire . as the only person left in her family, she wants to save her family legacy somehow. and the best solution she comes up with is finding a capable foreman willing to teach her how to run things. cade walker can't resist the ad looking for a foreman on the turner ranch, the real ad, not the accidental mix-up with the one seeking a cowboy to escort a lady around town. but he is surprised by the sparks that flare up between him and his new boss. he recognizes they are dangerous, even more so when he realizes how sheltered sarah has been since her brother's death. but they can't keep away from each other, and once both of them get over their hang-ups, of which they have a fair amount, we have a feel-good story that's just perfect to read in these strange times we're living. **cowboy for hire will publish on march 31, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of ne...

the dreamers series comes to a close with american sweethearts , and it's long-time, on-and-off again lovers, priscilla and juan pablo getting all the attention now. so you all know how i feel about second-chance romances, but it's not that i hate them all. it's just that there are so many done wrong. adriana herrera gets it right. yeah, some of their past is there, but it never overwhelms what happens in the here and now, and it's not that the characters make the same mistakes with a miraculously different outcome. it's that they put the work in to make it work. the last time they broke up, juanpa realized he needed to make some changes. his very real concerns and not unreasonable anxieties were expressing themselves as anger and judgment and kept pushing away the one person in his life that he wants to keep close. but for her part priscilla is holding on to her pride a bit too hard, life changes and sometimes the things we thought we wanted most aren't a...

full disclosure: i'm mariah's literary agent. i'm sure biases abound. crazy little thing called love  is the manuscript i signed mariah on as a client for. there was just something about the way del and cassie bantered back and forth. it was funny, sweet, and full of heart. having read more than one manuscript from mariah, i can tell you that all of them have this. it's kind of her brand. and i love it. you can't read one of her stories and not end up smiling. there's happy-ever-afters and moments of utter silliness and some heartfelt emotion. this manuscript introduces us to the jackson family, and their distillery. and while this was originally meant to be a series, as of now, this is the only book we're getting. but if you enjoy a best friend's younger sibling, opposites-attract, fake engagement story, then you are in for a treat. **crazy little thing called love will publish on march 24, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of t...