Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky - 5 Stars

 Mackenzie Cooper caused a car accident that not only took her child, but caused her to lose her marriage and friends as well. Now she is living in a quiet town in Vermont as Maggie Reid. She has rebuilt her life and is happy. She only has a few months of probation left and she just needs to fly under the radar until that is over.
But soon a close friend's son is thrown into national spotlight for hacking a famous person's Twitter account. Maggie must decide how much she is willing to help her friend without undoing everything she has built in her new life.

This was a really good book and I read half of it in just 2 days! The story line moved well and there were several different issues that Maggie was dealing with throughout the story. The end was very touching and there were parts that almost made me cry.

Key Lime Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke - 4 Stars

 Hannah Swenson has a busy week with the ti-county fair going on. She's baking cookies for a booth at the fair as well as judging the dessert contest. Hannah is on the fair grounds late one night when she finds her fellow judge, Willa, dead.
As usual, Hannah sets out to find the killer and find out who would want Willa dead.

This is a typical cozy mystery, but I really enjoy this series and this one was just as good as the others.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okoafor - 4 Stars

 Sunny is a 12 year old girl who was born in America, but is living in Nigeria. She has African features, but is Albino. She loves to play soccer, but can't be out in the sun. Sunny feels that she doesn't fit in anywhere.
But soon she finds out that she is part of a magical community. She is soon paired with 3 other children who have different magical abilities. The 4 of them are learning their abilities, but must band together to defeat an evil being trying to destroy the world.

The book has been dubbed the Nigerian Harry Potter and it lives up to that. I felt like I was reading Harry Potter, but set in a different country.
This tag is out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoy Harry Potter, so when I seen this one I thought I'd give it a try. I am glad that I did. I really enjoyed it. This is a series and book 2 is out, so I may put that on my wish list.

Paper Wife by Laila Ibrahim - 3 Stars

 In China, 1923, Mei Ling's parents are desperate to secure a good future for her. This means setting up an arranged marriage for Mei Ling. She will be a paper wife, meaning she has to pretend to be her husbands first wife. Mei Ling sets off on a long journey across the ocean to a country she has never been to.
Along the way Mei Ling takes a young girl, Siew, under her wing and meets her soon to be good friend, June. But when she reaches San Francisco, she discovers that her husband is not who he says is he. Instead of a wealthy merchant, he is just a servant. Mei Ling, who is now pregnant, worries for her future and wonders if they can become a strong loving family, even if the whole relationship is built on false pretenses.

The first part of this book went by pretty fast, but I found the second half kind of lacking. It didn't pull me in the way the first part did, when Mei Ling was going through what she did on the ship to America and on Angel Island. Over all, it was still pretty good, though.

A Splendid Ruin by Megan Chance - 4 Stars

 May Kimble lives a penniless and lonely life in New York after her mother dies. But shortly after her mother's death, she is summoned to San Francisco to live with an aunt that she didn't know she had. The family is wealthy and May will be taken care of and taken in as one of their own.
But after arriving at her aunt's house, things start to become odd to May. Her aunt stays in a laudanum stupor, the Chinese maid hints that May is in some kind of trouble, and her cousin is often disappearing in the middle of the night.
But on an early morning in April, San Francisco comes tumbling down. May emerges from the smoldering ruins on a mission to find out the truth and claim what is rightfully hers.

Megan Chance is my favorite historical author, so I was excited to run across a newer book of hers. The first 2/3 of this book had me turning pages like crazy, but the ending wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a shocking twist of some sort, but never got it. But over all it was a really good book.

The Last Resort by Susi Holliday - 3 Stars

 Amelia is quite surprised when she gets a mysterious invitation to a private island getaway. Her, along with 6 other strangers are told that they have been invited to the island to test some up and coming technology, but they soon find out that this is not true.
Amelia is looking forward to the lavish party they have been promised at the end of the day, but soon finds out that each person has a dark secret that they are keeping and this is being used against them on the island. They are forced to wear a memory tracking device and soon learn that there is no where to hide. Soon the group starts to fight and they split up and Amelia has to figure out how to survive the rest of the day.

This was a strange book. It was sort of an Agatha Christie story mixed with modern technology and a dystopian feel. It started out ok, but the ending fell really short for me. Up until the last few chapters I was pretty intrigued on what the ending was going to reveal, but at the end I just thought it fell flat.

Christmas Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella - 4 Stars

 This book in the series has Becky Bloomwood enjoying the quiet life in Leatherby and working for her best friend, Suze. It's Christmas time and Becky is looking forward to the food, carols, and more. But this year, Becky has been asked by her parents to host the Christmas festivities.
Becky is sure that she can handle it and thinks nothing can go wrong. But the next thing she knows things are NOT going as planned. Her sister wants a vegan turkey, her husband only wants after shave for his gift, and her daughter, Minnie, is asking for something very specific. To top it off, Becky runs into her ex-(rock star) boyfriend and his pushy new girlfriend, who seems to be up to something.
Of course Becky gets into all kinds of hilarious situations along the way and she begins to wonder if she'll be able to pull off hosting Christmas and make everyone happy.

So I'm reading this a little late (or really early), but I was looking for something light and fluffy after the first 2 books I had read this year. I know not a lot of people like the Shopaholic books, or even chic lit for that matter, but I have absolutely loved this series.
The things that Becky gets into may be far fetched but are always good for a laugh.