Category: Fiction

Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Walks along the Shore – Kay Correll

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: Walks along the Shore
  • Author: Kay Correll
  • Series: Blue Heron Cottages
  • Genre: Romance
  • Takes Place:  Moonbeam, FL
  • Main Character: Christie, Tony, Jill, Scott
  • Other Characters: Violet, Rose
  • Stars: 5

This was a sweet story of rekindled love along with a Wedding mishap

Christie and Tony are getting married and choose the quaint Blue Heron Cottages as their destination but things don’t quite go as planned. First her wedding planner is ghosting her and her wedding dress ends up being shipped to Paris. Everything seems to be falling apart until her best friend & maid of honor Jill steps up, along with the owner of the cottages, Violet and others in this small town and plan the perfect wedding in less than a week. It shows that if everyone pulls together miracles can happen.

During the wedding planning, the maid of honor, Jill and the best man, Scott seem to have a history that is causing a lot of stress since they are both participants in the wedding party. As much as Jill tries to avoid Scott they keep being thrown together.

This is a sweet, clean story of Community, friendship & rekindled love. I really liked this sweet romance.

When you read it, be sure to download the bonus epilogue to read the rest of Jill & Scott’s story. In the Ebook version, there is a link at the end of the book to join the author’s newsletter. Once you join, you will be emailed the bonus epilogue. It is worth the read.

Let me know if you read this book and give my your thoughts in the comments.

Happy reading

Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Memories of the Beach by Kay Correll

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: Memories of the Beach
  • Author: Kay Correll
  • Series: Blue Heron Cottages #1
  • Genre: Women’s fiction, Romance, Contemporary Romance
  • Takes Place:  Blue Heron Cottages in Moonbeam, FL
  • Main Character: Aspen & Willow
  • Other Characters: Violet, Walker, Tara, Rose
  • Stars: 5

This is was my first book by this author and I absolutely loved it. I read it in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read book 2 which I will be starting today.

This is the best story of 2 sisters who didn’t know the other existed until they both receive a letter to go to Blue Heron Cottages.

Aspen’s mother deserted her when she was 17. She didn’t have the best mother and they moved around a lot, never settling in one place. Aspen’s dad left them when she was a little girl so she never knew her dad. Even when she was little, her mom would leave her days at a time and she wouldn’t tell anyone because she was afraid of being taken away. She didn’t have a good mom but it was all she knew and she was afraid it could be worse if she was taken away from her mom.

Imagine her suprise when she received mail from an attorney that included a letter from her mom telling her to go to Blue Heron Cottagres in Moonbeam, FL . She has a weeks paid reservation there in her name. The letter said that she would find out about her past.

Aspen was suspicious but she had a dead end job so she figured why not. When she asked for a week off of work she was fired so she loaded everything she owned into her car, left her apartment and drove to Blue Heron Cottages.

Willow received an almost identical letter asking her to go to Blue Heron Cottages to find out about her past. Willow’s mom had died less than a year before and she was still grieving. Her mom tried to tell her something important on her deathbed but died before she could say it. Maybe this trip could answer some questions.

This is a story of these 2 women, not knowing about each other and then developing a bond they never could have imagined. Aspen has never had a real family and in Moonbeam she finds family, friends who are like family and even romance.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a good story about family and friendship and then there is also the beach.

Happy Reading

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

A Cruise to Murder by Dawn Brookes

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: A Cruise to Murder
  • Author: Dawn Brookes
  • Series: A Rachel Prince Mystery
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  The Coral Queen Cruise Ship
  • Main Character: Rachel
  • Other Characters: Sarah, Carlos, Lady Marjorie Snellthorpe
  • Stars: 3

A broken engagement, mistaken identity and a killer is lose on a cruise ship. What more could you ask for in a cozy mystery book.

This is the first book I have read by this author and It may be the last. I gave it 3 stars because it took a bit to get to the point. I got a little bored with it because it went into a lot of background before it got to the main plot. Once it gets to the main plot of the story, it moved faster and got to the climax pretty quick.

Rachel’s fiance breaks up with her because he finds someone else. Her best friend, Sarah is a nurse on a cruise ship so she convinces Rachel that she needs to take a 2 week cruise. Soon after boarding the cruise ship, Rachel befriends an elderly woman whose husband has recently died. Marjorie is a wealthy woman and she and her husband use to cruise and they loved it. Since her husband has passed away, she decides to go on a cruise by herself. She had a lot of doubts on going alone but feels like she really needs this. She meets Rachel and their staterooms just happen to be right next door to each other. Rachel takes it upon herself to look after the woman. But could Marjorie’s life be in danger?

Marjorie befriends another elderly woman who just lost her husband as well, so they decide to get off the ship at port together. Her friend is hit & killed by a truck so the question is, was it an accident or was she pushed? Was it a case of mistaken identity or was this woman the target ? There a lot of questions to be answered.

In the meantime, Rachel meets a guy on the ship whose name is Carlos. He is assigned to her table in the main dining room and she finds herself attracted to him. She seems to see him everywhere she turns and sometimes she thinks he may be following her. Could Carlos be a killer or is he as nice as he apears to be.

Rachel finds her self right in the middle of the drama and could find herself as the killer’s target. Once it got to the point, the book took a few twists and turns. I found myself watching to see how many pages I had left to finish the book. it was slow in the beginning but picked up right at the end. The problem is that I love a good who dunit. I like to see if I can figure it out. This one can’t be figured out because the characters came out nowhere at the end of the book. I am not going to finish this series.

If you read this book, let me know in the comments what you think.

Happy Reading

Fiction, Mystery

In My Life by Kay Bratt

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: In My Life
  • Author: Kay Bratt
  • Series: Hart’s Ridge #3
  • Genre: Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Hart’s Ridge
  • Main Character: Taylor Gray
  • Other Characters: Lucy, Sam, Cate, Anna, Jo, Shane
  • Pets: Diesel, Brand
  • Quote: “Make your words sweet. You may have to eat them someday.”
  • Stars: 5

Kay Bratt comes through again with the 3rd book in the Hart’s Ridge Series. I am really loving this series.

In this book, Taylor’s mother, Cate is looking for a job. Even though she has been exonerated, a felony is still on her record so she is having trouble finding someone who is willing to hire her. Taylor has an idea that the people who own the tree farm, just might give her a chance so Taylor drives her over there. When they arrive, the owner’s son, is there to greet them. As he goes back to the house, Taylor hears him yell. They find his brother has been shot to death. Then in the garage, Taylor finds Amos (the owner of the tree farm) has also been shot & killed execution style along with an employee who is also dead.

Now Taylor is dealing with a triple homicide. Who in the little town of Hart’s Ridge could have committed such a heinous crime!!

Shane’s prime suspect in the triple homicide, is the owners other son Danny. He is the one who found his brother shot so Shane’s money is on him. Taylor just can’t believe that Danny would kill his brother, his father and his best friend. There are other unlikely suspects but they continue their investigation to find a killer.

While Taylor & Shane are investigating a triple homicide, Cate finds a job at the humane shelter. She worked with dogs at the prison so this job is a perfect fit for her and she loves it.

There is a lot going on in this story. Besides the murder and Cate’s new job. Against Taylor’s advice, Lucy moves into a houseboat with her son, Cate dognaps an abused dog, & Taylor has 2 men who are interested in more than friendship with her. And could Cate possibly find love.

As will all of the author’s books, she knows how to keep the reader engaged and wanting more. I just can’t put her books down and this one is no different. Each book is even better and I am drawn into these characters.

I recommend this series to anyone who likes a good mystery with suspense, family dynamics, dogs and a little romance thrown in.

When you read this book, there is a link at the end to download a bonus story about Suki and Ian. If you remember, they are the ones that were going to take Lucy’s baby. We never really found out what happened to them after Lucy left that hotel. Read this bonus book to find out.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you liked this book.

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

Cupid and cool jaz by Kathi Daley

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: Cupid and cool jaz
  • Author: Kathi DaleyAmy
  • Series: Bistro at Holiday Bay #3
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place:  Holiday Bay, Maine
  • Main Character: Shelby, Dawson, Colt
  • Other Characters: Duke, Amy, Dax, Abby, Georgia, Nikki
  • Stars: 4

This is the third book in the Bistro at Holiday Bay series. This series is a spinoff of the Inn at Holiday Bay so you will see a lot of familiar characters along the way. As you remember, Shelby is one of the three sisters who received a huge inheritance from her grandmother, who she never knew existed. She also didn’t know about her twp sisters, before this all happened. Shelby decides to buy the Bistro with part of her inheritance.

It’s Valentines Day in Holiday Bay and the Bistro is having a big celebration with a cool jaz musician Duke Armstrong. When Duke is found dead in his hotel room the next morning, Police chief Colt Wilder is called. Duke evidently fell and hit his head on a table which caused his death. But did he really fall or was he pushed? Colt, along with the help of Shelby & Dawson (the bartender at the Bistro), investigate to determine if this was an accident or was it murder and if so, who did it. Dawson had a quite a few enemies so their are several suspects.

I liked this book but not as well as the first two. Shelby mentioned twice that the door to the roof was left open and she was curious as to why it was open but it was never explained. She kinda made a big deal about it so I kept expecting that someone was hiding on the roof or something but I guess it was dropped.

If you like a good mystery with some twists and turns and surprise ending, you will enjoy this book. Like I said, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first two but I did like it and I was surprised by the ending. I am looking forward to book.

Happy Reading

Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

Chasing Sunsets by Rachel Hanna

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: Chasing Sunsets
  • Author: Rachel Hanna
  • Series: South Carolina Sunsets #10
  • Genre: Romance, Women’s fiction
  • Takes Place: Seagrove
  • Main Character: Heath Dutton, Emma
  • Other Characters: Julie, Dawson, Janine, Meg, Colleen, Dixie, William, Tucker, SuAnn
  • Stars: 5

Chasing Sunsets is the latest book in the South Carolina Sunsets series and just like the other books in the series, this does not disappoint. I really enjoy reading anything by this author. She knows how to bring the characters to life so you feel like they are your friends. It always leaving me wanting more

It is always great to catch up with the residents of Seagrove. As we are catching up we are introduced to a new guy in town, Heath Dutton. After the passing of his beloved wife, he traveled around the world painting sunsets. His wife loved sunsets so painting them brought him closer to her, After 3 years, he decided he needed to settle down and he chose Seagrove. Now that he is in Seagrove, will a love from his past help him find love again?

Catching up with the residents , we have come to love, Colleen and Tucker have come home from traveling and They have a secret that Colleen is having trouble sharing with her mother. Not only do they have a secret, they also have big surprise.

SuAnn and her bakery are instant famous.

Dixie is having some health problems.

Janine is learning to be a new mom.

Meg is struggling at her new job.

This author really knows how to bring you into her story. I recommend this book. If you haven’t read the first book, The House, I definitely recommend you read that one first so you can get to know the characters. The entire series is great.

If you decide to read this book, tell me what you think in the comments

Happy Reading!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

The Castle Capers – Kathi Daley

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: The Castle Capers
  • Author: Kathi Daley
  • Series: Tess & Tilly #14
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place: White Eagle, Montana
  • Main Character: Tess, Tony, Bree, Mike
  • Other Characters: Brady, Hap, Hattie, Tess’ mom,
  • Pets: a golden retriever named Tilly and a cat named Tangletoe (Tang for short) and a cat named Tinder and Tony’s german sheppard Titan, Mike’s dog Leonard and the newest member of the family Kody. plus lots of other shelter dogs that come and go.
  • Stars: 3

This is the 14th book in the Tess & Tilly series. I just didn’t like this one as well as I did the others so I gave it 3 stars. I found some of the dialogue repetitious and too much focus about talking about nonsense that just didn’t seem important. So many new characters were introduced that they were hard to keep up with. I will say that the author at least listed the new characters at the front of the book, with a description of who they were, which made it easier to keep up with who was who. Then you kept hearing about ghosts being there but they seem to never appear. I wish she had gone into a little more description about the Scottish scenery. There was too much going back and forth over the suspect list that it got old. The end of the book, left me feeling unsatisfied. I was glad I finished it and could move on to my next book. I hated so say this about a Tess and Tilly book because I love this series and have loved all the other books.

This 14th book finds Tess & Tony heading to Scotland. The new owner for Faulkner Castle, Richie, hired Tony to work on his state of art security system to see why it keeps malfunctioning. Tony’s friend and business partner Shaggy and his girlfriend Shanti along with Tilly are tagging along. Tony & Shaggy plan on attending a video game convention while they are there.

Things are going well and they are enjoying themselves until Tess sees her dad in a local pub . She was going to speak to him, till he shook his to let her know to pretend she doesn’t know him. Tony did get a message from Tess’ dad that they would find something interesting in the south wing of the castle. What they found was a dead body and the plot thickens when they find a second dead body. Does Tess’ dad have anything to do with these dead bodies? The rest of the book just starts going through the list of suspects to narrow it down to who killed these these people and what were they doing in the south wing.

Overall I have loved this series but this book just didn’t measure up. If you read it, let me know what you think in the comments.

Happy Reading!!

Cozy Mystery, Fiction

The Murder Chronicles by Kathi Daley

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: The Murder Chronicles
  • Author: Kathi Daley
  • Series: Tess & Tilly #13
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place: White Eagle, Montana
  • Main Character: Tess, Tony, Bree, Mike
  • Other Characters: Brady, Hap, Hattie, Tess’ mom,
  • Pets: a golden retriever named Tilly and a cat named Tangletoe (Tang for short) and a cat named Tinder and Tony’s german sheppard Titan, Mike’s dog Leonard and the newest member of the family Kody. plus lots of other shelter dogs that come and go.
  • Stars: 5

Another great book by Kathi Daley. This Author just keeps the reader wanting more.

Tess receives a letter from a man named Simon with details about murders that happened over 60 years ago. Apparently Simon, was a member of a secret society who was trying to solve fifteen cold case murders. They were able to solve all the cases except for one. Now he is the only surviving member of this societyand has only months to live. He really wants this last case solved before he dies. This society put details of all of these murders in a journal they named The Murder Chronicles. Included with the letter to Tess, was also this journal, Simon had heard about Tess and her success at solving mysteries so he was enlisting her help to solve this last cold case.

It is a case of a woman who went missing in 1958. She supposedly got a call from her child’s school that her son had been in a fight and she needed to come and pick him up. She didn’t drive so she called her husband and told him she was going to walk to go get him. Something isn’t setting right since the school is about 5 miles away and it was raining and windy. After her husband talked to her, she was never heard from again.

Tess & Tony, with the help of Mike, decide to try and solve this Mystery even though they know, everyone involved is probably dead at this point. It won’t be an easy task but if anyone can solve it, it will be these three.

In addition to this cold case, Tess & Tony are also planning the Spring fling. Over at the animal clinic they had an employee who is quitting so Brady & Tess hire a new employee. There is a man in town who used to know Tess’ dad and he is asking questions. Tess gets a visit from her dad. There is a lot going on in Tess’ world.

If you love mysteries and you love a good cold case, like I do, then you are going to love this book in the Tess & Tilly mystery series. The author takes us on twists and turns to a final climax we didn’t see coming.

Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Holiday

The Ghostly Groundskeeper by Kathi Daley

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: The Ghostly Groundskeeper
  • Author: Kathi Daley
  • Series: Tess & Tilly #12
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place: White Eagle, Montana
  • Main Character: Tess, Tony, Bree, Mike
  • Other Characters: Brady, Hap, Hattie, Tess’ mom,
  • Pets: a golden retriever named Tilly and a cat named Tangletoe (Tang for short) and a cat named Tinder and Tony’s german sheppard Titan, Mike’s dog Leonard and the newest member of the family Kody. plus lots of other shelter dogs that come and go.
  • Stars: 5

The Halloween festival is coming up in White Eagle so naturally there is a spooky old house where a serial killer once lived.

There is a TV show called Ghost Therapist who are coming to White Eagle to do a ghost hunting tour of the mansion that was once owned by a doctor. On his deathbed, the doctor confessed to killing nine men in this mansion while he was doing medical experiments on them in the 70s and 80s. He told his groundskeeper to bury them on the grounds of the estate. These bodies have never been found and the groundskeeper is supposedly dead. Legend says that if you are in the tower of the house, you can see the groundskeeper at night with his flashlight, checking on the graves of these buried men.

People are going to bid to see who is going to stay in the mansion with the Ghost Therapist. The twelve highest bids will be chosen. Tess, Tony, Mike and two residents will also be staying there. During their stay in the mansion, they discover that someone has been living there in a secret room.

While Tess & Tony are at the mansion with the electrician to check things out before the big night, they find a dead body who has been there just a few days. The main suspect is Sam, who just moved next door to Tess’ mom.

What does Sam know about the deceased?
Who is living at the estate and why?
Where are the bodies of the men, the doctor confessed to killing?

Join Tess, Tony & Mike while they solve another murder.

This is another compelling story by Kathy Daley. The author keeps the reader engaged and guessing as the plot unfolds.

If you like small town romance with a side of murder and pets, you will love this series.


Cozy Mystery, Fiction

The Baby Plan – Kathi Daley

Chapters & lattes
  • Title: The Baby Plan
  • Author: Kathi Daley
  • Series: Tess & Tilly #11
  • Genre: Cozy Mystery
  • Takes Place: White Eagle, Montana
  • Main Character: Tess, Tony, Bree, Mike
  • Other Characters: Brady, Hap, Hattie, Tess’ mom,
  • Pets: a golden retriever named Tilly and a cat named Tangletoe (Tang for short) and a cat named Tinder and Tony’s german sheppard Titan and the newest member of the family Kody. plus lots of other shelter dogs that come and go.
  • Stars: 5

This is another great book by Kathi Daley

As we visit the town of White Eagle, Montana, someone is having a baby. Not only that but another baby lands in Mike’s arms. Tess & Tony have a big decision to make. And of course, there is another murder.

Lots of things happening in White Eagle, Montana. Mike shows up at Tess & Tony’s house with a baby in his arms. Where did this baby come from? Tess & Tony agree to take the baby until she can be reunited with her mother. This all involves their dad once again.

Then there is a local resident found dead in the lake. Theo (Tess’ mom’s friend) goes missing so he becomes the prime suspect. There is a mystery surrounding Theo that leads back to Tess’ dad.

A lot is going on in this book and we find out a little more about Tess & Mike’s dad and what connection he has to the dead body, the baby & Theo.

This was another great book in this series. The author takes us on a roller coaster ride on this journey. It is a fun ride with losts of mysteries. I love the way she teases the reader in each book concerning Tess’s dad. He keeps changing his name so we still don’t really know his real name but Tess & Mike know him as their dad, Grant Thomas. He keeps popping in and out of their life 1 or 2 minutes at a time. We learn a little more about him in the book.

I recommend this series and each book keeps the readers interested and wanting more.