Heartfelt & Humorous Romantic Suspense

 

image copied from NetGalley

Definitely Maybe Not a Detective by Sarah Fox is the first in a new mystery series. This is the second novel by the author that I've read, and I loved this one even more than that book. Definitely Maybe Not a Detective is engaging with a full cast of eccentric yet mostly lovable characters. Emersyn Gray is struggling to make ends meet while raising her niece. Fired from yet another job after being laid off from her previous one due to budget cuts, she's unsure how to get her life back on track and keep her parents from taking away her guardianship for niece, Livy. To help, Emersyn's best friend Jemma concocts a scheme to help her recover the savings Em's ex-boyfriend, Hoffman, stole from her. Their plan is to threaten Hoffman with being investigated by a private detective if he doesn't return her stolen money. But the Wyatt Investigation Agency is all made up. That is until a real-life Wyatt turns up at Emersyn's apartment complex to return her lost phone the same day the super of her building is murdered. When Emersyn's elderly neighbor turns out to be the prime suspect she finds herself teaming up with Wyatt to investigate a real murder even though she has no idea where to even begin.

The banter and heat between Emersyn and Wyatt, coupled with her attempts to solve the murder to clear her neighbor's good name was funny and intriguing. Wyatt is as much a man of mystery as the fictitious PI he's pretending to be. Emersyn is leery of getting involved with any more men after her last disastrous relationship. But Wyatt's kindness and determination to help her, make it hard to keep to her no-dating vow. The side characters in the mostly senior living apartment complex were interesting and sometimes over the top, but in a good way. One scene where they help Emersyn follow a lead was particularly amusing. The relationship between Emersyn and her niece added stakes and a tender emotional element to the story that kept me rooting for Emersyn to succeed even when her avoidance at accepting Wyatt's help in the investigation at times, made me frustrated. I truly enjoyed this book and will happily read more adventures about Emersyn and Wyatt in this a series.

If you love mysteries full of unconventional characters, fun banter and slow-burn, low-spice romance then you'll thoroughly enjoy Definitely Maybe Not a Detective by Sarah Fox! As always, click on the title to order your own copy from bookshop.org to support indie bookstores, or consider checking out a copy from your local library. 

Next up for review will be The Bletchley Riddle by Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin. It's a middle grade historical mystery full of spies, intrigue and smart, intrepid characters. Check out the cover and blurb below, both copied from bookshop.org.

Remember, you are bound by the Official Secrets Act…

Summer, 1940. Nineteen-year-old Jakob Novis and his quirky younger sister, Lizzie, share a love of riddles and puzzles. And now they’re living inside of one. The quarrelsome siblings find themselves amid one of the greatest secrets of World War II—Britain’s eccentric codebreaking factory at Bletchley Park. As Jakob joins Bletchley’s top minds to crack the Nazi's Enigma cipher, fourteen-year-old Lizzie embarks on a mission to solve the mysterious disappearance of their mother.

The Battle of Britain rages and Hitler’s invasion creeps closer. And at the same time, baffling messages and codes arrive on their doorstep while a menacing inspector lurks outside the gates of the Bletchley mansion. Are the messages truly for them, or are they a trap? Could the riddles of Enigma and their mother's disappearance be somehow connected? Jakob and Lizzie must find a way to work together as they race to decipher clues that unravel a shocking puzzle that presents the ultimate challenge: How long must a secret be kept?

New Year, New Review!!

image copied from Goodreads

Happy New Year!!! I'm starting off my 2026 reviews with a New Year's Day release of a fantasy romance. I was fortunate to be gifted an eARC of Diamond Dust by author KF Breene in exchange for my honest review of it. It's the sequel to the first book in this duology, Obsidian. Both books follow the main character Daisy who is a secondary character in the Demigods of San Francisco by Breene. I highly recommend both series if you enjoy action-packed fantasy romances. I loved finally getting a chance to read Daisy's story. Both books were fast-paced, spicy and intriguing in terms of what's going on with the Fae that has haunted her since her early teens.

In Obsidian, Daisy starts off having dreams about a Fae noble who made things difficult for her and her family years before. Now for some reason he's back and just as annoyingly sexy and cocky. Daisy runs into him while looking into something else with her trainer Zorn. It turns out that the Fae, Tarian, is after something called the crystal chalice. This chalice is important because it can help the Fae form some sort of link between Faerie and the human world. Something that would be devastating to the mortal realm. Daisy is, of course, very much against this as is her family. In the end, Daisy must decide if she is willing to form a pact with Tarian when she's kidnapped and taken into Faerie. However, the deal could prove to be deadly for her. 

For some background on Daisy, she is a non-magical human living in the magical zone of San Francisco in an alternate reality version of the city. She's what magic users call a Chester. But Daisy has trained and worked hard to survive in spite of not having any true powers of her own. She has been gifted some extra strength and healing abilities by her demigod adoptive mother, Lexi. But this is a quality that makes Daisy just the sort of human that Tarian is interested in. 

Both books in this series are told from dual points of view, though Diamond Dust is primarily told from Daisy's perspective. It picks up right where Obsidian left off. Daisy has made a bargain with Tarian in order to save the human world from a Fae invasion. This deal involves her being Tarian's champion in a gladiator-style competition held by the Obsidian Faerie Court. As a human with no known magical abilities both of them are counting on the Fae underestimating just how ruthless and dangerous Daisy can be. The second book in the series is definitely steamier than the first and you learn something about Tarian that was quite surprising. The love that develops between Daisy and him is compelling and believable for both of these damaged characters who have been through so much trauma in their lives. I also enjoyed seeing a more tender and vulnerable side to Daisy in this book. She knows what she's up against could be tortuous and gruesome. There are a few instances where Daisy is caught off guard by the sheer power of these Fae who see her as little better than an animal. Despite the love that grows between both characters no happy-ever-after is guaranteed and is in fact highly unlikely. These stakes kept me eagerly turning pages to see how it would all end.

I really enjoyed both books and highly recommend them and the Demigods of San Francisco series if you haven't read them. But you can read Daisy's series as a stand alone without needing to read the other earlier series first. In fact, I might go back and re-read the earlier series again and then read this one a second time around now that I've spent the last couple of months engrossed in this world. 

For this year, I plan to review more mysteries than I did in 2025 since my debut mystery is coming out in a little over a year from now. With that in mind, my second review for 2026 will be a fun cozy mystery by Sarah Fox that comes out this week, Definitely Maybe Not a Detective. This is the second book by Fox that I've read and is what I hope will be the start of a new series by her. Because I enjoyed it even more than the previous book in a different series of hers that I read. Check out the book cover and blurb below, both copied from bookshop.org. You can also click on the titles for any of these books to order your own copies from bookshop.org. But they're also available online wherever books are sold and you could very likely request your library get copies as well if you're interested in supporting your local library.

In this delightfully charming rom-com mystery, a woman becomes accidentally entangled in a murder investigation (and with a handsome stranger) when her fake detective agency is enlisted to solve a real homicide.

Emersyn Gray is definitely not a detective.

Really, she’s an unemployed twenty-eight-year-old raising her beloved niece in the only place she can afford after her ex-boyfriend ran off with her life savings: a run-down, seniors-only apartment complex that was desperate for tenants. But never fear—her wild best friend has the perfect plan to get Emersyn back on her feet and stick it to her thieving ex: scare him into returning her money by hiring a private investigator to prove he stole it. Only, there won’t be an actual detective, just a fabricated business card from Wyatt Investigations . . . and a ridiculously hot stranger, who steps in to play the part—a stranger whose name is, coincidentally, Wyatt.

Emersyn can’t help but notice the real-life Wyatt is capital H-O-T hot, even though she’s wary of his intentions. But her ex does seem flustered, and if she can get her money back and regain control of her life, maybe it’ll finally prove to her parents that she can be a responsible caregiver to her niece.

But the day after they set their plan in motion, the superintendent of Emersyn’s apartment building winds up dead, and her neighbors turn to her fake detective agency for help after finding one of the phony business cards. With so many eyes on them—or maybe just their eyes on each other—Emersyn and Wyatt agree to take on the case. Now the question is, Can they solve the murder without getting tangled up in their own fictions—or each other?

“Fast-paced and quippy.”—Catherine Mack, USA Today bestselling author of Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies