Movie Review: Signed, Sealed, Delivered - To the Moon and Back

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love in another fun, uplifting movie

Cons: All cons left on the moon

The Bottom Line:

Given vague letter

Trail leads through a pop singer

Love these characters

“Don’t Forget to Take a YooHoo for the Road.”

I finally made it.  I’ve caught up on the Signed, Sealed, Delivered franchise.  (Of course, if I’d watched a little more consistently from when I first started, I would have been caught up a while ago, but we won’t go there.)  The newest in Hallmark’s long running movie series is To the Moon and Back, and it’s another winner.

We connect with our main characters are they are getting together for a celebratory brunch on a Saturday.  Both couples have big news to share.  To the surprise of none of the fans, both Shane (Kristin Booth) and Rita (Yan-Kay Crystal Lowe) are pregnant.  (And the fans are thrilled.  Or at least this one is.)  The celebration all around is cut short when they are given a letter that was found in the restaurant where they are celebrating.  There are no names and only part of an address.  But a reference to a song makes them look at a singer who is putting on a performance in Las Vegas soon.

So Norman (Geoff Gustafson) suggests a road trip in the motorhome again.  Meanwhile, Oliver (Eric Mabius) is dealing with his impending fatherhood by contemplating his relationship with his father (Gregory Harrison) and the birth father he never met.

Will the pop star be able to help them find the writer of the letter?  Why is it so vague?

I will say, my initial guess as to why the letter writer was so vague was wrong.  The reason made sense when we learned it, and that story reaches a bittersweet conclusion.  It was the right conclusion.  I would have loved to know a little more about what happened next to the characters, but I appreciated how everyone handled things.  And I loved that the movie went out of the way to add some sweet to the ending for the characters.

As for the main characters, it is always wonderful to check in with them and see the next chapter of their lives.  Oliver really gets a chance to shine in this one.  He and his father have several great scenes, but there is a one particular long scene of just the two of them that is powerful.

Speaking of powerful, there’s also the theme of second chances.  Granted, that’s been a theme of the series as a whole, but it really hits here.  And it’s important to remember that one moment or one decision doesn’t define a person’s life.  Yes, there are still consequences, but it isn’t the last word in that person’s life.

There are some signs that this might be the final movie in the series.  None others have been produced at this point at a minimum.  If the series were to end here, it would have gone out on a high note.  Having said that, I am so invested in these characters lives, I want to know what happens to them next.  And we've had some multi-year breaks between movies in the past, so anything is still possible.  Which is kind of the theme of the franchise.

Fans who have traveled this road with Oliver, Shane, Norman, and Rita will happily join them To the Moon and Back.  This movie once again delivers the heartfelt encouragement we’ve come to know and treasure.

November 9th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this weekend's Sunday/Monday Post.  I'll be linking us to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It was month end close at work this week, made more fun by a request from the auditors that has been a pain to pull together and a network that wasn't cooperating with us working from home on Monday.  Fortunately, the network issues were resolved when we went into the office starting Tuesday, and they didn't seem to be an issue when we went back to home on Friday.  (We are only in the office Tuesday to Thursday normally.)  And we finally got the auditors what they needed at the end of the day on Friday.  Hopefully, they won't come back with questions on it.

I'm typing this in the middle of a busy/fun weekend.

It all started Friday night with a Tenth Avenue North concert.  They are a Christian band I like, and they were in Thousand Oaks, which is drivable after work on a Friday.  So I headed out.  It was a great concert.  I wasn't ready for it to be over when it was done, in fact.  And I really enjoyed one of their warm up acts - Land of Color.  I bought their new CD, which doesn't come out until Tuesday.  It looks like most of their releases are digital only.  Unfortunately, since I thought that was something to add to my Christmas list.

I got home late Friday night, or should I say early Saturday morning.  But I couldn't sleep in since my small group from church was cleaning the church on Saturday.  So I got up and met them there.

Now, I'm getting this post ready to go before I head over to my friends' for their monthly game day.  I can't stay as late as I normally do (which is often between eleven and twelve) this month.

And why is that, you may be asking?  Because I'll be back at church earlier than normal on Sunday because I'm running the PowerPoint during the service.

As I said, a busy but fun weekend.

Joke of the Week:

Why haven't aliens visited our solar system? They looked at the reviews and saw only 1 star.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - TV Show Review: Mistletoe Murders - Season 1

Tuesday - Book Review: Crescent City Christmas Chaos by Ellen Byron

Wednesday - Movie Review: Now You See Me

Thursday - Book Review: The Devil Comes Calling by Annette Dashofy

Friday - Movie Review: Holiday Mismatch

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Signed, Sealed, Delivered - To the Moon and Back

Tuesday - Book Review: Player Elimination by Shelly Jones

Wednesday - TV Show Review: Only Murders in the Building - Season 5

Thursday - Book Review: This Way to Murder by Shelley Shearor

Friday - Movie Review: Sugarplummed

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

I thought I was going to have only one book to talk to you about this week.  But when I snag a second one at the concert last night.

The first book?  This is Not a Game by Kelly Mullen.  It crossed my radar recently, and then the Kindle version went on sale.  Yep, I fell for it as always.  And it's still on sale if you think it is something you might like.  This sounds like it could be a fun book.  Or it could turn out to be something I'm not that interested in.  But on sale, I decided to take a chance on it.  That is, if I ever figure out how to squeeze it into my reading schedule.

Mike Donehey, lead singer for Tenth Avenue North, has written a couple of non-fiction books.  I got one a few years back, but I bought Grace in the Gray last night.  It's about learning how to disagree, which is a skill I am losing.  And I appreciate his insights on other things, so I think I will enjoy it.

What I'm Currently Reading:

I snuck in a middle grade book this week.  Framed! is the first in a three book series from James Ponti.  He's an author I usually enjoy, and this book was no exception.  The main character has trained himself to observe small details, and he winds up using it to help the FBI with a major art theft.  It's an older series, and now I need to go back and get the other two books in the series.

Now, I'm working on Murder at Cottonwood Creek by Clara McKenna.  This is the seventh Stella and Lyndy Mystery, and it's set in the early 1900's.  Usually, the books take place in England, but this one will bring them to America, specifically Montana.  I'm not too far into it yet, but so far, I'm enjoying it.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

November 8th's Weekly TV Thoughts

You'll notice a big show not on my list.  Yes, Happy's Place was back for season 2 Friday night.  Finally!  But I wasn't home Friday night to watch it.  Don't worry, I'll catch up next week.

But here's what I did watch this week.

TV Shows We Love – I never watched The Honeymooners.  I may have seen a couple of scenes here or there.  But I’ve heard about it for years, so I enjoyed hearing about the history of the show.  So much I didn’t know.  Now, I’m kind of curious to watch the show sometime.

Celebrity Weakest Link – That was at once the funniest and the most painful thing I have watched in a while.  They just couldn’t seem to get any right answers.  Were there two rounds without banking any money?  But how much they were laughing and ribbing each other was fun to watch.

Dancing with the Stars – Well, that was disappointing.  I’ve been rooting for Danielle, even voting for her.  I’m not surprised she got eliminated before the finals.  But yes, Andy should have gone home before her.  Some fun dances tonight, and the team dances were great.  Flavor Flav was a poor choice for a guest judge.  Usually, I’m impressed when they bring in a non-dance guest judge, but he was so all over the place.

Wipeout – I thought they had a few unaired episodes left, so I was only partially surprised when this popped up on my DVR.  But what really surprised me was that they didn’t have teams on this episode.  Kind of interesting to watch people doing it by themselves again after pairs for so long.  I’m assuming this is a one time thing, but we will see.

Shifting Gears – Much better episode than last week.  I feel for Riley.  It was a sitcom turn around for Carter, but I’m happy to see he learned his lesson.  I did love the loyalty shown to Stitch in the other storyline.  I get that keeping it a secret drove the story, but I don’t feel like he really would have kept it a secret otherwise.  And I think the reaction would have been the same no matter how the guys found out.

Survivor – I’m glad they didn’t do that whole “earn the merge” thing.  That was always a little silly.  Sorry to see Nate go since I liked him.  And a completely wasted idol, although I’d be worried about going home with it in my pocket as well.  From here on out is when it always gets interesting.

The Challenge – Usually, I’d be rooting for an underdog, but I was really hoping that Theo would go home.  Especially since it was Jake’s birthday.  There really are so few teams left that there is no where to hide.  I’m curious what TJ is going to pull since the teams are more concerned about the vote than actually winning.  You know that threat meant something.

The Amazing Race – They bunched the teams up a little.  Glad they had an overnight to get them at least within an hour of each other.  And we saw a little jumping in ranks, although not too much given the time differences.  These teams seem fairly even if there wasn’t a big chance to change things up.  We can certainly see which team is the team to beat.  That’s what, four wins in a row for Tucker and Eric.  I do like them, so I wouldn’t mind them winning.

Movie Review: Holiday Mismatch

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun Christmas movie, great to see Caroline and Beth together again.

Cons: Low budget cheese does infect the movie

The Bottom Line:

Recent frenemies

Trying to break up their kids

A fun reunion

Meddling Moms and Fake Dating at Christmas

I was a big fan of the 90’s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch back in the day.  (Okay, fine, I happen to have all the DVDs, too.  It’s still a fun show.)  So when I saw that Beth Broderick and Caroline Rhea, who played Sabrina’s aunts on the show, were reuniting for a Hallmark Christmas movie, I was all in.  And Holiday Mismatch was as much fun as I was expecting.

Barbara Harrison (Beth Broderick) has recently retired from her job as an accountant and is trying to figure out what to do with her time.  So she decides to volunteer for the local Christmas committee that puts on several community events during December.  However, she quickly finds that Kath Stone (Caroline Rhea), the head of the committee, is anything but organized.  The two start butting heads over almost everything.

Meanwhile, both women are trying to set up their kids via a local app for meddling moms.  (Really?  We’re going to go there?  Yes, I get it has to work for the storyline, but still.)  Unbeknowest to each other, they’ve set up Shane Harrison (Jon McLaren) and Lauren Stone (Maxine Denis) on a blind date.  It goes better than either of the young adults expects, and they agree to fake date through Christmas to get their mothers off their backs.

However, Barbara and Kath are horrified when they realize what they’ve done.  So they set about doing what they can to break the couple up.  What will happen as the season unfolds?

Anyone who is surprised at the plot points along the way obviously hasn’t watched very many romantic comedies, much less Hallmark Christmas movies.  I wasn’t that surprised by much of anything, including the big act three turn.  But, as always, I didn’t really mind.  I was having fun.  And that’s the most important thing for me when it comes to watching a movie.

I will say one thing that surprised me was that the kids have the personalities of the other mother.  I also appreciated that Barbara’s husband was the voice of reason.  When he wasn’t driving a couple of plot complications, that is.

Unfortunately, this movie seemed to have its fair share of low budget cheese.  It infected the acting from several members of the cast as well as some of the writing.  As long as you know to expect that, you should be fine.

Given that the mothers are more of the leads than their kids, I suspect this movie was written for Caroline Rhea and Beth Broderick.  I loved a couple of nods to their roles on Sabrina that Kath is given over the course of the movie.  And any fans wanting to see them playing off each other again will love this.  Their characters are very similar to what they played on Sabrina, but it worked well there and works wonderfully again here.

All told, Holiday Mismatch is another enjoyable Hallmark Christmas movie.  As long as you go into it knowing what you’re watching, you’ll be fine.

Book Review: The Devil Comes Calling by Annette Dashofy (Detective Honeywell Mysteries #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great character in an intriguing mystery

Cons: Cons are from the Devil

The Bottom Line:

Double homicide

Coupled with face from the past

This book pulls you in

Matthias and Emma Hunt the Devil

It’s been almost two years since we got the second book in Annette Dashofy’s Detective Honeywell Mysteries. I’ve put that time to good use by catching up on her Zoe Chambers series. But I was excited to get my hands on The Devil Comes Calling, the third in this excellent series. 

The series focuses on Matthias Honeywell, a detective with Eire’s police department. We also follow photographer Emma Anderson. The two met in the first book and have recently started dating. The story unfolds from both of their third person points of view, and these switches are always clear. 

Honeywell is called to the scene of a double homicide. The victims were found in a home being renovated and were shot execution style. One of them was Emma’s predecessor as a crime beat photographer for ErieLIVE. While Honeywell conducts his investigation, Emma begins to wonder if a co-worker is involved. But with a complication from Honeywell’s past in town, will that distract him from the case?

Before we go any further, I do want to point out that this isn’t one of my cozies. As long as you know that when you pick up the book, you’ll be fine. 

This book continues a storyline that was featured in the second book (which continued a storyline from book one). Honestly, I wish I’d had the time to reread book two myself before jumping in here because it’s been two years since that entry was released. This is a series you really will want to read in order. But they are all fantastic, so you’ll be hooked when you start and want to read them all anyway. You might as well go back to the beginning. 

As always, the book starts well, but the suspense just builds the further you get into the book. While I was intrigued early on, it soon became almost impossible for me to put the book down. I figured out one plot point early, but I still didn’t see how things would weave together for the climax. Yet, when we reached the end, it all made sense. 

Just as Matthias and Emma are still getting to know each other, we are still getting to know them. This time, it is Matthias who has some of his backstory used for some nice character development. I enjoyed getting to see him shine a bit more. There are a few supporting characters who do add to the charm of the series. And the new cast were also well developed. I suspect we will see some of them again in the next book, which is coming soon. 

Fans will be happy to get to visit Matthias and Emma again. The Devil Comes Calling was well worth the wait. Don’t hesitate to start this series today. 

Get hooked by the rest of the Detective Honeywell Mysteries. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book. 

Movie Review: Now You See Me

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fast paced, slick, fun

Cons: The payoff is lacking

The Bottom Line:

Heist with magicians

Films is fun as you watch it

But ending falls short

“Tonight, We Are Going to Rob a Bank.” 

I don’t know where I was in 2013, but I don’t remember hearing anything about Now You See Me (or it’s sequel a couple of years later).  Last year, I was intrigued when I finally heard about it.  When some friends decided to watch it recently, I quickly invited myself to join the group.  While I know plenty of people who seem to enjoy it, I was of two minds about it.

The story focuses on four magicians, each with a different skill set.  They are brought together by a mysterious person and start to work together as the Four Horsemen.  A year later, they are on stage in Vegas where they pull off an impressive feat – they rob a bank in Paris.  It had to be magic, right?  Now, the FBI is hot on their tail, but that was just their warm up act.  What do they have planned next?  Will the FBI stop them?

I know that isn’t my typical teaser since I didn’t talk about characters or give actor’s names.  Honestly, the character names are a bit irrelevant.  I will say the cast had some big names in it.  The four magicians are played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, and Dave Franco, with Mark Ruffalo as the FBI agent chasing them down.  Other highlights from the cast are Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine.  The script doesn’t give the actors too much to work with as far as character goes, but everyone is fine in their roles.

That’s because this movie is a heist film with magicians as the main characters.  As such, it is focused on the magic and the heists.  We see the characters in action, and then we get discussions about how they pulled it off.  All the while, the FBI is three steps behind trying to stop them before they pull their next stunt.

All this gives us plenty of action and cool things to look at.  I can see why these movies have a loyal fan base.  With the various characters we are following, the action jumps around, but is never hard to follow.

And the magic is cool.  We get multiple jaw dropping moments.  Yes, even though I know it is movie magic, my mind is still trying to figure out how they did that.  I want to believe what I’m seeing is real.  Even the explanations of how they did what they did don’t dampen my enjoyment.

But I do have a couple of issues.  The first is my usual with a heist movie.  I don’t like rooting for people to get away with stealing.  Yes, they do try to justify it, but I still don’t like it.  This movie was so slick, however, that I didn’t mind as much as I usually do.

My bigger issue is the ultimate payoff.  I kind of felt like it was a letdown.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I felt like there should have been more to it than what we got at the end.

I’m not sorry I watched Now You See Me.  If it works, I’ll join my friends to watch the next one.  But I wish the payoff had been better for this movie.

Book Review: Crescent City Christmas Chaos by Ellen Byron (Vintage Cookbook Mysteries #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great mystery, fun characters, seasonal fun

Cons: A couple of minor things that hopefully got caught in a final edit

The Bottom Line:

Delving into past

Lead to a Christmas murder

Filled with season’s charm

Ricki’s Past, Family, and a Christmas Murder

It’s no secret I love Christmas, so I’m always happy when I see a series I enjoy has a Christmas offering.  One of this year’s new Christmas cozy mysteries is Ellen Byron’s Crescent City Christmas Chaos, the fourth entry in her Vintage Cookbook Mysteries.  As expected, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This series features Ricki James-Diaz who owns a vintage cookbook and cooking utensil gift shop in one of the historic mansions in New Orleans.  The mansion is opened for tours, and so Ricki has a steady stream of customers.  She’s moved back to the city in order to find out more about her birth family since she was adopted as a baby.  She’s hoping to make some headway this year since her parents have come to town as a surprise for the holidays.

But her mom seems reluctant to talk about that part of their past.  Ricki does find one of her mom’s old co-workers, but the day after meeting her, the woman turns up dead.  Unfortunately, Ricki’s mom soon finds herself a suspect in the case, and the longer the case drags on, the more of Ricki’s friends and family find themselves suspects.  With the police trying to juggle too many cases, Ricki jumps in to try to solve this one.  Can she do it?

There is a lot going on here between the main mystery and several subplots.  In lesser hands, it might have led to chaos, but Ellen Byron does a great job of balancing everything.  This also means that the story is always moving forward and I was never bored.  The mystery itself moved forward at a steady pace, and I enjoyed following Ricki as she figured things out.  The ending made sense when we got there.

I will say there were a couple of things in the first third that made me scratch my head and should have been caught in a good edit.  I was reading an ARC, so hopefully they were tweaked.  Either way, they are minor and don’t really impact the story in any way.

Ellen’s series tend to attract characters.  That’s not a complaint, just a statement of fact.  I enjoyed getting to spend time with them again and making some new friends.  After all, this is the most time that Ricki’s parents have had in a book, for example.  All the characters get a moment to shine, which is another testament to Ellen’s ability to juggle it all.  There is a cast of characters at the beginning, although you’ll enjoy getting to know the characters best from reading the series in order.  There are some minor spoilers for ongoing storylines here, too, if you don’t go back to the beginning.

And yes, the Christmas setting was tons of fun, as I knew it would be.  Some elements were pretty funny, and others were charming and cozy.  If you save this one for December, you’ll be glad, but it can give you the Christmas feeling no matter when you read it.

Speaking of Christmas, the recipes at the back of the book focus on a New Orleans Christmas tradition I hadn’t heard of before.  A Réveillon Dinner is a special dinner served after the midnight mass.  And yes, Ellen adapted the recipes from vintage cookbooks in her collection as always.

With Christmas just a few weeks away, now is the time to start planning your holiday cozies.  Whether you read Crescent City Christmas Chaos now or wait to savor it during December, you’ll be glad you picked it up.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Vintage Cookbook Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

TV Show Review: Mistletoe Murders - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Three charming Hallmark mysteries with a Christmas spin

Cons: Stretching out Emily’s backstory, a low dose of Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Hallmark mysteries

With a heavy Christmas spin

Three charming stories

“I Don’t Need an Amateur Sleuth Getting in My Way.”

Last year, I was curious about the first season of Mistletoe Murders, but Hallmark put it on their Hallmark+ streaming service, so I couldn’t watch it.  I was on the fence when I saw season one was going to air on their cable channels this year since I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit.  Thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I decided to give it a try.  And I’m glad I did.

Apparently, this series is based on an Audible Original series.  In Hallmark’s version, it features Emily Lane (Sarah Drew), a woman with a mysterious past who has moved to a small town to reinvent herself.  Literally.  She opens Under the Mistletoe, a Christmas gift shop.  Her one employee is Violet Wilner (Sierra Marilyn Riley).  Violet’s dad just happens to be the local detective, Sam (Peter Mooney).  That’s going to be important when Emily starts getting involved in local murders.

The first season consisted of three mysteries, each broken into two hour-long episodes.  When they aired on cable, they aired back-to-back, so we got them more as a movie instead of a weekly series.

The first story finds Emily and Sam investigating when a body is found on the local Christmas tree farm.  The victim just happens to be the fiancé of Emily’s veterinarian friend.  Up next, Emily joins the local Christmas choir to figure out what is happening after a series of mysterious accidents hits the group.  Finally, when the local bookstore owner dies and leaves behind a mysterious treasure hunt, Emily joins forces with the rest of the heirs to follow the clues and find his killer.

Those who are fans of Hallmark’s mystery movies will enjoy this series.  It’s essentially a mash up of their mystery and Christmas movies. 

And it works well.  There are several characters besides the three leads who appear in all the episodes, and I enjoyed getting to know them.  Each mystery was well plotted with plenty to keep me engaged as we followed Emily and Sam.

The scenes that Emily and Sam shared together are easily some of my favorites.  Their chemistry and banter made me smile.  So many great one-liners.  And it was easy to root for their romance to take off as well.  Meanwhile, I enjoy Violet.  She’s a great character in her own right, and her attempts to nudge her dad and her boss together are cute.

The rest of the cast is good as well.  Whether they were a suspect in one story or a series regular, I felt they brought their characters to life.

Yes, this is a Hallmark production, but the low budget feel is kept to a minimum.  Again, if you are a fan of the channel, you’ll enjoy watching these stories.

There is more to Emily’s backstory than we learn here.  I think I might have been frustrated by the cliffhanger if the new season weren’t premiering this coming Friday.  Hopefully, we get some answer there instead of just the endless teasing.

But don’t let that frustration stop you.  If you want some charming mysteries filled with Christmas, you’ll be glad to sit down and watch the first season of Mistletoe Murders.

November 2nd's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Before we get to this week, I do want to talk about the last couple of weekends.  My parents were in town!  It was great having them here visiting.  They went out to Palm Springs in between.  When they were in town, we went to church together and played lots of games.  What amazed me was how many I won since I rarely win games.  And no, that wasn't why it was great having them here.  It was great having them here because it meant we got to spent time together.

This week?  I had a rough week at work.  Just too much stuff that everyone is expecting of me right now.  And close is starting.  Hopefully, things will calm down this coming week.

But Saturday was nice and relaxing.  I went paddleboarding with a friend in the morning.  Okay, it was very late morning/early afternoon when we were out on the lake.  Enjoyed temps in the 70's and 80's with hardly any breeze.  Then, I stopped by my local Six Flags park to activate my pass renewal.  I just went on one ride while I was there since it was so late in the day.  Now, I'm home and working on this.  Plus I have some other blog work to do.

But I need to start getting out and paddleboarding more.

Joke of the Week:

Why was the rabbit so happy? Because some bunny loved him!

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Sick

Tuesday - Book Review: The Case of the Carnaby Castle Curse by PJ Fitzsimmons

Wednesday - Book Review: The Ghostway by Tony Hillerman

Thursday - Book Review: The Tightrope Walker by Dorothy Gilman

Friday - Monthly Reading Summary

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - TV Show Review: Mistletoe Murders - Season 1

Tuesday - Book Review: Crescent City Christmas Chaos by Ellen Byron

Wednesday - Movie Review: Now You See Me

Thursday - Book Review: The Devil Comes Calling by Annette Dashofy

Friday - Movie Review: Holiday Mismatch

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

I'd been doing so well, but I wound up with four books to talk about this week.

Let's kick things off with The Crime Brulee Bake Off by Rebecca Connelly.  A culinary cozy mystery?  Sign me up.  This one appears to involve a murder during a British baking reality TV show - a fictional one but inspired but a very popular one I'm sure.  I've heard good things about it and the ebook went on sale.

I also got another pre-order delivered.  At Death's Dough is the fifth in the Deep Dish Mysteries from Mindy Quigley.  I really enjoy this series, but I'm guessing I won't get to this one until December.

Completing the trio of culinary cozies I got this week, I also got an ARC of Catering to the Dead, the eighth Cupcake Catering Mystery, this one with a Day of the Dead theme.  I enjoy Kim Davis's books, so I'm anxious to dive into this one.

Finally, I got a used paperback copy of The Maze in the Heart of the Castle by Dorothy Gilman.  I'm trying to read  her stand alones, but I was focused on the ones she wrote for adults.  Until one of them talked about this book in a fictional way.  (In fact, she hadn't written this book yet when The Tightrope Walker came out.)  I was intrigued enough I had to get it.  Tracking it down was a bit of extra work since it is rare.  But I found a decent enough deal that I was willing to buy it.

What I'm Currently Reading:

As I'm typing this, I'm about two thirds of the way through This Way to Murder by Shelley Shearer.  While it calls itself a Board Game Cafe Mystery, it's been more about letterboxing.  I'm enjoying it, but it's a fast read.  I should finish it up on Sunday.

Which means I'll be diving into Catering to the Dead by Kim Davis.  Told ya I was anxious to dive into it.  Plus, it is an ARC and I try to turn those around quickly if the book has already comes out, which is true in this case.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

November 1st's Weekly TV Thoughts

TV We Love – I never really have connected with The Love Boat, but they made me want to give it another try.  I definitely do appreciate the fact that it is light, fun entertainment.  So much of TV these days seems to have forgotten how to do that.

Only Murders in the Building – As the episode was starting, I got to thinking about the twist from last week, and it stopped making sense to me.  But then they reframed things and everything made perfect sense.  Very well done season overall.  And they saved the building.  The only question I’m left with it, how has it been five years for them since most of the seasons start right after the last one ended.  This is only the second time we’ve had a time jump, right?  I guess the murders take longer to solve than the couple of months I’d given them.  That ending?  Yes, I was laughing.  Not the victim I thought it would be.  Glad to hear it’s been renewed for season six!

Dancing with the Stars – There were some great dancing.  I feel for Elaine.  I hope she is doing okay and is able to come back strong next week.  They didn’t leave Andy in the bottom three, which was a surprise.  Jen never really caught my attention, but I’m still sorry to see her go.  At this point, it’s hard to see anyone go.

Shifting Gears – Not the biggest fan of the episode.  Maybe it’s just the mood I’m in (didn’t laugh at another sitcom I watched earlier in the evening), but I also didn’t find the subject matter that great.  The ending scene was touching.  I’ll give it that.  And I liked the meta jokes.  They just should have had something about Galaxy Quest.  Especially coming from Stitch.  Heck, he barely had two lines all week.

The Challenge – A couple of interesting challenges.  At this point, I am over the alliance vs alliance thing.  I’m hoping we aren’t too far from the final because I’m more than ready to see who winds up at the end and who wins.

Survivor – I’m not sorry to see Shannon go.  She was annoying me.  As much as I’ve talked about how annoying it is to constantly be having them break up the merged tribe into smaller groups (which I still stand by), I did like this twist on things.  Looks like it is only for one episode, but still, it was nice to see just a little bit of different scrambling and dynamics before we merge.

The Amazing Race – A rather boring episode.  Were there any position changes?  Yeah, a couple of people got lost, but it doesn’t appear to have been for very long.  Hopefully, they shake things up again next week.