Saturday Afternoon Chat: outside looking in no longer when it comes to Little Women, lots of nice weather, and a new link up for bloggers

On April 27, 2024April 27, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea9 Comments

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Did you ever feel like you are the outside looking in?

I’ve felt this a lot but specifically, I am talking about people who have read classic books like Little Women and I haven’t, or well hadn’t.

After reading Little Women this year I finally feel like I know what everyone is talking about when it comes to Jo and Laurie.

Finally!

I mean I have seen movies based on the book but only by reading the book did I really get why Jo and Laurie simply couldn’t be together at the end. They were too much alike. Both impulsive and passionate in ways that weren’t always good. Yes, as they grew they could have changed and mellowed but I can’t see that happening really. I think as they grew older they may have bounced off each other even more and ended up arguing all of the time, making for a miserable marriage.

They both needed partners to offset their personalities.

Jo needed someone more calming like The Professor and Laurie needed someone willing to be more genteel like Amy.

Part of me still doesn’t like that Amy and Laurie ended up together. My heart says it wasn’t right, but I can also see why Alcott didn’t make Jo and Laurie a couple. She needed to do something different – shake up the readers’ expectations and leave everyone talking for the next hundred or so years. If Laurie and Jo had ended up together then Little Women would have always been seen as a sweet book but maybe not the one ahead of its time that it is now.

What do you think? *looking at those who have read Little Women with a wide-eyed, somewhat crazed expression*

Relaxing breath.

Okay. With that off my chest, we can now move on to our regularly scheduled program of me reviewing my past week.

Today I am going to be sipping something warm – most likely tea – while writing blog posts, brainstorming more ideas for Gladwynn Shakes the Family Tree (book three in my cozy mystery series), and reading a cozy mystery. It’s a little chilly today after some very nice and warm days earlier in the week.

We had warm days and cold nights. Warm enough that our tulips came up and I thought one night they’d die in the frost we had forecasted, but they survived.

Next week I need to prepare myself to be at the playground a lot because it is supposed to be warm and sunny pretty much all week.

We spent time at the playground three days this week and a lot of time outside sitting on the porch and playing with the dog on other days.

In between all of that, we had school lessons as we marched toward the end of our school year. We will be finishing up around the first week of June.

I picked The Boy up from his trade school yesterday and we headed over to an additional location for a bakery near us that has become very, very popular before picking up our groceries.

The kids picked out some sweet treats – two Boston cream donuts for The Boy and three Oreo cupcakes for Little Miss (and an extra for dad) and three Hershey kiss cookies for me. The Boy also ordered an iced coffee but, sadly, said it had more ice than coffee. It was still good, though, he said and he will try again for one another time. He said he actually doesn’t like coffee that much but always feels like he should so he keeps ordering different kinds to see if the love for it will finally catch on.

There was a mix up at our pick up when the young man who brought out my groceries gave me two or three bags that were not mine.

I’m so glad I checked before I left because more than half my order was missing. He had grabbed the wrong stack of bags. I had to go into the store and track him down when I noticed the mistake. When he came out to the car to help correct, I let him know that I’m not in diapers yet so the one bag clearly wasn’t supposed to go me.

He was very polite and apologetic and the mistake was taken care of very quickly.

After we left there it was a quick snack from Wendy’s, which my son said was disgusting.

From there we headed home and the kids spent part of the afternoon watching Harry Potter and then a half hour at the playground.

Today The Husband has to work almost the entire day so it will be just me and the kids. We will probably watch a movie together later tonight – I’m trying to find something different that The Boy might like. He always suggests the weirdest movies so this time he’s going to watch something that I like.

Tomorrow we will visit my parents for Sunday lunch and to hang out. Little Miss likes to play games when we are there but I’m hoping that this time we can watch a fun or interesting movie instead.

This morning I spent some time crying over Tom Jones singing on The Voice. I never knew much about Tom Jones until I saw some clips on the UK version of The Voice and oh my. He is still amazing and he’s in his 80s! Just what?!

Here are a couple clips I just loved listening to while I procrastinated on cleaning the house and organizing my homeschooling supplies:

How was your week last week? Let me know in the comments and if you have a similar weekly catch-up post – no matter when you post it – link up with me.

Sunday Bookends: Comfort reads, new reads, new book by me coming out

On April 21, 2024April 21, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends14 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote about what’s been going on in yesterday’s post so I won’t repeat it. You can pop over to that post if you want to catch up.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Currently:

I was looking for a comfort read last week and looked to see if I had any The Cat Who books on Kindle that I hadn’t read yet. I ended up finding one – The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts – and I think I never read it because I started it and it started in first person and I am used to the books in the series being in third person so I put it aside. The POV actually switches back to the third person and so far has been one of my favorite books, even though one of my favorite characters was killed off. There are some very funny lines in it and more of Qwill’s personality of being wary around children and women who talk to their pets like children.

I absolutely laughed out loud at these parts:

Before he could reply with a stiff “How do you do,” the parents had spotted the Lanspeaks and descended on them, leaving him with Baby. She looked up in wonder at his moustache and said in her clear, precise speech, “What’s that thing on your face?”

“That’s my nose,” said Qwilleran. “Doesn’t your father have a nose?”

“Yes, he has a nose.”

“How about your mother? Does she have a nose?”

“Everybody has a nose,” said Baby with disdain, as if dealing with a dolt.

“Then you should recognize a nose when you see one.”

Baby was not fazed by his evasive logic. “Where do you work?” she asked.

And

All of this he could understand, and he could handle it, but her gushing over the kitten was more than he could stomach. There would be no more relaxing country weekends at Polly’s cottage with just the two of them— reading Shakespeare aloud and playing music—not while Bootsie diffused her attention. Bootsie! It was a vile name for a Siamese, Qwilleran insisted.”

Qwill can be such an elitist and in his case I love it.

I’m also reading The Secret Garden but I’ve paused my own reading of it and have started reading it with Little Miss. So far she’s really enjoying it.

I started The Deeds of the Deceitful by Ellery Adams and Tina Radcliff as well. I just started it but it’s okay so far.

Just Finished:

Last week I finished The Divine Proverb of the Streusel by Sara Brunsvold and I really enjoyed it. I will have a review of it up next week.

Soon to be read:

Murder Always Barks Twice by Jennifer Hawkins

Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly

What We watched/are Watching

This week I watched some Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, All Creatures Great and Small, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

What I’m Writing

I am working on the latest Gladwynn Grant mystery and having fun trying to figure out what direction I want to take the story. I’m hoping for a subplot related to Gladwynn’s ancestors.

I let my daughter in on the brainstorming and she suggested that someone in the Grant family line be an assassin. I was a bit stunned since I write cozy, light mysteries and told her that.

Then The Boy got in on the action and suggested that her ancestors be involved in human trafficking.

Needless to say, I will not be taking any more advice from my children.

This week I also announced that Cassie, the book that is part of the Apron Strings Book Series is up for pre-order. You can find it HERE.

Here is a description:
One cookbook connects them all…
Cassie ~ Book Eight in a string of heartfelt inspirational stories, featuring different women throughout the decades from 1920 to 2020.

Cassie Drake starred in a popular sitcom over a decade ago, but she hasn’t been able to find a job since the show ended five years ago.

Now it’s 1995 and fired by her talent agency, Cassie decides to accept her sister’s offer for an extended visit in their hometown. Back in Coopers Grove, she’s just Cassie Mason, sister to Bridget Martin, the local volunteer extraordinaire with the handsome husband and three wonderful children.

When an accident at the site for the Martin family’s new café and farm store leaves Bridget frantic for help with the community center open house she’s planning, Cassie feels forced to step up—even though it involves something she’s clueless about.

Cooking.

Even with Mrs. Canfield’s Cookery Book, Cassie fails at every attempt. Fortunately, her sister’s handsome neighbor, Alec Alderson, steps in.

As a former chef, he’s more than capable of giving her some tips. Will his charming smile during cooking lessons be too distracting though?

Watching others use their talents leaves Cassie wondering if God, whom she’s barely spoken to in the last few years, is telling her she was made for more than the career that became her identity.

What I shared on the blog this week:

What I’m Listening to

I am currently listening to Watership Down and Around the World in 80 Days on Audible.

For music, I am listening to a variety of artists from Needtobreathe to early Mumford and Sons, The Civil Wars, and Danny Gokey.

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.

Fiction Friday: An interview with Jenny Knipfer, author of Priscilla.

On April 19, 2024April 20, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings2 Comments

It’s time to introduce you to another one of the authors from the Apron Strings Series, a series of books by eleven different authors that follow the story of eleven women from each decade. The books can be read independently and one will be released each month in 2024 except December.

This week we are meeting Priscilla, the character from the third book in the series. This novel is written by Jenny Knipfer, who is the creator of this series. She is the one who had the idea and brought all of us authors together to create the series.

Here is a short interview with Jenny to tell you a little more about Priscilla and Jenny herself:

1. Tell us a little about yourself:

I grew up on a small family dairy farm in eastern Wisconsin. I have such fond memories of those days, and they shaped me in so many positive ways.

Later with almost four years of college in, life interrupted, and my husband and I found out we were expecting our first child. I was a stay-at-home mom for a number of years and also when our next son came along. When both the boys were in school, I worked part-time using some of my creativity as a florist and a children’s librarian.

I am a very creative person, and I’ve done so many things through the years to express my creativity, from playing music to painting and drawing, to sewing and crafts of all sorts. And writing. That’s been there in the background all along.

In 2014 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and it’s been quite a rough ride since. In 2018 I had to retire from my job because of my disability and didn’t know how I was going to fill up my time, but suddenly I thought of a novel I had started years ago. I resurrected the book from an old computer and pecked away at it and finished it in a couple months. Then, I kept writing…

Since then, I have learned a lot as an independent author, and with God’s grace, despite my continuing disability, have gone on to write and publish twelve novels.

My writing has slowed of late because I’ve been facing more physical disabilities and emotional stress. I have been away from home for over four months, living in a nursing home. The Medicaid program I am now on is working to get me home, but it has been taking a very long time. I miss my home in the country, my family, my dog, my plants, and all of my things. I miss my happy place of writing. I hope to be back there soon and filled with more inspiration and spirit to keep writing stories that will not only entertain but encourage readers along their particular path in life.

I am blessed to be married to a wonderful man for more than 30 years. We have two adult sons, two grandchildren with another one on the way, a daughter-in-law, and a soon-to-be daughter-in-law. I am also a dog mom to our mini Yorkie, Ruby. She is bright, fierce, tiny, and full of character, and adds so much joy to our lives.

2. What is your latest book about? Who are the main characters and when and where does it take place?

My latest book is Priscilla in the series Apron Strings, which I created and invited other authors to join. It follows the theme of a traveling cookbook throughout a 100-year span, passing through the hands of various women. My book is set in the late 1940s after World War II.

The synopsis:

ONE COOKBOOK CONNECTS THEM ALL…

Book three in a string of heartfelt inspirational stories, featuring different women throughout the decades from 1920 to 2020

In the post-WWII era of 1946, Priscilla Hadley dreams of being a wife and homemaker, but there’s one big obstacle in her mind—Priscilla has been told she can’t cook to save her life. However, she’s out to prove that wrong, especially to handsome but annoying Aaron Johnson, her twin brother Jeremy’s friend and fishing buddy, who also happens to be the local police lieutenant.

In an effort to polish up her culinary shortcomings, Priscilla joins a local cooking club. A woman from the club gifts Priscilla a cookbook that could very well put her on the path to realizing her dreams. Much to their surprise, Priscilla and her family find much more than recipes within the cookbook’s pages. What will be its greatest blessing?

With an ailing father and the Wisconsin family farm to help keep afloat, in the absence of two brothers who died in the war, where will Priscilla find the time to learn to cook? Will she renew her faith in the presence of adversity or allow her present fears and past losses to dictate her future?

3. What is the overarching messages of your latest book?

I toyed with the idea of turning traditional gender roles around in Priscilla. After World War II, things changed for women and men in the workforce and even with what was expected of them at home. But I would say the message of Priscilla is one of trusting God when you can’t see how or where your help will come from. I guess that’s called Faith! And Priscilla learns that what she can do or not do does not matter so much as the kind of person that she is on the inside.

4. Did you learn anything about writing or yourself as you were writing the book?

I think that with every book I have written, I have learned more about writing and myself. Priscilla has strong elements of familial ties, and I really worked hard to portray those well and in a way that was inspiring at times and comical at others. I always relive a part of my life when I write a book, because there’s always some of my story in it, even if it’s just a little bits and pieces. I did that with Priscilla, writing about the importance of family and growing up on a farm.

5. Where can readers find out more about you and your projects? (Social media links)

Find out about all of my books and more on my website at: https://jennyknipfer.com/

Readers can follow me on:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07QV9HPH4

Facebook at https://facebook.com/jennyknipfer.writer/

Instagram at https://intsagram.com/jennknipferbrave/

I am most active on social media via my Facebook group, Journeying with Jenny: https://www.facebook.com/groups/402738713921985/

Join my newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/742af683508f/join-my-author-team-as-a-subscriber

And here is a short excerpt from Priscilla, which you can buy here: https://www.amazon.com/Priscilla-Apron-Strings-Book-3-ebook/dp/B0CM3X9LC3

EXCERPT:

Priscilla couldn’t cook to save her life.

That was what Aaron Johnson had said, anyway, and his opinion was the only one that mattered to her.

Aaron was her twin brother Jeremy’s annoying but attractive best friend and fishing buddy, and he had been hanging around a lot of late. Far from the tall, scrawny kid Priscilla remembered

from school, Aaron had filled out nicely. She keenly noticed when he moved his arms how his shirt tightened over the lumps of muscle underneath. His face had taken on some substance too.

With a straight nose, evenly spaced, dark blue eyes, and lips that had nice curves and peaked points, he had always had fine features. But being so thin as an adolescent had made him look

like a scarecrow. A determined edge to her jaw, Priscilla Hadley folded a wad of bread dough on the butcher block counter and punched it with a fist.

Do or die; I’m gonna prove Aaron wrong! Sure, the potatoes she had made for supper last night had gotten a little too crispy, and the carrots had been a wee bit

mushy.

You can’t justify those pork chops, her conscience told her.

Her spirit sank. Those Priscilla had burnt. But not on purpose. She had only taken her eyes off the pan for a few minutes.

The screen door banged, and Priscilla turned her head to see Jeremy step into the house. His thick brown hair hung over his forehead. He pulled off his boots and walked into the kitchen.

Tucking his thumbs behind the suspenders on his overalls, he sniffed.

“What ya cooking tonight for supper?” he asked, smiling, one corner of his thin lips hiking higher than the other. He winked at her, his brown eyes fringed with what Priscilla

liked to refer to as his cow lashes.

Why does he have all the luck?

Priscilla inwardly sighed. Her lashes were thin and short, and on occasion she’d taken to coating them with mascara. Although she would never admit to that.

Jeremy cleared his throat. “I…sure hope it’ll be better than last night.”

Without a second thought, Priscilla scrunched the towel she had hanging over her shoulder and pitched it in her brother’s direction.

He chuckled and ducked. “Hey, now. None of that. I was just kidding.”

Maybe he was, but Priscilla knew the truth: she was not a very good cook. It amazed her that she cobbled enough together to pull off a meal several nights a week. Jeremy pitched in too.

Thank goodness for that. And she had to admit, he was much better at it than her.

Dad took care of breakfast, making one of his three standbys: oatmeal with raisins, honey, and cream; eggs and bacon; or hotcakes. And everyone fended for themselves at lunchtime. But suppers had been mostly left up to her since Mom had passed away, almost twelve years ago. Priscilla had been far too young to lose Mom, and not a day went by that she didn’t miss her. Mom had succumbed to influenza. It still made Priscilla mad that such an everyday illness had taken her mother’s life.

Priscilla had tried to pick up the slack after Mom died, doing most of the housework. But she had always disliked cooking, and before Mom had passed had usually made herself scarce when there was any to be done.

Somehow, her three brothers, her dad, and she had managed as a family for many years until Peter, her oldest brother, had died two years ago. Mown down by a bullet, somewhere on a

distant battlefield. It had taken them all more than a year to get over the loss of him, and of course they never truly would. How did one recover from such things? Losing Mom had been

difficult enough.

Then, a month before the war had ended, Reuben had died. They’d never found out how. Just chalked up as another soldier who had lost his life, along with so many others. That left her,

Dad, and Jeremy. Jeremy hadn’t fought because the government had considered him exempt, since he was running the family farm and a bout of polio in his childhood had left him with an

uneven gait and a weakened leg.

Jeremy snuck by her and pulled the cookie tin off the shelf.

He opened it and grabbed a couple of oatmeal raisin cookies that a neighbor had dropped by yesterday.

Taking a big bite from one, he said through a mouthful of cookie, “Mmm, these taste just like how Ma used to make them.”

And there it was—that burning pain. That little tweak of jealousy in the pit of her stomach and the whispered words in her ear: You’ll never be the cook your mother was. Nor the

woman, Priscilla ventured to wager.

Why I leave book reviews

On April 15, 2024April 14, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading15 Comments

A lot of readers don’t leave book reviews.

They don’t want to take the time to do so.

I am an independent author without a traditional publishing contract so reviews are important for me to sell books, which may be why I think about reviews more now than I used to.

I don’t leave reviews so people will leave reviews for my books, just to clarify.

But the fact that I need reviews makes me think of how reviews can benefit the reader and the author.

A review can help a reader decide if a book is for them, based on the good, bad, and all-in-between reviews.

The book may have a ton of great reviews but by reading them a reader may realize, “This book still isn’t a book I’d like.”

Or the bad reviews might tell a reader the book is for them.

For example, someone may give a negative review saying the book has too much romance, which makes a reader who likes romance say, “Oh! This book is for me!” Or maybe the reviewer said they didn’t like the fantasy element and the reader says, “Oooh. I love fantasy. I’m going to read it because this person didn’t like it.”

While I’m leaving a review for a reader, I am also leaving a review for the author. Some of us may think that an author doesn’t need a review or to read their reviews. In fact, I’ve heard many authors tell each other to not read their reviews because the reviews aren’t for them.

I don’t agree with that advice.

A review is for an author as much as a reader.

Yes, it can be hard to read bad reviews, but sometimes those bad reviews improve our writing or they make us realize that our books aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

Even if an author doesn’t read a review, though, it can make them feel good to see the number of reviews and know that people are reading their books which makes all that work feel worth it. It feels good as an author to know that people are reading your books. We work a long time on those stories and just writing them can be satisfying enough in many ways, but it can still be nice and fulfilling to see that others have read it and enjoyed it.

So I write reviews for the readers and the authors. I don’t always want to stop and write a review, to be honest. Writing one only takes about five minutes, though, because I know reviews are not book reports. Reviews are a simple few sentences to say I liked a book and why. It doesn’t have to be extensive. In fact, most people who look at reviews don’t want to read a super long review anyhow. They just want the gist – did you like it or didn’t you?

I won’t always do well at leaving reviews but I hope to keep doing them for the benefit of both the reader and the author.

Sunday Bookends: Making chocolate chip cookies, reading mysteries and classics, and started Gladwynn’s third book

On April 14, 2024April 15, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends8 Comments

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

Yesterday Little Miss and I visited my parents to have some dinner and make chocolate chip cookies with them.

We did that on a very windy, rainy day after traveling to drop The Boy off at a friend’s house 40 minutes away. On the way back from dropping him off, we stopped at a local library that was having a used book sale. It wasn’t a very exciting sale for us, sadly, but we did get a few books. There were no cozy mysteries. So sad. Yet, not really because I have so many to read right now.

The cooking making was interesting. We whipped up a batch but my mom said it didn’t look like there would be enough for her grandson, who loves chocolate chip cookies, so Little Miss and I added some more flour. But then we realized we would need more butter and another egg and then we tried to remember what we’d put in and what we hadn’t so the conversation started going like this:

Me: “We should put some more flour in.”

Her: “I don’t know about that.”

Mom/Grandma: “Did you even put the baking powder in?”

Her and me: “oops.”

Me: “I’d better put another half a cup of butter.”

Her: “This isn’t looking right.”

Me: “It looks super sticky and sort of runny.”

Mom/Grandma: “Add more flour.”

Dad/Grandpa, taking photos of it all and snickering: “I don’t know how these cookies are going to turn out.”

Me: “Well, we will eat them somehow.”

The cookies:

The cookies tasted great, by the way. Somehow I forgot to add this when I originally shared this post so if you see comments about that below — that is why. *snort* I am such an airhead sometimes.

While cooking the cookies we also had an incident where Zooma The Wonder Dog ran into a mud puddle twice trying to corner a cat at my parents’ neighbor’s house. I had to lock her in the bathroom, pull out the cookies, and then hose her down so she wouldn’t get the house all muddy.

She didn’t want to get in my parent’s walk-in shower but I finally managed to coax her in and pull the shower head off and wash the mud off.

We left not long after that and came home to enjoy some quiet time at home.

What I/we’ve been Reading/will be reading:

Currently:

I plan to finish The Divine Proverb of Streusel by Sara Brunsvold this week.

I am also reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and started Priscilla by Jenny Knipfer.

Just Finished:

A Troubling Case of Murder on the Menu by Donna Doyle. This was a cute little, simple cozy mystery.

Soon to be read:

The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene

Murder Always Barks Twice by Jennifer Hawkins

Death At A Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connelly

Little Miss and I finished The Middle Moffat by Eleanor Estes this week.

The Boy and I are looking for a new book to read for English for school and he is finishing a Warhammer book.

The Husband is reading Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman.

What We watched/are Watching

This week I watched an episode of Lark Rise to Candleford, Bluey (because of course), and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman.

I also watched a show called The Repair Shop on Britbox or Acorn or Masterpiece or some British channel on Amazon. I really enjoyed it. They are repair experts who repair special heirlooms for people and there are usually sweet stories behind the items.

This vlog by The Cottage Fairy about how she needed to take a break from social media to help quiet her mind. I could really relate to this because I felt the same way.

What I’m Writing

This past week I started book three in the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries. I’m excited to see where it goes and how it turns out.

Last week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening to

I’m going to try my best to finish A Tale of Two Cities but I will also be starting Watership Down on Audio, read by Peter Capaldi.

Photos from Last Week

Here are some photos from the play of War of the Worlds that my husband was in last week. I wrote about that yesterday in my Saturday Afternoon Chat post.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Finding Solace in the Sink by Book Inheritance

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.

Book recommendation: Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan

On March 26, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings5 Comments

Murder Plainly Read by Isabella Alan, the fourth book in the Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries, was hard for me to put down not only because I wanted to find out who committed the crime in this super cozy mystery, but because I became attached to the main character Angela “Angie” Braddock and those around her.

Angie owns a fabric and quilting shop in the small town of Millersburg, which has a very large Amish population. She owns two pets – a loveable French Bulldog named Oliver and an aloof cat named Dodger. She’s dating the town’s sheriff, James Mitchell, which creates some interesting situations when she’s trying to investigate things she shouldn’t really be investigating.

Angie’s friends work in the shop or are connected to the shop in some way and are Amish. There are two different types of Amish sects in this community – more strict and more liberal. Angie’s employees – Anna and Mattie – are a mix of both.

Anna cracked me up because she is Amish but also wants to get to the bottom of things and in this case those “things” are surrounding the murder of a very cranky bishop of the Old Order Amish named Bartholomew Belier. He’s found dead in the library bookmobile by Angie and Angie’s “prim and proper” mother. Standing over him is brash librarian Austina Shaker, who is quickly blamed for the murder.

Angie isn’t sure if Austina is guilty or not but when Austina begs her to help clear her name, Angie can’t seem to help trying to find out. Anna also pushes Angie to get involved, certain she can help get to the bottom of what really happened to Bartholomew.

Angie does have a history of trying to solve murders, after all since she’s investigated and solved three murders previously. I should add that I didn’t realize this was the fourth book in this series when I started it and I had no issues understanding what was happening despite not reading the previous three yet.

The loveable cast of characters in the book include Anna and Mattie, Angie’s friends Rachel and Jonah, who are also Amish, Mitchell and his son Zander, a mischievous goat named Petunia, and Angie’s parents.

Her father is extra loveable and fun as he tries to navigate life after retirement. Her mother is more on the irritating side of things as she tries to run the show a lot and seems a bit stuck up but she keeps the storyline even more interesting as the reader braces themselves for what she’s going to say or do next.

There is much more than a mystery going on in this book and I like that. I like the little side stories with the different characters. I also loved the undercurrent of romance between Mitchell and Angie and how Alan didn’t need to add anything explicit or detailed to get across the feelings between the two.

There were even a few swoon-worthy scenes that made me giggle with delight over the gentle affection shown between the couple – affection that didn’t involve anything blush-worthy.

It’s amazing to me how just Mitchell brushing his fingertips against the back of Angie’s arm was enough to hint at sexual tension. No spicey scenes or language were needed.

I am looking forward to reading more books in this series.

Book recommendations/reviews for Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander and Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower

On March 25, 2024March 24, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading3 Comments

Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander

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?

Sunday Bookends: cozy mysteries, Little House on the Prairie marathon, and a few photos from the week

On March 24, 2024March 24, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends9 Comments

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

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 50^th 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.

On the blog this week:

What I’m Listening To

On Audible I am listening to A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens (Lord Jesus be with me. Literally.) and The Railway Children (with Little Miss).

Photos from Last Week

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

Billyisms and Winnie the Pooh by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs

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.

Reviews of Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing and a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card

On March 20, 2024March 21, 2024 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings7 Comments

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.

I also loved this fun interview with Gladwynn that Amy Walsh did on her blog. It was seriously so cute and fun.

Gina Holder shared an interview with me on her blog today, which I very much appreciated.

This review from Holly’s Book Corner was perfectly short and sweet and I really appreciated it.

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.