Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Friday, April 4, 2014

PLUM PUDDING MURDER by Joanne Fluke

Plum Pudding Murder (Hannah Swensen Series #12)

It's Christmastime in Lake Eden, MN, and Hannah is baking up a storm. There are several mysteries afoot - a friend missing from her job; Norman's mom lying, canceling plans and being evasive; and the murder of a sneaky and dishonest business man. Hannah and friends are up to sorting out all these mysteries, but one of them just might get Hannah killed.

This was a good mystery, and I enjoyed figuring out the solution before the characters did. I love the characters in this series and watching the relationships evolve. One thread of the story only seemed to be there to set up something for the future, which is pretty clever plotting by the author. My only complaint is the love triangle. One of Hannah's suitors can really be a selfish, thoughtless guy, and I don't see why he is still in the picture. But I keep coming back for more in the next book to see if he'll redeem himself or if Hannah will finally choose the steady, sweet, thoughtful one who always puts her first.

4 out of 5 stars

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

DUCK THE HALLS by Donna Andrews

Duck the Halls (Meg Langslow Series #16)

A prankster leaves a cage of skunks in the choir loft of the Baptist church just days before Christmas. As cancelling all of their regular weekly events and the Christmas ones isn't an option, Meg and her organizational skills are pressed into service to maintain the schedule at all the area churches that open their doors to help. But the pranks escalate to arson and eventually murder. Meg's on the case, asking questions and keeping her eyes and ears open as she juggles her scheduling responsibilities, her family, and their Christmas festivities. Hopefully she can get to the bottom of things before innocent people go to jail and Christmas is ruined.

As I've already mentioned, I love reading Christmas stories this time of year, and this was a delightful addition to my collection. I literally laughed out loud as I read it. Meg is one of my favorite mystery characters. She has an odd and eccentric family, but she is completely down to earth and relate-able. I was able to figure out the culprit right before Meg did and I enjoyed the sleuthing journey along the way.

Four out of five stars

If you've never read a Meg Langslow mystery, I think you can follow the story pretty well if you start here. Some of the family relationships and quirks might mystify you. If so, go back and read the whole series - it's a delight! You can read some reviews of other books in the series here.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

SECRET SANTA by Fern Michaels, Marie Bostwick, Laura Levine and Cindy Myers

Secret Santa
* I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for free in the hope that I would review it honestly on my blog. Regardless, I only review books I enjoyed. I don’t believe in passing on negative reviews. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Four holiday stories!
"Mister Christmas" - An attorney gets summoned overseas by a client only to find out he is just trying to fix her up with a relative. She ends up with the relative anyway, but on her own terms. I found this story to be implausible. The main character accepts the buy too easily without any time or tension to build chemistry. He's over-generous with a stranger, which also made him suspicious to me. Finally, there's a hostage situation that seemed to come out of no where. I felt like this plot could have been great in a longer format where there was more time to fill in some of the gaps.

"Yellow Rose of Christmas" - An older woman has a secret admirer, although it might not be who she thinks it is. This was a lovely story. I enjoyed the fact that the main characters were older adults - something I don't read much in romance stories. The cast of characters was great in this story.

"Nightmare on Elf Street" - A freelance writer takes a job as Santa's Elf to get her foot in the door with a potential employer, then finds herself a suspect when one of the Santa's is killed. This mystery is from an author I haven't read much before, if at all; I really enjoyed the main character's voice. She's sassy and funny. I will definitely be looking at more by this author in the future.

"Room at the Inn" - Three groups are stranded in a snow storm and end up staying in some fishing cabins near the interstate and getting to know one another - and in some cases, themselves - in new ways. This story was mostly about the main character's evolution in how she viewed herself and her life, and that was very enjoyable. Some of the other characters grow and change, too, which just added to the main story. This one drew me to the internet to find out what else the author has written. This story has fringe ties to a series by the author that I will be checking out in the future.

4 out of 5 stars

I love reading Christmas stories this time of year, and I am glad I tried this one. Collections of short stories, like this one, can introduce readers to new authors, which is great for both the author and the reader. There is mild language in a couple of the stories, and the romantic elements are also mild making this a pretty safe bet for a lot of readers.

Do you have some favorite holiday stories? I'd love to hear your recommendations!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Holiday Break

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you and your family and friends enjoy a restful holiday season. I'll be back to book blogging on January 2, 2013!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

TIGER TALES: It's Holiday Time by Elizabeth Bennett

It's Holiday Time!

Beautiful board book with padded cover and embossed pages. Each page highlights a holiday activity. There's no reference to Santa so this works for families who don't do Santa. There is a Christmas tree and caroling, but no reference to a specific winter holiday. Frankly, this book put me in the mood for holiday movies and Christmas shopping! Lovely.

4 out of 5 stars.

Monday, September 17, 2012

PICTURE BOOK: Christ's Cake by Carolyn Snelling

Christ's Cake

Jackson is excited about celebrating his November birthday at school with his friends and family. All the birthday talk gets Jackson thinking about Jesus' birthday coming up at Christmas. Plans for a special Christmas program at school - and an unplanned broken arm - distract Jackson from his ideas about celebrating Jesus' birthday. But a conversation with Jesus in a dream teaches Jackson about Jesus' love and reminds him that the wanted to have a birthday cake for Jesus to celebrate Christmas.

This is a sweet story for families who want to make Christ's birthday a central part of their Christmas celebration.

3 out of 5 stars
No AR rating at this time - the book debuts tomorrow

[review copy provided by the author]

Monday, October 17, 2011

TIGER TALES: Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls

It's that time of the year again - time to talk about the fall releases from the publisher Tiger Tales. You'll get to see one or two reviews a day for the next week and a half. If you are starting to think about the upcoming holiday season, you might find some treasures here.


The first book is Jingle Bells. This is a board book with song lyrics from the Christmas favorite. A family of mice enjoy a sleigh ride as the sun sets. Sparkly, textured pictures are cute. 


3 out of 5 stars


Another board book with song lyrics, illustrated with a sweet family of mice enjoying holiday activities like decorating, caroling, hanging stockings, and baking treats. Pages are textured and sparkly.


3 out 5 stars. Both books are nice holiday treats for little readers and pre-readers.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

TUESDAY: The Christmas Genie

I know Christmas is done, but I read this book late in the holiday season and wanted to post a review before January is over!


A class of 5th graders is shocked at the arrival of a meteorite in the middle of their classroom. They are stunned when a genie comes out of it and offers to grant one wish for the whole class.

Dan Gutman is the author of books like The Homework Machine and The Kid Who Ran For President as well as the My Weird School series. Most of this particular book consists of each student's wish and the class' reaction to the wish. Most of the wishes were "selfish," something the wisher wanted for himself or herself. The class would complain that the wish wasn't for everyone, etc. For me, this got a little tiring after awhile. I imagine the targeted age group, however, would enjoy hearing about the wishes and thinking of what they would wish for if a genie ever offered them one Christmas wish.


[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]

Friday, December 11, 2009

FRIDAY: On Strike for Christmas


This is a fun holiday book that I stumbled on last year. I really enjoyed it. In the book, a group of wives and mothers determines that they are tired of running themselves ragged for the holidays, trying to do everything themselves - decorate, buy gifts, plan elaborate parties, take the kids to Santa, bake, etc. So they go on strike, leaving their husbands gaping in surprise and plotting disasters that will draw their wives back into the holiday preparations. If you are looking for a fun, light book to read through the holiday season, this is one I would recommend.

[I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click to Amazon from one of my blogs and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.]