Movie Review: Reap What You Sew - An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mystery with characters we love

Cons: One character gone, usual Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Old friend is murdered

Starts confusing mystery

Light, satisfying

Poppy Comes to Die

I suspected that change was in the air for the Aurora Teagarden movies after the last one aired back in January, but it was confirmed with Reap What You Sew, the latest entry in the movie franchise.

This movie finds Aurora (Candace Cameron Bure) thrilled that her childhood friend Poppy has moved back to town.  Her mother Aida (Marilu Henner) and Poppy’s mother were good friends, although Poppy and her father moved away after Poppy’s mother died.  Poppy is beginning to make a name for herself with her YouTube channel devoted to needlework, and she has a book coming soon.

All that changes when Poppy fails to show up for a dinner, and Aurora and her friend Sally (Lexa Doig) go to investigate.  The friends find Poppy’s body on the floor of the condo she was renting.  What happened to her?

Wondering about the changes I mentioned in my opening paragraph?  Warning: Minor spoilers not related to this mystery ahead.  The opening few minutes of the movie confirm that Martin, Aurora’s boyfriend for the last few movies, has been written out of the franchise.  This does and doesn’t surprise me.  I haven’t read the books, but I knew that Martin was gone by this point in the book series, but when they kept him around longer than he lasted in the books, I wasn’t expecting them to write him out.  End minor spoilers.

Setting that aside, this is another fun movie in the franchise.  Because Aurora was friends with the victim, we do feel the loss here more than in some of the other movies.  We are provided with several viable suspects, and I had a hard time figuring out who the killer might be until the very end.  Yet everything made sense when we got there.

The emphasis is on the mystery over characters, which is nothing new for the franchise.  Having said that, there are little moments among the regulars that allow us to get to know them a little better.

My usual warning about the writing and acting applies here – this is a Hallmark movie.  However, I find that, as long as I remember this going into the movie, I’m fine with the Hallmark cheese factor.

Those who have been enjoying the Aurora Teagarden movies will enjoy watching Reap What You Sew since it’s a great next step for the characters.  Anyone looking for a light mystery will enjoy it as well.

This movie is part of the Aurora Teagarden DVD Collection Two.

Book Review: The Silver Gun by L. A. Chandlar (Art Deco Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good characters and mystery

Cons: Beginning and ending could be tighter

The Bottom Line:

New historical

Gets off to promising start

Travel back today

Journey Back to 1930’s New York

I claim to enjoy historical fiction and historical mysteries, but I rarely venture outside of a few authors in this sub-genre, so when The Silver Gun crossed my path, I had to give it a chance.  This is the first book in a series set in New York City in 1936, and it was a good debut.

Lane Sanders has been working for New York’s ninety-ninth mayor as his personal assistant for six months.  This is the first time a woman has held this position, just one of the things that Mayor Fiorello “Fio” La Guardia has done to shake up the city.  He’s also working hard to end corruption and fight gangsters, something that has made him plenty of enemies.

So when Lane is accosted by someone at the scene of a fire and given a message for her boss, she assumes it is in retaliation for one of his anti-corruption policies.  But as events proceed, Lane begins to wonder if she is indeed the target instead.  Might her vague memories of her life with her parents hold the key to what is happening now?

The book is good overall.  I got caught up in the story, and wanted to know how everything was going to turn out.  Most of the story was told from Lane’s first person point of view, but the passages that are from a different character’s third person point of view enhance the story and help build the suspense.  The climax definitely kept me turning pages.

Unfortunately, the pacing wasn’t good throughout.  Early on, the author introduced a bit too much, making it hard to get into the story.  I suspected that everything would come into play later on, and it did.  Likewise, the ending wandered a bit, setting up threads that will be followed in the next book.  Neither are necessarily bad, but tighter writing would have helped resolve these problems for me.

Fortunately, we have strong characters all the way through.  They are quite varied, and some of them are a hoot.  I’m not familiar with the time period, so I can’t say with certainty who are real and who are fictional beyond a few obvious ones, although I have my suspicions.  Either way, they blend together on the page perfectly, allowing us to get lost in the time.

And yes, those looking to get a look at life in 1936 will do so.  This isn’t the typical picture we get of life during the Great Depression, but instead, a look at the lives of those who are doing their best to fight against the Great Depression instead of just survive it.  It’s a refreshing change for the time period for sure.

The Silver Gun is a good debut that promises much more to come.  It’s obvious we’ve just scratched the surface of Lane’s story, and anyone who enjoys a good historical mystery will be glad they’ve picked this book up.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book as part of a blog tour. 

Ornament Review: A World Within #3 - Cardinal in a Pinecone - 2017 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Details in a small size

Cons: It is a mini ornament

The Bottom Line:

Bird in a pinecone

A cute miniature scene

Another great piece

Mini Christmas Cardinal in this World Within

It does amaze me at times how much detail Hallmark can get into their ornaments, especially their miniature ornaments.  Even though 2017’s A World Within isn’t the most detailed ornament, it is still impressive.

This miniature series features a scene inside another design.  This year, the outer ornament is a pinecone.  You can see and feel the bumps on the outside of the pinecone on the sides and back and there’s some snow sitting on top.  However, the front, is open to let us see the scene inside.  In this case, we get a cardinal sitting on the branch of an evergreen tree.

Now, if this were a regular sized ornament, I’m sure we’d get a bit more to the scene inside.  As it is, this one is just the bird on the branch, although the end of the branch is actually sticking outside the frame of the pinecone, which is a nice touch.  However, I’m not complaining about them not including more detail behind the bird.  I’ve mentioned this is a miniature ornament, right?  It’s barely an inch tall, so if they included too much more detail, it would get cluttered.

Since this is a pinecone, there is no flat surface to set this one out to enjoy.  Instead, you’ll have to hang it on your tree.  When you do that, you’ll find it hangs straight.

Since this is part of the A World Within series, you’ll find the 3 in a Christmas tree marker on the back of the ornament.  Yes, you might need a magnifying glass to see it, but it is there.

It continues to amaze me that Hallmark can get what they do in these A World Within ornaments.  Pick up the 2017 entry in the series and be amazed.

Enjoy the rest of the A World Within ornaments.

Original Price: $7.95

Movie Review: Ready Player One

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Interesting themes in a fun story

Cons: Shallow corporate villains

The Bottom Line:

Nostalgia filled film

With fun virtual story

And connection themes

Are You Ready for a Nostalgia Filled Movie?

Even though it isn’t a mystery, I’ve heard quite a bit about the book Ready Player One; I just haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.  That means I went into the movie version with a completely open mind.  Overall, I enjoyed the movie, finding it thought provoking.

The film is set in the not so distant future of 2045, in a world that is sadly much different from our own.  The results of riots and battles have left most of the population living in poor, run down conditions.  Its in this world that we meet Wade (Tye Sheridan).  Like most of the world, he spends his days in the Oasis, a digital world where you can do anything or be anyone you want to be.  All of his friends are in this digital world.  In fact, he hasn’t met them in person.

The Oasis was the brain child of Halliday (Mark Rylance).  Five years ago, Halliday died, leaving behind a series of tests to determine who will control the Oasis next.  Wade is determined to win, but so is Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), the owner of a company that would profit greatly from being combined with the Oasis, and he has an army working for him

The first challenge is a race that seems impossible to win.  One day, Wade notices Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) attempting to win the race.  Even though they don’t officially team up, the meeting seems to lead both of them to figuring out the first challenge.  Will they be able to figure out the rest?

The biggest thing I knew about the story going in was that it was filled with pop culture nostalgia from the 80’s and 90’s.  I got a kick out of seeing how many of the references I could spot.  Some are blink and you miss them, and others are much more prominent.  I enjoyed spotting them as the movie went along, and I especially enjoyed the details of the final challenge since it involved a video game I love.  (And that’s all I’m saying about it.)  Even though I wasn’t familiar with the elements of the second challenge, I still found quite a few laughs during that sequence.

The real world setting of the film is definitely dystopian, and that put me off since I’m not a fan of dystopian stories.  However, the movie takes place in the Oasis as much if not more than the real world.  I loved the various settings there and found them a lot of fun.

Because so much of the story was in the digital world, much of the film was actually animated.  It looked perfect as a computer-generated world.  This was a very effects heavy film, in fact, and they all looked great.

Likewise, the actors are not only acting but voicing their computer counterparts, and they were great as well.

I’ve heard that the book can be slow at times, but I never found that to be the case in the movie. My guess is that means the fat was trimmed.  The movie does feature a climax that will not quit, and it did seem to go on a tad too long for my taste, but that’s a minor complaint.

Honestly, my biggest complaint with the film was that the villain was the head of a company, thereby sending messages about corporate greed.  Now, I get it.  Corporations can be forces for evil in the world.  But as an accountant, it bothers me that this is such a common theme these days.  Businesses do need to make money, and if they don’t, they go out of business.  They can also provide a lot of good along the way, but that doesn’t seem to show up in movies or in the news.  Okay, okay, I’ll step off my soap box now.  It certainly does add a great David vs. Goliath element to the story.  I think my issue with it here is that the villain seemed shallow and too easy a target.  Maybe there was more development they cut out that would have helped me be on board with this element.

It could be argued that an even stronger theme to the movie is the importance to living in the real world instead of escaping into the world of the internet.  Considering all the discussions I’ve seen pop up over the last couple of years about the dangers of our social media obsessed world, I found a lot of chew on here.  And then I came home and started working on this review to post on the internet.  Of course, I’m not saying that the internet is all bad; I’ve made some great friends because of it I never would have made otherwise.  Like all things, it is a balance, and I think the movie does a good job of reflecting that overall.

Ready Player One really is fun and gives us something to chew on when we leave the theater.  Me?  I’m logging off to go hang out with some friends now.

April 14th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Another week of TV in the books.

Once Upon a Time (4/6) – Okay, so I was wrong about Nick’s true identity – it’s Hansel.  And he’s awake, which makes his desire to kill witches understandable.  Still, it’s going to be hard that Henry is going to lose this friend, not that I think they will care now that he’s been tied up like this.  And Zelena is the next target.  You knew eventually they’d have either her or Regina becoming the target.  Does this mean we will resolve this story line next week?

Deception – Much better than last week.  I’m glad to see that the brother in prison is standing up for himself now, although I found the past romance to be interesting.  Did not see the street artist twist coming, and now that’s he’s vanished, how will this translate to the mystery woman story?  And it was nice to actually see something advancing that there.

Legends of Tomorrow – Not surprised that Amaya left, but I’m sad about it.  I really liked her, and I love her with Nate.  However, they made it very clear they could never truly be together, so I saw this coming.  A bit surprised, however, to see Rip leave for good.  I always enjoyed him popping in and out.  Speaking of popping in, good to see Jax again.  And this doesn’t change my opinion of Damion.  I really hate that they brought him back to this show for this season.  Very fact set there at the end, but going after time demons next season might actually be more fun than I thought when I first heard that Constantine was going to be on the show full time next season.  We’ll just have to wait and see.  And yes, I loved Beebo being the thing they conjured to fight the demon this season.

American Ninja Warrior: Ninja Vs. Ninja – What makes it so hard to watch this show is it seems like I have people on almost every team I like and want to root for.  I was bummed that Kevin Bulls’ team left so early, but glad that Daniel Gill moved on.  After all, Tiana lives here in my town; I have to root for her.  More epic close races for sure.

Lethal Weapon – Has the show changed that much, or am I just not enjoying the same stuff I did before?  Roger is nothing but a buffoon this year.  At least Riggs is having to seriously confront his issues with his father, and I’m liking that they aren’t making it easy for him, although I still want to know how he survived being “killed” when Riggs was a teen.

The Flash – Interesting developments tonight.  The Barry/Ralph dynamic was a bit predictable but plenty of fun.  I’m really liking Ralph.  However, the developments I’m most interested in involve Devou and his wife.  Will she be the key to his undoing?  And what is Wells up to?  I have a feeling we aren’t supposed to trust him, which is probably a misdirection.

Survivor – Obviously, I’ve never played the game, but it seems to me that if you know someone is gunning for you, you would play an idol if you have it, especially if it is only good one or twice.  Look at Dom, he played an idol and didn’t need it.  I’m glad that at least one of that trio went home.  I wanted it to be Dom just because, but I’m fine with it being Chris.

Suits – I am going to miss the dynamics of these characters.  I really am.  There were so many great Mike/Harvey scenes in this episode that made me laugh.  I disagree with Rachel on Louis, but I love their relationship as well.  And the Mike/Rachel scenes were fantastic.  They are such a great couple.  And, while I’m not necessarily on the Harvey/Donna train, Harvey definitely made the right decision when Paula forced his hand.

Designated Survivor – I feel like we concluded that ARC, and it was a good conclusion.  As soon as the aid mentioned her brother, you knew we’d meet him.  At least they didn’t kill him.  But someone on the senior team is leaking information?  That is not good at all.  I’m very curious to find out who that is.  And I must say, I really like Kirkman’s brother.

Big Bang Theory – That scientist was something else.  And this is definitely not season 1 Sheldon.  He would have stayed in that cabin for months in season 1.  Leonard, too, most likely.  Yep, a small glimpse of how Sheldon has grown, which we get every so often.

Arrow – So the clip they teased us with last week of Felicity telling Oliver they needed a break was drug induced.  I’m so glad of that.  But what does Oliver think he can do on his own?  I get this is part of their story line, but I’m ready for this to be over already.  Fortunately, we are near the end of the season, but I hope they can repair the damage they’ve done to us and the character relationships.

April 13th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It's time for this week's Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm featuring a thriller - True Fiction by Lee Goldberg


                                                  

I actually have already finished this book.  It's a very fun, very fast read.  I'll be reviewing it next Thursday.

The first sentence really gives you a great idea of the tone of the book.

The assassin wore only a Speedo and his lean body was slathered with sunscreen that made him smell like a baked coconut.

Meanwhile, we get this exchange from page 56:

"I'm sensing a little hostility," Ian said.
"Gee, you think?"  She shook her head, obviously dismayed by how clueless he was.  "I totally get why someone wants to kill you."

As I said, completely fun.  Come back for my full review on Thursday to find out why you need to read this book.

In the meantime, have a great weekend.

Wedding Cake Crumble Winner

I'm on time for pulling the second winner of the week!  The book is Wedding Cake Crumble, and the winner is...

... Donamae!

I just sent you an e-mail.  Keep an eye out for it and get back to me so I can make sure you get your prize.

Book Review: It's Your Party, Die If You Want To by Vickie Fee (Liv and Di in Dixie #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong, enjoyable characters in good mystery

Cons: Party planning takes over mystery at times

The Bottom Line:

Halloween setting

Juggles two parties, murder

Uneven, still fun

Two Parties and a Murder

Halloween seems to be popping up more often in cozy mysteries these days, and it’s no surprise since it’s an obvious time to set a mystery.  It’s Your Party, Die If You Want To is once such book set in the weeks leading up to the holiday, and it’s a lot of fun.

Party planner Liv McKay is extremely busy with two big parties in the days leading up to Halloween.  She’s throwing a riverboat gambling themed engagement party as well as coordinating a huge city-wide fundraiser to take place on Halloween itself.  But first, she has a retreat with other women business owners in the small town of Dixie, Tennessee.  They’ve even brought in a special guest speaker – TV psychic and ghost hunter Lucinda Grable.

The first night of the retreat, Lucinda invites the women out to a nearby cemetery to help film an episode of her TV show.  Things are a little spooky, but they turn really spooky when Liv and a couple other women find Morgan Robison very much dead.  Morgan was the president of their group, but she wasn’t very well liked, if for no other reason, she had a habit of stealing other women’s men.  It appears someone on the retreat is a killer.  Who might it be?

It had been a few months since I read the first in the series, but I was quickly back in the world of Dixie with Liv and her best friend Di.  While Liv is clearly our main character, Di is an important part of the book, and I love their relationship.  I also love Liv’s relationship with her husband, Larry Joe.  So many of the series I read start with a single protagonist, and I enjoy seeing a very happily married protagonist.  Their extended family are still here and fun as well.

The mystery itself could have been a little stronger.  Oh, don’t worry, the suspects are all believable characters and have good motives, and the clues are there so when Liv explains how she figured it out, it was obvious.  But the party planning took over at times, slowing down the pace of the mystery.  Before too long, a twist or event would bring the mystery back to the foreground and confuse me and Liv, however.  There’s another sub-plot in the book as well that adds to the fun.

The book has some party planning tips in the back, and since there were two big parties, we get ideas from both of them.

Obviously, I was reading this book out of the Halloween season, but that’s okay.  No matter when you curl up with It’s Your Party, Die If You Want To, you’ll find an enjoyable cozy mystery.

It's time to party with the rest of the Liv and Di in Dixie series.

Cinco de Murder Winner

I completely forgot to pull the winner of Cinco de Murder last night.  But I fixed that today.  And the winner is...

...Chris.

I just sent you an e-mail, so please get back to me so I can pass the book on to you.

Ornament Review: Season's Treatings #9 - Cherry Pie - 2017 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Drool worthy dessert

Cons: I don’t picture cherry pie as a Christmas dessert

The Bottom Line:

Cherry pie looks great

Is it a Christmas dessert?

Still looks delicious

Is This the Cherry of the Season’s Treatings Series?

Sometimes, you learn things by collecting ornaments.  That’s what happened to me with the 2017 Season’s Treatings ornament because I wouldn’t have considered the treat a Christmas treat.

The ninth entry in the series featured a cherry pie.  It’s sitting on a wooden serving tray.  There’s a lattice cover for the pie, with some leaves and a cherry on top.  One piece has already been cut from the pie, and it is sitting on a plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  A snowman pie server is sitting next to the plate, and 2017 is written on the serving tray underneath it.

My family is not super big on cherry pie, so this doesn’t have the immediate reaction that some of the ornaments in this series do.  Having said that, I can feel my mouth start to drool when I look at it.  That ice cream on top really helps.

But this is where my opening paragraph comes into play.  Maybe it’s my family, or maybe it’s California, but I wouldn’t have considered cherry pie a Christmas dessert.  I picture it more during the summer.  Maybe that’s because you can get fresh cherries in the summer.  I don’t know.  Now if this were pumpkin pie, I would have no concerns at all.

As usual with this series, the bottom is flat, but there isn’t a lot of height to it, so setting it out to be displayed wouldn’t really show it off.  However, it hangs at a fun angle when you slip a loop through the hook in the pie.

And yes, you’ll find the series marker on the back of the ornament.

My only quibble with the ornament remains the seasonality of the dessert, but that’s a minor issue.  The ninth Season’s Treatings will make your mouth drool, which is my standard for this series.  What else do you need?

Well, maybe the other drool worthy ornaments you’ll find with the rest of the Season’s Treatings series.

Original Price: $12.95