I finished the second book in the Ethnic Eats Mystery series rather quickly, and am hoping that the 3rd book is available at my library.
This time around the theme for the Terminal restaurant is French food, and along with that is the murder of a very close friend of Laurel and her Aunt Sophie. There are too many suspects, and not enough clues, but with Laurel’s determination, the help of her boyfriend Declan, and asking the right questions, Laurel again helps solve the case.
I liked this book better than the first, Irish Stewed, but that may be because I am now familiar with the characters, and the writing style of the author.
I know I have a cozy mystery series in my library that I had started quite some time ago, with a couple books I have not finished, so I think instead of getting too many books from the library today (yeah, right!), I will go to my own library and see what is there to read!
Watching? Not reading? Yes; watching. I hate to admit it, but lately I have been spending more time watching tv than reading books. But in my defense; I have read 4 books this past weekend, so I think I’m winning!
It is too hot in Michigan right now to even think about leaving the house. Unless if the power goes out and your house warms up to those 110 degree heat indexes. Then just leave…
Watching: Shameless. Two of my daughters have been raving about this show, and as I woke up before 4 am this morning and started coffee (yes, that is 23 hours awake right now), I caught about the first 5 episodes before I had to get in the car and drive all over West Michigan.
Side note: it was an awesome day with family and friends, so feeling good!
Also watched the movie Game night, with Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. Loved it. The second rental from Family Video was Paul, Apostle of Christ. Watched it twice, and will be adding it to my collection.
Rewatching: Sons of Anarchy. Missed the gang, so I am back into the middle of season 2 and with this hot weather, I have plenty of inside time to make a dent in it.
Also rewatching Ozark (NetFlix), for the 3rd time. Anxiously waiting for season two on August 31st!
Always Watching: I have to sleep with the tv on; so I am always watching documentaries on Christianity, History, and various historical figures from Presidents, to artists, to anything I want to learn about. I also binge watch British game shows (they call them panel shows), and 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Q1, and Would I Lie to You are my favorites. I cannot get enough of Jimmy Carr, Jon Richardson, Sean Lock, and David Mitchell.
When all of this stuff is not occupying me, along with chasing daughters around with everything they have going on, my two boys are always good for entertainment. In case if you have not met Benjamin (Bare Bottom Benjamin Blue), and Franklin (Furless Franklin), before; these are my two hairless cats that pretty much run the house, and my life.
Do you have television favorites you cannot get enough of?
This is the first book in the Ethnic Eats Mystery cozy series. Laurel Inwood, a professional chef, moves from California to Hubbard, Ohio to help manage her Aunt Sophie’s restaurant while she has and recovers from knee surgery.
Sophie has lied to Laurel about the type of restaurant she owns, and instead of finding a luxurious restaurant, she finds The Terminal, a run-down restaurant that most would refer to as a “greasy Spoon” restaurant. Not happy with her Aunt’s deceit, Laurel ends up staying to help out.
The dead body of the famous local reporter that is found in the dining room on the night of her arrival may have peaked her interest as well.
Laurel has no idea who to trust, as well as her own list of suspects, including the handsome owner of the Irish gift shop, Declan Fury, and her own Aunt Sophie. Laurel has plenty to keep her busy as she tries to bring the Terminal back to life, and figure out which one of her new acquaintances’ is a murderer.
Initially the patrons are slow to take to the idea of a new menu, but with the help of Declan, soon Laurel has an idea to get the Terminal packed with customers. Featuring ethnic foods for one or two weeks at a time, the customers are loving it, but Laurel now needs to let Sophie in on what she has done.
This is a quick read with lots of action and a great storyline! I am already reading the second book in the series, French Fried.
I was a voracious reader growing up; I would read a book in a day, easily, and quickly collected quite the collection of books in my preteen and teen years by going to the grocery store with my Mom. They had a section of paperbacks, and I got one on every trip. The fact that I had the book read before I went to bed that night did not please her any, but I always reread my books. I lost so many of those paperbacks when they were stored in my parent’s basement and they had a water issue. To replace them now is near impossible as these older books are very expensive.
If you have followed me for a while you know that William W. Johnstone was my favorite author as a teen, and I could not read his horror stories fast enough. I honestly cannot believe my Mom bought them for me, considering what the covers looked like. Go Mom! “Rockinghorse” sent me down a path that literally had me typing a letter to him on my sister’s typewriter, telling him how much his story inspired me, and that I wanted to become a writer. It led to several back-and-forth correspondences, and I am so blessed that he sent me a couple autographed books which are among my prized possessions. As well as the letters I received from him. He went on to write many Western series, which have always been on the best-sellers lists.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators were another set of books I always checked out of the school library. I read the series several times, but unfortunately now, they have become collector’s prizes and to even get a hard cover book is very expensive.
Encyclopedia Brown anyone? How I loved those stories. And who could ever not read Beverly Cleary? She got me through some tough teenage angst! And my favorite elementary school book was “The Adventures of the Black Hand Gang”. A picture after every 2-3 page story for you to figure out the clues. That one will set you back over $30.00 if you try to buy it now. I have my beat-up-worn-out-copy in my library.
What are your favorite books that you cannot let go of?
This is the first book in the Renaissance Faire Mystery cozy series. I picked up the first 3 books at my library last weekend. It took me longer than it should have to read this first story, and I will get through the next two much quicker!
I really liked the story-line here, as well as the characters. Jessie works at the Renaissance Faire (their spelling, not mine) every summer in her town, and is apprenticing with local craft artists for her dissertation for her PhD. This summer she is working with Mary Shift, a basket weaver who has quite the storied past.
After Mary’s husband, who she has not seen in 10 years, is found dead outside her shop, Jessie and her new boyfriend Chase work to help Mary and untangle the mess that she seems to have gotten herself into.
This story was a lot of fun, and typical of the cozy mystery genre. There wasn’t anything here I didn’t like, and I am excited to get started on the next book, where Jessie apprentices with the local glassblower.
Do you read cozy mysteries? I would love to hear what some of your favorites are!
Another brilliant installment in the Judas Trilogy, and author Roy Bright delivers again! It was completely random that I stumbled upon the first book, and I am so glad I did. Not only did I get a fantastic story that I could not put down, but I met a wonderful author as well!
This second installment in the series has Charlotte growing up in an alternate realm, going from a child to an 18 year old adult. Judas wanted her to have as much of a normal childhood as possible, before she has to save the world. Although none of this was real, and took only days to pass, Charlotte is grateful for the experiences and childhood she was given.
Judas is still protecting Charlotte, although it is now time for her to step into her role as “The Light”, the one who will save the world. This story is full of action, suspense, and raw emotions as you journey along with Charlotte to face her greatest challenge so far.
There is more insight into Judas, his past, and how he deals with being the betrayer of Christ. Without dripping in religion, the author draws a brilliant picture of Heaven, Hell, and the beings who occupy both.
As I always try to avoid spoilers, I will have to leave it at that. But I cannot recommend enough that you read Judas (book 1) and Judas: the Relic. You will not be disappointed!
There has been a lot of discussion about this story, with people either loving it, or hating it. I myself seem to be stuck somewhere in the middle. I loved the story, and the whole idea of it, but the way it was written made it a difficult read for me. There are spoilers below, which I normally try to avoid, but they are necessary in this instance.
The premise of the story takes place on the night of young Willie Lincoln’s death, and the subsequent days that followed. Unable to bear the loss of his son, President Lincoln visits the crypt where Willie has been placed; several times.
The President is unaware that in this cemetery are many souls who have chosen to not move on, including his son. Only one of these souls is aware that they are all truly dead, while the others are all waiting for their loved ones to come back to get them, believing they are only sick. This place where the souls are lingering is what is known as the bardo.
The initial visit of the President has the others all hopeful that their loved ones will indeed come back for them.
The reason I had a hard time reading this story is the way the chapters are written. I literally was over two chapters in before I had any idea what was going on. The first chapter was of conversations between souls stuck in the bardo. I had no idea this is what I was reading. An example is below. Hans and Roger are lost souls, and I thought I was reading a normal conversation between two persons, such as you would read in any other story. I had no idea they were dead.
The other chapters in between were all cited excerpts from many, many sources of stories that had been written concerning the Lincolns, the night Willie died, and the party that was taking place down stairs. The Lincoln’s had been assured Willie was indeed on the mend, so President Lincoln opted to not withdraw the hundreds of invitations to the dinner that had been sent out. Below is what these chapters look like. (I apologize for the blurriness of this page, I could not get a sharp photo for some reason, although I took it right after the photo above 😦 )
As you can see (I hope!) after each excerpt is the source of what book, newspaper, conversation, or diary the information came from. I hate to admit, but I am the type of reader who cannot skip over reading something, so I found myself reading Every. Single. Citation. After a few chapters of this, I just let it go and ignored all the rest of the citations. If I hadn’t, I never would have gotten through it.
I loved the story, the true emotions expressed by not only what the President was going through as he continued to visit and hold his deceased son, but the emotions of those souls stuck in the bardo. The felt hope that their loved ones would also finally come for them, fear in moving on as happened to very few throughout the story, and the final realization that they were indeed dead.
I am curious as to what anyone else who has read this story thought! Did you realize right from the beginning what you were reading, or were you confused like I was?
It took me two short chapters to get what was going on, and although I love the storyline; I am still trying to get my bearings.
Much of this book is written using excerpts from other books, and the rest is the various persons stuck in the “bardo”, including Willie Lincoln who died at 11 years old.
I will post a full review when I finish; and those of you who have followed me know I love everything Abraham Lincoln. I read a great review of this book: now I just need to get my feet under it.
And honestly; I am questioning why I haven’t written my own Lincoln book yet.
I found this beautiful book on my library’s new release shelf and had to snatch it up! I love bees, and everything about them. I am actually spending this weekend building Mason Bee houses in the numerous coffee cans I have been saving up, just for this purpose.
Cover Image
Although the author is based in Australia, and the bees discussed are native to Australia, many of these bees can be found in all countries. There was even a few paragraphs mentioning a bee project that took place in Michigan, so being in Michigan, I found that exciting!
This book includes sections on how bees pollinate plants, how and why their populations have been decreasing everywhere, and how we can help slow this terrible situation down.
Many varieties of herbs, flowers, and fruits and vegetables are discussed in great detail, as well as telling you how the bees pollinate them (yes, there is more than one way for a bee to pollinate a plant), which ones the bees prefer, and what kind of soil and sunlight each plant requires.
Chapter Page Drawing
The section on building homes for bees had other great information that I had not come across in my journey of learning how to build good, sustainable bee houses.
The pictures in this book are absolutely gorgeous, and seeing all the bees, insects, and plants has me definitely ready for the last of this Michigan snow to just melt already!
My apologies for the low quality pictures, I had to take them with my phone and send them to myself…..
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