My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

So, here I am, placing a cupcake laced with laxatives on the kitchen counter in the Youth Center in the hopes the thief – who is most definitely not a ghost despite what Anna believes – takes the bait.

 Anna is basically the only baker at Callie’s Cakes… Although Callie will claim she helps with the baking, don’t believe her. She mostly licks the frosting off of spoons and annoys the daylights out of Anna.

 Logan grunts in response. I guess that’s manspeak for okay, I understand.

 “Pumpkins!” Anna shouts before running off into the pumpkin patch…

Several children are clapping and giggling while chasing after her. Their parents look on concerned. I can’t blame them. It’s not every day you see an adult with orange and black tipped hair skipping through a pumpkin patch.

My Review:

This is such a fun and vibrant series of novellas, each delightfully amusing and interconnected yet capable of standing alone, but why deny yourself the pleasure of reading them all. All the major holiday periods appear to be represented in the various installments as well as witty banter, amusing humor, growly alpha men, delicious cupcake recipes, and more than a few mysterious conundrums for the three oddly matched friends to solve.

D.E. Haggerty is actually just plain old Dena, but she thinks using initials makes her sound sophisticated and maybe even grown-up. She was born and raised in the U.S. but considers herself a Dutchie and not only because it sounds way cooler. After a stint in the U.S. Army, she escaped the US to join her husband in Holland. She fled Holland over ten years ago when she couldn’t stand the idea of being a lawyer for one single second more. Turns out Bed & Breakfast owner in Germany didn’t do it for her either. When the hubby got a job in Istanbul, she jumped ship and decided to give this whole writer thing a go. She’s now back in Holland, which she considers home. Sorry, Mom.

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D.E. Haggerty is actually just plain old Dena, but she thinks using initials makes her sound sophisticated and maybe even grown-up. She was born and raised in the U.S. but considers herself a Dutchie and not only because it sounds way cooler. After a stint in the U.S. Army, she escaped the US to join her husband in Holland. She fled Holland over ten years ago when she couldn’t stand the idea of being a lawyer for one single second more. Turns out Bed & Breakfast owner in Germany didn’t do it for her either. When the hubby got a job in Istanbul, she jumped ship and decided to give this whole writer thing a go. She’s now back in Holland, which she considers home. Sorry, Mom.

Join my newsletter for free stories, writing updates & great deals on books here: 

https://www.subscribepage.com/dehaggerty 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

None of those ugly cows would even fit in this couture. It would be as if we asked Miss Piggy to model a new petite line of muumuus.

He knew at the root of the disdain lurked their similarities— neither one would ever acknowledge it. But he also valued his balls, planning never to tell either of them what he really thought.

Are any two men sitting close to one another a couple? Do I need to learn gaydar? How do you tell if they’re just friends? Or more? Is it different than when a man and a woman are dating? What kind of wedding did they have? How do you raise a child in that kind of household? Who makes the bed in the morning if you don’t have a housekeeper?

The Glass family has become a caricature of who we once were.

My Review:

This was my initial foray in perusing Mr. James J. Cudney’s scribblings and I was immediately taken with his enviable word skills and style, as well as being quite astonished to recall that I was reading his debut novel. His writing style had a unique elegance to the prose and was profoundly perceptive and emotive, yet easy to follow.

I tumbled right into this tale as if being pulled into the matchless Glass family vortex of oddly compelling characters with each one as slyly crafted as the next and imbued with compounded issues and a unique complexity. I knew them all so well I felt I had been living in their pockets and had completed an extended stay in each of their homes. My interest and curiosity were fully engaged from beginning to end. I feel compelled to extol his mad skills to the masses – if only I knew masses to tell.

End result – Mr. Cudney has a new and fully rabid fangirl to contend with, I hope he doesn’t startle easily…