A true Kentucky author through and through. Mindy Steele represents our state beautifully with her writing.

Deadly Sanctuary is book three in the Mountain Protector series but each can be read as a standalone. Somehow I missed book two and need to go back and read it.

Emery is one of the toughest characters I’ve met. Her strength is something to admire. Corbin is the man all little girls dream of marrying. Tough but soft when it counts.

This book is perfect for fans of domestic thrillers but want a clean read with no sex and no foul language.

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Published: June 7, 2022

Available Formats: Digital, Print, and Audio

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Source: Digital Copy from NetGalley

My Review: I always enjoy my visits with Lucy at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library. Although this book was more at her new home it was still an enjoyable visit.

Lucy and Conner have made one more step closer to forever by buying a home to fix up. This home is full of mystery and unfortunately a murder. Who killed the twin brother of the seller and why?

I was completely shocked at who the murderer was and why. I can’t say I’m sorry to see that character go away.

I do miss Lucy living in the lighthouse. There was just something about knowing she could pop down and read any book she wanted that was appealing.

I do enjoy the classic book pairings with each book. I have never read The House of Seven Gables and am thinking of giving it a try.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed above are entirely my own.

NetGalley: Librarian Lucy’s new historic house comes with a lot of baggage and family secrets. Can she put them to rest or will a killer bring Lucy’s family to their downfall, in the 9th Lighthouse Library mystery.

It’s spring in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and Lucy and Connor have moved into their new home at last, a historic cottage on the Nags Head Beach. The house needs a lot of renovations, but they worked hard over the winter to get it ready. Lucy is now happily immersed in her work at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, planning her wedding, and decorating the house. That is, until a dead body disrupts their peaceful new abode.   

The first night Lucy’s alone in the house, with the company of Charles the library cat, she hears sounds. Investigating they see footsteps in the dust of the unfinished living room, and the door to the outside is open. Lucy’s reminded that the house is said to be haunted: forty years ago the teenage daughter of the owners fled in the night, and never again stepped foot inside her family home.

But the sounds have an all-too-human origin and one evening Lucy and Connor find the dead body of a man they don’t even recognize in their kitchen. They soon realize he has a long-time connection to their house. Lucy’s forced to find out what happened all those years ago and why it’s threatening her happiness today.

Meanwhile, the Classic Novel Reading Club is reading The House of the Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne, a book about another old house full of secrets. Can Lucy find parallels to her own situation in Hawthorne’s fiction before the killer strikes again?

Publisher: Kensington

Publishes: September 27, 2022

Available Formats: Print and Digital

Source: Digital Copy from NetGalley

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review: Ellery Adams is my go-to person when I need a comfort read so this fit perfectly for this week.

In book 8 we join Jane and her book retreat crew as they host a poet competition for a greeting card company. Unfortunately, the competition turns deadly for two competitors. Can Jane and crew find the killer or will they get away scot-free?

One of my favorite things about this series is all the book recommendations. I learn many new authors from this series. There is a combination of poets and fiction authors mentioned. I like poetry but in small doses.

This series is best read in order but honestly, Adams does a great job in giving just enough background that if you started with any book you would be fine.

Look at your favorite book dealer (retailer) for pre-ordering options.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions expressed above are entirely my own.

NetGalley: For bibliophiles who want to get away from it all, Virginia’s book-themed resort Storyton Hall offers the perfect escape. And in the latest witty installment from New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams, a killer inspired by Lord Alfred Tennyson’s “The Lady of Shallot” doesn’t stanza chance when resort manager Jane Steward is on the case!

When corpses clutching poems begin turning up around Storyton Hall, resort manager Jane Steward is on the trail of someone exercising poetic license to kill…

As Jane eagerly anticipates the wedding of her best friend Eloise Alcott, Storyton Hall is overrun with poets in town to compete for a coveted greeting card contract. They’re everywhere, scrawling verses on cocktail napkins in the reading rooms or seeking inspiration strolling the Poet’s Walk, a series of trails named after famous authors. But the Tennyson Trail leads to a grim surprise: a woman’s corpse drifting in a rowboat on a lake, posed as if she were “The Lady of Shallot.”

When a second body is discovered,also posed as a poetic character, a recurring MO emerges. Fortunately, Jane is well versed in sleuthing and won’t rest until she gives the killer a taste of poetic justice…

Publisher: Kensington

Published: August 23, 2022

Available Formats: Print, Digital, and Audio

Source: Print Copy from Author

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

My Review: Of all the wonderful Amanda Flower series, the Amish Candy Shop series is my favorite. I am so invested in Bailey and Aiden’s relationship that I won’t be content until they are married. Plus I want to continue to follow Charlotte’s decision to go from Amish to English.

In Peanut Butter Panic, we join Bailey and crew as Harvest prepares for the first-ever town-held Thanksgiving meal on the square. Happiness and fellowship are in the air until word gets around that a hated ex-judge is returning for the holidays. Can those wronged in the past by the judge forgive or will someone makes sure she suffers like they did?

I know the mystery should and did take center stage but I was more interested in the relationship turmoil between Bailey and Aiden. I had to resist the temptation to flip to the back to see the outcome. I never want to do that but oh my heart!

The murder mystery was well thought out with plenty of red herrings. I didn’t guess the murderer. When it was revealed and why I was shocked. I didn’t expect the turn it took. A cozy mystery that takes me by surprise like that is a highly rated mystery.

My reason for not giving a full 5 stars is a personal peeve of mine…there was only one recipe included. I expect my culinary cozies to have several. There were so many opportunities for more recipes being a Thanksgiving-themed cozy. In no way did it distract from the entertaining Murder mystery and romance between Bailey and Aiden.

I received a complimentary copy from the author. All opinions expressed above are entirely my own.

Goodreads: Thanksgiving is Bailey King’s busiest holiday weekend. This year promises to be even more hectic, since Bailey’s candy shop, Swissmen Sweets, is providing desserts for Harvest, Ohio’s first village-wide Thanksgiving celebration. Yet, even with a guest list close to seven hundred people—Amish and English alike—the event’s organizer, Margot Rawlings, is unfazed . . . until she discovers her mother, former judge Zara Bevan, will be in attendance.

Zara’s reputation as a harsh critic is matched only by her infamy as a judge who has actively harmed the Amish community. So no one is prepared when Zara arrives with much younger boyfriend Blaze Smith and reveals their impending nuptials at dinner. That should have been the day’s biggest news, except shortly after the announcement, Blaze suffers an allergic reaction to something he’s eaten and dies on the spot.

Now, Bailey’s desserts are prime suspects, along with Margot and nearly everyone who attended the meal. With such a cornucopia of possibilities, Bailey must dig in and get to the bottom of this murder, before the killer goes up for seconds…

Publisher: Tule Publishing

Published: August 23, 2022

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Source: Digital Copy from the Author

Available Formats: Digital

My Review: A great start to a new series. Murder and romance come together to make a fun and fast read.

Annie moves to her parents’ home in coastal Rainbow Falls while they go on a tour of the world. She expects a quiet life of coffee shops and beach walking. She gets a cranky cat, a murder, an overwhelming neighbor, and a hunky vet.

Annie is a protagonist I think all readers will enjoy. She has a small-town charm that draws others to her like a moth to a flame. She is a lover of junk food, a cozy mystery reader, and has a penchant for fainting at the sight of blood. The fainting gets her in the crosshairs of two bumbling detectives that couldn’t find the nose on their face.

Home is Where the Body Is kept me interested from beginning to end and I’m ready for book two, Homecoming and Homicide.

Goodreads: The coastal Oregon town of Rainbow Falls might be sleepy, but it’s definitely not innocent…

When graphic designer and true crime fan Annie Abbott agrees to house sit her parents’ home for a year, she’s convinced that even though the small town has ten coffee shops, nothing exciting will happen. But that’s before a seemingly feral cat gives birth in her garage, prompting a call to the very handsome, very single town vet. It’s a dream meet-cute, but just as their romance blooms, Annie discovers the bloody body of her grumpy neighbor. And despite the fact that she passes out at the sight of blood, the police suspect her.

To clear her name, Annie will need to put her years of watching police procedurals and reading mysteries to good use. She’ll also need to rely on her new friends who have welcomed her to Rainbow Falls, but is one of them the killer?

Publisher: Kensington

Published: March 29, 2022

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Source: Digital Copy from NetGalley

Available Formats: Digital, Print, and Audio

My Review: I fell in love with the Chloe Jackson Sea Glass Saloon series from book one page one. I’m finally getting to book 3 of the series I have had on NetGalley. Book 4 is already up on NetGalley.

Chloe is settling in as a homeowner and partial bar owner and has found herself in a good relationship. All that is turned upside down when her ex-fiancé from Chicago shows up. Unfortunately, before confronting him she finds him floating near her home…dead. Why was he in Florida and who wanted him dead?

Chloe is the friend we all want. She is sweet and caring and will do anything for those she cares about. She tries to find the good in everyone even when they are mean and rude to her. These qualities are what also get her in trouble. Even her visiting brothers can’t keep her out of trouble.

A series set around Destin, Florida in a beach bar. Perfect series for a staycation.

NetGalley: The third installment in Sherry Harris’s Agatha Award-nominated series finds former Chicago librarian Chloe Jackson loving her new life as a bartender in Florida…until a surprise visit from her Windy City ex-fiancé ends with him blown away in the Panhandle!

DEAD EXES TELL NO TALES

Saloon owner Chloe Jackson appears to have a secret admirer. She’s pouring drinks at the Sea Glass Saloon in Emerald Cove when an airplane flies by above the beach with a banner reading I LOVE YOU CHLOE JACKSON. She immediately rules out Rip Barnett. They are in the early stages of dating and no one has said the L word. Then a bouquet of lilacs—her favorite flower—is delivered to the bar, followed by an expensive bottle of her favorite sparkling wine. It couldn’t be…

Sure enough, her ex-fiancé from Chicago has flown down to Florida for an accountants’ convention. But is he trying to mix business with pleasure and win her back? Unfortunately he’s not in a hotel conference room, he’s floating facedown in the lake next to her house, clutching a photo of Chloe. Who murders an accountant on a business trip—it just doesn’t add up. When Rip becomes the prime suspect, Chloe is determined to find the secret murderer. But if she isn’t careful, it may be closing time and lights out for her…