Pru, a San Francisco tourist boat captain, is trying to atone for her parents' drunk driving accident that took their lives and hurt multiple others. She secretly knows that hot pub-owner Finn's dad was killed by her parents which is putting a big stumbling block in the way of their budding romance.

Really sweet, and I'm looking forward to getting to know many more characters as the series progresses.

Doomed we are not. Star Wars Aftermath by Chuck Wendig is a worthy start to the new Star Wars canon.

Full review to come.

Very slow moving due to high amount of world building and description. Not my favorite, but I've heard good things about the second book in the trilogy, so I'll keep reading.

Continuing the Guardian Trilogy, this story focuses on Annika the mermaid and Sawyer the time-hopper as they continue their battle with the evil mother of darkness Nerezza.

Bay of sighs indeed. While a bit edgy for Nora Roberts (see mermaid sex and a torture scene), I still just can't connect as much with her more fantastical tales. The characters spend 90% of the time talking through their plans, and only 10% on action and the romances seems so fated that there is never really any tension. I miss her contemporaries.

Review to come after publication date.

Continuing her dark Victorian Rebels series with a lady rescued from wrongful imprisonment in a horrid sanitarium and a sexy laird struggling to defeat the demons of his past, this is the strongest book yet.

Byrne exposes the dangerous position of women in the Victorian Age with Mena, who is forcibly and wrongfully placed in a sanitarium once her husband realizes he will not be able to get an heir out of her. Rescued by characters from the previous books in the series, she is placed as a governess in the highland estate of Liam MacKenzie. Liam has no idea Mena is a "lady," but falls for her as he struggles to overcome his own demons. Can these two damaged souls learn to trust each other?

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC!

A super sweet and adorkable look at a graphic novelist's road to her wedding, plus an inspection of the rite itself. Lovingly illustrated and thoughtfully researched, this is another wonderful addition to the works of [a:Lucy Knisley|731384|Lucy Knisley|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361051635p2/731384.jpg].

See panel on DRESSES WITH POCKETS!

Detailing the [b:The Sun Also Rises|3876|The Sun Also Rises|Ernest Hemingway|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331828228s/3876.jpg|589497]'s road to publication, this is a fascinating look at the early Hemingway and his years in Paris in the 1920s. Hemingway is an asshole, but a genius, and this is an unflinching portrayal of how he worked his way into the ex-patriot American literary scene in Paris to his ultimate betrayal of many of his biggest supporters and friends.

The Sun Also Rises is perhaps my favorite book (if I have to pick just one), and this was a wonderful look into its inception.

However, I must urgently complain about the citation style. Blume makes many assertions and claims based on her primary source information, but this is not indicated in any way in the body of the text. Instead, one must guess she is pulling from a source, flip to the back, and find the relevant citation (if any) based on the beginning of a sentence. This is sloppy, and I hate it. If you have over fifty pages of end notes, just use super-scripted numbers PLEASE. For my sanity.

Two kids grew up in a horrible foster home. After a terrible incident, Mallory escaped into a loving family while Rider stayed in the system.

After four years of therapy to help combat her PTSD induced problems with speaking out loud, Mallory decides to finish her senior year at an actual high school, where she and Rider reunite. Sparks fly, but can they overcome the ghosts of their past?

I had a bit of an issue with the insta-chemistry/throbbing hormones between Mallory and Rider, as they were basically brother and sister for many years in their foster home, but after I got over it I enjoyed this tale.

It was nice to see a Scottish romance set in a different time period than I'm normally used to - the 1860s to be precise - as most are generally set much earlier. Our heroine Rose is feeling the harsh effects of the Civil War to beg her brother-in-law's family to purchase the cotton she has stored and is unable to sell via normal ways due to the conflict, but a bit of a misunderstanding leads the Scottish MacIain's to believe she is the widow of their relative.

Deciding to risk it for the fiery red haired lass, Duncan MacIain takes on task of running the blockade and smuggling the cotton from the South back to Scotland for his mill. Rose and Duncan fall in love along the way, and various horrors of Rose's past rise up to threaten their union and their cargo.

Fun, but a bit heavy on the lies and deceptions for my personal taste.