The Secret, Book and Scone Society

Title: The Secret, Book and Scone Society
Author: Ellery Adams
Published: October 31st 2017 by Kensington
Format: eBook, Hardcover: 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Miracle Springs, North Carolina #1

This is a new series by Ellery Adams revolving around four women that come together to solve a murder, but at the same time, to create a friendship that is centered around each woman telling their deepest secret.

Nora Pennington walked away from her previous life that left her scarred and is looking for a new beginning. She can read peoples troubles and in doing so recommends books from her small bookstore, that if read in specific order, can help people find the answers that they are looking for. Hester Winthrop creates comfort scones in her bakery. Estella Sadler, who is called nasty names behind her back and has a flair for the dramatic, is the local salon owner and June Dixon who works at the local thermal pools.

Together the women of Miracle Springs set out to find the answer as to why Neil Parrish, either fell or was pushed in front of a train. Sheriff Todd, also known as the Toad around town, calls it suicide but that quick answer does not hold up for the women. As they sip their coffee and gather around a table with a secret compartment, they begin to compare their notes on Neil. Something is very fishy in Miracle Springs and with a new housing development going in, that Neil was part of, the women set out to solve a murder, expose a fraud, and help to get one of their own out of jail when she has been accused of killing yet another person involved in the Pine Ridge development.

I enjoyed the first book in this new series. With interesting women and a bit of mysticism on the side, they take the reader through their lives and the small town that they call home. I can’t say that this book fully falls under the cozy mystery heading, but then again, it does not fall fully under romance, because you know that there has to be some, and it does not fit completely under women’s fiction or paranormal. Just little bits and parts of all of them, which leaves something for everyone.

Mystery at the Manor

Title: Mystery at the Manor
Author: Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
Published: January 16th 2014 by Bastei Entertainment
Format: Kindle Edition, 106 pages
Genre: Short Story / Mystery
Series: Cherringham - A Cozy Crime Series #2

I love these short stories. Jack and Sarah are teaming up again to figure out if one of Victor Hamblyn’s children set the fire that took his life. What they did not expect to find was that old Vic had a buried secret of his own.

To back up, Victor Hamblyn, the owner of Mogdon Manor needs a bit of help around the house, the chair lift was not his idea, but the stairs are getting to be too difficult to maneuver on his own. So one evening after his caregiver has gone home, Victor rides up to his bedroom, settles in for the night and that is when he smells smoke. He needs to get to his most treasured possession, unfortunately it is up in the attic and when his body is found, no one understand not only how did he get there, but what was he looking for.

Jack, a retired NYPD homicide detective and Sarah a Cherringham local, start banging about and soon discover why Victor was willing to risk his life. This will leave Victor’s conniving brood stunned and pointing fingers but a hidden chapter of their father's life will be revealed, a love story will be told, and souls can finally find peace.

Forbidden Falls

Title: Forbidden Falls
Author: Robyn Carr
Published: December 29th 2009 by Mira
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 371 pages
Genre: Romance
Series: Virgin River #8

There is something simple, though not in a bad way, about Virgin River. The people are warm and inviting and if you are on the skeptical side, a little too good to be true.

After putting a bid in on a dilapidated old church with a stunning stained glass window, Noah Kincaid, son of a televangelist father whom he does not get along with, moves to Virgin River to start his ministry and to lend a helping hand where he can. With more work needed on the building and a phone that is ringing, Noah needs a very industrious helper. As the pinched and prune-faced women of the nearby areas apply for the job, Noah knows that finding what he needs might be harder than he thought – that is until ex-stripper Ellie Baldwin walks in the door.

I know, I was rolling my eyes too, how cliché to match up a stripper with a man of the cloth, but Noah needs a helper and when he finds out that Ellie is a single mother that just lost custody of her children to an ex-husband with a couple secrets of his own, he is riding in on his white steed to save the day.

The town of Virgin River comes to their aid, no one here judges, they just pitch in where they are needed and if the minister and the stripper are not enough drama for this town, recurring character Paul receives a call that he was not expecting. Remember back when Paul’s ex-girlfriend Terri tried to tell him that she was pregnant with his child. Turned out he was not the father but Terri has unexpectantly passed away and has left her daughter to Paul and Vanni to raise.

Of course, that causes all sorts of upheaval but this is Virgin River and if there were not a crisis, this town would not know what to do with themselves. Are the people of this town too good to be true – of course they are but that is why the readers keep returning. It is a nice break, a refreshing breather when the real world gets too crazy and you want to take a day or two to sink into someone else’s life and know that just possibly there are good people out that just want to help where they can and in doing so, make a better life for those around them.

Quicksand

Title: Quicksand
Author: Malin Persson Giolito
Published: Hardcover: 512 pages
Format: eBook, Hardcover: 512 pages
Genre: Legal Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

This is not a book that I could recommend. The first quarter was interesting, but then my attention began to wane as the narrator went on incessantly. The middle part, I skimmed and feel that I missed nothing and then the ending was somewhat interesting but I had lost patience with the whole thing and was just glad that it was over.

Told from the perspective of 18-year-old Maria “Maja” Norberg, currently on trial for her involvement in a school shooting that was carried out by her boyfriend Sebastian. Until the very end, the reader is not completely sure of her participation. Was she part of the initial strategy that Sebastian, the son of Sweden’s richest man, had planned or was she just caught up in events that she was unaware of until the final defining moments.

Told in a teenage voice full of condescension and a story that unfolds too slowly for my tastes, I had a hard time with this book. Maja just seems to drone on in an unfiltered diatribe of those around her and her trying to come to terms with what happened and her part in it. Was there deeper meaning and societal innuendo that I miss – probably, but at the same time, the author should do their part in keeping my attention.