Kristie

I thought this was cute, and I think I just really liked Callie (and the setting). I was really into the treasure hunt storyline. I could do without the romance, but that is me.
Will read the second one.

A dark comedy that came along at a time when I really needed one.
The combo of Hestia's dating life up against the backdrop of the Second Civil War and all of the characters at the nursing home- I was in love and could not turn the pages fast enough.

Loved this collection so much, not a dud in the bunch.
8 powerful little stories.
It's hard to pick favorites but the title story and You're Going to Forget Me Before I Forget You hit me hard.

I found the storytelling to be pretty weak here. There was a great of repetition. I think the bones are here for a great series, and I know the town is fictional but it is a COOL idea. I would be willing to try the second one.

I loved this. Our unnamed narrator gets deeper into the biz and discovers surprises.
I could not put this down. Fantastic!

I hated to finish this book, I was enjoying the ride so much.
There is so much character growth in Penny, I'm dying to know what happens after the story ends.
This surprised me in every way, I loved it whole-heartedly.

I really do love to recommend this book. It's for a reader with very specific tastes (like me). One problem, I never seem to remember the title. It just wont stick in my brain.
I enjoyed the hell out of this read. Amy is a mess, I adore her. To me this book is about who you are in connection with those around you. Amy is a loose thread, she's severely lonely and just wants to find a place where she fits. I get it.

It's all fun and games (and boxed wine) until the ladybugs.
I found this to be laugh out loud funny and creepy AF. My favorite combo. Loved it!

I like V. Castro. I enjoyed Queen of the Cicadas and Goddess of Filth. And that is why I found it so surprising to find the writing here choppy and weird. I almost DNF'D it.
It did greatly improve for me when we met Dr. Ortega. This is directly from my notes:
It kills me to give a female horror writer anything under a 4 star rating but this was problematic. Stiff, stilted language, repetition, too many things ripped me from the story. And the ending. She does something at the end a woman who wants custody of her children would never, ever do.

Read for Reading is Murder Book Club. I learned so much. Reads like a thriller, I could not put it down

I couldn't wait to get back to this world. This is hand's down my favorite cozy mystery series. This one leaves off on a cliffhanger, so I'm hoping it's not too long of wait until we get a 3rd book.

I'm so biased, please ignore this review.
I read the first one in the series and didn't hate it so I decided to pop in and read this one because it takes place in spring. Carrie “runs” the adult programming at her library (I run the adult programming at mine). She has a bottomless budget, apparently. She also just shows up at the start of all of her programs because Sally does all of the set up work. Anyhoo.
Here we also had to deal the middle school behaviors of her parents. It got old. As old as the word “handicrafts” which is also used here.
I probably will not revisit this series.

Read for Romance Book Club.
I didn't dislike this, I actually learned a lot about the audiobook industry. My problem is there are so many dang subplots and I just didn't care about a few of those.
I just think this would have been tighter, and more interesting if it had been shorter.

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, and that is saying a lot because I end up disliking 75% of the ones I try. Many are just so.....lame? Poorly written?
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced peek at this awesome book.

In Flat White we meet up with Sage and Bax at his office where the staff is dressed in duck costumes because, as a team building activity the Grumpy Sasquatch team is going on a scavenger hunt around town. How cool is that? Unfortunately, someone doesn't get to finish the hunt and Sage has to bust out her mystery-solving skills to figure out who had it out for that particular character.
Here's the thing about this series: the cozy formula is there, but it is not obvious because the writing is THAT GREAT. I love all of these characters and the setting and there are two larger mysteries that continue throughout the series: what is up with Sage's mom and what on earth is Mark up to?
So, Flat White Fatality CAN be read as a standalone, but I don't recommend. I'd start with book one and get the full flavor.
One more thing before I get into my notes:
I am very concerned by how many reviewers only seem to focus on the idea that this is a “millennial mystery.” That is exclusory and untrue. I get it, I truly do. I've read some cozies written in the 90s and early 2000s that just do not stand up to the test of time, but to pigeon-hole Emmeline Duncan's writing is not fair. I am Gen X and I love this series. Luckily I read the first one before I started seeing those reviews. I might not have picked it up otherwise, thinking it's not for me.
Notes: Grumpy Sasquatch is not that removed from Concerned Ape, do we have a Stardew Valley fan at the helm (squee)?
Fave quote:
“One of the game testers was a woman in her fifties who regularly rocked graphic tees and clunky Doc Martens, and had major DGAF energy coupled with kindness.” location 2131
Hee hee!
“My inner child still giggles when I call it the POS system.” location 2279 Haha! Me too!!

More like 3 1/2 stars.
Read for the April meeting of It's Always Halloween Booook Club.
This was a surprise. It's a chunkster at 466pgs, but they fly by. It's a love song to horror movie lovers.
There were some laugh out lines and I really loved Thayer.

I went into this cold, and had no idea what was coming. Once I realized they are all short, individual stories I stopped trying to connect things and treated it like a short story collection and I enjoyed the hell out of it.
My favorites:
the confession machine
the ghost cat
the alien in the pool
and the zombie story at the end

Overall, a great collection.

This was incredible. I loved it.
Addie is on her way to homestead land in Montana and she is dragging a very heavy trunk with her. When she gets there she befriends Grace Price and her son, Sam. Add in a murderous family named Mudge, some moonshiners, and ghosts and you have one hell of an adventure. I ate this up.

Come and knock on my door, this may be my favorite book of 2023. How it escaped my attention when it was published, I have no idea. I am so glad I found it.
Bonnie is obsessed with the television show Three's Company (while you do not have to really know the show to enjoy this novel, it can't hurt for the reader to hop on Youtube and at least watch the opening credits). Something has happened to Bonnie, something that has changed her life completely.
And then, she wins the lottery.
Bonnie proceeds to create a mountain top oasis for herself, away from everyone. I don't want to give anything away. Just read it.
HIGHLY recommended for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Judy Budnitz, and Marcy Demansky.
This is 100 percent my kind of novel.

Mary Beth came to our library to do a reading and everyone was checking out a copy of the book and bringing it back in two days. They said it was unputdownable.
Now, I didn't grow up in town and I do not know any of the people in this book but I could still get into the story and can appreciate everything Mary Beth has overcome. I especially loved what she had to say about AA and recovery.
I'm so grateful she decided to share her story.

Trigger warnings all over the place!

More like 3 and 1/2 stars.
I enjoyed this. Lucy comes home to lick her wounds and help her parents out with their restaurant and ends up having to defend them when the local B ends up dead in the parking lot. Not breaking new ground here. The descriptions of the food made me hungry.
I did not figure out the murderer and had to suffer through a love triangle I don't care about. I would read the second one. Sometime the series just improves and improves and I have a feeling that might happen here.

Kathleen is a whiny a-hole who is left in charge of the library when the worst librarian in the world leaves town to go to a conference. She has her friend, Robin and the hot guy's name is Bran Vanelli.
You can't make this stuff up. Wait, someone did.
This book goes off the rails and I'm pretty sure it is the first time I have ever 5 starred a Point Horror. Some of the murders are never fully explained and who knew an iron can burn down an entire house? But the over-the-topness of the story is what drove me to finish it in a single reading.
LOVED IT!

I loved this. Could not put it down and read it in 2 days. Ruthy disappeared at the age of 13 from a bus stop. Since then Jessica, Nina, and their mother, Dolores have been doing their best to get by. When a woman shows up on a reality tv show called “Cat Fight”, the sisters become convinced she is Ruthy and they want to get to the bottom of this.
This is the perfect blend of grief and humor. Just when I thought my heart could not ache anymore for the girls, something would happen that would have me laughing out loud. It's such an authentic story and the characters are very well written. Loved it.

I had read another title by this author and enjoyed it, so I went in expecting to like this one and sadly, I just did not.
The mystery was okay, but all of the added...padding got tedious and boring. The romance did not work for me at all. Trent is very controlling in word and deed. A lot of arm pulling. Not sexy.
There is also just a lot going on, and not all of it is explored. We have witchcraft (not explored), an ex-sister-in- law living with the main character, an old school that needs to be renovated into a catering business, town politics, food, relationships with the grandmother, relationships with the deceased, an ex husband trying to steal a cookbook.
It made me tired to read all of this.
I'm not sure how it's been reviewed by those that practice magic, but I can't imagine those reviews being positive. Conversely, a character mentions being Christian at an extremely awkward moment in a scene and that made me curious about what the author was trying to say there. Hmm.

I thought this was charming and adorable, but mostly it went places I didn't expect. Mona is a magical baker in her aunt's bakery. She has a talent for making gingerbread people dance. When a dead girl is discovered in the bakery and a plot to round up and disappear all of the magical folks in the city is revealed, Mona (unwittingly) springs into action.
I would label this a cozy fantasy and I loved it. Of course, I love everything by T. Kingfisher, so I may be biased.

I know everyone is already talking about this book. Here are my thoughts:
It's very, very readable. Overall, it's a pretty decent haunted house story, what sets it up and above (for me) is the second layer of the property being used in the 70's as a paranormal science experiment lab.
There are a few truly scary scenes, more if you are claustrophobic. I thought the characters were well-rounded and had decent bonds with each other. I never once had to question why any of the characters did what they did or why they did it because DiLouie lets us into their heads and we feel we know they by the time the s hits the fan.
Highly recommend for horror fans.