In what I think of as a "Cozy Mystery", an elderly couple is murdered by their nephew for, predictably, money. There is also a major town celebration, which really has very little to do with the plot. Not going to be a great real for real mystery fans.

For those of us who read a lot of mysteries, after a while, you can often see the ending coming. Not in this one! The central character’s alibi appears to be that she is just too dumb to organize and commit this crime. And it turns out what she did do really ends up confusing the police. A good whodunit.

Not sure I would like reading a Christmas book in July but turns out I did enjoy this one. It was light on the Christmas stuff, except for Santa; Santa plays a pivotal role here, especially letters written to him…even if they are not mailed! While it had the plot right out of a Hallmark movie channel production, it was well done and I liked the development of the characters.

Let me first say that this was a really good book and I definitely recommend it. BUT I read a lot of read a lot of Stephen King and books like this, and I am good at suspending disbelief so that I can fully enjoy the story. And I don’t want to give anything away, but who, or actually what, the author chose to be the evil overriding force in this story was something I could just not buy into. And once I found that out, it took a little bit of the enjoyment of the book sway from me.

This was an OK book, and while mostly the same as other romance stories, the ending was a bit more realistic. While waiting to start her new job, Josie takes a job at an Alaskan Lodge and, you guessed it, falls for someone she meets there. But while fighting her feelings, it becomes clear that what she thought would make her happy is no longer the case.

Now that I’m done, I can say it; What the heck was this? A person who was an editor and writer once told me that readers have to be able to like, empathize, or at least understand a character in order to be able to enjoy a book. In this book NONE of the characters are likeable, and what’s more they are all verbally abusive to one another; mother to child, child to father, sister to sister. Set in India, the mother keeps her teenage daughters locked in their rooms for most of their lives, supposedly to keep them safe, but then says things to them like “Your days are numbered” and “I wish you were dead”. And the book starts off with one of the daughters being approached by a man in town, and there is this whole back and forth between the two where he goes after her, then she goes after him, then he drives her home and……nothing. Nothing more is said about the relationship or what happened. I could not wait for this book to be done and then felt like I needed to wash.

This is a compilation of short stories set in Africa. They involve, for the most part, issues between man and animal or animal and animal. They are interesting and fun but also have a larger message.

Full disclosure: I am a Stephen King fan. But as I read this I was a little disappointed in the first half as I found it predictable. But I should have had faith in King, because the second half delivered what I was waiting for. A young man hitches a ride from his college to the hospital where his mother has been taken. When it comes to choosing a ride, do you use your head and logic, or do you listen to your instinct? King will help you look at this a whole new way.

A very emotional book about family, reminding us that no family is perfect. I loved every character and empathized with them through their pain and heartache. A powerful debut, can't wait to read more from this author.

While the writing was not terrible, the trouble is that while the author had a lot to say, there really is no story here. A 40-year-old woman loses her mother and is so distraught that she cannot get beyond it. The setting is Spain and all the character talks about is seducing men. The only interesting part was the epilog which was very articulate and summed up thing well.