Month: June 2020

Waiting is always the hard part!

As we sit here waiting for our Covid test results, this collage is pretty much how we feel. Fevers, headaches, body aches, fatigue, no smell or taste, and very short fuses!

So yeah, that was bad. It still is. We are quarantined in our house. All because the folks in Houston and Iowa can’t stop coming here! So now half our staff is infected as well.

I have a ton of book reviews in the draft folder but even opening my eyes hurts as bad as breathing does. The doctor said to stay home. Luckily we are able to do that without too much trouble.

So stay safe. Don’t be an asshole and cover your mouth. For now that is all I can do.

xx P

A Fatal Fiction by Kaitlyn Dunnett

A Fatal Fiction (Deadly Edits #3)
Deadly Edits #3
A retired teacher, Mikki, has added editing services to supplement her retirement income since moving back to her childhood home.
Lenape Hollow is a small place where everyone knows your name and your past.
Mikki is helping Sunny Feldman with her memoirs of growing up in Felman’s Catskill Resort, a once thriving and successful vacation destination. With famous stars, singers, and hanky panky.
 Sunny sold the crumbling resort long ago and there seems to be some seriously bad blood between the new owner and pretty much everyone in town.
When his body is found on the property the day after he verbally attacks Mikki in public, she is going to have to find out who did the deed before she gets arrested!
I enjoyed Mikki, an older, mature woman who has no problem speaking her mind.
I didn’t care for either of her relatives and I even thought Nick may be suspect!
When you spend your life swindling people there is a long list of suspects.
I enjoyed the older main character a lot.
Give this one a try!
 NetGalley/June 30th, 2020 by Kensington

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

We went to Mustang Island, Texas the 10th through the 14th. Saw some old missions and a few produce stands along the way and ended up in the Gulf of Mexico in Port Aransas.

After stopping for a gallon of Daiquiris, we hit the beach. There was a lot of social distancing that we paid for. Every umbrella and chair set up was 50 feet apart. It was mid-week so it wasn’t crowded at all. The waves were great except for a wicked rip current in the shallows.

Apparently, OU Boy is afraid of the ocean but went in anyway. Until a fish swam by. By nightfall, our bodies were beaten to death from surfboards, currents, and sun. I was asleep by ten!

We went to a few beach shops but they all had trump hats for sale and I let them know I would take my business elsewhere. Which I did. Back to my favorite store Roam Port. Picked up some gorgeous Swig cups and a Bibliotheque Paddy Wax candle in Louisa May Alcott. And lots of shrimp! I brought back a cooler full!

By  Saturday there was an hour-long line for the ferry! And no one had on a mask. So we pulled up stakes and drove home. We were sufficiently tanned and waterlogged and emotional. As soon as we passed the Texas – Oklahoma state line I burst into tears and sobbed like a baby. OU Boy pulled over at the one rest area in the state and was in a state!

What is wrong babe? I HATE THIS STATE SO BAD!!! Please just take me back to Texas and I’ll call Cynthia!  It was so dramatic.

So since then, I have been doing little work because I had long vacation nails to match my swimsuit and I can’t type shit! I did make this yummy Rhubarb Crisp with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream!

Stay Safe and Be Kind!

xx P

 

A Sprinkling of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber

A Sprinkling of Murder (A Fairy Garden Mystery #1)

A Fairy Garden Mystery #1

Fairy garden store owner Courtney Kelly believes in inviting magic into your life. But when uninvited trouble enters her shop, she’ll need more than a sprinkling of her imagination to solve a murder . . .

The first book in a new series. With fairies and fairy gardens and magical things happening all over Courtney’s shop. Courtney loves fairies. At least she did until her mother died when she was only ten, after that she lost her connection. Now she has left her dad’s landscaping business to follow her own dreams. Running a fairy garden business along with a tea shop. 

Situated in lovely Carmel, Open Your Imagination, sells any and everything one would need to entice fairies into their gardens. She is even teaching classes and at 29 she has found her passion.

Until the dog groomer from across the street is found dead in her space. Courtney is now a suspect! With a little help from a friend or two, she is going to have to clear her own name!

What an enchanting new series! The characters are interesting and the pixie dust has some of them acting oddly. Grab a copy of this one.

NetGalley/June 30th, 2020 by Kensington

 

 

The Dilemma by B.A.Paris

The Dilemma

Livia has been planning her 40th birthday party for 20 years! She wants it to be perfect and make up for the wedding she never had when her parents disowned her for getting pregnant and married so young.

But life has been good to Livia and Adam. Their two children Marnie,19 and Josh, 22 are both good kids. Until Livia finds out one of them is not making such good decisions and she knows if she tells Adam he will go ballistic. So she keeps her secret until after her party and hopes Marnie doesn’t show up and blow things up.

Adam is determined to have Marnie come home for the party and surprise her mother. And now Adam has a secret. One that will tear the family apart and he can’t say a word. Nothing happens until Livia has had her day. But suddenly something happens that puts Adam in an awful position and wishing he had never asked Marnie to come.

Suspenseful and twisty, I wasn’t sure until the last minute if any of it was true. This was a wicked good domestic suspense.

Highly Recommend a read!

NetGalley/ June 30th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

 

 

 

 

NOTHING BUNDT TROUBLE by ELLIE ALEXANDER *A BAKESHOP MYSTERY*

Nothing Bundt Trouble (A Bakeshop Mystery Book 11)

BAKESHOP MYSTERY #12

It is Springtime in Ashland, Oregon, and we are back at Torte with Jules and gang.

Juliet and staff are preparing for the Shakespeare Festival, Jules is moving back home and things are hectic in a good way.

But when Jules finds an old journal written by her father, she is suddenly thrust into an old murder from the ’80s and wondering what in the world her father was working on something called The Pastry Case?

With the help of the Professor, she learns more than she ever knew about her parents and her town. While the entire crew jumps in to try and solve the old case, they had better keep an eye out for the people who don’t want to dredge up old business.

Between the food and the hilarious antics of the characters, the author has skillfully put together a series that I am pretty sure will keep going.

This is one series I can not pass up because the characters are so great. I want to hang out with them.

NetGalley/ June 30th, 2020 by St. Martin’s Paperbacks

 

 

SAVING RUBY KING by Catherine Adel West

Saving Ruby King

Family. Faith. Secrets. Everything in this world comes full circle.
Ruby King lives on Chicago’s South Side. Her best friend is Layla, daughter of the Pastor. Her mother and Ruby’s are life long friends.
Everyone in the church knows that Alice’s husband beats her so it isn’t shocking when she is murdered in her own home.
The police dismiss it as just more violence in this area. But Ruby has lost her mother and now her father takes his frustrations out on her.
Her father has dirt on the pastor so he isn’t helping Ruby. Everyone has secrets. Everyone is assuming a lot. There are awful secrets and in the end, no one can save Ruby but Ruby.

It is hard to believe this is a debut novel! We hear the viewpoints of all the main characters and their heartbreaking secrets. This one of the most honest and touching books I have read.
NetGalley/June 16th, 2020 by Park Row

Who Did You Tell? by Lesley Kara

 

Who Did You Tell?

Astrid hasn’t had a drink in over 192 days. She is trying to be a different person. She’s dropped her first name and dropped alcohol. She’s moved in with her mother. She has a routine.

But guilt is eating her up inside. The memories of the things she did or at least thinks she did are fresh in her mind every minute of every day. Add to that the fact that she is sure someone is following her.

Even inside the AA group, she doesn’t know who to trust. She makes bad decisions and her next one could cost her her own life.

But there is another voice in this story. A voice we don’t know. And it wants her to pay for something. With her own life. Can Astrid stay sober and more importantly alive?

Lesley Kara always gives us a good thriller! I did not care for Astrid at all! But the story was suspenseful as heck!

NetGalley/ June 16th, 2020 by Ballantine Books

 

 

 

THE HALF SISTER by SANDIE JONES

The Half Sister

Kate and Lauren are sisters who have nothing in common on the surface. One is career-oriented and seems to live a glamourous and carefree life with her husband while the other is married to a jerk with kids and an unhappy life.

But on Sunday they all sit at their recently widowed mother’s home for dinner. They are all still grieving. Kate was especially close to her father while Lauren has always been closer to their mother, Rose.

What no one knows is Kate has been trying for years to conceive a baby. And Lauren would just as soon leave her husband and escape her life.

All of that is the backdrop for the one Sunday dinner when there is a knock at the door and a woman stands there asking for their father. Who she says is her father as well. It seems she has uploaded her DNA and found a match with Lauren. But has she? Can they believe anything she says?

These sisters could have avoided all of this if any of them had bothered to talk to each other. But secrets are what families do. And sometimes they are what blows your world apart. And everyone in this book is keeping secrets!

There were some issues I had with the DNA thing, but overall it was a good mystery!

NetGalley/ June 16th, 2020 by Minotaur Books

 

 

 

 

STAKE by KEVIN J.ANDERSON

Stake by [Kevin J. Anderson]

Vampire hunter or serial killer? That depends on whether vampires exist . . .

Simon Helsing (not his real name) does believe. He has proof. And one by one he is staking them out. Literally.

Since a near-death experience in Bosnia years ago, he has tried to warn people about the dreaded lampir. Not many people believe him, but he keeps on killing them. They all work at night. That seems to be his main piece of evidence. He is also a contributor to the online chatroom HideTruth.

HideTruth is the brainchild of Lexi Tarada. She wants to believe and is looking for proof of the unexplained. There are some nutjobs on there, but Simon reaches out to her with proof that vampires are real.

The police have bodies and no belief in vampires. Detective Carrow is sure Simon is a serial killer. When the Vampire King (in Simon’s mind) throws his annual gala, it seems a good time for Lexi, Carrow, and Simon to come together. But not all of them are coming out alive.

This felt rushed to me and the ending was abrupt and left me with a lot of questions.

 

NetGalley/ Severn House