Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend

 

 

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
• First Line Friday hosted by Reading Is My SuperPower
  

 

Today I'm featuring my current read, The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey by Serena Burdick. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover edition borrowed from the library.

 

 

Book Beginning/First Line:  Prologue

This will go on forever, life and death, stretching out over the expansive body of water, chill and slick and seductive against my skin.

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Page 56:  Normally she dated damaged men--capricious and erratic, men who wore their internal scars like fashion, a sexy handicap.

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My thoughts:  Questions abound in this dual timeline novel about two women trying to make their way in the world each inhabits. Evelyn mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead—was it her husband's doing? Abigail doesn't know who her father is—do she and Evelyn share ancestry? This engrossing read has me turning pages quickly, wanting to unravel the family secrets.

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From GoodReads: What if you could write a new ending for yourself?

England, 1898. When Evelyn first married the famous novelist William Aubrey, she was dazzled by his brilliance. But their newlywed bliss is brief when William is gripped by writer’s block, and he becomes jealous of Evelyn’s writing talent. When he commits the ultimate betrayal—stealing a draft of her novel and passing it off as his own—Evelyn decides to write her way out of their unhappy marriage.

California, 2006. Abigail always wondered about her father, his identity forever lost when her mother unexpectedly died. Or so Abigail thought, until she stumbled upon his photo and a message that her great-great-grandmother was the author Evelyn Aubrey, leading Abigail on a journey to England in search for answers. There, she learns of Evelyn’s shocking disappearance and how London society believed she was murdered. But from what she uncovers about Evelyn, Abigail believes her brilliant great-great-grandmother had another plot up her sleeve.

Rich in atmosphere and emotion, The Stolen Book of Evelyn Aubrey tells the story of literary secrets, a family curse and the lengths women will go to take charge of their future.  

 

 

 

 

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This Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com. It cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend

 

 

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
• First Line Friday hosted by Reading Is My SuperPower
  

 

Today I'm featuring my current read, The Villa by Rachel Hawkins. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

 

 

 

Book Beginning/First Line:  Somewhere around the time she started calling herself "Chess," I realized I might actually hate my best friend.

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Page 56:  It feels a little like one of those nights now, the two of us alone in this quiet house. But instead of the sad little duplex with its peeling linoleum and secondhand furniture, we're in a villa, an Italian villa Chess was able to rent, because despite her kind of dysfunctional and sad childhood, she's done . . . this. All of this.

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My thoughts:  The Villa is told in dual timelines, both of which revolve around a house in Italy. In the 1970's, it was the site of a sensational crime. This past history captures the imagination of one of its current summer residents, an author with a case of writer's block, who is sharing the villa with her childhood friend who is a more successful author. I'm one hundred pages in and the suspense is building, with relationship parallels between the two sisters from that fateful summer and the two best friends in the present. The sisters experienced some dark things--will the friends share a similar outcome? Having read other novels by Rachel Hawkins, I'm wondering what is in store for these two friends––and for readers.

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From GoodReads:  From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls' trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.

 

 

 

 

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This Friday Focus: Bookish Memes to Start the Weekend post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com. It cannot be republished without attribution.

 

Great Escapes Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway: Digging Up Daisy by Sherry Lynn

 

Today I'm participating in the Digging Up Daisy Blog Tour. In this post you'll find book and author information along with my review.  And be sure to enter the giveaway below. 

 

About the book . . .

 

 

Digging Up Daisy (A Mainely Murder Mystery)

 Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Maine
Berkley (April 4, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593546652
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593546659
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B8GQNCBY
 

 

Synopsis . . .  In a fresh new Maine-set cozy from author Sherry Lynn, Kinsley Clark must root out a killer before the killer roots out her.

At twenty-nine, Kinsley Clark is living the dream life she always envisioned for herself. She’s the proud owner of SeaScapes, a thriving landscaping company in wealthy Harborside, set on the rugged coast of southern Maine. Kinsley’s veins are filled with salty air, a myriad of colors, and the fragrance of fresh blooms. But one afternoon, while working at her aunt Tilly’s bed-and-breakfast, the Salty Breeze Inn, Kinsley digs up more than she bargained for—a high-heeled shoe. The once sparkly shoe, now caked in mud, is linked to a case the police had appropriately dubbed the “Cinderella Murder.”

Kinsley panics. Does this mean that her aunt and the inn are somehow connected to this murder? Will it scare away potential guests? Will it subject the inn to a rush of bad press? With Aunt Tilly’s reputation, and possibly her safety, on the line, Kinsley digs deeper into the crime to find out what the shoe was doing on her aunt’s property and who murdered Cinderella, whose real name is Daisy. As she investigates, more suspects rise to the surface, and eventually, Kinsley has to weed out a killer.

 

My review . . . Landscaper Kinsley Clark lives in the caretaker's cottage on her Aunt Tilly's ocean view property, a bed-and-breakfast known as the Salty Breeze Inn. Her life is relatively tranquil, revolving around her landscape designs and time spent with friends and neighbors. In the lead up to the town's annual Walk Inns, its open house tour of local bed-and-breakfasts, Kinsley finds herself in unusual circumstances. She's been sprucing up plantings all over town in advance of the event only to find that her efforts are being sabotaged, leaving all of her beautiful flora and fauna wilting and dying. Further complicating issues, Kinsley discovers a lady's high heel buried beneath the shrubbery in Aunt Tilly's garden. Once it's established that the shoe belonged to Daisy Davis, the victim of a recent unsolved murder, Kinsley is concerned that this finding will bring negative publicity to the inn and suspicion to Aunt Tilly's doorstep. Kinsley feels obligated to protect her aunt's reputation and find the killer.

Kinsley enlists her best friend Becca and local detective Rachel Hayes to solve the mystery of Daisy's death. Who killed Daisy and why? Will Kinsley expose the truth before she herself becomes the next victim?

Digging Up Daisy, the first book in the Mainely Murder cozy mystery series, introduces readers to a lively cast of characters. The author hints at several motives and possible suspects, playing up mysterious connections between characters that keep readers engaged in unraveling the clues until the book's final pages. Protagonist Kinsley and her close circle of friends and family are relatable, and the ruggedly beautiful setting is the kind of inviting community that cozy readers will enjoy returning to time and time again.

 

Giveaway . . .  Enter for a chance to win a print copy of Digging Up Daisy by clicking this link.

 

About the author . . .  Sherry Lynn spent countless summers on the coast of Maine, knowing she’d one day return to write about the magical location from her youth. Curious by nature, sleuthing became the perfect fit for her, and she has written multiple cozy mystery series under several pseudonyms. Currently, Sherry lives in the Midwest with her husband, but she dreams about one day retiring oceanside with a good book in her hand.

 

Author links . . .

PenguinRandomHouse: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/708881/digging-up-daisy-by-sherry-lynn/

Website: https://www.sherrylynnbooks.com/

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

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/23043674.Sherry_Lynn

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

 

Purchase links . . . Amazon – B&N – Kobo

 

 

Tour participants . . . 

April 3 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

April 5 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

April 5 – ebook addicts – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

April 5 – Novels Alive – REVIEW

April 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT WITH EXCERPT

April 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

April 6 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

April 7 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

April 7 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

April 8 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT WITH RECIPE

April 8 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

April 9 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 9 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT WITH RECIPE 

April 10 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 10 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

April 11 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 11 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

April 12 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW

April 12 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

 

 

 

Note . . . I received an advance readers copy of Digging Up Daisy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

This Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the Book Club Librarian blog. It cannot be republished without attribution.

Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring a recent read, The Winter Guest by W.C. Ryan. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover edition borrowed from the library.

 

 

 

 

Beginning:  Kilcolgan House stands at the end of the long drive, caught by a moment of moonlight. Its granite walls, slick with the earlier rain, shine silver; its roof glows; its many large windows are like mirrors to the sky.

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Page 56:  In his absence, it seems to Harkin that the shadows in the room grow closer.

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My thoughts:  The Winter Guest is an atmospheric murder mystery set in Ireland during the country's civil war. When Maud Prendeville, rebel and IRA hero of the 1916 Easter Rising against British forces, is murdered in an IRA ambush on the grounds of her family's home, Tom Harkin, undercover IRA intelligence officer and Maud's former fiancé, is sent from Dublin to investigate.

Who killed Maud? The IRA claim she survived the ambush and wasn't their target. Is the murderer a member of the British army, or was a friend, neighbor, relative, or spurned lover responsible? Can Tom extract justice for Maud despite being haunted by his memories of her and being impaired by flashbacks from his time in the trenches during World War I?

Kilcolgan House, the once-opulent manor where much of the story takes place, is a prominent presence, with ghosts and shadows lurking around every corner. Behind the scenes machinations and the revelation of well-kept secrets move the plot along at a good pace, leading to an unexpected conclusion.

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From GoodReads:  January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in sea mist, lies half empty and filled with ghosts, both real and imagined, while it shelters the surviving members of the Prendeville family. Then, when an IRA ambush goes terribly wrong, Maud Prendeville, Lord Kilcolgan’s eldest daughter, is killed, leaving the family reeling. Yet the IRA column behind the attack insists they left her alive, that someone else must be responsible for her terrible fate. Captain Tom Harkin, an IRA intelligence officer and Maud's former fiancé, is sent to investigate. He becomes an unwelcome guest in this strange, gloomy household.

Working undercover, Harkin must delve into the house's secrets—and discover where, in this fractured, embattled town, allegiances truly lie. But Harkin too is haunted by the ghosts of the past and by his terrible experiences on the battlefields. Can he find the truth about Maud's death before the past—and his strange, unnerving surroundings—overwhelm him?

The Winter Guest is a gripping and immersive read for fans of classic mysteries by the likes of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers along with Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge series, Ann Cleeves, and Jacqueline Winspear.

 

Great Escapes Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway: Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters

Today I'm participating in the Murder in Postscript Blog Tour. In this post you'll find book and author information along with my review.  And be sure to enter the giveaway below.

 

About the book . . .

 

Murder in Postscript (A Lady of Letters Mystery)

 Historical Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Victorian London, 1860
Berkley (March 28, 2023)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593548760
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593548769
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B5D5HW3K
 

 

Synopsis . . . When one of her readers asks for advice following a suspected murder, Victorian countess Amelia Amesbury, who secretly pens the popular Lady Agony column, has no choice but to investigate in this first book in a charming new historical mystery series.

Amelia Amesbury—widow, mother, and countess—has a secret. Amelia writes for a London penny paper, doling out advice on fashion, relationships, and manners under the pen name Lady Agony. But when a lady’s maid writes Amelia to ask for advice when she believes her mistress has been murdered—and then ends up a victim herself—Amelia is determined to solve the case

With the help of her best friend and a handsome marquis, Amelia begins to piece together the puzzle, but as each new thread of inquiry ends with a different suspect, the investigation grows ever more daunting. From London’s docks and ballrooms to grand country houses, Amelia tracks a killer, putting her reputation—and her life—on the line. 

 

My review . . . Lady Amelia Amesbury became a widow at the tender age of 25, after a two-month marriage. Convention has required a two-year mourning period that has Amelia dressing in black and refraining from social activities. Until recently, the only bright spot in Amelia's life has been her ten-year-old niece Winnifred, the budding piano prodigy Amelia promised her late husband she would raise as a daughter. That is, until Amelia is offered the chance to anonymously write the Lady Agony column in her childhood friend's penny newspaper. Most of the letters she responds to relate to social conduct and relationships, and Amelia cheerfully doles out common sense answers laced with wit and solid advice. Things take a more serious turn, however, when she receives a letter from a maid who thinks her employer was murdered. Amelia agrees to meet the maid, but before she is able to interview her, the maid meets the same fate as the lady she served.

Not one to shy away from an intriguing mystery, Amelia recruits her closest female friend Kitty and her late husband's friend Simon Bainbridge to assist in the investigation. As their inquiry proceeds, the elusive killer strikes again and Amelia begins to receive threatening letters warning her to stop her investigation or risk personal harm. Will Amelia expose the killer before she becomes the next victim? Can she do so without her identity as Lady Agony being revealed?

Murder in Postscript is a delightful beginning to a new historical cozy mystery series set in Victorian London. Its engaging plot is filled with a healthy dose of red herrings and upstairs/downstairs characters. The banter between protagonist Lady Amesbury and Marquis Bainbridge is scintillating and hints at the possibility of a future romance between two characters who have each suffered a devastating personal loss. And, best of all, after the murders are solved, the author uses a very clever hook to leave readers craving more. The series is off to a solid start, with great potential for a long run.

 

Giveaway . . . Enter for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card by clicking this link.

 

About the author . . .  Mary Winters is the author of Murder in Postscript, the debut novel in A Lady of Letters Mystery series. A longtime reader of historical fiction and an author of two other mystery series, Mary set her latest work in Victorian England after being inspired by a trip to London.

© Julie Prairie Photography 2016

 

Since then, she’s been busily planning her next mystery—and another trip! Find out more about Mary and her writing at marywintersauthor.com.

 

Author links . . .

Website: http://www.Marywintersauthor.com
Blog: http://www.Marywintersauthor.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/marywintersauthor
Instagram: http://www.Instagram.com/marywintersauthor
GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61391814-murder-in-postscript

 

Purchase links . . .

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Bookshop
IndieBound
Audible

 

 

 

Tour Participants . . .

March 28 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

March 28 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

March 29 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT

March 29 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 30 – Elza Reads – REVIEW

March 30 – Novels Alive – REVIEW – SPOTLIGHT

March 31 – View from the Birdhouse – REVIEW

March 31 – Diane’s Book Journal – REVIEW

April 1 – Just Another Teen Reading Books – REVIEW

April 1 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

April 2 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

April 2 – The Mystery Section – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – Lisa Ks Book Review – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – Book Club Librarian – REVIEW

April 4 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW

April 5 – Baroness Book Trove – REVIEW

April 5 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

April 6 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – Reading, Writing & Stitch-Metic – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

April 8 – Guatemala Paula Loves to Read – REVIEW

April 8 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

April 9 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 9 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves – SPOTLIGHT

April 10 –The Mystery of Writing – REVIEW

April 10 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

 

 

 

Note . . . I received a complimentary copy of Murder in Postscript from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

This Blog Tour, Review, and Giveaway post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the Book Club Librarian blog.  It cannot be republished without attribution. 

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph

 

 It's Tuesday . . . time for . . . 

. . . First Chapter ~ First Paragraph Tuesday Intros . . . hosted by Yvonne at Socrates' Book Reviews, where bloggers share excerpts from a book they have read, are currently reading, or are planning to read.

 

Today I'm featuring a recent blog tour read, Murder in Postscript by Mary Winters, the debut book in the A Lady of Letters cozy mystery series. The excerpt shared is from an advance eBook copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

 

 

  

First Chapter:  London, England, 1860

 

Amelia Amesbury hated to admit it, but she was bored. Mind-numbingly bored. She supposed this was what contentment felt like: a beautiful young charge, bless her heart, playing the pianoforte; a governess, prim and proper, turning pages; and three tiers of cakes to choose from in a tastefully papered drawing room. But if she were so content, why was she itching for the afternoon's post?

 

 

What do you think?  Would you continue reading?

 

The opening paragraph sets the coziest of scenes, as does the gorgeous book cover. I really enjoyed this engaging cozy mystery, which is set in Victorian London. It has the right balance of mystery, romance, and upstairs/downstairs characters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This First Chapter~First Paragraph post was originally composed and/or compiled by Catherine for the Book Club Librarian blog.