A Cyclist's Guide to Crime and Croissants

I've read so many great new series recently! Here's one!

Sadie's best friend is killed in a hit and run accident so she has a mid-life crisis and buys a cycling tour company in France and leaves. All of this back story is sprinkled throughout the book. The story really picks up 9 months after Sadie has moved to France and her old boss and his family come for a cycling tour and to see how Sadie's new life is. The interesting part is that Sadie has known her old boss and his family almost her whole life and grew up in their carriage house.

Between some vandals that are targeting Sadie and the family friends trying to lure her back to the states, Sadie is having a hard time keeping the group on track while also trying to make sure that the blogger on this trip is having a grand time so as to leave her a good review which could make or break her new venture.

This was a lovely start of a cozy mystery series and made me feel like I could go on a cycling tour in France despite not enjoying cycle classes at the gym at all! Isn't that the way good books make you feel? Like you can be immersed in whatever is happening on the pages? Also, there is a lot of discussion of croissants and I had to be strong to not buy all of the croissants and pastries in the vicinity of my house.

Can't wait for the next in the series! Five stars!

Summers at the Saint

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my honest review.*

I really expected a light summer beach read from this book and author and I was surprised to find a death and some shady business practices that needed to be resolved.

Traci Eddings was born an Ain't and then married into the Saint family - The Saint Cecelia being a local resort on the coast of Georgia. After Traci's husband died, he left the hotel to her and she has had to run it with her late husband's family watching her and breathing down her back. And this summer, things are really going downhill fast with workers leaving and Traci having trouble finding replacements. Until she has the idea to create a dormitory where some of the workers can stay for free on the grounds for the summer season. When tragedy strikes her own family, Traci struggles to hold on to control.

Some of the things going on with the hotel, I could spot were issues right away. I think that this was a lighter mystery for the beach fans. I really enjoyed the pacing and the bit of suspense of what happened 20 years ago when a boy drowned in the pool and what happened in the current summer with the deaths and complaints being received. And the multiple POVs did not detract in any way from the story. A solid 5 stars!

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice

 

Five whole stars from me! Seriously, why haven't you started this series?

I love love love this series!!

Everything just flows together and just when you think that Fin and Vero are going to be found out, something swoops in and saves their asses. Things seem to come full circle in this book from the previous 3. I don't think that you need to read the first 3 t5o enjoy this one, but I don't know why you wouldn't want to read the first 3 because they are hilarious!

Fresh out of their stint at the Police training academy and the fire that ended the stay there, Fin and Vero are headed to Atlantic City with the kids, the ex-husband and Fin's mom for a girls weekend. 

I really have no idea where Cosimano comes up with her ideas, but I hope that the ideas don't stop because I love this series!!

Lessons in Chemistry

What a sometimes heartwarming and maddening novel all at the same time. All I can say is thank goodness I wasn't born in this age where I would have been stuck as a homemaker. 

I feel like I am very late to the party with finishing this book, but it was worth it. Elizabeth Zott is a scientist in the US in the 1950s and struggling with the misconception that women should be in the home and only in the home. What an incredible story that was told with plain speak matter of factness and not preachy at all. It simply and concisely explained the societal expectations surrounding men and women in the 1950s.

I will be watching the Apple+ series soon, but I am sure that it will not live up to the book as most movies and books based on best sellers do not. But I will watch just to see the live action Mad Zott. And six thirty, the dog.

Write more, Bonnie Garmus! Five stars!

A Smoking Bun

Also published in February, this was a nice cozy from a new to me author! Four stars!

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and St. Martin's Paperbacks for my honest review.*

Jules and Carlos are hosting Carlos' ex and her family for a few days at New Year's and Jules is excited to be spending time with the whole family and showing them Mount Ashford. they take a midnight snow shoe excursion that is interrupted by a rude party pushing past them. The next day, there is a Downhill Dummy event and everyone is having a grand time until someone is killed by a dummy. So Jules investigates the death that might be a murder or might just be an accident.

What a cast of characters! This was my first time reading Ellie Alexander and I was surprised to see it was the 18th book in the series. I have a lot of catching up to do!

I enjoyed the descriptions of the events and the mountain! And the employees of Torte - seems like there could be a lot of side stories there. Even from not reading the prior books in the series, I didn't feel like I missed anything and I enjoyed what character development there was with the family from Spain and all of the employees in the bakery. I felt like the pacing of the mystery and all of the other happenings in the town were spot on and the re-hashing of the mystery every few chapters was great to keep up on the details that were important.

I will be reading the series to catch up soon!