#58 Rebel Hard by Nalini Singh

The second book in the series is just as fun as the first one. There is some repeating of events from the first book but they are all through the eyes of different characters. Nayna is the dutiful younger daughter that has followed all the rules since her older sister broke all of them and ran off with a married man at 19. She agrees to an arraigned marriage since that worked out well for her parents. But that isn’t working out either since the men she is meeting are bores. After deciding to throw caution to the wind she kisses a man she doesn’t know and then accidently insults him he turns out to be the next guy her parents introduce to her. Lots of family drama on both sides keep the story interesting and the expectations of culture vs doing what feels right is threaded throughout the entire book. A good read and I have to say I enjoy these as much as her fantasy series.

#59 Time's Children by D.B. Jackson

When the cost of time travel is actual time off your life, to travel 14 years in the past is a huge sacrifice, but to stop a war from happening seems to be worth it to a 15-year-old Walker named Tobias. The problem is that other people are very motivated to see this war happen and crush the kingdom that Tobias has gone to work for straight out of school. Tobias is now on the run with an infant princess, looking and sounding like a 29-year-old man, he is still very much a 15-year-old boy inside trying to do the right thing. An interesting world setup with not only time walkers but people that can phase through solid walls and others that can travel great distances make all tree types very useful to the various kingdoms around this world. A fun read and there are more planned in this series.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

#60 The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

A very successful econometrician hires an escort to teach her about dating. Being on the spectrum Stella has dated but nothing has clicked about it with her and her mother would really like her to settle down and provide grandchildren. Michael is working as an escort that Stella hires and offers him a proposal of a few months of exclusive time so she can learn how to date without shutting down. Sparks happen for Michael and he breaks his rule of not doing more than one session in order to help Stella get what she wants. Stella slowly finds herself attracted to Michael as well and there are some complications since no one in his family knows he is an escort to pay for his mom’s medical bills. A sweet story and was a really nice read.

#61 Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb

Eve and Peabody are on the case of a man forced to wear a suicide vest to work and detonate it to save his wife and child. There is no known motivation for this crime and they must work every angle to figure out who benefits from this random violence. A former relationship of one of the victims slowly reveals the thread that they tug to bring down the entire case and find the bad guys. The secondary plot line is rather small since it has to do with the Oscars for the Icove movie. I did like that Eve admitted that it bothers her that the book keeps getting mentioned to her all the time. At some point in the future that may go away but I don’t see it happening for a while. Another good solid read with all the usual things happening in every book.

#62 An Easy Death by Charlaine Harris

In an alternate USA, where events have left the USA fractured and much smaller a certain lawlessness has people relying on hired guns for travel. After a coming back from a bad trip where she lost her team but got most of the people safe where they needed to go she isn’t ready to take another assignment, but she does. Two magicians from the Russian controlled West coast are looking for descendants of Rasputin to help with the Tsar’s blood problems. Lizbeth does her best to keep them safe even when they don’t give her all the info she needs. A good solid story with an interesting universe and I can’t wait to read more about her.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss