Andrea Ward

I love this gentle and thoughtful portrayal of Jessica. She is going out of her way to help out a friend by going to Ireland, then she goes further by helping a second friend to get her family's art back to her Irish family. Even the way she catches the bad guy is more gentle. The setting of Ireland is wonderful and the characters in Ireland are fabulous. This made for a great book and a great trip to Ireland.

This was funnier than I expected. Richard is both more boring and more interesting than i expected as well. But I guess that is to be expected when i picked the book for the title and the cover.
The mystery's twists were a surprise to me. And the investigators entertained me as well. So this was an enjoyable somewhat campy mystery.

I was pretty sure I wouldn't like this one much because it was set in London because of the moors. I also couldn't figure out if any Brönte novels took place in the theatre. But I kept reading and just got pulled into the Brönte's world. I was nervous for them and proud of their courage. The mystery is devious and disturbing, so I was rooting for the Brönte's to take down the bad guy. I was invested in their friends who were helping them, so the ending was emotionally impactful in a few different ways. I even got introduced to a new author, Catherine Crowe. So this proved me totally wrong! It was fabulous.

This book was amazing!! I wanted to read a book set in Faroes and found this one at my library. I was not disappointed! The setting was fantastic. We get a feel for the islands and what life is like there. I really appreciated the pronunciation guide in the front. It helped me pronounce them closer to correctly as I was reading. That also helped me feel like I was on the Faroe Islands as I was reading.
The investigation was the primary narrative in the book and I really enjoyed it. We see the interviews and talk to the specialists that are dealing with the other information. The step by step look at the investigation also made it easier to get a glimpse into the personal lives of the the investigators. So we get to know them and see a little bit of what they are going through without getting too much excess drama.
While the investigation is going on, we see Shan Reyna searching for some of his own family history. I liked seeing his outsider perspective of the Faores because it made it easier to get to know the Faroes in a realistic way.
The ending made me want to pick up book 3 immediately. It is a great set up and I can't wait to see what happens.

I love Fran and her crew at Antonia's. I loved seeing her learn a new recipes for the café. I liked that the romantic entanglement was dealt with in one book. I also like that Fran is aware of what she wants and isn't afraid to tell someone no. This is a great series.

This book is as good as everyone has said! I don't know what took me so long to read it. Mel and Angie are a great team plus of course there is Angie's brothers and Mel's ‘helpful' mom. These characters are just so much fun!
The mystery wasn't very mysterious as I picked out the murderer the first time they appeared in the page. I was surprised by the why and how.
The strength of this book is the delightful characters. I will be picking up book 2 very soon.

I loved being there beside Claire as she struggled with friends and parents while also being haunted. Claire does not have an easy time growing through this, but she doesn't give up. I loved all the characters and I thought the history lesson was well done as well.

I am impressed with the way that this felt different and similar to the other books by this author. We see Ginny struggle with her relationships as well as figuring out why she wants to solve the mystery of the haunting. And as I have come to appreciate with this author the struggle is rewarded with a more mature character by then end of the book.

This was the first Agatha Christie book I ever read and m now 30 years later I returned to it. There was definitely some nostalgia at the beginning of the book, but then I was drawn in to the story. I was surprised by the solution and by the way Miss Marple investigated. I am impressed with the way the mystery holds up after all this time. I can see this reread setting me on a path of reading Christie books just like it did 30 years ago.

I think I hate almost every character, but especially that sister. Then I start thinking about Korede and I can't figure out who I dislike more. This story was more complicated than I expected and I really like the layers to the story that we have to figure out for ourselves.

I loved the setting. Several of the secrets were obvious by about halfway through the book, but there were still a few secrets that I hadn't figured out. So the reveal of the full story was complicated. There were some parts that seemed repetitive in the reveal process, but it did help to round out some characters, so I can't really complain about that. My only real complaint that I had was that the romance seemed shoehorned in. Great setting and a pretty good mystery.

This was a wonderful book about making new friends and moving to a new place. Also it is a great ghost story!

In many ways this reminded me of an R. L. Stine or Christopher Pike novel from the 90s. The characterization was lacking, but the plot was fast paced and we were left with a question at the end. It was fine. I think I was hoping for it to be more, but if you are looking for a modern spin on a Christopher Pike novel, you will like this one.

I didn't know if I was going to like this one because we follow Felicia and not Lizbeth. I didn't like it because I LOVED it! I loved seeing inside the school and getting an idea of how different gregori use their magic. I loved seeing Felicia develop as a character and find herself. I loved learning more about her history and now I am left on pins and needles to see what happens next with Lizbeth and Felicia.

Can I give this 6 stars?! I don't normally read short story collections and I have been missing out! This collection of fabulous stories was written by so many amazing authors. My TBR list has blown up because I have to read more from these authors. This is a superb collection of stories.

I love the way the romance is developing in this series! It is slow and unsure and seems realistic. I thought the developments in this one were just perfect. The mystery involves a lot of complicated people and we meet a couple great new to us people in Yarrow Glen. So we are emotionally invested in who the ‘bad guy' is. However I figured out who the murderer was about halfway through. I was also able to figure out one of the twists pretty early on as well, so I was a smidge frustrated that Willa didn't think of what seemed obvious to me. I would have liked to see a little bit more of the cheese shop, but we did get to see lots of Archie, Mrs. Schultz, and Baz. It was good to see all of them come together as a team.
Overall this was a good book to bring the characters together as a team and move the romance forward.

I am impressed with the way she was able to tell her story without piling on excessive weight bias baggage. She tells about her relationship with food, as well as her multicultural experiences, in such a way that we understand her personal experiences are for her personally. It can be easy to tell a story about food, fat and family and include sweeping statements or judgements that wrap up other people in the author's personal experiences. As a reader, those sweeping statements often leave me feeling judged and defensive. Chaudry avoids this for most of the book, so I enjoyed reading the book and didn't feel the need to get defensive about anything.
Also the food! There is so much that describes that seems so delicious. I am going to be looking for a Pakistani restaurant now!

This reminded me of Inspector Gamache in the best ways! Inspector Chopra has so much integrity that he just has to go find an answer. Then he is trying to figure out how to make his new pet elephant feel better and figure out what his plan is for his retirement. It was a good mystery, a good detecitve and an interesting setting. I also really liked listening to the audiobook.

I enjoyed visiting with Trixie and her friends again. I was a bit frustrated by the amount of looking the other way that the adults did. They should have been much more suspicious much earlier, but then there wouldn't have been a book.

Christmas in Scotland

I loved the setting and the Christmas Market! I would have liked a little more investigation, but that's expected with a short story.

I fell in love with Octobia May on page 1. I physically reacted to some of what was happening in the book. I had to pause the audiobook a couple times to let out my built up emotions. Then by the end the solution was more emotionally fraught than I expected. There was so much depth and imagination in this book!

This might be my favorite June Hur novel! There are good twists, palace intrigue, good parents, bad parents, dangerous people, and dangerous secrets. I got swept up in the novel so quickly. Hyeon and Eojin are wonderful characters. And there was just enough details that I could picture the setting without getting bogged down in historical details. June Hur novels are amazing.

At first I was upset that there wasn't as much tea magic in this one, but I persevered through my disappointment and discovered so many wonderful places in the kingdom! I genuinely enjoyed the other places we got to visit and the various people and powers we got to witness. The twist near the end and then the way it was all wrapped up were very well done. And there was a good amount of tea magic sprinkled throughout the book. It was a great wrap up to the story!

A lot of this are things I have already heard from listening to Gordon's podcast. However, I enjoyed hearing it again. There is good research and data, not to mention her personal experience, that help to clarify that fat bias is a thing and is not a good thing. Her work has helped me to be more comfortable in my own skin as well as to think differently about ‘what everyone knows' about health and eating.

I loved the little details that let me know this was set in Brazil without hitting me over the head with it. Of course there so many great food details! The neighborhood felt very real, so I was definitely transported while reading this. The enemies to livers trope was very well done! I was all in favor of her hating the Molinas. By the end though, I was starting to like the Molinas, except for maybe the mom. There were a couple times in the book that seemed unnecessarily dramatic, but it didn't detract from my overall love of the book.