July 11th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Hollywood Game Night – That was a complete reversal of fortune.  And one that stuck, too.  I’m so used to the person who is behind coming back in the final game it was actually shocking when it didn’t happen.  I was yelling out clues to some of the people they passed on the final game.  But I get it – under pressure it’s hard to come up with good clues sometimes.

The Titan Games – No upsets this week.  The men have been very consistent so far, only one time has a Titan lost there.  I felt sorry for the guy who was clearly injured.  The women really went all out on the second challenge.  That was close.  Yes, I was disappointed since I was rooting for Jessie, but she fought hard and had a good strategy that just didn’t quite pay off.

Stargirl – That episode didn’t end the way I thought it would – we didn’t take the villain out.  I’m not sure how that would have ended since she was so powerful.  It was nice to see the rest of the team out on their own.  Classic final moment in Courtney’s bedroom.  And the scenes back at the villain’s house were wonderfully tense.  It’s definitely time to bring in Mom.  She’s going to be upset when she finds out about this.

Cannonball – Another show with commentators who are supposed to be funny but aren’t.  I’m ready for that genre to die (says the guy who watches several of them).  However, I’ll give the show another few weeks before I decide for sure.  Mike might grow on me, and the stunts were impressive.  Although, as someone afraid of heights, I wouldn’t do well on the show at all.

Holey Moley – Every single person got wet in the first round.  But it looks like they let them get nice again for the final round.  Laughing pretty hard at the deal with the lifeguard.  I feel like they were trying to promote something that has not been a ratings success for ABC.  I bet they were wishing that wasn’t the point of this episode now.

Don’t – The sisters did pretty well at the beginning, but they fell apart at the end.  I’m not sure I would have done that well with the last couple of challenges.  And I know I would not have done as well eating spicy food.  I had trouble watching that one.  I hate spice!  Fortunately, they chose the right sister to do that one because she earned them most of their money right there.

July 10th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It's Friday!  That means it is time for Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm featuring Sowing Malice by Wendy Tyson.

                                                  


This is the sixth book in the Greenhouse Mysteries, set in Winsome, Pennsylvania.  And it's fantastic.

Here's how the book begins:

If Winsome was reeling from a death in her midst, you wouldn't know it, Megan thought.

Jumping ahead to 56% into the book, we find this:

"Why are you here?" Olive asked again.  Her gaze never strayed from the glass of iced tea.  "Is this about my sister?"

I've got a review coming on Tuesday, so I hope you'll come back and check it out.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: Hems & Homicide by Elizabeth Penney (Apron Shop Series #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good characters and setting

Cons: Mystery takes a little while to get going

The Bottom Line:

Body in basement

Introduces new series

That shows great promise

Can Iris Sew Up a Cold Case?

If you’ve noticed, I tend to be drawn to cozies that have food themes over the crafty themed cozies.  Just a matter of personal taste.  However, every so often a craft themed series catches my attention, and that was the case with Hems and Homicide by Elizabeth Penney, the first in the Apron Shop Series.  I’m glad I picked it up.

Iris Buckley is excited to be opening a store in her native Blueberry Cove, Maine.  Partnering with her grandmother, she is taking her unique apron designs and her love of vintage linens from the internet and creating a real store for them.  They’ve just signed a lease on a building, but it is going to need a lot of work to be ready to open by Memorial Day.

On the first day of renovations, Iris makes a gruesome discovery – a skeleton in the basement.  Her grandma, Anne, immediately thinks she knows who the remains belong to – Star Moonshine, a woman who came to town for a few months in the 1970’s.  Anne always assumed that her friend just moved on, and is devastated to learn she was murdered.  Anne wants to get justice for her friend, and Iris is only too willing to help her Grammie out.  Can the women figure out what happened all those years ago?

I can see why so many people have been praising this book.  It’s got several key ingredients that make cozy fans happy.  The first is location.  Blueberry Cove sounds like a lovely small town.  The location and the shops are perfect for a day of exploring, and I would love to be able to spend time there in real life.

Next are the characters.  Iris and Anne are great, and I enjoyed meeting them.  Iris has several good friends in town.  I didn’t feel we got to know all of them that well, yet, but that’s a function of how much page time they got.  I’m sure we will get to know them more as the series goes along.  The love interest is quite charming as well.  The suspects were all strong and did their part to keep me guessing.

Despite all of this, I did struggle a bit with the plot at the beginning of the book.  While things got off to a quick start, the plot still didn’t really get going until we were a third of the way in.  However, when it did get going, I was hooked.  In fact, the surprises kept coming right up until we reached the climax, which tied everything up with a bow.

Hems and Homicide is a debut that introduces us to a great new location and cast of wonderful characters.  Prepare to be charmed when you pick it up.  As soon as you finish, you’ll be ready for your next visit.

Ornament Review: Princess Peach - 2019 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Princess Peach captured well

Cons: Tips to the right

The Bottom Line:

A Princess in pink

Looking pleased to be on tree

Looks great but does tilt

A Peach of a Princess Ornament

Over the last few years, Hallmark has released a handful of Mario and Luigi ornaments.  In 2019, they expanded with more characters from the franchise.  It’s not a surprise that one of them was Princess Peach.

In the original Super Mario Bros., Mario and Luigi were on a quest to rescue her.  Over the years, she’s become a character we can play in various games with her own abilities.  Personally, I always chose her for her jumping ability in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Those familiar with the character won’t be surprised to learn she is wearing a pink dress.  It’s probably supposed to be peach, but I’ve always thought it looked like she was wearing pink.  I’m a little surprised about the pink parasol since I don’t usually picture her with one of those, but maybe it’s just been too long since I played the games to recognize it.  She’s got long flowing blond hair and a crown on her head.

It’s a simple ornament in some ways, but it does capture the character perfectly.  She’s smiling at us, not in action, but that’s a minor complaint.  If we get more ornaments with her, I’m sure we’ll get some action ornaments as well.

While her dress is so long and flowing that we don’t see her feet, Peach still has a big enough base that she can be set out and displayed anywhere you’d like to put her.  The base, at least on mine, is a bit uneven, but that’s okay since she’s still sturdy enough that she won’t tip over.

When you go to hang her on your tree, you’ll find she does tip slightly to the right.  It’s definitely noticeable, although she doesn’t look too bad that way.  Depending on how you arrange her with your branches, you can probably disguise it if it bothers you.

It’s a shame about the tip, but overall, Princess Peach is a great looking ornament.  It was nice to see more of the Super Mario characters appear.  I hope we get more in the years to come.

Book Review: The Brim Reaper by Diane Vallere (Samantha Kidd #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Samantha, mystery, humor

Cons: A little editing would help

The Bottom Line:

Samantha finds death

At museum exhibit

In fun mystery

Book Brimming with Clues and Fun

I really don’t follow fashions at all.  What can I say, I’m a guy.  Fortunately, I stumbled into Diane Vallere’s mysteries anyway, which brought me to Samantha Kidd.  While the setting for these mysteries might be the fashion industry, they are still fun mysteries all can enjoy, as The Brim Reaper proves once again.

Perpetually unemployed Samantha Kidd has agreed to help her friend Eddie with a fashion exhibit at the local museum.  The temporary exhibit is going to feature vintage Hollywood costumes.  However, when the shipments of hats at the center of the exhibit arrive, the boxes are empty.  Then Samantha and Eddie find a dead body in the museum.

After calling the police, Samantha fully intends to walk away from the case and focus on a job she’s taken working for her boyfriend, Nick, as he launches his own shoe design studio.  However, Eddie still needs Samantha’s help, especially when he begins to look like the prime suspect.  As her attention continues to be divided, will she be able to balance her new job and her relationship with finding a killer?

Quite obviously, there is a lot going on here, and it makes for an engaging mystery.  There are multiple suspects, red herrings, twists, and complications to keep the pages flying.  The ending ties everything together and wraps it up in a hat box for us.

I do wish the book were a little smoother.  It’s a minor timeline issue here, an awkward sentence there, things like that.  The issues are truly minor overall, but they are annoying.  Once more over to smooth a few of those things out would have made this a stronger book overall.

Speaking of strong, the characters are wonderful.  Samantha has a few good friends in her life, and all of these returning characters are outstanding.  I enjoy spending time with them, and I’m growing to care for them more with each book I read.  The museum staff, aka the suspects, prove to be interesting as well.  They don’t have as much page time as the regulars, but they still are developed enough for us to keep them straight and engaged in the mystery. 

And there’s the humor.  This isn’t a laugh a page book, but there are some very funny moments and clever turns of phrase along the way that made me smile or laugh.

The Brim Reaper is another fashionable read.  If you are looking for a diverting mystery, you’ll be glad you picked up this series.

You’ll also want to read the rest of the Samantha Kidd Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Patriotic Sweets - Season's Treatings Special Edition - 2020 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Delicious and patriotic

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Red, white, and blue sweets

Creates a great ornament

For summer display

Sweets for America

As we all know, production and shipping has been highly disrupted this year.  Of all the things I haven’t been able to buy when I originally expected to, Hallmark’s Patriotic Sweets was the one I was least concerned about.  I mean, I was disappointed not to have it earlier this year, but I get why it is this way, and it isn’t something I truly needed.  Still, when I got the call that my local Hallmark store had it in stock on July 3^rd, I rushed over and got it.

This is the fourth and final special edition ornament Hallmark is releasing this year for the Season’s Treatings series.  This ornament features pie and ice cream, two of my favorites.  The pie is…well, I don’t know what kind of pie it is.  The majority of the pie has stripes of pie crust alternated with stripes of what appear to be cherry pie.  In the upper left-hand corner, however, is a field of blue with white stars.  The result is a tasty, American flag looking pie. The ice cream is strawberry, and it looks homemade.  There are two cones with scoops on them.  The scooper is in the large bucket of ice cream in the upper left-hand corner of the ornament.  However, the ice cream itself is inside a smaller bucket surrounded by ice.  All of this is sitting on a red checkered cloth.

What I am about to say doesn’t impact my view of the ornament itself.  However, when I think of American desserts, I must admit, I usually think of apple pie covered with vanilla ice cream.  If I were to create an ornament, I probably would have gone that route.

Which just proves why I am not creating these ornaments myself.  I love this result so much more.  The strawberry ice cream follows the red, white and blue theme.  While I doubt you could really make a pie like this one, it looks perfectly patriotic.  This ornament is wonderful and is quite possibly my favorite of the special editions.

Yes, this ornament has a flat base.  Like most of the special editions, it has enough dominion that you could set it out.  However, I still prefer hanging mine.  Yes, it tips some, but considering all the Season’s Treatings ornaments tip, I’m going to consider it a design feature and not a design flaw.

While I am disappointed that I couldn’t display Patriotic Sweets during the Memorial Day/Flag Day/4^th of July period this year, I am glad to finally have it.  I’ve got it up now, and I’ll look forward to displaying it next year and for many years to come.

If you'd like to see this ornament, check out my picture on Instagram.

Enjoy more sweet ornaments with the rest of the Season’s Treatings ornaments.

Book Review: Super Puzzletastic Mysteries presented by Chris Grabenstein

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: 20 strong stories for you to solve

Cons: All cons will remain a puzzling mystery

The Bottom Line:

Can you solve these tales?

Twenty short stories to read

And match wits with sleuths

Twenty Great Puzzles and Mysteries for You to Solve

As soon as I heard about Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, I knew I had to read a copy.  Twenty members of Mystery Writers of America, headlined by Chris Grabenstein, got together to create a book of mysteries for middle graders to enjoy.  I wasn’t at all disappointed.

Each story in this book is designed to give you the clues you need to solve it right along with the characters.  Think Encyclopedia Brown.  The solutions are at the back, so once you’ve read the story and thought it over, you can see how well you did.  The stories vary in length, but they average 15 pages each, making them a good length for reading aloud.  I’m not familiar with all of the authors, but it appears most of them have created the characters for the stories presented here, although a few authors do use characters they’ve written about before.

There were five authors I recognized in this collection.  Chris Grabenstein brings back Riley Mack to solve “Snow Devils.”  I’d forgotten just how much I loved these characters, and I enjoyed the mystery of the word written in the snow.  Stuart Gibbs gives us the short “Monkey Business,” set at FunJungle.  As expected, it gave me a few laughs along with the clues.  Gigi Pandian presents “The Haunted Typewriter,” a delightful story about stolen jewelry and clues from a typewriter that no one thought worked.  I just discovered James Ponti a month ago, and it wasn’t with one of the books in the Framed series, but I had fun meeting those characters in “Tricked.”

Then there’s “Possum-Man and Janet” by Steve Hockensmith.  I’ve read Steve’s books for years, so he was one of the reasons I wanted to pick up this collection.  His story was definitely one of my favorites in the collection.  Possum-Man is a Batman wannabe, and the escapades in this story were hysterical.  I NEED more Possum-Man in my life.

Which brings us to the other fifteen stories in the collection.  Among the highlights are “The Perfect Alibi” by Fleur Bradley, which finds two young friends solving a cold case burglary.  “Codename: Mom” by Laura Brennan features a kid who must act fast when his mother gets into trouble.  A group of kids have to work together to solve a series of puzzles in “The Red Envelope” by Lara Cassidy.

Honestly, there isn’t a bad story in the bunch.  These are all clever and entertaining, with a mixed group of main characters.  They will please the target audience.  I know they kept me entertained.

Some of the stories are straight up mysteries.  As I said, the clues are there if you are paying attention.  Others do feature puzzles or codes that you can solve along with the characters in the story.  And, once you’ve learned about the difference puzzles, you can find more to solve or create your own when you are done with all the stories in the collection.

So how did I do?  I figured out a few of the stories, but not as many as I would have liked.  Even so, it was fun trying to see if I could spot the revealing moment or not.  Maybe if I had gotten to read them as part of a group, I would have solved more while brainstorming together before flipping to the end.

Kids will be delighted with Super Puzzletastic Mysteries, and it will introduce them to some new authors to explore.

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

July 4th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Hollywood Game Night – I’m not a fan of the Chrissley’s show.  Honestly, the previews bothered me.  They weren’t very good at the games.  Not that I’d do any better, as you know from my commentary each week.  But wow, the bonus game was very well played.

Press Your Luck – What different luck people had.  One person Wammyed out of the same while the guy who won did it without hitting a Wammy ever.  And what a great set of prizes he won.  That was spectacular.

Match Game – I haven’t seen very many ties on the new Match Game.  For the record, I was thinking Picture Book.  The second winner matched everyone (such an easy second question) but then didn’t get any matches in the bonus game.  That’s rare, too.  Usually, you at least match the first-round part somewhere.

The Titan Games – I knew the rock climber would win the first challenge, although that was closer than I thought it would be.  I wasn’t surprised with the women’s Mt. Olympus challenge.  The men’s challenge was very close.  The reigning champ is not giving it up without a fight.  I wonder how long they give them between the contests and Mt. Olympus.  I hope they have enough time to rest and recover, especially if they have an epic challenge.  Otherwise, it really isn’t fair with the reigning champ being fresh while the others are worn out.

StarGirl – I wasn’t that surprised they made the mean girl a villain.  Honestly, it kind of seems like all the kids we’ve met are related to the villains.  That’s going to be hard when the fight gets out in the open.  And that just might happen soon thanks to someone yelling Courtney’s name as he was searching for her.  But seriously, can we take it seriously and train already?  I’m kind of tired of the predictable back and forth.

July 3rd's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

Welcome to the start of a three day weekend for those of us in the USA.  I can already tell this weekend won't be long enough.  But for now, I'm going to enjoy the start of it with this week's Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm featuring The Brim Reaper by Diane Vallere.

                                                          

Yes, it's a cozy mystery with a fashion theme.  How did you guess?  Here's how the book begins:

It was hard not to overhear the argument.  Two deep male voices shouted at each other from the office of the art museum.

And, at the 56% point of the book, we find this fun chapter ender:

"You're saying they'll relax their ethics to get what they want."
"Most collectors don't even have ethics."

As a collector, I'm not sure how I feel about that quote.  Although for some it is definitely true.  Resellers, too.  Some, but not all.

I finished this book earlier in the week, and I enjoyed it as always.  My full review will be up on Tuesday.

In the meantime, have a great weekend, all.

Book Review: No Saving Throw by Kristin McFarland (Ten Again Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and plot

Cons: Autumn’s language

The Bottom Line:

Gaming store murder

Autumn must solve to save store

Delightful debut

Save a Place for This Debut

A while back, I was browsing at Barnes and Nobel, and I stumbled upon No Saving Throw.  I hadn’t heard of the book, and reading about it made it sound like fun, so I decided to give it a try.

Autumn is happy running Ten Again, the gaming store she owns in the small Wisconsin college town where she grew up.  In addition to weekend tournaments, she also hosts events for role players, and they often expand out into the small mall where the store is located in order to fully act out their story.

Things are going well until one of the regular gamers in the store dies in the mall.  Things quickly turn on Autumn and the rest of the gamers, with some of them in particular in the police’s spotlight.  But Autumn doesn’t think her gamers, who have become her friends, could really be killers.  Can she prove it?

I’m not a gamer, well in the sense talked about here.  Still, the idea was just quirky enough to appeal to me.  There are lots of references to geeky shows.  I suspect most are mainstream enough to be recognized by everyone, but it wouldn’t surprise me to find out there were some I didn’t catch.  Still, these are the fun Easter eggs in the book and if you miss one or two, it won’t matter.

The heart of the book is a great murder mystery.  As Autumn investigates, more events happen to discourage her.  I enjoyed seeing how everything played out.  I found the ending surprising and extremely suspenseful.

The characters are great.  Autumn really has created a community with her store, and you can tell how much the characters care about each other.  Autumn herself keeps debating the wisdom of being involved in the investigation, but something always pulls her back in.  I found this very realistic, and enjoyed it for a change of pace since so many of the books I read feature characters who charge ahead no matter the consequences.

This book is a typical cozy except for one thing – the language.  Autumn makes quite a few contributions to the shop’s swear jar over the course of the book.  It’s a little jarring for someone used to not having any foul language in the books he picks up, but it’s worth noting mostly in passing.

Overall, this is a strong debut, so I’m glad I picked up No Saving Throw.  Sadly, I’m not seeing any signs of a sequel yet, but I’m definitely hoping we get to visit Autumn again.