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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2440 KP) rated Caramel Pecan Roll Murder in Books
Mar 4, 2022 (Updated Mar 4, 2022)
Hannah Goes Fishing for a Killer
A fishing tournament has come to Lake Eden, which is great news for Lake Eden Inn since it is located on the shores of Eden Lake. Hannah Swensen is out at the inn filling in for their pastry chef, who is out for a family emergency. That’s how she first meets Sonny Bowman, the celebrity face of the contest. Sonny is as arrogant as he is handsome, but Hannah is still surprised when she finds his dead body. Can she figure out what happened?
If you haven’t picked up a book in this series before, don’t start here. Not only are there some spoilers about what has gone on in Hannah’s life recently, but the earlier books were stronger. Go back then to see why people got hooked on the books. For fans, they’ll find this book is a mixed bag. It’s definitely stronger than the last few in the series were, with a little less cooking and baking talk and more time spent on the mystery. I didn’t figure out who the killer was until the end, and there were some decent twists along the way. Since the action takes place at the Inn, we only get cameos from some of the usual characters, which is okay. The characters continue to be a bit thin, but fans will love spending time with them anyway. My biggest issue was the lack of editing. There were several times that a character contradicted something that had happened just a few pages before. It wasn’t related to the mystery; it was just lazy writing and editing. By my count, there are twenty new recipes to enjoy once you’ve finished the book, and they made my mouth water as always. If you’ve stuck with the series, you’ll be glad you picked up the latest entry.
If you haven’t picked up a book in this series before, don’t start here. Not only are there some spoilers about what has gone on in Hannah’s life recently, but the earlier books were stronger. Go back then to see why people got hooked on the books. For fans, they’ll find this book is a mixed bag. It’s definitely stronger than the last few in the series were, with a little less cooking and baking talk and more time spent on the mystery. I didn’t figure out who the killer was until the end, and there were some decent twists along the way. Since the action takes place at the Inn, we only get cameos from some of the usual characters, which is okay. The characters continue to be a bit thin, but fans will love spending time with them anyway. My biggest issue was the lack of editing. There were several times that a character contradicted something that had happened just a few pages before. It wasn’t related to the mystery; it was just lazy writing and editing. By my count, there are twenty new recipes to enjoy once you’ve finished the book, and they made my mouth water as always. If you’ve stuck with the series, you’ll be glad you picked up the latest entry.
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) in Movies
Oct 15, 2017 (Updated Oct 15, 2017)
Amazing fight cinematography (4 more)
Fun gadgets
British manners vs. American straightforwardness
Doesn't take itself too seriously
ELTON JOHN
Just as fun as the first
Oh man. This movie was just as great as the original. I've heard it didn't get great reviews because it wasn't much different than the first, but why does it need to be much different? The first was a hilarious spy movie romp in an almost parody of James Bond movies, and this one was no different. With improbably back-from-the-dead characters, an amazing cameo by Elton John, and the fantastic fight choreography and cinematography of the first film, this one was a winner in my book. It was only marred by some unexpected character deaths that I am very sad about.
It took me a moment to place Eggsy's girlfriend - since she was only in the last like ten minutes of the first movie - but I was utterly delighted when I realized who she is. I was very happy to see that she wasn't just a throwaway character like so many Bond girls.
If you enjoyed the first one, you'll also enjoy this one. I'm hoping there will be a third, as there's still hope for something from this one to not be quite as it seems. And they could rectify that in a third movie.
It took me a moment to place Eggsy's girlfriend - since she was only in the last like ten minutes of the first movie - but I was utterly delighted when I realized who she is. I was very happy to see that she wasn't just a throwaway character like so many Bond girls.
If you enjoyed the first one, you'll also enjoy this one. I'm hoping there will be a third, as there's still hope for something from this one to not be quite as it seems. And they could rectify that in a third movie.
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace, #1) in Books
Feb 21, 2018
***NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***
Detective Helen Grace is lead investigator in what at first seems to be a single unusual murder case, but turns out to be only the first strike by an deranged serial killer. Two victims at a time are kidnapped and locked up with no food or water. They are left with a gun and a message. When one of them is dead, the other will be set free.
Eeny Meeny is a very fast-paced police procedural / thriller story. The characters are not very likable, even the good guys, and that usually would have made me dislike the book. I found it to be very well-written and suspenseful though, and couldn't put it down. The chapters are very short, sometimes as little as two pages, and move between points of view. In another story this might have felt jarring or confusing, but in this case it only added to the tension. I was a little too disturbed by some of the details regarding what the captives went through, as well as with some of the characters personal lives, or I would have rated this higher.
If you enjoy edgy, suspenseful thrillers and don't mind some gruesome details, give this one a read.
Warnings: some descriptions of sex, torture and violence, abuse
Detective Helen Grace is lead investigator in what at first seems to be a single unusual murder case, but turns out to be only the first strike by an deranged serial killer. Two victims at a time are kidnapped and locked up with no food or water. They are left with a gun and a message. When one of them is dead, the other will be set free.
Eeny Meeny is a very fast-paced police procedural / thriller story. The characters are not very likable, even the good guys, and that usually would have made me dislike the book. I found it to be very well-written and suspenseful though, and couldn't put it down. The chapters are very short, sometimes as little as two pages, and move between points of view. In another story this might have felt jarring or confusing, but in this case it only added to the tension. I was a little too disturbed by some of the details regarding what the captives went through, as well as with some of the characters personal lives, or I would have rated this higher.
If you enjoy edgy, suspenseful thrillers and don't mind some gruesome details, give this one a read.
Warnings: some descriptions of sex, torture and violence, abuse
Algerian Chronicles
Albert Camus, Alice Kaplan and Arthur Goldhammer
Book
More than fifty years after Algerian independence, Albert Camus' Algerian Chronicles appears here in...
Middle-earth: Shadow of War
Games
App
Certain that it will help overthrow Sauron and raise himself as a force for good in his place,...
Middle-Earth: Shadow of War
Games
App Watch
Certain that it will help overthrow Sauron and raise himself as a force for good in his place,...
games
Tell Me It's Real (At First Sight, #1)
10.0
Rate It
Book
Do you believe in love at first sight? Paul Auster doesn't. Paul doesn't believe in much at all....
mm romance gay romance lgbtq romance
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Gypsy Blood (All The Pretty Monsters #1) in Books
Nov 19, 2020
193 of 200
Kindle
Gypsy Blood ( All the pretty monsters book 1)
By Kristy Cunning
I'm not all that special, really. Or uncommon. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with old gypsy blood who see the dead, have killer cults hunting their family, and turn into something that gets scary when they panic. Yep. Completely unoriginal, if I do say so myself.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Nope. I'm just an ordinary girl.
I wish people would believe that.
I've been labeled as one thing or another for most of my life:
Death Girl.
Crazy Gypsy Girl.
Gothic Chick.
Monster...
It took my mother's death for me to finally start getting answers about what's really been going on. Unfortunately, most of the answers come from men...who aren't just men. Somehow, I've gone and landed myself in a world truly filled with monsters, and I'm starting to think this is where I should have been all along.
Only...I don't understand what's going on. I'm walking into the middle of a story that's thousands of years old, and I'm the new girl on the block who doesn't have a clue how this world even works. My only guides happen to be the most lethal of the bunch.
They decide who lives or dies. They decide who gets stabbed or tortured.
Yeah...
I've gone and drawn attention to myself, and the ones paying attention are the ones everyone else seems to fear.
How do these things always happen to me?
I didn’t know what to except but found myself totally involved! I love the idea of these alphas and I love her Gypsy powers and how she still has so much to learn! We get to learn with her because this is written so you want to keep going! Anna her ghost is so bloody funny I laughed quite a bit woke my husband several times from sleep! I do think Ace was a bit obvious and she was a bit stupid there but now things get a bit more interesting
Kindle
Gypsy Blood ( All the pretty monsters book 1)
By Kristy Cunning
I'm not all that special, really. Or uncommon. I'm sure there are a lot of girls with old gypsy blood who see the dead, have killer cults hunting their family, and turn into something that gets scary when they panic. Yep. Completely unoriginal, if I do say so myself.
Move along. Nothing to see here. Nope. I'm just an ordinary girl.
I wish people would believe that.
I've been labeled as one thing or another for most of my life:
Death Girl.
Crazy Gypsy Girl.
Gothic Chick.
Monster...
It took my mother's death for me to finally start getting answers about what's really been going on. Unfortunately, most of the answers come from men...who aren't just men. Somehow, I've gone and landed myself in a world truly filled with monsters, and I'm starting to think this is where I should have been all along.
Only...I don't understand what's going on. I'm walking into the middle of a story that's thousands of years old, and I'm the new girl on the block who doesn't have a clue how this world even works. My only guides happen to be the most lethal of the bunch.
They decide who lives or dies. They decide who gets stabbed or tortured.
Yeah...
I've gone and drawn attention to myself, and the ones paying attention are the ones everyone else seems to fear.
How do these things always happen to me?
I didn’t know what to except but found myself totally involved! I love the idea of these alphas and I love her Gypsy powers and how she still has so much to learn! We get to learn with her because this is written so you want to keep going! Anna her ghost is so bloody funny I laughed quite a bit woke my husband several times from sleep! I do think Ace was a bit obvious and she was a bit stupid there but now things get a bit more interesting
Emeli Sande recommended track I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl by Nina Simone in Greatest Hits by Nina Simone in Music (curated)
ClareR (6001 KP) rated Appointment in Paris in Books
Sep 17, 2025
I was on the edge of my seat from the first page of Appointment in Paris - Jane Thynne certainly knows how to set the tone!
This is the second book in The Harry Fox/ Stella Fry series (well, I hope it’s going to be a series!), and set a year after the first book, Midnight in Vienna. War looms ever closer: Poland has fallen, Amsterdam, Belgium and France are next on Hitler’s occupation list.
When a German officer is found dead at a top secret POW camp in a former stately home, and one of the German Listeners goes missing, the worry is that vital information will fall into the wrong hands. Enter Maxwell Knight, Harry’s former MI5 handler. He wants Harry to find the missing listener, and hands the job of the murder investigation over to Stella.
Stella goes undercover as a listener at Trent Park - her fluent German once again proving its worth. She’s a determined, astute, intelligent woman.
I was a little puzzled as I read, as to why the title is “Appointment in Paris”, because most of this book takes place between London and Trent Park. You just need to be patient, though. And then you’ll be back on the edge of your seat.
The attention to detail is what really makes this book: the preparations for war, the blackout, the fear of the refugees, the jazz clubs. Every now and again, a real person form that time is mentioned (Agatha Christie and Noël Coward).
I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t read the first in this series - YET!! But I WILL be! I really like the characters of Harry and Stella, and I’d love to experience their war with them. So I’ll be watching out for the next instalment!
Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
This is the second book in The Harry Fox/ Stella Fry series (well, I hope it’s going to be a series!), and set a year after the first book, Midnight in Vienna. War looms ever closer: Poland has fallen, Amsterdam, Belgium and France are next on Hitler’s occupation list.
When a German officer is found dead at a top secret POW camp in a former stately home, and one of the German Listeners goes missing, the worry is that vital information will fall into the wrong hands. Enter Maxwell Knight, Harry’s former MI5 handler. He wants Harry to find the missing listener, and hands the job of the murder investigation over to Stella.
Stella goes undercover as a listener at Trent Park - her fluent German once again proving its worth. She’s a determined, astute, intelligent woman.
I was a little puzzled as I read, as to why the title is “Appointment in Paris”, because most of this book takes place between London and Trent Park. You just need to be patient, though. And then you’ll be back on the edge of your seat.
The attention to detail is what really makes this book: the preparations for war, the blackout, the fear of the refugees, the jazz clubs. Every now and again, a real person form that time is mentioned (Agatha Christie and Noël Coward).
I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t read the first in this series - YET!! But I WILL be! I really like the characters of Harry and Stella, and I’d love to experience their war with them. So I’ll be watching out for the next instalment!
Many thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the book to read and review. All opinions are my own.