Saturday, June 12, 2021
#TheSundayPost The Weekend Before Father's Day-
Thursday, June 10, 2021
Sharing Sheltering Spirits - A Lola Blog Tour!
Sheltering Spirits (A Mallory McGrath Mystery #1)
by Lori Allison
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 6 October 2020
Blurb:
Orphaned at a young age, all Mallory McGrath wants is a place to call home, the companionship of friends who have become her family and to keep her Basset Hound, Elmer, from wrecking everything she owns.
A simple life.
And things are going her way until a sudden encounter with the bumper of a car driven by the intriguing new coroner in town leaves her with a head injury that unlocks a strange new talent.
Now Mallory is dealing with ghostly roommates, a dead body on her property and finding herself under suspicion of murdering the town’s matriarch. Not to mention the angry poltergeist trashing her attic!
To save all she holds dear, Mallory must catch a killer who has her in his sights … and to make sure her supply of peanut butter doesn’t run out.
Links:
- Goodreads
- Bookbub
- Amazon
About the Author:
Lori Allison has had a life-long love affair with books, both as a reader and a writer. Lori is the mother of 3 grown children and has a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of New Mexico. She managed the construction company her family owned for 17 years before retiring to pursue writing full time.
Lori lives in a small town in New Mexico with her husband, Jeffery, and their three dogs.
Author links:
- Website
- Goodreads
- Amazon
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
#AudioBook Challenge! A Thriller with an Unreliable Narrator for a Humid week in June!
We have some thunderstormy, cloudy, humidity-filled weather this week, and I was looking for something to listen to as I go about my day. I saw that this was available via the Libby App from my library system so I borrowed it. It's on the shorter side, which worked for me. I listen to it at 1.65 speed. I found the reader to be engaging, his name is George Newbern.
If you don't like audiobooks, I would still consider picking this one up, it's a good travel book if you have a vacation planned and are going to be sitting in an airport or in a car, or on a train, this will make the time fly.
This was my first time reading a book by Lisa Scottoline. It turns out she has had over 30 books published so I was really late to learn about this author!
Monday, June 7, 2021
A Southern Cozy Book To Start the Week- Reading Between The Crimes by Kate Young - #NetGalley
This is a cozy that will grab your attention if you like small southern towns, a book that has book themes, and a very punny title!
It has been a few months since we spent time with Lyla, our MC and in that time she has become more confident in her role as a Private Investigator in training. The Jane Does' book club has grown and the main member has become a very close-knit group. This month the book club has read and discussed Crooked House by Agatha Christie. This month someone was murdered at Lyla's parent's house. Similarities between the book and real-life occur and that makes for some very fun reading. I like the conceit author Kate Young is using in this series that we have the book club reading a book and then we have eerie coincidences between the book being discussed and what is going on in Sweet Mountain, GA.
The main issue I had with book one in this series, On Borrowed Crime, was that Lyla's parents and her ex-boyfriend treated her like she was a teenager instead of a woman in her thirties who knows her own mind. It made me think twice about whether I wanted to read further in this series or just read something else. As you can see, I decided to give the second book a go, and happily, in this book Lyla's decisions are respected.
The book takes place in the fall around Halloween, but it doesn't have a strong Halloween flavor. It will be out on September 7th, the day after Labor Day, a perfect cozy to kick off the fall season. Grab a PSL (Pumpkin Spiced Latte) and kick back and enjoy this fun second book in the Jane Doe Book Club Mystery series.
4.50 stars I recommend this cozy and am looking forward to the next book in this series. It's really picking up steam!
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! All the opinions are mine!
Saturday, June 5, 2021
#TheSundayPost A Little This, A Little That
Thursday, June 3, 2021
Some Historical Romance To Kick Off The Weekend!
If you follow my blog, you've likely noticed that I don't read much historical romance. At the same time, if you follow my blog, you know I really enjoy Alyssa Cole's writing. So it was only a matter of time before I started reading her historical romance. This book takes place during the Civil War, and is the story of Elle Burns who is a former slave and is now a spy for the Loyalty League. Yes, this is fiction, but there were people who were freed people who went back into slavery to spy for the Union. The bravery is astounding.
Tuesday, June 1, 2021
How Do You Stop A Determined Assassin?
If you enjoy watching thrillers, if you enjoy stories set with the backdrop of the white house, if you have seen the movie Air Force One; you'll likely find Carol Leonnig's book Zero Fail a compelling and fascinating read.
How do you keep a President safe? Especially in this 21st century where there are drones, and Havana Syndrome, and 3-D printers able to print plastic guns. This book examines the decades-long struggle of the secret service to protect the President of the United States, their families, and candidates for office. The push and pull of trying to protect a highly visible person, one who wants and needs to interact with the citizens of the United States as well as travel the world spending time with foreign leaders and dignitaries, is a real sticky wicket.
I listened to the audio version of this book while I was out running over the last week or so. It was very interesting to learn about failures on the part of the Secret Service that may have played a part in the shooting of JFK, a near-miss with George HW Bush as well as the shooting of Ronald Regan. In each case, one small slip, one lack of imagination, or too much deference to the person being protected lead to disaster. And on the other hand, we will never know how many times people or organizations were stopped by one small thing going right. Lack of funding and resources has plagued the Secret Service--with many of those who were part of Presidential details working an untenable amount of hours on a regular basis.
It came as no surprise to me to learn that often thanks to booze or men not being able to keep their pants on -(be that the President or secret service personnel) Presidents have been thisclose to being assassinated or compromised by a foreign agent. And also there is the usual BS you find in any office situation where people are trying to climb the corporate ladder. I'd been busy with raising kids and I have to say that I completely missed the sex scandal the Secret Service was embroiled in during President Obama's second term--there was a real frat-boy culture.
5- stars for Zero Fail from me. This is a very comprehensive look at an incredibly important agency.
Monday, May 31, 2021
#ABrushWithMurder #NetGalley New Cozy Series Who Likes A Potential Love Triangle?
Hello and welcome to your summer! Today I am hyping myself up to start #1000wordsofsummer. This is it--this time I'm going to finish writing a cozy mystery rough draft. Even if it ends up printed out and sitting in a drawer, this time I'm going to do it! No, I won't be able to finish it in the first two weeks of summer, but I am going to finish it by Labor Day. I am not currently working so I do have the time. I just need to avoid scrolling social media!
Speaking of writing, today I'm reviewing a new cozy series by Bailee Abbot, called A Brush With Murder. I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley to review. All the opinions are mine. I had a tough time rating this book. Ultimately, I decided on a 3.5 rounded up to a 4 for posting purposes. I struggled to like the characters in the book. It wasn't until I was 80 percent through the book that I came to like at least some of the characters. The mystery is good, a nice twist, but clues are laid out from the beginning so, it's earned. I know as a reader I don't like a twist that doesn't have a trail of clues.
Chloe is our amateur sleuth, and she is trying to save her sister's business and herself after Fiona, a local reporter who liked to pan local businesses, winds up dead. Chloe, I grew to like, though I found her ex-boyfriend situation confusing, am I supposed to like Ross or dislike Ross? My instinct was to like him. Izzie is Chloe's sister, and the proprietor of the new paint shop in town, Paint with A View. I thought a business that does painting classes is a good business choice for a cozy mystery job. However, during this book, Izzie the shop owner spends very little time at the shop. She disappears frequently, is being secretive, and actively refuses to talk to the police officer who is trying to solve the murder. Overall, I had real trouble liking Izzie she came off as very flippant and entitled throughout the book.
Chloe and her family are literally trust fund babies. Her parents live off the funds from the family estate. This is not something I have experience with, but in the book, there were multiple businesses run by twenty-something women who had financial backing from their families for their businesses. So the main character's situation wasn't completely uncommon for this town. One of these owners was very panicked about her business and worried about being a complete failure after her second chance--which was, to me, a little funny because she was 24 years old. No one is a complete failure at 24, plenty of time to try many more things in life.
Chloe's dog Max is on the cover, but he isn't the emotional support or sounding board that many a cozy companion provides to their sleuth--he's more of a traditional pet.
If you enjoy a potential love triangle, this book is definitely for you! Seasonally, the book takes place during the heat of summer in a lakeside community.
Most likely, I will pick up the second book in the series to see how Bailee Abbot develops the characters and what new mystery she creates.
This book will be out on October 12, 2021. Add it to your TBR pile now!
Saturday, May 29, 2021
#TheSundayPost May 30th: Are You Ready For The Summer?
Friday, May 28, 2021
Happy Friday! #Readalong Review! And Some Summer Talk!
Well as Mother Nature is wont to do, last week we had temperatures in the mid-80s and sunshine galore. This weekend, the official start of the summer season, the skies are a uniform cloudy grey and the temperature is 46!!! 46!!! literally, 40 degrees Fahrenheit colder than this time last week.
It's really harshing my budding pool lifestyle.
In Blaze of Memory, Nalini Singh takes us back to the beginning of Silence and tells the story of one family's exodus to become part of the fallen. This is done through letters a mother writes to her son. I liked this method of storytelling. Additionally, we learn more about how Judd's special set of skills can work for the good.
I would have liked to have a better understanding of what Dev's affinity with metal meant and how it developed as he grew up. I wanted more of his backstory.
Next up is the story of the human cop Max Shannon, I have been hoping he would get his own book from the first time he walked on the scene!
Have a great weekend even if the weather stinks! It's a great excuse to kick back and enjoy a good book!