Book Review: Smothered by G. P. Gottlieb (Whipped and Sipped Mysteries #2)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, good mystery

Cons: A few unresolved plot threads, timeline issues

The Bottom Line:

A gym owner dies

Alene drawn into the case

While running café

This Sequel Was a Little Too Whipped

Last year, I made the acquaintance of Alene Baron in the first Whipped and Sipped Mystery.  I enjoyed it enough to make a return visit with Smothered.  Unfortunately, this mystery was uneven.

It’s only been a few weeks since Alene Baron solved that first case, and life has pretty much returned to normal at Whipped and Sipped, the vegan café she owns in a Chicago neighborhood.  Her biggest annoyance these days is Stanley Huff, the man who owns the Better Be Fit gym next to the café.  She feels some of his business practices are shady, and he’s just an inconsiderate neighbor.

As annoying as he can be, Alene didn’t expect to find him head one morning.  The police are called, and they have some suspicions that Stanley’s death might not be the heart attack that Alene thought it was.  When one of Alene’s employees become the prime suspect before disappearing, Alene can’t help but try to figure out what is going on.  Will she solve this murder as well?

My problems with this book aren’t anything that couldn’t be fixed by a careful edit.  There are some plot threads and red herrings that are introduced but never fully resolved.  There were some timeline issues, one of my biggest pet peeves.  At times, we were given summaries of conversations instead of actually watching the scene unfold.

And yet, there were things I enjoyed about the book.  There are a lot of characters, many of them returning from the previous book.  I’ll admit, it took me a bit of time to keep them all straight, and I was grateful for the cast of characters at the beginning of the novel.  However, the further into the book I got, the more the characters came alive for me.  I was especially impressed with the growth we got to see in the characters, not only in this book but between books.  Alene is a very relatable main character, possibly too relatable with her flaws.  No, the flaws don’t overwhelm, but I identified with her a bit too much.

Meanwhile, the plot is good overall.  I was impressed with the motives that were introduced and how Alene figured it all out.  The ending was perfectly logical and the climatic scene was very entertaining.

This wouldn’t be a culinary cozy if we didn’t get recipes.  Since Alene’s café is vegan the recipes are slightly different than you might see in a normal culinary cozy, but the food in this book still sounds mouthwatering.

Like with the first book, Alene’s neighborhood in Chicago becomes a small cozy community.  The setting may be a large city, but by focusing on a small part of the town, this book definitely still works as a cozy.

While Smothered had its flaws, I did enjoy other aspects of it.  If you enjoyed the first, you’ll definitely want to see what happens next to Arlene.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Disney Pin Review: Queen of Hearts Playing Croquet - All Star Trading Cards #2 - 2020 Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great character choice for this sport trading card

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

Queen playing croquet

Another all-star winner

Creative and fun

Do You Play Croquet?

While some of the pins in Disney’s All Stars Trading Card series were a bit of a stretch, there were others that were obvious.  The February release was another of the obvious ones.  Of course, we need to include The Queen of Hearts playing Croquet.

This series features Disney characters playing sports in a trading card design.  Now, we don’t normally actually see trading cards for croquet, but that’s a minor detail I’m very willing to let slide.  The pin itself features the Queen about to hit her croquet ball.  Of course, the ball is actually a hedgehog rolled up, and her mallet is a flamingo.  What else would you use?  Behind her, we can see her soldier cards lined up, all of them hearts.  Croquet is in a banner across the bottom in a glittery blue.  The Queen herself is a pin on pin, so she stands out a bit.  And the Queen has signed it up at the top, making it even more of a collectible card.

The pins in this series are fun.  I love variations on a theme, which means many series appeal to me (unfortunately for my pocketbook).  This is a good one since you do associate the Queen of Hearts with croquet from her appearance as Alice in Wonderland.  And she’s one of the few villains in this pin series so that makes her stand out even more.

It’s always fun to see Disney coming up with new pins.  These All Stars Trading Cards are creative, and the Queen of Hearts is a great addition to the series.

Book Review: Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox by Michael Buckley (Finniverse Series #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong action and imagination

Cons: A cliched character

The Bottom Line:

Fantasy story

That keeps the action moving

Kids will enjoy it

Traveling the Galaxy via…a Lunchbox?

It’s been a few years since I last read one of Michael Buckley’s books, so when I saw he was starting a new series, I was thrilled.  Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox is as crazy as it sounds.

You see, Finn is a typical almost twelve-year-old.  He’s got a younger sister who annoys him, he’s struggling to make friends at his new school, he’s being picked on by a bully, and he has a crush on a classmate.  His life changes when he accidentally takes his sister’s lunchbox to school one day.  When it starts to glow, he discovers that it’s become a portal to another part of our galaxy.  On, and this portal is the key to a battle against a race called The Plague that destroys planets.  With The Plague now looking at Earth as their next target, Finn is going to have to come up with some kind of plan to save the world.

Yes, this book is just as wild as it sounds.  Even more so since I didn’t mention the seven-foot-tall robot that is also a major character.  The book was a bit too end of the world for me at times, but that’s a matter of personal taste and a small issue.

A bigger issue to me was one character that was a cliché.  I appreciate the attempts to develop him and the growth we saw, but I still had to roll my eyes at him.

It’s a shame since the rest of the characters are good.  The action keeps the rest of them from being fully developed, but they were developed enough for us to care.

And the creativity that went into this book is fantastic.  There is plenty of fun to be had here as Finn discovers there is so much more to the universe than we ever suspected.

If you are looking for a book for a reluctant reader, this is one to consider.  The story is fast paced with enough twists and surprises to keep the pages turning.

Oh, and we get a cliffhanger that sets up the next one in the series.

Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox is a wild ride filled with twists and imagination.  Kids will eat it up and be ready for Finn’s next improbable adventure.

This review is part of this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday.

February 13th's Weekly TV Thoughts

 Not too much I watch on this week.  And next week isn't looking any better.  In fact, it will be missing another show from this list since Zoey is not going to be back until the end of March.  But we've got a couple of the Arrowverse shows starting up in the next couple of weeks.

The Equalizer – The Superbowl pulled me in.  I wasn’t planning to start the show since I’ve watched neither of the movies (or the original series), but the ads made it look good.  I enjoyed it.  I wish the “client” had stayed put like she was supposed to, but I liked that the detective was hesitant about the frame from the very beginning.  It’s nice to see a smart detective in shows/books like this.  I wish it weren’t on Sunday night since the rest of my week is looking pretty empty, but I think I will be back.

Ellen’s Game of Games – A couple of games we haven’t seen in a while.  I’d forgotten about both of them, too.  Don’t leave me hanging is fun.  But I really love the umbrella game.  The winner was doing so well, then suddenly lost her luck and couldn’t get any correct any more.

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist – Can we say lecture?  That was just painful to watch, and it was the writer’s fault.  It just felt like a cliché to me.  If they had tried to break some new ground, offer some new thoughts on things, I probably would have enjoyed it.

WandaVision – What?  That was my reaction to the end of the episode.  I have no clue what that twist means for the next episode.  It just keeps getting stranger and stranger.  Honestly, I’m not sure what I think about what we’ve seen so far.  I have a feeling I’m going to need to rewatch this series once we know what is happening so I can see how they unspooled it all for us.

February 12th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 It's Friday!  And it's the start of a long weekend, at least here in the states.  And for some people.  I'm one of the lucky ones who gets Monday off, and I'm looking forward to it.

But for today, I've got this week's Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm featuring Long Island Iced Tina by Maria DiRico.

This is the second in the Catering Hall Mysteries.  It's not actually due out until February 23rd, but I got my hands on an ARC, and it's wonderful!

Here's now it begins:

"My grandbaby's having a baby!!!!"

How might that lead to a mystery?  I'll let you read the book to find out for yourself.  Meanwhile, we find this on page 56:

Jamie grabbed her hand and clutched it.  "Is that what I think it is?" he asked, his tone full of dread.

Much more mysterious and sinister, right?

While the book isn't out for another week and a half, I'll have my review up next Thursday.  I hope you'll come back then.  In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend.

Book Review: Bronzed Betrayals by Ritter Ames (Bodies of Art Mysteries #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Action, story advancement, characters

Cons: Only if you aren’t up to date on the series

The Bottom Line:

Body in her room

More complications abound

Fast paced fun for fans

The Unexpected Body in Laurel’s Room

I’ve gotten caught up in the Bodies of Art Mysteries by Ritter Ames.  Unlike other series that mostly stand alone, these books are a definite series.  By now, I am hooked and need to know what is happening to the characters, so I was thrilled to find the time to pick up Bronzed Betrayals, the fifth in the series.

Laurel Beacham and Jack Hawkes are enjoying a night out together.  Well, that might be an exaggeration since they are at a party they aren’t enjoying.  However, it provides the perfect cover for an art recovery that the two have planned.  That recovery doesn’t go as planned, but the night really spins out of control when Laurel returns to her hotel room to find a dead body.  She knows the victim, but who killed the person?  Are they trying to frame Laurel?

I’m going to once again warn you that this is not the place to start this series.  There is so much going on in this book that you won’t appreciate if you jump in here.  Not to mention some rather big revelations in earlier books that will be spoiled in these pages.  You really do want to read these books in order.  Laurel is trying to stop a major art heist planned in the future as well as deal with revelations about her family, and those stories will mean more to you if you know the background.

I entered this book thinking it was the final book in the series, and my expectations were that the various plot threads we’ve been following through the earlier books would be resolved here.  Turns out, I was wrong.  But I can now say I am up to date and can anxiously wait for the next entry with the rest of the series’ fans.  (September 2022 update: Author Ritter Ames sadly passed away before she could continue this series, so this will be all we get for these characters.)

That’s not to say we don’t get plot advancement here.  Fans will be happy to get more answers to some of the story threads.  I hesitate to say we have resolution on anything since there’s always some twist along the way.  Not to mention a pretty major cliffhanger at the end of the book.

To be clear, this book does have a beginning, middle, and end that leave us satisfied when we turn the final page.  It’s just that so much of what happens here ties in to other things going on, it makes much more sense if you know that background.

This isn’t a typical cozy mystery plot.  This is more of a cozy caper series.  As long as you know this when you pick up the series and set your expectations accordingly, you’ll be fine.

I’m happy to say that the characters are continuing to grow as the series progresses.  I’m especially happy with how Jack is maturing.

And there is plenty of action.  I was turning pages as quickly as I could multiple times as I read.

Fans of this series will be delighted with Bronzed Betrayals.   Laurel and Jack’s next adventure can’t get here soon enough.

Need more?  Here are the Bodies of Art Mysteries in order.

TV Show Review: The Mandalorian - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong lead characters, action, cinematography

Cons: A bit slow at times

The Bottom Line:

New Star Wars stories

A tad slow, great to look at

And The Child is cute

“You’re Not so Bad … for a Droid.”  “Agreed.”

I know, I know, I’m late to the party.  But since I just got a Disney+ subscription, I am just now able to watch The Mandalorian.  Based on everything I’d heard about it, I expected I would enjoy the first season.  While I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I expected to, I did still enjoy it.

The show follows the adventures of The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal).  He’s a bounty hunter working and living a long time ago in a galaxy far away.  More specifically, he’s working in the time not too long after the events of The Return of the Jedi.  Unlike many of his Mandalorian brethren, he is trying to make his living as a bounty hunter, traveling to distant worlds to collect those who have prices on their heads.

In the first episode, his latest commission is to collect someone dead or alive.  However, when he arrives, he finds that his target this time is a child.  That sets him on a path that will lead him to worlds and people he didn’t expect to be visiting.  What will happen next?

Just in case you missed it, The Child is the biggest tie in to the Star Wars universe to be a consistent part of the show.  (Well, and the storm troopers that pop up semi-regularly.)  This is the breakout character of the show, and deservedly so.

With the way everyone raved about the show, I will admit my expectations were pretty high.  So that might be why I found the show a bit disappointing.  It is slower than I was expecting.  And there is lots of silence.  That one may just be something I’m not used to in TV shows these days where everything is packed with dialogue in an effort to get a story told in the allotted time.

Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying.  There is plenty of action.  It’s just often a slow burn until we get to those scenes.

Along the way, there are some fun moments that are clearly winks to things fans have been saying for years about the Star Wars universe.  Heck, I was laughing very hard at one episode in the season finale.

And the cinematography is outstanding.  Each episode features gorgeous shots of whatever planet we are on.  The effects are just as wonderful.  This looks like a big budget movie.  It is easy to get lost in the visuals.

I also have to praise to Pedro Pascal.  His character, The Mandalorian, wears a helmet in every scene.  So via voice and body language, he has to convey everything is character is thinking and feeling, and he does a great job of it.  This is especially impressive since he is playing opposite a puppet of The Child in some scenes.  He carries the show.  While some characters pop in and out, The Mandalorian and The Child are the only characters consistently in every episode, so they are the ones we know best.  The rest of the cast is fantastic no matter how many episodes they get.

Speaking of The Child, I certainly see the reason the character has captured so much attention.  He’s cute!  And funny.  Considering he never talks, that’s saying something.  The writers do a great job of setting things up for us to get to know this character.

I certainly see the appeal, especially for Star Wars fans.  While I have enjoyed the original trilogy, I’m not as invested in this universe as many others, which might be another reason I wasn’t as hooked as I thought I’d be.

Still, I did mostly enjoy season one of The Mandalorian.  If you haven’t checked out this show yet, I certainly recommend you do so.  I’ll be moving on to season two soonish.  I’ve got a little time before season three comes out, and there are some other shows on Disney+ also calling my name.

Book Review: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Thursday Murder Club #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, twists to the mystery

Cons: A few, but overall enjoyable

The Bottom Line:

Older characters

Try to solve a fresh murder

Mostly good debut

Enjoyable but Flawed Debut

I started hearing the buzz about The Thursday Murder Club a few months ago.  It sounded right up my alley, so I decided to get a copy and see what I thought.  While I can see why others are enjoying it so much, I did find some flaws that bothered me.

Welcome to Coopers Chase Retirement Village.  It’s a community for active seniors in England.  There are all kinds of activities happening on a regular basis, but the most unusual, and smallest, is a group of four friends who meet every Thursday to discuss cold criminal cases.  While they may not take their findings to the police, they enjoy looking at the stories and seeing if they can figure out what really happened.

Then one day, the murder of a developer takes place near the community.  Naturally, these four friends jump at the chance to figure out what is really going on.  Will they be able to solve the case?

See what I mean?  This set up is similar to many cozies I read, so I settled back to enjoy.  After all, I’d heard about how funny it is and how great a mystery there is.

Before I start picking it apart, I do have to say that I enjoyed it overall.  For one thing, the mystery is strong, with plenty of twists I didn’t see coming.  I was engaged the entire time trying to figure out what was really going on.

Meanwhile, the characters are charming.  Ron, Ibrahim, Joyce, and Elizabeth are a diverse group, but they mesh well and form a great core group to solve the mystery.  I completely enjoyed getting to know them.  They are older than the sleuths in the cozies I typically read, but that was part of their charm.

At times, I struggled with the humor of the book.  Don’t get me wrong, there were definitely moments that made me smile if not laugh.  However, other times I felt like the book was more clever than funny, and it was proud of how clever it was, which took the joy out of it for me.  As we approached the climax, the story definitely got more serious, which was appropriate.

The closer we get to the climax, the faster the twists come.  On the one hand, I enjoyed that since it kept me guessing.  On the other, I felt like I was being jerked around a time or two.  This does break a few tropes of the mystery genre, for better or worse.  By the time the book is over, everything has been explained, so you don’t have to worry about any dropped plot points.

I’m struggling a bit with how justice was served at the end of the book as well.  Which is all I will say to avoid spoilers.

The characters get away with quite a bit of sticking their nose in police business.  While the police do get on them at times, I still found the police too willing to work with them at others.  But this is something I tend to turn a blind eye to in other books I read, so I will note this one mainly in passing.

The book is partially told in diary entries from Joyce, but mostly told in present tense from various character’s points of view.  We always follow which character is our main character in each scene, and I settled into the storytelling pretty easily.

Every so often, I come across a book that has easy to spot flaws, but I enjoyed it anyway.  This is one of those times.  It isn’t perfect, but I did enjoy it and definitely plan to read the sequel.

If you are curious about The Thursday Murder Club, I recommend you check it out.  While I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as most people seem to, I still found it fun.

Make a date for more Thursday Murder Club Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Lucy - 2020 Hallmark Mini Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lucy captured skating

Cons: None of you remember it’s a mini ornament

The Bottom Line:

Lucy goes skating

Confidently gliding pose

Mini ornament

Lucy Confidently Glides onto Your Mini Tree

In 2020, Hallmark released three Peanuts characters as mini ornaments.  They crafted these ornaments as if the characters were ice skating, and infused their personalities into each of them.  Lucy was one of those lucky characters, and her ornament is wonderful.

The ornament depicts Lucy confidently gliding across the ice.  She’s on her left foot with her right foot behind her.  Her arms are outstretched and she has a smile on her face.  While Lucy traditionally wears dark blue, she’s wearing a light blue coat in this ornament with a lavender hat on her head to help keep her head warm.

Lucy in the comics is always confident, even when she is wrong.  I can easily see her out skating, enjoying herself.  She definitely appears to know what she is doing as she is the one of the three characters enjoying herself the most.

I’ve mentioned this is a miniature ornament, right?  Because if you aren’t expecting that, you’ll be surprised.  It’s just over an inch tall.  But if you keep that in mind, you’ll be happy with the detail we get.

Since Lucy is skating, this ornament won’t stand on its own.  But that’s okay because it is easier to lose mini ornaments if you set them out.  Personally, I like putting them on the mini trees I’ve bought.  It’s much harder for them to get lost that way.  No surprise, but Lucy hangs straight when you put her on your tree.  Could you imagine Lucy accepting anything less?

This Lucy ornament proves that good things come in small packages.  If you are a Peanuts fan and looking for some miniature ornaments, this is definitely one to check out.

Disney Pin Review: Jungle Cruise - Minnie Mouse the Main Attraction - 2020 Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: perfectly captures the Jungle Cruise

Cons: all cons sent up the River

The Bottom Line:

Adventurous set

Finds Minnie ready for Cruise

All three pins are great

Minnie is Ready for Her Tour of the Jungle

One ride I love at Disneyland is The Jungle Cruise. What can I say, I’m one of those people who believe there is no such thing as a bad pun. So I was happy with how much I loved Minnie’s stop there on her year long tour of the park.

This was the eleventh release in the Minnie Mouse the Main Attraction pin series. She’s making this stop in Adventureland after visiting the Haunted Mansion over in New Orleans Square.

As always, we got a three pin set. The first pin is the icon associated with the ride. In this set, it’s what could easily be a sign for the ride. Across the top it says Jungle Cruise. Below that is an elephant and lots of foliage.

Minnie is the focus on the second pin. She’s got a kahki safari hat on her head, and her dress is the red and white stripes that make the cover on some of the boats in the attraction.

The red and white motif is most prominent on the third pin, a pair of Minnie ears. The band is a leopard print. The ears and red and white striped. And off to the left side you get the foliage and elephant from the sign in the first pin.

Together, all three of these pins capture the look of the ride perfectly. I would bet most fans could look at any pin in this set and know immediately what ride is being represented. That’s the sign of a great set to me. The fact that I love this ride so much only adds to the fun for me.

So I solute Minnie for taking a fun filled trip down the rivers of the world. This Jungle Cruise set will be a proud part of the Disney pin collection.