Carol's Notebook – Page 128

Murder at Mistletoe Manor by Holly Tierney-Bedord

December 24, 2020December 27, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

Thirty-four-year-old Klarinda Snow runs Mistletoe Manor, an inn/restaurant in Windy Pines, Idaho. When seven rooms are booked on a Tuesday night in December Klarinda finds it odd - the inn doesn't usually have that much business in December. But no sooner do the guests arrive and get settled in before many accidental deaths start occurring. And now they are snowed in. Who could be behind the deaths? And are all these guests connected somehow? This was an enjoyable mystery. I liked the snowy location of the inn. The story took place around Christmas even though there wasn't that much Christmas in it. Many of my favorite moments were the humorous inner musings and observations of the innkeeper, although I enjoyed the quirky secondary characters too. The cops were so incredibly incompetent, even more so than usual. Overall, though, it's funny and cute. Maybe the killer is too easy to spot, but I'll overlook that. Overall, it was a quick, easy listen,...

COYER 2021 – Seasons and Community Sign-up

December 23, 2020December 23, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

The ladies behind COYER (Clean Out Your E–Reader) have done it again – given the reader/blogging community an awesome challenge! I didn't participate in COYER last year but this year I’m in for COYER: Seasons and some parts of COYER: Community. First, here is my official sign up for COYER Winter, and the rules are very old-school COYER. Winter runs from January 1st to February 28th. All the books eligible are electronic, that you own (no Kindle Unlimited or library borrows), and under $2 at the time of purchase. I have a lot of freebies on my Kindle and several from NetGalley that need read. Now for COYER: Community. I am already a member of the FB group page. This year I'm going to try to do the DEARs, because who doesn't need an excuse to drop everything and read. I'm thinking about trying to attend the book clubs. It sounds fun and reading the book isn't even mandatory. It's...

Gingerbread House

December 23, 2020December 23, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the gingerbread house Amber and I made. It turned out so cute! Neither Amber or I would consider ourselves bakers. We can follow instructions and she's creative, but those are the only skills we brought. So, if you're looking to make a gingerbread house from scratch but have no idea where to start, I thought I'd share the recipes I used, I used the gingerbread recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction, but I doubled it. We had enough left over to make some cookies, like the tree you see in the photo, but not enough to make another house. The design of the house came from https://bestgingerbreadhouses.com/gingerbread-house-templates/. The original dimensions were 13cm x 8 cm, but that seemed too small, so we increased it to 18 cm x 13 cm. Yeah, I'm not a fan of working in centimeters either. We were afraid to cut out the window - maybe next year. I used...

British Crime Classics Challenge 2021

December 22, 2020October 5, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

Rekha at The Book Decoder is hosting the British Crime Classics Challenge again this year. The rules are simple — read British mysteries written before 1965, but this year, we have themes. Read a book by your favourite author: The Hollow by Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha ChristieRead a book by an author new to you.A Favorite Detective: Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha ChristieA Favorite Amateur Sleuth: A Murder Is Announced by Agatha ChristieA Re-read: Lord Edgware Dies by Agatha ChristieDeath by Strangulation | Death by Poison | Death by Drowning | Death by Stabbing: Murder Is Easy by Agatha ChristieThe curious case of the missing documents: The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha ChristieA Mystery set in a Foreign Land: A Mysterious Journey: Nemesis by Agatha ChristieSpooky Doobie Doo: Locked Room Mystery | Trapped on an island: Cliched tropes: Pick a theme and read as many books as you want. Or, choose one book for each theme. Or, pick as many themes as...

Calendar of Crime Reading Challenge 2021

December 22, 2020December 3, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

I didn't do well at the Calendar of Crime challenge hosted by Bev at My Reader's Block last year, mostly because I forgot to keep track. So, I'm trying again this year. Twelve mysteries, one representing each month, are required for a complete challenge. Each month comes with several categories. January - The Old Fox Deceiv'd by Martha Grimes (takes place in January)February - God Rest Ye, Royal Gentleman by Ryhs Bowen (couple on cover) March - Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle (title has word starting with "M")April - The Three Locks by Bonnie MacBird (church/minister/religion has major role)May - Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz (title has word starting with "M")June - A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie (original publication month)July - Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett (takes place in US)August - Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross (month related item on cover - beach/water)September - The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths by Olivier Barde-Cabuçon (title has word starting with...

2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

December 22, 2020December 3, 2021 by Carol1 Comment

I didn't read as much nonfiction in 2020 as I would have liked. Of course, I also didn't do as well as challenges as I would have liked either, but I'm still joining the 2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book'd Out in the hopes of reading more and varied nonfiction. The challenge is to read nonfiction books from twelve different categories. There’s three different goals, either read: Three Books, Any CategorySix Books, Any CategoryTwelve Books, One from Each Category I’m going to go with the first option reading three from any category. The categories are: Biography Travel Self-helpEssay Collection - White Negroes by Lauren Michele JacksonDisease OceanographyHobbies Indigenous CulturesFoodWartime ExperiencesInventions - Strange Frequencies by Peter BebergalPublished in 2021 - Four Hundred Souls edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain...