Linda

An interesting insta-love, fairy fantasty. Amethyst wasn't happy to be sent to live with her Gran, but it turns out Gran had the answer to a lot of questions that Amethyst needed answers to. Unfortunately Amethyst doesn't trust her, although it's never really clear why.

She meets a guy named Ben and they instantly fall for each other. But as they are spending time together Amethyst is learning more about herself and her family's history and why her body keeps sprouting thorns.

A decent YA with a bittersweet ending.

Naomi moves to a small town with her teenage daughter Ella and before they even unpack they discover a dead body in their shed. They are invited into the neighbour's home for a cup of tea while they wait for the police to finish their investigation and end up staying there for several days.

Their neighbours Barbara and Ingrid are happy to have them and fill them in on all the neighbourhood gossip.

Eventually they move into their home and Naomi with the help of her daughter and the neighbours start to investigate. I found the book was a little too slow moving for me and I wasn't crazy about the mother/daughter relationship. At the end of the day I felt like I still hardly knew anything about the town and the people living there.

Stalking Around the Christmas Tree was absolutely amazing! I loved it from start to finish. This was my first Christmas Cozy Mystery and I'm glad I didn't wait until December to read it. I loved the small town of Mistletoe, Maine where the story was set. It is a small town devoted to the holidays. Holly White, the main character, works at the Inn there and helps run Reindeer Games tree farm with her parents. They also run the Hearth cafe in town. Holly's fiance is the town sheriff and they are getting ready for their wedding which is coming up fast. Plus Holly is getting ready for Christmas, running the Reindeer Games and wrapping gifts for charity. There isn't much time for anything else, but when Tiffany, a ballerina, who is in town for a performance of the nutcracker, turns up dead, Holly can't resist getting involved.

In spite of there being a murder in town, this is where I want to spend Christmas. The people that live in the town are sweet and fun, including a group of older ladies who call themselves The Swingers (because they swing dance) and some adorable busybodies who run the local shops. Everyone cares about Holly and just wants to see her happy and settled.

As Holly looks into the murder, her fiance, Sheriff Evan Gray, becomes worried that the murderer may target her too. There is no stopping her though as she wants this all wrapped up before their wedding.

I give this book 5 stars as it had lots of twists and turns, a wonderful town with warm Christmas cheer and a sweet romance. What more could a person ask for?!

I thoroughly enjoyed this fantasy novel by Deborah Harkness. Her character developmeant was good, and the historical and romantic elements of the book felt strong and connected rather than an afterthought. Like many good books I hear it's going to become a movie or tv series, hopefully Hollywood can do it justice.

An incredibly interesting book about a condition I had never heard of before. I even googled it to see if it was real. I love that the story was told through the eyes of the main character as it made it easier to stare in her triumphs and frustrations.

The story moved along quickly and I would recommend this as a great summer read.

I absolutely loved this book. You know when a book is so good and you can't put it down and you read far too late into the night. This was that book. It had everything I looked for in a holiday story; romance, coziness, a blizzard, not 1 but 3 holidays, and did I mention romance?!

Everyone has boarded a flight to Toronto in December. It's a rare December when Christmas, Hannukkah and Ramadan are all taking place around the same time. Maryam and her family are going to her sister's wedding and Anna is racing to have the perfect Christmas with her boyfriend and his family. But when a Winter storm finds them making an unexpected landing, all their plans change.

Thank you to Donna Andrews, her publisher and Netgalley, I received this as an ARC. This is my honest review.

This book was incredible. It's the latest in the Meg Langslow series and I loved it! Meg is preparing for Christmas and her friend Ragnar is using his property for a Swordsmithing Competition called Blades of Glory. Meg's friend and smithing mentor Faulk is going to be part of the competition.

Faulk gets attacked and has to bow out of the competition and reluctantly Meg steps into his place. She is trying to figure out who attacked Faulk when someone is murdered. Now she's trying to solve both mysteries. Was it the same person, or two different people?

The Christmas vibes with this one are terrific. They are hosting this event in a castle and the host Ragnar loves everything Gothic, so the decorations are Christmas Gothic and they sound so fun. There are also feasts, sledding, snow, gingerbread houses and more. Having Meg's husband and sons at the castle makes it even more fun.

I thought this was a very honest, raw look from Brittany Spears at her life. She knows that some of the decisions that she made wen't always the greatest, but who among us wouldn't say the same things about our own lives.

She was very young when she started singing and has become a very strong woman, but along the way she feel in love with the wrong men and she also trusted her family to have her back, which they didn't. Then when she wasn't able to see her children and was suffering from Post-Partum depression she was left on her own and hung out to dry in the press and with her own family who profited off her misfortunes and then took over her life with a conservatorship.

The story made me feel sad for all that she has endured, but I feel she's in a better place in her life now and hopefully she has come through the worst of things. A great read for Brittany fans as well as for anyone who has ever been let down by their family or made to feel as though they aren't good enough.

In some ways I enjoyed Jennifer Government and certainly the dystopian message of the novel, however, I found it drove the message home so much that by the end of the book I just wanted it to be done. I needed to connect with the characters more and I didn't feel as though I was doing that. Maybe because of the superficial nature of the time they were living in, I also felt like most of the characters were very superficial as well. We didn't get a lot of insight into what made them the way they were and why they made the decisions they did.

A fascinating, easy to digest book on 6 locations throughout the world where many people live to be over 100 years old. This book delves into what they are doing differently; from the food they eat to the connections they have in their lives. If you are looking for a new and different book about living a long, healthy life, check this one out for some ideas you may not have thought about.

This book was amazing. It grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. I binged this book so hard. Briana and Jacob are the most amazing couple. At first they didn't like each other, but then they start to send letters to each other and everything changes. They begin to fake date and learn so much about each other.

I love the male characters that Abby Jimenez writes. They give me hope in the world for the “good guys” and having Jacob have anxiety was even more endearing. I just can't stop thinking about this book and I have already gotten another of her books and I'm ready to read that next. She has definitely become an auto buy author for me.

This was the first of the Meg Langslow mysteries that I have read. I'm a little slow to the game. It was really good. I loved the small town atmosphere of it and really enjoyed the various characters.

The main character Meg lives with her husband and children, and her mother, father, grandmother and grandfather are all close by. There is also a character named Rose Noire, but I never figured out whether she was family or not.

Meg and some others go for a walk in the woods to look for an ancient graveyard, and instead find a recent dead body. He is one of the area's NIMBY's (Not in my backyard) and had caused trouble for many people in town. Meg sets out to help the local police chief solve the case.

Some of the information about bees and hummingbirds was interesting. When I first started the book I wasn't sure I would enjoy that part, but soon I was so invested in the story that I was along for the ride.

It was a great cozy and I would recommend it for those who love cozy mysteries, but also those interested in gardening, birds and beekeeping.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for an advanced copy of The Secret Keeper. This is my honest review. This is a compelling look at two very different sisters. Both of whom were strong in their own way. Margaret (Dash) was good with engines and knew how to fly and Dorothy (Dot) was good with codes and puzzles. When WW2 started each sister felt they needed to get involved and in doing so, they both grew as people and ended up growing apart, where they had once been inseparable.

The characters, both the primary and secondary ones in this book were so well done and the plot continuously was moving forward. It was a heartwarming, thrilling tale of family, friendship, romance and being your authentic self. I was enthralled with the stories of the roles that women played in WW2, some even close to where I would later grow up. The strength and persevance of these women was so well thought out and the author seamlessly blended real life and fiction into a fantastic novel.

It needs to become a movie and it should definitely be on your must buy list for 2024. It comes out April 2.

I enjoyed this novel, although I do wish there had been a trigger warning due to some of the content. The character of Chief Inspector Gamache was interesting and I felt like you really got to know him and his heart through the story. Some of the other characters weren't fleshed out as much as I would like, however, it is the 18th book so that could be why.

The story involves a case that had happened years before and now the two children from that case are all grown up and return to Three Pines. Things begin to happen that seem connected to that time and Gamache begins to suspect that one or both of the children are involved.

I really enjoyed Hail Mary and I expected that same level of writing and characterization in this one. Sadly, I don't feel like I got it. I thought the characters were very wooden and one dimensional. It was hard to care what happened to them, or even about their back stories. I think this was written before Hail Mary, so I will wait for a new novel from this author and try again.

This was such an amazing book! It starts with Tessa Tidwell showing up at the Golden Hibiscus resort for her honeymoon. Unfortunately, she is alone. Her fiance decided just before the rehersal dinner that he didn't want to marry her, so, she has gone on the honeymoon by herself. While there she meets Sybil who is hilarious. She is constantly drinking martinis, even at 10 am, and has had 4 different husbands. She has plenty of life advice for Tessa, including how to deal with relationships.

Tessa has booked a sailing lesson, but when she goes out on the boat with the instructor, they find a dead body in the water, and the adventure takes off from there. Tessa ends up spending her “honeymoon” trying to find out who the murderer is and enlists Sybil's reluctant help.

The characters were fun and engaging, the mystery was excellent, and I couldn't put it down. Definitely a must read for cozy mystery lovers.

I enjoyed this book. Alena is asked by her brothers to go visit her father and his new fiance and tell her that they will pay her to leave him alone. They are afraid that she is going to get the bulk of his wealth and they can't have that happen.

Alena is a single mother raising a daughter who has Cerebral Palsy and she hasn't spoken to her father in years. Her brothers keep pestering her and ultimately offer her money to help out her daughter if she does this for them.

She finally agrees and goes home for her father's engagement party/wedding. From there she has to convince this woman to leave, deal with her brothers and their greed and ultimately search for whatever secrets her father is hiding.

There are lots of twists and turns and a surprising ending. I do wish there had been a trigger warning, however, due to some disturbing content.

Rumi and Jens work together as part of the Norwegian resistance during World War II and try to help young unwed mothers escape to Sweden with their babies before Hitler can take their babies to produce the perfect Aryan race.

I thought the premise of the story was interesting and not one I had read before, but I didn't find the characters very compelling and I had a hard time staying interested. I usually like Mandy Robotham's books, but this one just didn't hold my attention.

This book was amazing. I really enjoyed it. Alexis is a big city Doctor with a family history in medicine. She is coming back from a funeral and puts her car off the road trying to avoid a raccoon. Daniel comes along and offers to tow her car and she lets him.

They meet again in a local bar and Daniel tells her that his friends have a bet on who can pick her up. They make a plan to walk out together so that he wins the bet and they can split the money.

Alexis's ex has been gaslighting her and her father isn't much better. This is somewhat in the past and they don't focus on it a great deal, but it is part of what makes her the way she is.

There is a ton of chemistry between Alexis and Daniel and their romance is incredibly sweet and heartwarming as it builds. Alexis's best friend Briana is a hoot and has some of the best lines in the book. Apparently there is a second book called Yours Truly (I think) and it has Briana as the main character. I'm looking forward to reading that one as well.