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Showing posts from October, 2023

Review: Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James

Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James Blurb from Goodreads : Perhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood Canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Laurence, new in town after a devastating breakup, definitely hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. Maybe then she can get her movie made. But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Farris is found dead in the Canteen kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the Canteen's luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. To catch the killer, Annie falls in with Fiona's friends, a bitter and cynical group―each as uniquely unhappy in their life and career as Annie is in hers―that call themselves the Ambassador's Club. Solving a murder in rea...

Review: Search History by Amy Taylor

Search History by Amy Taylor Blurb from Goodreads : A woman's obsession with her new boyfriend's dead ex-girlfriend fuels this sharp and honest debut novel, a send-up of modern dating and love My fingers itched to put his name into the search bar. Once I'd found him, I'd have the cheat sheet. After fleeing to Melbourne in the wake of a breakup, all Ana has to show for herself is an unfulfilling job at an overly enthusiastic tech start-up and one particularly questionable dating app experience. Then she meets Evan. Charming, kind, and financially responsible, Evan is a complete aberration from her usual type; Ana feels like she has finally awoken from a long dating nightmare. As much as she tries to let their burgeoning relationship unfold IRL, Ana just can't resist the urge to find Evan online. When she discovers that his previous ...

Review: Syrup to No Good (Maple Syrup Mysteries #2) by Catherine Bruns

Syrup to No Good (Maple Syrup Mysteries #2)  by Catherine Bruns Blurb from Goodreads : Only a sap would try to ruin a bride's special day… Spring has finally come to Sugar Ridge, Vermont, and with it the end of syrup-making season. But Leila Khoury, new owner of Sappy Endings Farm, won't be making like molasses any time soon. Her best friend Heather's wedding is coming up, and Leila will do anything to make sure it lives up to all her sweetest dreams. Even with Leila's own romantic past stirring up trouble, everything is going to plan until the bridal shower ends up with a body count. Heather's rich and backstabbing aunt had a whole orchard of enemies, so Leila will have her work cut out for her. Can she tap the killer before Heather's dream wedding becomes a nightmare?    Definitely another cozy mystery series I will add to...

Review: West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman

West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman Blurb from Goodreads : LOOKING FOR AN ANYTHING-BUT-ORDINARY WHODUNIT? Welcome to the West Heart country club. Where the drinks are neat but behind closed doors . . . things can get messy. Where upright citizens are deemed downright boring. Where the only missing piece of the puzzle is you, dear reader. A unique and irresistible murder mystery set at a remote hunting lodge where everyone is a suspect, including the erratic detective on the scene—a remarkable debut that gleefully upends the rules of the genre. An isolated hunt club. A raging storm. Three corpses, discovered within four days. A cast of monied, scheming, unfaithful characters. When private detective Adam McAnnis joins an old college friend for the Bicentennial weekend at the exclusive West Heart club in upstate New York, he finds himself among a set of not-entirely-friendly strangers. Then the body of one of the members is ...

Review: What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein

What You Do To Me by Rochelle B. Weinstein Blurb from Goodreads : From the bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends comes a moving novel of two unfinished love stories and the music and lyrics that bring them together. Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart. While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself fr...

Review: The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella

The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella Blurb from Goodreads : Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” (but obviously not at all urgent) email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall. Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout ( manifesting, wild swimming; drinki...

Review: Love Interest by Clare Gilmore

Love Interest by Clare Gilmore Blurb from Goodreads : Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers, despite growing up the daughter of two artistic souls. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, Casey wonders if the project manager opening at her company – magazine powerhouse LC Publications – is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son. Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him – except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, they both have something to prove. For Casey, it’s getting tapped for a transfer to the London office and fulfilling her dreams of travelling. For Alex, it’s successfully launching a brand that will impress his distant father. As work meetings turn into after hours, Casey and Alex are d...

Review: Love at 350° by Lisa Peers

Love at 350° by Lisa Peers Blurb from Goodreads : Food is their love language, but can they follow a recipe for romance? When an unexpected and forbidden attraction starts to simmer between judge and contestant on the set of a TV baking competition, both women must decide what they're willing to risk for the ultimate prize in this debut rom-com. Tori Moore, popular high school chemistry teacher, avid home baker, and soon-to-be empty nester, auditions for the American Bake-o-Rama TV competition at the urging of her twin teenagers. If she somehow makes it all the way, the prize money could allow her to finally open her own bakery. But still reeling from her divorce and being naturally risk-averse, it’s not just money that’s standing between Tori and her dreams. Once on set, Tori catches the eye of Kendra Campbell, the notoriously ruthless celebrity chef and Bake-o-Rama judge. Kendra is desperate to save her restauran...