Books, Books, Books, and a Cat

  This was a charming Christmas time romance with some real heart behind it.  Ali is grieving the loss of her best friend Robyn who died because she never got a heart transplant.   Ali is really struggling as the two of them had a ritual where they would create challenges for each other using an advent calendar at Christmas time. Robyn made one last one that Ali is going to follow.  One of the first challenges sends her to the Alps in France where Ali takes a temporary job as a guest relations manager.  While there she begins to make some new friends and fake dates her boss Leo all while completing the different challenges Robyn made for her.  The only problem is Ali begins to really fall for Leo but there is a secret he has been hiding that could destroy everything.   First of all I loved the setting of this novel.  It is a perfect Christmas time romance and definitely made me want to get away for a ski weekend.  There was a lot of...

 4.5 Stars- A powerful dual timeline historical fiction novel.  What set this book apart was the fact that the historical setting was in Norway.   In 2001, Ruby is dealing with the loss of her twin sister to cancer.  She takes a job as a caretaker of an older woman named Hanna who lives in Shetland.  The living there is rough and isolated but Ruby begins to enjoy her new life and her small cottage while dealing with her grief.  She also begins to learn more about Hanna, who is fiercely independent.  Ruby sees that there are numbers on Hanna's arm and realizes that Hanna had at one time been in a concentration camp during WWII.  Hanna's story slowly comes out and it is quite the story.  Before reading this book I had known that Norway was taken over by the Nazis during WWII even though they had tried to fight the Germans thinking that their mountains would help them win.  In this book I learned so much more about their resistance eff...

 I love historical fiction about smart women doing smart things especially when society says otherwise.  In this fourth installment Petra tries to discover who has killed one of the Merry gentlemen and who is trying to hurt the others.  It's during Christmas and in the 1800s there are a series of dances to try and pair up the men and women.  In this case there are four young women scientists who have been paired up with men who compiment their knowledge in science.  However since it is the 1800s the women can't publish their own work and when their research is stolen all signs point to the men.  The problem is one of the men is murdered.  The four women who are part of a club called the Minerva Society all claim innocence so who could have killed them?  Plus Petra has befriended a street urchin and she finds out that his mother is in prison.  Besides solving this murder she also tries to figure out why Teddy's mother is in prison and how she ...

This is a great feel good novel that will have you running for a cozy chair and a warm cup of tea.  I loved everything about this novel.   Sunny Callaway travels to Woodnote, Alabama to spread her grandfather's ashes never guessing that this place will have a huge impact on her life.  She is recently seperated from her husband after struggling with infertility issues and when she sees The Chamomile Cottage she just has to go in.  There she meets Nova, our other main character.  It turns out that Sunny and Nova are actually cousins.  The two of them grow closer as they try to revitalize Woodnote into a thriving town again and learn that there are many buried secrets in this small town.  This book is a great pick me up and escape from whatever may be troubling you. Both Sunny and Nova were wonderful characters who you will fall in love with.  There were a few aspects in the novel that I could predict would happen but there were many surprising ...

  4.5 Stars- I was so excited to see this book was out as I have loved reading the other 9 books in this series.  It has been awhile since the last book in the series was published but I was able to pick this up and get right back into the world of Quinn.  What makes this series unique is that it blends a little bit of fantasy with historical fiction.   In this novel Quinn investigates with Rhys, a body that has been found preserved in a well in the Lake District in England.  They are hoping that a ring found on the body will speak to Quinn and she will be able to uncover what happened to the body so they can use the story to resurrect their television show Echoes from the Past.  The pressure is on because Quinn was outed as a psychic and there are a lot of people who don't believe she has the gift.  After investigating Quinn learns that the body is a young woman from the 1920s and that her family was in a difficult situation due to her father hav...

This was a great mix of the paranormal, horror, but also fun and a cozy fantasy.   Igor is the doctor's hencheman which basically means he does all the work.  He finds body parts as the doctor is on a quest to make the perfect human.  When Igor and the doctor find themselves at Ravenwald Manor, Igor begins to make friends and find his true worth.  He realizes just how much he has been taken advantage of and begins to think a little differently.  However there is a lot going on at the manor. Tthere is an amulet called the Eye of Anthomset that can destroy the world and people are disapeerings around the village as well as the deer.  The villagers might turn into a mob and kill them all.  This is of course if the vampire or witch don't get them first. This novel was just fun!  I love all things paranormal and this was done in such a way to make me invested in the story.  I love a great underdog story and Igor was just that character. ...

  This was such a sweet and enchanting romance! Annalise has recently lost her uncle to cancer.  He has been the only parental figure in her life for the last several years.  She has effectively closed herself off from the world and only focused on her work.  She will be moving to Liverpool to work on her PhD for 2 years so she needs to sublet her aparartment.  Before she leaves she decides to get a roommate and then that roommate will take over her lease.  However the roommate she thinks she is renting to is not the one she gets.  The roommate ends up being a very hot guy who has come to Toronto to be part of a band so that he can write his own music.  Annalise finds herself falling for him but there is more to the story because his jacket appears to have magical qualities. Every time she puts it on she sees things from the past.  Annalise must figure out where she truly wants her life to go and if she should follow her heart. I loved the ma...

  4.5 Stars- This was a really great mystery that blended a character from classic mystery novels with the writing of one of my favorite thriller authors. The story is set in 1950 at a mountain resort in Switzerland. There are four characters that tell their story.  Each one has a different reason for being at the hotel.  Diana Glass is a companion to Mrs. Bantry and Miss Marple.  She is much younger than the other two women and there is an air of mystery around her.  Catherine Narracott is on a ski holiday with her politician husband.  Catherine is trying very hard to be the perfect wife but her husband is horribly self-centered.  They also money problems although her husband thinks that after this trip their problems will be solved.  Then we have Sylvia Sinclair.  She is a Hollywood movie star who just wants to get away and be with her lover.  Her career in Hollywood is not what it once was.  She went from leading lady to now bein...

 This book was truly a treasure!  5 out of 5 Stars Zoe is a young single mother who just wants her own home.  After looking on social media she finds that there are houses known as treasure houses because they are easily affordable.  The only catch is that they are usually in need of lots of repair and may have lots of junk.  Zoe finds one in coastal Maine and she is determined to make this her own home.  However after meeting her new neighbors and the hot caretaker Jake, Zoe finds that there is something secretive about the house's former owner Marley.  Zoe wants to not only set the house to rights but figure out Marley's story.  She also finds herself drawn to Jake.  The only problem is Zoe has secrets of her own.   I really loved this book.  There were flashbacks to Marley's life that I thoroughly enjoyed.  Her story was just as interesting as Zoe.  I also loved Zoe's daughter Flo. She was a delightful character an...