Monday, September 24, 2018

Review: Shattered At Sea by: Cheryl Hollon

By    Monday, September 24, 2018 // No comments

Title: Shattered At Sea
Author: Cheryl Hollon
Publisher: Kensington
Series: A Webb's Glass Shop Mystery #5
Pages: 304
Format: e-book ARC
Source: GEBT & NetGalley

Description:

A Mediterranean cruise gives glass shop owner Savannah Webb a chance to demonstrate her expertise—and fire up her skills when it comes to foul play . . .

When Savannah signs on to perform glassblowing on a ship, part of the appeal is that she’ll get a chance to reconnect with her boyfriend Edward’s family. An added bonus is that Edward’s cousin, Ian, will be joining them on board. But when Ian disappears at the beginning of the cruise, the ship’s authorities initially consider it suicide. 

Savannah tries to balance her growing suspicions with work on her shows, but her relationship with the other glass artists begins to crack. And she can’t let love color her judgment when Edward suddenly jumps to the top of the suspect list. His fate is in Savannah’s hands, and she’ll do everything she can—on land and sea—to clear his name . . .

My Thoughts:

Savannah Web and Edward Morris are headed to a wonderful cruise while Savannah works at glassblowing.  With a quick trip into England where they meet up with Ian Edward's cousin and Edwards parents.  There she learns more about England and Edward's family.  Ian, Savannah and Edward are going on the cruise.  Quickly on the cruise Ian goes missing.  Where did he go and why?

The security on the cruise ship is determined that Ian committed suicide.  Savannah and Edward aren't so easily convinced.  Finally word from Florida cops gets to the cruise ship and they agree to let Savannah help them.  This story really leads into learning more about Ian and Edward from when they were kids.

I love reading about glassblowing and also enjoy the contributes made by Jacob who goes beyond what people think he can do.  It paints a positive light on Asperger's syndrome.  I also loved reading about the twins Ruth and Faith they crack me up with their zest for wanting to help even if it is very unorthodox.

I can't wait to see what is next for Edward and Savannah!   They are so cute together and I think these books just get better over time.  Definitely look forward to the next one in this incredible series!
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Friday, September 21, 2018

Review: Merry and Bright by: Debbie Macomber

By    Friday, September 21, 2018 // No comments
Title: Merry and Bright
Author: Debbie Macomber
Publisher: Ballantine
Pages: 224
Format: e-book
Source: Hardcover

Description:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Christmas is the season of the heart, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber is here to warm yours with a delightful holiday novel of first impressions and second chances.

Merry Knight is pretty busy these days. She’s taking care of her family, baking cookies, decorating for the holidays, and hoping to stay out of the crosshairs of her stressed and by-the-book boss at the consulting firm where she temps. Her own social life is the last thing she has in mind, much less a man. Without her knowledge, Merry’s well-meaning mom and brother create an online dating profile for her—minus her photo—and the matches start rolling in. Initially, Merry is incredulous, but she reluctantly decides to give it a whirl.

Soon Merry finds herself chatting with a charming stranger, a man with similar interests and an unmistakably kind soul. Their online exchanges become the brightest part of her day. But meeting face-to-face is altogether different, and her special friend is the last person Merry expects—or desires. Still, sometimes hearts can see what our eyes cannot. In this satisfying seasonal tale, unanticipated love is only a click away.

My Thoughts:

Merry Knight has a busy schedule helping her family with their needs plus working at a firm where the boss is a stickler for all sorts of details.  She does her best to avoid him but that isn't always the case and it gets worse with her family when they sign her up for a dating site  There she meets a man and gets to know him and when she finally goes to meet him she's is shocked by who shows up.  Unable to deal with seeing the mystery man she takes off.

This was such a cute romance at Christmas time.  As we watch Merry and her boss Jay work around each other and get to know one another. Definitely a book you can read time and again especially at the holidays!
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Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Review: Die Like An Eagle by: Donna Andrews

By    Wednesday, September 19, 2018 // No comments
Title: Die Like An Eagle
Author: Donna Andrews
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Series: Meg Langslow #30
Pages: 293
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description:

Meg is Team Mom and Michael is coach of their twin sons' youth baseball team, the Caerphilly Eagles. Meg tangles with Biff Brown, the petty, vindictive league head. On opening day, Biff's lookalike brother is found dead in the porta-potty at the ball field. So many people think Biff's scum that it would be easy to blame him, but he has an alibi--and Meg suspects he may actually have been the intended victim.

With Die Like an Eagle, readers can look forward to another zany Meg Langslow mystery--this one filled with the spirit of America's pastime and Donna's eagle eye.

Like Meg Langslow, the blacksmith heroine of her series, Donna Andrews was born and raised in Yorktown, Virginia. She introduced Meg to readers in her Malice Domestic Contest-winning first mystery, Murder with Peacocks, and readers are still laughing. This novel swept up the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and a Romantic Times award for best first novel, and a Lefty for funniest mystery.

My Thoughts:

Baseball season has hit and Meg is definitely a Team Mom doing everything she can to help the Eagles have a successful season!  With Michael coaching the team including their twins it's bound to be fun.  The only wrinkle in the baseball season is Biff Brown who is a real pill.  He's the president of the summerball league and won't take anyone's suggestions to improve the league.  In fact usually just the opposite!

When Meg finds what she thinks is Biff dead in a porta potty on Opening Day she quickly learns that's his half brother Shep who is a dead ringer for his brother so it begs the question was someone trying to kill Biff or Shep and why?

Biff has no shortage of enemies from parent's he's ticked off by crappy field to play in or lack of equipment or rules against having practices at one another's house.  Or was it work related due to shotty work or unfilled contracts?

Of course this brings Meg into the fold as she is trying to get a meeting with Biff to see where he's coming on the town square restoration work.  Biff is avoiding Meg like the plague.  Why is he being so mysterious?  Of course Meg being Meg dig deep to get the bottom of things.

I really enjoy this series it's fun, and has tons of adventure and a small town that is starting to rival Cabot Cove with the murder rates.  But I still love it anyway especially with all the quirky residents who really keep you on your toes!
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018

Book Blast: A Crafter Knits A Clue by: Holly Quinn

By    Tuesday, September 11, 2018 // No comments

Book Blast

A Crafter Knits a Clue: A Handcrafted Mystery by Holly Quinn

About the Book


NEW COZY MYSTERY SERIES SET IN WISCONSIN 
Crooked Lane Books (October 9, 2018) Hardcover 
ISBN-10: 1683317718 ISBN-13: 978-1683317715 
Digital ASIN: B078LZ5ZM5 
For fans of Betty Hechtman and Maggie Sefton, the latest craft frenzy is Holly Quinn’s Handcrafted series debut.
Sammy Kane just moved back to her hometown to run a craft store. But when the owner of a nearby yarn shop is murdered, Sammy will needle little help finding the killer.
When a heartbroken Samantha “Sammy” Kane returns to her hometown of Heartsford, WI, for her best friend Kate’s funeral, she learns that Kate’s much-loved craft store is in danger of perishing with its owner. Confounding all her expectations of the life she would live, Sammy moves back home with her golden retriever and takes over Community Craft. A few doors down Main Street, fellow new arrival Ingrid Wilson has just opened the Yarn Barn, a real “purl” of a shop. But when Sammy strolls over to see if Ingrid could use a little help, she finds Ingrid’s dead body—with a green aluminum knitting needle lodged in her throat.
Detective Liam Nash is thrown for a loop as every single citizen of Heartsford seems to have a theory about Ingrid’s murder. And nearly everyone in town seems to be a suspect. But the last time Sammy did any sleuthing was as a little moppet. And this is not fun and games. Sammy is eager to help the handsome Liam—who seems to be endlessly inventive in finding reasons to talk with her—and when Liam arrests affable woodworker Miles Danbury, Sammy puts everything on the line to help clear Miles.
As the case comes dangerously close to unraveling, Sammy must stitch the clues together. But the killer has other plans—and if Sammy’s not careful, she may wind up in a perilous knot in A Crafter Knits a Clue, the first warm and woolly yarn of Holly Quinn’s new Handcrafted mysteries.

About the Author

Holly Quinn is both an avid reader and crafter. Holly sells her artistic creations locally and dreamed of one day opening a gift shop to sell local artist’s handiwork. Instead, she began writing about it and thus her journey of the Handcrafted Mystery series was born.

Visit her @ www.authorhollyquinn.com 
Author Links -  Website - www.authorhollyquinn.com
  Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HollyQuinnbooks/
  GoodReads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7940795.Holly_Quinn

YOU CAN PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!!! Amazon | B&N| IndieBound| BAM| Powell's | Walmart | BookBub

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Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Review: Flower Power Fatality by: Sally Carpenter

By    Tuesday, September 04, 2018 // No comments

Title: Flower Power Fatality
Author: Sally Carpenter
Publisher: Cozy Cat Press
Series: A Psychedelic Spy Mystery
Pages: 236
Format: e-book
Source: GEBT

Description:

The Cold War gets cozy in this retro-cozy spy caper set in 1967, a year of music, miniskirts-and murder! Actress Noelle McNabb works at the Country Christmas Family Fun Park in Yuletide, Indiana, but she longs for the bright lights of Hollywood. Real-life drama comes her way when a stranger with a fatal gunshot wound stumbles across her doorstep. When she attempts to finds the man's murderer, Noelle encounters a super-secret spy agency, SIAMESE (Special Intelligence Apparatus for Midwest Enemy Surveillance and Espionage). SIAMESE recruits Noelle on a quest to find missing microdots under the guidance of a street-wise agent, Destiny King. As Noelle goes undercover in a cheesy nightclub and faces the enemy in late-night chases, she uncovers family secrets and finds her moral values put to the test. Along with her pet cat, Ceebee, and the kooky residents of Yuletide, Noelle discovers it takes a village to catch a killer.

My Thoughts:

Noelle has big dreams of making it as an actress right now it is only working at a Fun Park as a wicked Witch.  That night at home she has a mysterious stranger show up and collapses in her house from a gun shot wound.  Next thing Noelle knows she is being contacted by Dash who works for the mysterious company Siamese and needs her help with some undercover work.  This talent utilizes all the actress skills Noelle has in her pocket.  Who killed the mysterious man and why?  Will Noelle figure it out or will she be snuffed out?

I loved this book with it's trip down the lane of the 60's with hippies, war veterans and people who avoid the draft.  Noelle is a quirky character trying to help where she can even if she has no idea what she is doing and the only thing she goes by is what she has seen on Mission Impossible.  I also love her younger brother and his Star Trek obsession it was hilarious at parts.

Definitely a great mystery that went by faster than the Enterprise can fly I couldn't put it down at all!  Can't wait to see what is next for Noelle and where she will wind up!
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