Sunday, November 2, 2025

The Christmas Stranger: A Short Story Book Review

The Christmas Stranger: A Short Story

A Food Lover's Village Mystery

By: Leslie Budewitz

Publish Date: November 14, 2023

Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing

Cooking, Food and Wine/Mystery and Thrillers/Novellas and short stories

#TheChristmasStrangerAShortStory#NetGalley

I would like to thank both NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book. Sorry it took me so long. All opinions are my own.

Book Review:

With this book being a short story, it will be a little harder to review because I don't want to give anything away. I did enjoy this story, and I gave it 4 stars. This book is set about one week before Christmas in a small town. Erin is at the shipping office waiting in line to mail some packages to customers. While she is waiting in line an older gentleman comes in and needs to have a couple of copies made, but he doesn't want to bother the cashiers for help even though he can go to the head of the line. Erin ends up helping him and he wants to pay for the copies, but she tells not to worry about it she will just put it on her account. The gentleman leaves but then comes back and gives her a stamp to pay for his copies. She takes it to be nice but doesn't think much about it until later on. After she has finally shipped the packages, she goes back to her shop and of course there are more to be shipped. She will take care of it tomorrow along with some cards one of her employee's needs to send off but she is in need of one stamp. Erin remembers the stamp the gentleman gave her and offers to use it but makes the comment about having to lick the stamp. The employee says not to use it and in fact thinks something is strange about the stamp and she wants to have it checked out. Come to find out the stamp is worth some money and now Erin wants to find the gentleman to return the stamp. This lends her investigate and learns some interesting things about this man. What she learns and how much the stamp is worth you will have to read the book to find out.

This is a quick read and heartwarming.

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Home Fries and Alibis Book Review

Home Fries and Alibis

By: Lena Gregory

Book 8 of An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery

Publish Date: September 23, 2025

Publisher: Beyond the Page

Cooking, Food and Wine/ Mystery and Thriller

#HomeFriesandAlibis#NetGalley

I would like to thank both Beyond the Page publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Book Review:

This is the first book that I have read in the series. The author does a great job in letting you know a little background of each character that you really don't need to read the other books. But, if you want the true back story you should read this series in order., which I will do in the future.

With that being said I gave this book 4 stars. I love the friendship in this book and how they stand beside each other during good times and bad times. I also love the fact that each character has a love for animals.

In this book Gia is confronted by a neighbor about how her dog is digging holes in her yard. It gets a little nasty, and Gia is threatened that her could get hurt. This neighbor has been nasty to several other people in the area, so Gia tries to shake it off.

To protect herself and her dog Gia has a security camera installed by a friend. Early the next day Gia notices something across the street and calls her fiancé who is a detective with the police force. Come to find out the nasty neighbor is dead and looks like she was murdered. This upsets Gia because even though she didn't like the lady she didn't want her dead.

As the investigation goes on they find out some not nice things that this neighbor was doing, and a lot of people would have like to have seen her dead. Who killed her and why? Too many suspects to go through. You will have to read the book to find out who did it.

Monday, July 14, 2025

Books that Put a Smile on my Face

Ten Books That Put A Smile on my Face

A Summer With Great-Aunt Rose By: Dieter F. Uchtdorf

The Race: Life’s Greatest Lesson By: Dee Groberg

Bob By: Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead

The Girl Who Stole an Elephant By: Nizrana Farook

Mrs. Claus and the Santaland Slayings By: Liz Ireland

Things My Son Needs to Know about the World By: Fredrik Backman

Pumpkin Heads By: Rainbow Rowell

10 Blind Dates By: Ashley Elston

Heartstopper By: Alice Oseman

Beach Read By: Emily Henry

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Slashing Through The Snow Book Review

Slashing Through The Snow

A Christmas Tree Farm Mystery

By: Jacqueline Frost

Crooked Lane Books

Mystery & thrillers

Publish Date 12 October 2021

#SlashingThrougtheSnow#NetGalley

I would like to first thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Good Reads Synopsis:

Maine innkeeper Holly White returns to sleuth another seasonal slaying in the third Christmas Tree Farm mystery from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

Reindeer Games Christmas Tree Farm is going into the B&B business, and Holly White is looking forward to her new role as innkeeper. Even better, Mistletoe, Maine’s sheriff, Evan Gray, has deputized his little sister Libby to help Holly wrap presents for Mistletoe’s toy drive. But a cold wind ruffles the cheery holiday decorations when a new guest checks in: Karen, a vicious B&B critic, who could make or break the new inn. And the short December days turn even darker when Evan and Libby find Karen’s dead body in the gift-wrapped toy donation box.

The suspect list is longer than Santa’s naughty list, and local resident Cookie is on it, since her fingerprints are all over the murder weapon, a metal nutcracker that she gave to Holly. So is Libby, who recently moved to town from Boston in less-than-savory circumstances. But cranky Karen was an oh-holy-nightmare to lots of the townsfolk, such as Evan’s reporter friend Ray; Christopher, the inn’s former contractor; and confectioner Bonnie, whose Gum Drop Shop was a direct target of Karen’s scathing prose.

To figure out the killer’s identity and clear Cookie’s name, Holly and her friends brainstorm at The Hearth, the farm’s café, while her mother keeps them fueled with Christmas goodies fresh from the oven. But if they can’t put the culprit on ice, Holly may never see another Christmas.

Book Review:

This is the third book in a series. I gave it 4 stars. I really enjoyed reading this book. For it being the first book I read in this series I was able to follow along the story line just fine. There was enough information from the story to follow along and not feel lost.

This is about Holly who runs the family Inn on the Christmas Tree farm. It is the grand opening and she has invited a B&B critic for a week-end and hoping for a great review. This critic ends up dead and a family friend is accused of the murder.

As the murder investigation is going the farm continues on with the holiday happens. Holly just can’t wait around for her sheriff boyfriend to figure out the murder because she doesn’t want her friend to be in jail during the holidays. She goes out and starts nosing around. This never ends well.

This was a great book and got me into the holiday spirit. This also has great friend and family vibes. I now want to go back and read the first two books so I have more background on the whole town.

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

Booked for Murder Book Review

Booked For Murder

An Old Juniper Bookshop Mystery

By: P.J.Nelson

Publish Date: December 10, 2024

Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books

Mystery and Thrillers

I would like to thank both NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read and review this book.

Book Review:

This is the first book in a new cozy mystery series. This takes place in a little town in Georgia. Madeline is back home after the death of her aunt. She arrives to claim the bookshop that her aunt has left her. On the first night back the old gazebo in the back yard is on fire. After she calls 911 and they take care of the fire she gets a nasty call telling her to leave town or worse will happen. As her time in her old town goes on she is relearning things about a small town and nothing is secret. She is able to befriend a young college who helps her out in the store. One night the girl asks to stay over because she is having issue with her college roommate, Madeline agrees. The following morning Madeline awakes to smoke and her front door is on fire and the young girl is the middle of it. Madeline pulls the girl free and then finds out that the girl is dead from a stab wound to the stomach. Why is she dead and who did it? Several people think she was murdered by mistake and that Madeline had been the intended target. Madeline isn't thrilled with the police officer in charge because she used to babysit him so goes out on her own with the help of a couple of friends to find out who the killer is. Madeline finds out a couple of things that surprises her and makes her rethink if she ever knew how people really work. I did enjoy the friendships in this book and the way the bookshop was set up. I didn't figure out who the killer was until the end, but I did guess who set the gazebo on fire. I enjoyed the book and will pick up the rest of the series when they become available.

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Madrigals and Mayhem Book Review

Madrigals and Mayhem

By: Elizabeth Penney

Publish Date: November 26, 2024

Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books

Mystery and Thriller

I would like to thank both St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

Book Review:

I really enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars. This is around Christmas time in the United Kingdom.

Molly sees that the toy store is reopening for the holidays. She meets the new owned who happens to be the granddaughter of the previous owner. The previous owner has passed away a few months earlier. Molly sees a dollhouse in the window display that has drawn her attention. Charlotte the new owner offers to show her the dollhouse. When they get into the store, they notice that Charlottes stepcousin is in the break room very sick. That is concerning because he isn't supposed to be there because he didn't inherit the business, and the door was locked when Charlotte left the night before. Molly finds out more than she bargained for with the whole situation. She tries to help her new friend and things just go further than she can figure out.

I really like the friendships and family in this story line. I also like how it is placed during the holiday season.

Sunday, November 17, 2024

All's Fair in Love and Treachery Book Review

All's Fair in Love and Treachery

AQ Mystery

By: Celeste Connally

Publish Date: November 12, 2024

Publisher: St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books

Historical Fiction/Mystery and Thrillers

I would like to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read and review this book

Book Review:

This is the second book in a series. I didn't realize it until I started reading it. With that being said the author did a pretty good job with some back story and you are able to figure what happened in the first book. I did give this book 3 stars. It was a little slow throughout and I didn't want to pick it up. Once I did pick it up, I found that the reading went well. This book takes place in England and is about Earls and Royals. There is a band a rebels who want to take down the royals so they can have a democracy and have more of a say it what happens to them. Petra is asked to look into a death that happened at the girl's orphanage. She is also dealing with the knowledge that her current fling may have killed her intended. I enjoyed the friendships in this book and how no matter what they back each other up. They need to work fast to get the rebels before they attack the Prince. I enjoyed the adventures and the friendships.