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.
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…..
A day and a half at work, a funeral visitation, a funeral the next day, and eating at a restaurant means I wake up today congested, coughing, sneezing, and just exhausted and achy. Glad to be spending the next two days in bed with a book, and consuming lots of fluids and vitamin C. I had groceries delivered this morning, and made a huge bowl of my favorite chicken salad with lots of grapes and clementine oranges. Of course, I have to eat something healthy with potato chips…
Generally I can kick this type of stuff pretty quick, so am expecting to be feeling back to 100% by Monday morning.
What am I reading? I am more than halfway finished with Judas: The Relic. This is book 2 in the Judas Trilogy by Roy Bright, and just as fantastic as the first one!
This was book #3 in the Olive Grove Mystery cozy series. I had read the first two quickly after finding them on a sorting shelf at one of my local libraries; this one I had to wait to be released.
As with the first two, I loved this story, and had it read in less than 24 hours. (Yes; I am still not working due to the broke-my-ankle-in-3-places, more about that in another post!)
Eva Knox is still working at her family’s Olive Plantation in Georgia, and tripping over dead bodies left-and-right. This time it is an ex-fiance from Boston that no one in her family knew existed. Her other ex-fiance, sheriff Buck Tanner is of course on the case, both frustrating and frustrated by Eva at every turn.
I try to avoid the spoilers, but I have to say I hope this is a series that goes on for several more books! I am definitely anxious for the next book…there is a next book, right??? It isn’t often I will purchase cozy mysteries, as they are so readily available at my libraries, but this is certainly one I want in my personal library to read over and again!
PLEASE RIGHT-CLICK ON THE LINKS TO BE TAKEN TO THE VARIOUS PAGES! 🙂
Sam Westhoek waited until the midpoint of his life to start writing in earnest. He felt it best to first experience our world to its fullest.
His various travels have taken him to: farms and cities in Europe; amidst lush humid bayous on the Gulf Coast; across the grandeur of hills and plains in Texas; atop arid mile-high mountains in California; slogging through insidious moon dust in the Arizona and New Mexico deserts; under the variegated curtains of the aurora borealis in Iceland; through tropical fields on the island of Terceira in the Azores; and horseback riding amidst the aspens in the high country of Colorado.
Through it all, Sam has loved and lost, and learned to love again. He has currently settled in the middle of the country, in the middle of the state of Missouri, with his wonderful wife—his best companion. All five of their children have started their own lives, so again there has been loss and gain. Sam has been an encouraging force for writers in his community, hosting events for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) for the past few years.
He hasn’t settled on one particular genre in which to spin his tales, so don’t be surprised to find him published in a niche you least expect. His favorite genres are sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, and even poetry. His stories strike a chord with a wide range of ages. Turn a page and find something new each time.
Do yourself (and Sam) a small favor by taking a few minutes to sample each of the works in his growing repertoire. The Previews are free. If you use Kindle Unlimited, you can read his works for free. Conversely, you could invest in the craft and bless yourself with a copy of one of his ebooks or paperbacks. What a nifty symbiotic relationship!
Oh, and if You like a particular work, tell a Friend.
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