Muffin But Murder 3 1/2 stars
 
This book was so cheesy, I could put it between 2 slices of bread and grill it up for a nice sandwich.
 
In Muffin But Murder, book 2 of the Merry Muffins series, Merry hosts a Halloween party that gets crashed by a bunch of people, one of whom winds up dead.  Merry is also dealing with a long lost cousin who is claiming half of the castle, pining away for her long dead husband and a host of other shenanigans.
 
Between the convoluted plot, Merry spending her time either pining for her long dead husband or waffling over selling the castle or staying, the corny romance, the ending (in which the mystery was described to the reader and not solved)  and the dropped plot lines, I'm amazed that I liked this book so much.  I have no reasons for it.  I've read books that irritate me far less that I didn't finish.  I guess it's just that I like the characters so much, and the Western NY setting is so familiar to me that it's easy to settle into the book.
 
Or I keep expecting some of these mini cliff hangers to be solved.  That might be part of it. Actually, since it keeps me coming back, that might just be it.
 
Overall, not a terrible read, but cheesy and a little inane.  But enjoyable.
 
 
 
 

2 1/2 stars.

This had a really good plot, and likable characters but just too implausible to be taken seriously. I'm not entirely convinced it was written by an adult. Teenager, maybe, or a really ditzy young woman who doesn't have social skills.

Sunny Meadows, fledgling psychic, defies her parents (at the age of 29) and moves from NYC to a small town in central NY to start a fortune telling business. She buys an old, haunted Victorian house, and immediately forecasts her first customer's murder. Sunny is then suspected of the murder and is commanded by the chief of police to work with the detective to solve the case and clear her name.

Seriously, if you can get through that synopsis without rolling your eyes, this might be the book for you.

The book read like a teenaged girl's ramblings about what it's like to be an adult, right down to the childish name calling. The whole sexual tension angle between the MC and the detective was contrived and unrealistic, as were a lot of aspects of the story.

The only thing that stopped this from being a DNF was the excellent plot, which was amazingly good. I hear the second book is better, and I'll give it a try, but frankly, I don't have a whole lot of faith in it being better than this one.

Murder Hooks A Mermaid Another Kindle cleanup, I read the first book in this series a year or 2 ago and started this one but set it aside for some reason.  This is a cute series and an easy read, but just okay.  In this one, you're not given any introduction at all the suspects or the victim in the book.  That always keeps me from getting "into " a book.  Without any background, I find I'm detached from the book. 
 
Which, now that I think about it, means that the events, the investigation and the ending are just narrated, there's nothing to engage the reader as part of the story.
 
So, although a good read, I'm going to rate at just 3 stars.  If this review was one of my report cards, it would read, "Not working up to potential." 
 
It would also say, "does not play well with others."  but that's a whole other story.

Murder Sends A Postcard This is the 3rd Meh book in an enjoyable, but Meh series.  There was a little more development in that you actually get to meet the victim before turning up dead, but again, the suspects are not well defined.  There was also very little sleuthing done; instead, Glory again stumbles in on the bad guy and the crime is narrated to the reader rather than solved and all of this keeps me from connecting to the story.
 
Re-reading that, it makes the book sound horrible and it's really not.  It's actually an enjoyable, quick read.  I just wish the characters were developed more. 
 
Glory also needs the parrot to shit on her head every time she misses an important clue that the bird gives her. Which brings me to my next point: the postcards.  What was the point? Why were they hidden in random places in the store? No idea.
 
And at the end, we're treated to finding out about Jake's past, which is summed up in 5 words with no details.  But we were treated to several pages of Glory's Thursday Night Dinner cop-out.  Although the cookies (called Lunchroom Cookies in the book) are very good.  We call them Boiled Oatmeal Cookies (I've also heard them called Top Of Stove Cookies and Peanut Butter Fudge No Bake Cookies) and her recipe is a little different from mine.
 
So overall, a nice, light read but just meh. 
 
And FFS, what kind of 1950s Cabot Cove Cozy Town do these people live in?  Is there some Draconian punishment if they spend the night together after knowing  each other for a year?  I don't even need details, I just need to know you're not all prudes.

After the last book I read, I needed a light and fluffy story to read, and this was just the ticket.  Enjoyable story and a well paced plot with a few twists and turns. 
 
Kathleen once again finds herself at the center of a mystery when she finds the body of Margo, the curator brought in to stage an art exhibit at the library and the star exhibit - a valuable sketch - turns up missing.  Can Kathleen and her supernatural cats solve the crime?
 
The antics of Owen and Hercules were a bit more subtle in this book; I'll liken it to how Koko "helps" solve the mystery in The Cat Who series.  Nothing overt, just nudges in the right direction.  Kinda clever.
 
Overall, an good, quick read. 

Having read the first 4 books in this series, I've already consigned myself of two things; 1 - Brennen will become involved in a case that outside of her purview and 2 - she will have a TSTL moment at the end and that a handsome guy will trot in to save the day.
 
So, putting those 2 things aside, this plot was interesting but somewhat convoluted.  I admit that I had no idea how all the plot lines were going to come together, but they did mesh well.   The pacing was good, fast enough to keep you turning pages but not so fast that you got lost along the way. 
 
I objected to the whole gun control speech at the beginning; not only was it out of place but it's a tad bit hypocritical for an author to rant about gun violence in the US and then have people getting shot throughout her books.  Also, I read fiction as a way to escape reality, I don't want or need an author's politics jammed into a book and this book was chock full of the author's politics. 
 
Overall, not a bad read, but would've been rated much higher if not for the reasons listed above.

Bare Bones Just...meh.  Rambling, meandering and feels like it was twice as long as it should have been.  It was good, but just barely good.  Not bad, but not great.  Just...okay.

Very good for a first in a new series. The plot dragged a bit in places, but I think a lot of that was trying to set the back story, the scene and the characters.  That beings said, it was a bit heavy on the grief thing.  It seemed like there was someone lamenting the untimely passing of the MC's grandfather on every page.  Ok, I get it, it's a bummer.  Stop bringing it up every 5 seconds.
 
Overall, a solid start and an enjoyable read.  This is definitely going on the list of series to watch.
 
 

Book 2 of the Supernature series, Just Walking the Dead is a quick and dirty little story about chasing vampires through the Scottish Highlands. Now, I know you might be asking yourself, since when are there vampires in the Scottish Highlands? The answer may surprise you. The lack of sunshine draws them like flies from all over the world, apparently.

Although only 60 pages, the story isn't lacking in strong characters. I liked the idea of the main character being a vampire who hunts vampires while sipping pig's blood. Lots of humor sprinkled throughout, and lots of action kept the pace moving quickly. The salacious plot involving Pollock and one of the female vampires will certainly raise eyebrows. Hey, I said it was quick and dirty and I wasn't kidding.

Proof that big things come in small packages, Just Walking The Dead is a great sequel to Shot Through The Heart but also great as a standalone short story.

Forensics Only got about halfway through this one.  I've read a lot of the information elsewhere, and this book was poorly organized and rushed through the information and cases. 
 
There are plenty of other books on forensics that are a lot better, many of which are named in the book as sources. I would recommend reading those instead of this book.