Tag: mom to twins

Death and the Librarian review

Tari Hann

This is the ninth book in the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries by cozy author Victoria Gilbert, and I’ve enjoyed the series since the beginning. These characters quickly found a way into my book world with book 1 and became old friends.

Except I wasn’t crazy with the Amy portrayed in this book. She did a lot better in the previous book (which was a flash forward five years from the wedding) about reining in her boots on the ground sleuthing since she’s mom to Ella and Nicky, her twins. But she really put herself in a bad situation this time after, well like another review I read on Goodreads, “putting her kids on the back burner” basically. Sure, they were safe but was she?

All turned out well though with one more secret revealed at the end. I’m not sure if this was supposed to be the last book in the series. I get the author’s newsletters and know the series is ending soon, but I saw on her website there was a book 10 slated for 2027. Now I’m not sure if that’s a go or what. Guess we’ll just have to stay tuned. If this was the last book, I wasn’t really a fan about how it wrapped up. Yes, a secret someone had held for a long time was revealed, but it just didn’t feel like the last book. Keeping fingers and toes crossed that there’s actually a book 10 coming.

My Goodreads review:

Death and the Librarian (Blue Ridge Library Mysteries #9)Death and the Librarian by Victoria Gilbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s still a little odd to be reading about Amy and Richard being parents since the previous book had done a little time jump after their wedding. The kids are supposed to be around five or six in this. They’re definitely a handful and it seems like Amy was a lot better in the last book at not physically taking part in the mystery since she was mom to twins. She did take lots more chances in this book, but one thing in her defense was that she sent the kids home with her parents when things got hairy and threatening.

That was some crazy showdown and I loved what Amy ended up doing to survive. Luckily reinforcements showed in time so Amy could live to celebrate with her friends and family. Kurt still had a secret which he did share with her at the end and yep, it’s a biggie.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Crooked Lane via NetGalley and my opinions are my own.

View all my reviews

Murder Checks Out review

Tari Hann

This is the eighth book in the Blue Ridge Library Mysteries by Victoria Gilbert, and I’ve followed it from the very beginning. I saw on the author’s website that there’ll be one more book coming in Spring 2025. I’d love to see the series get renewed for more books, but I can’t remember if 9 truly is supposed to be the last book.

As far as anyone who might not be caught up or read any of this series, reading from book one’s the best way to go since you’ll get to follow Amy and Richard’s relationship as it progressed. If you’ve read all the books up to here, no you didn’t miss any. It’s written this way on purpose, and with that I’ll let you explore the book on your own now! But it’s no big secret it does start five years after book 7 left off.  I personally loved that about it.

#NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks #VictoriaGilbert

My Goodreads review:

Murder Checks Out (Blue Ridge Library #8)Murder Checks Out by Victoria Gilbert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh wow this was another exciting adventure for Amy and her family/friends. I thought it was such a cool idea to time-jump five years ahead to when Amy’s kids were in kindergarten basically skipping the years where you wouldn’t have much of a story anyway when the twins were babies and smaller. Now they were little kids and sometimes more like five going on fifteen as they followed in Richard’s dancing footsteps by being part of the modern dance Nutcracker he and Karla were presenting.

Every Grinch there ever was has had a change of heart, and it was no different for Amy’s mother-in-law, Fiona. She actually turned out to be a really nice person and since I don’t wanna spill the reason why she’s so nice now, you’ll just have to read that part for yourself! She truly loved the little kids though which was pretty awesome in itself. I’d never have thought of Fiona from the earlier books wanting anything to do with grandkids until they were over the messy stage.

That was some showdown! And since Amy and Fiona had sleuthed together, they were in on this showdown together too. And they handled it like troopers until reinforcements came. Christmas at the Muir house was noisy, fun and amazing! I saw on the author’s website that the next Books’s scheduled for spring 2025 and was happy to remember this series still gets book 9. I’d sure miss that wolfish rascal Kurt! 😉

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

View all my reviews