October Wrap Up!!

Enjoying the fall leaf colors is like enjoying a good book for me.  They are so pretty and you never know what color the final leaf will be when it falls from the tree.  It's like a mystery written by nature.  

THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL MY FOLLOWERS AND THOSE THAT STOP IN TO READ MY BLOG!!!  YOU ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED BY ME EVERY DAY!  


Here's what I have read in October: 10 Grand Total of  Books!!
You can click on the title of the book to get to my review of that book.  :-)

~ 1 Children's Book:
~Stuart Little by E.B. White

~ 1 Young Adult Fiction:
~Sentient by Kenechi Udogu

~ 8 Adult Fiction ( Paranormal Romance/ Mystery/  Fiction):
~Eggs in Purgatory by Laura Childs
~Eggs Benedict Arnold by Laura Childs
~Bedeviled Eggs by Laura Childs
~Stake and Eggs by Laura Childs
~Ghost Walk by Heather Graham
~Yellow Eyes by Sonya Lee
~Vampire Shift by Tim O'Rourke
~Death Checks In by Sara Robbins

How are my Challenges looking?
You can click on each challenge and you will go to my post for that challenge to see which books counted for each challenge or what each challenge entails.  As I complete challenges I will highlight them!  :-)

Over The Year 2013:

1.  Paranormal Reading Challenge 2013  Read 12 paranormal books.  I am choosing to read one a month and to follow their list of which paranormal being is featured that month and read a book containing the featured paranormal.

10/12

2.  Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2013  I am hoping to climb Mount Blanc this year by setting a goal of reading 24 books off my TBR Shelf/List.

24/24  Wrap Up Post

3.  Color Coded Reading Challenge 2013  Read 9 color specific books per list provided.

7/9

4.  What An Animal VI Reading Challenge 2013  Read 6 books containing an animal somewhere in them (cover, title, main character)

6/6  Wrap Up Post

5.  Colorful Reading Challenge 2013  Read 9 books containing a color in the title.  Any color from the Crayola Crayon Color Box is game!

9/9  Wrap Up Post

6.  Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge 2013  Read one book a month, so total of 12 books, that contain the "key word" of the month in the title.  "Key words" are given to pick from every month. 

10/12

7.  EBook Challenge 2013  Read E-Books!  I chose the CD level of reading 10 eBooks in the year.

8/10

8.  Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge 2013  Just like the name implies, simply read more books than I did in 2012.  I hope to read 1-5 more than I read in 2012!

0/5

9.  Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge 2013  Read books from Sookie Stackhouse Series.  I chose to read 5 books from the series this year, as that is the number I have left in the series to read.

4/5

10.  Women's Murder Club Reading Challenge 2013  Read books from this series.  I chose to read 1-3 books from the series to continue to make my way through the set.

3/3

11.  Let Me Count The Ways Reading Challenge 2013  Count pages read.  I chose the Mansion level of reading 10,001 + pages.

31,116/10,001

12.  Witch and Witchcraft Reading Challenge 2013  Read Witchy books.  I chose to read 1-5 witchy books for the Initiate level.

5/5  Witch and Witchcraft Challenge Wrap Up

13.  Reading Challenge Addict Challenge 2013  A challenge to give you the goal of completing you challenges!  I chose the In Flight level of completing 11-15 challenges.

8/15

14.  Pre-1960 Classic Children Book Challenge 2013  Read classic kids books that date before 1960.  I am trying for 12 books, one a month.

10/12

15.  Mystery/Crime Reading Challenge 2013  Read Mystery and Crime books.  I picked the Sherlock Holmes level of reading 30+ books in 2013.

35/35  Wrap Up Post

16.  Off The Shelf Reading Challenge 2013  Read books off your own shelf to lessen your pile.  I picked "Trying", which is to read 15 books off my shelf.

16/16  Wrap Up Post

17.  Why Buy The Cow Reading Challenge 2013  Read eBooks that you find legally free.  I picked the "coupon clipper" level of reading 12 free eBooks.

6/12

18.  YA Mythology Reading Challenge 2013  Read 10 YA Mythology Books.

10/10  Wrap Up Post

19.  A to Z Reading Challenge 2013  Read a book for each letter of the alphabet (title starts with).

23/26

20.  100 Books in A Year Reading Challenge 2013  Read 100 Books in the year.
100/100  Wrap Up Post

21.  150+ Reading Challenge 2013  Read 150+ books in the year.  109/150

Perpetual:

1.  Stephanie Plum Reading Challenge  Read all the books in this series.

3/22

2.  Kinsey Millhone Reading Challenge  Read all the books in this series.

9/22

3.  Stephen King Reading Challenge  Read all of Stephen King's Books.

0/100

4.  Read 1 Million Pages Challenge  Read 1 Million Pages.

62,299/1,000,000

Book Review: Death Checks In

Title:  Death Checks In
Author:  Sara Robbins
Pages:  103
Publication Date:  2013
Version:  eBook (Kindle)
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Lacey Washburn had poured everything she had into her new business, The Aspen Valley Inn, a charming Colorado mountain bed and breakfast. The grand opening was perfect until a brutally murdered stranger was found at the bottom of the stairs. The fact that he had already died seven years ago didn't make sense. When the handsome sheriff, Wyatt Graves, started investigating Lacey and all of her guests the sparks began to fly. Lacey soon discovered that he was as heartbroken and damaged as she was. Can they solve the murder and find love? 

Death Checks Inn combines interesting characters, a beautiful setting, passionate love and horrible death...all welcoming you to the Inn."

My Review:
A summary of this book is not even really in order.  The theory behind the book was good and the description to get you to read the book was good...the book itself...yeah, not so much.  The summary written to get you "suckered" in to read the book did just that for me.  It sounded like a great tale of mystery with some romance twisted in to the bottom line.  I found a few things wrong with this book, which surprised me being that it was a shorter read.  First off, and perhaps most annoying, were all the typos I found.  Normally I would not make a big deal about this, but there were so many that it became a type of "game" for me to see how many were upcoming in my read.  However, I can't justify my opinion as it being a book horrible or unlikable book just because of spelling errors and such.  I could have gotten over them if the book would have blown my socks off.  I just didn't get that either.  It seemed that they mystery was underlying the romance part of the book.  Now, perhaps I looked at the summary wrong and that was the way it was supposed to be, but even so, when I see a romantic suspense type book I expect a bit more suspense than was given in this book.  Even though this was a very short read, I found it to just draw out for me.  I am not sure if it was just me, or it really was the book.  I can say this, the characters were decent, but they would not be near enough to make me want to read on in this series.  I will not be a future reader of this series.

3/5 Stars

Book Review: Vampire Shift

Title:  Vampire Shift
Author:  Tim O'Rourke
Pages:  245
Publication Date:  2011
Version:  eBook (Kindle)
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction/Paranormal/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"When twenty-year-old police recruit Kiera Hudson is posted to the remote town of The Ragged Cove, her life is changed forever. Investigating a series of horrific murders, grave desecrations and missing persons, with her unique ability of ‘seeing’, Kiera soon realises her life is in danger. 

But when Kiera is crewed with Police officer Luke Bishop, not only is her mind and heart opened to a terrifying new world, she comes to suspect that Luke might be involved in the killings. 

In a race against time to unearth the truth, Kiera must discover the identity of who or what is behind the gruesome deaths on the ‘Vampire Shift’."

My Review:
Kiera may be a "newbie", but she knows what she is doing and knows that she better take the first job offered to her to prove herself.  Even if it is to a small town with very bad stories behind it and a reputation of having officers go missing.  When she gets there she is shocked to see how the station is run, which really may not have been such a shock to her, had she worked somewhere else right after getting out of the academy first.  While being shown to her place she is staying by Luke, a handsome co-worker of hers, she is soon diving right in to her new job ahead of schedule.  She soon learns that there have been many many murders or cases of missing persons in this small town and all have gone unsolved.  Kiera's question is why have they gone unsolved?  Is it because the police there seem to be so lax in their system?  Is it because it really is that hard of a case to crack?  The more she learns the more questions she has and soon she is wondering if her new "friend", Luke, is really as innocent as he seems.  Kiera's determined to solve this case, but what will that cost her?  Will she become a statistic of another lost/killed officer in this small town before she can get to the bottom of things?

What a read!  I just loved Kiera as the main character. She was such a great character in so many ways.  I loved that she was this new recruit that wanted nothing more than to prove herself to the other cops she worked with.  She wasn't afraid to stand up for what she was believing and was trained to do.  She also had such a great gift for "seeing" things that others miss, she is just so observant and such a great cop because of that.  I also enjoyed Luke, the handsome, kind, yet very mysterious co-worker of Kiera's.  This book took off with the mystery right away and just kept throwing it at me until the very end of the book.  The flow was great too, there weren't any of those choppy moments that make you wonder what happened to the author as they were writing.  It simply continued to flow on.  The descriptions used in this book were so realistic I felt like I was watching a movie while reading it.  I had no trouble what so ever visualizing what the author wanted me to be seeing.  The best thing about this book I think, was the unique combination of mystery, cop mystery, and vampires.  It was a unique spin on the usual vampire stories and mystery books that worked very well the way the author wrote it.  Very good book, that I highly suggest you check out!

5/5 Stars!

Book Review: Sentient

Title:  Sentient
Author:  Kenechi Udogu
Pages:  165
Publication Date:  2013
Version:  PDF free via author for honest review
Genre:  Young Adult Fiction/Paranormal Romance

Summary Via Author:
Mastering her Progressive Empath abilities isn't going as well as Gemma hoped. In fact, months after finding out what she really is, she still has no clue what this truly means. All she can do is wait to see if any new abilities will eventually manifest. Things aren't going great with Russ either. Unsure of how to handle her Sentient Link with him, she tries to integrate herself in his busy social life but struggles to adjust to her new circumstances.

When she is plagued by recurring nightmares, Gemma realizes things are changing and knows she has to do something, fast. The arrival of two sets of strangers in town, both offering the much needed assistance she needs to unearth her powers, escalates the situation even further. Gemma attempts to decipher whose intentions are genuine, but does she have enough time to figure out who has her best interest at heart?

My Review:
I read the first book in this series and was pretty excited when approached to read this continuation.  This book continues Gemma's journey of self discovery while learning what being a Progressive Empath really means and what she can do being one.  Without her Dad Gemma finds learning about herself and her abilities a hard thing to master.  Russ and her have an odd relationship too, that she isn't sure what to do with.  She wants to love him, but part of her isn't so sure she should or can knowing how they have a special bond.  She wants to know she loves him for him and not because of their bond and that he loves her for her and not because of their bond.  When Gemma starts having nightmares, well a reoccurring nightmare, she seeks out anyone that can help her.  There are some new strangers in town that say they can help her with her powers and learn more about who she is.  Should she trust them?  Do they really just want to help her?  She's running out of time to decide who to trust, she just hopes she makes the right choice when it really counts.

I enjoyed this continuation very much.  It has been a bit since I read the first book, so I thought it a perfect test to see if the author did a good job reminding the reader of what the series was all about.  This was done very well.  I remembered right away what happened in the first book and who the characters were and what they were all about.  I think a huge part of this is because these are such unique books and characters, you just never could forget them.  Gemma and Russ once again won my heart and I was glad to see them together and and in a new stage of their relationship/bond.  I love how the author took "normal" teen things and mashed them in with "special circumstances" that went with the book and the characters.  For instance, the feelings of love for Russ and the teenage hormones that made Gemma feel that way for him on top of the special connection they know they share because of what Gemma is.  I thought it simply added a nice touch for teens relating to the characters better.  The action of this book was a bit touch and go in the beginning, but there was a method to that madness as they say, you really needed some things to have the action of it all make more sense when it did happen.  It was not slow moving by any means, especially if you remembered how the first book ended.  I found it an easy read and a read that was easy to follow, yet kept my attention and my wonder of what was coming next.  The characters were a true joy to see developing more and I can't wait to see where else they go from here.  Such a great continuation of a wonderful series.  Very well written, the descriptions were perfect for making me "see" exactly what was happening as I was reading.  I highly suggest picking this book up along with the first book in the series if you have not read it.

The first book in the series was Aversion.  Check out my review of that as well HERE!

5/5 Stars!

Book Review: Yellow Eyes

Title:  Yellow Eyes
Author:  Sonya Lee
Pages:  148
Publication Date:  2012
Version:  eBook (Kindle)  (Free From Amazon.com)
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Katrina Castillo is a graduate student at State University when she is plunged into her worst nightmare. Her apartment is burglarized and the police make a grisly discovery. From that point on her world is turned upside down. An unknown entity is after Katrina. He's cunning, knows police procedure and has lots of connections. The police are ill-equipped to deal with such a cunning adversary. He knows Katrina's every move and any move the police make. Can the police protect Katrina and learn the motives of their most challenging adversary before its too late."

My Review:
Katrina is a student who lives with one of her best friends in a relatively safe area, so they thought anyway.  Soon Katrina's biggest worry is not whether or not her big papers are getting done on time, but whether or not she will survive to write her next paper period.  Katrina's nightmare starts when she wakes up out of a dead sleep and hears noises in their apartment that alert her to a burglary taking place.  Worried for her safety she grabs her phone and slips out the window onto the fire escape.  From there she calls 911 for the burglary, but soon it is a call for a fire too, for she smells smoke and when she looks into it a bit further finds their apartment on fire.  All Katrina can think is how she is glad her roommate is not home and not in any danger.  Soon the police bring horrible new to Katrina about something found in their apartment and her life goes into a whirlwind of action.  Will Katrina survive to see who was trying to rob and burn their apartment?  Will she ever get over the shock of what they found in her apartment?  Is someone after her?  Is she safe?

This book is hard for me to review without giving away a ton of spoilers to future readers.  So, I will keep it simple and maybe not as in depth as I normally would.  The writing of this book was great, it was very vivid and kept me on my reading toes.  It was a very action packed book that's for sure; a ton of thing happened in this shorter book, but they flow and don't seem overwhelming at all to the reader.  I was hooked and couldn't put this book down after the first chapter.  The characters were nothing to sneeze at either!  They were so well described that you really got to know them as you read.  I loved Katrina and the Guardian the best I think.  This book is the first in a trilogy, so the ending made you remember that by not really ending completely.  It was a good ending for the main plot of the book, but some underlying things in the plot were put on a "to be continued" air so you pick up the next book.  I was left wondering a few things, which I am sure was the whole point of how she ended the book, so you read on in her trilogy.  All in all a very good read, but lots of underlying questions are left in my head even after finishing the book.  However, I understand why.  

4/5 Stars!

Book Review: Stuart Little

Title:  Stuart Little
Author:  E.B. White
Pages:  131
Publication Date:  1945
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Children's Fiction

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Stuart Little is no ordinary mouse. Born to a family of humans, he lives in New York City with his parents, his older brother George, and Snowbell the cat. Though he's shy and thoughtful, he's also a true lover of adventure.

Stuart's greatest adventure comes when his best friend, a beautiful little bird named Margalo, disappears from her nest. Determined to track her down, Stuart ventures away from home for the very first time in his life. He finds adventure aplenty. But will he find his friend?"

My Review:
What's not to love about this wonderful classic about a mouse who is adopted into a human family.  Stuart Little is about a small mouse that is adopted by a human family, but they love him just as much as their human son.  Stuart finds that as a mouse he has many adventures in a day.  His family finds it a bit stressful and worrisome, but Stuart finds it fun and adventuresome.  When Stuart's friend, a bird, Margalo is missing from her nest Stuart decides to find her, no matter where that adventure may take him.  Will he find her?  Will he survive the dangers of the big world out there to try and find her?

I just loved this book as a kid and as I read it again, I love it even more.  This is a wonderful classic kids book that really is one hundred percent pure fun for the reader.  I loved everything about this book.  The writing is great and very detailed, the characters are fantastic and easy to love, and the pictures are so cute and add to the writing.  Wonderful book for all ages!

5/5 Stars!!

Book Review: Ghost Walk

Title:  Ghost Walk
Author:  Heather Graham
Pages:  393
Publication Date:  2005
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Nikki DuMonde's newest employee is standing at the end of her bed at four o'clock in the morning begging for help. It's a joke, right? Besides, as manager of a successful New Orleans haunted-tour company, Nikki doesn't scare easily. But in the light of day, harsh reality sets in as a police officer informs her that Andy was brutally murdered--at the exact time Nikki swears the distraught woman was in her room. No one believes her except Brent Blackhawk, a paranormal investigator desperately trying to forget his tragic past. Half Irish, half Lakota--and able to communicate with the dead--Brent is used to living in two worlds. But when he realizes the ghost of a slain government agent is also trying to reach out to Nikki, he knows that she, too, must listen to the dead...if she wants to keep living."

My Review:
Nikki is very surprised when she looks up from her groggy/tipsy sleep and sees her coworker and friend Andy at the end of her bed in, what looks like, her pajamas.  They all went out on their boss that night and Nikki admits she came home a bit on the drunk side, so she figures she just must be in a weird dream state.  Only problem is, Nikki really feels awake and she can hear Andy asking her for help as clear as if she really was there, so the only thing Nikki comes to decide is that her friends are playing some sort of odd trick on her and tells Andy to go away and very funny.  That's all great, but the next day she learns that Andy died at the very time she was seen by Nikki in her room at the foot of her bed.  What's going on?  Can she really see and now talk to the dead?  No one believes her of her friends and soon Nikki is beyond frustrated.  She knows Andy must have been murdered, but how can she prove it?  The only person she finds that trusts her visions of Andy in any way is Brent, a paranormal investigator who also sees the dead.  Can they work together to figure out the mystery behind Andy's death and the death of an undercover FBI agent?  Even if they can, will they be believed?

I must start out by saying I simply love these types of books.  I love books dealing with the paranormal and especially ghosts.  Therefore I started this book with great excitement.  I also have enjoyed Graham's books before, so that just added to my hope and expectation that this book was going to be more than amazing.  I must say though, I was a bit disappointed.  I don't know if it was the book itself, the writing, or the high expectations I went into the read with.  I found it to be very slow to start and was a bit anxious while reading, waiting for something to happen.  It just seemed like it took a very long period of pages to really get into any aspect of the mystery.  It was slow to start and then was a bit choppy once it did get started.  What I did enjoy was the theory behind the plot and the characters.  I think if the book would have had some of the "fluff" taken out, it would have been really amazing without a doubt.  The characters made the book better for me though and were the thing that kept me reading the book.  So, all in all, the book was ok, the characters made it more bearable for sure.

3/5 Stars

Book Review: Stake and Eggs

Title:  Stake and Eggs
Author:  Laura Childs
Pages:  273
Publication Date:  2012
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Suzanne, Toni, and Petra found a second life after losing their husbands—opening their own successful business, the Cackleberry Club cafè. But the three women never expected sleuthing to be the special of the day…

A KILLER HAS THE TOWN WALKING ON EGG SHELLS
When a snowmobile crashes into the woods behind the Cackleberry Club cafè, Suzanne finds her town’s most-hated banker beheaded by a wire staked in the snow. Now some of her best customers are prime suspects with a bushel of motives, and the murder investigation is snowballing. An elusive young runaway may be the Cackleberry Club’s only way to crack the case…provided Suzanne can keep her head long enough to track down the cold-blooded killer."

My Review:
Winter has come to Kindred and it is holding nothing back!  The town is covered in ice and snow and there is an extreme chill in the air.  The chill isn't all from the plummeting temperatures outside either, for there has just been a terrible murder in the woods behind the Cackleberry Club.  People snowmobile all the time in Kindred in the winter, but it's not often that kills them, like it has the big swig hated banker in town.  Suzanne has seen a lot of death in the last 10 months, but this is by far the most gruesome, with the bankers head being clean lopped off his body from a wire that was stretched between two trees in the woods.  Suzanne vows to not get involved this time in solving the murder, but soon she is roped in and doing her best to figure things out.  The problem?  The killer doesn't look to kindly on her doing so.  The whole town hated the banker, but who hated him enough to actually kill him?  Can Suzanne defrost the clues and find the murderer before he kills again?

Once again, Childs amazes me and makes me love her even more!  She is such a great author that writes so well, that I actually found myself thinking about the characters in her books as real people that I wished I could just meet.  This series leaves me wishing I could go work at the Cackleberry Club with these fun and loving ladies.  This book is a great read, just like the others!  It starts out with a bang and continues that suspense all the way through the book.  Not once did I put it down and think, eh I'll read when I get to it.  NOPE, I hated to put it down and couldn't wait to pick it back up when I did have to put it down.  Suzanne, Toni, and Petra are just amazing characters who are so different from one another, but have very common situations really, and that's what makes them long lasting friends.  They also all have humdinger personalities that you can't help but love.  They are all so snoopy and gossipy, but in a good way it turns out, especially when they are trying to crack open a murder.  If you pick up one series by a new to you author you just have to pick this one!  The books in the Cackleberry Club Mystery Series are phenomenal and well worth you time.  They are simply amazing as a series, but would be great as stand alone books too.  So if you don't want to read from the beginning, pick this one up and give it a go, you won't be sorry!

5/5 Stars!!

Book Review: Bedeviled Eggs

Title:  Bedeviled Eggs
Author:  Laura Childs
Pages:  302
Publication Date:  2010
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"The ladies at the Cackleberry Club café are busy preparing for Halloween. But someone's jumped the gun on the tricks. As mayoral candidate Chuck Peebler leaves the café, he gets struck with a crossbow arrow and is killed instantly. And when another murder occurs on the historical society's Quilt Trail, the Cackleberry Club needs to sniff out the bad egg-before he strikes again."

My Review:
The year is in full swing and now the ladies of the Cackleberry Club are hoping things are getting back to normal after all their mysteries of murder and mayhem.  Their fall starts out that way, calm and normal, but it soon turns to murder, mayhem, and suspicion.  The small town of Kindred is up for mayoral elections and they small town can't wait to get the old mayor out and Chuck Peebler in.  His prospects of being the new mayor are soaring!  However, he is soon stopped dead in his tracks...literally, when he is shot dead with a crossbow arrow outside the Cackleberry Club after an event there and a small tiff with a local woman.  How can this be happening?  Why was Peebler killed?  Was it an accident or was it cold blooded murder?  Soon it is found to be just that...murder.  What the ladies of the Cackleberry Club want to find out is why was he murdered and by who.  Can Suzanne dust off her sleuthing hat once more to find out what's going on in their small town before someone else is killed?  The answer initially to that was no, because another man was killed.  Are their murders related?  Will a third person be killed?

I simply am in love with Childs writing!  This book was eggcellent!  Hehe.  I just can't get enough of these wonderful characters and their little Cackleberry Club.  Every book I read further into the series, I feel more and more like I am a part of the small town of Kindred and I have come to know these three wonderful women who run the Cackleberry Club.  This book hits the ground running with the mystery and mayhem and it doesn't slow until the last word on the last page.  Childs writes in such a way that makes you want to read on in the series just to see what comes of the characters and their lives.  Also, there is a re-cap of some things that are of importance to the present book from the other books, but not so much re-cap that you feel like you are re-reading the past books.  She keeps her re-caps short and sweet, but they also do the job of making sure you remember the event she is re-capping or you understand it, if you have never read the books before this one.  I think it takes true author talent to do that correctly.  I can't say how much I loved this book, writing, or characters, but I'm sure you get the idea.  This is a MUST read book!!!!  Even if you haven't read the other books in the series, check it out because it would do well as a stand alone book too.  I just don't want anyone to miss out on the charm of the small town of Kindred or the loving people that live there.  

5/5 Stars!!!

Book Review: Eggs Benedict Arnold

Title:  Eggs Benedict Arnold 
Author:  Laura Childs
Pages:  304
Publication Date:  2009
Version:  Paperback
Genre:  Adult Fiction/Mystery

Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"When Cackleberry Clubber Suzanne delivers a pie to funeral director Ozzie Driesden, she discovers him not working at the embalming table but lying on the embalming table. She barely has time to recognize his corpse before she?s drugged with chloroform. With more suspects than breakfast specials, the Cackleberry Club scrambles to crack the case before one of their own ends up six feet under."

My Review:
Suzanne is the owner of a nice little place called Cackleberry Club.  It is a mix of somewhere to eat, knit, read, and relax.  She may have had her mystery trouble in the past, but she is so over that...or so she thought.  Soon, Suzanne is finding herself in the middle of, yet another mystery.  Only this time she is not a suspect, but a victim.  She simply went to deliver a pie to Ozzie, the funeral director, then the next thing she knows she is staring at, what appears to be a dead Ozzie sprawled over his embalming table and then is being drugged with chloroform herself.  Who would have killed Ozzie, such a sweet man?  Who would have wanted to drug, but not kill Suzanne?  Is there a killer on the loose that is going to regret not having offed Suzanne too that will then go after her again, but for good?  Suzanne soon dusts off her mystery solving skills and gets into a bit more trouble along the way to finding out what is really going on in her small town. 

I simply loved this book!  It was just as entertaining as the first one in the series and the characters were even better in this book.  The mysteries keep on appearing with every turn of the page in this book and make you so excited to read, you just can't put it down.  Once again, Childs had me wondering what was really the story as far as the murder went.  I was eager to turn the pages and read on and I was excited to learn more about not only the mystery, but the characters as I read on.  The characters were so fantastic from the first book, and I am so glad that they kept that greatness in this book.  I also was excited to see new characters and more growth in the old characters.  The writing of the book was great too.  Childs had a way of making details seem just a wonderful part of the drama and mystery instead of an unnecessary part of the book.  The details added to the book instead of taking away from it.  I love Childs' writing style and I can't wait to read on even further in this Cackleberry Club mystery series.  I feel like I am part of the little friendship circle when I read these books!  The drama, mystery, friendships, and food are hard to beat!

5/5 Stars!!