Did not enjoy this book at all. The only reason I continued reading the book until the end was that I already had a DNF this month and did not want to add to that category. One day I will not let DNFs affect my reading choices, but today was not that day.

The MC, Cate Kincaid, was a sad sack of a character. Right from the beginning, she was bemoaning how she was close to age 30 and didn't have a perfect life (career, marriage, children). Spare me. In addition, she is a flake and far TSTL; and of course, she was a redhead with a fiery/impulsive temper - I hate that cliché so much. The people surrounding her were just as dumb and flaky as she was, so there wasn't one redeeming character in this mess. Out of the side characters, the love interest (Mitch) was an asshole, then a creepy NICE GUY (TM), then a lovesick puppy that Cate used to get herself out of jams. *le sigh*

Everybody lies in this book, and lies aren't even followed up or questioned by our (extremely immature) sleuth. Then the lies kept changing. Cate doesn't have much of people radar, so she believed the people who lied to her the most. And the plot was just Cate chasing her tail, believing whatever lies were being fed to her, and getting out of serious life-or-death situations that she could have prevented herself being in the first place.

This is a cozy mystery with the addition of being a Christian fiction to boot. To me, cozy mysteries are already heavy on the sweet and fluffy, and added superficial Christian flavorings were annoying and cloying. Cate is quite the judgmental Christian - when less religious characters referred to a Bible quotation (or paraphrase), Cate questioned how that person knew the quotation and how badly they messed up said quotation. There was also a lot of praying when she was too stupid to think through a situation. Really clichéd and superficial religious tone just bogged down the world building.

Overall, I added one more book to the read category, but an awful read it was. I won't be continuing to read the series or anything else from this author. 5 star.

 I'm participating in Bout of Books, but I am not going to make a separate list of books for that; rather I will just take from this list. I hope to take my reading outside into the warm sunshine if Old Man Winter would let go of his death grip on the East Anglia.

Courtney Milan Challenge

1. The Duchess War (Brothers Sinister #1)

2. A Kiss for Midwinter (Brothers Sinister #1.5)

Regency Box Set

3. Bargaining with a Rake (Whisper of Scandal #1) by Julie Johnstone

Classics challenge

4. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

The Great and Powerful TBR Pile

5. Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton

6. Mission to Murder (Tourist Trap Mystery #2) by Lynn Calhoun

7. A Dream Defiant by Susanna Fraser

8. My Fair Concubine by Jeannie Lin

9. An Unexpected Encounter (Half Moon House Novella #0.5) by Deb Marlowe

10. Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney

11. Scamp's Lady by Jackie Walton

Non-Fiction Challenge

Stuff from my last library haul

Happy  Reading!

And I'm sooooo excited! Lawyers, suits, attraction, closets and ambitions. Just... YAAAAASSSS!

I can't wait to get my hands on these new M/M releases this month!

• "Cold Fusion" by Harper Fox - The Warning says it all: Contains a disgraced environmentalist and an autistic genius who go from strangers to lovers-for-life in thirteen days. Don’t believe in miracles? We’ll make you.

• "A Kind of Truth" by Lane Hayes - Two musicians in the Big Apple trying to find their way? Count. Me. In.

• "If the Seas Catch Fire" by L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov - Contrct killers, Mafia royalty and a healthy dose of revenge. Need I say more?

• "So Into You" by S.E. Harmon - I absolutely loved the first book in the PI guys series! I've been dying for this one to come out ever since finishing "Stay With Me".

• "Tracefinder: Contact" by Kaje Harper - Well, for one I helped a tinsy little bit at finding the title for the story. And secondly, it's a new Kaje Harper! No more words needed really. She's an auto-buy for me. 

• "The Imperfection of Swans" by Brandon Witt - This is one great guy, and a wonderful author and this book isn't just a story, but a deeply personal tale. Can't wait for it and thank f* it's coming out at midnight! 

• "Xperiment" by Dan Skinner - This book scares me. So much. But it's very long, political, unique, surreal and so fascinating to me, it's unreal. So yeah, I'm really excited for it!

• "Playing With Fire" by Avery Cockburn - The third installment in the Glasgow Lads Series. Coming out on the 31st. I caaaaan't wait. 

I know there are a lot more new releases out there. I could go on and on, but these really are the ones I'm dying to read. Plus, there are some I won't touch with a ten-foot pole. "Full Domain", the third in the Nice Guys Series for example. I almost loathed the first one, couldn't even finish the second one, didn't like the other books by this author I reas, and even though people around the globe LOVE this one (it was in the top 20 of ALL Amazon sales this week), I think I'll pass.