Final Sentence by Daryl Wood Gerber

 ★★★½

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: life's transitions, family ties, jealousies
Setting: Crystal Cove, CA
CHARACTERS: Jenna Hart, Vera Hart, Cinnamon Pritchett, Katie Casey, Pepper Prichett, Desireé Devine, Sabrina Devine, Mackenzie Baxter, Rhett Jackson
DATE READ: February 24 - February 25
NO. OF PAGES: 276
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, MysteryCAT
SOURCE: Nook

PLOT:....................................................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.00
STYLE:..................................................................4.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.50
Threshold Quality.................................................3.50
Average..............................................................................................3.63 

Jenna Hart, a young widow, decides to give up her stressful advertising job and return to her childhood home in Crystal Cove and partner with her aunt in a new Cookbook/Café venture.  Barely has she gotten the place ready, invited her friend, a TV chef, for the opening, and all hell breaks loose when she discovers her friend on the beach dead and disguised as a mermaid sandcastle.  It doesn't help that several items nearby point directly to Jenna.

Certain hat she is about to be arrested at any moment, Jenna sets out to find her friend's killer.

The story was cleverly woven to reintroduce Jenna to her hometown while moving the story along.  I'm  ready for the next one!

The Whole Enchilada by Diane Mott Davidson

 ★★★½

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: paternity, blackmail
Setting: Aspen Meadow, CO
CHARACTERS: Goldy Shulz, Tom Shulz, Arch Korman, Marla Korman, Holly Ingleby, Julian Teller, Neal Unger, Father Pete, Bob Rushwood
DATE READ: February 21 - February 26
NO. OF PAGES: 384
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, MysteryCAT
SOURCE: Public library

PLOT:....................................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.50
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.25

Goldy and her best friend Marla are hosting a birthday party for Goldy's son and his friend Drew.  Drew's mother collapses on Marla's driveway after the party and dies because of food poisoning.  While Goldy searches for answers, another murder and Goldy's has a suspicious accident which leads Tom to assign protective escorts.

Snooping as only Goldy and Marla can, the reader is lead through a maze of characters leading us to an interesting ending with an unusual epilogue.

Old friend, new acquaintance

I'm normally not the type to venture out in the snow so yesterday when the forecast called for snow showers, I "girded my loins" as the old fashioned books would say and headed out for a very special occasion - a lunchdate with one of my first friends at LibraryThing - sjmccreary  AKA Sandy.  Sandy's husband was here in DC for business and Sandy came along.  She jumped on the Metro and I picked her up and we found a nice restaurant to sit, eat and talk for hours.  It's so wonderful to "meet" someone who's been your friend for years but you've never met.  

We talked about family, weather, jobs, childhoods, and loads of other things that we had in common but especially books!

We had a great time!  Thanks Sandy, for a special day!

Mailbox Monday

 

Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share books that came into their house and explore great book blogs. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia at Hooked by a Book (formerly The Printed Page) and is now being hosted at http://mailboxmonday.wordpress.com/

I've been away this month for a short vacation and so these are the books that arrived recently.

These were sent from the publishers and authors for review...

....and these were bought for my Nook.

Can't wait to dig into these!

A Deadly Grind by Victoria Hamilton

 ★★★

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: estate auctions, historical documents
Setting: Queensville, MI
CHARACTERS: Jaymie leighton, Joel Anderson, Daniel Collins, Trev Standish, Ted Abernathy, Lynn Foster, Nathan Foster
DATE READ: February 19 - February 23
NO. OF PAGES: 252
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, MysteryCAT
SOURCE: NOOK stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.00
STYLE:..................................................................2.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.00 

Jaymie Leighton is a homebody that loves everything Vintage for her home so when she sees an old-fashioned Hoosier cabinet from the late 20's at an estate auction, she bids on it, not knowing the trouble that comes with it.

The night she brings home her precious Hoosier, she is awaken by Hoppy her dog barking and she discovers a dead body by the cabinet.  Through numerous break-ins and attacks, Jaymie works to figure out why someone was killed her house and the prize that is driving the violence in her backyard.

There were a few too many characters (possibly caused by the new series introductions) but it seemed too crowded for this reader.  Hoping the next is better.

How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny

★★★★★

GENRE: Mystery
SUBJECT: police corruption
Setting: Quebec, Canada
CHARACTERS: Armand Gamache, Sylvain Francouer, Myrna Landers, Oullette Quints, Therese Brunel, Jerome Brunel, Jean Guy Beauvois
DATE READ: February 15 - February 19
NO. OF PAGES: 675
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, MysteryCAT
SOURCE: NOOK stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................5.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................5.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................5.00
STYLE:..................................................................4.75
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................4.75
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................4.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................5.00
Threshold Quality.................................................5.00
Average..............................................................................................4.88 

This most recent installment of this tremendous series, is IMHO the best so far.  Readers sometimes wonder how a writer can continue to improve, I don't know, but Miss Penny somehow does it. 

Regular readers were most probably concerned at the end of the previous book believing that Armand Gamache was on his way out when we look at the devastation to his team, his family in trouble, not to mention that his reputation was shredding.  Armand questions his own unit as well as his abilities.

At the beginning we see Gamache at odds with his team members except for Isabelle LaCoste, and then the apparent hatred by Jean Guy Beauvoir.  Throughout Gamache manages to remain the character that we  have grown to love. 

Myrna Landers calls Gamache from Three Pines worrying about a friend who has not shown up in the little village. Through the investigation, Gamache finds the true identity of the victim as well as a location to protect those who are his support  against the mystery that has been building at the Sureté.

The friends that we've made over the first 8 books from the village of Three Pines are front and center helping not only in the search for the murderer of Myrna's friend, but also aiding Gamache in his fight against corruption. 

It is hard to believe that the corruption that is exposed has been hiding and building throughout the series.  Fans of Armand Gamache can only hope that he will remain our hero in the future.  Can't wait for the next book!

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

★★ 

GENRE: Children's fiction
SUBJECT: orphan's adaption to new family
Setting: Prince Edward Island, Canada
CHARACTERS: Amelia 
DATE READ: February 5 - February 16
NO. OF PAGES: 384
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, RANDOMCAT
SOURCE: NOOK stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................2.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................2.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................1.50
STYLE:..................................................................1.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................1.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................1.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................1.50
Threshold Quality.................................................2.00
Average..............................................................................................1.75 

I never read this book in my youth and now that I have, I'm not really enamored of it.  I think that if I had read it when I was a child, I would have liked it, but now I see just one dimensional characters and little plot.

Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters

 ★★★ 
GENRE: Historical mystery
SUBJECT: curses, surprise deaths
Setting: London, England; Egypt
CHARACTERS: Amelia 
DATE READ: February 5 - February 16
NO. OF PAGES: 384
Challenges: Amelia Peabody Emerson, Radcliffe Emerson, Ramses Emerson, Lady Harold Carrington, Sir Henry Baskerville, Alan Armadale, Lady Baskersville
SOURCE: Audio stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.00
STYLE:..................................................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.00

Amelia and Emerson had resolved that they would not return to the digs in Egypt until their son, Ramses was older, however, when a strange death occurs, Lady Baskerville begs them to return to dig and continue her husband's work.

While continuing the excavation, Amelia and Emerson solve the murders that have been blamed on the Pharaoh's curse.  Light and fun.

Christmas Hope by Anne Perry

 ★★★ 

GENRE: Historical mystery
SUBJECT: class separatation
Setting: London, England
CHARACTERS: Claudine Burroughs, Wallace Burroughs, Squeaky Robinson, Dai Tregarron
DATE READ: February 5 - February 8
NO. OF PAGES: 197
Challenges: TIOLI, CATEGORY, ALPHACAT
SOURCE: LT ER

PLOT:....................................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.00
STYLE:..................................................................3.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.00  

As in Anne Perry's Christmas series, this book takes a minor character from her William Monk series and creates a story with Claudine Burroughs as the central character where she is working to find the truth surrounding the death of a prostitute that is being laid at the feet of Welsh poet. 

Claudine works through numerous lies and hidden agendas to save an innocent man.

Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

 ★★★★ 

GENRE: Classics
SUBJECT: unusual land
Setting: Oz
CHARACTERS: Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion
DATE READ: February 4 - February 5
NO. OF PAGES: 74
Challenges: TIOLI, CATEGORY, RANDOMCAT
SOURCE: Nook Stockpile

PLOT:....................................................................4.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.00
STYLE:..................................................................4.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................5.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.50
Threshold Quality.................................................4.00
Average..............................................................................................3.88  

Having watched the movie just about every year for many years, it was extremely interesting to read the story behind it.   The story had several differences which increased the fun of reading his story for the first time.  It's sad that the Golden Cap and China Town were lost in the adaptation.

League of Delphi by Chris Everheart

 ★★★★ 

GENRE: Young Adult
SUBJECT: Secret society
Setting: Washington, DC
CHARACTERS: Zach White, Ashley Sloan, Crazy Larry
DATE READ: January 27 - February 4
NO. OF PAGES: 292
Challenges: TIOLI, CATEGORY, 
SOURCE: Publisher for review

PLOT:....................................................................4.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.50
STYLE:..................................................................4.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................4.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.50
OWNERSHIP:......................................................4.00
Threshold Quality.................................................4.00
Average..............................................................................................3.88 

Zach White has returned to Arcanville after his mother's death - unsure of why he is drawn to this little PA town.  Working at the coffee shop, he sees  and meets most of the other highschoolers but he is still confused until he and Ashley find a way into the library and discover the secrets of the town.

The story was well written and gripped my attention so that I am looking forward to the next installment of the trilogy.

Bold: A Cookbook of Big Flavors by Susanna Hoffman, Victoria Wise

Many interesting looking recipes including some for game - venison, duck - not things you usually find in a traditional cookbook. easy to follow, sectioned neatly.  looking forward to trying some of the more unique recipes in the future.

Home of the Braised by Julie Hyzy

 ★★★★ ¾

GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT:
Setting: Washington, DC
CHARACTERS: Olivia Parras, Leonard Gavin, Peter Sargaent, Virgil Ballantine
DATE READ: February 1 - February 2
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: TIOLI, CATEGORY, MYSTERYCAT, GASTROCAT, ALPHACAT
SOURCE: My Nook

PLOT:....................................................................4.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................4.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.50
STYLE:..................................................................5.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................4.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................5.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................5.00
Threshold Quality.................................................5.00
Average..............................................................................................4.75  

Ollie and Gav have finally decided to get marry but in the meantime Ollie is also in the midst of planning a major State Dinner for representatives from a nation that the US has been at odds with for 50 years.  Trouble seems to gravitate toward Ollie and throughout she is trying to avoid international or political problems.  But Ollie being Ollie, she finds the problems that are reverberating  and saves the day!