Julia Bird’s picturesque Cotswolds life is everything she’d dreamed of. Until, that is, she discovers a dead body in the library…

Julia Bird had imagined the quiet of rural life would be soothing after years in the city, but she finds she can’t just sit still.Determined to throw herself into village activities, she joins the library just in time to attend a talk by celebrated local author Vincent Andrews.

Charming, devilishly handsome and talented, Vincent teases the crowd with a reading from his forthcoming novel. Set in a village bearing strange similarities to Berrywick, with characters the audience start to recognise, Vincent hints of dark secrets to be revealed, to gasps of outrage from the room. The meeting ends in uproar, and, just hours later, Vincent’s dead body is discovered behind the bookshelves…

As one of the last people to see him alive, Julia feels morally bound to help the police investigate. With her trusty Labrador, Jake, at her side, she decides to do her own sleuthing and quickly discovers that Vincent’s personal life is messy, his finances are in disarray and his book sales are declining. But most of all, remembering her neighbours’ faces at the book reading, Julia wonders if one of them could have lost the plot enough to kill…

As Julia interrogates the suspects, she walks straight into another scene of murder and mayhem, and realises Vincent’s manuscript is now missing. There’s someone out there who’s deadly serious about keeping their secrets unpublished. Will Julia be able to stop them, before anyone else gets hurt?

Brilliantly twisty, this completely thrilling cozy mystery is perfect for fans of M.C. Beaton, Helena Marchmont and Clare Chase.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She liked to have her morning tea while she pottered about feeding the chickens and investigating developments in the garden. Touring the estate, she called it.

It had become clear to Julia in the months that she’d lived in Berrywick, that the Buttered Scone was secretly the centre of the entire universe. All people and all information would be drawn into it eventually, as if by some inexplicable gravitational pull. And Flo was the centre of the Buttered Scone.

Nicky looked alarmed, or perhaps annoyed. Julia hoped that she hadn’t just started some inter-generational village feud with the woman– this kind of minor infringement of social norms tended to have more extreme consequences in the village than it would in a town. Julia knew of two families who had ceased to speak a generation ago after a disagreement over the correct pronunciation of the word ‘pronunciation’.

My Review:

This was a fun and lively read that was easy to fall into and follow, yet was also delightfully unpredictable. I enjoyed the writers’ wry wit and cleverly paced storytelling, I continue to find their work relaxing yet engaging while they keep me increasingly curious as to who the possible murderer is among the village denizens. Each character was graced with a colorful description that brought vivid imagery to mind and a smirk on my face while keeping them recognizable throughout perusal.

I had conjured multiple theories, all of which were wrong. I’m not ashamed to admit that these talented wordsmiths are far cleverer than I am. I also gleaned a fun new addition to my Brit Word and Phrases list with come a cropper, which Mr. Google tells me means to suffer an accident. I can’t wait to use it!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

And she wondered why she’d never thought about this day would come. Or stopped to realize how much it would hurt when it did.

Sanganette Gautier-Preston. White. Prim. She incorrectly, by most accounts, considered her size twelve, five-foot-four-inch frame to be petite and her thinking progressive. An aficionado of designer heels and designer purses, she was always overdressed in the classroom full of sixth graders at Harris-Harper Elementary School where she taught. Her hair was blonde and curly, her eyes blue and heavily mascaraed, and her nose, straight, delicate, and usually in the air.

“I don’t think that man knows what he’s saying to you,” Sanganette quipped. “Telling you he’d give you anything you need.” Sanganette let loose a sinister little laugh. “You been single a long time. He might not be able to live through what you can put on him.”

… she was surprised that the service was in a church. Nona hadn’t known her father to be a religious man. She’d only heard him call on the Lord when he wanted the dice to roll his way or when the level in his whiskey bottle was low.

In her time away, Nona had accomplished so much and done nothing. Coming home, she found that things rarely work out like they were supposed to, but it didn’t mean things didn’t turn out right.

My Review:

I struggled with this one while reading, although I consistently appreciated the excellence of the author’s craft. This family and town were comprised of characters who were realistically, deeply, and uncomfortably flawed and often were rather awful, yet truthfully, nearly every family I know of has issues and history just as heinous. Each one was completely knowable, and I was intrigued and annoyed by them in equal measure.

The storylines were perceptively written with provocative and heart-squeezing insights and profound observations that go far beneath the skin, this author must either have Superman’s x-ray vision or magical goggles. While their culture, latitude, and longitude are far different from mine, the characters were exposed and laid bare. Ms. Bentley sucked me in and hit a nerve, I was right there with them.

After I finished reading, I tried and failed to write a review, I couldn’t determine my overall rating or derive an opinion. I ruminated, stalled, and mulled for several days, which is highly unusual. In looking over my highlighted notes, I have concluded that Cade Bentley/Abby L. Vandiver/Abby Colette is an exceptionally talented, brilliantly observant, and perceptive human being.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’m definitely over him– and baffled why I was ever under him…

Also, and I know this sounds ridiculous for a thirty-something woman to say, but it felt so wonderfully naughty, to be breaking the rules. I got a real kick out of it. In a similar vein, I also got a kick out of drinking from my mum’s favourite mug, sitting in my dad’s chair, and listening to his records that no one is allowed to touch. I even allowed myself a cheeky five minutes to touch my mum’s collection of crystal ornaments– basically, all the things I’ve been discouraged from doing my entire life, that I can only do today because no one is here to tell me off for it. To be honest, I’m sure neither of my parents would care about any of these things now that I’m an adult (allegedly), but just let me have this.

I dash to the downstairs loo and check myself over in the mirror quickly. I was eating cheese puffs about half an hour ago and I still feel like I’m covered in orange stuff. I know, I know, it’s unfathomable how sexy I am. How is Rex resisting me?

I tell you what, one thing I didn’t need to worry about, being here alone this past week, was running out of the important stuff like toilet roll or shower gel. There’s a cupboard full of tinned food and bottles of water– something my dad has lovingly dubbed her ‘zombie supplies’– which is supposed to be for worst-case, unlikely scenarios like extreme weather or wars or wars or God knows what– but you better believe she’s ready for them.

My Review:

This was a lively and fun read, laced together with breezy and amusing humor and witty observations. It didn’t matter one whit to me that I was reading a British story occurring in heavy snow during the Christmas holidays while I was experiencing a humid August day in the tropics. The engaging storylines were pleasantly entertaining, easy to follow, delightfully original, refreshingly unpredictable, shrewdly paced, and held my interest throughout. I enjoy this crafty author’s sense of humor and I plan to weave more of her work into my bloated TBR.

About the Author

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Portia MacIntosh is the bestselling author of over 20 romantic comedy novels.

From disastrous dates to destination weddings, Portia’s romcoms are the perfect way to escape from day to day life, visiting sunny beaches in the summer and snowy villages at Christmas time. Whether it’s southern Italy or the Yorkshire coast, Portia’s stories are the holiday you’re craving, conveniently packed in between the pages.

Formerly a journalist, Portia has left the city, swapping the music biz for the moors, to live the (not so) quiet life with her husband and her dog in Yorkshire.

One Hundred Chances
An Aspen Cove Romance Book 21
by Kelly Collins

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I had no idea what my face was doing. In my mind, my eyes were wide with disbelief, my mouth opening and closing like a fish, my nostrils flaring with a barely contained exasperation. But outwardly, I must have been maintaining some semblance of control, because my brother was grinning at me like they’d just presented me with the greatest gift.

A four-year-old had lapped me twice and I officially left the last of my dignity back with my real shoes. I wasn’t going to see it again as long as I was wearing these wheeled bad boys.

Pat did appear to like animals way more than people. I had no doubt that she’d dangle a small toddler in front of an alligator if one came up the street.

I don’t regret giving you my heart, Phoebe. I just wish you’d taken more care with it.

My Review:

No serial killers were harmed, nabbed, or met during this story, although the main character of Phoebe had a somewhat disturbing lifelong fascination with them, to the extent of making them the focus of her doctoral dissertation on True Crime. Can you say, twisted sister?

These cleverly constructed and slyly paced storylines contained an odd dichotomy with an extremely angsty, graceless, and dark main character fleshed out and implanted into wryly humorous observations, heart-squeezing inner musings, a fledgling romance she wanted no part of, smoking hot sensual love scenes, and smirk-worthy comedic scenarios.

Phoebe was an acquired taste and difficult to fully appreciate most of the time as she was a smart yet prickly nerd with a sharp tongue. She was socially awkward and inwardly focused, yet self-sabotaging. I wanted to give her a pinch or ten and smack her with my Kindle more than once. Although she began to grow on me, bit by bit. Alicia Thomspon is a wily and insightful raconteur.