Monday, September 26, 2016

Summer at Sea by Katie Fforde

A Summer at Sea by Katie Fforde is another charming story by an author who is fast becoming one of my favorites.  She writes of beautiful locations, interesting characters, and one of my favorites is her characterization of children.  I love that her children are smart, witty, and still children.

Emily is a midwife who gets tired of fighting the powerful doctors in her town. In order to get away, she takes a sabbatical and goes to Scotland to help her pregnant best friend and her best friend's husband by spending the summer cooking on their touring puffer boat. While their she meets delightful senior citizen, Maisie, and the very handsome widowed doctor/brother in law of her best friend and his daughter, Kate.  Kate and Emily become fast friends and there is an instant attraction between Emily and Alisdaire (hunky doctor).

I recommend this, and other books by this author, to all who like to escape to far off locations and enjoy a good story with a bit of love attached.  You won't go wrong.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Christmas at the Little Village Bakery

Christmas at the Village Bakery is the ideal winter read. I loved the location and the premise.  I liked most of the people, or in other words, I liked the people I was supposed to like and hated Tori's uptight snob of a mother (the jury is still out on her father).

Tori and Spencer are a newly engaged couple who return to his quaint English hometown from Colorado where he is an exchange teacher in the school where she teaches.  The plan is to spend Christmas with their respective parents and his boyhood friends.

When her extremely snooty mother arrives, she does her best to try to break up Tori and Spencer. Of course, his free spirited, liberal leaning, parents with a tendecy to drink too much and speak to freely, don't help Spencer's case.

The village people are friendly and helpful.  The bakery and pub are cozy and the small town atmosphere made me want to visit (except for the snow, I hate snow).

All in all, I enjoyed Christmas at the Village Bakery and the author's writing style.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Sunday, September 18, 2016

Jamie Quinn mystery collection

This set includes the first three books in the Jamie Quinn mystery series and I found them unique, amusing, and a great way to spend an afternoon.

Since there are three complete books in this Audible collection, I will give an overview of my impressions and then review each book separately on Goodreads, Amazon, and B&N for interested listeners. I will say I enjoyed each book equally.

Jamie Quinn is a 30 something family practice lawyer, who is still recovering from the death of her mother. She works with a thrice divorced PI named Duke, has a great boyfriend named Kip, and a best friend from law school named Casey. These are the main characters in the book.

In between her cases, boyfriend, and caring for her late mother's cantankerous cat, Jamie is looking for her father.

The narrator is great, with one exception, her characterization of Duke's voice was like nails on the chalkboard. Of course it is possible that this is the way the author pictured Duke, he is a tad bit flaky. I would definitely listen to more books she narrates.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Semi-Sweet Hereafter by Colette London

The Semi-Sweet Hereafter by Colette London
Colette London has penned a great cozy mystery set in England about an American woman who travel the world helping bakeries improve their menu items, especially those containing chocolate.  If you have a sweet tooth and are trying to cut out desserts, you may want to read at your own risk, because these sweets sound amazing (and there are recipes in the back!!!!!).

The plot of this story is well crafted and there are a plethora of suspects (my one complaint about the book, too many people).  The main character is fun loving and daring, she has earned the loyalty and respect of her bodyguard/good friend and her financial wizard.  These two men have her back and are able to reel her in when the takes too many chances (something that just seems to come naturally).

Another great thing about this premise is that the main character travels to great locations so if she stumbles on a dead body it is not the tenth dead body in small-town America, so unrealistic.

If you like cozy mysteries, I recommend this author.  I was given this copy from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I honestly liked it and plan to go read the others in the series to discover the backstory.

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin

Delightful is how I would describe Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin.

 The hotel is where I want to spend Christmas, New Years, my birthday, and your birthday for the rest of my life.  The staff is helpful, the scenery is amazing, the townsfolk are artists, the reindeer run wild and steal the guest's sweets right out of their hands, and Rudolph is quite the ladies' man, er reindeer.

Piper arrives on Cranberry Island unaware that her childhood best friend/boyfriend has taken over his uncle's island and has turned it into a winter paradise.  On the most devastating day of her life, Piper walked out on Gabe and his family without saying why she was leaving and disappeared for twelve years. Now she's back to review the hotel for a magazine and finds Gabriel and his adorable, Frozen obsessed, four-year old daughter Wren.

This is the story of love and forgiveness for Piper and Gabriel. Can they put the past behaving them and learn to love again. I recommend reading Christmas Under a Cranberry Sky by Holly Martin to find out the answers.

I was given a copy of this book by NetGalley in return for an honest review.