Mango, Mambo and Murder By Raquel V. Reyes

 

A new book series by Raquel V. Reyes! Raquel did a wonderful job of putting together a very entertaining cozy mystery with just the right amount of mouth-watering food talk.  What makes this book different than many cozies is that Miram is the mom of a toddler. Usually, our sleuths are single and in their 20s or they may have older or grown kids. I enjoyed reading Miriam and Manny's daily interactions.

As a fan of the show Veronica Mars (but not the reboot) I really enjoyed Detective Pullman referring to Miriam as Veronica Mars, he is right, she inserts herself into the investigation, asks uncomfortable questions, and then puts herself in danger. Yes, she is a Veronica Mars!  I loved that Miriam has a best friend with a voice of reason. Hopefully, Miriam will listen to Alma from time to time so she doesn't get herself hurt in future stories! 

I greatly enjoyed the subplot where Miriam is able to share her knowledge as a food anthropologist via a youtube show.  Now that leads me to wonder since she is getting recognized by strangers by the end of this book--will that affect how she is able to sleuth in future books?  It could be used as a way she can get information from people or into places she wouldn't be able to get into otherwise, but it also means people will notice her more.  What a fun development, I am really looking forward to seeing where Raquel V. Reyes takes us next. 

My last comment, I really, really hope that moving forward the series doesn't have drama between Miriam and Robert.  I would like her marriage to be solid so she has that safe place to fall back to whenever future murder investigations stress her out.

As you can tell, I found this book to be very engaging, I enjoyed meeting Miriam, and reading her adventure as well as all the cooking scenes. I'm ready to read book two today! 

5 Stars to Mango, Mambo and Murder

#NetGalley #MangoMamboandMurder 

It's A Wonderful Midlife Crisis by Robyn Peterman

I'm not sure if this book qualifies as a paranormal cozy mystery or a paranormal closed door (so far) mystery or a ghostly rom-com?  In any case, what you must know if you decide to read this book is...

IT ENDS ON A MAJOR CLIFFHANGER SO GET THE SECOND BOOK WITH THE FIRST! 

Seriously, I don't want you throwing your book around, so heed my words and get books 1 and 2 together.  I got this book via my Audible subscription so I was able to get the next book before the end credits of the first book were done playing in my ears.

On to the story. I was drawn to this book because of the name. Delightful right?  And the cover is gorgeous.  Our main character Daisy wakes up one day and can see ghosts and spends an unusual amount of time not questioning why it is happening.  But once you learn more about Daisy's character it is pretty clear she has put some major blinders on herself. She has a real knack for not questioning any of the things she should question and questioning things that are as they should be.  So as a reader you are always a few steps ahead of Daisy, which worked out okay for me. I will say Daisy doesn't live up to the title, she is supposed to be 40 but she is written as someone in their late 20s--which is fine if the title would've been It's a Wonderful Quarter-Life Crisis.

I like the world-building and the secondary characters. I am going to read book two to get the answer to the cliffhanger and to see if Daisy lets the blinders fall off her mind. If you are thinking of giving this book a try, I highly recommend getting the audiobook, the narrator is delightful and this is a book that I don't necessarily think is one that you want carve out time to sit down and read when you can listen while you work or workout!

3 Stars! 

 

Happy Tax Refund Time! #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 

It's that time of year when the early filers are getting their tax refunds!  Cheers and may your bank account stay full for a nice long while! It's also Fish Fry season around here and while I have given up potatoes for lent, so I'll be skipping any french fries (or chips ) with my Fish N Chips, I'm still looking forward to some beer-battered cod! 

This week I caught up on some reading and have reviews ready to go for this week! Phew!  How was your week?

Top O' The Month to You- March Coming In Like A Lion Tuesday! #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 

Happy Sunday to you. I hope you are having a good day wherever you are--I'm a bit behind on my reading because this week I spend a lot of time on social media reading and watching how Ukraine is doing. I pray they prevail. 

Thursday I went and got Paczki because this Thursday is Fat Thursday in Poland (and parts of Germany and other countries in the region) My favorites are the Glazed Raspberry.  On the box it says:

Each Country calls it something different. In Germany, It's a Berliner. In Romania, it's called Gogosi, and in Ukraine, they call it a Pampushky. Where we live there are a lot of Polish Immigrants so we have many paczki options! 

A great recipe here if you want to make your own!

The Second Book in Tracy Gardner's Avery Avers Antique Mystery Series! Thanks NetGalley!

And we are back to spend more time with Avery Avers and her families'  appraisal business.  One reason this series is interesting and enjoyable is that Avery's family business lends itself to lots of great mysteries surrounding the art and artifacts they are called upon to assess.  This book starts off with some forgery and potential thievery before we get to the murder. Avery of course is in the thick of it. 

The antique and appraisal business is my favorite part of this series, I think in those interactions is when Avery is at her best and the most interesting. I came away from this book still a little sad for Avery. She has a budding romance with Art, which is fine, I guess. I don't really like Art because he didn't tell her things he should have told her for far too long-- he makes decisions for Avery instead of with Avery. Hopefully, he has turned a page, and moving forward he will stop that behavior.  Now back to what makes me a little sad, Avery really, really needs some friends.  I hope in book three Avery has a friend's interest. 

Oh another note, for those of you who enjoy some romance in your cozy mysteries, Tracy Gardner is very good a writing those scenes!

In this book, there is a hint of a potential overarching villain and I hope that I am reading the tea leaves correctly because I like the idea of an ongoing international thief.  So I have my fingers crossed on that! 

3.75 stars for this book*

*If you enjoy antiques or historical art --do yourself a favor and read this series, you will enjoy it!   

 

Miss Tilley Lives! The lastest book in the Lucy Stone Series!

Here we are, book number 28.  I had to wait until my turn to get this one from the local library. So I'm not alone in reading this series.  There are other Lucy Stone fans around me. 

I was really happy to see that Miss Tilley, the oldest person in Tinker's Cove and possibly the world is still alive and kicking. Although she has had some health setbacks and is at an assisted living facility.  The reason for the murder is interesting, and there is a nice subplot about possible Medicare fraud. Lucy spends much of the book at the Assisted Living Facility so we meet some new people, but there's still time for breakfast at Jake's and scenes with Phyllis and Ted.

Sweet Zoe who was introduced as a baby in book one is now graduating from college and looking for her first apartment. In this book, she has taken over the title of the most annoying child. a title once held by all her older siblings in other books. 

This was an enjoyable entry in the series. I liked the easter egg and bonnet talk and as always I enjoy Maine weather talk. I don't know how many more books there might be left in this series, but I hope there are a few more to come! 

Ukrainian Easter Eggs 

 

Paper Girls Volume One - A Book Club Selection

I borrowed this graphic novel from my local library. It is the pick for my book club's February book.  The story takes place in 1988 and revolves around four 12-year-old paper delivery girls. Way back when I did a stint as a paper girl, I think I was a little younger than 12. In case you aren't familiar, back in the day kids would deliver papers and also have to collect the payments due from the subscribers!  

I spent the afternoon paging through and reading Paper Girls and when I was done with the first volume I realized I should have borrowed more than one volume from the library. Now I will have to wait to see what happens next. There are various timelines happening and we don't know yet who to trust who means the girls harm, but the illustrations really capture the 1980s and so does this story. 

Sometimes stories set in the late 1980s are too rose-colored. But I think this one so far is a more honest depiction of the stressors of the 1980s. In the back of the edition, I borrowed--how Nancy Drew- esque!  

And a picture of one of my favorite snacks -devilled eggs! This time I used Vidalia Onion Dressing mixed with the yolks.  

 

The Sunday Post! The Last Full Week of February is Upon Us!

 

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 

How was your week?  I hope you had a good one!  Mine was pretty good, We got a bunch of snow on Thursday afternoon but fortunately, the sun is warmer the longer February goes on, so it is melting daily. Thank goodness! 

Via my local library, I participated in a Zoom Craft workshop and made a Korean Lotus Blosson Lantern. It turned out very nice! OH and also, a big victory for me, our taxes are filed. Woo Hoooooooo  How was your week? 

Reviews coming up this week--

  

This Thriller Had Me Dropping Everything to Read! State of Terror-

 I don't know offhand if I have read any of Louise Penny's thrillers before, but I think I will definitely read her in the future.  I really did drop everything and read this book, I started reading it Monday night and then I was up until 1AM last night finishing it.  Nuclear Bombs on US soil is a real page-turner!  I will say that within the first twenty pages I was invested in seeing Secretary of State Ellen Adams succeed in her newly confirmed role and then it was the needing to know that she and her best friend and counselor Betsy would not only stop the bombs but also that they would survive.  

I greatly enjoyed reading how their friendship enabled them to persevere. Sometimes when you read a thriller, especially a political thriller, there can be so much jargon it can be difficult for someone who doesn't have much bureaucracy experience to keep up, I didn't find that to be the case with this book. 

I would love to see this book made into a movie or a mini-series on one of the streaming services. My hope would be if it is, they would actually cast women in their 50/60s for the roles. 

If you read the acknowledgments for this book, you learn that the character of Besty is named and has attributes based on Hillary Clinton's lifelong friend Besty Johnson Ebeling and the main character Ellen Adams is based in part on Ellen Tauscher (former Congressional Rep and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security) another close friend of Hilary Clinton who died in 2019.  General Whitehead in this book is named for Louise Penney's husband who died from dementia.  So this book is filled with characters based on people Louise and Hillary loved.  An unlikely love letter of sorts.  

5 stars to a thriller you can't put down that is packed with the beauty of friendships.

Slow Burn Cozy Mystery Goodness! A Maggie and Jasper Caper- Books Two and Three

I was not familiar with the tradition of Mourning Beads, so that was interesting to learn!  I think one of the reasons many of us enjoy Cozies is that we learn about various crafts and traditions from these mysteries.  This is an enjoyable second book in the series.  I find that Barbara Cool Lee does a nice job of balancing dark themes of domestic abuse, drug addiction, etc with the light tradition of this genre.  I had a feeling who the bad guy was in this book, but I didn't guess how it all fit together until the end. And Oh how I hope Maggie gives Stanley a chance! I have to keep reading to see if they slowly change from friends to lovers! 

And Book Three... The Empty Noose

I received a free digital copy of this book from the author when I participated in a Facebook Event at the end of January. 

What a heartbreak-filled book. Reese is nearly broken by a terrible turn of events.  Fortunately for Reese, he has Maggie as a best friend.  This book takes place not long after the last book and I don't want to talk about it too much. The book isn't long and the story is concise. We do get to travel to Deep Creek and meet the rest of Reese's family.  Plus Jasper gets to meet cattle!  An exciting time for a herding dog, he was having so much fun and bringing so much joy to Reese's parents and Shane that I was afraid he might stay in Deep Creek! 

Fortunately for us, everyone came back to Carita. The moment Maggie solves the murder was nice because I figure out the clue just a moment before she did as I was reading.  

As always, I'm rooting for Maggie and Reese to start dating! I think Maggie is coming around to realize he is the one for her- 

This is a very enjoyable inexpensive self-published cozy series. I recommend you add it to your TBR if you haven't already! 

For me, these books are 4.5's