Misty Mornings at The Potting Shed
(The Potting Shed #3)
by Jenny Kane

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Tristan groaned. ‘I think that must be a record.’ ‘A record?’ ‘Offending you within ten minutes of being with you.’ ‘Don’t be silly, you’d offended me much quicker than that.’ Sara rolled her eyes.

… it occurred to me that if someone doesn’t put you straight on how to treat women, you’re either going to die alone after a string of disastrous relationships, or you’ll be locked up on a sexual harassment charge, sitting in a cell bewildered at your situation.

I’d rather we lived on toast and fish fingers for the rest of our lives than you be unhappy every day.’

I can’t even pronounce the coffee she has. And oat milk! I mean, whoever milked an oat? The world’s gone mad.

Billy is the perfect example of how to grow old disgracefully, but with style.

My Review:

This was a gentle and realistic installment that continued on from the previous installments with the storylines and a few additional characters and read much like a television serial. There were multiple story threads with real-world issues, thorough and colorful descriptions, and amusing observations tucked into each page. The characters were knowable, likable, and so well-detailed that I would recognize them if I passed them on the street.

Smart Move, an all-new grumpy sunshine sweet romance by Amanda Pennington, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!

Ivy Lunden is Team Keep Things Casual…

I am Toby Azumah’s opposite in every way. I’m a pessimist; he’s an optimist. I’m into art; he’s into sports. Still, I’m highly entertained by our flirtationship. 

When he finally talks me into a date, everything goes wrong. Chaos descends on my orderly life when my mother falls and needs nearly round-the-clock care. Add in my nosy neighbor, and my peace of mind has been turned inside out.

When Toby, Mr. Best-Case Scenario himself, offers to help, I’m skeptical. A relationship with him would only make things more chaotic, right? Or maybe Toby is the real deal, and giving him a chance is a smart move after all.

Toby Azumah is Team Happily Ever After…

I’ve wanted to take the mysterious, beautiful Ivy Lunden to dinner ever since we met, and I’m confident she just needs a little time to warm up to the idea of us. But nothing goes according to my daydreams. 

Despite a no-show date, some flirty texts, and the fierce ways she protects herself and her mom, I see through the chaos and smoke to the real Ivy. The Ivy she rarely shows to the world. 

How can I convince her I’m making the smart move and playing for keeps?

‘Smart Move’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #7 in the Work For It series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

My house was a simple, two-story brick home, and it was filled with everything that brought me peace: calming white walls, warm lighting, art supplies, and a box of wine.

When in doubt, always play dumb. Petty people will feel good thinking they know more than you, and helpful people will tend to over-explain so you’ll know even more at the end than you did at the beginning. Or maybe it’ll just buy you more time so you can brace yourself for what’s coming next. Playing dumb is a win-win.

Despite the cold, despite the fact he wore only a flimsy polo t-shirt for his work uniform, his skin was a furnace. I felt the heat instantly. It was one of the greatest injustices in life that men hogged all the genes for body heat, and women froze until they got menopausal hot flashes.

“Thanks for making me sound pathetic.” I silently promised my ego it would live to see another day.

I had too little emotional bandwidth for everything demanding my attention today.

My Review:

This was a fun read. The writing style was engaging and easy to follow and kept me pleasantly entertained. I enjoyed this couple, they were endearing, uniquely appealing, and interesting to me. Their flirty banter was clever and their inner musings and personal observations were amusing and witty. I had never heard of synesthesia and was impressed with the author’s grasp and perceptive insights into such a complicated condition.

About the Author

Amanda Pennington lives with her husband outside Louisville, Kentucky, in their fixer-upper house. When she’s not writing, Amanda loves traveling, running, and reading anything within reach. More information is available at www.amandacpennington.com.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

He had a dimple in his left cheek, and the lopsidedness of his mouth made it appear that he was holding half a smile in reserve rather than fully committing to the expression.

Teagan is not a horny mistake. I am not going to lay his pipe, even though I totally could, and that would probably fix all his substance abuse issues, add five years to his life, and show him the very face of God. No. I’m helping him. Therapeutically.

She should have said something, Darcy decided. Next time she’d make a scene. She didn’t really mind making a scene, and she sensed that the women at this event would consider it a tragedy if the entire evening passed and nobody made a scene. It might as well be Darcy.

So she twined her arms around his neck and turned her face up to his. “If this is talking, I can’t wait to see you argue,” she said.

You’re that first cup of coffee that gets me out of bed in the morning. You’re the song on my playlist for the drive home. You’re every good thing that I promise myself to get through the day.

My Review:

I enjoyed this tale, the characters were all of the total mess variety, yet authentically complicated while tickling my gray matter to know more about them. The storylines and writing style were lively and humorous with perceptive descriptions and situations that put vivid images behind my eyes and a frequent grin on my face.

Cairo. December 1917.

Following a tip-off from notorious spy Fredrick Fredricks, Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane of British Intelligence find themselves in the hustle and bustle of Egypt. But ancient mummies aren’t the only bodies buried in the tombs of Cairo.

When a young French archeologist is found dead in a tomb in the desert with his head bashed in, and an undercover British agent goes missing, the threat moves closer to home.

As they dig deeper, soon Fiona and Kitty uncover a treasure trove of suspects, including competing excavators, jealous husbands, secret lovers, and belligerent spies! Fiona wonders if the notorious Fredrick Fredricks could be behind the murders? Or is the plot even more sinister?

One thing is clear – If Fiona and Kitty can’t catch the killer, they might end up sharing a sarcophagus with Nefertiti.

With humor as dry as the Arabian desert, and pacing as fast as a spitting camel, Fiona and Kitty are back in another sparkling adventure, this time in WW1 Egypt.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Clifford fancied himself a cross between Sherlock Holmes and Sir Lancelot.

I’d learned from experience that mustache and trousers opened many doors closed to corsets and skirts— although sometimes skirts had advantages too. If novelist Robert Hichens was to be believed, the real secrets of Egypt lay behind the closed harem doors, accessible only to women and eunuchs.

Clifford could talk a donkey into giving up its tail.

My Review:

This has been a fun yet brain-teasing series to follow as the mysteries and clues are well-plotted, active, and adventurous. The main character is a highly determined and cynical file clerk who is itching to become a full-fledged spy although she is tethered to an unlikely team consisting of a gentlemanly and rather gullible agent who is rather adorable, and a spiky young woman who presents as a giggly school girl with a cute dog but underneath is a steely young woman who can kick butt and “foot fight.” Their current assignment has them on a cruise ship then traipsing through Egypt, riding camels and donkeys, and meeting up with Laurence of Arabia and other notable archaeologists who are plundering the desert. I enjoyed their amusing adventures and was kept guessing as to which of several villains was behind the murders they kept stumbling upon.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

It was weird that we were joking around a minute ago, and now we were witnesses to this loss of life and serious moment. My moral compass was pointing a big guilty arrow at my chest, and I felt ashamed for staring.

Axle was shy with girls and a nine on the one-to-ten immature scale.

I was facing another sleepless night. I had yet to climb down from stress mountain.

My Review:

I’m late to the party as this is book number three for Delaney, the designer heels shoe obsessed tow truck driver, but it was my introduction to the series and its crafty creator Karen C. Whalen. I enjoyed her writing style, it was breezy, easy to follow, and laced together with humorous yet insightful observations and inner musings. There was more than one mystery to solve and I wasn’t anywhere close in my personal attempts at sleuthing, looks like I’ll have to stick to reading about such adventures, wearing flats, and driving my Prius.