The Hopes and Dreams of Libby Quinn should be the ideal novel for these uncertain times; I have it from loads of reviews that this is a feel-good novel with many lovely characters.

I just couldn't get into it. I like some more action in stories and a lot less thinking and feeling (I had a particularly hard time sloughing through a chapter told in past perfect.)

So, while it may be a book for the times, it isn't a book for me. I may return to it later, but I don't have high hopes for it.

I received an ARC from NetGalley.

Dull, dull, dull.

Halfway in, I'm giving up. It probably says more about me than about the book that I'm more excited about reading a book on labor law than a romance, but still: labor law v romance. That should never be a question when deciding how to spend your free time.

After being held hostage for seven months Colt returns in the life of Zee with no memories of the fact they broke up four years earlier. He has two basic thoughts: I have war trauma and I want to have sex with that woman. Zee, from her point of view, also has two basic thoughts: I dated a man that sabotaged my company; it's my fault he did that; I must make ammends. And, Colt is still hot. (After seven months of captivity Colt probably looks like a prisoner of war after seven months.)

These thoughts are repeated over and over again. I some times have repetative thoughts. People don't like to talk to me when I do. They like to have progress in a conversation/thought process. Like I like to have progress in a romance. After all, it's the journey that counts.

Perhaps at about 40% of the story, Zee should have told Colt why they broke up, then he could have spent the rest of the book trying to make up for it. Perhaps that would have kept my interest. Or not. Labor law is actually pretty exciting.

I read a copy through NetGalley.

This was a painful read for me.

It started in this first chapter, where the author kept repeating that it was the off-season and business would be slow. Thank you, I got that the first two times. No need to repeat it every other paragraph.

In the second chapter an old lady walks into a bar, sits down at a stool and keels over dead. That's when the joke really started.

Annie overhears two cops talking the next morning. An autopsy has already been done and the results are in. The death of the old woman is upgraded to murder. Suddenly Annie starts to see everyone around her in a new light. For instance, her co-worker Trish, who admits to having an affair with the victim's son. "[W]hat did she really know about the girl other than what she saw at work?"

Next thing you know, the police are at her hair salon to do a search for the chemicals that were used to color the old lady's hair. 'cause basically, the police know the woman was poisoned, but they don't know with what. That's what you get when autopsy results are in within 12 hours. They're inconclusive.

Shortly after that, though, I stop reading. It was just too painful.

I got as far as the second chapter. Woman dies at food fair. As soon as the report on the TV ends the door bell rings and main character is informed that she is a suspect in the murder of that woman. What? The woman had the intention to eat at every stall of the fair, that would make all stall holders suspects. How about treating them all as witnesses first and only make suspects out of the ones that are actually suspect.

I sat through part of the police interrogation, but got this nagging feeling I wanted to gouge my eyes out, so stopped reading.

One hundred pages in I could not see what attracted the main characters in each other. I founf them too dull to continue and find out about their hidden qualities.

A slow read.

Veronica is a writer for hire and she is hired to write a celebration of life book for a young woman that fell off her balcony. Veronica goes in search of stories and learns that in the last months before her death the woman was behaving strangely. She finds strange things were happening to the woman, and soon, strange things start happening to Veronica too.

Not much sleuthing going on in this story. At most as a quest to find stories about Rachel. There are a few side plots with a man that needs help writing notes to a woman he likes and a writing group. They are entertaining and make up for the subtle presence of the mystery.

Too bad the ending is rushed.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

Enjoyable.

In an attempt to attract more business Nora Charles has put up a TV in her lunchroom. More people come in, to watch TV (as if they don't have a set in their own home), but most are too preoccupied with the moving pictures to order at the counter.

Perhaps for the better, as Nora herself is a little too preoccupied with trying to solve a murder to run her business. It's good thing her friend Chantal is there to man the counter or Nora would probably not have a business anymore. (Why Chantal is manning the counter at Nora's lunchroom rather than at her own shop is not mentioned in this story. Perhaps in one of the previous books.)

Famous author is found dead in her rental home. She's an unlikable person that has shafted many people in the past, yet she knew delicate secrets of many of these people. Secrets that could cost these people their livelihoods if they were ever revealed. And reveal is what the author is about to do. She's written a tell-all book.

Naturally, there is no shortage of suspects. And Nora and cat Nick are set on finding out who did it. Or rather, prove it wasn't the former writing partner that was best friends with Nora's mother.

I have a few minor gripes with this book, such a cat in the kitchen or on the counter of a place that sells food; a cat that always seems to have a few scrabble tiles about to see something that can't be transferred in a meow; and Nora deciding she must confront the killer because there is not enough evidence to present the case to a jury. As there is no court date set yet, I think there is plenty of time for the police and DA to build a case based on the evidence there is.

I liked the interaction with Ollie, tough.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.

After the death of her husband Felicity Koerber decided to open the bean to bar chocolate shop that she had her late husband dreamed about. In addition to single origin chocolate bars and sweets that can be made from them, Felicity also wants to sell (rare) books she picked up on her travels or at estate sales. Such as a possible first edition of Sense and Sensibility.

Other than finding the Jane Austen at a bargain, Felicity does not have much luck. She catches one of her employees stealing from her and after the girl promises she will pay everything back, she suddenly dies. During the festive grand opening of Felicity’s shop. Soon enough, Felicity finds herself a suspect in the eyes of former boyfriend and current investigating detective Arlo Romero.

Afraid he’s only going to believe she didn’t do it if she produces the real killer, Felicity sets out to investigate the death of her employee, helped by Logan Hanlon - a former cop - she hired for private security because the real killer seems to be after her.

I loved the cover of this book, the gray and the pink. I’m not so enamoured with the story.

Arlo the detective is an idiot. Not only does he tell Felicity that by sharing incriminating stories about others she is making herself look more guilty, because that’s what the bad guys on Columbo do (a cop that takes his que from TV-detective, no, just no), he also chides her for not sharing certain information about a roommate of one of her employees (What? He should have known this already. It’s called a background check and TV-detectives use them too), plus he was unable to find any information on Logan Hanlon more than a few years back. Logan explains this away by saying he used to go by his middle name, but the police should have been able to find that out.

Felicity isn’t too bright either. She jumps to conclusions a lot. Points fingers before finding out there is a much simpler explanation for the supposed evidence. And she spends about as much time questioning her attraction to both Logan and Arlo (oh, but I can’t, my late husband was the love of my life; he’s not my type; he’s in a relationship) as she thinks about investigating a murder that threatens her business.

The plot is alright, though, and if the cop had been less of an idiot and the former cop more skeptical of the conclusions Felicity jumped too, I would have enjoyed this story more. Now my enjoyment came in part from writing alternative dialogue in the margins.

I read an ARC through NetGalley.