A Pairing to Die For

 A Pairing to Die For is the 2nd installment in the Colorado Wine series by Kate Lansing.  This latest book has a well-developed mystery but its real strength is in the characters relationships.  This story characteristic is very appealing and makes the series very relatable and intriguing.  Wine lovers will especially like this series and may learn something about the winemaking process.  Foodies will also find a few dining references as well but the focus is definitely on wine.  

A Pairing to Die For by Kate Lansing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A cozy that has a well-constructed mystery. In addition to clues that make sense when all are revealed there are some serious family dynamics going in. Both Parker and Reid have some difficulty relating to their family. Reid’s family is just downright dysfunctional and Parker is trying to find her way to gain approval from her mother. Both struggle for acceptance for following their passions and starting their own businesses. Those businesses provide a wonderful backdrop to the story with plenty of delicious recipe descriptions and wine explanations. Overall a great series with complex character relationships that look to have longevity in future books

View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 91
2. Finishing the Series   #FinishingTheSeries2022  Series: 49  Book #1
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #111
4. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #81
5. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #77
6. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #104
7. Craving for Cozies  Book #95
8. Medical Examiner Challenge 1 Toe Tags
9. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scene- alley
• Weapon- knife
• Detectives- Parker Valentine
• Victims- Oscar Flores
10. Six Shooter Challenge  Target #49  Shot #2
11. Uncorked Reader #UncorkedReading2022 #3 set in a vineyard/wine books
12. Book Voyage  #bookvoyagechallenge  N America

A Fatal Booking

 

A Fatal Booking centers around Chapters B&B as the hostess Charlotte and her staff and friends investigate the mysterious death of one of her guests.  The plot has some slightly outrageous aspects that do not detract from the story because they are part of the backstory of characters rather than a current occupation.  The interweaving of the different characters and suspects make for a very enjoyable story that keeps the reader in suspense and guessing as to who is the guilty party and what their motivation is.  I do like the character development and how they are growing in their goals and aspirations.  

A Fatal Booking by Victoria Gilbert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great series with a cast of strong females of varying ages. The book mixes literary references into the story as part. Of the B&Bs theme and specialty. Charlotte and the ensemble cast are a great group of amateur detectives who cooperate with the authorities. The espionage backgrounds of characters adds an interesting flair

View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 90
2. Finishing the Series   #FinishingTheSeries2022  Series: 50 Book #1
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #110
4. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #76
5. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #103
6. Craving for Cozies  Book #94
7. Medical Examiner Challenge 1 Toe Tags
8. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scene- garden
• Weapon- poison
• Detectives- Charlotte
• Victims- Stacy Wilkins
9. Six Shooter Challenge  Target #47  Shot #3
10. Book Voyage  #bookvoyagechallenge  N America

Remainder of prompts for 2022 challenges

 At the half way point in the year I thought I would write a post that lists all the remaining prompts I have on any of the challenges I am participating in.  Some of the challenges do not require me to complete all prompts based upon my goals but I listed each of them nonetheless.  

Updated as of Dec 4, 2022

1. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes
• States remaining:  AL/DE/DC/HI/KS/LA/NE/NV/ND/SD/WY
2. AtoZ   #2022AtoZReadingChallenge  #AlphabetSoupChallenge
• Letters remaining  X/Y/Z
3. Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge  
• Letters remaining  I/O/Q/U/X/Y
4. Non Fiction Reader  #ReadNonFicChal   Book #
• 2. Popular Science Hidden Figures
• 4. Medical Memoir Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
• 5. Climate/Weather
• 6. Celebrity  Not all Wine and Rose
• 8. Geography
• 9. Linked to a podcast The Plus: Self-Help for People Who Hate Self-Help
• 10. Wild Animals
• 11. Economics
• 12. Published in 2022 James Patterson by James Patterson
5. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub  #
• #1 A second-person narrative
• # 35 From the villain’s perspective  Poor Unfortunate Soul (Villains, #3)
6. Around the Year in 52 Books #  completed 12/12/22
• # 38. A book by a Latin American author  Violeta/City of the Beasts (Eagle and Jaguar, #1)
7. Bookworm #
• #15 Read the first book in a duology Warcross
• # 16 Read the second book in a duology  Wildcard
• # 19 Read a book about Zombies 
• # 21 Read a book from AbeBooks.com's list of 100 (fiction) books to read in a lifetime: https://www.abebooks.com/books/100-book-to-read-in-lifetime/ 
• # 22 Read a book with the word City in the title City of the Beasts
• # 25 A book with a title that has 5 letters Missing/Dead Heat/ Reflex
• # 31 Read a book by Philippa Gregory
• # 38 Read a book that starts with the letter Z (or has Z in the title)  zombie chasers
• # 41 Read a book with the word Wisdom in the title  The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes
• #46  Read any book from the Men's Health most popular book list  To Kill a Mockingbird
• # 51 Read a book by Georges Simenon (or one of his Pen Names)
• # 53 Read a book that takes place in Russia  Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
• # 56 Read a banned book from this banned book list  The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time/ Bad Kitty 
• #  58 Read a book that Linz read previously  The Red Tent
• # 59 Read a book that Tress read previously  And Then There Were None
8. BooklistQueen  #booklistqueenreadingchallenge2022  #
• #12. 2021 Bestseller American Dirt
• # 16. About a Muslim Protagonist Ms Marvel
• # 23. A Book Everyone is Talking About  Violetta / Still Life
• # 34. YA Fantasy Home (Binti, #2)
• # 38. Set in Africa  Embassy Wife / Bitter Side of Sweet
• 39. Recommended by a Librarian  Horse
9. Beat the Backlist #BTB2022  # CHALLENGE COMPLETED  12/18/22
• # 28 'wolf' or 'star' in the title  
• # 30 translated to your native language   City of the Beasts/Violeta/Beartown
10. Nancy Drew #
• # 17. Mystery of the Brass-Bound Trunk (1940) - read a book with some kind of metal in the title  The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women / jade fire gold
11. Nerd Daily  #NERDREADING2022 #
• #3 bookstore recommendation 
• # 13 reviewed by nerd daily in 2022  Lucky Leap Day/ Part of Your World
• #21 a book you never finished   Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World
• # 27 2022 tv adaptation
• #29 released in july 2022
• # 31 a questionable cover  And Then There Were None
• # 33 a book gifted to you 
12. OWLS 22  #  COMPLETED 12/12/22
• #4 Mistranslation: A book whose title is translated differently To Kill a Mockingbird
13. PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #
• # 4. A book with a tiger on the cover or "tiger" in the title 
• # 10. An Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner A Brief History of Seven Killings
• # 18. A romance novel by a BIPOC author Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters, #1)/   Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed
• # 43. A book with a palindromic title  Life After Life (Todd Family, #1)/ One by One
• # 44. A duology (1) Warcross
• 45. . A duology  (2) Wildcard
14. Pick your Poison #
• 
  
• # 15 a book with the word "remember" in the title
• #34 a book with a cover that reminds you of a video game  Nearly Departed in Deadwood (Deadwood, #1) / jade fire gold
• #38 a memoir focused on the author's profession Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner
• #40 a nonfiction book about worker's rights The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women
• #46 a book by an author you've always wanted to read 
• #48 a book someone dares you to read Becoming
• # 58 a book someone gave you that you haven't read yet
• # 66  a book by a BIPOC author  Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed
• #70 a non fiction book about someone you admire  
• # 71  a book with the word "feet" or "clay" in the title  
• #72 a book with a cape or cloak on the cover  The Arctic Fury
• # 78 a book about the circus The Night Circus
• #80 a coming of age story
• #93 a book tranlsated from another language Beartown (Beartown, #1)
• #96 a book with the word "land" in the title  Disney's Land: Walt Disney and the Invention of the Amusement Park That Changed the World
• #97 a book about a pandemic  Violetta
• # 101 a western
• 
  
15. 
    
16. While I was Reading  #
• #3 A book with a cover you don’t like. And Then There Were None
• #8 A food related memoir.  Roasting in Hell's Kitchen: Temper Tantrums, F Words, and the Pursuit of Perfection
17. Uncorked Reader #UncorkedReading2022 
• #2 set in south africa  Born a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood
• #4 baltic setting  Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster
• #5 hiking A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
• #7 dark academia  The Oxford Inheritance
• #8 australia  The Hypnotist's Love Story
• #9  road trip The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
• #11 about or set in thailand  
• #12 about or set in ecuador  Diamonds & Donuts: A Jessica James Cozy Mystery (Murder on the Equator, #4)
18. Unruly Reader Bingo  #x
• #9  afro futurism  Home (Binti, #2)
• #10 native american author 
19. Six Shooter Authors to read for 2022
• Lucy Burdette/Roberta Isleib
• Chris Cavender
• Erika Chase/Linda Wiken
• Donna Amis Davis
• Kaitlyn Dunnett
• Sally Goldenbaum
• JM Griffin
• Cheryl Hollon
• Lizzie Josephson
• Jennifer Joy
• CA Larmer
• Karen McManus
• Colleen Mooney
• Chris Niles
• Sara Paretsky
• Lisa Unger
• Ruth Ware

Comic Sans Murder

 Comic Sans Murder is the 3rd Dangerous Type mystery by Paige Shelton.  It is set in a mountain resort town near Salt Lake City.  This book played off more of the location in its storyline than some of the previous books.  The mystery was quite involved and kept me guessing until the very end.   Really liking the series and how it focuses on a rather obscure subject vs a typical bakery/restaurant etc.   The printing/typesetting business is a unique and interesting topic that is enjoyable to read and learn about.  Perhaps this enjoyment comes from my scrapbooking interests which has a design and layout aspect to it for sure.  Plus lots of different fonts are used when doing digital scrapbooking for sure.  

Comic Sans Murder by Paige Shelton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

enjoyable cozy set in the mountains of Utah. The family dynamics are a pleasant addition to the storyline and not just the MC and her family but also her BFF and her brother's relationship. It's both personal and professional amongst them. There is a unique side topic of typesetting and printing in this series which makes it different from most other cozy mysteries. I look forward to reading more of the series.

View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 88
2. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  UT
3. Finishing the Series   #FinishingTheSeries2022  Series: 44 Book #1
4. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #108
5. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #79
6. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #74
7. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #101
8. Craving for Cozies  Book #92
9. Medical Examiner Challenge 2 Toe Tags
10. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scene- factory; ski slope
• Weapon- strangled; shot
• Detectives- Fred
• Victims- Donte Serot; Lloyd Gavin
11. Six Shooter Challenge  Target # 36 Shot #3
12. Book Voyage  #bookvoyagechallenge  N America

Windsor Knot

 I discovered the Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett right when Queen Elizabeth passed.  I read some blog posts that referenced different books that might be of interest that pertained to her.  I have previously read the Gown which is about her wedding dress and really enjoyed it but had not read a cozy based on her as a character.  Unlike the Rhys Bowen series, this series, Her Majesty the Queen Investigates,  is set in a more modern timeframe.  This particular book is set in 2016 and references many modern politicians and celebrities.   

I found the story to be quite interesting and enjoyed the setting at Balmoral.  There is an underlying espionage component that is different and unique as compared to many cozy mysteries.  Obviously the detective is not your typical single female of a youngish age either.  All in all I thoroughly enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more in the series.   

Coincidentally, when reading the next Her Royal Spyness that installment was also set near Balmoral so it was quite an interesting Nov of reading about the British residence and its setting for a crime.  

The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

unique cozy that is so intriguing

This book is so unique in multiple fronts. First the Queen as the protagonist leads to so many different aspects than a traditional cozy- a famous detective, one working behind the scenes and taking no credit. It’s hard not to hope the real Royal wasn’t just as charming and personable as she’s depicted here. Another fun aspect to this book was it had some features of espionage thriller that made it that much more fun. Looking forward to reading more in the series


View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 89
2. Literary Escapes  #LiteraryEscapes  Scotland
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #109
4. Back List Reader  #Backlistreader  Book #80
5. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #75
6. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #102
7. Craving for Cozies  Book #93
8. Medical Examiner Challenge 3 Toe Tags
9. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scene- castle; apartment; apt
• Weapon- strangled; hung; poison
• Detectives- 
• Victims- Maksim Brodsky; Anita Moodie; Rachel Stiles 
10. 52 Book Club  #the52bookclub  #47 Read during the month of November  
11. Nerdy Bookworm  #NerdyBookwormChallengeXO #6 Read a book that was recommended to you

Murder on the Poet's Walk

 As a book lover, it is hard not to love the Book Retreat series. Murder on the Poet's Walk is the 8th book in the series that has a mysterious book repository and a family-run resort that hosts book themed events.  The characters and creativity are the stars of the series.   I enjoy watching the character relationships grow and change through the different books.  The twin boys are great sources of humor and surprise.  It is enjoyable watching them mature in the storylines as well.  The book deals with many aspects of life that affect much of our lives and I believe that makes it that much more enjoyable.  Fortunately I don't think most readers have to deal with the number of murders in their lives as Jayne and her family have had to deal with.  

Murder on the Poet's Walk by Ellery Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this might have been the best in the series. Really liked the depth of relationships among the characters. The suspense over who was the criminal was well written and definitely caught me by surprise. I look forward to reading more about these characters

View all my reviews

Challenge Prompts

The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:  

1. Library Love  #LibraryLoveChallenge  Book # 87
2. Finishing the Series   #FinishingTheSeries2022  Series: 41 Book #1
3. Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2022   Book #107
4. Cruisin thru Cozies  Free choice #73
5. Cloak & Dagger  #CloakDaggerChal  Book #100
6. Craving for Cozies  Book #91
7. Medical Examiner Challenge 2 Toe Tags
8. Beachcomber Challenge  
• Crime Scene-Lake; puddle
• Weapon- poison
• Detectives- Jane
• Victims- Gretchen West; Connor Jensen
9. Six Shooter Challenge  Target # 41 Shot # 4
10. Monthly Motif #MonthlyMotifGXO  OCTOBER- Murder or Magic

Readying for 2023

 Now that it is nearly Thanksgiving, many of the challenges are starting to kick off their announcements for the 2023 editions.  I have decided to be a bit more selective in what I try to achieve in '23.  I found myself drudging through lists to find things to meet a prompt this year on many occasions.  I often end up pushing off "needed" books to select cozies and historical fiction.   So, while still wanting to challenge myself to read books I might not otherwise select I don't think I want to create a situation where I have 50+ books to complete prompts.  I think instead my approach is going to be to pick a list of books that meets a set of challenge prompts and then see how many fit into other challenges and if it is a manageable addition to expand to multiple challenges.   

That being said I will definitely be doing my alphabet and literary escapes challenges.  I will continue to update this page with the challenges I plan to participate in for 2023 as I decide.  I will post links on this page even if I won't be doing a challenge in case others are interested

2023 Challenges I will Participate In

2023 Challenges Found