Teaser from Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop

by Carol5 Comments
"That" was a man in the same Santa suit I'd seen him wearing upstairs. His eyes, how they twinkled as they continued not to blink. His cheeks were like roses (or rather the blood drying upon his cheeks was) and his nose was like a cherry . . .  a large, crushed black cherry. A twist of his head — more specifically the odd angle at which it lay against his shoulders — soon gave me to know St. nick had nothing to dread. Not this Christmas Eve, not the next. He was as dead as the toy department of Macy's on Christmas morning. (pg. 181, "The Long Winter's Nap" by Rupert Holmes in Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler) I'm really enjoying this collection so far. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. The rules are easy and I only cheated a little. Grab your ...
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Winner!

by Carol4 Comments
Congratulations to the winner of  The Family Dinner by Laurie David, with recipes by Kirstin Uhrenholdt. Benita I hope you get as much use out of it as I'm sure I will. 'll be sending you an a-mail shortly. I just need your address to pass on to the publisher. If you didn't win, you can purchase it at Amazon.com or from an independent bookstore through IndieBound. My copy was provided by the publisher for review and the above is my honest opinion. I am an Amazon and IndieBound affiliate....
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An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully

by Carol4 Comments
An Outlaw Thanksgiving by Emily Arnold McCully (Suggested reading level: Grades K-4) How would like to have shared Thanksgiving dinner with Butch Cassidy and his gang? Thrilled, scared, grateful? While this story is fiction, according to the author's note it's based on an actual Thanksgiving dinner that took place in 1886. In November 1886, Clara and her mother are heading west on the train to meet Papa in Utah and then head on to California. Their train gets snowed in and a nice man who they met on board offers to take them with him to Brown's Hole for a few days, until the train is dug out. He promises them a real Thanksgiving dinner with respectable ranchers. The feast is magnificent, but then Clara recognizes on of their hosts from a wanted poster- it's Butch Cassidy! She's brave enough to ask him if he's planning on robbing the train. "Well, a poster don't tell the whole story of a man," Butch said. "We've all...
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Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson

by Carol3 Comments
Serpent in the Thorns by Jeri Westerson Crispin is on the case again. This time a tavern girl comes to Crispin for help; whe has a dead man in room, killed by an arrow. It becomes even more complicated when Crispin discovers he is one of three Frenchmen bringing a religious relic to the King - Christ's crown of thorns. And someone's attempting to kill the King. I read this book while ago and had to return it, so I just have a few comments. I enjoyed this "medieval noir." Crispin, a former knight now peasant, is coming to learn what is truly important to him. He's smart, sexy, resourceful, a good hero. The book had several similarities to the first in the series - a woman in distress, a religious relic, but the story was well-plotted and did keep me guessing until the end. Once again, I love the setting, London in the late 1300's, and I'm beginning to feel like...
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