This was an interesting book that at times got weighed down by the descriptions in vast detail of the processes that were used for different types of painting including but not restricted to the frescos that were painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This was really more a combined biography of Michelangelo, Pope Julius II, and Raphael.
The pictures of the Sistine Chapel frescos were beautiful but it would have been much nicer if they had not been all lumped together in one pictures but the panels shown individually. I often had to search the Internet for an individual image so that I could understand what the writer was talking about.
★★★
GENRE: Children's
CHARACTERS: Michelangelo, Pope Julius II, Donato Bramante, Piero Rosselli, Raphael
Series/ Progress:
DATE READ: June 14 - June 29
NO. OF PAGES: 373
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, HistoryCat
SOURCE: library
Anna Belle Doll, Tiffany Funcraft, and Auntie Sarah Doll leave the Doll House to explore the attic but fail to return before their human owner, Katie, awakes so Annabelle and Tiffany hide in Katie's backpack. They are taken of to school and share an adventure before jumping back into the wrong backpack. At the home of Katie's friend they meet other living dolls that are being terrorized by the Princess Mimi Doll. Tiffany and Annabelle help the other dolls free themselves from Mimi's cruelties. But when Annabelle and Tiffany manage to get back home, they have company.
So much fun!
★★★
GENRE: Children's
CHARACTERS: Doll Family, Funcraft family, Princess Mimi
Series/ Progress: Doll People 2/4
DATE READ: June 26 - June 29
NO. OF PAGES: 260
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: library
I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first in this series but was quickly reminded by the wonderful characters and the writing that kept me on the edge of my seat.
Olivia and her Dog, Captain Haviland, find a body buried in the sand one morning while strolling on the beach. Before the end, they will be finding or connected to several other murders which all have a cliché portrayed by or near the body. However, the Cliché murders aren't the only mystery that Olivia has to face when an unexpected letter comes and throws her for a loop.
Great fun and hurrying toward the next one!
★★★½
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Olivia Limoges, Laurel Hobbs, Chief Sawyer Rawlings, Flynn McNulty, Will Hamilton
Series/ Progress: Books by the Bay 2/7
DATE READ: June 25 - June 28
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Loaned from Tina
Caprice DeLuca, a home stager is helping her high school friend, Roz, prepare to sell the house that she and her husband built when they were married. Trouble in paradise and murder in the study of Roz's husband have Caprice assisting Roz to avoid the paparazzi as well as a stint in jail. Caprice starts asking questions about Roz's husband's business, finds an attorney for Roz, and sets out to discover the murderer.
Okay, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story and the main characters but there were just a few too many other characters rolling through this one - 37 major/minor characters is way too many. I really feel that with some rethinking, some of these minor characters could have been rolled in together.
Hopefully, future installments will have a lesser population.
★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Caprice DeLuca, Roz Winslow, Ted Winslow, Seth Randolph M.D., Dave Harding, Grant Weatherford
Series/ Progress: Caprice De Luca Mystery 1/4
DATE READ: June 22 - June 24
NO. OF PAGES: 384
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook stockpile
As usual in the Commissario Brunetti series, the reader is taken on a ride through Venice while investigations are underway into the death of Signora Altavilla, an elderly woman found dead in her apartment by her neighbor. The coroner rules the death by heart attack but Brunetti is alarmed by bruises on her body that don't seem to fit with a fall. Delving into the woman's activities, along the help of Signorina Elettra, Brunetti finds the hidden world surrounding domestic violence and steps that often are taken to save those women who cannot protect themselves.
★★★
GENRE: Mystery
CHARACTERS: Guido Brunetti, Signorina Elettra Zozzi, Anna Maria Guisti, Signora Constanza Alavilla
Series/ Progress: Commissario Brunetti 20/24
DATE READ: June 18 - June 23
NO. OF PAGES: 407
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: audio stockpile
We've all had the experience of making a major mistake and heading home to lick our wounds, well that's exactly what Andy Buckland does when on the debut of her cooking show, the live audience gets food poisoning. But when she goes home things just seem to get worse.
She rear ends an SUV driven by a gorgeous guy while she looks like s***, she's hired to cater a party by her worst enemy from High School and it turns out to be the engagement party of that same enemy and her ex-boyfriend, and last, the family business is near bankruptcy and they want her to save it.
How can she do that when she is a suspect in the murder of the pastry chef who witnessed her TV downfall?
The characters were fun but the mystery was a little on the light side.
★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Andy Buckland, Malcolm Jones, Lizzy Tillman, Donna Muller, Cecily Rosetti, Kyle Landers
Series/ Progress: Southern Pasta Shop 1/3
DATE READ: June 18 - June 19
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook stockpile
The Food Festival in Scottsdale is holding a pastry bake-off with a $10K prize so Melanie and Angie enter the Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery in the contest. Surprised to find out that her mentor, Vic Mazzotta, is one of the judges, Melanie is devastated when he is found dead before the competition begins.
As the contest proceeds, the danger to Melanie and Angie increases not just from their competitors but the killer apparently is threatening them too.
I love the characters, the food descriptions and the mystery! Will be reading the next one soon!
★★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS:
Series/ Progress: Cupcake Bakery 3/6
DATE READ: June 18 - June 19
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook stockpile
While on a girl's camping trip, Anna is the only hope for survival for her friends who have been kidnapped. The thugs are unaware that Anna is along for the trip, and so she has to remain hidden while working to save her friends.
This story was riveting as Anna fought not just the elements but her lack of preparedness. Having no food or water and having only her professional tracking abilities, Anna and her friends had to combat armed men twice their size.
What surprised me in this story was the missing descriptions of the nature elements. It was more involved in the action than the scenery which usually in this series takes a major part. It didn't detract from the story, just surprised me a bit.
★★★★
GENRE: Mystery
CHARACTERS: Anna Pigeon, Heath Jared, Elizabeth Jared, Leah Hendricks, Katie Hendricks, "The Dude", Bernie Iverson
Series/ Progress: Anna Pigeon 18/18
DATE READ: June 16 - June 17
NO. OF PAGES: 523
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Audio stockpile
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This book was definitely not what I expected. However, it was thoroughly engaging and filled some of the gaps from other books on why the American involvement in WWI was as it was.
This narrative was a combination of the real life stories of about a dozen 100+ yr. old WWI veterans - their successes and failures and what made then so unique. For example, one man walked to school everyday (2 miles) , then participated in the war, and on his return, married, got a job that he bicycled to 5 miles each way every day (rain, snow, didn't matter). Eventually he got a car, but at age 80 he could no longer drive so when his wife was placed in a nursing home a mile away from his home, he walked every day to have meals with her (3x a day no matter the weather). This stunned me. I remember hearing how my grandfather walked everywhere, but because we live in an age where we drive everywhere, it seems unfathomable.
Yes, this book showcased individuals, but it also showed me a great about the time and the differences that these brave men endured.
★★★
GENRE: History
CHARACTERS: Fred Hale, Anthony Piero, William Campbell
Series/ Progress: WWI
DATE READ: June 1 - June 15
NO. OF PAGES: 544
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Audio stockpile
We've all had holiday seasons that don't seem to be worth all the hassle that leads up to it, but when the Christmas gifts are stolen, and unwelcome guests appear and then end up dead, that really tends to spoil the festivities.
Sophie is caught up in the disastrous holiday when her brother George's neighborhood is victimized by thieves (taking even the Christmas dinner) and then her sister-in-law's father shows up with a new girlfriend. The girlfriend ends up dead but the disaster is alive and well as everyone seems to be a suspect.
The twists and turns were totally entertaining!
★★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Sophie Winston, Hannah Bauer, Laci Bauer, Shawna Lane, Ginger Chadwick
Series/ Progress: Domestic Diva 4/7
DATE READ: June 12 - June 13
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook
Natalie Barnes, proprietor of the Gray Wale B&B, is worried about her part-time helper Polly Sarkes, and decides to kill 2 birds with one stone and heads to Polly cottage to check on her and pick some cranberries in the nearby bog. What she finds is not the cranberries she was looking for but Polly dead - apparently suicide. But things don't seem right to Natalie and so she decides to ask a few questions. Matters get away from her and she has to swim fast to avoid drowning in the middle of all the issues.
★★★½
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS:
Series/ Progress: Domestic Diva 2/7
DATE READ: June 9 - June 11
NO. OF PAGES: 336
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook
Sophie is coordinating the Rooms and Blooms for the Design Guild. When an elderly neighbor passes away, Sophie and her nemesis, Natasha, are in competition again each decorating one of the rooms in the decease's home. At the same time, Sophie is asked to cater the "Bequest Party". One of the heirs is a no-show but Sophie's decorating team discover why when the body is found.
This was a really fun mystery - wacky characters, strange twists, and fun decorating ideas.
★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Sophie Winston, Natasha Smith, Mordecai Artemus, Nina Reid Norwood
Series/ Progress: Domestic Diva 3/8
DATE READ: June 7 - June 8
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, AlphaKit
SOURCE: Nook
Charlotte is busy at the Cheese Shoppe preparing samples of food for her BF Meredith and cousin Matthew's wedding when a body is discovered in the feezer of the ice cream shop down the street. When the victim turns out to be the estranged husband of her boyfriend's sister, Charlotte gets involved to make sure that those she loves aren't in danger as well.
The mystery was fun and the food sounded so yummy!
★★★
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
CHARACTERS: Charlotte Bessette, Meredith Vance, Jordan Pace, Jacky Peterson, Iris Isherwood
Series/ Progress: Cheese Shoppe 4/6
DATE READ: June 1 - June 6
NO. OF PAGES: 336
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI,
SOURCE: Nook
I don't know why it's taken me 6 years to read the second of this series, but I can promise, that it will not be another 6 years! The story was woven so seamlessly between the court room and the investigation that I couldn't put it down. The characters are very believable yet I don't there are few attorneys that will put that much effort into a case if not being paid.
The story surrounds a mother who is condemned in the press for the death of her daughter and it seems that no one wants to make an effort to find out what really happened.
Great story!
★★★½
GENRE: Mystery
CHARACTERS: Barbara Holloway, Frank Holloway, Paula Kemmerman,Lucille Reiner , Bill Spasaro
Series/ Progress: Barbara Holloway 2/13
DATE READ: June 1 - June 2
NO. OF PAGES: 422
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI, RandomKit
SOURCE: Audio MCL Overdrive
