Secrets at Maple Syrup Farm

Secrets at the Maple Syrup Farm by Rebecca Raisin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars, really.

Lucy's chronically ill mother can't stand watching her daughter give up her youth and vitality to care for her, so she orders Lucy to quit her job and take a year off to travel, concentrate on her art, and apply to a prestigious art school in France. The last thing Lucy wants to do is leave her mother, but she reluctantly promises to buy a bus ticket for the next bus out of town and let fate take her where it will. She winds up in a small town in Connecticut, where some kind locals take her under their collective wings and help her find a place to stay and a job working for the local recluse who is trying to get his newly inherited maple syrup farm up and running.

Clay, the young curmudgeon she goes to work for, isn't thrilled when she shows up on his doorstep, announcing she's there for the job and that his cousin told her not to take no for an answer. His response is to put her to work doing difficult physical labor for long hours, and her innate stubbornness plus desperate need for money induce her to stick it out just to prove she can, despite having zero knowledge or experience of farming (nor suitable clothing).

For the first time in a long time--perhaps ever--Lucy begins to make friends and have a social life, despite her daily exhaustion. She takes cooking lessons and participates in Girls' Night activities, and when Clay unearths a box of journals beneath the farmhouse floor, Lucy makes an emotional connection to the mysterious author.

Gradually, though they constantly argue and push each other's buttons, Lucy and Clay grow to respect one another, which only fuels the fire of their mutual attraction. However, neither one knows how to trust enough to share the painful secrets and memories each is harboring, and that fear threatens to destroy their fledgling relationship.

It took me a little while to get into this story because I found the beginning rather confusing and lacking in exposition--why was the main character on a bus, and to where, and how old was the woman sitting next to her? I totally thought it was set somewhere in the South such as Virginia or one of the Carolinas at first, instead of Connecticut. Which makes no sense, given the part about the maple syrup farm, but the setting didn't feel...solidly fleshed out, I guess you'd say. I don't typically read for setting, but in this case because so much of the backstory was purposely left mysterious, to be painstakingly dribbled out, the lack of clarity hampered my ability to jump into the novel for a few chapters. I'm sure it didn't help that I read it mostly during lunch breaks at work! Eventually, though, it picked up steam, and I eventually really enjoyed the story.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ebook review copy in exchange for my honest review!

For readers' advisors: Character doorway is primary; story secondary. A little sexual content, but nothing explicit (that I can recall--it's been more than a month since I finished reading).

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The Goodbye Witch

The Goodbye Witch by Heather Blake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Darcy's best friend Starla rushes in to As You Wish, panic-stricken because she's just seen her ex-husband for the first time since he tried to kill her two years ago, Darcy is determined to keep her friend safe. The trouble is, no one else can see Kyle, and how do you defend against someone you can't see? While Darcy's police chief boyfriend focuses on locating the fugitive, Darcy turns her attention to puzzling out why Kyle has suddenly reappeared after all this time. As with everything in this magical village, all is not as it seems, and unraveling the secrets to uncover the truth can be painful in more ways than one.

This is my favorite book in the series so far. The character development is especially strong for a cozy mystery, and I really enjoyed the relationships between all the major and even the minor characters. I admit, I was teary-eyed on more than one occasion! Bring on book #5!

For readers' advisors: character and story are both strong. There is no sex, bad language, or on-screen violence. There is magic, however, as most of the main characters are witches or related to witches. Contemporary setting--a magic-themed neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts.

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The Mill River Redemption

The Mill River Redemption: A Novel by Darcie Chan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the early 1980s, Josie DiSanti flees to Mill River with her two young daughters after they lose everything in a house fire, including Josie's husband.  The trio takes refuge with Josie's aunt, a lovely, generous woman Josie barely knows, and they begin to rebuild their lives.  Twenty or so years later, a tragic accident breaks the bonds of sisterhood.  A decade goes by in icy silence, until their mother's will forces Rose and Emily to live side by side one summer and work together to solve the clues to unlock their inheritance.

It's easy to get hooked into this story and the lives of these characters.  The nonlinear storytelling keeps readers in suspense for much of the novel, wondering what exactly happened the night of the fire and how is it possible that two sisters went from being devoted confidants to mortal enemies?  Eventually I did get a little impatient and wished Chan would hurry it up and tell the backstory faster, as she alternated between the early '80s and present day for most of the book.

The road to Rose's alcoholism was paved with Josie's good intentions, and my heart broke for them even as I inwardly groaned and chided her for focusing too much time on her career--a completely understandable series of mistakes that predictably snowballed into a giant mess.

I haven't yet read the first of the Mill River books--Mill River Recluse--so I'm not sure how much the characters overlap, but I got the feeling with this novel that the secondary storylines must have picked up where they left off in the first book.   I'm hoping the same is true in the next book, since it seemed like there was still more story to tell.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, primarily.  No on-screen sex, but a little bit of bad language.  Many thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook copy I received in exchange for my honest review.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy

The Good the Bad and the Witchy by Heather Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #3 in the Wishcraft Mystery series starts off with a boisterous birthday bash for Harriette, an eighty-year-old "floracrafter," (a witch whose magical specialty is flowers), complete with her signature black roses and an aging stripper. The party is just getting going when Darcy Merriweather discovers the recently murdered corpse of the young man who'd come to deliver the birthday cake. Michael's ghost attaches itself to Darcy, urging her to help him find his killer, but Darcy's snooping puts her in conflict with Nick, her police chief boyfriend, because it gives the jealous Glinda ammunition she can use to threaten the couple.

Ms. Blake does such a good job of weaving together subplots and building 3-dimensional characters--better than many, if not most, cozy mystery authors. That's why my rating for this one is 4 stars, even though I often wonder why someone doesn't just wish to discover the murderer--Darcy is a Wishcrafter, after all, and I don't recall any stated laws of wishcraft she'd be violating. Perhaps Ms. Blake will explain that in a future book? Then again, if wishing solved the murders, these books would be VERY short.

I finally realized what I am picturing in my head when I read descriptions of the Enchanted Village: the set of Gilmore Girls but with a magical theme. Makes me wish it were a real place.

For readers' advisors: story & character doorways are both strong, and setting is secondary. No sex, bad language, or on-screen violence.

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Not the Killing Type

Not the Killing Type by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bob Kelly expected to be routinely re-elected to his role as President of Stoneham's Chamber of Commerce. He never anticipated he'd be challenged, much less by two competitors, including his ex-girlfriend, Angelica Miles, and the owner of a sign-making shop, Stan Berry. And he certainly never expected that Angelica's sister Tricia would discover Stan's recently stabbed body minutes before the voting was to take place!

Tricia's not so thrilled with the discovery either, especially since it seems to be the final nail in the coffin, so to speak, of her on-again/off-again relationship with Police Chief Baker. To clear her sister's name, Tricia once again snoops around looking for clues as to who murdered a man few seemed to know very well. In the process, she must deal with an unwelcome ex-husband who has reappeared and is campaigning to win her back, a new crush who's way too young for her and who may be a suspect in the murder, Angelica's full-steam-ahead battle for the Chamber Presidency, and her duties as bridesmaid for her former assistant, Ginny.

Once again, Lorna Barrett succeeds in writing an interesting story with increasingly complex characters. The slight haze of melancholy which envelopes Tricia is more palpable in this latest entry in the Booktown Mystery series, and I had a hard time shaking off the feeling of loneliness when the book ended. I truly hope she either finds a man who will put her first and appreciate and love her the way she needs him to, or I hope she can make peace with being single. She may need to learn how to put herself first sometimes before anyone else will, though.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways. There's a twist at the end that I didn't see coming. The occasional swear word slips in now & again, but it's pretty mild. No sex or onscreen violence.

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Murder on the Half Shelf

Murder on the Half Shelf by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #6 in the series opens with Tricia lugging Angelica's suitcases up to the new B&B for a sneak-peek stay that Angelica won at a recent Chamber of Commerce meeting. The sisters are looking forward to seeing the new inn...until Tricia takes Angelica's smuggled-in dog for a walk and finds yet another dead body. The night goes downhill from there, including the discovery of a decidedly UN-dead boyfriend from Tricia's long-ago past. The latest murder puts Tricia's current relationship on hold...again...as her current boyfriend, Chief Baker, investigates the crime.

As with the earlier books in this series, the murder plot is interesting, but the meat of the story centers on the relationships between the characters and the developments in their lives. Mr. Everett, for example, is having difficulties communicating with his bride regarding the amount of time she is spending focused on their new charitable foundation. Tricia is struggling to find a new assistant manager to replace Ginny, who's now running a shop down the street. Angelica and Bob's romance is pretty much DOA. And Chief Baker's insistence on remaining neutral for the duration of his investigation is definitely not going over well with Tricia, who is fed up with being treated as a suspect just because she has the bad luck to keep stumbling over bodies.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. There are a few mild swear words every once in a great while, but definitely no sex scenes or graphic on-screen violence.

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Sentenced to Death

Sentenced to Death by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's time for the first-annual Founders' Day celebration in Stoneham, NH, and Tricia's friend Deborah Black has been put in charge of the festivities. However, when Deborah steps up to the podium to give her welcome speech, the small plane which has been buzzing the area with its Founders' Day banner suddenly goes into a soundless nose-dive right into the gazebo where she's standing, killing both Deborah and the pilot instantly. Both the sheriff's department and the NTSB rule the crash an accident, but oddities in the aftermath have Tricia questioning that pronouncement and doing a little sleuthing on her own.

Tricia's love life is still in shambles, her champion assistant, Ginny, is leaving to manage another store, and her sister Angelica is pushing her to make some changes in her own life to break out of her stagnation. I think one of the strongest features of this series is the ongoing character development. Another reviewer of this book mentioned that while she didn't always like Tricia, who can be pushy and tactless at times, she sympathized with her and appreciated the flaws and depth of all the characters, and I completely agree.

Ironically, the main storyline of Deborah's death isn't the biggest mystery in the series at the moment, although I admit the twists and turns were surprising. The true puzzle is the secret of the company Nigela Ricita Associates, which has been buying up or investing heavily in Stoneham properties in the past couple of books. What is the ulterior motive there, and why does Antonio give me the creeps? I look forward to the next book in the series to see if any of that gets resolved!

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. No sex, bad language, or on-screen violence (even the plane crash is only briefly described).

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Much Ado About Magic

Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #5 in the Enchanted, Inc., series begins with Katie Chandler returning to New York City just in time to become embroiled in a propaganda war between her employer, MSI, and their rival, Spellworks. A series of dark spells has the magical community flocking to Spellworks for protection amulets and bracelets, never realizing the whole thing is part of a more sinister plot. Katie's boyfriend, Owen, is working feverishly to reverse-engineer the spells and find a way to neutralize them before they get even more out of control, but it soon becomes evident that a key part of the competition's strategy involves discrediting and falsely accusing Owen of creating the mess in the first place. Even Katie's boss, Merlin (yes, that Merlin), is powerless to stem the tide of rumor and suspicion. It's up to Katie to sort out fact from fiction in time to prevent a corporate takeover with deadly consequences.

I was so excited when I stumbled across a WorldCat listing for one of the later books in this series and realized that although my library couldn't purchase print copies of volumes 5, 6, or 7, we could get the ebooks through OverDrive. Hooray! I love this quirky, humorous series, and I was bummed when I had to stop reading at #4. But now my library has digital access to all seven books in the series, so I can find out what happens in the continuing saga of the battle for control of the biggest companies in the magical community.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character is secondary. There is no sex or real violence, and I can't recall any instances of swearing.

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Chapter and Hearse

Chapter and Hearse by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tricia's sister Angelica has finally published her cookbook, but when her boyfriend Bob Kelly doesn't show up for the book launch party, Tricia offers to go track him down for her. His car is parked nearby, so Tricia walks down the street looking for him in the shops, and just as she approaches the town's history bookstore, she's knocked off her feet by an explosion. Bob is injured, and the store's owner is killed, but strangely enough, Bob is unwilling to speak to anyone about what happened and so becomes the main suspect. Strange incidents keep occurring, and soon it becomes clear that Jim isn't the only target, and Bob isn't the only suspect.

What's most surprising to me about the 4th book in this series is the amount of character development. The third installment in the series has quite a bit, too, and this one builds on that foundation. Tricia's love life is kaput, with Captain Baker backing off to take care of his ailing ex-wife, and newspaperman Russ Smith turning into a stalker. You also get more glimpses into Tricia's family dynamics that have led to her people-pleasing tendencies. Her loneliness really comes through in the tone of this book. I am looking forward to seeing her continue to develop, and I'm hoping Captain Baker's wife goes into remission soon!

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, no sex or bad language.

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Bookplate Special

Bookplate Special by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Tricia Miles, owner of the Haven't Got a Clue mystery bookstore in Stoneham, New Hampshire, finally hits the breaking point and tells her houseguest and former college roommate, Pammy Fredericks to leave, she never imagines she'll find Pammy dead in the dumpster behind her sister's cafe a short time later. Thankfully, this case gets assigned to a handsome deputy, Captain Baker, and not Tricia's nemesis, Sheriff Adams. Nevertheless, Tricia can't resist nosing about, searching for information that might help uncover why Pammy was killed and by whom. Pammy wasn't well-liked, and her death turns out to be quite the complicated puzzle.

There were some surprising twists and turns in this fast-paced cozy mystery. I was able to figure out a couple of them in advance, but I definitely did not guess correctly as to exactly who had done what, to whom, when, and why. This would make an excellent beach read.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, no sex or bad language. This is book 3 in the Booktown Mystery series.

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The Walled Flower

The Walled Flower by Lorraine Bartlett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Katie Bonner and her late husband, Chad, had been scrimping and saving for years to buy the old Webster mansion and turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, but before his death, Chad took their savings and invested instead in Artisans Alley, a struggling craft market. It will take years for Katie to get out of debt now, and in the meantime someone else has purchased the aging home and begun renovations. When Katie takes a pizza over to welcome the new business owners to the neighborhood, she is rewarded with an opportunity to swing a sledgehammer and take down an unwanted interior wall. Taking her aggression and disappointment out on the drywall feels so good, she doesn't even notice at first when her efforts uncover the plastic-wrapped body of a young woman entombed between the studs. The girl turns out to be the niece of Katie's friend Rose. Heather has been missing for 22 years, and when Detective Davenport seems disinclined to work very hard on solving the crime, Rose begs Katie to help find the murderer. Meanwhile, there are vendor feuds to soothe, matron-of-honor duties to fulfill, and a new apartment to find, all before next week.

The Walled Flower is book two in the Victoria Square Mystery series set in the fictional town of McKinlay Mill, New York. Bartlett also writes cozy mysteries under the name Lorna Barrett. Either way, I enjoy her stories. They are good, quick escapist reads. I do wish her main characters had better love interests, though. If you're going to include new boyfriends, why have them be so...unromantic and un-supportive? There is such a thing as too incidental to a person's life--I have no faith that either relationship could possibly survive without serious improvement and communication. It feels like Bartlett/Barrett doesn't actually like men, or at least not her romantic leads, which is sad and frustrating, since I read for character as much as for story.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, and there is no swearing or onscreen sex or violence.

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Bookmarked for Death

Bookmarked For Death by Lorna Barrett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book 2 in the Booktown Mystery series opens with an author event in Tricia Miles' Haven't Got a Clue bookstore. Famous local author Zoe Carter had been signing copies of the fifth and final book in her Jess & Addie series, until Tricia finds her strangled in the restroom. Sheriff Wendy Adams is still nursing a grudge against Tricia and drags her feet on solving the case, but Tricia leaves no stone unturned in the quest to discover the killer and get her store reopened before her employees--temporarily on loan to her sister's shop next door--mutiny.

My favorite part in the book is when Tricia explains that mystery fans are not drawn to the genre because of some ghoulish love of murder but rather the allure of justice being served and puzzles solved, since the real world often lacks these qualities. It is a perfect description of why I love cozy mysteries. Thanks, Ms. Barrett, for putting my feelings into words!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary. No sex or on-screen violence, and I can't recall any swear words, although I might have overlooked one or two.

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