Simmer Down

In the second installment in the Gourmet Girl Mystery cozy series, Simmer Down, Chloe Carter had a lot on her hands. While Chloe worked hard with her internship with Naomi, her boyfriend Josh was getting ready for his opening night at Simmer, his brand new restaurant, on New Year's Eve. Besides her own family drama and both her ex and Josh's returned to the fold, her best friend Adrianna had her own crisis on her hands with her boyfriend Owen. On top of things, there were a lot of drama, when someone from the Lunar Moon Group was found dead. It was up to Chloe to find out who've done it before it's too late. This was a fiery read with delicious yummy recipes.

This was another great addition to the Gourmet Girl Mystery cozy series, too. I continued to love the concept and the California backdrop with the restaurants. I like Chloe and Josh as a couple. I think they were real cute. I also did feel so bad for Adrianna and Owen, when they were going through some hard times. I didn't care for much for Chloe's annoying sister Heather or their exes as well. But I enjoyed the storyline and the scrumptious recipes to boot. This would be a delightful quick read to warm you up on a cold day.

Ready to blow some steam? Grab a copy today!

Sick of Shadows

In Sharyn MCCrumb's mystery debut, Sick of Shadows, she told the story with an intricate suspense in a most complicated mystery down in the South. When Elizabeth McPherson arrived for her cousin Eileen's wedding, everything's not what it seemed to be. Her family didn't like her fiancé; and she's been acting strange. Everything somehow  became connected to her painting, when she disappeared and later found out dead. It was up to Elizabeth and the police to find it out, when someone in her family wanted her dead, as it swarmed with family secrets like an angry bee hive. And in the end, there was a shocking twist of whodunit and how it was done and why. What a shocking twisted mystery.

This was a great example of a Southern mystery. I loved the location of South Carolina to set the setting for this series. I thought the main lead character of Elizabeth MacPherson was a good choice for this mystery series. I did feel bad for her, when her cousin died. There was a lot of characters I didn't care for--her fiancé, Elizabeth's cousins, especially Basil. Her parents were unusual at the latest. But I did care for her, when Liz got closer and closer to the truth and the painting she depicted. Great built up of drama and intense suspense.

Ready to spot your shadow? Check this out today!

Postmortem

In Postmortem, Patricia Cornwell introduced us to Dr. Kay Scarpetta, a medical examiner for Richmond. Other than a guardian to her genius niece, she was on the scene on a most complex crime scene and became on the path of a killer. Between a break-in and a leak, she was under pressure by her boss. Her love life wasn't so spectacular, either. While she tried to balance it out, she learned more and new insight into the brilliant forensic science and scoping out his DNA evidence. The closer the truth she'd had gotten to luring him out in the open, the more she placed her life and her niece into danger. This is a wonderful debut to the series.

I loved Kay Scarpetta and her niece too. I felt bad that her mother wasn't a good mother figure for her. At least, we know Kay was a caring person. I loved the backdrop of Richmond, Virginia, and the surroundings to make it more surreal. I loved the concept of having a ME for a female lead. I did feel bad for Kay for having trouble with the opposite sex.  Forensic science had always been an interesting features in crime novels and TV series, along with movies, for a long time. Plenty of non-stop action and drama with fantastic intrigue to keep you up all night.

Ready for a good read? Give this one a try!

Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too

If you love great cozies, you'll enjoy the 5th installment of the Blackbird Sisters Mystery series, Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too. Poor Nora Blackbird. She had two men fighting for her, when she discovered she was pregnant and haven't told the father of her baby yet While this love triangle had been going on and on, besides having a high-risk pregnancy, her sisters had their own crisis of her own. Nora planned to spruce out the society column to focus on the younger generation, when someone murdered Zell Orcutt, the most volatile man she ever known. To clear her friend's name, she learned some family secrets and discovered the real story of his business empire, while Mick returned back in the news and people stood in her way. Talk about complicated mysteries. Nora needed to figure things out, before she became the next victim.

Once again, I cared about Nora and her plight. More bad luck seemed to follow her and her sisters with the curse. I didn't care much for Zell or Jane. For Brittany and her mother, that was a whole another story. I love Nora and her family. Between a love triangle and a pregnancy, I still will champion for her. The Philadelphia setting painted a beautiful picture for the storyline. I hated to see them part and lose the baby as well.

Ready to get tempted by a good cozy? Grab this cozy series today!

Emerald Queen

In Karen Jones Delk's Emerald Queen, she told us a beautiful tale that takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana in the 18th century. This is Simone Deveraux's love story. As a little girl, Simone wanted to learn to fence and become one of the boys. She also fell in love with Alain de Valliere, an expert in fencing. When her father died at age thirteen, Alain became her ward. Within time, Simone discussed herself as a young boy and hide out from a mad man who brought danger and heartache to her family and to her own life. Simone's been through a lot over the ages from love and death, motherhood and widowhood and finding new love once again. During the time of the steamship, she protected her heart from the evil out there and endured so much heartache from childhood to adulthood. Intricately woven and beautifully told, this is going to be a classic historical romance for all time with many twists and turns to the heartfelt ending.

This historical romance made me laugh and cry through the story. It pulled my heart strings real taut and tight, because it was beautifully written. We can see how much Simone went through to be with Alain and how she transformed herself, many times over. I loved how she befriended Lisette. There were a few people I hated like Marcel, who was a creep. The sword-fighting scenes were intense and had sharpened Simone's wits to fight for her father's honor in the end. This Vieux Carre romance was magnificent and real to the heart.

Ready to bring out your hankies? Download a free e-copy today! 

The Emperor's Edge

Imagine a whole new fantasy world when you're dealing with steam engines. In Lindsay Buroker's steampunk debut, the Emperor's Edge, it was a whole new world out there. Amaranthe Lokdon was a former enforcer for the emperor's empire and looking for a promotion. When someone sent her on a suicide mission to entrap an assassin, she's in the ride of her life, while someone wants to do the emperor in on his birthday. Little did they know, she encountered many traitorous friends and in an obstacle course for survival, when people she trusted died in her hands, just to clear her name. It was up to her and an unlikely group of friends to pull it off and save the emperor, while there was evil forces who  gunned after them. There was a shocking twist for the climax in the end. This novel will take you an an adventure of its own.

Since I  never read steampunk fantasy before, this was a fantastic book.  Those characters were lively and amusing with their own quirks. They became enjoyable as well.  Amaranthe was the underdog and the champion in this story along with her new friends. I didn't like how her former partner betrayed her and thrown her under the proverbial bus either.  The imaginary world worked as well to portray the future.

Get ready to see the future with a copy today!

Friends Forever

In Friends Forever by Danielle Steel, she told us a beautiful story about five friends they've known each other since kindergarten. From elementary school to their adult lives, this was a story to read with your friends and with a tissue. For Gabby, Izzie, Sean, Andy and Billy, they've been through it all in their coming-to-age saga about growing up and following their dreams. Divorce, remarriage, substance abuse and peer pressure, love, life, death, and friendship, especially when tragedy struck this fivesome throughout their lives. Throughout the years, they've endured it all and overcame it, until a bittersweet shocking conclusion. This was one of the finest contemporaries romance by her to cherish forever.

This was a heart-breaking romance that tugged my heart. We follow five friends from kindergarten to college and see things from their POV. I cried throughout the entire contemporary romance. There were so many heart-breaking scenes that dealt with loss of life and new birth and love. This gave me a big load of heartache and sighs to follow after it.  This moved me to tears and beyond that.

Ready to follow their journey? Grab a hankie and enjoy this one today!