When You Read A Five Star Book and Can Only Hope It's The Start of a Series!

 

I listened to the audio version of this book and it is excellent. The reader is fantastic, she does an excellent job with all the characters. The main character of this book is Clara, and she is a hero you want to root for. What makes this book stand out from the crowd are these factors:

1.The Setting is Washington DC in the 1920s.

2. The side characters have their own story arcs and those don't take away from the main story.

3. A unique magic system in a mundane world.

4. Leslye Penelope includes actual historical people in the book in a very creative way.

That's about all I can tell you without going into spoiler land. When I started this book, I was hooked right away it has excellent pacing. 

If you read this book I'd love to hear your thoughts!

On the gardening front, I've harvested my first vegetable! 

The first 'fruits' of my garden labor! 

Hit It and Quit It by Kelly Reynolds! Do I like Sports Romance Now?

 

I pre-ordered this book not because I'm a fan of sports romance, but because I enjoyed Kelly's steamy Christmas Novellas. This is the first book in her new steamy small-town baseball series and I'm looking forward to the next installment. This book features the curvy Clarke and the nearly over-the-hill third baseman, Soren. He's got a bad reputation and Clarke has left her ex-fiance and a stagnant life in South Carolina. Of course, Soren falls first, how could he not! Clarke is really the heart and soul of the story and it is fun to see her growth during the book She comes into her own and she finds not only her people but also her person. 

There are lots of side characters in this book and I look forward to reading more about many of them as the books in this series continue!

Five Stars to this home run of a first in series! 

How about you, do you enjoy sports romance? 

And here is a picture of my raspberry bush, I'm hoping it is going to flower? I'm not sure if those will be flowers or leaves? 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

 I wish I had never read this book so I could read it again for the first time. This is such a lovely book. I hope they make it into a movie or a limited TV series so I could see the kids on the Island and that Cerulean Sea. Ideally, I'd love to see this book made into a Kdrama, I know it would be wonderful because Kdramas are slow and languid in their storytelling and so visually pleasing. 

There is conflict and strife in this book but there is also so much kindness and beautiful scenes of people becoming better than they have been. And the soundtrack of the book. I will always think of Lucy in the kitchen doing dishes when I hear Bobby Darrin sing Somewhere Beyond The Sea.  

I was so happy that this book was a cozy and warm as people said. If you haven't read it yet, maybe save it for a time when you need a little pick me up.  This story is all sorts of delightful and I'm so glad T.J. Klune wrote it. 

5 stars obviously! 

If you are having a rough week and are looking for a sign to treat yourself.  Here is your sign. Go read book, or jump in a lake, or have a double scoop ice cream cone!

Happy to be back in New Bison! #MurderisaPieceofCake #NetGalley

When I saw that the second book in Valerie Burns's series called A Baker Street Mystery was available on Net Galley, I quickly requested an ARC. Fortunately, my request was accepted and here we are!  I enjoy the setting of this book as I know it is based on the lovely, western Michigan town, of New Buffalo. 

We are back in town with Maddie who is almost ready to re-open Baby Cakes Bakery after the unfortunate events of the last book. April, Michael, Miss Hannah, and Leroy are back and once again trouble comes to their doorstep. I found this to be a good mystery, I wasn't sure who was doing the murdering and given the ending, the killer may very well still be out there. PLUS this book ends right before Maddy's Navy Admiral Dad is supposed to show up, so you've got me, Valerie Burns, I'm gonna pre-order the next book just as soon as I can!  

In between the murders, Maddy spends time with Michael at a winery that is very on-point for the area, there are lots of wineries! She also expands her small baking repertoire and I was really happy to see the recipe for her lemon meringue pie as well as her entry into the Spring Fling Festival.   

5 Stars, Thank you Net Galley for the ARC! All the opinions are mine! 

 

Since LIke A Sister is Coming out in March...Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett

 Here is how this cozy is described on Goodreads:

"Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semi-famous, mega-broke black actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. After witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she figures pursuing the fifteen-grand reward isn’t the craziest thing a Hollywood actress has done for some cash.

But what starts as simply trying to remember a speeding car soon blossoms into a full-on investigation. As Dayna digs deeper into the victim’s life, she wants more than just reward money. She’s determined to find the poor woman’s killer too. When she connects the accident to a notorious Hollywood crime spree, Dayna chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes and movie premieres. She loves every second—until someone tries to kill her."

*****

I had so much fun reading this book.  Kellye Garrett nails the struggles of mid-twenties life, trying to figure out what one wants to do now that they are grown up, how to support yourself as well as family members who are struggling, as well trying to have self-esteem when surrounded by the photoshopped and airbrushed beauty ideals. This is all wrapped in a funny cozy mystery. Dayna is a self-deprecating and most importantly very relatable amateur sleuth.  Her old friend and potential love interest (if she gets out of her own way) says she is a quitter, but we see a Dayna who is tenacious in pursuit of her goal to help her parents. 

The book takes place in Hollywood, a departure from the small town setting most cozy mysteries use, and this is a nice change of pace.  Sometimes in the first book in a series, the author introduces so many characters that it can be difficult to keep everyone straight as the story unfolds.  Hollywood Homicide avoids that pitfall. 

Kellye Garrett was able to lead me around and I completely discounted the actual killer in this book.  For me this book was a 5 star read, and I hope she will be able to write more in this series soon. There is only one more book after this one so far! Eek!  I need more Dayna!