small town ohio – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

A Game of Cones review

March 2, 2021 Tari Hann

This is the second book that was just published today March 2, 2021 in the Ice Cream parlor series by Abby Collette, an Ohio author who’s also known as Abby L. VanDiver. Under that name, she’s published several different series, the longest being the Logan Dickerson series. I love her writing in this series, and I really want to explore her other books too. I just love Win and her crazy friend Maisie and of course, Riya who’s definitely a threat to any perp out there. These three besties got to team up this time with a friend of Win’s from New York who surprisingly fit right in. I’m super anxious for the next book and would like to thank @Berkley Publishing for approving me to read this book from NetGalley.

My Goodreads review:

A Game of Cones by Abby Collette
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m really enjoying this series and Win with her big wonderful family and crazy but fun-to-sleuth- with friends! She had a visit from a good friend named Rory from when Win worked at an ad agency in New York, and Rory’s job was to persuade Win to come back to New York while tempting her with a nice fat pay increase and an office. I love what Win advised her friend later on toward the end. Poor Rory got a little tangled up in the murder that happened to be a guy representing a firm wanting to put a mini mall right in the downtown triangle of Chagrin Falls.

There were lots of secrets and mostly people were against this idea which would take away several of the small businesses. Maisie was about to burst from wanting to sleuth and coming up with about 800 conspiracies–that girl absolutely cracks me up and makes me laugh when she’s around, what a hoot and genuinely nice person! The usual trio with the addition of Rory became a foursome (not quite all fearsome, although Riya is a force to be reckoned with!) for sleuthing. The showdown was very cool, and Rory’s reaction was so good! I really liked Rory’s character and would love to see more of her in future books. Who knows, maybe she’ll change her mind about small towns someday?

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

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Dial M for Maine Coon review

August 19, 2020August 19, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Furever Pets series by Alex Erickson, and it releases next week on August 25, 2020. Like the first book, it’s going to be a paperback exclusive through B&N for a year. I received a paperback ARC from Kensington to read ahead and make my review.

I like how the characters became a little more developed in this book. Ben sort of had the spotlight in the first book as a murder suspect, but Amelia got more of it this time, since she was working toward her private investigator license with a couple of local PI people. This is such a good family series meaning it’s kind of refreshing to see a family in it that actually gets along for the most part (usual young adult issues). I guess the crazy neighbor and annoying nemesis make for the conflict parts, lol. Enjoy!

My Goodreads review:

Dial M for Maine Coon by Alex Erickson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was good to get back to Grey Falls and see what Liz and her family were up to. I loved reading about her pet rescue services in the first book. Of course, nasty neighbor Joanne was the same old grouch, and two-faced Courtney Shaw, Liz’s nemesis was up to no good as always. But hey, if it wasn’t for the nemesis, there wouldn’t be the adorable Chihuahua on the cover. This author is super talented in creating loathsome people! There were some others as well, but they got justice–I don’t want to say too much and spoil it.

On the other hand, the author is also great at writing about super likable people in Liz, her family and now Maya and Chester. I’m glad that Chester got a bigger part in this book. Erik was a good character, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him pay a visit to town again or even settle there. I love that Amelia and Ben both had seemed to find what they wanted to do, and Amelia became such an awesome sleuthing buddy for Liz. Poor Liz just couldn’t wrap her head around sleuthing with her daughter instead of instinctively protecting her, but when all was coming to a head, Amelia proved that she was learning a lot and ended up helping save her mom’s life.

Both the murder and the cold case were interesting, solved in the end during a nail biting showdown and the bad guys punished. I was especially glad to see someone pay for what they did to and said about some good people!Now if we could just get rid of that pesky Courtney….lol.

This book releases August 25, 2020, and it’s going to be an exclusive at B&N for a year. I received a paperback ARC from the publisher, and my opinions are my own.

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The Secrets of Bones review

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the second book in a newer series by Kylie Logan called Jazz Ramsey featuring a woman who works for probably the coolest nun on the planet at an exclusive all-girls’ school. Jazz’s passion is training cadaver detecting dogs, and as of the last book, she had gotten a new puppy from Nick, a detective that I hope she gets back together with. Puppy Wally isn’t quite trained, but his older and wiser friend Gus sniffed out a surprise in the abandoned floor of the school toward the end of the school year.

My Goodreads review:

The Secrets of Bones by Kylie Logan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had really enjoyed the first book in this series and when I got a chance to read and review the second, I jumped on it. I could hardly put this book down. It wasn’t so much that there were exciting actions, but I just wanted to know what was happening. I had my own theory, and part of it was right, but wow what a surprise twist toward the end! I can’t really say too much or risk giving away spoilers.

Once again, I found that I really liked the character of Sister Eileen known simply as Eileen in the book. She was the nicest and coolest nun but a firm leader at the all-girls’ school that she ran. Jazz had borrowed a retired cadaver dog to demonstrate how they found things like a tooth or a bone, things that she’d hidden. But imagine her surprise when Gus found something that she hadn’t hidden! I’m really looking forward to more books in this series!

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

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Death by Coffee–review

February 23, 2019February 23, 2019 Tari Hann

I’d been hoping this first book in the Bookstore Cafe series by Alex Erickson would make it to one of the online book discussion groups I’m in as an excuse to try it. Book clubs are great for that! Books that have sat around or lived awhile in my Kindle account finally get read. Win-win! And hey, who doesn’t like the idea of a bookstore cafe, ya know? Another fun thing for me about this series is that it takes place in Ohio, since the author is from here. I have all these in paperback from when B&N ran a Kensington special–except I think I preordered the next release as a Kindle book.

This cat picture I found on Google (under licensed for reuse) reminded me of Trouble, the bookshop cat.

My Goodreads review:

Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had been wanting to read this for some time now, and was glad when one of the online book clubs I’m in decided to use it for this month’s discussion, which is next week. Krissy was a hoot! She was pushy, persistent and sometimes a bit childlike in her outbursts, but she got the job done in the end, and she tracked down the killer. What a twist toward the end! I sure never saw it coming, and I didn’t guess the killer until some clues planted led to them. I loved the cats getting into mischief as the sort of comic relief, although it wasn’t too funny when Trouble was causing huge trouble for Allergy Man at the bookshop, but it could be said that the man overreacted and the cat just did what cats do naturally. (Heck, if I liked a bookshop that had a cat in it, I’d just take some allergy meds before I shopped lol) I really enjoyed Paul and Krissy’s budding friendship and hopefully romance. I’m definitely continuing this series!

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