It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (September 1, 2025)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Want to See What I Added to My Stack? links to Stacking the Shelves hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality.

Other Than Reading...

Happy Labor Day! It is the official end of summer and start of school for students here in Minnesota. I'm hoping for still more summer weather though. Today it's raining but warm. It should be nice until Wednesday when the high temperature is supposed to only be 59. 

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday and have recruited my brother as a chauffeur since the appointment is downtown, and I don't want to deal with the driving or parking. I prefer to set up my appointments at the satellite clinic nearer my house, but this is a lab thing that is only available at the main (confusing) downtown campus. Otherwise, I should be having a quiet week. 

I almost met my goal of finishing all of my September review books by the end of August. I still have one and one-half books to go. Next up are the October review copies. I only have 9 review books releasing in October but 6 are all releasing on October 14. The nice thing about fewer review copies is that I can slot in some of my own books and fractionally reduce the size of TBR mountain. 

I have been saving up Kindle Reward points because there are a couple books releasing on September 2 that I plan on buying. I'll be getting Framed in Death by J. D. Robb on Kindle and Audible and the latest by Wen Spencer - Black Tie and Tails - for my Kindle. Black Tie and Tails in the second in the Black Wolves of Boston series. I want to reread Black Wolves of Boston which was published in 2017 before I read this new one. Maybe in October... 

I have finished setting up posts for my October calendar since the books I plan to read this week will finish up my September calendar.

Read Last Week

• A Tour to Die For by Michelle Chouinard (Review, September 23) -- Second Capri Sanzio mystery set in San Francisco. My review will be posted on September 16.
• Murder at Blackwood Inn by Penny Warner (Review, September 23) -- Cosy mystery in which Carissa Blackwood comes to coastal California to help her eccentric aunts open a B&B. But the death of one of the guests at the opening reception messes things up. My review will be posted on September 17.
• You Make It Feel Like Christmas by Sophie Sullivan (Review, September 23) -- Excellent romance set at a tree farm at Christmas time. Engaging characters. My review will be posted on September 18.

• To Darkness and to Death by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Chirp Audiobook, mine since January 4, 2024) -- 4th Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery. My review will be posted on September 25.
• A Dark and Deadly Journey by Julia Kelly (Review, September 23) -- Third Evelyne Redfern WWII mystery. My review will be posted on September 18.
• Dark Horse by Felix Francis (Review, September 23) -- Sid Halley comes out of retirement to investigate the death of a jockey. A female fellow jockey is accused of the crime. My review will be posted on September 20.

• All Mortal Flesh by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Chirp Audiobook, mine since January 4, 2024) -- 5th in the Clare Ferguson/Russ Van Alstyne mysteries. My review will be posted on September 30.
• Bonded in Death by J. D. Robb (Audiobook reread)
• Murder at Somerset House by Andrea Penrose (Review, September 30) -- 10th Wrexford and Sloane historical mystery set in the time after Napoleon's exile to Elba and before the Battle of Waterloo. My review will be posted on September 25.

Currently

• A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley (Audiobook, Audible Plus)
• The Librarians by Sherry Thomas (Review, September 30)

Next Week

• The Killing Stones by Ann Cleaves (Review, September 30)
• The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (Kindle, mine since July 18, 2025)
• Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen (Review, October 7)

• I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Audiobook)
• The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson (Kindle, mine since January 6, 2025)
• Dying Cry by Margaret Mizushima (Review, October 14)

Reviews Posted

• Thunderbird Falls by C. E. Murphy (Audiobook)
• Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn (Audiobook)
• Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley (Review copy)

• If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia (Review copy)
• Framed in Death by J. D. Robb (Review copy)
• The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens (Mine)

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Review:

Bought:

• Sacred Sins by Nora Roberts (Kindle Daily Deal, $1.99)
• Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Audiobook)
• Hid from Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming (Audiobook)

What was your week like?

Book Review: The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens

The Untamed Bride
Author: Stephanie Laurens
Series: The Black Cobra Quartet (Book 1)
Publication: Avon (October 13, 2009)

Description: The first book in a brand-new series, The Black Cobra Quartet, from New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Stephanie Laurens, The Untamed Bride is the story of a bold, beautiful woman with a scandalous past and a battle-hardened, sinfully wealthy, completely unstoppable man who must join forces to fight a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra—and who must also confront the dangers of the heart . . .

My Thoughts: THE UNTAMED BRIDE was an engaging historical romance. It begins in India when five men are tasked with bringing down the infamous Black Cobra who is ruining the reputation of the British in India.

After the death of one of the five which occurred while discovering a key piece of information regarding the identity of the Black Cobra, the other four men make copies of the incriminating document and split up to return to England by four different routes.

Colonel Derek Delborough is the male lead of this episode which is the first in the Black Cobra Quartet. He is an experienced soldier having fought Napoleon before traveling to India. He's made his fortune and decided to sell out his commission. This trip to bring information to England is his last before beginning his future life. 

Delia Duncannon is also returning to England after some years in Jamaica with family. She's 29 and left England about five years earlier after a scandal. She too has made her own fortune and has decided to return to England to expand her business opportunities.

Del and Deliah meet at an inn where she saves his life after an attempted assassination. Del had been drafted to take Deliah back home since their families are neighbors. Del tries to fob her off because he knows that the Black Cobra has sent forces to attack him and get the document he's bringing to someone who can use it. 

The two are attracted which surprises both of them. After her disappointment in love, Deliah isn't looking for a new relationship. And Del hadn't given any thought to a future wife in his projected future. However, they suit each other wonderfully. She's no mealy-mouthed miss. She's a competent adult who is used to managing a household. She has opinions and isn't averse to sharing them. He's formidable and competent too.

I enjoyed the romance. I also enjoyed catching up with characters from earlier series by the author. In fact, I want to reread the earlier series of books which I likely read about twenty years ago. 

I bought this one October 27, 2009. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

"I can't stress how important it is that we behead this fiend." Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Marquess of Hasting and Governor-General of India for the last nine years, stumped back and forth behind his desk. 

Friday 56:

Lips curving, Del chatted to the barman while he waited for the innkeeper to tot up the damage.

This week I am spotlighting The Untamed Bride by Stephanie Laurens. This historical romance has been on my TBR pile since October 27, 2009. Here is the description from Amazon:

The first book in a brand-new series, The Black Cobra Quartet, from New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Stephanie Laurens, The Untamed Bride is the story of a bold, beautiful woman with a scandalous past and a battle-hardened, sinfully wealthy, completely unstoppable man who must join forces to fight a deadly foe known only as the Black Cobra—and who must also confront the dangers of the heart . . .

Audiobook Review: Angel-Seeker by Sharon Shinn

Angel-Seeker
Author: Sharon Shinn
Narrator: Tamara Marston
Series: Samaria (Book 5)
Publication: Audible Studios (July 20, 2010)
Length: 18 hours and 35 minutes

Description: The award-winning author returns to Samaria in this richly romantic tale that begins where Archangel left off. In that time, the women who craved the attention of angels were known as angel-seekers, a term used with awe by some - and scorn by others.

My Thoughts: The fifth book set on Samaria focuses on roles of women. It tells the story of Elizabeth who begins the story working as a cook on her cousin's farm and longing for more. She travels to Cedar Hills which is a new city being constructed near a new angel hold. 

Elizabeth longs to be loved and cared for and begins the story as a sort of vain, superior sort of woman. She goes to Cedar Hills in the hopes of attracting the love of an angel because women who have angels' angelic babies are cared for. But there are many, many young women who have come to Cedar Hills for the same reason and the competition to attract an angel is fierce. 

She does begin a sort of relationship with an angel, but her real career begins when she meets a healer named Mary. Mary takes Elizabeth as an apprentice which gives her a skill of her own. Elizabeth also meets a Edori man who, once freed from slavery, became a worker in building the new Cedar Hills. However, her focus on gaining a home by having and angel baby means that she is overlooking any other sort of possible relationship.

The second woman the book focuses on is Rebekah. She is a Jonsai which means that she is kept in seclusion and under the rule of her father or brother. She meets the angel Obadiah when he is shot down by some sort of weapon and is in danger of dying in the desert. Rebekah has been sent to the oasis to get water for her stepfather's traveling caravan. She nurses the angel even though she knows that her stepfather and the other Jonsai would prefer that he die. 

Obadiah becomes Rebekah's secret. When she returns to her family home in Breven, she sneaks out to continue her relationship with Obadiah who is there to treat with the Jansai for the angels. Obadiah wants to take Rebekah away with him to Cedar Hills, but she is afraid to leave the life she knows. But when she becomes pregnant, her time among the Jansai becomes impossible. Women who transgress - and becoming pregnant out of wedlock with an angel no less is a major transgression - are dealt with harshly. She has already seen her cousin who had an affair with another kind of traveling merchant beaten, stoned, and left in the desert to die. 

When her pregnancy is discovered, the same fate is meted out to her. But her brother has slipped her a waterskin and she was left wrapped in a blanket which gives her a chance for survival. Only being discovered by Elizabeth and her Edori man saves her life and gives her a chance at a new one with Obadiah.

This was an engaging story about two women looking for love and finding it though in very different ways. It is the final book in the Samaria series. 

I bought this one March 12, 2022. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Framed in Death by J. D. Robb

Framed in Death
Author: J. D. Robb
Series: In Death (Book 61)
Publication: St. Martin's Press (September 2, 2025)

Description: Death imitates art in the brand-new crime thriller starring homicide cop Eve Dallas from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author J.D. Robb.

Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand. But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his. Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work.

Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into her investigation.

My Thoughts: This 61st book in the In Death series isn't so much a mystery as we learn the villain early on as it is a police procedural. We see all the steps in the investigation to locate and stop the killer. 

I enjoyed reconnecting with so many characters from earlier in the series. Though many of them appeared only briefly. I loved that the house for Mavis, Leonardo, Peabody and McNab is finally completed and rapidly becoming a home. It is always great to catch up with Bella too. 

I enjoyed the way Eve counts on Roarke for quite a few things. In this one, his knowledge of art (and experience as an art thief) is very useful. I always enjoy Eve and Roarke's interactions. Eve and Peabody's partnership is deepening too. Peabody possesses a wide range of knowledge that helped with this case too.

Fans of the series won't want to miss this one. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: If It Makes You Happy by Julia Olivia

If It Makes You Happy
Author: Julia Olivia
Publication: Berkley (September 2, 2025)

Description: Grab your favorite fall candle, cuddle into a comfy blanket, and travel back in time to 1997 in this cozy, slow-burn romance set in the autumn glow of small-town Vermont.

Now with exclusive bonus content!

My new next-door neighbor seems to have everything figured out. Small town golden boy? Check. Single dad extraordinaire? Check. Hot baker forearms? I didn’t notice them, I swear.

I, on the other hand, don’t–at all–have anything figured out. Trust me, I didn’t think taking over my mom’s dream bed and breakfast in Copper Run Vermont was going to be easy. It should be a good place to heal after my divorce. But apparently my scones belong in the garbage with my small talk skills. As pointed out by none other than Cliff.

Cliff is inescapable. He knows exactly what people need–always. His charm, the way he wears flannel, and even his pastries, make not wanting to be friends with Cliff and his daughters pretty hard.

Friends? I can make friends. That’s safe. Except I’m leaving in three months to pass the inn off to my little sister and get the promotion in Seattle I’ve been working towards. So ask me why I’m thinking about kissing my hot neighbor.

My Thoughts: IF IT MAKES YOU HAPPY was a nice romance. Goal-driven Michelle travels from her fast-paced life in Seattle after her mother's sudden death to take over the bed & breakfast that was her mother's life dream. 

The timing isn't perfect. Even if the time running the inn is only a couple of months, it will mess up her fast track in her advertising career. But the trip will give her a chance to come to terms with her divorce from Allen. 

She isn't really prepared for what she is going to find in a small town in Vermont. Least of all is she prepared to meet Cliff, the divorced guy who lives next door with his two daughters. But Cliff is a friendly sort who had promised Shell's mother that he'd be around to help. His friendly manner and delicious baked goods and wacky sense of humor all appeal to Shell.

But can two very different people find a way to make things work? With her in town only until her younger sister finishes college and takes over the inn and him content to live and work in the small town forever, they have lots of things to work out. 

The story had a great cast of characters including Rocket the dog Michelle gained custody of in the divorce. Cliff's daughters were great characters too. And the assorted friends who want to help add to the interest. Even Cliff's ex-wife had her role to play.

Fans of romances with grown-up characters with busy lives will enjoy this story.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: Thunderbird Falls by C. E. Murphy

Thunderbird Falls
Author: C. E. Murphy
Narrator: Gabra Zackman
Series: The Walker Papers (Book 2)
Publication: Harlequin Books (May 31, 2006)
Length: 9 hours and 50 minutes

Description: For all the bodies she's encountering, you'd think beat cop Joanne Walker works in Homicide. But no, Joanne's a reluctant shaman who last saved mankind three months ago; surely she deserves more of a break! Yet, incredibly, "Armageddon, Take Two" is mere days away.

There's not a minute to waste. But when her spirit guide inexplicably disappears, Joanne needs help from other sources. Especially after she accidentally unleashes Lower World demons on Seattle. Damn. With the mother of all showdowns gathering force, it's the worst possible moment for Joanne to realize she should have learned more about controlling her powers.

My Thoughts: Former police department mechanic and reluctant shaman Joane Walker finds herself in the middle of another plot that will unleash Lower World demons on a Seattle already experiencing a heat wave. 

Joanne is recruited into a coven which plans to bring an ancient savior back to the world. But first they have to bring back all sorts of demons. Joanne hasn't learned much about her shaman magic since she first discovered she had it and doesn't feel ready to take on new challenges.

But when her friend Gary has a heart attack and her spirit guide disappears, Joanne is left on her own to deal with Seattle's magical problems. 

I liked this urban fantasy story which draws a lot from Native American mythology. Joanne is an interesting character and powerful if reluctant hero. 

This is either the second or the third book in The Walker Papers depending on if you believe Amazon or Fantastic Fiction. In any case, it is part of a nine-book series. The story is packed with action and adventure. 

I bought this one October 28, 2021. You can buy your copy here.