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Rocky Relationships

Have read & will read books 
[5 books, from left to right: front hardcover up of Murder in Berkeley Square; paperback spines up of Love Delayed, The Wingman, Love You a Latke, I'll Be Gone for Christmas] 

Murder in Berkeley Square (Lady Worthing #3) by Vanessa Riley 
historical mystery 
Kensington Books, September 2024 

An array of privileged people snowed in together with a killer tests Lady Worthing's and her fellow sleuth's powers of deduction in this lively installment that offers twists, turns, and reversals of fortune. Shocking departures and arrivals also included. As always, the author's (research) notes provide insightful context. 

[bookstack of 3 paperbacks: Under Loch and Key, Mr. Nice Spy, Twisted Knight] 

Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson 
contemporary romance with supernatural elements  
Berkley, December 2024 

In addition to an irresistible combatants-to-lovers romance, Keyanna and Lachlan's love story offers readers an inventive twist on popular fantastical lore and nuanced layers about difficult choices, painful consequences, grief, and figuring out how to move forward in healthy ways. It's also very funny, tender, and sexy. 


Mr. Nice Spy (My Spy #2) by Tiana Smith 
contemporary romantic suspense 
Berkley, November 2024 

The results of a DNA swab put Andee Paxton, pyrotechnic engineer, in explosive danger from multiple sources. It's even odds whether her incendiary chemistry with Officer Adam Chan will save her life, or end it. Organic setup of multiple layers of risk, reward, vulnerabilities, and unconventional advantages make their love story an entertaining mashup of romance and thriller suspense tropes. Contains one of the very best universal integrations of disability as a regular fact of everyday life throughout their adventures. 


Twisted Knight (Tangled Hearts #1) by K. Bromberg 
contemporary romance 
Bramble, September 2024 

Who's the player and who's being played? 
Rowan and Holden battle it out to see who has the hardest heart in this first installment about avenging family honor and continuing family legacies that ends on a shocking cliffhanger that'll torment readers with speculations until book two later this year. 


If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens 
contemporary speculative romance 
St. Martin's Griffin, October 2024 

Moonlighting meets Hart to Hart meets Scooby Doo and Ghost in this adversaries-to-lovers meta atmospheric, contemplative romance mystery that examines ethnic gatekeeping in mainstream publishing, and society in general. 

from chapter 15: 
... There will always be someone who says otherwise, but they're buying into a system created by colonizers. 

from chapter 16: 
Because the publishing industry wants you to fight. They want there to be one of you, and you two were scrabbling for that spot... 

from chapter 32: 
... By limiting the number of Native books being published, we've been pitted against each other since the beginning. 

Pen and Neil's ongoing debate about what, if anything, successful authors from underrepresented marginalized and stereotyped groups owe to their communities resonates as particularly relevant. 

Happy Reading the Human Diaspora!  



 
 


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