The Stranger in the Library - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: The Stranger in the Library (A Lighthouse Library Mystery #11) by Eva Gates

Rating: Really Liked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  When a traveling show of impressionist art comes to Nags Head, North Carolina, librarian Lucy and the staff at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library are inspired to create an educational display about art history. Their launch of the display is a huge success, but the morning after, they discover that a reproduction of a famous painting has gone missing.

No one knows why anyone would bother stealing the picture is of no value–the real, priceless painting is under lock and key at the art show itself. Lucy gets an invite to the glitzy opening night for the real show, where she notices unusual tension among the show’s organizers. Then, the man scheduled to give the welcoming speech fails to arrive, and a party-goer is discovered drowned in a fish pond.

Meanwhile, Louise Jane is totally captivated by Tom Reilly, a handsome, charming art dealer lurking at the edges of the receptions on both nights. Tom slipped away from the party early, and he cannot be located by the police. Who, Lucy asks, is Tom Reilly, the shadowy figure threatening to break Louise Jane’s heart?

Something is afoot in Nags Head, and it’s up to Lucy and her friends to get to the bottom of it before it’s not just paintings being framed.

Genre:  Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I really enjoy this series so of course I had to pick up this newest book.

My Impression: I've enjoyed this series from the beginning and I was so excited to check in with Lucy, Connor and the rest of the Lighthouse Library crew.  I do love a cozy mystery with a fun bookish setting and this book had that in spades - plus an art heist.  

Lucy and Connor are adjusting to married life and are getting back to the regular life after their European honeymoon.  This starts off with a major art exhbit both at the library and at a local landmark.  Strange things start happening, people start disappearing, a dead body shows up, and Louise Jane and Charles the library cat are right in the middle of things adding their own special dash of chaos.  

This is a good cozy series with likable characters, a fun bookish element, a unique setting, and clever mysteries.  I really enjoyed this mystery and my visit to the Lighthouse Library!

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Definitely!  Eva Gates/Vicki Delany is one of my favorite cozy authors and I always enjoy her books.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you are a fan of cozy mysteries this is a series not to be missed.  While the mystery is standalone the relationships between the characters will be more enjoyable if you start earlier in the series.  

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Fondant Fumble - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Fondant Fumble (A Cupcake Bakery Mystery #16) by Jenn McKinlay

Rating: Liked It! (3.5 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Professional football players Keogh Graham and Tyler Matthews want to open a Fairy Tale Cupcakes franchise. They’re spending the off-season in Scottsdale working in Mel’s bakery, learning about the business and how to bake show-stopping cupcakes. The popular athletes bring a boom of customers to the store as football fans flock to see the friends mixing batter and piping icing.

Everyone’s excited the athletes are pursuing their dream of owning a bakery—except for those who fear the players will ditch football for fondant and retire early from professional sports. The angry naysayers include their team owner and Keogh's sports agent, along with some very vocal fans.

When the owner of their team, the Arizona Scorpions, is found dead on the floor of their new bakery following an argument with Keogh, the pros become prime suspects. As the investigation heats up, Mel and the rest of the cupcake bakery crew must step up and prove their franchise owners are innocent before it’s game-over for the new bakers.

Genre:  Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I enjoy this series and McKinlay is one of my favorite authors.

My Impression: Football meets cozy mystery and chaos ensues.  I really enjoyed this cozy mystery involving the cupcake baker characters that I enjoy catching up with - Mel, Angie, Tate, Joe and the rest of the DeLara family - with the addition of an NFL team and their shenanigans.  

Keogh and Tyler were interesting characters.  They're close friends and Keogh has a life long love of baking.  I thought it was interesting that the fact that professional athletes have a time limit of how long they are able to perform was discussed frequently as was the downsides of fame and fortune.

The mystery was a godo one and while this was a super easy fast read things didn't always go the way I expected them to go.  I really enjoyed the wrapup of the mystery and seeing changes in the main characters personal life.  I do prefer this author's Library Lovers series but this was a fun, fast read that I enjoyed from beginning to end - and now I need to go get cupcakes.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I have really enjoyed everything I've read by this author and am looking forward to new books and catching up on books I've missed.  

Would I Recommend this Book? If you enjoy cozy mysteries this is a fun series and this was a fun read.  

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Top Ten Tuesday - Bookish Wishes

Today I'm linking up with Top Ten Tuesday hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl which is all about lists.  Since lists are one of my favorite things this is one of my favorite linkups!  Today's topic is Bookish Wishes.  This time I am taking inspiration from how  Lydia Schoch tackled this topic.    In her blog post last time this topic came around she wished for book recommendations and gave a number of genres or tropes she was looking for.  Here are 10 subjects/genres/tropes/or other bookish things I would love recommendations for.

1.  Old Houses - I'm looking for a book where a main character has come into possession of an old house by some means or other.  Bonus points if it's still full of stuff and there's a mystery to be solved - or a ghost.  Or both.

2.  Magical Realism - I love Sarah Addison Allen and Heather Fawcett and would love some more books with that general feel.

3.  Fantasy that isn't 9 million pages long - I've really enjoyed the fantasy I've read but the massive page count I see so often in the genre regularly scares me off.  

4.  Romances with more story than spice - I love romances that really focus on the characters but I'm not a huge fan of lots of spice.  I have my tried and true authors that I enjoy - Jill Shalvis, Lisa Kleypas, Nora Roberts, and a few others - but at some point I'm going to read all of their books.

5.  Found Family - Found Family may be one of my very favorite tropes.  No matter what genre it is if a book involves a found family I am in!

6.  Bookish characters - I love books where the character is bookish and it isn't just window dressing.  I love when they talk about books or mention books or books and reading are somehow pivotal to the plot or character development.

7.  Books involving antiques or vintage clothes - especially when the plot involves the history or the story of that particular item.

8.  Books set in hard to find states - Every year I try to "travel" to as many states as possible through my books.  I have a tough time finding books set in Delaware, Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota especially.

9. Books with a Gothic-y Feel - I love books with a good eerie setting like Kate Morton or Barbara Michaels and am always looking for more books like that.

10.  Your favorite book - I tend to stay in my lane when it comes to reading but so often some of my favorite books of the year are when I take a chance or read something on a recommedation that I wouldn't normally pick up.

Do you have any book recommendations for me?  My TBR needs to do some growing!

The Paris Widow - Thriller Review

Goodreads: The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle

Rating: Really LIked It (4 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  When Stella met Adam, she thought she had finally found a nice, normal guy—a welcome change from her previous boyfriend and her precarious jetsetter lifestyle with him. But her secure world comes crashing down when Adam goes missing after an explosion in the city square. Unable to reach him, she panics.

As the French police investigate, it’s revealed that Adam was on their radar as a dealer of rare and stolen antiquities with a long roster of criminal clients. Reeling from this news, Stella is determined not to leave Paris until she has the full story. Was Adam a random victim or the target of the explosion? And why is someone following her through the streets of Paris?

An irresistible, fast-paced read set in some of Europe’s most inviting locales, The Paris Widow explores how sinister secrets of the past stay with us—no matter how far we travel.

Genre: Mystery - Thriller

Why I Picked This Book:  The blurb really caught my attention and I've been wanting to try a book by this author.  

My Impression:  This was a fun fast paced read with a writing style that kept me pulled into the story from the beginning.  Nothing was quite what it seemed and I enjoyed following Stella as she tries to put together the pieces of just who Adam really is - which slowly had me wondering was anyone or anything how it seemed?

The book is a combination of present day in Stella's point of view and flashbacks earlier into their vacation from Adam's perspective.  I really enjoyed Adam's perspective and it helped the feeling of a net closing around Stella and the book goes on.  

I really enjoyed the story, the writing style, and the pacing in this book.  It was a fast paced read with suspense but not so scary it had me wanting to double check the locks or jumping at shadows.  This was my first book by this author but it won't be my last.  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Definitely!  I'm really looking forward to reading more from this author.  

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you're looking for a fast paced read with suspense but don't want too much on page violence this is a fantastic choice.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

Reading Recap - May 2024

 

Monthly Recap:

Monthly Reading Count -  19 - this seems to be my regular reading pace as each month I always seem to be right around this number.

Print - 8

Ebook - 5 

Audiobook - 6 

Mystery -  9

Fiction - 3

Romance - 5 

Nonfiction - 2

Favorite Books of the Month:

The Grace of Wild Things by Heather Fawcett - I loved this book inspired by Anne of Green Gables with found family and magic.  

Mind Games by Nora Roberts - I always enjoy Roberts' stand alone romantic suspense book but I especially enjoyed this one.

My Armchair Travel:

Domestic Travel:  I visited Washington State three times, North Carolina  twice, New Hampshire, California, and New Hampshire.

I visited Kentucky and Texas for the first time

International Travel:  I visited England twice, Scotland, Germany, and Canada.

Where did your books take you this month?  What was your favorite book of the month?

Friday Fives - June TBR

I'm taking a bit of a break from my usual Friday Linkups to try something a little different.  I'm in a list making kind of mood so I thought I'd start making random five lists.  Sometimes they'll be bookish other weeks not so much. This is the first Friday in June so I'm picking out five books I hope to read this month.

1.  Haunting License by Carol J Perry - I've enjoyed the first two books in the series (the first WAY more than the second) and was so excited to see that book three was coming out.

2.  Empty Nest by Marty Wingate - I read the first book in this cozy mystery series about bird watching awhile ago and enjoyed it.

3.  Nothing Venture by Patricia Wentworth - This book is on my classic mystery list and this is one of my favorite authors.

4.  Death at Greenway by Lori Rader-Day - This is a historical mystery set at Agatha Christie's home during World War II.

5.  Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose- The TBR Tarot prompt was Choose a Book with a 5 Word Title.  I listened to the first book in this series last year and really enjoyed it so I'm really looking foward to the second.  

What are you planning on reading this month?

Books from the Backlog - Code Name: Lise

Today I'm linking up with Carole from Carole's Random Life of Books for Books from the Backlog.  I really enjoy the chance to feature a book that's been hiding in the piles of books for far too long!

Goodreads:  Code Name: Lise: The True Story of the Woman Who Became World War II's Most Decorated Spy by Larry Loftis

Blurb:  The year is 1942, and World War II is in full swing. Odette Sansom decides to follow in her war hero father’s footsteps by becoming an SOE agent to aid Britain and her beloved homeland, France. Five failed attempts and one plane crash later, she finally lands in occupied France to begin her mission. It is here that she meets her commanding officer Captain Peter Churchill.
As they successfully complete mission after mission, Peter and Odette fall in love. All the while, they are being hunted by the cunning German secret police sergeant, Hugo Bleicher, who finally succeeds in capturing them. They are sent to Paris’s Fresnes prison, and from there to concentration camps in Germany where they are starved, beaten, and tortured. But in the face of despair, they never give up hope, their love for each other, or the whereabouts of their colleagues.

In Code Name: Lise, Larry Loftis paints a portrait of true courage, patriotism, and love—of two incredibly heroic people who endured unimaginable horrors and degradations. He seamlessly weaves together the touching romance between Odette and Peter and the thrilling cat and mouse game between them and Sergeant Bleicher.

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf: I read and loved another book by this author and this one has been sitting gathering dust on my shelf ever since then.  It looks abosolutely fascinating.