Four Funerals and Maybe a a Wedding - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (Royal Spyness #12) by Rhys Bowen

Rating: Very Good

Source: Publisher

Description:  Georgie is finally able to plan for her wedding in the summer. It is going to be a summer of weddings: her mother is marrying Max, her German beau; Georgie's grandfather is marrying his next door neighbor, Mrs. Huggins; and Darcy's father is getting up the courage to ask the princess to marry him. Georgie is staying at the princess's London house when she receives a letter from one of her mother's former husbands, Sir Hubert Anstruther. Georgie is now his sole heir, and he's offering her the use of his lovely country house. He suggests she move in right away to keep an eye on the place because all might not be well since his butler died.

Georgie talks this through with her husband-to-be, Darcy, who is off to Europe again, this time to Berlin. They decide that she will take Sir Hubert up on his offer. However, when Georgie arrives, it becomes clear that she is definitely not wanted in the house. Strange things are happening, including a lively ghost and a less than friendly reception from the new butler. When a body shows up, Georgie realizes that Sir Hubert's invitation may not have been entirely altruistic and begins to wonder if she'll even make it to her wedding day.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I've really enjoyed this series even though I've missed a few in the middle and I'm excited to see if Darcy and Georgie actually get married.

My Impression: So I always enjoy the Royal Spyness books.  I can always depend on them to be fun and light with a great 1930s and touches of royalty.  However, for some reason this one really grabbed me and I was all in from page one!  I think Georgie just feels a little bit more grown up and a little bit more comfortable in her own skin even when she's having a bit of a (very justified) meltdown.  The mystery took a little while to get to but I was so caught up in the wedding planning and all the other life arranging that Georgie is in the middle of figuring out that I didn't even notice!

But the mystery - it was such a good one!  I love a good country house upstairs/downstairs mystery and this had that in spades with hijinks and all kids of craziness.  It had kind of an Agatha Christie feel but with a bit more humor.  I found the pacing to be super fast without being rushed and this one was one of those books I found myself sneaking off to read "just a page or two".

This was such a quick read with all the fun I've come to expect from this series but with a mystery that surpassed my expectations. 

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Absolutely!  I really enjoyed this one which makes me excited for the next book!

Would I Recommend this Book?  I would though this is one of those series that might be better to start with an earlier book.  I felt like this one was better than earlier books but there are a lot of characters with complicated relationships and that could get confusing if you're new to the series.

My Ten Childhood Favorites

Today I'm thinking about my favorite books as a child.  These aren't necessarily the best books or ones that can stand up to a reread as an adult (at least without a heavy dose of nostalgia coloring my opinion) but they are books that really stand out in my memory as books I loved.

1.  The Ghost at Dawn's House by Ann M. Martin - I LOVED the Babysitter's Club series and this one was my absolute favorite.  My copy completely fell apart it was so well loved.

2.  Eight Cousins and 3. Jo's Boys both by Louisa May Alcott - I wasn't a big fan of Little Women but I loved these two.  I reread them over and over again.

4.  Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright - I'm not sure how I ended up with this one and I didn't read anything else by the author until I was an adult but I loved this one.  I loved all the adventures the Melendy kids had and it was one of the few books that made me wish I had siblings.

5.  Christina's Ghost by Betty Ren Wright - I loved all things ghostly as a kid and devoured so many books with ghostly plots but this one sticks out in my head because my teacher took it away for reading it at lunch (she was crazy - it took until I was an adult to fully realize this) and when I told my Dad what had happened he immediately took me to the library so I could check out a copy.

6.  The Moonstone Castle Mystery by Nancy Drew - I loved all things Nancy Drew but this one especially has stuck with me.  For some reason it really spooked me so of course I loved it all the more.

7.  Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey - I loved Cheaper by the Dozen but I loved this sequel even more.  Though I must admit that the mother's casual attitude about the girls' smoking completely blew my mind!

8.  Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - I was really resistant to reading this and in fact never tried it until after I saw the Disney movie with Megan Follows.  Then I devoured the entire series in a weekend and have read it countless times since then.

9.  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis - I actually didn't get all through the Chronicles of Narnia until not that long ago but as a kid I loved this book so much!

10. These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder - I loved the whole Little House series but this one was my absolute favorite.  I loved the bit of romance between Laura and Alonzo and read it so many times!

What were some of your childhood favorites?

Set the Night on Fire - Contemporary Romance Review

Goodreads:  Set the Night on Fire (Cottonbloom #6) by Laura Trentham

Rating:  Good

Source: Publisher

Description:  Ella Boudreaux has a lot to prove to her family, friends, and foes--and to herself. So when her marriage ends she decides to invest her energy and money into a place that brings back some of Ella's happiest memories: the Abbott brothers' garage. Maybe, if she puts her mind to it, she can teach skeptical, stubborn Mack Abbott how to make the business a true success. Which would be a lot easier if the hunky mechanic didn't make her motor run quite so fast...and hot.

Mack was furious when his brother, Ford, sold his share of the business. He's in no rush to team up with a wealthy divorcee who shows up to the garage in stilettos--and the longest, sexiest legs he's seen in forever. But Ella's grit and determination won't quit...and soon Mack can see that she's been down a few rough roads herself. Neither Mack nor Ella can deny the fierce attraction that's revving up between them. Could it be that true love has been in the backseat all along...and they've finally found the key?

Genre: Romance - Contemporary

Why I Picked This Book:  I've been enjoying contemporary romance lately and this one sounded a bit different from the usual.  

My Impression:  How have I not read this author before?  I really enjoyed the plot of this one and loved the characters.  It's always nice when an author avoids what could easily be a cliché and adds depth and "things aren't quite what they seem".  I was all set to not like Ella.  Her reasons for buying into the garage made sense - especially since she wasn't aware of the hostile takeover aspect.  It helps that she's smart and aware of her strengths and weaknesses even if she's a bit insecure.  The first meeting did lapse into silly a bit but this definitely wasn't a farce.

Mack is a tough guy who can be hard headed to the cutting off your nose to spite your face level but never to the point I got irritated with him.  Under it all he was such a sweetheart that that made it a bit better!  I liked Mack and Ella together even before they knew there was any "together" going on.

I really enjoyed that these characters were adults.  They have baggage that is real and they're both independent despite having family around.  I really enjoyed this romance and I really liked both the characters.  It had been a bit of a tough week and this made for a really lovely reading escape.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Definitely!  I can't believe I haven't read this author before but I'll be making up for it now.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you love contemporary romance I think you'll really enjoy this one.  Even though this is #6 in a series you can start here with no problem. 

This Week in Reading - August 5

It's Sunday Post time!  This is hosted by the awesome Caffeinated Book Reviewer and gives us all a chance to recap our week.

What I Got:

An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen - This looks creepy and unreliable and all kinds of thriller-y things.  Plus, it doesn't come out until January of 2019 so I don't think it technically counts as an addition to my TBR.  (Publisher)

And that's it!  

Currently:

Reading:  Fade to Black by Heather Graham and Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding by Rhys Bowen

Listening:  I finished The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan and am now back to Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn

Watching:  We are loving The Great British Bake-Off (or Baking Show according to PBS).  I'm really glad we have at least a season or two left of the original cast. I love Mary Berry and Sue Perkins especially.  We're also watching Longmire and are now in the 3rd season.  So far I really like it though there is some character development that I'm not loving.

Off the Blog:

We had such a fun vacation!  I was a little nervous because we only decided we were going a couple of days in advance so there was a lot of scrambling but it all worked out.  We loved the hotel we were in and had a lot of fun doing the Gatlinburg stuff - Sky Lift, mirror mazes, and mini golf especially.  It's a bit cheesy but it is fun and the Tornado loved it.  We also went to the aquarium which is surprisingly good and has a big penguin exhibit.  We lucked up on feeding time and were able to get close enough to them to see that each penguin had a band on their wing with their name on it.  It turns out seeing a penguin named Wilson is incredibly cute.  We also went to the Titanic museum and the Science museum in Pigeon Forge.  The Science museum was just okay but the Titanic museum was really interesting and very interactive for kids.  They give you the name of a passenger or crew member at the beginning and the Tornado was a 3rd class passenger and paid special attention to their quarters.  

School also started this week and so far so good.  There were a couple of kids that I wasn't thrilled to see on the class role but the good outweighs the bad and hopefully he can stay away from the troublemakers.  His main teacher is wonderful and he's already excited about the Maps and Globes chapters they have coming up.  

My reading has been down the last little while but I'm hoping getting back to routine will help get it back up.  It's not that I don't like what I'm reading it's more that I'm just not wanting to read which is very weird!

On the Blog:

What Happened:

Monday:  Rancher's Dream - Contemporary Romance Review

Tuesday:  Top Ten Tuesday - Ten Popular Books that Lived Up to Hype

Wednesday:  Dune Drive - Contemporary Romance Review

Thursday:  Reviews from the Children's Section - The Sea of Monsters

Friday:  Friday Linkups - A Dark and Twisting Path

Saturday:  She Was the Quiet One - Mystery Review

What's Coming Up:

Monday:  Set the Night on Fire - Contemporary Romance Review
Tuesday: Top Ten Childhood Favorites
Wednesday:  Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding - Cozy Mystery Review
Thursday:  Books from the Backlog
Friday:  Friday Linkups with Current Book
Saturday:  TBD

Have a great week and happy reading!

She Was the Quiet One - Mystery Review

She Was the Quiet One by Michele Campbell

Rating: Good

Source: Publisher

Description:  When twin sisters Rose and Bel Enright enroll in The Odell School, a prestigious New Hampshire boarding school, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. But the sisters could not be more different. The school brings out a rivalry between them that few ever knew existed. And the school itself has a dark underbelly: of privileged kids running unchecked and uninhibited; of rituals and traditions that are more sinister than they seem; of wealth and entitlement that can only lead to disaster.

For Sarah Donovan, wife of an ambitious teacher who is determined to rise through the ranks, Odell also seems like the best thing that could happen to their small family. But how well does she really know her husband? What lengths will he go to to achieve his goals? And when one dark night ends in murder, who is guilty, who knows the truth, and who has been in on it all along? SHE WAS THE QUIET ONE. Because murderers are almost never who you expect.

Genre: Mystery - Thriller

Why I Picked This Book:  I've been enjoying thrillers lately and the boarding school aspect of this one really appealed to me.

My Impression:
What I Liked: 
The atmosphere - something is clearly not okay but it's hard to pinpoint if it's just teenagers misbehaving or something far more sinister.

The changes in character POV - I really felt like I was seeing through each characters eyes and really got their perspective which added a lot of depth to the book.

The beginning - Campbell does a good job of putting out enough information at the beginning to really hook me but still obscures it enough that I can't be quite sure what's going on.

What I Didn't Like:
I'm not sure exactly what didn't work for me.  It could have been that most of the characters were teenagers who really felt like teenagers which meant they were really caught up in all the insecurities and drama that accompanies being a teenager.  It could have been the boarding school setting which did appeal to me but the Ruth Ware book set at a boarding school didn't really work for me either.  Maybe the progress just wasn't quite quick enough?  I don't really know but I did end up wanting the book to hurry up or skip ahead even though I was enjoying it which kept this from being a 4 star book for me.

Overall, I think this is a case of it's not you it's me.  I think the mystery and the pacing were well done and the atmosphere was splendid.  However, I do find that books that feature a lot of teenagers in the cast seem to frustrate me so I'm thinking I'll pass on that subject as a whole from now on.  However, I enjoyed the writing enough that I will be looking for more books from Michele Campbell.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  I would but I think I'll be looking for books that focus mostly on adults.  I just don't think YA centered books really work for me.

Would I Recommend this Book?  Yes, I would.  While it wasn't my favorite I did enjoy it!

Friday Linkups - A Dark and Twisting Path

It's Friday linkup time!  I'm linking up with the Book Blogger Hop hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer, Book Beginnings of Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, and the Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice

This Week's Book Blogger Hop Question:

Have you ever had a bookish nocturnal dream?  If so, please share the story.  If not, have you ever had a daydream related to books?  If so, please tell us about it.

My Answer:

I don't think I've really had a bookish dream either waking or sleeping.  I do sometimes daydream about having more time to read or organizing all my books but not so much the story I'm reading.

This week I'm jumping into a series on book 3.  I've been wanting to read the Writer's Apprentice Mystery series since the very first book.  I love books about authors and the covers were just so amazing.  I haven't gotten to books 1 and 2 but this week I'm talking about book 3 - A Dark and Twisting Path by Julia Buckley.  So far I'm really it!

The Beginning: 

Victoria West, tragic and beautiful, spoke into the camera.

My Thoughts:

I wonder why she's so tragic - if it's real or just acting.

The 56:

It was the sort of place one couldn't imagine leaving.

My Thoughts:

There wasn't much going on on this page but I did like this sentence.  It could be really nice and peaceful or a bit ominous!

So what do you think?  Keep reading?

Reviews from the Children's Section - Sea of Monsters

One of my favorite genres and one that is the easiest for me to push aside is middle grade fiction. This year to make sure I get a little more children's and young adult fiction I thought I would designate the first Monday of every month Middle Grade Monday (though sometimes it doesn't end up working quite right) .  While a lot of my picks this year are classics I am trying to branch out a little bit and read new or at least recent releases.  This month's book is the 2nd in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan.  I was surprised just how much I enjoyed The Lightening Thief so I really made a point to get The Sea of Monsters in this year.

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #2) by Rick Riordan

Blurb: The heroic son of Poseidon makes an action-packed comeback in the second must-read installment of Rick Riordan's amazing young readers series. Starring Percy Jackson, a "half blood" whose mother is human and whose father is the God of the Sea, Riordan's series combines cliffhanger adventure and Greek mythology lessons that results in true page-turners that get better with each installment.
In this episode, The Sea of Monsters, Percy sets out to retrieve the Golden Fleece before his summer camp is destroyed, surpassing the first book's drama and setting the stage for more thrills to come.

My Thoughts:  Poor Percy does seem to get in quite a bit of trouble and his second year at Camp Half Blood is no exception!  I liked the addition of Tyson and that Percy's feelings towards him where a bit complex.  The modern twist on Greek mythology was really interesting and really well done.  It made me want to refresh my memory on all the classic myths and legends and I suspect that it would have younger readers wanting to pick up some books on mythology for the first time.  While the Camp and the rest of the world need to be saved just like they did in the first book I felt like Grover added a fresh element to the story.   The pacing is super fast and the teamwork between Annabeth and Percy was nice  They don't always get along but when the chips are down they're a great team.  While there is a lot of danger and intense situations I never felt like it would frighten younger readers.  As well while there are battle scenes Riordan doesn't lapse into descriptions of gore (except for the occasional quick description of goo coming from a monster) which I really appreciated.  I think this is a great read for children age 9+ or so and is a fun read for adults as well.

I started reading this but switched to audio on chapter 5.  While it does read quickly I feel like I really enjoyed it more in audio.  Jesse Bernstein does a great job with the narration.  He doesn't overdo the voices and doesn't sound to mature to voice Percy.