Fall From Pride by Karen Harper

Sarah Kauffman sought permission from her church elders to paint murals on a few of the Amish community's barns. Each was designed like an old-fashioned quilt square, representing a piece of the Amish traditions Sarah loved. The works of art were intended to draw more tourists to Home Valley in the struggling economy. But instead, they invited a menace. One by one, each barn is set ablaze and destroyed...

The arson fires spread fear through the community - amongst Amish and Englischers alike. Arson investigator Nate MacKenzie, an outsider, struggles to investigate the crime scenes while adhering to Amish ways. As the fires rage, beliefs are challenged, a way of life is questioned and family secrets are exposed. Now Sarah wonders if she's being punished for her pridefulness... or whether there's a more malevolent will at work.

Enjoyable romantic suspense. I did like the Amish setting of the story. 

Leverage In Death by J D Robb

What would you do to protect your family?

When Paul Rogan sets off a bomb at his office, killing eleven people, no one can understand why. He was a loving husband and father, with everything to live for. Then his wife and daughter are found chained up in the family home, and everything becomes clear. Rogan had been given a horrifying choice - set off the bomb, or see his loved ones suffer and die.

Lieutenant Eve Dallas knows the violence won't end here. The men behind the attack are determined, organised and utterly ruthless. In this shocking and challenging case, both Eve and husband Roarke are heading into serious danger.

Another good mystery with twists.  Eve and Roarke are so good together.  I enjoy their relationship more than the thriller parts of the books, though both parts are great.

More teasers about the farm Roarke bought for the bet between him and Eve.

Another 10/10.

Kick Ass

The Bride Wore a .44by Maggie Shayne
After waking up from a coma, Kira struggles with her memory that seems tangled perhaps because she has forgotten that she is undercover. Her upcoming marriage was part of her cover, but she thinks it is real so she prepares accordingly. However, she does not understand why wedding planner Marshall fills her mind with desire not the what's his name groom.

The Incredible Misadventures of Boo and the Boy Blunderby MaryJanice Davidson.
Former police officer Gregory wonders how life can be so unfair. Recently he was turned into a vampire and to make matters worse he has met his soulmate that is if he has a soul. The problem is his beloved wants to kill him as Boo is a bona fide vampire hunter.

Warfemby Angela Knight.
Her enemy captured Warfem Alina, who would prefer to die, but fears that her foes will use her as a hostage to betray her people and her beloved Baird.

Painkillersby Jacey Ford.
CIA operative Lauren works as a supermodel to hide her true vocation. Her current perilous assignment is made more dangerous in that she must team up with Agent Jake who owns her heart.  

4 stories, all ok. 3 were from authors I have read and enjoyed in the past. None of them really thrilled or interested me.

A Kiss To Remember by Teresa Medeiros

Laura Fairleigh needs a husband. If she is to keep a roof over her siblings' heads, the prim rector's daughter must wed by her twenty-first birthday. When she finds a mysterious stranger with the face of an angel and the body of Adonis unconscious in the forest and with no memory of his name or his past, she decides to claim him for her own. Little does she know that her fallen angel is really the devil in disguise.

Sterling Harlow, the notorious rakehell known as the "Devil of Devonbrooke", awakens to the enchanting kiss of a lovely young woman who informs him he is her long-lost betrothed. With her sun-kissed cheeks and smattering of freckles, she looks every inch the innocent, but her curves possess a woman's allure. When she assures him he is the perfect gentleman, he wonders if he's lost his wits as well as his memory. He would have sworn he was not a man to be satisfied with mere kisses - especially from lips as sweet and luscious as Laura's.

As he attempts to uncover the truth before their wedding night, a kiss to remember ignites a passion neither of them will ever be able to forget... 

Quick, light, fluffy and totally unbelievable. I can't believe this sort of book used to be the main books I read.

The Bone Thief by Jefferson Bass

"Dr. Bill Brockton has been called in on a seemingly routine case, to exhume a body and obtain a bone sample for a DNA paternity test. But when the coffin is opened, Brockton and his colleagues, including his graduate assistant Miranda Lovelady, are stunned to see that the corpse has been horribly violated.

Brockton’s initial shock gives way to astonishment as he uncovers a flourishing and lucrative black market in body parts. At the center of this ghoulish empire is a daring and prosperous grave robber. Soon Brockton finds himself drawn into the dangerous enterprise when the FBI recruits him to bring down the postmortem chop shop—using corpses from the Body Farm as bait in an undercover sting operation.

As Brockton struggles to play the unscrupulous role the FBI asks of him, his friend and colleague medical examiner Eddie Garcia faces a devastating injury that could end his career. Exposed to a near-lethal dose of radioactivity, Dr. Garcia has lost most of his right hand and his entire left hand. Out of options, he embarks on a desperate quest: both of his ravaged hands will be severed at the wrist and replaced with those from a cadaver. But unless suitable ones are found soon, the opportunity will be lost.

Well written, interesting twisty mystery with a surprise twist at the end. 

My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson

Best friends Kamryn Matika and Adele Brannon though nothing could come between them - until Adele di the unthinkable and slept with Kamryn's fiancé Nate. Worse still, she got pregnant and had his child. When Kamryn discovered the truth about their betrayal she vowed never to see any of them again.
Years later, Kamryn receives a letter from Adele asking her to visit her in hospital. Adele is dying and begs Kamryn to adopt her daughter Tegan. With a great job and hectic social life, the last thing Kamryn needs is a five-year-old daughter to disrupt things. Especially not one who reminds her of Nate. But with n on else to take care of Tegan and Adele fading fast, does she have any other choice? So begins a difficult journey that leads Kamryn towards forgiveness, love, responsibility and, ultimately, a better understanding of herself.

I thought this would be lighter, and shallower, than it was. The ending was kinda abrupt, but overall it was an enjoyable read.  

Personal by Lee Child

The 19th Jack Reacher adventure finds our hero pulled into an international law enforcement investigation trying to stop a sniper from attacking the upcoming G8 summit. For a warm up the prime suspect has taken a shot at the French president and he happens to be an ex-Army marksman that Reacher put in prison 15 years ago and is currently in the wind. Who better to track down an elusive assassin than the man who previously caught him? This time out JR is teamed with a young CIA analyst named Casey Nice and they’re off to London via Paris with a ticking clock to beat and two criminal gangs running interference.

This time around it’s all business and despite having an attractive partner Reacher’s got no time for romance. An old general who cajoles Reacher into assisting in the hunt calls him ‘Sherlock Holmeless’ in an on-target jab at JR’s wandering lifestyle. Anyway, Reacher drinks a lot of coffee as usual and with an assist from British intelligence manages to neutralize a Serbian gang and take down the leadership of a domestic gang of ruthless thugs and eliminate the ex-Army assassin while leaving a trail of bodies all over London.

Another enjoyable Jack Reacher story. I enjoyed the twist at the end. 

The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr by Frances Maynard

Elvira Carr is twenty-seven and neuro-atypical. Her father – who she suspects was in the secret service – has passed away and, after several Unfortunate Incidents growing up, she now spends most of her time at home with her overbearing mother. But when her mother has a stroke and is taken into care, Elvira is suddenly forced to look after herself or risk ending up in Sheltered Accommodation. Armed with her Seven Rules, which she puts together after online research, Elvira hopes to learn how to navigate a world that’s full of people she doesn’t understand. Not even the Seven Rules can help her, however, when she discovers that everything she thought she knew about her father was a lie, and is faced with solving a mystery she didn’t even know existed . 

A delightful, heartwarming story that kept me enthralled. 

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes by Susan Bishop Crispell

26-year-old Rachel Monroe has spent her whole life trying to keep a very unusual secret: she can make wishes come true. And sometimes the consequences are disastrous. So when Rachel accidentally grants an outlandish wish for the first time in years, she decides it’s time to leave her hometown—and her past—behind for good.

Rachel isn’t on the road long before she runs out of gas in a town that’s not on her map: Nowhere, North Carolina—also known as the town of “Lost and Found.” In Nowhere, Rachel is taken in by a spit-fire old woman, Catch, who possesses a strange gift of her own: she can bind secrets by baking them into pies. Rachel also meets Catch’s neighbor, Ashe, a Southern gentleman with a complicated past, who makes her want to believe in happily-ever-after for the first time in her life.

As she settles into the small town, Rachel hopes her own secrets will stay hidden, but wishes start piling up everywhere Rachel goes. When the consequences threaten to ruin everything she’s begun to build in Nowhere, Rachel must come to terms with who she is and what she can do, or risk losing the people she’s starting to love—and her chance at happiness—all over again. 

Well written, with sweet magical moments and lots of southern charm. A very sweet story.  Not a good book to read while trying to diet, the descriptions of some of the pies was too tempting.

First Family by David Baldacci

Camp David, USA.
A birthday party turns into a nightmare when a child is snatched after the celebrations. The First Lady enlists the services of Sean King and Michelle Maxwell to bring the child home safely. But she and King share a past. Years ago he saved her then senator husband from political disaster. And this may not be all that passed between them. With Michelle still battling her own demons, the two are pushed to the limit, with forces aligned on all sides against them - and the line between friend and foe impossible to define... or defend.

Complex and interwoven plot lines give us a story full of action and drama.

King and Maxwell save the day again. 

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else). My only concerns in life were how to avoid a transfer to the Case Progression Unit - we do paperwork so real coppers don't have to - and finding a way to climb into the panties of the outrageously perky WPC Leslie May. Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluable, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Now I'm a Detective Constable and a trainee wizard, the first apprentice in fifty years, and my world has become somewhat more complicated: nests of vampires in Purley, negotiating a truce between the warring god and goddess of the Thames, and digging up graves in Covent Garden ... and there's something festering at the heart of the city I love, a malicious vengeful spirit that takes ordinary Londoners and twists them into grotesque mannequins to act out its drama of violence and despair.

The spirit of riot and rebellion has awakened in the city, and it's falling to me to bring order out of chaos - or die trying. 

This book is surprising, charming, well written, well plotted and full of likeable, interesting characters. It had me laughing out loud at times.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic... 

Stella and Michael are both interesting, believable characters. Their chemistry works.

A beautiful, wonderful story that had me laughing and crying.