The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames (A Cheese Shop Mystery, #1)

The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cozy Mysteries are probably my favorite genre of books, and so when I find something new, a new series, especially one with wine and cheese involved, I am in a pretty good place for reading any series of books.



A Cheese Shop Mystery, although the family cheese shop has just been given over to the hands of the next generation with Charlotte and her cousin Matthew taking over as Grandpere' and Grandmere' enjoy retirement.

The grandparents are French immigrants and switch between English and French all the time. Charlotte is the cheese expert and her cousin Matthew and expert with wine, hence the addition of a wine annex to the family cheese shop and the story begins in the middle of the remodeling.



I did feel that book took a bit to get into, it kinda bogged down and I wasn't really sure I liked the characters until about half way through the book, and by then they had developed into people I wanted to route for and learn more about and hope they were able to find the murderer.



The book ends with receipes, always a double bonus for me, I love to have receipes in my books, and I have found some of the greatest receipes in my cozy mystery books. Some amazing sounding quiche's and more. Also at the end of the book is a teaser to Book 2 in the series, titled Lost and Fondue. Looking forward to checking it out, but I might have to take a cozy mystery break to work on reading some of my First-Reads.



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Author Sarah Atwell

Author Sarah Atwell is a pseudonym for Sheila Connolly.  As Sarah Atwell, she has written the Glassblowing Mystery Series, of which there are 3 books at the present time.  You can learn more about her at http://www.sarahatwellwriter.com/

Author Sheila Connolly has taught art history, structured and marketed municipal bonds for major cities, worked as a staff member on two statewide political campaigns, and served as a fundraiser for several non-profit organizations. She also managed her own consulting company providing genealogical research services. Now a full-time writer, she thinks writing mysteries is a lot more fun than any of her previous occupations.


She is a member of Sisters in Crime-New England (president 2011), the national Sisters in Crime, and the fabulous on-line SinC chapter, the Guppies. She also belongs to Romance Writers of America, and the New England Chapter of RWA.

As Sheila Connolly she has written the Orchard Mystery Series, of which there are six books at present, and the Museum Mystery Series of three books.  You can find out more about her at http://www.sheilaconnolly.com/

A Glassblowing Mystery Series:
1.  Through The Glass, Deadly
2.  Pane of Death
3.  Snake in the Glass

An Orchard Mystery Series:
1.  Called Home (prequel)
2.  One Bad Apple
3.  Rotton to the Core
4.  Red Delicious Death
5.  A Killer Crop
6.  Bitter Harvest

A Museum Mystery Series:
1.  Fundraising the Dead
2.  Let's Play Dead
3.  Fire Engine Dead

A Cast-Off Coven by Juliet Blackwell (A Witchcraft Mystery #2)

***MOVED TO THE NEW BL,OG********
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A Cast-Off Coven by Juliet Blackwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you have read any of my previous reviews, you might already have figured out that Juliet Blackwell is one of my favorite authors. Not only do I love her books, but I think she is a pretty cool person too, as I follow her on Facebook and hear about the new books as she is writing and they are published. It is alot of fun to be able to keep up with your favorite authors!


This is the Vintage clothing, witch series and this particular book happens to be the second in the series, with the book Secondhand Spirits being the first book.


I really enjoy Lily Ivory, the title character. She is a little afraid of people and making friendships, and her history is hinted at each time she explains that. Not much is told, that he father left when she was a toddler, her mother couldn't cope with a child that was a witch and so her "grandmother" rasied her and tried to teach her about her magik. Now weather Graciela is actually her grandmother by blood or not, I am still not sure about, she kinda hints that she might not be, but Graciela also raised her father before her, so she is counted as a relative. Little is really told about her past, although I am finding that with each book, we find just a hint or two more about her.


Lily has only been in San Fransico for a few months, and she was drawn into a child abduction and a murder in the first book withing weeks of being in town. Now it seems like the local Art College is having a problem with a ghost that is scaring the students, and since one of those students is Maya, who works for Lily, she gets involved in finding out what is going on. The day they decide to visit the school, they don't find any ghosts, but a murder and once again Lily is sucked in and the local police are none too happy.


Lily is still investigation a relationship with Max, and weather there is any chance of one occuring or not, especially since he believes that witchcraft is a bunch of hooey and Lily is a witch. They continue to dance around each other and try to figure out what to do, until Max's family gets drawn into this particular event because his younger brother is a profressor at the Art School where Lily is investigating the haunting or rather what turns out to be more serious and scary, a demon on the lose. Max doesn't want to believe any of it, and yet it is right there in front of his faced, but he thinks he can solve everything with science, and this is going to take alot for him to figure out in his mind. He may never be able to deal with it and there goes a relationship out the window.


I really enjoyed this series, and continue to look forward to what Juliet puts out in the written word.



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Barely a Lady by Eileen Dreyer (Drake's Rakes #1)

Barely a Lady by Eileen Dreyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Historical books have always been a favorite of mine, but lately I have gotten away from reading them, taking more to the cozy mystery side. So when I got a chance to read this book and to get back into a historical vein, I was psyched.

I actually really loved this book. I loved the storyline, the way things move and evolve. I was completely in the dark, along with Olivia, as to what Jack had been up to for the past five years, and I loved that his amensia allowed him to grow and learn what it was to be a real man, a real husband, to have faith in a person and to truley love a person.

So I sorta gave you the storyline. Olivia and Jack, they were married but that was five years ago, and now, when she finds him on the battlefield, he is wearing the enemy uniform and has no memory. He doesn't remember than he not only divorced Olivia, but he turned her out into the street in a dramatic display. Olivia is no wilting violet, she dug in and learned to provide for herself and still keep a matter of pride and respect about her.

The book storyline then revolves around helping Jack to remember what he had been up to, and why someone might be searching for him, especially someone with some not so nice plans for his person, and that are willing to involve his wife in their plans weather she knows anything or not.

It is a really great book, and a teaser of book two in the back has me searching my resources for that second book. I can't wait to follow up on some of the other characters in the book, as well as Jack and Olivia.



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Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It's not a cozy mystery, but the title caught my fancy. Shopaholic, and so I thought I would give it a read.

How do I describe it? It was a good book, but I felt lost in alot of ways. It was like the title character, Becky Bloomwood, is floundering in a world of money writers, when in realty she is not a money person but a shopper, and I felt confused that she kept trying to be a money writer, didn't she realize that she had so much talent as a fashion writer, why didn't she try to write what she loved? I mean if you don't love something, then how in the world can you write about it, and she is a shopper to the ultimate power, why not spend her time writing about it and submitting to magazines until she gets noticed!

The whole "relationship" with the money guy seemed to be far fetched and it never felt real to me, so I felt like it was forced the entire book. I would never pick up any of the books that come after this one, it just wasn't my style in fact, I found myself more upset with Becky throughout the book more often than I enjoyed the book.

So on to another book, and review and another chance to find, the next great thing in the written world.



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Another Stab at Life by Anita Higman

Another Stab at Life by Anita Higman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Not really sure what to think about this book. I picked it up because it was cheap and sounded interesting, bu once I started reading it, I had to finish it just to try to figure out what was going on.

It starts with Bailey inheriting an old manor house from her Grandmother called Volstead Manor. From the start the book was hard to follow, she seemed to slip into her mind and her dreams or fears and out of reality so easy it was hard to follow if what I was reading was really happening or not. Then to top it off, there was alot of faith through in that I wasn't expecting and maybe that was my fault, but I didn't realize it was a Christin Fiction when I grabbed it, and yet the way the faith was through in was a little off kilter and struck me as forced and not real.

As I added this book to my list, I see that it is subtitled as a Volstead Manor Mystery or as book one, and I can not see myself ever reading a second book in this series. I am surprised that there is suppose to be a second book.

I just felt it wasn't written well, and that I was struggling to follow along and figure out if she was paranoid or if it was real life, and it was just not fun. I didn't enjoy it and in fact I closed the book and looked at it like, did I really just read that? Oh well, a lesson learned.



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Through a Glass, Deadly (A Glassblowing Mystery) by Sarah Atwell

Through a Glass, Deadly by Sarah Atwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book was so cute to read, and it was not like alot of cozy-mysteries. The main character in the book doesn't actually investigate or try to solve the mystery, she just happens to be thrown into times and places that help her to understand what is going on and help her to help the police chief come to the conclusion.

Em is the main character, and she is a glass-blowing artist in Tuscon. She has a habit of taking in strays, which is how she happens to have two dogs, with very short legs in an apartment over her studio! One day, a shy and scared looking gal walks into the shop to watch, Allison, and Em takes her in like a stray. Should be an easy life right, well that very night, Em finds a dead man in her glass-blowing furance. To make matters worse, the dead man turns out to be Allison's way-ward husband!

Twists and turns abound in this book, from the immigration of a young girl to America from Ireland, for what was suppose to be just a summer of work, to a smooth talking Irish gent, who turns out later to be connected to the Irish Mob in Boston first and later Chicago, to a runaway wife, money laundering and glass blowing, oh yeah, and a dirty FBI agent.

Em knows she doesn't know anything about investigation, but she is mad that someone dumped a dead body in her store, in her studio, in her life, and it makes her angry, and as she thinks about what is going on, she literally falls into places and people that end up answering the questions to what is going on.

I was a fun and easy read, and I loved it. It was so nice to have a heroine who knew she couldn't investigate, but just by reasoning and sheer luck, fell into the answers. It was more fun to read in that she wasn't trying to solve the mystery, it was just happening to her.

In the back of the book is a receipe for Irish Soda Bread, which happened to be what I made this morning before I started writing this review, and it was great. I loved it, and I had to compromise because I did not have any buttermilk, so I made it with regular milk, but it was still good!

The cover claims that it is the first in a new series, but I can't imagine how another could follow up on this book, but I look forward to finding out if there is another book and how it's story flows.



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Girl Scout Cookie Time

Once again it is that time of the year, Girl Scout Cookie Time.

This year, the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting, the sale started on January 7th, and since I live in Indiana and the Super Bowl will be held here, there are some extra things going on with the sales. But then again, the Super Bowl is an hour drive north of us, and I have NO plans to take seven 10 year olds up there to set up a cookie booth in the middle of tailgating! I'll leave that to the older Girl Scouts.

The other thing that Cookie Time means is that it pretty much takes over my life.  I spent a couple hours last night entering the Troop information into the Cookie Ordering computer system, then I had to turn around and enter all the girl's information into the Cookie Club computer system. The Cookie Club allows the girls to send emails to family and friends, and they can respond with promises to order cookies. It also send specialized links that those friends and family can share with other people, but it has no identifing information about the Girl Scout, keeping them as safe as possible.

Now I will update the Troop Facebook page with information on the cookies, and work to promote the sale. The reason that we really need to have a good sale is that the proceeds of the cookie sales is the only money that we get to do things. Girl Scouts runs on donations. We get a small amount from each girl's parents as dues, but not enough to go camping or anything, so the proceeds that we get from cookies is what pays for us to go camping. The girls want to go to Holiday World and camp there. That will take some money, so we are working hard to sell enough cookies for that.

I have to admit that for all the work that Cookie Time involves and takes for me, I love Girl Scouts. It is such a great program, and it help girls learn to live and be proud of themselves in this day and age, and I am proud to be part of that, and to be shaping and molding young girls to be leaders and role models of the future.

If you know a Girl Scout, please buy some cookies. The money goes directly to that troop and helps that girl, and it is important!

Best Laid Plans...

So the kids have been on Holiday Break from school since school let out on Friday afternoon, December 16th. Today was the first day back to school.  I was so ready to get my house back, to not hear kids shows on the tv, and to get some work done.

I had so many plans for today. I was going to sweep my living room, and it was going to stay swept till after everyone got home from school, instead of being messed up again in 5 minutes. I was going to get the kitchen back in shape, and write up and post the new house rules we agreed on during break. I was going to turn on Food TV, or watch the Top Chef Masters Marathon on Bravo all day while working. I was going to be an adult, and not have to do anything kid related all day! So much for the best laid plans of mice and men.

All my plans went out the window around 5:30am this morning when I woke to my youngest daughter throwing up on my bed! Yep. Not sure how this happens, but she comes in to tell me she is sick and ends up throwing up on my bed, at least it wasn't on me this morning!  All my kids have done this. They will get up and come climb in my bed, only to say Mommy, and then threw up all over the bed! At least the older two have stopped. Somewhere about this age, they started just going into the bathroom, they finally realized that I would hear them and come running. Hopefully the youngest will realize that soon!

She hasn't run a fever, but she has been throwing up about every hour. Have been trying to get small sips of gatorade in her, but she keep bringing it back up. On the good side, she did fall back asleep for about half an hour.  She says she is feeling better, but it was only about half an hour ago that she last threw up, so we'll see if she continues to feel better when we reach that hour mark.  Thinking she might have a bit of a stomach bug. At first it seemed like just water, maybe she got up and got some water and drank it too fast, but when she repeatedly threw up, changed my mind. Knowing that she is not running a fever makes me feel a little better about it all.

It's one of those things about being a Mom, that you can never really count on the plans you make, something can always pop up and change those plans. But the other thing about being a mom, is that I am here to hold her, soother her head, and get her through this. You know what, I wouldn't change that for anything in the world.