Alex's This and That

Dead Wrong by Leighann Dobbs

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I rather enjoyed this one. It is our April Cozy at our reading group. I like the Blackmoore Sisters and hope we see much more of them and perhaps a little longer tale next time. The characters were pleasant, the murder was someone we didn't like and it left us with a little mystery at th3e ending. Plus there was a budding romance.

The book was very short but that really might be my only complaint.

There was a rather interesting cat as well.

I will be reading more of this series for sure.



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The House on the Cliff by Franklin W. Dixon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


These boys lead action packed lives! Helping their father catch smugglers this time, Frank and Joe with the help of their school pals, take on drug smugglers who use an old pirate's hideout to evade the authorities.

These are a simple, fast reads and the stories are action packed! I think they are a bit dated but if people can read about vampires and zombies, then a couple of straight laced boys shouldn't be too much of a challenge!





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Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Someone on Dreamwidth mentioned loving this book so I decided to give it a try. It's about a girl, her freshman year at college, writing fanfiction and boys.

I don't remember ever being so young at 18 and I'm not entirely sure I was. They seem so young and silly in some ways. I guess part of that is I never had all that dorm and sorority junk. I went to a Community college for 2 years, got married and went to a university the other 2 years as a 'townie'. I was a grown woman with a home and a husband. I had no time for much else.

The fanfiction bit is about a story that is a knockoff of Harry Potter, which I never really got into. Never saw the charm of grown women writing stories about a bunch of kids and their very strange teachers... and never could see Harry as anything more than a child.

So I did not actually identify with Cather OR her fanfiction so much, but it was still a nice book. The characters were sweet and so young and adorable.



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Death Is Like a Box of Chocolates by Kathy Aarons

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Not a bad cozy... a chocolate/book store! What more could a person want than coffee, chocolates and books? Michelle and her best friend own this store and end up being amateur sleuths as well when the neighbor is murdered. It has the obligatory 'town like Mayberry' which amuses me since I live near, Mount Airy, the town that Mayberry was actually based on. There are LOTS of secrets in the tiny town and we get to find out several of them.

This one moved fast and kept me turning pages right up until the end. Oh and it has recipes in the back.

Wonder if Coco shows up in the other two?





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Murder in an English Village by Jessica Ellicott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was a complete delight! It was set in the UK in the 1920s. Beryl is an American adventuress who decides she needs a little quiet and shows up at the home of her old school friend, Edwina. Ed is as staid and steady as Beryll is wild and unfettered and the two fo them set about solving mysteries. They are sweet and funny and so is their little town, Walmsley Parma. The characters are delightful and some are even more than delightful - wait'll you meet the 'gardener'!

Jessica Ellicott is a new author to me but I am certainly going to read more of her books. She writes under several names and has several different types of mysteries!

I can't wait for the next one!



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