Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander was a cozy, quick read that launched me into modern cozy mysteries. It is the first book in the Bakeshop Mystery series.
Juliet Capshaw returns to her hometown in Oregon after suffering heartbreak while working as a chef on a cruise ship.
Hoping for a break from all the stress, she begins working with her mom at the family bakery. Her hopes for a peaceful settling-in are dashed when she discovers a body on the kitchen floor one morning.
This book had me hooked on the characters fairly quickly. There is a close relationship between Juliet and her mom and there are plenty of quirky and sweet characters to grow attached to.
Even though I am not a baker myself, I liked how baking was seamlessly woven into the story. I won’t lie – I did skip over some of the more detailed descriptions of the baking process and how it made her feel because it isn’t really my thing, but for those who absolutely love baking I know those descriptions will be something they will love to read.
Alexander does an amazing job of bringing her characters to life – whether it is in how she describes them or in how she creates a dialogue between them.
This is a book I would recommend to anyone who loves super, super cozy mysteries.
Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower
Crime and Poetry is the first book in the Magical Bookshop series by Amanda Flower. Violet Waverly rushes back to her hometown to help her ailing grandmother, only to find out her grandmother (Daisy) isn’t so sick after all.
Daisy owns a bookshop that Violet soon finds out is magical because the books pick their readers, which is hard to explain until you read the book.
Before Violet knows it she’s wrapped up in a murder mystery when a man named Benedict Raisin dies clutching a copy of Emily Dickinson that he bought at Daisy’s bookshop. Even worse for Daisy is that Benedict left her in his will.
This is a book that takes you on a wild journey full of magic and craziness. I’m not usually a fan of “magical” books. I prefer my cozy mysteries to have at least a little bit of reality to them but I’ve read Flower’s other magical series – The Magical Garden Series – and really liked it.
I did not enjoy this book as much as the magical garden because it featured more about spells and that’s not really my thing. It may, however, be something other readers enjoy. I also felt that the timeline for solving the mystery was completely ridiculous. But there were magical books involved so of course it would be solved fast. A little bit of suspending belief isn’t a bad thing when reading a cozy mystery though.
I don’t know if I will continue this series because I didn’t connect with Violet as much as characters in other series by Flower but I might since I liked the book overall.
Have you read either of these? What did you think?
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
It’s still been very cold this past week so we have been lighting a fire every other day. We lit one last night as the temperature dropped to somewhere around 22 degrees. It looks like temps will warm up this week as we move into Good Friday and Easter.
I wrote a bit about our week last week in yesterday’s Saturday Afternoon Chat post if you want to catch up on other “events” of our week. Spoiler – there weren’t a lot of events actually.
What I/we’ve been Reading
I’m reading A Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. It is very authentic Irish and I’m enjoying it.
I just started The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett but will probably read this one very slowly because of some books I’m reading for tours and to review for Clean Fiction Magazine. I already know the story of The Secret Garden from watching the movie.
I have also started Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright. This one is for a book tour in April. I honestly think it is going to be too creepy for me but I guess it is good to branch out once in a while.
Just Finished:
Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan and The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes.
Currently:
I enjoyed both of these books and will have reviews up soon.
Soon to be read:
The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold
Who Brought The Dog to Church? By Tracy Smoak
When You Returned by Havelah Mclat
What others in the family are reading: The Boy is reading Horus Rising and listening to A Tale of Two Cities. Little Miss is listening to The Railway Children and we are reading The Middle Moffat together.
The Husband is reading Do the New You by Steven Furtick
What We watched/are Watching
This weekend I watched all things Little House on the Prairie. This year is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the show and they are holding a festival with many of the old cast members in California. I have been watching the show and some footage from the festival such as interviews with Melissa Gilbert and Dean Butler, etc.
I didn’t realize how attached I was to the show until I saw Melissa Gilbert come out in front of all her fans and begin to cry and then I began to cry as well. I have good memories of running home from the bus stop to watch the show when I was a kid. I’ll ramble about that in a future blog post.
Here is the video I watched of the Melissa Gilbert interview if you are interested:
My daughter and I watched a couple of the episodes based more directly on stories in the books, which we read over the last couple of years and then watched three more that were loosely based on stories. I, of course, had to watch with her the episode when Laura pushes Nellie down the hill to prove she has been lying about not being able to walk. After that one, Little Miss was hooked and asked to watch more.
Earlier in the week I always watched Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and Lark Rise to Candleford.
Over the weekend I watched original Perry Mason episodes with The Husband.
What I’m Writing
I am on the epilogue of Cassie and then I will be beginning book three of the Gladwynn Grant mysteries.
This post cracked me up, especially this line: “This was all just to warm up to the topic of my husband being a human Winnie the Pooh, but one who wears pants of course.”
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
It’s time all of you Americans know something and understand it — Punxsutawney Phil is a pathological liar. That little rodent has been lying to us for years and yet people still think they can believe him when he says we’re getting an early spring.
Maybe someone, somewhere is getting an early spring but in his home state of Pennsylvania, we are not getting an early spring.
I visited Punxsutawney one time and I can confirm that it is not like the cute little town you see in the movie Groundhog Day either. They didn’t even shoot the film in Punxsutawney because the place is not picturesque and because there are actual shrines to that nasty little lying varmint all over the place.
The thing is even pictured on the outside of the newspaper building, on the newspaper masthead, and there is a wood carving of him by the McDonalds. Or there was when we visited 22 years ago.
Living in Pennsylvania means hearing about that dumb groundhog way too often. (Hopefully, you will take all these comments about Phil in the humorous way they are meant.)
It is raining today and is supposed to rain the rest of the day but mixed into the rain is ice and snow. It was like that off and on all week this past week. So no. We are not getting an early spring, even though last week I thought we might.
That was the week my daughter was riding her bike in front of the house and my son was taking long walks around town without a coat.
Pennsylvania’s weather is like this every year but it never makes it easier.
On Wednesday we had every single type of weather imaginable it seemed. One hour it was snowing, the next raining, the next sunny, and then windy and back around again. By Wednesday night, luckily, things started to settle down some so I could take Little Miss to the last night of Kid’s Club (a children’s program at a local church) and not worry about getting stuck in it all.
After Kid’s Club, I had to rush back home to lead my online Bible study, which made me a little nervous, but I survived. Thankfully the regular leader will be back this Wednesday.
On Thursday I took a relaxation day because the week had just been so rough with that one time I had to leave the house. Ha. Ha.
On Friday the kids and I traveled 20 minutes to pick up our groceries at the local Aldi. We also stopped at a local convenience store that used to be a mansion owned by a family tied into the area’s local history and I think maybe the underground railroad. I need to look that last part up.
Because there are some historical photographs, letters, and other information at the site, I told the kids we could count the trip as a field trip if they would go look at those items with me.
I plan to write a blog post about the site at a later date. I think it will interest history buffs, even if they aren’t local themselves.
I also plan to write a post soon about watching the Little House on the Prairie 50th anniversary events in California this weekend and what the show has meant to me. I was literally sitting here crying earlier through an interview with Melissa Gilbert this afternoon. If any of you have sentimental connections to the show and would like to see the interview too, here it is:
I have been following Dean Butler (Almanzo Wilder) and Allison Arngrim (Nellie Olson)’s podcast to get ready for the festival off and on for a few months now. It’s brought back a lot of memories of watching the reruns when I was a kid and also reading the books, of course.
I’ll ramble more about my connection to the show in a separate post but will ask today if any of my readers have heard about the reunion and if you have been watching any of it?
I plan to have a cup of tea here soon and continue reading a book I signed up for through a blog tour, though now I’m second guessing it because the book is creepy.
I’ll hopefully be able to push through it and provide a fairly good review for the tour, but as for today, I’ll probably switch to a cozy mystery I am reading later on in the day.
My cat, Pixel, is curled up next to me on the couch on this rainy day. She’s dozing away. Both she and our younger cat Scout went outside for about 20 minutes later and then darted back in when I let Zooma the Wonder Dog out to use the bathroom. They’ve been doing that a lot all week. They’re missing being able to just hang out outside.
Scout is probably curled up somewhere else in the house. She’s been making the most of the short time she’s had outside. Yesterday The Boy found what was left of a dead bird out in the yard. We call Scout our bird killer so we are certain it is her.
Zooma the Wonder Dog is slowly recovering from not feeling well (she has a lot of stomach problems), but she is lying on her side and chilling out, instead of laying on her belly and looking like she is in pain like she did on other days during the week.
She will probably perk up even more when we visit my parents tomorrow for Sunday lunch.
So that was a bit of an update about my week.
How was your week this past week? Do anything exciting or relaxing? Let me know in the comments.
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
There have been some lovely reviews of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing over the last week and a half.
I’m going to share a couple today and also remind you that you can enter to win a copy of the paperback of the book and a $50 Amazon gift card HERE.
This one from Devoted to Hope was so nice:
Step into the nostalgic embrace of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing, a delightful haven for lovers of vintage charm and heartwarming mysteries. With its retro flair and cozy atmosphere, this book invites readers to immerse themselves in a world where classic style, old-fashioned values, and the timeless allure of small-town life reign supreme!
As you journey through the pages, you’ll be swept away by Lisa R. Howeler’s storytelling, which effortlessly transports you to a bygone era filled with quaint cottages, a bustling town, and the comforting aroma of freshly brewed coffee. With every twist and turn of the plot, you’ll find yourself captivated by Gladwynn’s spirited determination and unwavering resolve as she unravels the mysteries lurking beneath the surface of her beloved community.
The intriguing storyline and the rich tapestry of characters who populate this enchanting world will steal your heart. From Gladwynn’s endearing quirks to her grandmother Lucinda’s timeless wisdom, each character is infused with a warmth and authenticity that feels like a welcoming hug. As you follow their journey, you’ll find yourself becoming deeply invested in their lives, eagerly anticipating each new revelation and heartfelt moment.
Read the rest of the review and find other amazing reviews of Christian or clean fiction books HERE.
There have been so many nice mentions or reviews of the book since last week and I truly do appreciate those who took the time out of their days to read the book and then share about it or leave reviews on their blogs, Amazon and Goodreads. It really does mean so much! The tour ends March 25.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
If you want to know what has been going on in our world lately, you can hop on over to my post from yesterday.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Currently:
We had a nice week weather-wise so I didn’t read as much as I wanted to but I read more than I used to. I’m almost halfway through Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan and The Middle Moffat and I am enjoying them both.
I am also continuing All The Light We Can’t See and hope to finish it . . . eventually. That’s all I can say.
I am reading through Do The New You by Steven Furtick with my church e-group as well. I have three chapters to read before our online session this week.
Soon to be read:
Murder in an Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor. I’ve started this one and am enjoying it.
Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly. This is a Netgalley read.
The Secret Garden for Middle Grade March
Night Falls on Predicament Avenue by Jamie Jo Wright
What We watched/are Watching
Wednesday night I had two hours to myself which is a very rare thing. I decided that I was going to watch a movie that has been sitting in our DVD collection for years — The King’s Speech. I had planned to finish the last couple of chapters of the book I’m writing in between watching but I ended up being so enthralled with the movie, I ended up abandoning that plan.
Later that night I watched a Lark Rise to Candleford episode. On Friday and Saturday, I started a mini-binge of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.
Little Miss and I had a Dr. Quinn binge yesterday afternoon as well and then I added an episode of Little House on the Prairie. I wanted to finish out the night with an episode of The Waltons to relive my childhood and teenage years but The Boy took over the TV to play a video game with a friend so that Waltons episode will have to wait for tonight.
Friday The Husband and I watched an episode of McDonald and Dodds. I hope to watch more of that show this week.
What I’m Writing
I am on the last chapter of Cassie, then I will work on the rewrites. I also am brainstorming ideas for the third book in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries and will announce a title for it soon.
Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing is on a two-week book tour and you can enter to win a paperbook copy of it and a $50 Amazon gift card HERE.
What I’m Listening to
Little Miss and I am listening to Caddie Woodlawn on Audible and The Boy and I are listening to A Tale of Two Cities.
Photos from Last Week
And one I found from my dad in January right after his 80th birthday, riding an old sled down the snow-covered dirt road in front of his house.
I’m a little biased on this post since it is my brother’s weekly post where he shares three good things that have happened to him during that particular week.
I didn’t participate in this one because I didn’t think I could write about ten green things since I don’t like green but Marsha did a great job talking about the green things she liked.
Now it’s your turn
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
“I’m going to take a quick shower and then we’re going to do your science,” I told my 9-year-old daughter yesterday afternoon.
She looked at me with wide “innocent” eyes. “Why don’t you take a bath instead?”
“Excuse me? Are you trying to push off your science longer?”
“I’m just saying you should take some time to relax,” she responded with a serious face and a hint of a smile. “Soak your sore knee in some Epsom salts.”
I did as she suggested and she gained another half an hour of freedom, but, alas, she did not distract me to the point I did not remember that we still had her Science and History to do for her homeschool lessons.
Sometime in the week, I injured my knee by sleeping, as people in their mid-40s so often do. It was actually an issue I’d been having off and on with the knee but I guess it all finally came to a head and the pain was so severe I woke up twice in tears Wednesday and Thursday night but didn’t get ibuprofen or an ice pack like I should have since straightening the leg and relaxing the muscle helped.
During the day yesterday it felt fine, thankfully, and last night it didn’t hurt so hopefully it will heal on its own.
He had driven over about 90 minutes from where he lives to travel with my dad to his physical therapy.
The weather was so nice that Little Miss and I sat out on my parents’ deck and I read a book while she pretended to read a book but actually searched for ladybugs to keep captive in a small dish with some grass. I’m not sure what that was about but before we left both bugs died. She has since made another terrarium to capture more ladybugs.
On Thursday the weather was nice again so Little Miss and I traveled 20 minutes to meet our friends at a playground. The kids had a lot of fun creating games on the equipment and chasing each other all over.
Later that night the little girl Little Miss played with the most developed symptoms of a stomach bug so I spent all day and night Friday waiting for one of us to throw up. So far that has not happened so I think we might be in the clear since stomach bugs are usually very contagious and hit very quickly. I’ll keep you updated *wink*. Luckily the little girl she was playing with was feeling much better the next morning too, so hopefully, it was a very quick-moving illness.
Today I am taking it easy after a stressful few days because Zooma the Wonder Dog is sick again. She has chronic colitis and other stomach issues and that has flared up again. It might have been all less stressful except I had a disagreement with our vet’s office because the vet didn’t want to give us medicine for her unless we set up an annual exam, but they said they couldn’t set up the exam right away because they were booked a couple of months out.
The problem was that our dog was sick now and needed the medicine and they weren’t offering an emergency appointment. Even if they had, we can’t really afford an office visit. If they hadn’t treated her for this same condition in the fall, I wouldn’t have asked for the medicine. They finally agreed to send the medicine by mail (since it is a 45-minute drive and she wasn’t in dire straights yet) but told us in a rather passive-aggressive and annoyed way that we had to have that annual exam before they would help again.
Today she is still not feeling well – lethargic and obviously in some sort of discomfort in her stomach, but she is acting better than she was when we thought we were going to lose her in the fall. We set up the annual exam but I probably will look for another vet in between.
I joked with my mom that I have enough issues trying to manage my own chronic illness and now I have to worry about the dog’s too. Such is life I suppose.
Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing is on a blog tour this week and earlier today I was tagged in the most beautiful review I have ever received for any of my books.
I plan to share a separate post about the review later on, but today I just wanted to mention how much the review meant to me. It was a bright spot in a week where I felt like I was slipping into depression. I’m overwhelmed with a lot in life and I’ve had some very good days but I’m starting to crack under the worry a bit. My mom gave me some Bible verses earlier today and they are helping as well but reading the nice review – something kind in a world that doesn’t seem very kind at times – also helped and made things feel less gloomy.
I’m not naïve enough to think that everyone who reads my book will enjoy it. I wouldn’t expect that. Not everyone enjoys the same books. On this tour I had a couple of people share about the book but not leave a review. It’s possible they forgot or it’s possible they didn’t want to leave a review because it wasn’t their cup of tea. I don’t care either way but what stands out to me is that they still shared about the book to let others know about it in case it is their cup of tea. That means a lot to me.
Cooler weather will be coming again this week so I am sure I will find myself in front of a fire at some point reading a book. I’ve been reading a lot this week but am still on the same books I’ve been reading for the last couple of weeks. It has been nice to just read for fun, which I do anyhow, but sometimes I have books I agreed to read for tours, too.
I will be starting a book for a book tour soon but I have plenty of time to read it luckily. Of course, I will ramble about what I am reading more tomorrow in my Sunday Bookends post.
As part of my relaxing today I am watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and in the episode I am on, a man keeps “dying” at various places in town. Little Miss and I love to watch Newhart together with The Husband and I said that the “dead” guy looks like Tom Poston who plays George on the show. Little Miss agreed and after a few more looks we decided it was him. A quick search on Google showed that it was him. He didn’t even speak the entire episode.
Thanks to me, I think Little Miss is hooked on Dr. Quinn, and soon I’ll have her addicted to Little House. *insert evil laugh here* She’s already hooked on Newhart and when we turn on an episode she claps her hands and says, “Yeah! Newhart!” It’s so funny to see a 9-year old doing that.
I’m off for now to make some dinner and then settle in for an evening of reading books and watching either more Dr. Quinn or Little House or Lark Rise to Candleford.
What are you up to today and how was your week last week? I’d love to hear/read about it in the comments.
What a lovely week we had weather-wise. Today I spent part of the day at a park with my daughter and our friends and it was such a nice time.
Tomorrow our temperatures will go down about 20 degrees so I am glad we were able to get out today. I hope the weather was nice or will be nice soon where you are.
Let’s get right to our most clicked post for the week:
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
Today is the first day of the Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing book tour with Celebrate Lit.
You can read a bit more about the tour HERE but the bottom line is that some bloggers will be sharing about the book for the next couple of weeks on their blogs and will also be sharing about the giveaway.
You can win a $50 Amazon gift card and a paperback copy of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing by entering.
For more details on the giveaway see HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.
Here is a description of the book:
A little bit of mystery, a dash of romance, and a whole lot of heart
After being laid off from her job as a librarian at a small college, Gladwynn Grant isn’t sure what her next step in life is. When a job as a small-town newspaper reporter opens up in the town her grandmother Lucinda Grant lives in, she decides to take it to get away from a lot of things – Bennett Steele for one.
Lucinda has been living alone since Gladwynn’s grandfather passed away six years ago and she isn’t a take-it-easy, rock-on-your-front-porch kind of grandma. She’s always on the go and lately, she’s been on the go with a man who Gladwynn doesn’t know.
Gladwynn thought Brookstone was a small, quiet town, but within a few days of being there, she has to rethink that notion. Someone has cut the bank loan officer’s brakes, threatening letters are being sent, and memories of a jewelry theft from the 1990s have everyone looking at the cold case again.
What, if anything, will Gladwynn uncover about her new hometown and her grandmother’s new male friend? And what will she do about her grandmother’s attempt to set her up with the handsome Pastor Luke Callahan?
Find out in this modern mystery with a vintage feel.
Reviewers give their own opinions so they can be good or bad. Please give their blogs some love no matter what. I know I will because not every book is for every reader! I just appreciate them taking the time to read the book.
I don’t want to sound too cheesy here but I really like working with the Celebrate Lit team so if you ever need to publicize a book, look to them. I won this particular tour but I am planning future tours with them and just appreciate how gracious they have been through the whole process.
