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One Gold Ring

Century Cottage Cozy Mystery novella

by

Dianne Ascroft

 

A missing ring, a frantic search, and an imperiled proposal.

 

One Gold Ring is a holiday-themed novella set in the fictional small Canadian town of Fenwater and part of author Dianne Ascroft’s delightful Century Cottage Cozy Mystery series. When Marge Kirkwood carelessly leaves Bruce Murray’s family heirloom, a vintage diamond and ruby gold engagement ring, lying unattended at their table at the local diner, it tragically goes missing just as the ring’s intended recipient, Marge’s best friend, Lois Stone, arrives to join them for breakfast. Frantic to recover the ring without spoiling the surprise of his upcoming yuletide proposal, Bruce and Marge go to great lengths tracking down possible suspects who had access to the ring, with Lois helping them every step of the way. 

This fun novella is a great introduction to this ongoing series, with many of Marge and Lois’s friends and neighbors making cameo appearances as they follow their suspects. A wild chase through the local market, packed with Christmas shoppers, is suspenseful but also studded with comic moments of near misses and unfortunate last-minute escapes. The story had me breathless, wondering if there would be a HEA ending! I enjoyed the characters, setting, and storytelling so much that I look forward to reading the earlier books in the series now. 

I recommend ONE GOLD RING to cozy mystery readers, especially those who enjoy a holiday-themed story and small-town Canadian settings. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

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Murder Under Redwood Moon

Murder, Tea, and Crystals, #1

by

Sherri L. Dodd

 

Magical and suspenseful!

 

Murder Under Redwood Moon is the first novel in author Sherri L. Dodd's cozy paranormal mystery trilogy, Murder, Tea, and Crystals, and is an exciting introduction to the magical and suspenseful story of Arista Kelly, a young witch just coming into her powers – powers passed down in her family from generation to generation and coveted by a close family member. 

After the loss of her parents as a child, Arista was taken in by her father's aunt, Bethie, and taught about herbs, crystals, nature, spells, and natural magic to prepare her for the day when her own powers would manifest. She grew up in the quiet mountain town of Boulder Creek, with lifelong friends who still reside nearby. But when one of her friends from middle school disappears and is later found murdered, and then other young women Arista knows are also targeted, she and her aunt protect themselves the best way Bethie knows. Still, Arista may have attracted a serial killer's attention. 

Arista, the main character, is a positive personality, always looking on the bright side and giving people the benefit of the doubt. From the start, you know she is about to come face to face with the dark side of humanity, including that which resides within her own flesh and blood. 

From its unnerving opening, a literal parent's nightmare, the suspense builds. But while maintaining this tension, the author must handle the heavy lifting of creating the world in which these characters exist, and the complex, multi-layered plot unfolds. Dodd quickly populates a small town and Arista's past and current relationships, and that is a lot of information to take in. But along with vivid, living, breathing imagery, I think she pulls it off and gives readers a solid sense of the place and the people who live there. But even as the world-building unfolds, the plot moves briskly, and I found myself really engaging with Arista and the story, staying up late to reach the exciting resolution. 

I recommend MURDER UNDER REDWOOD MOON to readers of paranormal cozy mysteries. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy through WOW! Women On Writing Book Tours.

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Whine and Dine

Redwoods Country Mystery, #2

by

Marc Jedel

 

Return to the humor, charm, and murders of Redwoods Country!

 

Whine and Dine is the second book in veteran author Marc Jedel’s excellent Redwoods Country Mystery series, and proves to be a fabulous follow-up to last year’s debut, Rivers and Creaks. While all Andy Shirley wants is peace, quiet, and a lot of alone time, his ownership of the Quilt House Inn requires a much more hands-on effort. Thankfully, he has Nadia, the housekeeper and chef, to handle the day-to-day, and Charlie, the plumber/electrician and daughter of his new friend, Police Chief Joann Blaylock, on speed-dial for the more complicated jobs he can’t handle himself. But when Charlie’s friend is suspected of murder, Andy reluctantly agrees to join forces with her to clear her friend’s name, in exchange for a hefty discount on some upcoming plumbing repairs, of course. 

The story hits the ground running with a dramatic arrest on the porch of the inn and the discovery of the murder victim in the small, nearby town of Monte Rio, happening almost before the dust settles from the detective’s car leaving the inn’s parking lot. Andy, a retired copy editor with a penchant for puns, is a cranky, grumpy wannabe recluse, and his inner monologue and dialogue with literally everyone absolutely sparkle with wit. The pairs’ unofficial investigation is fun as they attempt to stay on Charlie’s mother’s good side while getting the job done. The secondary characters not only provide solid support but are also a quirky, colorful bunch, especially Nadia Radu. I was fortunate to be able to kick back and read the whole book in one delightful evening; the pages and time flew by. 

I recommend WHINE AND DINE to cozy mystery fans, especially those who enjoyed the series kickoff and the author’s other series. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.

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Anastasia’s Midnight Song

by

M. Laszlo

 

An atmospheric and complicated tale of madness set at the time of WWI.

 

Because she imagines that an arctic fox exists inside her womb, Anastasia goes to work in a Sinai mirror factory, believing that will drive the presence out. While in wartime London, Jack watches as other young men, his friends, head off to fight, leaving him unable to overcome his cowardice until he strikes on an alternate plan of action that sends him to the Sinai as well, where he sees and becomes enamored of Anastasia: attention and desire she doesn’t return.

Anastasia’s Midnight Song by M. Laszlo is not a comfortable, easy book to read, yet it is riveting all the same. Told from the perspectives of the two main characters, Anastasia and Jack, I was mesmerized by what they were going through and kept off-balance by the fluidity of reality and fantasy. I turned the pages, hoping they each would find their way to peace and freedom from their hallucinations and depressions, but was unsettled by their ensuing descent further into their madnesses. 

The story’s settings are unusual, and the events of the time contribute to the characters’ problems. The author’s descriptions of 1917 St. Petersburg and the Sinai create a palpably heavy atmosphere that I felt I was constantly wading through alongside the characters. 

As the story unfolded, reality and Anastasia’s hallucinatory interactions with the arctic fox and Svetlana often merged, and I was uncertain what she was really experiencing, if there was still some reality at work. I also felt Jack’s fear of going to war was well-founded. His childhood ill-prepared him both mentally and physically for life in general; he was delusional as to his skills and future already, and a wartime posting would have been certain death, especially considering the transition the mechanics of war were undergoing during WWI. Still, his cowardice and inability to join in the conflict preyed on his mind with tragic results. 

With its character-driven plot and atmospheric imagery, I recommend ANASTASIA’S MIDNIGHT SONG to readers of literary fiction. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

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GRQ

by

Steven Bernstein

 

Not your average, straightforward financial suspense story.

 

GRQ (Get Rich Quick) by Steven Bernstein gets really quirky fast. Part stream-of-consciousness and part suspense, where the narrator continually breaks the fourth wall, it is the story of a manipulative financial advisor, a get-rich-quick opportunity, and his desperate client, Marlon, on the day his house is being repossessed. Can Marlon scrape together all the cash he has left, even emotionally pressuring his relatives and in-laws into buying into his dream of a cryptocurrency killing? Or will he take what he’s got and walk away, hoping for another chance with the wife he’s boldly lied to about their circumstances for years? 

The story’s delivery is unique, with short, first-person chapters from the financial advisor that reveal his backstory and confess his scheme to make money off his hapless clients. Those chapters alternate with how Marlon came to be where he is today, revealing shocking details along the way. The wife, Viola, is complicit in their situation by failing to take a more active interest and ‘trusting’ Marlon to take care of her from the start. 

The novel is fast-paced, with great galloping swaths of pages containing only a single line of text in an extra-large font, bullet points that prove the narrator’s current point. Marlon makes his final stand from the fallout shelter built into his home, the suspense of his risky move ratcheting up by the minute as Los Angeles is wracked by a series of earthquakes, with the BIG ONE just waiting to hit. 

I recommend GRQ to readers looking for financial suspense stories and something really fresh, unique, and punchy. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.

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Crescent City Christmas Chaos

Vintage Cookbook Mystery, #4

by

Ellen Byron

 

This holiday season in the Big Easy is anything but easy!

 

When Virgil surprises Ricki by hiring her father out of retirement as the cameraman for his upcoming cooking show special, she’s ecstatic to be reunited with her adoptive parents for the holidays, and as they’ll all be busy with the show and working at the Bon Vee Culinary House Museum, they’ve planned their visit to extend into the New Year. Ricki wants to take the opportunity to pick her mother’s brain about her memories of Ricki’s first days, when she was left at Charity Hospital as a newborn by her teenage birth mom. Josepha had always been supportive of Ricki’s quest to learn more about her birth parents, but this time, she’s uncharacteristically vague and resistant to delving into the past, especially when Ricki stumbles across the name of one of Josepha’s former coworkers who worked in the Records Department at that time. Tracking the older woman down proves simple, but Ricki gets creepy vibes from her the minute she mentions her mother is in town, and terminates the visit before asking about her memories of the teenager who gave her up for adoption. However, when the woman is found dead in her home under suspicious circumstances the next day, Ricki and her parents become prime suspects in her death. 

Crescent City Christmas Chaos is the fourth book in author Ellen Byron’s intriguing New Orleans-set Vintage Cookbook Mystery series, and features vintage shop owner Miracle “Ricki” Fleur de Lis James-Diaz and her friends, family, and coworkers at the city’s beautiful Bon Vee Culinary House Museum. Ricki has established a unique and successful small business that she loves and has embarked on a lovely new romance with celebrity chef and neighbor Virgil Morel. Their relationship is still in the early stages, and Ricki is quite taken with Virgil’s innate goodness, especially after her past romantic experiences. They really fit well as a couple, as do her adoptive parents, Josepha and Luis James-Diaz, who met, married, and relocated to Los Angeles when Ricki was small. 

While the main plot follows Ricki’s well-done personal investigation into Phyllis Gibbs’s death, some interesting subplots vie for attention, including Virgil’s cooking special, the Bon Vee staff’s cookbook project, and Theo Charbonnet’s curiously secretive activities. Ricki’s search for her birth parents has been a theme running through the series since the beginning, and little pieces of the puzzle have been revealed in each successive mystery. This book does not disappoint. 

With its crush of great subplots involving a plethora of engaging recurring characters, I recommend CRESCENT CITY CHRISTMAS CHAOS to cozy mystery readers, especially those who’ve read the previous novels in the series and those who enjoy a New Orleans setting or adoption theme. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.

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Certain Sensibilities

by

Sondra Rice Newman

 

Touching and tender May-December romance.

 

Certain Sensibilities is a contemporary women’s fiction novel by Sondra Rice Newman that tells the unique and touching love story of a May-December couple. While their age gap is extreme, these two kindred spirits, soulmates, have the courage to build a life together, knowing their time will be short but trying to make every day special and count. 

Cary, the young male protagonist, is 34 years old when he meets 89-year-old Elizabeth Gardner, a new resident at the care facility where he works. They share common interests and certain sensibilities that draw them to one another, and feel a connection unlike any either has ever experienced is forged. That connection allows them to open up to each other, showing their vulnerabilities, revealing unfulfilled hopes and unmet dreams, and confessing to past failures and indiscretions. Cary missed out on the opportunities to pursue his desired education and career, while Elizabeth regrets losing touch with a girl from her past to whom she feels she owes an apology. Together, they finally work to realize some of those desires. 

The story is quiet and gentle and unfolds from both his and her point of view. The comfort they draw from having each other in their life is a joyful and satisfying tale. However, Elizabeth has some health struggles that both know she is not going to overcome, so each outing, conversation, and plan for the future has that knowledge lurking in the background. What begins as a meeting of the minds becomes a deep-felt and tender love. However, while they are as intellectually and emotionally close as a couple can get, their relationship never becomes sexually intimate. The story is a touching and emotionally satisfying treat. 

I recommend CERTAIN SENSIBILITIES to readers of women’s fiction, especially those with an interest in older woman-younger man relationships and gentle end-of-life stories. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

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A Fable of Wood and Strings

The Puppetmaster Duology, #1

by

L.T. Getty

 

Imaginative and action-packed young adult fantasy.

 

A Fable of Wood and Strings is the first book in author L.T. Getty’s new Puppetmaster Duology and is an imaginative tale of what happens when an evil puppeteer comes to the small village of Stagmil. Lily and her young twin siblings, Seth and Tiffany, are targeted by a beautiful stranger who stumbles into their town when the men are away hunting an injured wyvern that has been attacking their livestock. The stranger, a monster behind a magical mask, lures the children of the village into the woods and them into marionettes with spider silk as strings. Lily and Seth, with the help of a mysterious village outcast and other magical beings, must work together to save Tiffany and the other children before it’s too late. 

The author’s world-building is extensive and detailed as the story unfolds. Lily is a kind and considerate daughter who longs for more than her life in Stagmil, and her parents depend on her so much to help not only their family but the village as well. Seth and Tiffany are fun as a typical bratty younger brother and sister. They are relatable characters and easy to get behind and root for. I thought the adult villagers were a pretty sorry lot to Lily as a whole. They were demanding and ungrateful, using and abusing Lily verbally. She’s way more forgiving than I would have been in her shoes. 

The plot was by far one of the more creative ones I’ve encountered, with vividly frightening monsters, magical foxes, and a wise sword master in Zin. The characters are definitely put through the wringer, and this is just book one! 

With its engaging and relatable characters and imaginative plot, I recommend A FABLE OF WOOD AND STRINGS to young adult fantasy readers.

For this and other book reviews, visit my blog, Boys' Mom Reads!

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The Twelve Suspects of Christmas

A Provence Mystery

by

Ana T. Drew

 

A long-forgotten cold case may add up to murder!

 

The Twelve Suspects of Christmas is a spin-off cozy mystery set in the Provencal world of the author’s culinary-themed Julie Cavallo Investigates series. It features elderly grandmothers Rose Tassy and Annie Malian. The two sassy senior sleuths work together to uncover the truth behind the decades-past suicide of Annie’s first love. 

The main characters, Rose and Annie, are the grandmothers of Julie Cavallo and Gabriel Adinian respectively, the leads in the foundation series; both appear in this story and lend a hand or two when needed. However, the investigation is all on the two older women and told from their viewpoints. While Rose has been studying to become a licensed PI in the future and guides their steps and interviews, Annie was personally involved with the victim back in the day, provided background details, and can interpret some of the clues. The pair gets off on the wrong foot with each other at their first meeting, so their collaboration is sometimes uneasy and uncomfortable initially. I liked how they secretly acknowledged their antipathy toward the other but still managed to work together successfully and loved watching them gain confidence with each other and eventually become friends. Annie also has quite a surprise waiting when the two women are menaced by one of the bad guys. BEST. SCENE. EVER. 

The case itself is from the early 1960s, and I enjoyed Annie’s occasional flashbacks to that time and place when she was a young woman in love. The author creates ample and opposing angles for their investigation and how the victim may have run into trouble, hence, the twelve suspects of the title. Each possible avenue of investigation was intriguing and followed plausible lines of inquiry, with some clues coming to light after twists in the plot. Yet, with the plethora of suspects available, it was still easy to keep them all separate and sorted without confusion. The strong subplots made for an intriguingly robust and complex mystery in a compact length. 

I recommend THE TWELVE SUSPECTS OF CHRISTMAS to cozy mystery readers who enjoy stories with a culinary theme, books set in France or Provence, and fans of the original series. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.

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Snowfall

by

Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe

 

Has an anxiety-ridden librarian met her perfect match during a snowstorm?

 

Snowfall by Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe is a fun romance novella about an anxious young librarian living her best life among the books she loves until she’s knocked for a loop by the man of her dreams. After a calamitous storytime at the library on Friday afternoon, Melody leaves for home early in order to don clean, dry clothes. But as she cuts through the snowy park, absorbed in her latest must-read romance novel, she is accidentally knocked down by a handsome young man embroiled in a snowball fight with his twin brother. But will their unexpected meeting lead to something more? 

Melody, the unusually timid and sedate protagonist, is a mild-mannered young woman who has somehow been left behind by modern social media and everyday culture, perhaps as a result of her love of reading sweet, clean romances, her lack of friends her own age, and her limited dating history. She even reminds herself as she prepares for a milestone date with Jerry that it’s not the 1950s when pondering their budding romance. Melody views many things in black and white and is a stickler for rules. Her new relationship with Jerry is quite a step out of her comfort zone and routine. 

The plot moves fast and is full of humor, from the ill-fated children’s storytime to the very last paragraph of the book. I recommend SNOWFALL to romance readers who enjoy sweet, clean, and quirky stories. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tours.