Review: Relatively Dead by: Sheila Connolly

Title: Relatively Dead
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Beyond The Page
Series: Relatively Dead #1
Page: 211
Format: e-book
Source: Purchase

Description:

Abby Kimball has just moved to New England with her boyfriend and is trying to settle in, but the experience is proving to be quite unsettling, to say the least. While on a tour of local historic homes, Abby witnesses a family scene that leaves her gasping for breath—because the family has been dead for nearly a century. Another haunting episode follows, and another, until it seems to Abby that everything she touches is drawing her in, calling to her from the past.

Abby would doubt her sanity if it weren’t for Ned Newhall, the kind and knowledgeable guide on that disturbing house tour. Rather than telling her she’s hallucinating, Ned takes an interest in Abby’s strange encounters and encourages her to figure out what’s going on, starting with investigating the story of the family she saw . . . and exploring her own past. 

My Thoughts: 

Abby Kimball is new to New England moving with her boyfriend for his work and finds herself without something to do so she decides to investigate the area with different house tours.  When she feels connected to a house local resident Ned Newhall he believes in her and helps her learn about her family and past.

Abby finds herself questioning her relationship with her boyfriend and finally decides enough is enough and moves on from him.  She secures a job and town and spends more time with Ned and feels like she's learning more and more about her gift and her family history.

It was a great adventure and interesting to read how Abby deals with it.  Was definitely worth it and will be a great read for anyone who loves paranormal gifts or psychics.  I know I loved it!

Read More

Review: Delivering The Truth by: Edith Maxwell

Title: Delivering The Truth
Author: Edith Maxwell
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Series: Quaker Midwife Mystery #1
Pages: 297
Format: e-book
Source: Personal Purchase

Description:

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll hears secrets and keeps confidences as she attends births of the rich and poor alike in an 1888 Massachusetts mill town. When the town’s world-famed carriage industry is threatened by the work of an arsonist, and a carriage factory owner’s adult son is stabbed to death with Rose's own knitting needle, she is drawn into solving the mystery. Things get dicey after the same owner’s mistress is also murdered, leaving her one-week-old baby without a mother. The Quaker poet and abolitionist John Greenleaf Whittier helps Rose by lending words of advice and support. While struggling with being less than the perfect Friend, Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to bring two murderers to justice before they destroy the town’s carriage industry and the people who run it. 

My Thoughts:

This book follows Rose Carroll whose a midwife in Massachusetts back in 1880 where you see all sorts of things with pregnant women.  When a fire burns down a local factory everyone is upset about it in their own way.  When a young mother winds up dead it's up to Rose to figure out what happened and why?

This book was a great introduction into Rose Carroll and her life in 1880's along with her beau meeting the residents and watching as Rose sniffs out the clues to figure out who had the most to gain in the death of the young mother!  Can't wait to see what is the next in this thrilling series!

Read More

Review: Eagle & Crane by: Suzanne Rindell

Title: Eagle & Crane
Author: Suzanne Rindell
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 434
Format: Hardcover
Source: Library

Description:

Two young daredevil flyers confront ugly truths and family secrets during the U.S. internment of Japanese citizens during World War II, from the author of The Other Typist and Three-Martini Lunch.

Louis Thorn and Haruto "Harry" Yamada -- Eagle and Crane -- are the star attractions of Earl Shaw's Flying Circus, a daredevil (and not exactly legal) flying act that traverses Depression-era California. The young men have a complicated relationship, thanks to the Thorn family's belief that the Yamadas -- Japanese immigrants -- stole land that should have stayed in the Thorn family. 

When Louis and Harry become aerial stuntmen, performing death-defying tricks high above audiences, they're both drawn to Shaw's smart and appealing stepdaughter, Ava Brooks. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and one of Shaw's planes mysteriously crashes and two charred bodies are discovered in it, authorities conclude that the victims were Harry and his father, Kenichi, who had escaped from a Japanese internment camp they had been sent to by the federal government. To the local sheriff, the situation is open and shut. But to the lone FBI agent assigned to the case, the details don't add up.

Thus begins an investigation into what really happened to cause the plane crash, who was in the plane when it fell from the sky, and why no one involved seems willing to tell the truth. By turns an absorbing mystery and a fascinating exploration of race, family and loyalty, Eagle and Crane is that rare novel that tells a gripping story as it explores a terrible era of American history.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows dare devils Louis and Harry who've decided to join a flying group going around to towns doing air shows.  While there the two fall in love with the same girl.  As the story progresses we also learn about the history between the two families who have been rivaling for years even though Harry's family isn't totally sure why.  When two burned bodies show up the assumption is that it was Harry and his father but the question is who helped them?

This book also spans during the Japanese camps in California during World War II.  Conditions weren't great by a long shot and it was a captivating story that span years.  It brought you right in with Harry and Louis and wondering how the story would end.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and would read it again!

Read More

Review: Murder's No Votive Confidence by: Christin Brecher

Title: Murder's No Votive Confidence
Author: Christin Brecher
Publisher: Kensington
Series: Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery #1
Pages: 285
Format: e-book ARC
Source: NetGalley

Description:

Nantucket candle store owner Stella Wright specializes in creating unique candles for every occasion. But someone sets the stage for murder when a Memorial Day celebration becomes a wedding to die for . . . 

Jessica Sterling’s candlelight-themed nuptial promises to be the perfect kick-off to the summer’s first official holiday weekend. Stella’s thrilled to have been chosen to provide the decorative centerpiece for the wedding ceremony: a two-foot, tall scented unity candle—a symbol of the happy couple’s love. But it looks like the bride-to-be’s uncle won’t be walking his niece down the aisle after he’s found dead. The murder weapon is Stella’s seemingly indestructible candle, now split in two. 

When a beloved local bartender is arrested, Stella’s sure a visiting police Captain running the case made a rush to justice. With superstitious brides-to-be cancelling orders and sales waxing and waning at her store, the Wick & Flame owner decides to do some sleuthing of her own. Abetted by a charming reporter and challenged by the town’s sexiest cop, Stella’s determined to shine a light on the truth and uncover a killer who’s snuffing out her own flame.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows Stella Wright whose owning a candle store hoping to branch out into weddings and other decorations for her friend Jessica's wedding.  When Jessica's uncle winds up dead and the candle is in sight, Stella wonders if her business is ruined?  A local bartender is arrested and Stella finds out what his story is she is more determined to get to the bottom of the real story.  Everyone in Nantucket seems to be hiding something now it's up to Stella to figure who really killed Jessica Sterling's uncle and why!

This is a cute cozy mystery than centers around candles and the Sterling Wedding.  You find yourself meeting all sorts of people wondering which one of them was up to no good and why?  The author has you chasing along with Stella to find out what is going and who has the most to gain by the death!  

Definitely a great book that I couldn't put down until I was finished it pulled me along on a wonderfully bumpy ride that I'd love to go on again and again!

Read More