Harry Dresden My Favorite Chicago Wizard!

It's handy that electronic equipment fizzles around Harry Dresden that way electronics are less a part of the story and you don't have as many obsolete electronic/internet references.  I read 6, 7, and 8 in the series one after the other, so I had to double-check what happened in what book. I was able to read and listen to this book switching from audio to kindle throughout.

As always I do enjoy the audio version of these books, and when I read them I hear the audio reader in my head. I found Blood Rites one of the books in the series that I *had* to keep reading--I mean we all know Harry is going to survive the latest evils in Chicago, but still!  I worry. 

In this installment, Kincaid is back, Harry hires him to help with Mavra an evil vampire from the Black Court.  I enjoy Kincaid and was glad he was back in a book. However, there is an attraction between Kincaid and Murphy and I somewhat ship Murphy and Harry so, I don't know how I feel about that.  Of course Harry is not a good relationship prospect for anyone. 

Speaking of relationships, in this book Thomas the super hot white court vampire moves up from an occasional guest appearance to being a supporting character. I was very pleased with this development. I like the flawed Thomas and I loved what happens in this story in relation to Harry and Thomas. AND Harry gets a dog. Mouse, Harry doesn't realize it, but we readers know Mouse will grow to become an excellent bodyguard for Harry and is certainly no mere dog.

This book brings the reader a more detailed understanding of the white court. Harry learns more about his mother and Kincaid sort of gets the girl.

Overall 4 stars.  

#TheSundayPost Ready for February?

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly 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 our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Grab your planner and make a note to celebrate some of these special February Days:

Groundhog Day is Feb 2 --and it's also Ukulele Day!

Feb 4th is Thank a Mail Carrier Day! 

Feb 12th is the Lunar New Year and also Galentine's Day

Feb 14th - of course- Is Valentine's Day

The 16th is Mardi Gras AKA Fat Tuesday or Paczki Day

That means Feb 17th is Ash Wednesday but take heart-

Feb 18th is Drink Wine Day! 

Be sure to come back to my blog tomorrow because I'll have a review up of "The Russian Cage" by Charlaine Harris! 

The whole month is Black History Month so if you need a push make a plan to spend time each week learning some Black History. As someone who likes podcasts let me recommend Uncivil by Gimlet Media. It's a short series and each episode included book recommendations.  

Question of the Day- Do you use a planner? Or do you like to wing it? 

Why Did I Buy Pie Crust? And Why You Should Read Mrs. Claus & The Santaland Slayings!

 Sometime in late October, I thought 2020 would be the year I made a pie from scratch, or rather the year I would buy premade crusts and then make the rest of a pie from scratch. I was thinking of pumpkin or sweet potato or apple.  I never got around to it, in part because I don't even like those pies that much.

Fast forward to now and I have pie crust that is going to expire in January and no desire to make any pie. I asked my Facebook group, Let's talk about food, beverages, books and more and a few members suggested quiche.  I didn't feel like doing a whole quiche so I looked around until I found an easy mini quiche recipe. What is nice about Add a Pinch's recipe is that it included instructions on how to start with a premade crust or you can use her recipe if you want make your own crust.   Here is the recipe

What I did was make 6 mini quiches with 3 eggs, 1/2 a cup of almond milk, and 1/2 a cup of mozzarella cheese for The Hubs who doesn't like much dairy.  Then I made 6 with 3 eggs 1/2 a cup of heavy cream and 3/4 cup of shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese.  In the almond milk quiches, I added bacon bits (fake bacon) and all the quiches have diced mushrooms, onion, and celery. 

 Here is one of my mini quiches served with a serving of shaved Brussel sprouts & spinach salad. The salad is tossed with olive oil/freshly squeezed lemon, salt, and pepper.  Using the premade pie crust is a very handy shortcut and if you prefer you can make the quiches crustless.  A nice weekend breakfast or lunch or brunch without spending a ton of time in the kitchen. 

Christmas week is here!  Do yourself a favor and pick up this holiday mystery, I know you will like it--heck judge it by its cover! 

 

Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings by Liz Ireland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hope that Liz Ireland had as much fun writing this cozy mystery as I did reading it. Ms. Ireland takes the stories of Rudolph, Frosty, Santa so many of us grew up with and creates Santaland. April is the fish out of water, having married Santa himself just three months and is not used to the cold, or the expectations of being a Claus. Add to that the bizarre murder of an Elf, and the whisper campaign that Santa is the killer, and we are off on a wild ride.

Sometimes in the first cozy in a series, readers can be overwhelmed by the size of the cast of characters. Liz Ireland avoids that problem here, and I don't know how she manages to do it, but she gives each of the side characters enough time on the page that they are fully fleshed-out characters.

And for foodie fans, there is a wonderful Croquembouche scene. Good stuff!

If you like Christmas movies or Cozy Mysteries, you have to read this book!

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Watching Fall Cooking and A Nice Afternoon Mystery!

 The highs are in the low 70s with sweater weather at night and I am ready to try all the fall recipes--and at the same time, I'm not really in the mood to cook. What is a person to do?  

Watch fall-themed cooking shows!  Food Network has a streaming service and I had a deal for one free year of the service so here I am binging the best Food Network has to offer in Autumn programming. 

One episode of The Kitchen is start-to-finish recipes I would actually want to make.  The link is here for the video and below is the description of the episode: 

"The Kitchen celebrates Fall with the two stars of the season: squash and pumpkins! Katie Lee makes her sticky-sweet Grilled Pumpkin BBQ-Glazed Pork Chops and Sunny Anderson whips up her Quick Wild Rice and Sausage Stuffed Mini Butternut Squash. Jeff Mauro makes a creamy Cacio e Pepe e Zucca pasta, and Katie puts her spin on squash with Spaghetti Squash Crust Pizza. Baker Renato Poliafito brings some pumped up Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and Geoffrey Zakarian spices things up with his Maple Chai Spiced Pepitas."

I really need to stop watching TV on an empty stomach. I am hungry but I don't want to get up and go downstairs to cook! Ha!

Here is a review of a book I recently won in a giveway- 

FOUR STARS

I enjoyed this novella. The story made for a nice afternoon escape. I found the gothic nature of the murder interesting and I found the main character interesting as she was much more introverted than your typical cozy mystery protagonist. I have mixed feelings about her aunt. I hope that in future installments Viv makes a local friend and finds a way to be able to use her computer skills legally to help people since that seems to be something she excels at and likes to do.

The backdrop of a town immersed in the Victorian age, with all the tech and conveniences of modern 2000s life is interesting. I am looking forward to grabbing a PSL or a golden Tumeric latte and reading the next book in the series as it is themed for Fall!

This is a good read to have on your phone or tablet to read when you are waiting at an appointment or if you take public transportation to and from work.

You can see my goodreads reviews here

Wanna Get Away? Travel via Book to Sunset Cove!

A Novel Way To Die by Tamra Baumann
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"A Novel Way to Die" is the second book in Tamra Baumann's Cozy Mystery Bookshop Series. (The first book is called "Plotting for Murder".) If you have already read "Plotting for Murder" I think you are going to love this second installment. I came into "A Novel Way to Die" without having read the first book so it took me a little bit longer to understand our main character and her eclectic community.

Tamra Baumann's does a wonderful job crafting this mystery! There are several points where you think you know who did it and who helped, only to find out there is more to the story. I enjoyed that she uses technology in the main mystery and I found it pleasing to read a Cozy Mystery that had major supporting characters from several different generations.

Not only does this book have a central murder mystery, but it also has some interesting ongoing mysteries that drawn in the reader into Sunset Cove and makes one look forward to future installments. What is going to happen with the bookshop? Will Sawyer's uncle thwart Sawyer? What will we find out about Brittany's mother? The non-murder mystery subplots are almost more fascinating than who killed the person in this book!

As a fan of Cozy Mysteries, this book really has it all- 1. small town, 2. a plucky heroine who can cook, 3. a cute dog, 4. a handsome sheriff, 5 a bookstore with a book club and 6. A witty best friend.

I look forward to going back and reading "Plotting for Murder" ASAP!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.


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