17. Dirty Little Secrets by Liliana Hart

(#1 J. J. Graves)

listened on Chirp
narrated by Laura Faye Smith
Unabridged audio (5:48)
2012
307 pgs.
adult murder mystery
Finished 3/1/21
Goodreads rating: 4.04 - 15,098 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary sall town Bloody Mary, VAmFirst line/s: 

First line/s:  "Fourth generation mortician.  That's a lot of dead bodies."

My comments: An entertaining murder mystery with lots of characters and an interesting protagoist.  Every time I heard them say Dr. Graves I jumped, LOL.  She hadn't had any kind of relationship in over four years, but was very good looking, smart, and when a good-looking guy came into her path it took her less than 12 hours to make things hot and heavy?  Sorta weird.  And, well, unbelievable.  Oh well. Not terrifically crafted, but as I said before, entertaining.  There are more in the series and I think I will definitely try at least the second, if I can find it a a decent price.

Goodreads synopsis:  J.J. Graves has seen a lot of dead bodies in her line of work...

          She's not only in the mortuary business, but she's also the coroner for King George County, Virginia. When a grisly murder is discovered in the small town of Bloody Mary, it's up to J.J. and her best friend, Detective Jack Lawson, to bring the victim justice.
          The murders are piling up...
          The residents of Bloody Mary are dropping like flies, and when a popular mystery writer shows up on J.J.'s doorstep with plans of writing his new book about the Bloody Mary Serial Killer, J.J. has to decide if he might be going above and beyond the call of duty to create the spine tinglers he's so well known for. It only clouds the issue and puts her reputation on the line when the attraction between them spirals out of control.
          And passions are rising...
          J.J and Jack are in a race against time. They discover each victim had a shocking secret, and the very foundation of J.J.'s life is in danger of crumbling when it turns out she’s harboring secrets of her own—secrets that make her the perfect victim in a deadly game.

23. My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

listened to eAudio/Bosler Library
narrated by Shayna Thibodeaux and Deacon Lee
Unabridged audio (7:08)
2018 Gallery Books
384 pgs.
Adult Romance
Finished 2/3/2020
Goodreads rating: 3.83 - 22,195 ratings
My rating:
Setting: Contemporary Santa Barbara, California

First line/s:   "When I was in grade school, my best friend, Alison Kim, was obsessed with horses."

My comments:  Very enjoyable romantic comedy with some serious stuff, too...  Five college professors at University of California Santa Barbara are best friends - four males and one female.  What happens when two of them take it a little bit farther?  Throw in escapades with online dating, California vineyards, misunderstandings, and a teeny tiny bit of steam and you have this very enjoyable story.  I'm really beginning to like this author a lot.  She even used the word CACOPHONY!!!

Goodreads synopsis:  Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.
          So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.
          But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

34. The Opposite of Invisible - Liz Gallagher

Audio read by Lara Hirner
Random House Audio Listening Library, 2009
3 unabridged cds
3 hrs. 31 minutes
160 pgs.
Rating: 3.5

At first I was horrified at some of the decisions that Alice made, then I realized they were the same exact kinds of decisions I would have made when I was 15 -and it's probably an awful lot like kids are feeling today......so I liked it a lot better...because it's probably pretty darn close to reality. To fall under a guy's spell for the first time, to want to be pretty and popular, to enjoy kissing, to realize almost too late to slow down.

Alice and Jewel have been best friends for years, Jewel's a boy, and artist, a free spirit, and they tell each other everything. They need no one else, so choose to become "invisible," just the way they like it. But when Alice gets a crush on the jock-y Simon, pulls her hoodie down and shows how cute she is, it puts a wall between her and Jewel and builds a chasm between them. You really do wonder all the way through if Alice will end up with Simon or Jewel, Simon or Jewel, Simon or Jewel. The time spent riding in the car back and forth to school for a week passed quite quickly.