small town – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Death Bee Comes Her review

January 14, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the very first in a brand new series published December 31, 2020 by Nancy Coco (who also writes one of my favorite series set on Mackinac Island, The Candy-Coated Mysteries.) I really enjoyed this new series first mystery, set on the Oregon coast, so much and can’t wait for the next book! She has a great way of describing small towns as well as coming up with fun and memorable characters to live in them. I loved how Aunt Eloise was very in tune to technology and loved the latest gadgets. And she shared that knowledge with other seniors in town by teaching a class, which they didn’t really get into. Her knowledge of old school ways did come in handy one time for her though!

I had never heard of a Havana Brown cat, but Everett sure sounded adorable!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a paperback ARC of this book from Kensington Publishing, and my opinions are my own.

My Goodreads review:

Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy CoCo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m loving this new series set in a coastal Oregon town named Oceanview. It sounded like tons of fun being around Halloween and having a whole week for people to get dressed up and let the kids go trick or treating to the shops. Poor Wren’s only problem was that she was practically accused of murder, and the police had to seize a third of her inventory.

Wren wasn’t one to give up easily, so with the help of her awesome aunt Eloise and her sweet cat Everett, she set out to find the person who was the real killer and appeared to be trying to frame Wren for murder. There were so many great red herrings and suspects that I was never sure who I thought did it.

I loved the main characters of Wren, Aunt Eloise, Everett and Porsche! Porsche made a great bestie and sleuthing buddy. I’m always rooting and doing the happy dance when anyone in the cast is into technology, but I especially enjoy it when it’s a senior member of that cast like Aunt Eloise. She had a good healthy knowledge of new and old school knowing that both could come in handy.

An extra treat at the end of the book was the first chapter from the next Candy-Coated mystery! I’m so anxious now for that to come out and for the second book in this series!

Reminder, this is a B&N exclusive for a year, so if you want to read it, you’ll need to get the paperback. I haven’t seen it even there in digital format. I ordered the book but I had received an ARC paperback from the publisher which I voluntarily read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

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The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice–review

March 26, 2019 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the brand new series called Furever Pets by Bookshop Cafe series author Alex Erickson. I really like his bookshop cafe series, so I knew I’d be wanting to read this one as well. The book is available exclusively at Barnes & Noble for a year, then I understand it’ll be available at other booksellers.

I found the cute Pom picture under the licensed for reuse section of Google and thought that maybe Stewie looked something like this, since the dog has a little frostiness in its face, and Stewie was an older pup.

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

My Goodreads review:

The Pomeranian Always Barks Twice by Alex Erickson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun start to what looks like it should be a great series. I love the idea of the pet adoption agency. Right away I could tell Liz was in this because she genuinely loved pets, but her competitor Courtney was all about the money. Liz was an awesome character. I liked that she’s a bit older than the usual protagonist, meaning she’s got a grown son and a college-age daughter. She doesn’t always make the best or safest decisions, but honestly, what amateur sleuth does, right? 😉 Little Wheels the cat was a great character too! I’ve mainly only heard of dogs needing wheels for their back legs, particularly dachshunds because of their long bodies being susceptible to disc disease. But sweet little Wheels had been born with useless back legs. With her wheels, she could zip around faster than any of the pets staying with Liz. Wheels was Liz’s own cat, and she thought sometimes about adopting a permanent buddy for her.

I really enjoyed the mystery which had some good red herrings. Just as I’d like one person for the murder, I’d switch to someone else. I was completely surprised by the reveal, which came after a pretty cool stakeout and showdown. I loved that Liz’s daughter Amelia ended up helping her in the investigation. They made a really nice team. Ben and Manny were good father/son characters. This was just a nice little family, which is a pleasant break from the usual pattern of cozy mysteries having the main character just having broken up with someone and ending up with a triangle, or more, of people they like. (I still like any cozy pattern-minus the triangle lol–but different is good too!) I’m really looking forward to the next book in the series!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a paperback ARC provided to me by Kensington Publishing. My opinions are my own and were not swayed by receiving the book.

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Jeopardy in January–review

January 4, 2019January 4, 2019 Tari Hann

This was a fun book to read as we begin the month of January. It takes place in a small town called Calendar. I’m thinking it wasn’t placed in an actual state on purpose–can’t use this for my Literary Escapes challenge! 😉 But it’ll fit in for a few of them. I love discovering books like this that I’ve had on the Kindle for awhile.

My Goodreads review:

Jeopardy in January by Camilla Chafer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I chose this book for one book challenge I’m doing, but realized it will probably work for a few others as well. On top of all that, I enjoyed it so much! I can’t believe I waited this long to read it. I really loved all the main characters, but from reading the upcoming blurbs for other books in the series, I’m not sure if these characters will appear or not. It seems like they are all free-standing, but at least this book had a very nice ending!

Sara Cutler, head librarian of the Calendar library was working to save the library from demolition. When she found her assistant murdered in that library and realized how very little she really knew about her, it made her wonder just what Bree had been up to that had gotten her killed. As Sara dug into the investigation more and more, the local detective warned her that her own life could be in dangers if the people that killed Bree thought Sara knew something. Add to that mix the fact that Sara felt herself falling for Jason who worked for the firm that was going to build over where the library was to be demolished. Can Sara save the library and find out who killed her assistant?

Of course she can, because this was an awesome cozy mystery! I gotta confess I realized who the killer was early on, but it was a lot of fun to read and see just when it would dawn on other people. The showdown was great and the book ending was very sweet. I do eventually want to read more in this series, especially if the mysteries are as good as this was.

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