Cozy Mysteries discussion
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When You're Not Reading a Cozy
February is Black History Month, and I found James Baldwin's long story/novella Letter from a region in my mind online from 'The New Yorker Magazine'. Still relevant and worth remembering.
5★ Link to my review of Letter From a Region...
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Heather L wrote: "Started The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini yesterday, managed to get a third of the way through. Good, but definitely not a fast read."I loved that book when I read it a long time ago Heather. I even bought The Kite Runner: Graphic Novel and loved that one too!
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Gopher Golf: A Wordless Picture Book by Karl Beckstrand is exactly that - many pages of pictures. There are enough varied scenes for a little kid to follow as a story and then be encouraged to "tell" a story themselves. Lots of laughs!
3.5★ Link to my Gopher Golf review with several illustrations to give you the idea
Mick Herron, when interviewed about his latest spy thriller, Slough House, recently said "I look at Jackson Lamb and think: My God, did I write that? My mother reads this stuff!" Well, on behalf of mothers and grandmothers everywhere, I say - Keep up the good work! 
5★ Link to my Slough House" review (with a link to the article quoted)
I am reading Before She Disappeared
by Lisa Gardner. I haven't read a book by Lisa Gardner in ages. Set in Boston area, our main character, Frankie goes around the country looking for lost people that no one else can find. Very good so far.
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is my current read and it's creepy so it's taking me a bit to read it. I love thrillers, but I am also a chicken. LOL
Just finished In the Hurricane's Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown
by Nathaniel Philbrick. 5 star!
Heather L wrote: "I was up late finishing The Kite Runner. I was so close to the end, I couldn’t put it down. Excellent read, though emotional at times."Glad you enjoyed it Heather :)
I am reading The Arctic Fury
by Greer Macallister. An all women expedition sent up to Arctic through Hudson Bay. Love the different setting. Strong Women characters. Good so far.
Here is my review of Shadows in Death
by J.D. Robb.My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I recently finished The Invitation by Vi Keeland**
Loved it!! Nice... Sweet... Romantic...It tells the story of Hudson and Stella, who first meet when Stella and her bestie, Fisher, crash a high society wedding. Hudson knows she a crasher and before security gets her, Stella and her friend run out. Oops... neither she nor her friend think to grab her phone and she has to face Hudson to get it back. This is the start to their relationship. I won't go into detail about the story itself, but both bring baggage and there's a (not-so-surprising) twist that threatens their future together.
Sometimes when reading I copy off quotes that hit me. This book had THREE!
Stella explains to Hudson how she tries to have a happy outlook on life:
"I try to give someone a compliment every day. That might not seem like much, but it causes you to find something good in at least one person each day. After a while, it helps change your mindset. Another thing I do is set aside ten minutes to meditate each morning. I also watch the sunrise or sunset at least once a week. And I try to do something I’ve never done before every single weekend." -- Sounds good to me!!
Hudson to Stella:
"You’re not a woman who needs a man. You’re a woman a man needs." -- Good lord... How romantic is that!
Fisher trying to help Stella see what's in front of her:
"I think life is a series of stepping stones that branch out in all different directions. We have no idea what path we’re supposed to follow, so we tend to walk a straight line and follow the biggest stones, because that’s the easiest thing to do. Coincidences are the smaller stones that lead you on a path that veers off. If you’re brave enough, you follow those stones, and you wind up exactly where you’re supposed to be." -- How true!!
Here's my review of A Killer's Wife
by Victor Methos.Methos brings murder, suspense, police investigations, and courtroom drama to this legal thriller. My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finished an entertaining murder mystery focused around polo. Don't be fooled by the cover of this one.My 4 star review of The Perfect 10: A Palm Beach Murder Mystery
by Eric O'Keefe. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I always love Kate Atkinson's complex stories that ex-detective Jackson Brodie has to untangle while generally making more of a tangle of his own life. Big Sky is the 5th in the series and is terrific!
5★ Link to my Big Sky review
Fluffles: The Brave Koala Who Held Strong Through A Bushfire is a very cute Vita Murrow picture book about the unbelievable 2019 Australian bushfires. Fluffles was rescued in South Australia.
4.5★ Link to my review of Fluffles with several illustrations
I am reading City of Schemes
by Victoria Thompson. Very good book the series is set in 1919 New York City. Characters are fun and interesting. Good background on soldiers coming home from War.
Here is my 4 star review of Crimson Phoenix
by John Gilstrap. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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I just finished
Ribbons of Scarlet: A Novel of the French Revolution's Women and it was a 5 star read for me. My senior thesis was on women in the French Revolution and this took me back to my last days of college. It was very cleverly written as well with each author taking a character, but it was also seamlessly an amazing tale.
PamG wrote: "Here is my 4 star review of Crimson Phoenix by John Gilstrap. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
You've missed your rating on this one Pam :)
Brenda wrote: "PamG wrote: "Here is my 4 star review of Crimson Phoenix by John Gilstrap. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
..." I fixed it. Thanks, Brenda!
I admit... I am hooked on short insta-love romances. I just finished the latest 10 entries in Jane Fox's Zaftig Dating Agency series featuring matchmaker Mona Zaftig.**
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*** Sweet Tooth
* Tis the Season
* Puppy Love
* Love Therapy
* Let It Snow
* Well Built
* Total Knockout
* Rocking the Boat
* Just Desserts
* By the Book
Mona does not run your usual matchmaking service. Friends and/or family hire Mona to find matches for their loved ones unbeknownst to them. That is, Mona's "clients" don't know they're being matched. She sets up seemingly random meets and the couples take it from there as chemistry and love-at-first-sight kick in. The stories are short (around 30-50 pages) and sweet. We get the start of each relationship as well as an epilogue to let us know where it's going.
I've read all in this series (to date). I sometimes think things are missed or missing because the stories are short, but it hasn't affected my enjoyment of the series as a whole. I think I've rated them all three or four stars (maybe 2.5 to 4.5??), based to how much I like the couple and their story at the time I read it.
Yes, I know I could have read a couple of cozies in the time it took me to read these. These are the things that I allow to distract me. :o)
The Incredible Winston Browne
by Sean Dietrich is the best book that I have read so far in 2021. I would not have thought that a book set in the small fictional Florida town of Moab during the 1950’s would end up being a five star read. But this historical fiction with some suspense and action was excellent.My 5 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I do love a good short story, so I'm glad that Amazon is publishing originals from many different authors. In the Empty Quarter by G. Willow Wilson is a scary little cautionary tale I enjoyed. 
4★ Link to my review of In the Empty Quarter
They broke the mould when the Artist Known as Prince came along. This is another of the Little People BIG DREAMS series. Author Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrator Cachetejack have produced a bright, appealing children's book
4.5★ rounded up Link to my Prince review with several illustrations
Just finished Kristen Painter's new book Lost in Las Vegas
by Kristen Painter. Spinoff series featuring Jane Frost and her new husband Sinclair Crowe. Love the talking cats.
Here is my 5 star review of Quiet in Her Bones
by Nalini Singh.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Here is my 3.5 star review (rounded to 3) of a police procedural / crime thriller set in and around Berlin. Not Her
by Noah Fitz.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Return to the Most Beautiful Village in the World is a bittersweet follow-up to Japanese artist Yutaka Kobayashi's previous two picture books about a little boy who left his war-torn village in Afghanistan. Kobayashi says we must inspire the children!
4.5★ Link to my Return to ... review with many illustrations
I am reading The Dark Angel
by Elly Griffiths. Excellent series. This is book 10. I recommend reading them in order. Very well written about a single parent who is an archeology professor in England. This book moves setting to Italy. In each book the characters grow a little more, you learn about archeology and the marshes of England. Highly recommend.
I believe I'm going to read
Katy And The Big Snow, as it's about the only book I can relate to at the moment!!! Where I live, it's not fiction anymore! LOL!!!😁😂🤣😄😅😆😊
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Cozy Mysteries
Books mentioned in this topic
Bitter Falls (other topics)Eleanor (other topics)
The Line (other topics)
Cost of Care (other topics)
The Echo Chamber (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rachel Caine (other topics)Betsy Robinson (other topics)
Amor Towles (other topics)
John Boyne (other topics)
Louise Forster (other topics)
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