To Coach a Killer
Life coach Cat and her humorous assistant Gilley return. Hopefully not To Coach a Killer! Cat has a new client, Willem. He is a good-looking little person. Willem is convinced he curses all the places he goes ever since a gypsy cursed him in his mother’s belly. As he isContinue Reading
Where Dreams Descend
I absolutely loved The Night Circus. When I saw Where Dreams Descend listed on NetGalley and compared to one of my favorite books, I picked it up. While they both have similar topics, this is no Night Circus. It seemed over long and really slow-paced. Admittedly, I am not aContinue Reading
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Mina is a first generation immigrant to the United States from Korea. She owns and works in her own store in a Koreatown swap meet in Los Angeles. This is The Last Story of Mina Lee. Mina’s only child, Margot, has moved to Seattle. Margot only visits on holidays. SheContinue Reading
Three Treats Too Many
My Review Three Treats Too Many is a character-centered Southern cozy mystery—with recipes! In small town Wheaton outside Birmington Alabama, everyone is entwined in each other’s life. Sarah, her twin sister chef Emily, and Emily’s boyfriend chef Marcus are opening a restaurant called Southwinds. However, they are delayed at everyContinue Reading
The Day I Disappeared
In The Day I Disappeared, five-year-old Amy’s older brother was supposed to be watching her. Instead he was outside fishing. However, when he came home later, Amy was missing. When later she was found drowned, her brother blamed himself. Holly was kidnapped as a child of five. She was returnedContinue Reading
Doggone Dead
Doggone Dead is the first book in a new cozy mystery series featuring best friends, and ladies of a certain age, Nora and Gwen. You have to love a cozy mystery that gets to the point quickly. In chapter one, we meet Gwen trying to sleep late on her firstContinue Reading
Murder at the Natural History Museum
It’s August 1895 in London when Abigail and Daniel are called in to determine who bludgeoned an iguanodon dinosaur fossil. The remains were found with a cryptic note, “Because of he that betrayeth”. But the next morning, a man is found strangled in the same location with another note aroundContinue Reading
Killer Kung Pao
In Killer Kung Pao, Lana Lee at twenty-eight is the manager of her family’s noodle house in Asia Village near Cleveland. She feels pretty adult even if her slightly older sister, Anna May, thinks changing her hair color from black to pink to gray is “gateway hair” just proving howContinue Reading
The Second Wife
A fire breaks out in a home. Natalie, The Second Wife, escapes without injury. But her fourteen-year-old stepdaughter, Jade, has to be rescued by firemen. After awakening from a brief coma, Jade tells her father, Alex, she was hiding in her closet. But she wasn’t fleeing the fire. She saysContinue Reading
Three Perfect Liars
Three Perfect Liars is a well-crafted thriller about the conflicts and vulnerabilities women feel when returning from maternity leave. Laura is sad to leave her 6-month-old son at home with her husband, Nate. But she is excited to return to her high-powered advertising job after her six month maternity leave.Continue Reading
Dopeworld
An interesting, though somewhat disorganized, look into the world’s illegal drug culture. Dopeworld is the author’s personal experience with being a drug dealer in England. It is also a worldwide history of the gangs who profited by transporting and selling drugs for the last 50 years. Finally, the author interviewsContinue Reading
27 Essential Principles of Story
The title, 27 Essential Principles of Story, basically explains what the book is about. It looks closely at plot, character, setting, dialogue, and theme. The book uses a simple system. First, a brief description of the principle. Then, a detailed explanation of how the principle works. Next, an example fromContinue Reading
Key Lime Crime
My Review In Key West, Florida, Key Lime Pies are the favorite dessert of locals and tourists alike. At the kickoff of a Key Lime Pie contest, a new bakery owner named Charlotte is frustrated by not being allowed entry into the contest. Her oh-so-French Key Lime Neapolitan is ruledContinue Reading
And in the End
“January 10. Got up. Went to Twickenham. Rehearsed until lunchtime. Left The Beatles. Went home.”—George Harrison’s diary of the first split up of The Beatles in 1969 from And in the End, a book about the band’s breakup. Was it really Yoko who split up The Beatles? Well, she certainlyContinue Reading
The Heatwave
Sylvie and her daughter are back in southern France to sell the family’s house now owned by Sylvie and her sister Camille. The house has been abandoned for ten long years. Something has happened in the house in the past. A fire, perhaps? A child’s death? Has The Heatwave passedContinue Reading
The Watcher
Teenage Erica has an ultra-religious family. She also has night terrors and/or sleep paralysis, where she imagines a demon is after her. When the family moves to a new town, Erica has The Watcher as her next-door neighbor. Is he just a pervy peeper or does he want something more?Continue Reading