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COVER REVEAL: Resurrection Reprise by Hailey Turner
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RELEASE BLITZ: Loving Lennox by K.D. Ellis (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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One Line Reviews Of Some Books I Read This Year (January – June 2023)
This is a round up of the books I read on the 1st half of this year that I’m too lazy to do a full review.
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RELEASE BLITZ: Lone Wolf by Joy Lynn Fielding (Excerpt & Giveaway)
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NEW RELEASE: Unfortunate by Nicole Dykes
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MUSIC MONDAY: My Big Day by Bombay Bicycle Club
Pick a song that you really like and share it on Monday.
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NEW RELEASE & SERIES TOUR: Love On Page Six by Claerie Kavanaugh (Excerpt)
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SERIES TOUR: The Lone Family by Ace Fawn (Excerpt)
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MANGA: Yukkuri Aruite Jyuugofun
Yukkuri Aruite Jyuugofun – Aioiuo
This is a story about two middle school boys of the same age, Tetsu and Yuki, who went to an autumn festival. On the way to the festival at a nearby shrine, Tetsu, wearing a mask for some reason, is in a sulky mood. A Hyottoko mask, a railroad crossing, an unseasonable yukata, and mini-cakes. “A Leisurely 15 Minutes on Foot” to the festival grounds, it’s an extraordinary autumn night that closes the distance between two friends.
15 Minutes If You Walk Slowly is a friends-to-lovers romance between two middle school kids set during the Autumn festival.
It is implied the two MCs are neighbors and/or their families are close enough to consider each other siblings. The one in the mask, Tetsu, is sulking because he’s not getting the attention he wants from the one in yukata, Yuki.
This is my second manga from the author, and it seems their thing is food-centric erotica (Gozen 3:00 no Ice Cream). There is no sex scene here but there is a steamy kissing scene involving candy. Prior to that, it’s super fluffy, a lot of blush-y gazes and an emotional confession.
This is a classic trope delivered very effectively, a super cute one-shot in an idyllic setting with lovely artwork to match.
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SERIES REVIEW: Secrets and Scrabble Books 6-7 by Josh Lanyon
Secrets and Scrabble: Lament at Loon Landing – Josh Lanyon
Fakes, folk music, and ghost fires
When legendary folk singer Lara Fairplay agrees to make her comeback appearance at Pirate Cove’s annual maritime music festival, everyone in the quaint seaside village is delighted—including mystery bookstore owner and sometimes amateur sleuth, Ellery Page.
Lara is scheduled to perform a recently discovered piece of music attributed to “the father of American music,” Stephen Foster.
Several mysterious accidents later, Ellery is less delighted—especially when it becomes clear to him that someone plans to silence the celebrity songbird forever.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Loon
Artist: Volody
Album
Secrets and Scrabble: Death at the Deep Dive – Josh Lanyon
When Pirate Cove’s mystery bookstore owner and sometimes-amateur sleuth Ellery Page discovers a vintage diving collection bag full of antique gold coins tucked away for safe keeping in the stockroom of The Crow’s Nest, it sets off a series of increasingly dangerous events, culminating in meeting Police Chief Jack Carson’s parents. Er… Culminating in murder.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Dive
Artist: Olivia Dean
Album
Secrets and Scrabble is a charming cozy mystery set in small-town Pirates’ Cove starring former actor and now bookseller Ellery Page, and his boyfriend, Police Chief Jack Carson.
At this point, the series is now more cozy than mysterious. The experience more a pleasant visit to old (very nosy) friends than an exercise at sleuthing. The books are highly entertaining, the characters are mostly septuagenarians running a very, very efficient gossip mill, and Ellery and Jack are uber-endearing as a couple.
For Lament at Loon Landing, the island is graced by the presence of an ex-con folk singer and her colorful entourage. With death threats hanging over her head, Ellery is voluntold to find out if the threats are real. Our boy now has a reputation as a sleuth, and as much as it exasperates Jack, the chief is still the supportive boyfriend who helps Ellery with tips a.k.a. case notes here and there.
Death at the Deep Dive circles back to the doubloons Ellery and Jack found during their diving date in Book 5, Body at Buccaneer’s Bay. The matriarch of one of the old families, the Shantys, hired Ellery to find out who killed her brother, the former owner of the doubloons.
For both books, the culprits were very obvious. I’m not sure if author Josh Lanyon is mirroring the real world, where the main suspect is usually the criminal. It was all a matter of tagging along until Ellery connected the dots.
Not to say the mysteries are not intriguing because they are. It’s how they weave through island life, moving Ellery through various peoples and locales of Pirate’s Cove. It makes everything more immersive.
In Book 6, the conflict between the MCs is Jack torn between his duty as the police chief and his personal connections with the people involved in the case. I am Team Jack here because the Chief is really just doing his job.
For Book 7, not much relationship conflict here. Things are getting more serious between Ellery and Jack. The ending was a super cute surprise!
Lament at Loon Landing and Death at the Deep Dive kept Secrets and Scrabble‘s cozy small-town magic going strong. The mysteries might not be mindboggling, but overall, I’m eager for another exciting stay.
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If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Ko-fi or PayPal. Your donations will help keep this website going. Thank you so much!