Surviorship and a Blue Apron Meal I made my own.

 

I like Lynn Cahoon's Kitchen Witch series. I also loved the idea of this series since it is supposed to be about a cancer survivor starting a book club for survivors of cancer. Being diagnosed with cancer, cancer treatments, and losing friendships and romantic relationships as a result of the cancer experience are talked about early and often in this book. That can be triggering for some people who are looking for a cozy mystery. 

I listened to the audio version of this book. I liked the narrator's voice but I didn't like when she changed her voice for the main character Rarity or the sidekick Sam. Overall I liked characters in the book. I wasn't sold on the killer, I thought I knew the motive, but I was off a bit. This is a book worth reading and I will pick up the second book in the series. I almost always like the second book in a series better than the first!

A couple of years ago, I got an order from Blue Apron and one of the meals was baked eggs and kimchi. It was so good! I make this dish often now, especially in the wintertime. It's good any time of day and it's delicious if you add gochujang sauce on top! 

Preheat oven to 430 degrees F.

Use cooking spray to coat a 9x9 baker or an oven-safe skillet

Then add these ingredients to the pan:

2 tbsps minced ginger ( I use the frozen ginger that is minced already.)

2 tbsps minced garlic (or more if you love garlic)

3 green onions chopped

1 cup of mushrooms chopped

6 oz of baby spinach

2 tbsp sesame seed oil

3/4 cup of kimchi

1 cup of rice 

2 cups of water.

Mix that all up and cover the pan or skillet with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and mix everything up.

Then make 4 wells in the kimchi rice, crack an egg in each well. 

If you want--add rinsed sugar snap peas on top wherever you don't have an egg.

Put back in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until the eggs are set!

Then enjoy! If gochujang sauce is too spicy, try a little drizzled hoisin sauce on top. 

The Sunday Post- First Full Week of January is Complete

 

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

How did your week go? It was busy here, what with the having to go back to work after break and my mother-in-law's funeral. It was also cold and that makes me being able to run more difficult. Not only is it cold, but you have to try not to slip on ice. I don't know about you but I don't like falling down! 

I'm continuing to work on less scrolling and more reading! How are you doing with your New Year goals? 

I've wanted to read this book for a while and when I saw it on Hoopla I grabbed it. 

I read and reviewed On the Edge for Anne's Blog:

And I also read Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke. I'll write about that later this month becuase it's the January read for the Cozy Mystery Book Club! 

The Sunday Post- Back To The Old Grind Tomorrow

   

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

I just remembered I signed up to bring a dish to the breakfast potluck we have at work tomorrow. It's an institute day so not only do I need to bring a dish, I start work at 8 a.m. instead of 8:45 a.m. On the plus side, we have a three-day weekend coming up. I also reviewed the school calendar and there are only 22 weeks left of the school year and only 11 of them are full five-day weeks. 

This all probably sounds like I don't like my job, but I do! I love it.  It can been draining so I cherish the time off to recharge. One thing I need to do to make life easier is to meal plan for dinners, and better yet, meal prep so I don't have to spend as much time cooking after work. Do you have any easy recipes you make?

This week I'm reading: 

Homicide in Hardcover-- The Cozy Mystery Club September Book!

 

I listened to the audio version of this book. I couldn't find it via Libby so I used an Audible credit so I could listen to the book before the book club. The audio was good. I did get stuck when one character was in the scene.  He sounded so smarmy, I don't know if that was because of how he was voiced or written--but he is the love interest, so I am not sure about that!  

The main character Brooklyn grew up in a commune and is a book restorer.  Her mom and her best friend are quirky. The story has creative red herrings and will keep you guessing about who did it and why! 

One part at the end was in 'too dumb to live' territory, in my opinion. I will leave you to check out this quick cozy read and if you do, let me know what you think! As always with the first book in the series, the book can be a little shaking or have a lot of characters and then things really hit their stride as the series goes on, so if you enjoy the first book, more good stuff to come! 

The Sunday Post-- I survived!

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. you can write about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

I survived the first week of pre-K, and I now have one week of working with the most delightful three- and four-year-olds!  Were there tears?  Yes. Where they mine? No!  Then when I got home from work I had a snack and took a nap. Seriously--and I bet the kiddos did the same. It's going to be such a treat to see how much the students change as the year goes on. I also look forward to getting better at my job! 

How was your week?  Can you believe this upcoming weekend will be Labor Day weekend?  I can. The summer I had was packed with travel, medical stuff, and thinking back it seems like I was working summer school ages ago. 

I just finished listening to Dead and Gondola in time to take part in the Cozy Mystery Book Club livestream on Tuesday. Speaking of the Cozy Mystery Book Club, I'm going to be doing a guest blog post for the 12 Days of Cozies in December! I'm so excited I have to turn it in by October 15! I plan to talk about a few Christmas Cozy Mysteries and share a cookie recipe I love.

In my own person book news, my latest book Is This Love Fur Real? was a sponsor on this weeks Fated Mates podcast.  You can hear it around the 45-minute Mark! Here is a link to the episode: https://fatedmates.net/episodes

Cozy Mystery Book Club April Live Stream- Tomorrow at 7PM EST!

 

Join me in the comments tomorrow at 7PM EST with lots of other readers of Cozy Mysteries! 

This month's selection is A Brush With Murder by Bailee Abbott.  I had an ARC of this book from Net Galley back in 2021 and reviewed it here on my blog.  Here is a link to that review: 

A Brush With Murder

Each month people who comment in the live stream are entered to win books, so it's not only fun to comment, you can win a new book in the process!

Now on to a little food talk. I enjoy cooking, and a really enjoy eating good food, so about once a month I treat myself to a box from Blue Apron. This month one of the meals I picked was Oven-Baked Korean-Style Eggs & Rice. It was a meal that all you do is put together the ingredients and bake.  It was delicious and easy enough for me to make it myself in the future.  It's a good anytime of day meal. What do you think? Does it look good to you?

The Cozy Mystery Club March Edition --Tomorrow Night on You Tube!

 

It seems like I was just sharing the link for February's Cozy Mystery Book Club live stream, and here we are already on the cusp of March's live stream. This month's book is Murder in a Scottish Shire by Traci Hall. You can watch the live stream and join us for the fun in the comments where we all share what we loved (and what left us lacking) in this month's club selection. Angela enters all comments for a chance to win books so it's a good time to chat with your fellow cozy lovers! 

This book is the first book in the Scottish Shire series. The book is written with lots of Scottish dialect, which can be distracting, I got the vibe that the book was not written by someone who is Scottish. Our Amateur Slueth is Paislee who is a single mom of a 10-year-old who owns a knitting shop. There is a nice amount of knitting talk in the book and it factors into the murder, so that is what you want to see when you read a crafty cozy. 

The book was published in 2020, but the sensibilities of our main character were a real throwback. She often talks about the shame and embarrassment she has from having a kid out of wedlock.  She goes on to say that she has not had sex or dated since her son was born and won't do either of those things until he is finished with school. I don't want to go on about how that rankled me, so I'll leave it there.

There are several subplots going on throughout this book, and much is not resolved at the end of the book,  so if you enjoy Paislee or the town of Nairn,  you can go right on to the next book from this one and hopefully find out more about the Knitting Shop and Grandpa's missing son. 

I found the reveal of the murderer and circumstances in the book to be on the darker and more depressing side.  So keep that in mind if you are looking for a cozy, cozy. 

My Spring Break Is Here! #TheSundayPost

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

My goodness, the last week of March is here already! I have the week off school and I am looking forward to more reading and more K-Dramas! How about you? Do you have any plans for the upcoming week? 

Last week I didn't do a good job of managing my time so that meant the posts I had planned to post didn't happen -so here is what I'm blogging about this week:

This Month's Read for The Cozy Mystery Book Club

 

On YouTube on Tuesday at 6 PM Central Time Angela is hosting our monthly Cozy Mystery Book Club you can join me in the comments there. 

I'm looking forward to chatting about this cozy. I don't think we have read a book where we have a single mom of a teenager in quite a while. I enjoyed the family dynamic. Our Amateur Sleuth is a successful thriller writer so she is a very curious sleuth. In the book, she butts heads with the local sheriff that just happens to look almost identical to her main character. I loved that conceit--especially in the way Tamara Berry has Tess Harrow make notes to use what happens at the cabin in her book to overcome some writer's block.  It's the wink and a nod to us readers of cozy mysteries that amps up the fun while reading this book.

If you like humorous cozies, I recommend giving this book a read, I think you will find yourself laughing along!

4 Stars!

Pies and Prejudice This Month's Cozy Mystery Book Club

 

I really, really enjoyed Ellery Adams' Secret, Book and Scone society. This series is an earlier series by the same author, Pies and Prejudice is the first book in that series. I picked up this book to read because it's the January 2023 selection for the Cozy Mystery Book Club. 

On Tuesday, January 31st, you can watch the live stream where Angela and Ben will talk about the book and all of us Cozy Mystery Book Club in the comments where we chat and share our thoughts and hot takes on the cozy of the month-- 

I listened to the audio version of this book. I stumbled a little in my listening because a few southern accents seemed very over the top to me, I don't know if that was on purpose or not.  The mystery and the whodoneit of this book are good.  The pie-baking talk is nice and if you enjoy a slueth who actively tries to figure out the murder, this book fits that bill. 

The book includes a high school nemesis and for me, that is a trope I don't enjoy.  Our MC has moved back to Georgia after she catches her husband of 7-years cheating. She was in New York City during her marriage and during that time she didn't speak to her mother at all. This really didn't make sense to me throughout the book. She doesn't speak to her mom for 7 ye but comes home with just the clothes on her back and her dog when she catches her husband in flagrant delicato with not one but two women, but her mom redoes a place for her to stay and her mom and her aunts fun a business for her --the Charmed Pie Shoppe. The text for me didn't make it clear why she and her mom wouldn't have spoken. There isn't a big enough riff. 

The book has light magical realism and is pretty standard cozy until the very end. The book ends with reveals that move it from magical realism to contemporary fantasy. Depending on how large a part magical beings play in book two, this may or may not appeal to you. Will I read the next book in this series?  First I need to read the rest of the books in the Secret, Book and Scone Society series because I loved the first book and want to return to Miracle Springs, NC. Once I have caught up on that series, I plan to check out the synopses for the second book in this series in order to decide if it's a book I'd enjoy or if I should check out Ellery Adams other series. 

3 Stars for Pies and Prejudice and 5 stars for writer Ellery Adams. 

Thank you #NetGalley #MrsClausandtheEvilElves A Mrs. Claus Mystery by Liz Ireland!

The third installment of this funny and fanciful cozy mystery series is out September 27th and I was lucky enough to get an ARC to read and share my thoughts with ya'll! 

If you are someone who listens to Christmas music by the time Halloween rolls around, this book is for you. In fact, if you haven't already started this series and you are a Christmas fan, you are slacking and need to add this series to your list ASAP!

Because this is an ARC, they prefer that I don't share text from the book as it might change before publication, so you will just have to take my word that this book is filled with some funny lines. There are lots of good jokes to be made in Santaland. In this book, April's best friend from down south comes up for Christmas. I was glad that April had a best friend sidekick for this book, and hopefully, she will be back for future installments. We also got to see more interaction between April and Nick (aka Santa) in this book, it was enjoyable to read their scenes as they get more used to their unique married life. 

If you want a fun, humorous cozy mystery with all those Christmas vibes, this is the series to read, on a cozy afternoon, with a cup of cocoa in your hand! 
 

July's Cozy Mystery Book Club Book: Murder, She Knit

Murder, She Knit was the book selected by the Cozy Mystery Book Club for July. On this month's live stream Angela is joined by Amanda who is an actual knitter, so that was nice to get a knitter POV on a book that focuses on a group of knitters.  You can watch the live stream here:

 

My thoughts on the book. There are some amateur sleuths I vibe with and those I just don't connect with and it doesn't even have particular reasoning to it.  Pamela the slueth in this book isn't someone I want to spend more time with, I found her to be fussy and judgmental. She was for me like an older more set in her ways Hannah Swenson, another sleuth I don't want to hang out with even though she has cookies 24/7.  Loads of people love Hannah, she's just not for me.  This series is now on at least book nine, clearly, many people like spending time with Pamela.

For me, Pamela and the majority of the characters in this book were too flat. As for the murder, I had a really hard time believing it was possible for that character to have killed that other character with the particular weapon used and that they would have been successful in the killing. Attacking yes, killing... no. 

Three stars for this book for me, but maybe you'll really dig it--it does have a great Thanksgiving vibe so if you are looking for a seasonal Thanksgiving cozy, this is a contender! 

A Fabulous Cozy Series, The Secret, Book, & Scone Society-

 If you've read my blog at all, you know that cozy mysteries are a favorite genre of mine.  There are so many cozy series out there that you can find a cozy for anyone. Some series work for me and some aren't my cup of tea, that's what makes variety the spice of life!

This first book in a series worked for me.  I enjoy books with a group of people who connect and become friends, extra credit if they've been around the block and have been through some things.  So this group who deliberately decides to become friends by sharing the bad stuff in their past really hits the spot. Then you add in just a touch of magic by having the setting be a town where people go for healing, and you set the book in the Appalachian Mountains?  AND there is loads of baked goods talk--I'm IN!

This book puts together a great Scooby Doo mystery crew.  I thought Ellery Adams does an excellent job portraying Nora's struggle as someone who has been burned.  Burn recovery is a horribly painful process and I think that readers who have many types of chronic illness or have been in an accident or fire would relate to Nora's POV and feel represented. 

Also, there is a murder mystery--there is that too. Do I have any complaints?  I don't think I do, I often get annoyed when the cozy sleuth goes off and puts themselves in danger, but in this case, Nora doesn't go off alone. 

5 stars, excellent cozy!

Happy Late July Sunday!

  

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

Happy July! I hope you have been having a nice summer. I started back posting last week and this is the first time I've been able to rejoin The Sunday Post since mid May. Busy in a good way! Last weekend we had the graduation party for our college and high school grads and now we are helping our youngest get everything ready to head off to college next month. 

Plus it's officially Leo season!  My birthday is coming soon.  I was thinking the other day that my 40s were pretty crummy and so I'm going to make an effort to have a better decade in my 50s  Of course it would help if the world would just be a nicer, more considerate place. My thought is to control what I can control.  

How about you? How is 2022 going for you? 

This week I'll be posting about some books I have recently read:

The Coloring Crook by Krista Davis

 I read the first book of this series by Krista Davis--because I really enjoy her Diva Cozy Mystery Series. I thought the first book was OK but I didn't really connect with Florrie our amateur sleuth and there was a subplot where a family friend will not take Florrie no for an answer and she keeps trying to get him to stop expressing interest in her and he keeps doing it anyway.

ICK! 

That being said I know that second books can be so much better than the first book in the series so I decided, to get The Coloring Crook.   I should have finished this book already but I got distracted and am also reading The Lord of Population by Elizabeth Stephens --it's a dystopian nightmare romance with warring humans and vampire aliens! 

But that's not all, I'm also over halfway through with Renovated To Death  by Frank Anthony Polito--this is an upcoming cozy from Kensington Books--it features a gay couple who have a home renovation reality TV show.  

Yes I know I need to stop rotating between these three books and just finish them one by one!

Hope you are having a great week! 

The Cracked Spine --This Month's Cozy Mystery Club Selection

Have you read this cozy mystery? It's this month's book selection for the Cozy Mystery Book Club! If you have read The Cracked Spine by Paige Shelton or if you don't mind spoilers, join us for the book club live stream on Tuesday, March 29th at 6:00 pm EST.  The link is below:

 

I enjoyed this book and will be reading on in the series!  Here are my bullet points of what I enjoyed:

*Great setting, A bookstore in Scotland, what's not to love! 

*There is a budding romance that doesn't involve the sleuth and a police detective. 

*Our sleuth quickly finds a real home and a community that embraces her

*Paige Shelton gives us a plenty of potential suspects but we are able to keep the characters straight.

* Delaney doesn't spend a bunch of time in her head worried about her weight!

*Possible hint of otherworldly happenings as one would expect in Scotland

*Men in kilts!

There is plenty of room for us to learn much more about the characters we met in the story, I liked them and I thought the mystery was good, but I don't feel that connection to Delaney or the other characters that move a cozy from a 4 to a 5. I hope that book two will give me that connection.

Overall a nice, cozy read! 4 out of 5 stars

And Then There Were Crumbs #TheCozyMysteryBookClub January Book!

 I am glad that The Cozy Mystery Club is kicking off 2022 with this book, the last couple of books we read were more miss than hit for me, so it was nice to start the year with this solid cozy.  You can join us on YouTube tomorrow for the live stream.  Ben and Angela are always fun when they talk about cozies!

I

 think this is a really good start to a cozy series.  I love the location and while there are a lot of characters, we really get to know the key people around Kate.  I enjoyed how residents of the town embraced Kate right off the bat, it made me feel like I was in Hallmark Movie.

A couple of things make this book a stand-out Cozy.  First of all, the way the killer angle is approached is so clever!  (I cannot say more, you must read this book!) and secondly Maxi is a fantastic sidekick, she isn't just comic relief, she is right there in the thick of it with Kate and lends a lot to the story. She is more a partner-in -solving-crime than a sidekick, I really enjoyed that part of the book.

Oh, I almost forgot one more trait this book had that made it rise above many cozies for me.  Kate has a small almost magical skill.  I am a huge fan of an amateur sleuth that has one unique skill that sets her apart.

5 stars! 

The Inconvenient Corpse A Cozy Mystery Review!

Want to know a secret? I got this book for free!  Would you like to get free cozies?  Here is a link to join a Cozy Mystery Book Club run by 24 Cozy Writers.  Each month you get two free cozies and you can join a monthly discussion group!  Plus if you are interested there is a Facebook group and a discord server as well!

Here is the link to join! 

Now on to the book review, here is the blurb for this book: 

A handsome movie star in her kitchen, and a corpse in the swimming pool. Just your typical Monday morning….

Maggie McJasper is starting over in a little California beach town. She has a bead shop, a nice circle of friends, and a handsome movie star who keeps flirting with her. Life would be pretty great if she could just stop stumbling over dead bodies….

Do you like dogs, crafts, quirky friends, a slow-building romance between grownups who genuinely like each other, and a twisty little mystery with red herrings galore? Then this is for you.

The Maggie & Jasper Capers are fun and flirty cozies, with no swearing or love scenes, and no gruesome violence to keep you up at night. 

******

As an indication of my enjoyment of this book let me tell you what I did as soon as I finished this book.  I downloaded book two in this series! 

I found this book to be a delightful cozy and I recommend you read it too. As it says above this book has

a craft, beadwork, something I know nothing about so that was interesting.  Barbara Cool Lee does an excellent job of giving depth not only to Maggie but also to the people around her.  The setting is a small town but we have rich part-time residents and year-round locals to give lots of room for friction. Add in a smart and sweet dog plus the slow-burn romance between friends and you have a great read!

5 Stars! 

Overdue Review of the November Cozy Mystery Club Review and My Oldest Elf!

 This review is overdue, I like to post about each month's book the day before the live stream. This time it's oh about a month late. 

Things I liked about this book:

1. Good food talk with recipes throughout the book.

2. Sleuther actively sleuthing.

3. The protagonist was a single mom with two kids.

4. Some diversity 

What was not so much for me:

1. Our sleuth was just this side of 'too dumb to live'

2. The male love interests were terrible.  Bad choices!

3. During the whole book, Hayley, the main character, keeps correcting the Sheriff who speaks English as a second language it's a very cringey ongoing 'joke'.  It would be so much better in my opinion if it turned out that the Sheriff was in on the joke and was making the errors on purpose to get his sister-in-law riled up, but that's not how it's played.

Overall I give this book 3 stars, I don't know if I will continue this series--there are just so many books on my list already!

And to finish today's post here is a picture of my eldest as an elf for work at our local Park department!

#

#TheSundayPost Holy Cow It's Less Than A Week Til Chirstmas! Where Have I Been?

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

Hi! How are you?  

Everything is good by me, the family is healthy and boosted. I'm healthy and boosted.  I've had a really busy last six weeks with Tastefully Simple work. I sold a lot of bread, cakes, and spices. Which is great! And has been super helpful for paying the oldest child's college tuition. With all that, my reading and my blogging went to the wayside. Hopefully I can get it back on track now, I have a few books read so I can fill this week with posts, and then this week I should be able to read some more for the next week and so on. You know how it goes.

So how have you been? Are you ready for the Christmas holiday?  I suppose I am as ready as I will be this year! I've got about 30 more cards to mail out tomorrow and I think that will put me at about 75ish cards mailed, based on how many stamps I have used.  My goal was to mail 100 cards, but I just ran out of people's addresses.  Or should I say I couldn't find enough people willing to give me their addresses! 

I have also given away all the cookies I made--but I think I'm going to make a batch of my favorite cookies, Spritz Cookies, today or this coming week. 

Books I'll be talking about this week:

This is a novella, really inexpensive,  I'll tell you more about it tomorrow! 

#TheStarlightMintSurpriseMurder #NetGalley

Ohoooo I think this one is going to be the first book in a new series--a spin-off with two characters from the Shayla Murphy Mystery series in Ireland! 

And last of all for the week,

Have a wonderful Sunday! Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate you!