Book Review: Well Read, Then Dead

Author: Terrie Farley Moran

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Berkley

Series: A Read ‘Em and Eat Mystery # 1

First in a new series!

Nestled in the barrier islands of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Fort Myers Beach is home to Mary “Sassy” Cabot and Bridget Mayfield—owners of the bookstore café, Read ’Em and Eat. But when they’re not dishing about books or serving up scones, Sassy and Bridgy are keeping tabs on hard-boiled murder.
 
Read ’Em and Eat is known for its delicious breakfast and lunch treats, along with quite a colorful clientele. If it’s not Rowena Gustavson loudly debating the merits of the current book club selection, it’s Miss Augusta Maddox lecturing tourists on rumors of sunken treasure among the islands. It’s no wonder Sassy’s favorite is Delia Batson, a regular at the Emily Dickinson table. Augusta’s cousin and best friend Delia is painfully shy—which makes the news of her murder all the more shocking.
 
No one is more distraught than Augusta, and Sassy wants to help any way she can. But Augusta doesn’t have time for sympathy. She wants Delia’s killer found—and she’s not taking no for an answer. Now Sassy is on the case, and she’d better act fast before there’s any more trouble in paradise.

“Miss Augusta, Miss Delia, the end of hurricane season is coming up fast. Could you help me pick a date? Plan the End of Hurricane Season party?”

Thunder rat-tat-tatted like gunfire. I opened one bleary eye. Not thunder. Bridgy banging on my bedroom door.

We loved putting together book-related events, such as the Potluck Book Club, which focused on cookbooks and foodie novels like Julie and Julia.

This brand new series takes readers to Florida’s Gulf Coast on Fort Myers Beach where the author really embraces the culture, beauty, and charm of the Florida coastline. I must say that this area really came alive for me and I really enjoyed the culture and the tourist area that it was written to be. The series centers around best friends Sassy and Bridget, or “Bridgy”, who have recently moved all the way from Connecticut to Florida to open up a bookstore and café called Read ‘Em and Eat. A lot of the regular customers enjoy participating in the book clubs and ladies such as Augusta Maddox and her cousin Delia Batson can always be found dawning the doors. Well, that is until Delia is found dead in her home and Augusta enlists Sassy and her best friend to solve the mystery and figure who could possibly have wanted Delia dead.

The plot and storyline was clever and I most enjoyed followed our new heroine, Sassy. There were many moments where I found myself talking to her as I was reading. I was on the edge of my seat during certain scenes and the descriptive detailing really makes you feel like you are in a movie. This series is going to provide readers with a crazy cast of characters and I cannot wait to see who comes into the bookstore/café next. The idea of a bookstore and a café is appealing to me because it gives readers the best of both worlds. The café has tons of book-related menu items that are just so cute to read about. I am really excited for where this series will go!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: Charlie Glass's Slippers

Author: Holly McQueen

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Atria

In this delightful, clever spin on Cinderella, Charlie Glass, a heroine as loveable as Cannie Shapiro and Bridget Jones inherits her father's shoe empire and snatches up a drop-dead-gorgeous, multi-millionaire Prince Charming. But is he truly the key to her happily ever after?

When Charlie's beloved father, iconic shoe designer Elroy Glass, dies after a long illness, everyone expects that he'll leave his business to his glamorous wife and eldest daughters. After all, they've been running the company for years. But Elroy surprises everyone from beyond the grave: at the will reading, it';s announced that his fashion empire has been left to Charlie, his youngest-and plumpest-daughter.

Before she can run the company, Charlie decides she needs to make a few changes in her life. After several weeks at a California boot camp, she returns to London a new woman: thinner, blonder, and ready to revitalize the Elroy Glass brand. But as she'll soon discover, a good esthetician and a killer pair of stilettos can only go so far, and there's more to reinvention-and running a fashion empire-than meets the eye.

Endlessly entertaining, surprising, and ultimately inspiring, Charlie Glass's Slippers is a modern-day fairy tale about finding your own magic and transforming yourself from within.

I want to save Lucy’s agony, and let’s face it, this dinner party couldn’t be more of a disaster if aliens were to land on the street outside, take us back to the mother ship, and spend the rest of the night sticking probes in all kinds of unpleasant places.

The bigger you are, it seems, the less anybody sees you at all.

If Lucy could see me now, she’d get all huffy and puffy about me behaving like a waitress.

A truly wonderful modern retelling of Cinderella! I am in love with this new book and I cannot wait to finish typing this review so that I can go and place this book atop my favorite’s shelf. Charlie Glass has just suffered the loss of her beloved father and is left to deal with her evil stepmother, Diana, and her two obnoxious stepsisters, Gaby and Robyn. Charlie is also left, surprisingly by her father, his shoe empire that he and his ex-wife, Diana, worked years to build together. Charlie has no clue that her father planned to leave her his half of the business, and when she finds out his plans for her she accepts them courageously and finally tells Diana where to go, if you catch my drift! Charlie looks at her new life with wide eyes and hopes for the best adventure yet!

Charlie Glass was so much like Bridget Jones and I absolutely loved that! Charlie is not your typical chick lit heroine because she does not have a model figure and a perfectly handsome, rich boyfriend in tow. However, Charlie has quite a few self-confidence issues because she is overweight and looks nothing like her vibrant, beautiful stepsisters and she is afraid that she does not fit the Glass image that her father worked so long and hard to achieve. Charlie takes a lot of criticism from her stepmother, Diana, who I really, really disliked. Charlie is a very inspirational heroine and really had to overcome a lot throughout the course of this novel. She worked so hard to get herself back into shape and to really have more confidence in herself. In the end, she turned out to be one of the most courageous characters I have ever read and adored.

McQueen does something a bit different when it comes to the romance department in this book. This is a Cinderella retelling so many people would think that there is a Prince Charming who comes in and sweeps Charlie off of her feet, but in this book there are Prince Charming’s! I really liked this choice on McQueen’s part because it switched things up from the average, ordinary fairy tale retelling. Both men had good and bad qualities and honestly I did not know which one Charlie would finally choose. I really enjoyed the love triangle; it was so well-written and trust me romance is not my favorite part of any book that I read!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Atria Books in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: Extra Sensory Deception

Author: Allison Kingsley

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Berkley

Series: Raven’s Nest # 4

As the owners of the Raven’s Nest bookstore, cousins Stephanie and Clara Quinn are the premier booksellers in the quaint town of Finn’s Harbor, Maine. But with Clara’s inherited ability to read minds and see the future, she’s also the premier crime solver… 
 
You don’t have to be a psychic to know: The rodeo is coming to town! Clara’s boyfriend, Rick Sanders, invites her to the show to meet his high school buddy and expert calf roper, Wes Carlton. But when Clara’s Quinn Sense offers her a disturbing vision involving a rodeo clown, she worries that there will be more danger at the rodeo than just the traditional bucking bronco.
 
Of course, her premonition turns out to be accurate, and a dead body is discovered behind the concert stage, strangled by Wes’s piggin’ string. Rick is sure that there’s no way Wes could have murdered anyone, but he’s going to need Clara’s Quinn Sense to keep the authorities from roping the wrong suspect... 

Stars blinked at her from a black sky, and only a sliver of a new moon looked down on her.

Although Jessie had learned about the Quinn Sense from Clara’s father, so far her daughter had managed to hide from her mother the fact that she had inherited the gift.

The worst part of it were the visions, which popped up at the most awkward times, plunging her mind into the past or the future while her body remained, helpless, in the present.

I am reading a lot of fourth books in series this month! This one, just like the one I reviewed yesterday, is in fact the fourth installment in a series and gives readers another trip back to Finn’s Harbor, Maine where Clara Quinn is co-owner of the Raven’s Nest bookstore. Clara Quinn is not just your average amateur sleuth, however. She has inherited the gift of mind reading and seeing into the future. This particular story takes Clara to the rodeo where she has a disturbing vision featuring a rodeo clown and immediately she feels that trouble will ensue. Sure enough a dead body is discovered and Clara is once again forced to start investigating, but this time she is trying to clear the name of her good friend, Wes Carlton.

Again readers are given another enjoyable story from Kingsley! My favorite aspect of these books is always seeing Clara and Stephanie in action together. Stephanie is Clara’s cousin and also co-owner of the Raven’s Nest bookstore. Stephanie is back in this book and is of course around to offer Clara any support or help that she needs to solve this case. We have our lovable Tatters, Clara’s dog, back for action in this book. He is always looking out for his owner, and we have a new store mascot in this book. A kitten named Edgar makes his debut in this book! This cast of characters, animals included, are always developing and certainly always supporting one another. Their small little town is so endearing, especially the bookstore where readers can always find their next favorite story!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review***

Book Review: Book Fair and Foul

Author: Erika Chase

Publication Date: August 5, 2014

Publisher: Berkely

Series: Ashton Corners Book Club # 4

For the mystery book lovers of Ashton Corners,
burial plots tell the most intriguing stories.

The members of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society are all chipping in as Molly Mathews, now owner of the bookstore the Book Nook, prepares the first annual Mystery Book Fair. While gossip circulates about the guest authors, club member Lizzie Turner is unpleasantly surprised to see a certain book publicist make an appearance. It seems Lizzie has a history with Ashley Dixon—a chapter of her life she’d rather leave closed.

But when someone gives Ashley a death sentence, Lizzie becomes the prime suspect in a murder mystery she can’t put down. Now Lizzie and her fellow book buffs have to read between the lines of the publicist’s past and catch the real killer before Lizzie is written off for good.

“In fact, all of you enjoy today because come next Thursday, we are headed for a weekend of mystery and mayhem.”

Another glorious day about to begin. It felt more like spring than fall if there was a discernable difference beyond the hours the sun rose and set, and the colors of the flowers.

“In other words, she wasn’t a happy camper.”

In the fourth book in this series, Molly Matthews has just purchased the local bookstore and she is steadily working to prepare for the first annual Mystery Book Fair. Molly, along with the Cheese Straws Society, have worked really hard to make this event become reality. She has invited four well-known mystery authors to share in the book fair, but she quickly learns that each of these authors have secrets of their own. All is well until an unexpected guest shows up, Ashley Dixon, a book publicist and former college roommate of Lizzie, one of the authors that was invited to the book fair. Everyone quickly learns that these two girls have a past that was left unresolved and Lizzie becomes the prime suspect when Ashely’s body is found at White Haven Funeral Home and Lizzie’s cell phone is found at the scene as well.

The southern setting and the coziness of this book really make the entire series what it is and these two things are two of the reasons why I think this series has become so popular. It actually feels like you are watching a loveable television show instead of reading a book because of the great descriptions and the exquisite character development. While I love Molly Matthews, it was so nice watching this group of women work together to free their friend Lizzie of a charge that is obviously false. They each brought such different personalities to this story and to the murder investigation as a whole. It is always nice when the main sleuth has help solving a mystery and this is always something that I look for when looking for a new cozy mystery to read!

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review***