Book 5 in the Yarn Retreat Mystery Series by Betty Hechtman was the perfect choice to read on my girls weekend away last month, I went with two friends and their daughters for a craft and girls weekend. While I was there I managed to knit two hats and learn some crochet stitches however I did have to leave the retreat early for medical attention and what turned out to be this bought of pneumonia I have been dealing with for the last month. In dealing with it I somehow overlooked posting my review so I apologize to Betty Hechtman for the late posted review.
What a fun series and an inspiring one too! I always seem to have to take up a project while reading the yarn retreat mysteries! Book 5 doesn't disappoint and always so much going on! While some of the retreat attendees may not have been so thrilled with the projects presented I know I wished I had been there to try it out! adding to the excitement and confusion a travel writer who is attending a different retreat ends up dead and Casey gets tangled up right in the middle of things! I really enjoyed how this mystery played out and I think you will too, now I am more determined than ever to knit the baby blanket in the back of the book!
It is Witchy Wednesday day here and today I am sharing a book I picked up a few months ago called The Good Witch's Guide to Wicked Ways written by Deborah Gray.
This book caught my attention with it's title first and humorous cover. I was really thrilled to find that inside the cover is actually some really great information! I loved the Ye Olde Apothecary chapter on Setting up your "Enchanted Kitchen". As a writer I really loved and appreciated the section on names! The chapter simply titled What's In A Name, offers and inspires the writer in me to write an entire mystery series based on the names in this chapter! As someone who tries to learn and understand the ways of those who practice witchcraft, the very easy to understand explanations of Witchcraft! I loved this quote "Whatever awaken your spirit as a seeker and set you on your path and whatever first inspired your journey into magic is correct perfect for you" This is a book you can pick up and read just a bit of or cover to cover and one I am so thrilled to have on my shelf and at my fingertips! An older book this one is still a keeper! You can find it on Amazon by clicking here.
Thank you for joining me for today's Witchy Wednesday Selection! I am so happy to have you over for tea today! I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
Thursday last week I sat down to read A Christmas Peril, by J.A. Hennrikus. I did not know at the time that J.A. Hennrikus is also author Julianne Holmes, though I should have known by the excellence in the way the story was written! A Christmas Peril centers around a retired police officer who is now a theater company general manager. The death of a prominent member of the community who is not well loved and who is distantly related to main character Edwina, who goes by Sully, has her pulled into a no win situation! On top of the family drama, the theater production of A Christmas Carol is not coming together as hoped or planned and so much is riding on its success. In true cozy mystery spirit, two love interests both with history and intrigue, help and hinder Sully's ability to concentrate on what is now both her jobs, the murder mystery and the overseeing of the Christmas play! I was blown away with how this one played out and I had no idea until the reveal who or why the murders happened and who was behind it all. Loved this one and it was a great read! This one is out September 8th by Midnight Ink and one you will not want to put down! I love this cover so much as well, it is one I would pick up in a shop for sure!
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review! I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
I can not believe we are on our final Monday of our 11 week long Three Amigos Summer Reading Club. I sure hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. The summer goes way too fast for me and it doesn't often slow down, sometimes I wish we could adopt that Island feeling and keep summer with us all year long. This week our theme is Cozy Mystery Books about Islands and my pick was so hard to do I have had to PICK TWO to share. Hopefully the girls won't get too upset with me. Both these books are books I purchased for myself and bought the entire series as a result!
First my pick is Duffy Brown's Braking for Bodies.
I loved this series and this is book two. Book one is an excellent read as well but I absolutely loved book two and that cover is one of my favorites. I understand that we may yet get a book three from Duffy and I can not wait!
I would be totally remiss if I did not also recommend Skinny Dipping with Murder by Auralee Wallace, I mean laugh out loud funny, completely and utterly one of the funniest cozy mysteries I have ever read. I think this series is a must read for those who want a light and funny cozy, with outlandish characters and adventures.
These books are about finding the joy in the journey, something I think we all forget about sometimes and these books bring a smile to my face at the remembrance of both these very different but very enjoyable Island reads....
Now let's see what my Amigos have picked for you today....
Thank you so much for joining us this summer. I hope you have enjoyed our Three Amigos Summer Reading Club. I know I am going to miss it! We would all love to hear from you so please leave us a comment on our blogs letting us know what you thought, how you are and what you are reading!
I love having you here for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery and I look forward to sharing more with you daily tomorrow.
I love hearing from you so please consider leaving me a comment below or emailing me at karenmowen@gmail.com
I read Dressed to Confess by author Diane Vallere this week. This is out now and the third book in the Costume Shop Mystery series. This series is set in a Nevada town called Proper which is trying to find and stick with an identity to put itself on the map for tourists and townspeople alike.
A town festival spells all kinds of trouble for main character Margo, caught up in another murder mystery in her small town just doesn't sit right with her, when her Dad and his best friend start a conspiracy news paper it seems ever so harmless at first, but is it all tied to the most recent murder in town? This is a fun and slightly implausible story with some humorous highlights and a very complicated mystery. I was surprised with who the killer ended up being and I honestly did not figure it out before the big reveal.
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
Making my way through Death Overdue a Haunted Library Mystery by Allison Brook this weekend. Makes being mostly couch bound bearable. If you follow my blog or social media you know I have been unwell for more than a month now and I am slowly fighting my way back to health. Spending most of my day couch bound. Lovely to have such amazing books to read and I have even been able to enjoy more of my Murchies Vanilla Tea this week, I also finished my cranberry cream tea I bought earlier this summer, thinking of making the ten hour drive to get more...dreaming really. I have been doing lots of reading, and a bit of visiting, having my Uncle Ross, my dad's brother, drive more than 3,000 miles with his truck stacked full of photos of the family from the 1800's for me to have. Unbelieveable how these photos of many times removed relatives look just like family members alive today! DNA Wow! I can not wait to share some photos with you soon, also a gem was a photo my family took during the second world war of the then Queen of England touring Canada, that will go in a frame for sure!
I am getting really excited for Buy a Friend A Book Day which is August 31st! This is one of my most favorite days of the year and I am hoping I will be well enough to shop locally, otherwise I may have to do my shopping on line for a few people! Be sure to remember to pick up a book for someone in your life on August 31st!
I am excited to announce that I am co-hosting an event on October 3rd for the Release day party of author Joyce Tremel's A Room With A Brew on my Beyond The Bookmarks Facebook Page and you are invited! Great prizes, recipes, and so much more, I hope you will join us for an evening of fun and get to know other cozy lovers, we all want to go somewhere where everyone knows your name, come make a new friend and learn about this series! Click here to RSVP to the event!
I meant to share this last week, something I put together to share a bit about why I love cozy mysteries and one of the lessons I take away from some of my favorites. While I don't have daughters I do love the books about eccentric aunts who do something that guides them and helps them makethe changes that lead to a direction change in their life trajectory!As you can see above I have a few nieces, and what I think is a great goal!
Announced earlier this week over on Lisa Ks Book Review, we have enjoyed so much our Summer Three Amigos reading club that we have decided to expand and continue with our Five Amigos Fall-O-ween Fun Series. Adding My dear Friend Karen Kenyon to my blog here as a guest blogger, and our dear friend Sheryl of Booth Talks Books! We will be sharing our favorite Fall themed cozies and then in October switch to our Halloween themed, or paranormal cozy favorites.
Lisa, Mary, Sheryl, Karen K and I look forward to sharing with you and seeing what each other chooses for our fall selections and our Halloween ones we hope you will join in the fun too! We hope you will welcome our new Amigos and love our new series! This all starts September 4th.
The Witching Hour was my Witchy Wednesday selection for review this week, I enjoyed this book and shared a bit about this October release, I would not mind having this one on my shelf either.
Tonya Kappes has some wonderful books and this is a series I adore, I know you are going to love ax to Grind, do check this one out! I read it in one sitting not wanting to put the book down.
I read and reviewed the up coming release of From Ice To Ashes, this book is going to be out soon as an e-copy for you to enjoy!
I have a review of Dressed to Confess for you tomorrow I hope you will come back and see what I thought of this third book in series.
I made a point of getting my Friday spotlight video made and this weeks video is a spotlight on Ellery Adam's Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery Series. It is up on my Youtube Channel, I invite you to stop by and subscribe! Click here for the video if it doesn't play above.
Thank you all for joining me here for what has been on my table, in my cup and on my mind this week. I love having you stop by and I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
I love hats, I wish I had more occasions to wear hats, but honestly the only time I seem to feel comfortable in hats is the Summer or well Halloween. But there is something so wonderful in hats, especially if you are going to a wedding or tea, something so posh about them I just love. I read lots of British Newspapers online and anytime there is an event in the society pages the hats just are amazing. Today I have picked three of my Etsy favorites. Type Tea Hat into Etsy and you will find pages and pages of amazing hats like these ones!
Where I live the most frequent hats I see are base ball caps, not these amazing works of art, though I am a creature of habit and choose comfort above all else, I do think it would be fun to pull out the hats for a garden party one day...
The hat I am most comfortable in for tea is the one I wear to my witches tea party which is going to be a bit late this year as I am still recovering from my summer pneumonia and have had to put if off a few weeks. I hope to have some wonderful photos to share of the tea party by the end of September until then I shall dream of wearing other fancy hats and work up the courage and the occasion to wear them.
Thank you for joining me for this weeks Fancy Friday Finds. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
Tonya Kappes has the right combination of mystery, intrigue, with just a touch of romance and a ghostly sidekick in her Kenni Lowery Mystery series and the newest in the series Ax to Grind.
I was delighted to be approved to read book three in this series which is out September 19th and you can pre order now. Tonya writes with southern humor, hospitality and flair. I really loved the idea of a small town sheriff, her overzealous southern mother, a grandfather ghost and a partner who she would not kick out of bed for eating crackers....
Then there is the mystery and it is a good one, small town secrets keep and fester as the years go on and when a world renowned and reclusive romance author dies, leaving a huge estate sale open to the public that opens the small town up to the possibility of a murder living among them and scrutiny and leaves a mess of trouble for Kenni to unravel. Loved this one and think you will too!
This weeks Witchy Wednesday post has me reading and reviewing an October release from Llewellyn Books by Silver Raven Wolf called The Witching Hour.
This is a book for those who feel a calling to magick and who are looking to enhance or learn about spell casting. I found myself taking notes as I read through this book and while it is a Witchy Techniques book it also has some very practical advice. This is one I would love to own and have on my shelf. It comes out October 8th and is available for preorder on Amazon by clicking here.
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a Witchy Wednesday review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
Over the last week I read From Ice To Ashes by Jessica Simon. This book was unlike any mystery I had ever read before.
This adventure mystery is set in the Yukon Territory of Canada near the Alaskan border, in February, during an endurance race called The Yukon Arctic Ultra , (which is a real race by the way!) . The Yukon Arctic Ultra race is a race through the arctic tundra, spanning up to 430 miles beginning in Whitehorse, Yukon . It is a multiday marathon with three disciplines, mountain bike, Cross Country Skies or on foot! This is the toughest Ultramarathon in the world and temperatures drop upto -50 and then there is the wind chill to consider.
The book focuses on those putting the race on, the organizers and the volunteers, as much as the contestants. The gripping story line of a potential terrorist attack being carried out during the race coupled with the relationship between Auxiliary RCMP member Markus Fanger and his unlikely partner, young offender and juvenile delinquent Donjek Stoneman will have you turning the pages and not wanting to put this book down. I was blown away by the way Jessica unfolded the mystery, the story and described in glorious detail of the beauty, mystery and rugged terrain of the Yukon. I am in awe of the idea of a race such as this, throw in some very tough and strong characters and a mystery that feels ripped from the headlines and you have From Ice To Ashes. I will say this author Jessica Simon tells a great story and is very careful to be respectful in the way she delivers the story, respectful to the people of the Yukon, those who are first nation aboriginal and to the Muslim community. She represents the North extremely well! This book had my heart pumping, my feet freezing and me not wanting to put it down. I feel like I learned about the Yukon, I learned about perseverance, endurance and personal strength in the face of adversity. This was a very impressive read.
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and an adventurous mystery review. I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
If I had the means I would be opening my own book and tea shop, so todays theme is one I really like. I do dream of moving somewhere, opening my own place and have it be wildly successful even in the day of e-readers and unattainable real estate a girl can dream right?
My pick for this weeks theme is a first in series by a Canadian Author I enjoy Vicki Delany. She has a new series to love and get excited about with Elementary She Read. A fantastic first in series, with a brilliant book shop owner named Gemma, a best friend (Jayne) we all wish we had and a mysterious character who I hope will be recurring. This cozy lays the groundwork for what I hope will be a multi book series.
We would all love to hear from you, your thoughts on the book club and on our selections. We invite you to leave us comments below our posts and look forward to them!
Thank you for joining me today for a cup of tea and my Three Amigos Summer Reading Club selection. I love to hear from you so please consider commenting below or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com.
I loved Cat Got Your Secrets. This series by Julie Chase quickly found a place in my heart with the first book in series Cat Got Your Diamonds late last year. I was even more enchanted with Cat Got Your Cash when I got to read it in February and was anxiously awaiting Cat Got Your Secrets! I was so delighted when I was approved to read and review it on Netgalley. This one is out September 12th and I am so excited for you to read it. Like all great trilogies the third book is even better than the first two!
Main character, Lacy is a costume designer for animals, baker and shop owner in New Orleans, from a fell known and wealthy family and yet so down to earth. She has a wonderful employee who happens to have been her Nanny, a devoted best friend who would do anything for her and a love sick younger man who is at her service, if only in the friend zone. Lacy has a great head on her shoulders, naturally curious, smart and connected to the local police detective who she can match with her wit and charm and devotion. On top of all of this Lacy has a quirky family, community obligations and expectations, a mild coffee addiction and the most wonderful costume wearing cat who rides the self powered vacuum cleaner as if it was a parade float at Mardi Gras! There is so much to love about this series and I am delighted I got to read and review it! Now that all three books are going to be out, I think it would make a great holiday gift for the cozy mystery lover in your life and for yourself. Perhaps picking them up for Buy A Friend A Book Day on August 31st! For you friend or yourself! I won't tell! Crooked Lane Books has a winner in this Kitty Couture Mystery series and Julie Chase has everything you need in Lacy's store, even a tiara for your turtle...
Thank you for joining me for a cup of tea and a cozy mystery review I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
What a crazy week that has just passed. I continue to recover from pneumonia and though I am on the mend I am not 100%, I spent Thursday back in hospital with Pleurisy, which is a posh word for inflammation of the lungs and had it been the early 1900's possibly fatal. Thankfully the makers of Advil are my savior this week and I am hoping that I am on the mend. As I write this I am feeling ever so slightly better. The raging forest fires this summer have added to the slowness of recovery with the air quality not being the best for recovering. I try not to complain about it as many people have been displaced and their lives ruined due to these fires and I have only been inconvenienced.
Upon arriving home Thursday a delivery from Berkley arrived, with these two books for September and I am beside myself with excitement at the chance to read and review them. Julia Buckley has become one of my most favorite authors and who doesn't love a great magical cat mystery?
I was blessed to receive to care packages in the mail this week from my friends Lin and Sheryl! Feeling the love this week!
Earlier this week my youngest son and I made carrot soup from all the rainbow carrots he grew over the summer. This carrot and rosemary soup was extra special knowing that he was so proud to harvest his own veggies this summer.
We have been so lucky to have moved to a home with an established orchard of Figs, we have been amazed at the bounty we have received and how much we can share with our friends and neighbors. Our landlords have been kind enough to allow us to harvest and process the figs... I have the most amazing friend who shared her recipe for Fig and Balsamic Jam! It is almost gone and such a treat to have with crackers and cheese, or a turkey sandwich!
Carole shared her D.I.Y book with the recipe in it and we all made the jam. This was the first day I had visitors in two weeks and Squirrel would not leave my side, guarding me and caring for me these past two weeks. On my table and in my cup was the English Breakfast tea my dad picked up in London, the Westminster Abby Blend. Last remaining Walkers Shortbread on the table too. I had lovely visits with Carole, my friend Banafshe and her daughter Rana, who baked me a lovely chocolate cake, Hey-Jung, A-hin, Hoon who joined me for tea and fig jam, cheese and crackers.
My friend Daniela who kindly visited twice with macarons and treats to lift my spirits. My sister, nieces, dad and in laws and puppy niece too! I felt lots of love this week.
There have been books too! I read loved and pre ordered my own copy of Monica Crosson's book The Magickal Family, it comes out in October and this lovely resource guide, self help and pagan life guide was such a wonderful read I can not wait to have it in my hands to refer to often.
VIctoria Laurie, wow 15th book in the series which is out now and a great read, lucky I am to have been able to read this book and its entire series, one of the first I ever bought and still love.
Chime and Punishment by Julianne Holmes I reviewed on Sunday, this was a surprisingly great read and a series I hope will continue.
Jean Flower's book Addressed to Kill the third book in the series was wonderful also. I can relate so much to the main character and love the idea of working at the post office. As a lifelong lover of mail and admirer of those who carry the mail this is a series I just love!
I will have the review of Cat Got Your Secrets by Julie Chase tomorrow. This is a series that earned a place in my heart and favorites list late last year, book three was the best and I am thrilled to have had the chance to read it before it comes out this September.
I also finished From Ice To Ashes by fellow Sisters In Crime- Canada West Member Jessica Simon, I had 4 hours to read it mostly uninterrupted at the hospital on Thursday. Every time a nurse came to get me for a test or to take blood my nose was buried deep in this adventure mystery. I will have this review for you on Tuesday.
Thank you all who reached out this week and over the last few weeks, I am touched by your concern, generosity and friendship. Thank you all who continue to support me by visiting my blog here and the sponsors on the page.
I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com
