Book Review and Giveaway - Once Upon a Seaside Murder (A Beach Reads Mystery) by Maggie Blackburn

My Review

Summer Merriweather lives in the small coastal town of Brigid's Island, North Carolina. She is grieving her mother's death and operating her late mother's bookstore on the boardwalk. She wants to solve a decades old mystery involving her mother, and while she is researching what happened, a cozy mystery writer who has been visiting her (and her bookstore) is kidnapped.  Maggie works with some book friends to solve the mystery.

I wanted to read Once Upon a Seaside Murder because I was intrigued by the bookstore by the sea setting. Bookstores are one of my favorite mystery locales.

I have not read the first book in the series. By jumping in with the second book I felt like I was missing some important details about Summer and her mother, and what happened before.  There is also a large cast of characters to get to know and keep up with. I always wish for a list of characters with cozy mysteries.

This is definitely edgier than the average cozy mystery. The mood is very melancholy and reflective, as Summer deals with her mother's passing.  She is just learning about her birth father and as a result is meeting many new relatives and getting to know them.

I really liked the bookstore setting; the bookstore scenes were my favorite in this novel. The author does a good job at capturing life in a little coastal town.  I enjoyed getting to know Summer's co-workers, friends, and her loyal aunt and cousins in the book as well.  

There were even some vegan recipes at the end of the book, and they sound delicious! I am especially intrigued by Vegan Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes.

The mystery aspect of the novel was well plotted. The chapters are short and action packed, leading to a quick read.  I had some clues about the killer but enjoyed seeing Summer solve the mystery.

Once Upon a Seaside Murder is an interesting and unique mystery.  I do think readers will benefit from reading the first book in the series to set the scene and get to know all the characters.

Book Synopsis

As the holidays approach, bookstore owner Summer Merriwether learns a dark secret in this second volume of Maggie Blackburn’s Beach Reads mystery series. There’s no place like home for the holidays, even if home is sleepy, beachside Brigid’s Island, NC. During this season for giving, the town wakes up to a welcome throng of shoppers–and Beach Reads is no exception. But bookseller Summer Merriwether’s Christmas cheer turns to cringing fear when she uncovers a deadly secret about her late mother–a secret someone will kill to keep. When the local library hosts a cozy mystery panel discussion, Summer learns that one of the authors on the panel based her book on an actual murder that shook Brigid’s Island thirty-five years before. Worse, she soon learns that her dearly missed mother, Hildy, took a disturbingly deep interest in the case, going so far as to collect clippings and keep a journal of the dark doings. This doesn’t jibe with Summer’s memories of her usually cheery mother at all. Tidings get worse when Summer learns of her long-lost biological family’s involvement in the crime…and still worse when the life of the book’s author is threatened. With the help of Hildy’s plucky book club, Summer puts her scholarly smarts to work on protecting the cozy author and solving the decades-old murder. But this ghost from Christmas past may still be deadly in the present, and if she can’t find the killer, Summer’s future will be brief.

Author Bio

Maggie Blackburn is the pen name of Mollie Cox Bryan. She writes cozy mysteries with edge. She’s the author of several bestselling mystery series. She’s recently released a novella mystery series: The Victoria Town Mysteries. Her book, “Goodnight Moo,” has been shortlisted for a Fresh Fiction Reader’s Choice Award. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman’s World. She makes her home at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley, Va.

Author Links

Website http://www.molliecoxbryan.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/molliecoxbryanauthor/

Twitter https://twitter.com/molliecoxbryan

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/molliebryan/

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Book Review - A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale by Karen Schaler

My Review

A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale is the story of Kaylie Karlyle. After Kaylie loses her NYC reporting job, she takes a last minute assignment in Europe.  When she arrives at the mysterious assignment, she discovers that she is expected to write a Christmas fairy tale for a young princess in a small eastern European country. As Kaylie explores Christmas traditions in Tolvania, she slowly becomes interested in the princess's widowed father, Prince Alex  ... and she learns to open her heart to Christmas and to love.

I wanted to read this book because I have enjoyed reviewing previous Christmas novels by Karen Schaler. She is the queen of Hallmark movies - both writing scripts and writing novels that are turned into movies. Her books have a warm, cozy feeling, and this novel is no exception!

I will admit that at first the whole Tolvania setting was a bit over the top for me. But I decided to just settle in and enjoy the charm of this story, and I found a lot to like. In this very sweet, fairy tale setting, it helps that Kaylie is a more cynical New Yorker - an investigative journalist by trade. It was fun seeing her explore this fairy tale world with skepticism at first, and then finding much to love in the castle and outlying quaint village at Christmas time.

I loved so many of the details, like the upside down Christmas trees, storage room full of vintage Christmas (I would love to explore that!), and tour of a village chocolate factory. The food descriptions in this book are amazing, and there are even some recipes included at the end of the book.  (Gingerbread pancakes sound amazing!)

The love story between Kaylie and Alex develops slowly and with great warmth. I also enjoyed Kaylie's growing friendship with little Princess Anna. There is a delightful chapter when Anna (who is 10 years old) tries to teach Kaylie how to paint.

A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale is exactly like watching a Hallmark movie - lovely and comforting, perfect for a long afternoon with cocoa or tea by a cozy reading chair. I recommend this novel for anyone who loves Christmas and who enjoys holiday romance.

Book Synopsis

This feel-good, humorous, and heartwarming new Christmas romance, about the power of believing in yourself to find your happily ever after, is from the Emmy Award-winning writer of the Netflix sensation A Christmas Prince and Hallmark’s beloved Christmas Camp, the movie and novel. This enchanting escape is just what your heart needs this holiday season…

A charming Christmas village, a storybook castle, a royal ball, and a gorgeous prince are the last things New York City reporter Kaylie Karlyle expects to find on her holiday freelance assignment to Europe. But when the family she’s interviewing turns out to be the royal family of Tolvania, Kaylie has a meltdown when the quirky queen wants her to write a Christmas fairy tale for the spunky, young princess. Kaylie must battle the princess’s father, who doesn’t trust the media, and her own insecurities about writing anything beyond the news.

To spark inspiration for the fairy tale, the queen recruits the prickly Prince Alexander to show Kaylie the family’s most spectacular royal holiday traditions. And sparks definitely fly when the only thing Kaylie and the prince agree on is that they’re both more “bah humbug” than “ho, ho, ho.”

But somewhere between sleigh rides and snow angels, merrymaking and mistletoe, upside-down Christmas trees, and a legendary Christmas crown, Kaylie and the prince open their hearts to Christmas and start believing in themselves and each other. It’s a real-life fairy tale in the making until Kaylie discovers a secret about a royal Christmas heirloom that jeopardizes everyone’s happily ever after. Can the magic of the season save this holiday happy ending?

Bonus Content: Includes delicious royal Christmas recipes and holiday activities.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Thriftbooks

Author Bio

Karen Schaler is a prolific and passionate three-time Emmy Award–winning storyteller, author, screenwriter, journalist, and national TV host. In the last three years, she has written five rom-com novels and five Christmas movies for Netflix, Hallmark, and Lifetime, including the Netflix sensation A Christmas Prince and Hallmark’s Christmas Camp. Karen also wrote the Christmas Camp and Christmas Camp Wedding books (HarperCollins). For her next novels, Finding Christmas, Christmas Ever After, and A Royal Christmas Fairy Tale, Karen is also writing the movies and writing three feature films, including a summer rom-com and an inspiring true-life story.

All of Karen’s books and movies have received ongoing national TV, print, and online media attention including two exclusive features on NBC’s TODAY show and features in Forbes, Parade, Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Tonight, The Wall Street Journal, Southern Living, Bustle, and Cosmo.

Embracing the Christmas spirit of giving back, Karen trademarked her Christmas Camp concept and is bringing her Hallmark movie and books to life hosting fun and festive one-of-a-kind Christmas Camp experiences worldwide where everyone is invited! All of Karen’s stories are filled with humor, heart, and hope. For more

Find out more about Karen at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

 

Book Review and Giveaway - A Perfect Bind (A Beloved Bookroom Mystery) by Dorothy St. James

My Review

A Perfect Bind is a cozy mystery featuring Tru Beckett. Tru is a librarian in a small town in South Carolina. As a lover of printed books, she makes a secret bookroom for old books in the library basement when her branch goes digital. After the bookroom is vandalized more than once, a body is found, and Tru goes on the hunt for the killer, along with her friends Flossie and Tori. Their motto is always WWMMD (What Would Miss Marple Do?). 

I wanted to read this mystery because I enjoyed the first book in the series so much. The secret bookroom is a clever idea and the library setting is appealing. I always am partial to southern mysteries too.

This was a fun read. Tru and her friends Flossie and Tori are back to solve another mystery. I enjoy these characters and their friendship. I also like Tru's slowly developing romance with her high school crush, Jace, who is now a police detectove in the little town of Cypress. The addition of a lovable cat - with the cute name Dewey Decimel - makes the book even more appealing.

The mystery aspect of the story was set up perfectly with several possible suspects. I figured out the killer before Tru did but enjoyed watching her solve the case. Tru has a knack for getting herself in danger, and that happened again in this book.

As someone interested in history and the past, I loved the town history and the story of the basement area of the library.  Before it was a secret bookroom or a storage area, it was a bomb shelter, and long before that, it was an illegal speakeasy!

"'I think we can get it tonight . . . right now, even.' I hoped we could. I laid out the photographs I’d been studying. 'Look here. The old speakeasy became one of the new storage rooms in the 1930s. But then, look here. The bomb shelter, with its metal walls, was built in a way that blocks the only door leading into the speakeasy, essentially shutting it off from the outside world forever.'” (eBook location 3916).

I recommend A Perfect Bind, and the first book in the series, The Broken Spine, for fans of cozy mysteries and especially for anyone who loves a library setting. This series is so unique and enjoyable!

Book Synopsis

Librarian Tru Beckett, ardent defender of the printed word, is about to find out that keeping murder checked out of her beloved library is much harder than she thought…  Tru Beckett succeeded in building a secret book room in her now bookless library, where book lovers from lovely Cypress, South Carolina, can rejoice in the printed word. Now she’s working hard to maintain the little library downstairs while keeping her “real job” upstairs in the bookless technology center. The last thing she needs is a mysterious vandal who seems intent on breaking into her secret book-filled sanctuary and creating chaos. The nasty interloper doesn’t steal anything, but brutalizes the books, damaging them and knocking them off shelves. A patron of the secret book room tells Tru that there have been creepy goings-on at the library for years, especially in the basement where the secret book room is located. He’s heard rumors of a poltergeist that haunts the library, determined to scare off readers. Tru is certain it’s hogwash, but she’s at a loss to think of who might be vandalizing the beautiful books she fought so hard to protect.  And when a dead body shows up right behind the library, Tru is certain that it’s not a ghost but a cold-blooded killer that she and her trusty tabby Dewey Decimal will need to uncover.

Author Bio

Dorothy St. James is the author of the White House Gardener Mysteries and the Southern Chocolate Shop Mysteries. She lives in the Lowcountry of South Carolina with her sculptor husband. Dorothy is a member of Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and the International Thriller Writers (ITW) and Sister’s in Crime (SInC). This is her second Beloved Bookroom Mystery.

Follow Dorothy Online:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/dorothy.stjames

Twitter: www.twitter.com/dorothywrites

Instagram: www.instagram.com/dorothymcfalls

Website: www.dorothystjames.com

Purchase Links – Amazon – Penguin Random House – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound

Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Book Review and Giveaway - The Limits of Limelight by Margaret Porter

My Review

The Limits of Limelight is a story of old time Hollywood. Pretty young Oklahoma teenager Helen Nichols visits her aunt and her cousin, Ginger Rogers, in Hollywood. She soon finds herself renamed Phyllis Fraser and pursuing a movie career in the 1930's under her Aunt Lela's watchful eye. As she deliberates between an acting or writing career, she has several short-lived romances, and meets a number of famous Hollywood friends.

I wanted to read this novel because I love classic Hollywood and the Ginger Rogers mention in the book blurb was intriguing. I love the old game show What's My Line? and have always especially enjoyed Bennett Cerf on that show. I also sell vintage children's books, and love finding, researching, and selling old Random House editions including Dr. Seuss books. I had no idea when I picked this book up that Phyllis Fraser was the wife of Bennett Cerf - and was part of the publication of the early Random House I Can Read books.

I absolutely loved this book and am already recommending it to friends who love old movies.  It gives a rare behind the scenes glimpse of Hollywood in the 1930's.  I loved, thanks to the book, visiting the Garden of Allah where Ginger Rogers, her mother, and Phyllis lived. This famous apartment building had a fountain full of goldfish and famous (and soon-to-be-famous) Hollywood names lounging around the swimming pool. Phyllis also becomes friends with the ill-fated Peg Entwhistle, who committed suicide by jumping off the Hollywood sign.  Her other famous friends include Anne Shirley, John Payne, Betty Furness, and a young Katherine Hepburn.

The novel spans from 1931 - 1947. The chapters were relatively short but pithy and full of anecdotes and vividly drawn scenes that moved the storyline along.  The author does an exceptional job at capturing another time and place - and what a time and place it was!

I highly recommend The Limits of Limelight for anyone who enjoys historical fiction, and especially for anyone interested in old movies and Hollywood in the 1930's.

Book Synopsis

Pretty Oklahoma teenager Helen Nichols accepts an invitation from her cousin, rising movie actress Ginger Rogers, and her Aunt Lela, to try her luck in motion pictures. Her relatives, convinced that her looks and personality will ensure success, provide her with a new name and help her land a contract with RKO.  As Phyllis Fraser, she swiftly discovers that Depression-era Hollywood’s surface glamour and glitter obscure the ceaseless struggle of the hopeful starlet.

Lela Rogers, intensely devoted to her daughter and her niece, outwardly accepting of her stage mother label, is nonetheless determined to establish her reputation as screenwriter, stage director, and studio talent scout. For Phyllis, she’s an inspiring model of grit and persistence in an industry run by men.

While Ginger soars to the heights of stardom in musicals with Fred Astaire, Phyllis is tempted by a career more fulfilling than the one she was thrust into. Should she continue working in films, or devote herself to the profession she’s dreamed about since childhood? And which choice might lead her to the lasting love that seems so elusive?

Amazon | Apple iBooks | Audible | Barnes and Noble | Blackwell’s | Book Depository | Bookshop.Org | Books-a-Million | Chapters | Hudson Booksellers | IndieBound | Kindle | Kobo

Author Bio

MARGARET PORTER is the author of more than a dozen works of historical fiction, including The Limits of Limelight (September 2021) and the award-winning Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr. Her critically acclaimed novels have been translated into several foreign languages. Other writing credits include nonfiction, newspaper and magazine articles, and poetry. She studied British history in the U.K. and afterwards worked professionally in theatre, film and television. Margaret and her husband live in New England with their dog, dividing their time between a book-filled house in a small city and a waterfront cottage located on one of the region’s largest lakes. When not writing, she keeps busy reading, tending her extensive rose gardens, or playing the mandolin.

More information is available on her website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.

Giveaway

During the Blog Tour, we are giving away some fabulous prizes!

Grand Prize Winner:

Choice of an autographed paperback or an ebook or an audiobook, plus an acrylic 16-oz sippy “go” cup with straw.

2nd and 3rd Prize Winners:

Choice of an autographed paperback or an ebook or an audiobook.

Runners-up (5):

Reproduction vintage Ginger Rogers & Fred Astaire postcard, plus author-autographed bookplate.

The giveaway is open internationally and ends on October 6th. You must be 18 or older to enter.

The Limits of Limelight

 

Book Review - A Midnight Dance by Joanna Davidson Politano

My Review

In 1830's London, Ella Blythe longs to be a ballerina. Her quest for a career in ballet brings her closer to her mother's mysterious history, questions about her father, and a love story of her own.

I wanted to read A Midnight Dance because I absolutely loved The Love Note and Lady Jayne Disappears by Joanna Davidson Politano.  I enjoy historical fiction and also have a lifelong interest in ballet, so this novel was particularly appealing.

The author does an amazing job at setting the scene in another time. As a reader, I vividly pictured the theater and the world Ella traveled through. The novel had a dark, atmospheric tone for me, with the past fire and the haunted ambience of the theater backstage (especially at night).

Ella is an interesting protagonist - she is striving for a career at a time when there were few careers for women, but she is also trying to answer the mysteries of her family background and to find romance and happiness in her own life. She finds a way to connect with her faith through dance.

A Midnight Dance has many layers - and many twists and turns too. I recommend it for fans of historical fiction, Christian fiction, and for anyone who has a strong interest in dance.  

Book Synopsis

The best moments in dance are the unscripted ones

At their core, all theater romances are tragedies. Ella Blythe knows this. Still, she cannot help but hope her own story may turn out different than most--and certainly different than the tragic story of the Ghost of Craven Street Theater.

After a chance encounter with one of the ballet company's handsome dancers late one night, Ella is swept off her elegantly pointed toes. The dance they share and the promise he makes to her feel like a new beginning. Yet as she faces mounting challenges in the ever-shrinking ballet company, Ella cannot deny the uncanny feeling that her life is mirroring that of the ghostly ballerina.

Is she dancing ever closer to the edge of her own disastrous end? Or will the secrets that are about to come to light offer release from the unyielding grip of the past?

Author Bio

Joanna Davidson Politano is the award-winning author of Lady Jayne Disappears, A Rumored Fortune, Finding Lady Enderly, and The Love Note. She loves tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives and is eager to hear anyone's story. She lives with her husband and their children in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan. You can find her at www.jdpstories.com.