Autmn TBR Wrap up

Autumn TBR (October/November)

I finished all but two books on my autumn tbr list. So far my new seasonal tbr's seem to be working. 

Escaping From Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco

Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear

Rose in Three Quarter Time by Rachel McMillian

All Made up by Kara Isaac

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand

Title: A Crafter Knits a Clue

Author: Holly Quinn

Series: A Handcrafted mystery book 1

Chapters: 30

Pages: 330

Genre: cozy mystery

Rating: 3 stars

A Crafter Knits a Clue is the first book in the A Handcrafted Mystery series by Holly Quinn. Sammy Kane has move back to Heartsford WI in order to keep her late friend Kate's craft store going.  She forgot how small towns are with the gossip and knowing everyone.  Especially when she finds the body of another shop owner. And everyone in town has a theory of who killed Ingrid and everyone just about is a suspect, which shocks Detective Liam Nash, who is new to small town life.  When Miles becomes the prime suspect Sammy will do everything she can to clear her friends name. Even solve the case before the detective can. She in enlists the help of her sister and cousin, who along with her in school had their own mystery solving thing going. 

A Crafter Knits a Clue was a fairly fast read but it wasn't my favorite cozy read though I did enjoy it.  I didn't guess who the killer actually was so that was nice, with cozy's anymore I guess the killer before the end of the book.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes cozy mysteries. Cozy mystery with a craft theme or mystery with pets in them. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Reading this week

Finished last two weeks

The Rancher’s Christmas Match by Brenda Minton

Rose in Three Quarter Time by Rachel McMillan

Christmas Hideout by Susan Sleeman

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm

The Twin’s Family Christmas by Lee Tobin McClain

Just Plain Murder by Laura Bradford

Christmas Under Fire by Michelle Karl

Bodyguard for Christmas by Carol J Post

Reading

Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

Mutts and Mistletoe by Natalie Cox

Nickolas Claus: Ghosts of Christmas Past by Kelly Creagh

Non-fiction reading

Classic

Audio on the Way to Work

Getting ready to read

The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson

All Made Up by Kara Isaac

Room for Cream by Erynn Mangum

Christmas at the Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson

The Librarians and the Pot of Gold by Greg Cox

Reviewing

Devotional reading

When God Calls the Heart at Christmas by Brian Bird

Did not Finish

Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (but I may come back to it at a later date.)

Reviews Posted this week

Review of The Christmas Heirloom

Title:  The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas

Author: Karen Witemeyer, Kristi Ann Hunter, Sarah Loudin, Becky Wade

Pages: 384

Genre: Christmas family sagas

Rating: 3.5

The Christmas Heirloom is a collection of Christmas Novellas that follows a brooch that is passed down to the women in the family.  In the first novella Legacy of Love by Kristi Ann Hunter Sarah Gooding is a a companion to an elderly lady.  A job that lead to love all because she returned a brooch.  Sarah and the woman's grandson is what starts this family journey and legacy first in England and then to United States.  

     Karen Witemeyer's novella Gift of the Heart takes us to Texas with widow Ruth Albright with a story that is a bit a retelling of the story of Ruth from the Bible. Ruth will do anything to keep a roof over her daughter's head, even giving up her family heirloom brooch in order to do it. 

In A Shot at Love by Sarah Loudin Thomas Fleeta Brady is a bit of a tomboy who prefers hunting and being outdoors to more lady like chores. After losing both her parents she's given up on love.  But her mother's brooch and another hunter mite just have other ideas. 

The final novella in this bind up is the Contemporary  one by Becky Wade Because of You. That is set in the world of Bradford Sister's Romance series. Maddie Winslow who works for her friend Britt Bradford has found herself falling for her friend's widower Leo and his adorable toddler son. She keeps fighting her attractive  because it's not right. Then the heirloom brooch reappears and someone makes their feelings known. 

This was a fairly quick novella collection read. I liked the stories but Because of You was my favorite mainly because it is part of the Bradford Sister Romances series and I was already new characters. All in all a quick read. With a slight Hallmark channel Holiday movie feel. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Review of Catching Christmas

Title:  Catching Christmas

Author: Terri Blackstock

 

Chapters: 32

Pages: 304

Genre: Christmas

Rating: 3.5

As Far as I know Catching Christmas is Terri Blackstock’s First Christmas book.  Sydney Batson is a first year Law associate who isn't really doing a good job of balancing her career as a lawyer and taking care of her grandmother.  Finn Parrish is a cab driver who finds himself becoming a personal cab driver to Miss Callie a wheelchair-bound elderly lady with Dementia who happens to be Sydney's grandmother. Because Sydney keeps calling cabs to take her grandmother to the doctor.  

However, there’s more to the story Callie is determined to play match maker. Rather it's with Sydney and Finn or Sydney and some other guy. Miss Callie doesn't want Sydney to be alone.  Miss Callie was a sweet elderly lady who reminded me of my own grandmother. Maybe a little too much.  I could relate to some of the story Sydney was going through not the whole first year associate stuff but the stuff that happened towards the end as some of that happened to me around Christmas one year when I was 16 and the other stuff happened to me back in May.  

Catching Christmas by Terri Blackstock for the most part is a sweet Christmas story, but for me it hit to close to home. But I do feel like others who enjoy this read. But have tissues handy. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Review of A Christmas by the Sea

Title:  A Christmas by the Sea

Author: Melody Carlson

Chapters: 14

Pages: 169

Genre: Christmas

Rating: 3.5 stars

A Christmas by the Sea is the new Christmas Story by Melody Carlson.  Widowed single mom Wendy Harper finds out that she has inherited a beach cottage in Maine. Her plan is to move to Maine temporarily with her son Jackson in order to get the house ready to be sold. Jackson has other plans he wants to make Maine their new home.   He starts by in rolling himself in the local school.  And in some ways he gets help from Caleb Colton in trying to get his mom to stay.   

What's a single mom and a local craftsman supposed to do when you’re dealing with a 12-year-old matchmaker? Well what follows is a sweet Christmas story about finding where you belong and that sometimes the plans you made aren't the ones that end up following.  That sometimes you go looking for something, but end up finding something so much better.    

Melody Carlson's Christmas stories tend to be lite on the romance, but heavy on the sweet. And more often than not there's always some kind of pet.  And in this book it was a loveable stray dog. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.

Review of Of Books and Bagpipes

Title:  Of Books and Bagpipes

Author: Paige Shelton

Series: Scottish Bookshop Mystery book

Pages: 304

Genre: cozy mystery

Rating: 3.5 stars

In the second book in the Scottish Bookshop mysteries series Of Books and Bagpipes by Paige Shelton Delaney Nichols is settling into life in Edinburgh. It feels more like home than her home in the States. She loves her job as a bookseller at the Crack Spine, her boss Edwin McAlister and the other two members of the staff are becoming dear friends.  

But it's when she and Edwin go to a meeting about a first edition of a Scottish comic that they stumble on to another murder victim.  Delaney finds herself either becoming the suspect again or this time the killer next victim. But is a first edition Scottish comic worth killing over? 

     It was nice to be back in Edinburgh and at the Cracked spine with the same lovable cast of characters.  As the second book in the series the mystery moved faster than the previous book, because the character building had already happened in the first book.  With this book Edinburgh felt so much more real than it did in the first book.   As with the first book I enjoyed this one as well.  I look forward to the next one. I would recommend this one to anyone who loves cozy mysteries. Books set in Scotland and well as bookshops. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.