Monday, December 29, 2014

On the Fifth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me - 5 Cozies


Trish at Between My Lines is hosting the Twelve Days of Christmas but instead of talking birds and lords o' leaping were talking books.  Way more affordable and much easier to store than swans a swimming.  Be sure to check out the other 11.

January 5:  Twelve YA's with Lots of Kissing from Chelsea @ Starbucks & Book Obsession
January 4:  Eleven Covers for Adoring from Rachel @ Confessions of a Book Geek
January 3:  Ten Books with Dancing from Trish @ Between My Lines
January 2:  Nine Plots A-twisting from Miranda @ Tempest Books
January 1:  Eight Maids Kick-assing from Jessica @ Lovin' Los Libros
December 31:  Seven Dystopias Awaiting from Rita @ View From My Home
December 30: Six Sizzling New Adults from Sheri @ Tangled Up in Books
December 29: Five Cooooo-zies from Katherine @ I Wish I Lived in a Library
December 28: Four Contemporaries from Jenna @ Rather Be Reading YA
December 27:  Three Time Travels from Terri @ Second Run Reviews
December 26:  Two Chick Lits from Lola @ Lola's Reviews
December 25:  And a Thriller Where the Family Flee from Trish @Between My Lines

For the fifth day we have cozies.  Of if you're singing it it'd be Fiiiive Cooooo-zies.

1.  Jennie Bentley's Do It Yourself Mystery series - There's small town Maine, history, restoring old houses, a dash of romance and hefty dose of dead bodies.  In the first of the series Fatal Fixer Upper there's even long buried family secrets.

2.  Lynn Cahoon's Tourist Trap Mysteries Guidebook to Murder was the first in the series and I enjoyed it enough that I've read the other 2 in quick succession.  If anything the series is getting strong.  Plus, there's a bookstore!

3.  Jenn McKinlay's Library Lover series - While I love McKinlay's cupcake series and I'm sure her hat shop books are fantastic my favorite is these set in small town Connecticut involving local librarian Lindsey Norris.  There's a book club, a nemesis with just enough of a presence to be interesting but not so much as to be annoying.  Oh yeah, and murder.  Books Can Be Deceiving is the first in the series.


4.  Sheila Connolly's Orchard Mysteries or her County Cork Mysteries - One Bad Apple introduces us to Meg, the house she unexpectedly inherited and the old apple orchard she was unaware even existed.  I always want to go comb farmer's markets for unique apple types after reading these books!  While I have enjoyed her museum series the plotting can be a bit confusing and my reason for loving it is because I used to work in a musuem.  I have read the first in the County Cork series, Buried in a Bog, and it was great.  Plus, it's a cozy set in Ireland!  I'm not sure what else you could want!

5.  Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile Mysteries - I know this is a big surprise but books about books are quite possible my favorite topic and this mystery series about book restorer Brooklyn Wainwright, never fails to disappoint.  Start with the first, Homicide in Hardcover, so you can learn who everyone is.  Carlisle has recently started a new series of mysteries about restoring houses that I can't wait to get my hands on!

So those are the 5 cozies I recommend!  If you're a regular cozy reader did I leave out any of your favorites?  There's so many fun cozies out there it's hard to narrow the list down.

12 comments:

  1. Love your introduction! I really have to try Sheila Connelly soon, I live very near to Cork so I need to check these out! I love the sound of Jenn McKinlay's Library Lover series too. Right that's it, I'm going to try some cozies (beyond Agatha Christie) in 2015! Thanks for giving me a place to start my new bookish adventure :)

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    1. I read the County Cork series and the author is Irish-American and visits Ireland once a year or something to do her research and talk to the local folks to make her stories realistic. I'm just repeating what I read that she said, so maybe you would enjoy them if you live near Cork :)

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  2. What a fun blog series idea! I'll check out some of the other entries for sure. As for your cozy picks, I love the Library Lovers series and want to try McKinlay's other series. I've been meaning to read Sheila Connolly for a while, and also the Bibliophile series by Kate Carlisle. And Lynn Cahoon's Tourist Trap series is always fun. I haven't heard as much about the renovation series by Bentley, but if you've enjoyed it, I should probably check it out!

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  3. Love your choices! I've read the first two of the County Cork cozies and the first of the Tourist Trap, so I'm going to check out the other 3 today. I always like to squeeze a cozy in among my intense reads. The Home repair one looks like fun-- there are a few out there and I was getting confused as to which to start, but I think I will pick up this one since I used to live in Maine and love books set there. Thanks for the fun post, Katherine!

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  4. One of my new year resolutions is to read mroe (cozy)mysteries, so i'll check out your recommendations to see if these sounds like somethign I would like!

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  5. Some great sounding series, Katherine. I've read about or gotten a couple of these series, but haven't read them yet. The County Cork series is one I definitely want to read since I'm visiting Ireland in March! I need to find some more books set in Ireland to read before March.

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  6. I don't believe I've ever read a book that would be considered a cozy! I've just come across this term in the last few months as I've expanded the blogs I've been reading. Thanks for the recommendations.

    Terri M., the Director
    Second Run Reviews

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  7. I'm not a cozy reader but I'm tempted by the first one because of the cat on the cover.

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  8. I've only read one of these series, the Orchard Mysteries, and I was meh on it. I've had my eye on several of the others though. I really need to get busy and try them.

    What a fun idea for a series of blog posts. I'll be busy following along. :)

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  9. And you know I couldn't help but sing it. LOL Great list, Katherine!

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  10. Clio Coyle, Joanne Fluke, Carolyn Hart, Mary Freeman, Elaine Viets, Susan Wittig Albert, Donna Andrews, Leann Sweeney, Sarah Graves, Beverly Allen, Juliet Blackwell, Sue Ann Jaffarian, Melissa Bourbon, Heather Blake, Madelyn Alt, Alice Kimberly are just the ones that initially come to mind. Sticking to five when it is such a huge genre must have been really tough.

    I liked the first Lynn Cahoon book and I'm fixing to read another. Jill is an interesting protagonist.

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