The Nerd Who Loved Me by Vicki Lewis Thompson, 404 pages

 She's got the high-kicks...

Lainie Terrell is no ordinary single mother. With feathers in all the right places, she's one of the hottest showgirls in Vegas. Aside from a hot-tempered ex-boyfriend on her sequined tail, Lainie's biggest problem is finding a decent babysitter for her son. Lainie's dilemma is solved when she ropes Harry Ambrewster, the casino's shy-but very smart and cute-accountant, into the task.

He's got the low-down...
Inheriting his chemist father's high I.Q. and sexy good looks, Harry has always been intrigued by Lainie. He isn't thrilled at the prospect of babysitting, but he'll do anything to get near the gal who fuels his craziest fantasies. Then Lainie's dangerous ex comes knocking...

Their option? Run faster than a pair of net stockings...
In disguise and on the lam, Lainie's masquerading as the perfect wife. Harry's doubling as the he-man protector. But with a set-up this hot, who's fooling who? When the lights go down, and the masks come off, a nerd like Harry could be just the right ignition to set a woman like Lainie on fire...

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, 404 pages

 Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results.

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.

Not a Mourning Person by Steffanie Holmes, 404 pages

 Was bringing three hot AF ghosts back to life a grave mistake?

All I wanted to do was kiss my ghost boyfriends, but instead, I broke the Veil between the worlds of the Living and the Dead. Whoops. Now, a horde of demons and hellbeasts are after us, and if I don’t get control over my resurrection magic soon, we’re in for some grave consequences.

Like the end of the world.

I’m creeping it real here – I’m terrified. There isn’t enough coffee in all of Grimdale to fortify me for this battle.

What if the price of falling for three beautiful, spirited, impossible men is worse than death?
What if the only way to stop Grimdale from becoming a literal ghost town…

…is to give up my soul?

Viking by Fabio and Eugenia Riley, 404 pages

 Warrior Woman,

I cannot explain the powerful magic that carried me back across the centuries to you. In my own time, I am but an actor on the screen. Yet here I stand, curiously at home in a primitive age—a Viking jarl, miraculously resurrected from the flames of oblivion. And you are my destiny, my wild and beautiful Valkyrie. You hide your pain and sadness behind a mask of scorn—but I have glimpsed your secret tenderness from the shadows and felt the radiant warmth of your love. And if I must first conquer you to have you, then conquer I shall—to win your reluctant heart now and for all eternity.

Pleasure For Pleasure by Eloisa James, 404 pages

 Fueled by the knowledge that notoriety is better than failure, witty, unconventional Josie does what no proper young lady should--she challenges fate. She discards her corset and flirts outrageously. She attends the horse races and allows an arrogant rakehell to whisk her behind the stables for a surreptitious kiss . . . and is caught!

She doesn't want to marry the young hellion--but who's to help? Her chaperone keeps disappearing for mysterious appointments; her guardian is on his wedding trip; and his friend the Earl of Mayne is too busy staring into the eyes of his exquisite French fiancée.

Can a marriage forced by stuffy convention and unwilling desire become the match of the season?

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, 404 pages

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

With a Tangled Skein by Piers Anthony, 404 pages

When the man Niobe loved was shot, she learned that she had been the target, in a devious plot of the Devil's. Hoping for revenge, Niobe accepted a position as one of the three Aspects of Fate, only to find that Satan's plots were tangled into the very Tapestry of Fate. Now the Evil One was laying a trap to ruin Niobe's granddaughter Luna, who threatened his plans-and he had tricked her son into Hell. Niobe's only chance to save her son and Luna was to accept a challenge by the Prince of Deceit-a challenge to be decided in Hell and in a maze of Satan's devising!
The third book in the Incarnations of Immortality series. I enjoyed reading it before, I'm enjoying it this time, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it in the future.

Something Old, Something New by Lynn Johnston, 404 pages

I'm a fan of the comic strip For Better or For Worse, and was jealous when I saw Laura had read a treasury of them. She was nice enough to loan me her copy. It was a treat to read this book before falling asleep.