Friday Fives - Five Books with Summer in the Title

 

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.  We are in the middle of summer and I have decided reading about summer is infinitely more preferable than actually being in the middle of summer.  I don't mind the heat so much or even the humidity but I am not a fan of the mosquitos and we seem to have a bumper crop here this year.  So here are 5 books with summer actually in the title so I can get all the joy of summer without the mosquito bites.

1.  A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams 

2.  Boardwalk Summer by Meredith Jaeger

3.  Summer at the Garden Cafe by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

4.  Summer Hours by Amy Mason Doan

5.  The Summer Deal by Jill Shalvis

Do you prefer real summer or fictional summer?

Books from the Backlog - Peach Pies and Alibis

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:  Peach Pies and Alibis by Ellery Adams

Blurb:  Ella Mae LeFaye's Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia--which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop's extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers--and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.

Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she's catering. Now she'll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don't contain a killer ingredient . . .

Why It Needs to Come Off the Shelf:  I own the entire series and have only read the first book.  I really need to finish it up!

Castle Deadly, Castle Deep - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  Castle Deadly, Castle Deep (Dinner and a Murder Mystery #2) by Veronica Bond

Rating:  Really Liked it!
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Autumn has arrived at Castle Dark, and Nora Blake has settled into her role as an actor in Derek Corby's castle murder-mystery troupe. She is troubled, however, by the setting of Derek's fall mystery: the catacombs in the depths of the castle. Yes, these catacombs are part of a set, the skeletons and cobwebs mere props, but Nora feels uneasy in the shadowy passages beneath Castle Dark. When a man is killed during one of their first shows, the eerie catacombs become a place of terror.

Joined by her castle companions, Nora attempts to find the motive for killing a seemingly innocent victim. Some of those answers appear to lie with the local community theater, the members of which Nora has come to know because she has joined Derek's latest town production. As Nora practices her lines at Wood Glen's Blue Curtain Theater, she realizes that everyone around her is an actor, and all of her suspects are perfectly capable of convincing others of their innocence. Nora soon discovers that someone else is in danger and that she may also be in the sights of the killer. With the help of her handsome boyfriend, Detective John Dashiell, Nora will have to go off-script to prevent a murderous encore. . . .

Genre:  Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  The first book in this series was one of my favorite reads last year so of course I couldn't resist this one!

My Impression:  I thoroughly enjoyed this read.  I love Nora and really enjoyed that her relationship with Dash had some realistic bumps in the road and they dealt with it in fairly sensible ways.  Ibsen's The Doll's House has long been one of my favorite plays and I would not be surprised if it is one of the author's favorites as well as she very much brings it to life.  I loved adding in the community theater as a natural way to bring in new characters from the town that surrounds the castle.  

The town of Wood Glen is delightful with a number of interesting stores and baked treat mentions that made me wish I had a snack at hand!  While I did  love the parts in town and meeting the new characters my favorite was when the castle and the castle's residents had page time.  I did miss the focus on the dinner theater but Nora's adorable kittens the Brontes got enough page time that it almost made up for it.  

Between the play, the dinner theater, Hallween decorating, kittens, family visits, and money problems the mystery did at some points seem to drift to the back.  I loved the other things enough that it didn't bother me in the slightest but this might be better if this series is read in order so that you can really connect with the characters and the setting.  I don't think you'll be disappointed!  

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Absolutely!  I've really enjoyed this series and now I want to reread Ibsen.

Would I Recommend this Book?   If you enjoy cozies with a fantastic setting, likable characters, and a dramatic flair this series is really a must read!

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

Top Ten Tuesday - The Releases I'm Most Anticipating In the 2nd Half of 2022

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 about Books I'm Most Anticipating for the 2nd Half of 2022.

1.  Death at the Manor by Katharine Schellman - I'm really loving this historical mystery series and am really looking forward to spending more time with Lily and the rest of the side characters.

2.  The Choice by Nora Roberts - I have loved the first two books in this fantasy trilogy and I can't wait till the last book!

3.  High Spirits by Carol J Perry - The first book in this series was one of my favorites of 2021 so I'm so excited about this one.

4.  Bound by Murder by Laura Gail Black - I'm enjoying this series involving an antique bookshop owner and I think it has so much potential.

5.  An Unforgiving Place by Claire Kells - This is a bit of a darker mystery set in a National Park and I'm really looking forward to it.

6.  Voice of Fear by Heather Graham - I love Graham's Krewe series and this is the latest upcoming release.  

7.  These Fleeting Shadows by Kate Alice Marshall - There's a reference to Hill House on the blurb so I can't help but resist this one.

8.  The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda -I've been wanting to read this series forever and this one sounds amazing!

9.  Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths -  I really liked The Stranger Diaries and I want to pick up the 2nd book and this new one to get caught up on it.   

10. Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King - I've been really enjoying catching up on this series and this upcoming title involving an American Golden couple sounds great.  

What are you looking forward to in the 2nd Half of 2022?

Mini Reviews - The Canterbury Sisters + No River Too Wide

Goodreads:  The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

Blurb: Che Milan’s life is falling apart. Not only has her longtime lover abruptly dumped her, but her eccentric, demanding mother has recently died. When an urn of ashes arrives, along with a note reminding Che of a half-forgotten promise to take her mother to Canterbury, Che finds herself reluctantly undertaking a pilgrimage.
Within days she joins a group of women who are walking the sixty miles from London to the shrine of Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, reputed to be the site of miracles. In the best Chaucer tradition, the women swap stories as they walk, each vying to see who can best describe true love. Che, who is a perfectionist and workaholic, loses her cell phone at the first stop and is forced to slow down and really notice the world around her, perhaps for the first time in years.

Through her adventures along the trail, Che finds herself opening up to new possibilities in life and discovers that the miracles of Canterbury can take surprising forms.

My Thoughts:  At first I thought this was going to be a DNF.  Che is pretentious and judgmental and the rest of the tour group aren't much better.  But as this story continues I was quickly caught up into the stories and begin to become interested in the characters and the stories they had to tell.  Each woman is far more complicated than they appear and each story brings out more about not only the storyteller but the listeners.  Angelique was my favorite character but I felt like I connected to each one - even Che - by the end.  My Rating:  Really Liked It!

Goodreads:  No River Too Wide (Goddesses Anonymous #2) by Emilie Richards

Blurb:  On the night her home is consumed by fire, Janine Stoddard finally resolves to leave her abusive husband. While she is reluctant to involve her estranged daughter, she can't resist a chance to see Harmony and baby Lottie before she disappears forever.

Harmony's friend Taylor Martin realizes how much the reunited mother and daughter yearn to stay together, and she sees in Jan a chance to continue her own mother's legacy of helping women in need of a fresh start. She opens her home, even as she's opening her heart to another newcomer, Adam Pryor. But enigmatic Adam has a secret that could destroy Taylor's trust and cost Jan her hard-won freedom.

My Thoughts:  I forgot just how much I love Emilie Richards and her ability to handle difficult topics and create such complex characters.  I loved Jan and all the rest of the characters in the book.  I especially loved that all was not unicorns and rainbows between Harmony and her mother but it was handled in such a way that I sympathized and related to both women.  While this is the second in the series this book is a stand alone.  I want to continue the series just so I can hopefully get peeks of all the characters I grew to love in this book.  If you enjoy women's fiction where you connect with the characters and become caught up in the story this is a can't miss book.  My Rating:  Loved It!

Reading Recap - June 2022

Monthly Total - 20 - I got in a romance mood and ended up doing some binge reading of rereads which helped my total a bit. 

Monthly Breakdown:

Audio:  7

Print: 8

Kindle: 5

Mystery: 11

Romance: 4

Fiction: 3

NonFiction: 2

Favorite Book of the Month:

The Tuesday Night Survivors' Club by Lynn Cahoon - I've enjoyed other books by this author but this one really clicked with me and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Least Favorite Book of the Month:

Devlin's Light by Mariah Stewart - I either really love Mariah Stewart's books or I really don't.  This was a really don't.  It feels like the author wanted to right a women's fiction story but her publisher insisted on adding suspense to it and both aspects suffered.  

My Bookish Travel:

I visited two new states:

Louisiana - This is actually the only state I've visited in real life this year!

Connecticut

And as usual I visited England and Ireland but with a new addition of 1960s China

How was your reading in June?  Where did you virtually travel?

Friday Fives - July 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.   Since this is the first Friday in July I'm picking out 5 books I'm hoping to read this month.

1.  Point Last Seen by Christina Dodd - There's a raging ocean and a bit of amnesia as well as a town full of secrets.  It looks like perfect summer reading!

2.  Tightrope by Amanda Quick - I've really enjoyed this series and the Burning Cove setting.  I read the most recent book and the first two books and want to get caught up on the books in the middle.

3.  Chained by Eileen Brady - This is a book that has been on my review shelf for far too long and it sounds really great even though I'm not so much a fan of the cover.

4.  Tilly and the Bookwanderers by Anna James - This book has been on my TBR since it came out and I'm really looking forward to this one.

5.  Hark the Herald Angels Slay by Vicki Delany - I really this Year Round Christmas series and this one takes place in July which means this is the right time to read this one!

What are you hoping to read this month?