Month: June 2011

Special Guest Post: Wishbones by Carolyn Haines

On By Bubble Bubble Books and TroubleIn Cozies1 Comment

Anyone who has seen Steel Magnolia’s or Gone with the Wind should know that southern belles are a force to be reckoned with. Any southern lady worth her salt can bring men to their knees with just a bat of an eye. She must always look her best – even when she’s taking out the trash in sweltering heat. Most importantly, she must never accept defeat from the enemy. And Sarah Booth Delaney – the hottest detective in Zinnia, Mississippi – is no exception!

Want to know more about this fabulous Southern Belle Mystery Series? Stop by Lip Gloss and Literature to read the rest of my review!

Wine, Women & Murder! With Sophie Littlefield and Juliet Blackwell

On By Bubble Bubble Books and TroubleIn Cozies4 Comments
From left: Juliet Blackwell, me, Sophie LIttlefield

Not too long ago, I bumped into Scott Montgomery – BookPeople’s most notable bookseller – while browsing the store’s expansive mystery section. When he saw me pick up Janet Evonovich’s latest book he told me that if I liked Stephanie Plum, I would LOVE Sophie Littlefield’s new series about a woman vigilante who bludgeoned her wife-beating husband with a monkey wrench. 

I snatched up the book and told him, “You had me at woman vigilante!”  Just as I expected I’m  -yet again – sucked into a new mystery series. How could I not be? Sophie is an amazing writer with a natural gift for creating characters that seem so real, they practically walk off the page! Read my review here.

So you could imagine my excitement when I found out she was stopping by  BookPeople with Juliet Blackwell, another chick lit  author who writes a fabulous witchcraft mystery series!  This time, I wasn’t able to harness the self-control to buy just one book. I may be broke for the rest of the month, but at least I’ll be thoroughly entertained with these two fabulous new novels:

A Bad Day for Scandal, by Sophie Littlefield

From Goodreads: When Prosper homegirl turned big-city businesswoman Priss Porter returns to town with a body in her trunk, she calls Stella Hardesty to dispose of it. Her uppity ways don’t convince Stella to take the job, and Priss attempts to blackmail her with a snapshot of Stella doing what she does best: curing woman-beaters by the use of force.      

Stella refuses to cooperate and goes home, only to hear later that Priss and her brother, Liman, have gone missing after calling in a disturbance. Stella is implicated when Sheriff “Goat” Jones discovers the scarf she left behind at the house. He warns her to stay local but Stella and her partner, Chrissy Shaw, go looking for Priss in Kansas City, where they discover that she runs an unusual business. When Priss herself—along with two other bodies—turns up in a pond belonging to one of Stella’s ex-clients, Stella must investigate a host of suspects, including a crooked but libidinous female judge, a coterie of jealous male escorts, and a Marxist ex-professor.

Hexes and Hemlines by Juliet Blackwell

From Goodreads: Lily gets called away from her vintage clothing store to give police a witch’s take on how the leader of a rationalist society could be murdered, surrounded by superstitions he discredited.

Evidence points to dark witchcraft. Lily’s determined to use magic of her own to find the murderer, before everyone’s luck runs out.

Dark Days of Supernatural

On By Bubble Bubble Books and TroubleIn Cozies2 Comments

 YA supernatural readers – eat your heart out! Last week this lucky book blogger got to meet five fabulous authors at BookPeople’s Dark Days of Supernatural Tour.  Seriously guys, it was like Christmas in June! Each of these dark and lovely ladies gave their fans a sneak peak into their new books, enticing me to break the bank and buy all five of their novels. But alas, I was able to harness enough self-control to buy just one book. Since I’m a sucker for gothic romances, I was torn between Amy Plum’s Die for Me and Tara Hudson’s Hereafter. But After hearing about the love saga between an orphaned teen and a mysterious Parisian bad boy, I had to choose Die for Me! How can you go wrong with a hot paranormal romance in Paris?  

Check out this awesome lineup of authors!

Ellen Schreiber (CRYPTIC CRAVINGS)
 From Goodreads: The morbidly monotonous Dullsville has finally become the most exciting place on earth now that Raven is madly in love with her hot vampire boyfriend Alexander, and a crew of vampires has taken residence in Dullsville’s old mill. Raven discovers Jagger’s plan to open a new club, The Crypt, right here in Dullsville. But is it her dream come true, or her worst nightmare? Raven and Alexander have to figure out what the nefarious vampire has in store for Dullsville’s teen and vampire population. Can Raven convince Jagger to listen to her plans to make the Crypt the morbidly magnificent dance club it could be? Will it be safe for mortals and vampires alike?

Aprilynne Pike (ILLUSIONS)
 From Goodreads: Laurel hasn’t seen Tamani since she begged him to let her go last year. Though her heart still aches, Laurel is confident that David was the right choice.
But just as life is returning to normal, Laurel discovers that a hidden enemy lies in wait. Once again, Laurel must turn to Tamani to protect and guide her, for the danger that now threatens Avalon is one that no faerie thought would ever be possible. And for the first time, Laurel cannot be sure that her side will prevail

 

Veronica Roth (DIVERGENT)
From Goodreads: In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. 

 Tara Hudson (HEREAFTER)
From Goodreads: Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she’s dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she’s trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.
 

Amy Plum (DIE FOR ME)
From Goodreads: In the City of Lights, two star-crossed lovers battle a fate that is destined to tear them apart again and again for eternity. When Kate Mercier’s parents die in a tragic car accident, she leaves her life–and memories–behind to live with her grandparents in Paris. For Kate, the only way to survive her pain is escaping into the world of books and Parisian art. Until she meets Vincent. Mysterious, charming, and devastatingly handsome, Vincent threatens to melt the ice around Kate’s guarded heart with just his smile. As she begins to fall in love with Vincent, Kate discovers that he’s a revenant–an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save the lives of others.

If you could only pick one, which would you choose?

A Bad Day for Sorry by Sophie LIttlefield

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One of my most favorite songs to “sing” at Karaoke bars (I’ll spare you the YouTube video) is “Earl Had to Die.” I just love the concept of ballsy women delivering home-style justice to wife-beating husbands. That must be why I snatched up A Bad Day for Sorry the second after I read the prologue:

Whuppin’ ass wasn’t so hard, Stella Hardesty thought as she took aim with the little Raven .25 she took off a cheating son-of-a-bitch in Kansas City last month. What was hard was making sure it stayed whupped. Especially on a day when it hit a hundred degrees before noon. And you were having hot flashes.

So begins Sophie Littlefield’s first mystery in a series about a rural Missouri sewing shop owner who moonlights as a balls-to-the-wall bounty hunter of sorts for bullying  husbands. Ever since she snuffed out her abusive husband with a wrench on her 50th birthday, she swore her days of being a victim were over. Without a husband or a relationship with her daughter,  who decided to shack up with losers just like her dad, Stella fills the empty void by preventing other women from suffering the same fate.

The mystery unfolds when Chrissy Shaw begs Stella to help her find her redneck  ex-husband, Roy Dean, who skipped town with her two-year-old son. Hot on the trail, Stella discovers the case of the missing wife beater might not be as simple as it looks. She realizes she may be in over her head when she learns of Roy’s involvement with the mob and a chop shop ring. Unable to shield Chrissy from the ugly truth, Stella teams up with the young mother who – despite her ditzy demeaner – proved to be a fearless sidekick. Sassy, brave and funny as hell, the unlikely duo make a great Thelma and Louise-esque team. On a quest to find the child, the two women are willing to face danger head-on. Not even a sadistic mob boss who dismembers his own men and throws their body parts in a burn barrel will stand in their way!

With an eccentric cast of complex characters and a hard-boiled mystery plot, this book is a departure from your typical chick lit/cozy mystery. Unlike any other leading lady – who are commonly young, leggy, slim and fashionably chic – Stella is no looker. She’s middle-aged, pudgy and unapologetically rough around the edges. After being treated like a second-class citizen  in a long, painful (literally!) marriage, she decided to give up on love altogether. But when the handsome local sherriff shows an interest in more than just her vigilante side gig, she begins to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there’s hope after all. As in most mystery series (*cough* Ranger and Morelli), both are too neurotic and stubborn to act on their desires. But that’s what keeps us reading! This exciting debut is undoubtedly the start of a very compelling series!

 

Waiting on Wednesday Pick: Murder by Mocha

On By Bubble Bubble Books and TroubleIn Cozies2 Comments

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted over at Breaking The Spine, that spotlights exciting  upcoming releases. This week I’m waiting on Murder by Mocha by Cleo Coyle. It is the 10th book in the Coffeehouse Mystery series, and it just looks fabulous!

Publication date: Aug. 2, 2011. Just one day before my birthday!

From Goodreads.com:

A divorced, single mom in her forties, Clare Cosi is a coffee shop manager by day, an irrepressible snoop by night. When something is wrong, she considers it her mission in life to right it–and murder is as wrong as it gets.

Can coffee enhance your love life? Coffee and chocolate have long been considered aphrodisiacs. Now Clare’s Village Blend beans are being used in conjunction with a proprietary formula of exotic herbs to create a lucrative new product, Mocha Magic Coffee, billed as “a miracle brew” that will put the “magic moments” back into your relationship. Clare even plans to test this very special chocolate coffee on her boyfriend, NYPD detective Mike Quinn–when he’s off duty, of course.

The product was developed by an old friend of the Village Blend’s flamboyant, elderly owner, Madame Dreyfus Allegro Dubois. Madame’s friend is also the food and beverage editor of Aphrodite’s Village, one of the web’s most popular communities for women. This Internet site will be the exclusive place to buy Mocha Magic, which is expected to rake in millions, but not all goes well with the rollout of this product. At the launch party, the Mocha has far too many people acting loco! Then one of the website’s editors is found dead. When more of the website’s Sisters of Aphrodite start to die, Clare is convinced someone wants control of the coffee’s secret formula and is willing to kill to get it. Can Clare stir up some evidence against a bitter killer? Or will she be next on the hit list?