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Murder in the Locked Library (A Book Retreat Mystery #4) by Ellery Adams

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murder library

Pages: 320 (eBook and Paperback)

Publisher: Kensington]

Published: April 24, 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Jane has decided to add a relaxing spa to Storyton Hall so her guests can have a more pampering book vacation. Her twins are excited to watch the big machinery at work and while doing so they yell at the operator to stop. It appears there is a body buried on the premises. Most unusual is the body is buried with a book. Can the attendees of the Rare Book Conference help Jane discover who is buried in her backyard and why?

Every time I read a Book Retreat Mystery I want to visit but unfortunately it is a fictional place. Can you imagine being able to spend all your time among books and reading whenever without the guilt of having to participate in the real world?

Jane is the mom, friend, boss and sleuth all of us cozy mystery readers want to be as she always is on top of her game. She finds time to cook the twins designed pancakes and work jigsaw puzzles with them. She is understanding of her staffs needs and wants. She never blows off her friends in a time of need and she can always solve a mystery. The only thing not going her way is love of a significant other. She is seeing Edwin but he is currently off on another “job” and the cryptic messages he sends makes her question the relationship. Are the messages real or fake? I don’t know you will have to read to find out.

I am interested to see if Celia, the forensic anthropologist, will become a regular since there seemed to be a spark between her and Sinclair. At this point I think she would be a nice addition. She seems to share the love of books like everyone does at Storyton Hall.

You can read each book in the series as a stand alone but for maximum effect I would read in order:
1. Murder in the Mystery Suite
2. Murder in the Paperback Parlor
3. Murder in the Secret Garden
4. Murder in the Locked Library

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

Town in a Strawberry Swirl (Candy Holliday Mystery #5) by B.B. Haywood

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Pages: 308 (Paperback)

Publisher: Berkley

Published: February 4, 2014

Rating: 4 stars

I LOVE this culinary series. It is closely getting ready to eke out the Hannah Swenson series as my favorite culinary series and that says a lot. There is something about candy that makes me happy when I read her. Maybe because I feel like I could be really good friends with her if she was real. She is down to earth and a really good person. She cares about her community, friends and family. I wish there was more people like her in the real world.

It is strawberry season (yummy!) and that means summer is beginning and time for a festival. Miles is the local strawberry supplier and has for over 30 years but there is a nasty rumor going around that he may be selling out. Does this mean that subdivisions are in the future of Cape Willington marring the beautiful farm land? Unfortunately Doc, Candy’s dad, finds Miles dead with a Blueberry Acres shovel next to him. Will Doc and Candy find themselves on the wrong side of the law?

Not only will you find yourself immersed in strawberry land as you read you will also be craving the delectable fruit. I am anxiously awaiting strawberry season here in Kentucky.

I enjoyed how this book brought the underlying mystery throughout the entire series to the forefront but still did not solve it. A mystery in a mystery is right up my alley. Again I was stumped on the whodunit until it came to light.

The Sound of Freedom by Kathy Kacer

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Pages: 256

Publisher: Annick Press Ltd.

Published: March 27, 2018

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

It is 1936 in Krakow, Poland and Hitler is making his move on the Jewish families. Anna has always led an idyllic and mostly happy childhood going to school and listening to her father play his clarinet in the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra. As Hitler starts enforcing his reign outside of Germany her family understands it is time to move. Bronislaw Huberman is taking auditions for his new orchestra in Palestine, a city that is safer for Jewish families. Will Anna’s father get a spot and the family get their travel visas before it is too late?

I am a big reader of World War 2 fiction at it doesn’t matter if it is an adult book or a children book I want to read it. The Sound of Freedom was extremely interesting as it was a story from a different country than Germany. I was also interested as it based loosely on a true story as Bronsilaw Huberman really did start an orchestra in Palestine and go to Poland auditioning people for spots and provided thousands of travel visas for families. I would like to read more about him.

The view point from Anna is very relatable for children in grades 4-7 as she talks about the things that are important to her at that age and those things are important to every child no matter the year or surroundings. She thinks about leaving her friends and how she will feel. She thinks about what to leave and what to take. She thinks about making new friends in a country that she does not know the language. Anna also shows how to gather courage and lets the reader know that each one of us is stronger than we think.

I hope to see this book in school libraries very soon.

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

His Guilt (Amish of Hart County #4) By Shelley Shepard Gray

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his risk

Pages: 265 (Paperback)

Publisher: P.S. a trademark of HarperCollins

Published: March 6, 2018

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Calvin Fisher is caught between a rock and hard place trying to redeem himself after a lifetime of bad decisions. He wants to get out of gang life but the only way to accomplish that is work for the DEA. Either way he still has to hide his life from his family and do things that goes against the faith he was raised. A phone call from home has him rushing to his brother, Mark’s, side.

Alice has lead the life of a good Amish girl after a wild rumspringa and enjoys her life as an Amish preschool teacher even if she feels smothered at times by her family. To have some freedom, she has agreed to housesit for her brother and sister-in-law who live across from Mark. Alice has developed an interest in Calvin as she watches him from afar.

Will Calvin be able to leave his city life behind while in Hart County or will the city life destroy what he has come to love in this quiet community?

This is the fourth book in the Amish of Hart County series but reads as a stand alone book. I was captivated from the first sentence until the last. Gray has written a beautiful work of art set in my home state of Kentucky. I felt myself traveling the roads with Calvin and Alice and seeing the beauty of the rolling hills filled with Kentucky bluegrass.

His Risk is filled with romance and suspense. You have the budding romance of Calvin and Alice and the married romance of Mark and Wanetta that have the reader cheering and crying. My heart is still pounding from a few scenes and I am not talking about “that”. I am talking about suspense that keeps you turning the pages well past your bedtime.

I was so impressed with His Risk that I have already bought the first three books in the series and will read on my Spring Break from teaching. If interested the books in the series are:
1. Her Secret
2. His Guilt
3. The Gift
4. His Risk
5. Her Fear – release 7/24/18
6. His Promise – release 10/23/18

I dare you to give any of Shelley Shepard Gray’s books a read and not find yourself gobbling up all of them as fast as you can.

After You by Jo Jo Moyes

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Pages: 352 (Paperback)

Publisher: Penguin Books

Published: September 29, 2015

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

After You picks up over a year later from where Me Before You ends. Louisa is living in a flat she bought with the money Will left her and working in an airport bar. She is just existing not living. One night after a round of solitary drinking she makes a misstep on her rooftop garden and finds herself looking into the beautiful eyes of a paramedic trying to save her life. This is what begins an awakening in Louisa. As she starts to live again she finds herself involved once again with Will’s family.

Hmmm…after praising Me Before You I have found myself disappointed with After You. The story is great but the telling of the story was s…l…o…w. At times I didn’t want to pick the book back up but I did because I was curious how it would end. The last quarter of the book was very good. I wish all of it could have read as easy as it did.

I’m very hesitant to start Still Me with my current disappointment but I will as I want to see what life has to offer Louisa. Maybe the best way to read this series is to read them back to back and let the emotions from Me Before You carry you along.

Even though I’m disappointed with After You I recommend it if you like dark, twisty emotional reads.

Endangered Species (Anna Pigeon #5) by Nevada Barr

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Pages: 305 (paperback)

Publisher: Berkley Publishing

Published: March 1997 (original published date)

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

In the fifth installment of the Anna Pigeon series we join park ranger, Anna, as she works on Cumberland Island off the Georgia coast. While she is patrolling the area with another ranger they see smoke. Cumberland Island is dried timber and vegetation just waiting to go up in seconds. As they race to the source they find a drug interdiction plane has crashed killing both pilot and passenger. They soon learn the passenger is not the passenger that was to be in the plane. Join Anna and her fellow rangers as they unravel this mystery on an island that does not take too kindly to outsiders interfering.

I am a fan of the Anna Pigeon series as the books are based in true national parks. Some I have heard of and many I have not. I get to visit and learn of parks I may never get to visit in real life.

I liked this book but there were a lot of scenes that just felt like filler to me and did not add mush to the story line. I really enjoyed the scenes that discussed the sea turtles and wished they had played more of a role.

Anna Pigeon, the main character, is a strong woman who has had a rough past. Every now and then you will see cracks in her armor but she quickly seals them up. Her current love interest, Frederick, is in the story off and on and well, let’s just say he is a jerk. Read it and see if you agree.

This is one series I plan on getting caught up on in 2018.