What I Read in October & Share Your Shelf #7

 Marilyn, Jennifer, Tanya, and I are so happy to be hosting this monthly link up (that goes live on the first Thursday of every month) dedicated solely to books and book reviews. Through this link up I've gotten lots of great ideas on what books to read next!

I'm kind of surprised I managed to read 9 books this month since I really struggled to sit and concentrate. I think audiobooks saved me though since you'll notice that I listened to 5 of the 9! 

1.  Bad Reputation by Emma Barry-- I enjoyed this one! Maggie Niven is trying to rebuild her life after having lost her job teaching when she was defending what some parents deemed an unacceptable play. She gets a job working as an intimacy coordinator on a a new season of the hit show Waverly. On set she meets Cole, who is nothing like Maggie expected. Stories of Cole paint him as an immature himbo but Cole has been working hard to change people's opinions of him. From the start the two feel a tug of mutual attraction but since both are trying to rebuild their reputations they refuse to act on it. 

2. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes-- I had no idea this was book 1 of 5 but I can't wait to listen to the others.  When Avery becomes an heir to the entire fortune of the Hawthorne family she is left reeling with tons of questions-- mainly why would a complete stranger leave her all his money. The rest of the Hawthorne family has no answers for her but lots of questions of their own. Caught between the 4 Hawthorne boys, Avery and the brothers are determined to solve the clues left in the man's letters to each of them and the ones in his will. It was a fun story with puzzles, twists, turns, attempted murder, & more. 

3. The Enemy by Sarah Adams-- June has spent the past 12 year imagining Ryan as ugly, fat, and unsuccessful but when he shows up for their best friends' weddings Ryan is anything but. Determined to win over June and put their silly feud behind them once and for all, Ryan realizes he has his work cut out for him. An adorable little rom-com that was entertaining. It didn't hurt that Ryan was a renowned chef and June a very successful baker-- I'm not sure why I enjoy reading books with chefs as main characters but I really do!

4. The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes-- In book #2, Avery and the 4 Hawthorne boys are all searching for a missing man who may hold the key to so many of their questions. With her lawyer trying to have her legally emancipated, her bodyguard trying to keep her under his surveillance at all times, and Avery's own questions about her paternity the book is filled with all kind of drama and intrigue. But once again someone is out to get Avery and the game turns deadly. Unsure of who to trust, Avery finds herself putting her life in danger more and more just by being with her so-called friends and family.  I enjoyed it just as much as the first book!

5. It Had to Be You by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke-- When identical twins Simon and Ethan are accused of murdering their parents, their lives change forever, each thinking the other brother must have committed the crime. However, since the police never had enough evidence to convict anyone the murder has gone unsolved for nearly a decade. Laurie, a TV producer for the show Under Suspicion, decides to look into their case. With the help of the boys' younger sister the production team get both twins and their families on board and start their own investigation into this cold case.  No one knows what will happen or who is really the killer. It was a fun little murder mystery! 

6. The Final Gambit by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (book #3)-- In the first book, Avery feels more like a pawn in a game the old man left his heirs, in the second book Avery is helping the Hawthorne boys solve a puzzle their grandfather left for them, but in this book Avery has her very own puzzle left to her to solve. When a stranger comes to Hawthorne house seeking shelter and protection Avery isn't sure they can be trusted; after all it seems like everyone is out to get her and stop her from inheriting a literal fortune. Ultimately forced to play a game of chess with stakes so high Avery literally can not afford to lose. I felt like the series ended pretty neatly with this book so I was intrigued with where book 4 was going to start. 

7. The Brothers Hawthorne by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (book #4)-- I was thrown to find that book 4 switches narrators and rather than being told from Avery's point of view it's told from the point of view of the brothers. In this 4th book of the series both Jameson and Grayson are being pulled in opposite directions from their fathers' and fathers' families. Grayson is looking out for his two step-sisters and Jameson offers to win back his father's family home. Still lots of fun puzzle solving, mystery, and intrigue and I'm assuming the series will continue with more than just the book of short stories slated to come as book 5 later this month. 

8. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore-- I really, really disliked the last Liz Moore book I read so I was hesitant to listen to this one but I saw it was getting rave reviews so I decided to give it a shot. The story centers around a camp in the Adirondack mountains and a missing 13 year old girl, Barbara Van Lar. But Barbara isn't just any camper; her family owns the camp and Barbara's own older brother vanished in these same woods 14 years ago and was never seen or heard from again. Told from all sorts of points of views and from different timelines it was sometimes just a tiny bit hard to keep everything straight while listening but I was intrigued. You just know that the family's money, power, and secrets have to have something to do with the disappearances but there are all sort of little side stories and background information on lots of the characters that keep you guessing. It was pretty good. 

9. The Love Shack by Lori Foster-- I had no idea this was book 3 of a 3 book series; it read just fine as a stand alone novel. Berkley opened The Love Shack animal shelter in the town of Cemetery, Indiana hoping to keep mostly to herself and put a horrible scandal from her past behind her. She's totally thrown when she discovers that her neighbor is none other than Lawson, a boy from her old hometown who also moved to Cemetery to start over. The two try to avoid one another but keep getting thrown together and when they do their attraction is quite palpable. Cautious and hesitant the two begin building something pretty special. There are other little side stories and fun quirky things like the mannequin the town dresses up and moves around the area for tourists to take photos with that made the town seem rather endearing. It was cute. 

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