When Viva Durant hears about a missing treasure linked to a set of silver buttons. She just has to follow the clues and see if she can find them. Her investigation takes her deep into the jazz history of New Orleans, and she has a chance to visit some pretty incredible places.

While she tries to keep her sleuthing a secret, she’s still a kid, so she ends up finding ways to get assistance in some pretty inventive ways. She never gives up, even when she seems to be facing a dead end, and her intelligence and persistence just might pay off.

This Audible Original title is a great listen for middle graders that love to solve puzzles.

Rattlesnake Road by Amanda McKinney was not what I expected. And before I get too far, pay attention to the author’s warning. While some are overdone, this book definitely needs it, so read with caution.

It starts out innocently enough, with Grey Dalton running from the city and her terrible life there. She buys a house on Rattlesnake Road, sight unseen, and starts to clean it up and start over. The people of Berry Springs are incredibly welcoming, especially the older lady in her flashy tracksuits and ATVs that likes to bake cookies. Yes, please. Can I have one of them live down the way from me?

The new house isn’t too bad, but her far away neighbor, Declan, points out some things that need to be done. But there’s also this rich developer poking around trying to buy up all the land in the area. Both men give off some serious danger vibes, but Grey’s mental state isn’t the best, so she doubts all the warnings she picking up at first.

Then she finds some really creepy old letters (trigger warning here) and discovers a girl was murdered nearby and no one knows who did it. With all these stories drifting around, Amand McKinney does a great job of weaving them together in a way that forms mostly complete cloth.I felt like there was a little bit of a cop-out plot point towards the end, but overall, a very well-written book.

The Menagerie by Tui T. Sutherland and Kari Sutherland is the perfect read for any kid (or adult) lover of mythical creatures of any sort. The griffon cubs have escaped from the super top-secret menagerie. And Logan meets Zoe and Blue as they are trying to hunt them down. Sure, he may think they’re just looking for Zoe’s dog at first. But his tracking skills quickly become the very thing they need to find the cubs.

Logan figures out it isn’t a dog, and his cat, Persimmon (I had to give this awesome feline a shout-out), is not happy about the development of learning about these creatures. As the kids track the babies down, they start to realize that all may not be right at the menagerie. Odd things (besides the griffon escape) are going on, and they are on the verge of being shut down.

The Menagerie is full of friendship, unexpected magic, and just a little mystery. Full of magical creatures, it draws across cultures and mythos to build a place full of things to discover.

Scratch, the dragon, is in trouble. He’s on trial for eating the Golden Goose. And while he’s quite happy she’s gone, he swears he didn’t do it. But all the signs point to him. Zoe doesn’t believe that Scratch would (or could) hurt the goose, so she rounds up Logan and Blue to prove he’s innocent.

Dragon on Trial was a delight. While I wish more of the clues had given me a chance to guess what happened before the kids did, I really enjoyed discovering right along with them. It’s quite a twisty journey, and they get to make a new and unexpected friend along the way.

Logan is starting to find his place in his small group of friends. And seeing him discover that feeling of belonging that he had been missing was more than just a little cool. Although I have no idea how they all manage to do “ALL THE THINGS” in the time span in the book. Time flies so fast and things just keep zipping right along.

There is a lot going on in Kraken and Lies, the final book in The Menagerie trilogy, and things are wrapped up pretty nicely. No fancy bow to make it feel like “the end.” You know the characters are continuing on, and the authors let the reader know it (and leave it open for potentially more books at some point).

I didn’t feel as much of that building and growing of the characters in this book. And what developing there was, was really spurred by some sort of magical-type event. And the ultimate villains, I think they came out a little disappointing. They were more comical than bad, and I couldn’t really see them succeeding at much of anything. It made the stakes seem a little less high.

The trail of clues leading to these bad guys was laid quite nicely. Just enough information to keep everyone moving in the right direction. Not so much information that it felt rushed.

And the Kraken – he really stole the show several times. In fact, all the water creatures were amazing, and they played a big role in how the story played out. I loved this ending, and do hope that we get to revisit this world to check in on how everyone is doing.

I fell in love with Jenny Colgan’s books a few years ago, and The Bookshop on the Corner lives up to all my expectations. Nina Redmond is such a darling character! She’s who I want to be best friends with and talk to every day for the rest of my life. Oh, the bookish conversations we could have.

But Nina doesn’t start off in a very good place. The library she works at is closing and being consolidated into an I don’t know what, techy, hyped up, no book place? I didn’t even understand what the place was supposed to do, and neither did Nina. So she packs it all in and heads to Scotland. I mean, why not? And starts a book shop on wheels. Why not?

Now things get interesting. From finding and buying a humongous van, renting a cute little barn/cottage, and meeting some very interesting men while almost dying. This all sounds very exciting (and yes, some of it was very thrilling on the page), the story rolls out slowly like a stroll across the meadow, stopping to birth a baby lamb when needed.

The question of “what is romance?” is the thread that holds this story together. Along with a few snips of what is home, and where do I belong. The questions don’t always play nicely together, but in the end, they figure most of it out.

Mirrorwood by Deva Fagan is an amazing mashup of fairy tale tropes and concepts. Recognizable, but twisted around in a way that made them feel brand new. From Wonderland to Beauty and the Beast, so many seemed to be represented. And it all starts when Fable is blighted (cursed) to always wear another’s face. While this may not sound too bad, the author did an amazing job of showing how mentally devastating this was to her and her family.

Fable’s only real solace is her cat, Moth. Moth couldn’t have been more perfect. He was Fable’s Jiminy Cricket with words of wisdom paired with some general cat aloofness. He was her constant companion and best friend – and I really wish I could know this little furry ball of love.

Vycorax, Fable’s unexpected companion who tried to kill her at first, is a Blighthunter. Sworn to protect the realm and remove all the blighted people. Vycorax begins by blindly following her duty, but when she finds herself stuck in the Mirrorwood with Fable, forced to work together, she has to re-examine her thoughts. Vycorax was another great character that could have easily been the lead character if she had wanted to. She was tough, determined, and utterly loyal once you earned her trust.

The Mirrorwood was almost a character itself. A vast realm cursed by the Blight and slowly disappearing (hello Neverending Story!) The land itself came alive with amazing creatures and a Sleeping Beauty-esque curse that only gets worse as the girls get closer to the castle. I wish the land had felt more vast. It was supposed to be a large area, but the travels made it seem rather small at times.

I really want more Mirrorwood, but if that doesn’t happen, this book does come to a very nice conclusion.

Viva is back in the Audible Original Viva Durant and the Madness of Madame Bouchard. This time, she’s teamed up with her grandmother – who is an excellent detective – to clear the name of the renowned New Orleans chef, Madame Bouchard. Accused of poisoning her diners, Madame Bouchard is in danger of losing everything she’s worked so hard to build.

This case is a tricky one. And there’s a lot more on the line than her previous mystery. But Viva is up to the challenge. It all comes down to the details this time, and Viva will need to pay really close attention.

Another fun addition to the Viva Durant mysteries, and I hope there are more eventually. I could see how this series could get a little addicting to listen to. My only complaint is the breaks between chapters are really really long. Long enough that I thought my device had stopped playing for some reason.

It Takes a Villa by Kirby Blades is a fun mix of contemporary romance leaning towards woman’s fiction. Natalie is determined to make a new life for herself in Italy. And the first step is to fix up the villa she purchased for $1. This is a type of program that I’ve seen run in several European areas, but I hadn’t seen it brought into play in a book before. The biggest catch is she only has a short period of time to complete the renovations. And there is a lot to do.

She is not the only person from the rebuilding program living in the area. She connects with a group of fellow re-builders from around the world. They were fun, supportive, and helped her navigate the first few confusing days in Italy. But she also finds herself relying on Pietra, a local man with a love for old buildings and restoration. And he’s quite the expert on how to get it done correctly.

I found Pietro’s conflict with his father – who seems to never really respect Pietro’s expertise – to be one of the most interesting parts of the story. The generational struggle and possible disappointment of not following where your parents thought you should go as an adult is a situation many can relate to. Natalie struggled mostly with repairing her villa in time to meet the program’s deadlines. And while I learned a bit about architecture, it just didn’t draw me in as much as Pietro.

There is plenty of drama, a little catastrophe, and lots of relationships being built. There were a couple of things that really threw me off. The first was the sudden change from what was reading as a fairly clean romance to a spicier romance. While I don’t have a problem with either, the tone of the book changed and it threw me off. The second was the ending. It just sort of stopped. The resolution was there, but then it just cut off and didn’t tell me the wrap-up. Which is one of my favorite parts.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**