Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Teaser Tuesday: One and Only Sunday by Alex A. King


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"When she shuts the door behind her, the room explodes. A chatter bomb. Kids are ostriches: if a grownup can't see them, then a grownup can't hear them." (p. 54)

One and Only Sunday by Alex A, King is the second book in her Women of Greece series. It was published July 14th, 2014 by Citizen A Press.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #299: The Angels' Share by Ellen Crosby


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

Ellen Crosby pours up another corking mystery with The Angels' Share, an intriguing blend of secret societies, Prohibition bootleg wine, and potentially scandalous documents hidden by the Founding Fathers, all of which yield a vintage murder. 

When Lucie Montgomery attends a Thanksgiving weekend party for friends and neighbors at Hawthorne Castle, an honest-to-goodness castle owned by the Avery family, the last great newspaper dynasty in America and owner of the Washington Tribune, she doesn’t expect the festive occasion to end in death.

During the party, Prescott Avery, the 95-year old family patriarch, invites Lucie to his fabulous wine cellar where he offers to pay any price for a cache of 200-year-old Madeira that her great-great-uncle, a Prohibition bootlegger, discovered hidden in the US Capitol in the 1920s. Lucie knows nothing about the valuable wine, believing her late father, a notorious gambler and spendthrift, probably sold or drank it. By the end of the party Lucie and her fiancĂ©, winemaker Quinn Santori, discover Prescott’s body lying in his wine cellar. Is one of the guests a murderer?


The Angels' Share by Ellen Crosby is expected to be published November 5th, 2019 by Minotaur Books. This is the 10th book in the Wine Country Mysteries series.

Why am I waiting on this one? I find the mix in the first paragraph of the synopsis to be interesting: secret societies, Prohibition-era bootleg wine, and potentially scandalous documents. It sounds like the makings for a really good mystery. I'm hoping that even though it's probably a good idea to start at the beginning of a series, that I will be able to jump in and enjoy this one anyway.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Teaser Tuesday: Christmas Crime by Alex A. King


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"Was I scared? Heck yes. But I couldn't and wouldn't go running to Grandma for protection. I needed to double down on my personal safety. Look over my shoulder more often instead of at my phone. Check the backseat and the undercarriage before starting the Jeep's engine. Floss twice a day." (location 815 on my Kindle)

Christmas Crime by Alex A. King is the 9th book in the Kat Makris Greek Mafia series. It was published March 20th, 2019. 

Now that I'm all caught up with this series I will have to find something else to read. Eagerly looking forward to the next Kat Makris book. I want to know if Marika has a girl as she predicts. I want to know if Kat will choose Xander or Nikos. Will she go back to Greece for good or for a vacation? What kind of adventures awaits her?

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Review: House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

"Once there were twelve of us: the Thaumus Dozen. Now we stood in a small line, my seven sisters and I, and I couldn't help but wonder if there was a ring of truth to the grim speculations." (Loc. 87)

Annaleigh Thaumus is the second oldest surviving daughter of the 19th Duke of the Salaan Islands. Four of her sisters have died. The most recent death, that of Eulalie, triggers Annaleigh to investigate. The more she looks into things, the eerier it gets.  Meanwhile, she and her sisters have been mysteriously wearing out their slippers. 

This is a gothic retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. It has more death and ghostly happenings than the original. And a little romance as well.

Good things about this story include good characterization of Annaleigh. There is a strong gothic flavor. The mystery is interesting and a little different from the original. It has a lovely twist to it.

There were more positives than negatives. My main complaint was that it's slow early on and I had a little trouble getting into it. But, I found it worth it in the end.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It's well written and mostly well done. It's worth a read especially if you enjoy gothic literature or retellings. 

House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig was published August 6th, 2019 by Delacorte.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley. This did not influence my opinion.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #298: Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wicked Deep comes a haunting romance set deep in the magical snow-covered forest, where the appearance of a mysterious boy unearths secrets that awakens the enchanted, but angry, woods.

Be careful of the dark, dark wood . . .

Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even.

Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it’s this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman—the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago—and in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years. He should be dead, but here he is alive and left in the woods with no memory of the time he’d been missing.

But Nora can feel an uneasy shift in the woods at Oliver’s presence. And it’s not too long after that Nora realizes she has no choice but to unearth the truth behind how the boy she has come to care so deeply about survived his time in the forest, and what led him there in the first place. What Nora doesn’t know, though, is that Oliver has secrets of his own—secrets he’ll do anything to keep buried, because as it turns out, he wasn’t the only one to have gone missing on that fateful night all those weeks ago.


Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw is expected to be published November 5th, 2019 by Simon Pulse.

Why am I waiting on this one? I find the idea of the wood seeming to be sentient interesting. I wonder about the connection Nora has with it and what Oliver is hiding in it. And I think the cover is eye-catching. Honestly, I am more interested in the mysterious and magical parts of the story than the romance parts. 

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Teaser Tuesday: In Crime by Alex A. King


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"We were wedged inside his Pagani sports car, which was the offspring of the Batmobile and Herbie. Mario was driving at the speed of drying paint. A snail passed us, and a disabled guy on crutches. During a zombie apocalypse, Mario would be the first to die. He'd never be able to outdrive their shambling." (p. 102)

In Crime by Alex A. King is the fourth book in the Kat Makris series. It was published August 15th, 2016 by Citizen A Press.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Can't Wait Wednesday/Waiting on Wednesday #297: Sharpest Sting by Jennifer Estep


"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event which had been hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we are eagerly anticipating. I'm now linking up with "Can't-Wait Wednesday" hosted over at Wishful Endings.

From Goodreads:

The truth won’t set me free—but it will probably get me killed ...

As Gin Blanco, aka the assassin the Spider, I’m used to having a target on my back. But ever since I started investigating the secret society known as the Circle, that target seems bigger than ever.

Still, I’m trying to relax and enjoy the events leading up to my friends’ wedding when I learn that an old enemy has returned to Ashland. And that’s the just beginning of my latest nightmare. Soon, I have Circle goons watching my every move, but I have no choice but to continue searching for a key piece of evidence against the evil group.

The deeper I dig, the more horrifying secrets I uncover, and the more dangerous things become for me and my friends. Just when I think I finally have a handle on things, a shocking revelation shatters my heart and leaves me with an ugly realization—that betrayal is the sharpest sting of all ...
 


Sharpest Sting is expected to be published October 8th, 2019 by Jennifer Estep.

Why am I waiting on this one? I really enjoy this series. And this is the eighteenth book in the series. I want to see where she is going with the Circle and the shocking revelation that breaks her heart.

What book are you waiting on this week? Share it or a link in the comments so we can check it out and maybe add it to our TBR lists. Thanks for coming by and Happy Reading!

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Teaser Tuesday: Doing Crime by Alex A. King


Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by The Purplebooker.
Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
 Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
 BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and author so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"You want me to piss on him?" Elias offered. "I can reach him from here, I think." His heart was in the right place: in the middle of his chest and slightly left. (p. 114)

Doing Crime by Alex A. King is the third book in the Kate Makris Greek Mafia series. It was published October 16th, 2015 by Citizen A Press.

Would you keep reading? What's your teaser this week? Share it or a link in the comments. Are you enjoying your book? Let us know! Happy Reading!