Forced to return home after an injury to his knee during the Napoleonic Wars, Bram finds himself tasked with training a militia to protect the small town of Spindle Cove, a sanctuary to gently-bred ladies who don't quite fit society's norms. His task threatens the idyllic and mostly man-free atmosphere Susannah has carefully cultivated for her ladies and she is adamant Bram and his militia not interfere with her mission. Both are intent on getting their way but may realize working together is much more delightful, in more ways than one.

Super sweet and sassy, I really enjoy this series and it was fun to finally read the first. I've totally read these out of order, but really it doesn't matter. I especially loved the lamb named Dinner.

It was so lovely to return to Spindle Cove, and I had so much fun rereading this with the #butdotheybang crew. On the re-read, some of Bram's charms were lost on me, as I didn't appreciate how he sort of pushed Susannah without also giving her time to think and very enthusiastically consent. What Dare does with aplomb though, is make your heart sing with feelings for these two, and we as a group appreciated her depictions of Bram's leg injury, and Susannah's past trauma with "doctors."

We've all wondered what path Ahsoka Tano took after leaving the Jedi Order at the end of the animated Clone Wars series, and now we know! Johnston does a great job showing the conflicts of Ahsoka's decision. Ahsoka wants to help but needs to stay hidden, as she only barely escaped the devastation of Order 66. I especially enjoyed seeing how Ahsoka found her own path to the Rebellion, a hybrid of what she learned as a Padawan and the reality of her survival in the Empire's new world order. Also, BAIL ORGANA! YES. I need so much more Bail Organa.

A great addition to the new canon and a great bridge between the Clone Wars series and Star Wars: Rebels!

Rachel and Fiona are as different as can be but become fast friends at summer camp, a friendship that is tested as each summer passes.

Rachel is confident and beautiful on the outside but living with the fact she is a naughty secret. She is the product of an affair and while her father visits her, he has another family. Fiona is awkward and responsible, balancing out Rachel's brashness. At first, their contrasts make for a great fit, but as they age and become women, they begin to tear everything apart as a series of tragic events rock the camp.

Nostalgic, but also full of the sense that summer camp is a pulsing hormone center of drugs, sex, and lies, this is a great summer read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Violet had her heart broken by "The Disappointment" one year ago and is spending her last days in Spindle Cove before being forced back onto the marriage market. She still regrettably pines for Christian, aka "The Disappointment," who she has loved since childhood and who she spent one night with before he disappeared with nary a promise or a by your leave. Violet is stunned when she finds out the bloody, washed up, nearly dead man who appears at the Spindle Cove Christmas ball is Christian, posing as a French farmer. She finds out Christian didn't intend to leave her at all and has also been secretly pining for her all this time but has been secretly spying in France for the Crown. He's now back to convince her to wait for him, but she isn't so sure.

A fun novella, but not quite as fleshed out as I would have liked. Christian wasn't my favorite hero. I think what he did was shitty and felt Violet forgave him a bit too quick.

Lucy and Gabe meet in Shakespeare class in college and share one kiss as they *gasp* watch the Twin Towers burn on 9/11. Sure...

Gabe gets back together with his ex that same day (what a guy), but they eventually reconnect and have a whirlwind 5-month romance before Gabe leaves to live his best life as a war photographer. They both promised to honor each other's dreams, but Lucy is still devastated as Gabe leaving her behind to allow her to continue pursuing her easily attained dream job as a children's TV producer was not really what she had in mind.

From this terribly schlocky premise, we follow Lucy as she tries to get over Gabe but always carries a torch for him as he will unexpectedly drop her a line and reel her back into his curly haired, tortured artist, formerly abused child drama. Lucy finds find a new guy, but he is just too nice and NOT Gabe. Instead of being honest, she gets sucked into the new guy's life plan. She's "happy" but it again isn't exactly what she really wants. Honestly, people, use honesty.

Of course, the book promised a shocking ending. Spoiler alert, not shocking, someone dies. It is meant to break your heart but really I just felt relief the whole thing was over.

Overall, Gabe is a complete turd, Lucy is a wet blanket who should tell people what she really wants from life, and her new husband is a "Nice Guy" who smothers her with surprises and gets mad when she doesn't react the way he expects. He also calls her a "paper doll," and that is so sick. Basically, she met all of his checkpoints on his list, she looked good on paper, so he went for her. Gross.

I gave this book two stars because I did finish it, and the prose was lovely.

Quinn recently lost her sister Beth to a terrible car accident and is trying to keep her life together when she is rocked by more shocking information that changes everything she thought she knew about her childhood and her family. Learning she has an inheritance waiting for her in a small, dying town called Wildstone, Quinn will be forced to confront both her past and present.

A little less focused on romance than her other novels, this was still a charming and ultimately heart-warming story of family and love. I especially adored the geriatric labrador.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

In which we catch up with the Blackthorn gang, various love triangles ensue, there is a lot of smoldering, and a various kind of boring quests to find the recently resurrected Annabel black thorn. Also, rising Shadowhunter-supremacism and xenophobia that smacked a bit too close to home for me.

Overall, this middle book was meh for me. I finished it, but not at the rapid, devouring pace I normally do with a Clare book. I thought the Emma/Mark relationship would play a bit differently and honestly was a bit disappointed in how quickly she returned to wanting to bonk Julian. Give the hot fairy a chance!

Also, I just don't give a fart about Annabel or Malcolm and their tortured love story. I think we are going to veer more towards the Shadowhunters becoming totalitarian/racist/xenophobe rulers who want to register all the down-worlders and I am also not super looking forward to reading about it, um, because reality. That said, I did finish the book, there were some sweet moments, and I will read the next one because I do want to see where everyone ends up.

Basically, this felt like an indulgent throw eveyrhting I want to in the pot because I'm Cassandra Clare and I can. For instance, can we stop having to include poor Magnus in everything? Give the poor warlock a rest! And I really don't need to have every character from every Clare book ever brought back in every book. Let Jace and Clary rest too!

Spoilers ahead:

I appreciated the handling of Diana's secret revelation and why she could not hold the Mortal Sword and become the head of an institute, and also her new relationship with Erlath. Super sweet, and more that please.
The whole time I was kind of hoping for a hot fairy/shadowhunter threesome between Mark, his boyfriend, and Christina because one, I don't really buy the whole just Mark/Christina thing, and two, why not?! I really think Mark holds her on a pedestal as a perfect princess, and I hope she shatters that. Go girl.
I liked Kit's character, but am not sure where Clare is heading with his relationship with Ty. Friends? Parabatai? Lovers? Who knows. I kind of felt the teens' storyline was a bit too bloated and is Clare trying to set up the next trilogy.

Holy darkness!

Alice Bodine left her family's Montana ranch to try and make it big in Hollywood. After a few years of failed dreams she decides to return, but never makes it. She is kidnapped off the side of the road miles from home with her family never the wiser. She is kept as a sex slave/breeder/prisoner in a shack to a perverted man she only knows as Sir. She is kept prisoner for almost 25 years, and has many children. One boy who survives and is taken from her at age one, and many daughters who are all taken away.

Years later, Bodine Longbow is running the show for her family's resort and is beginning to explore a new relationship with Cal Skinner, one of her brother's friends who is also newly returned home from Hollywood when they find out Alice has been found, badly traumatized and needing her family.

While Alice escaped, Sir is still at large. Hoping for the family's love to help her remember, Sir may be even closer than anyone thinks.

Nora Roberts' last standalone, The Obsession, also had the enslaved, hidden woman plot line and I'm really tired of it. So, while I enjoyed some of the parts of this book I didn't as much as I normally do.

A bonus star for a super cool premise, but really just another tale of a naive girl who thinks she doesn't have powers but finds out she does and a lot of alpha-jerk males who are the basis of her self-esteem (or lack thereof). I'd have been more interested in Roar if she actually had no powers, but of course, we find out she is SO SPECIAL AND UNIQUE.

I really like Cora Carmack's contemporary romances so was highly anticipating her first YA fantasy but meh. I think actual Young Adults will eat this up but as a more mature reader, I was left wanting a lot more from the world-building and a lot less of the alpha male bullshit.

If your significant other is in danger or has almost died you shouldn't be thinking about sexy times just because some of their skin may be exposed by shredded clothing. Seriously, this happened all the time in this book and it just felt wrong.

Also, the names in the book are very similar. Aurora/Rora/Roar. So many things named Locke. It was confusing and unneccesary. All of the secondary characters seemed more interesting to me than Roar, but we didn't get a lot of time with them. Maybe the next book will expand a bit?

I think there are some good bones here, but Aurora/Rora/Roar needs to get rid of the stupid dudes who want to own her. Bye, boys.

I picked this up on a recommendation from [a:Sarah MacLean|1598076|Sarah MacLean|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455074474p2/1598076.jpg]'s Read More Romance blog and because I heard it was written by a scientist. Unfortunately I did not really enjoy it as much as I was hoping.

Annie, a genius graduate student about to go to med school wants to hump her Teaching Assistant Charles, a sexy but doesn't know it Brit who is older and far more experienced than she is. She, in a refreshingly blunt way, propositions him. He turns her down and they go on to be friends until of course she finds out he does want to fuck her but is worried about the power imbalance. They wait until she graduates and the epic boning commences after a bit of dithering once he finds out about her v-card status.

At this point the story veers a bit too close to [b:Fifty Shades of Grey|10818853|Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)|E.L. James|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385207843s/10818853.jpg|15732562] (BUT with consent, thankfully) and we find out poor Charles cannot love, or commit, because of a dark past. There is no HEA, but there is a second novel.

So while I appreciated the discussions of consent the story was uneven and a bit too clinical for me. Plus I am tired of super smart ladies acting really immature and totally oblivious. Also, I didn't like how Charles called her "Young Annie" and other kiddish nicknames.