The Sunday Salon and let's get cozy... with a ball of yarn!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to Deb at ReaderBuzz for keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post and the ladies at Mailbox Monday. 

It's been a hectic week in South Carolina! Some of you may know that I am also a crafts person. I have a little business called Shawl Y'all and make pretty things with my weapon of choice: a crochet hook! I work all year long creating and my big once a year festival was yesterday. Getting everything ready, packed, loaded and unloaded is always a challenge. I have a very nice husband who helps with all of it, but I still get stressed out. When everything is finally set up and the festival is open, it's always fun. I always meet so many nice people and I get to share my other love besides reading. I always think it's fun to find mysteries that have a craftsy theme, and I always have to pick them up. This week I'm sharing 2 that I just received from publishers and one that I've got on my TBR list. So, let's get cozy...

Killer Hooks by Betty Hechtman... Molly Pink and the Tarzana Hookers have to read between the lines when a bookstore event turns fatal in a new Crochet Mystery.

There’s never a dull moment for amateur sleuth Molly Pink. Without warning, her infant granddaughter has been dumped in her lap for babysitting duties, her son has reluctantly enlisted her help investigating a potential investor in his business, and now she has to manage a high-profile bookstore event for a former Hollywood columnist who’s dishing the dirt in a juicy tell-all. And when the author collapses and dies in the store just as she’s about to reveal an incriminating tidbit, the police suspect foul play and zero in on Molly as the likely culprit.

Getting herself off the hook won’t be easy, but Molly and the Tarzana Hookers are convinced that whoever did the deed wanted to silence the author before she could expose their dark secret. As the police continue to needle Molly, certain she’s trying to pull the wool over their eyes with her claims of innocence, she’s also in over her head in a mommy group run by Hollywood power couples—all of whom may have something to hide. As she finally stitches together the loose ends and figures out the killer’s identity, they decide it’s time to silence her too, and Molly has to think fast before she makes a quick trip from her granddaughter’s cradle to the grave . . .

Includes a crochet project and a scrumptious recipe!

Wow, Betty Hechtman is a crochet girl mystery readers dream! She has over 2 dozen published crochet mysteries and that's not including all the rest she's written. What caught my eye with this mystery was that it has a bookstore in it and includes a crochet project and recipe! But from all the 4.5 stars she has received on almost all her books from readers, I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy her writing too! Would you like to read an excerpt? Here's a link to her webpage and Excerpt of chapter one. Published by Beyond the Page Publishing Sept. 26th, 2023, and available now from your favorite bookstore! I received a copy of Killer Hooks from Beyond the Page Publishing to review. 

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A Twisted Skein by Sally Goldenbaum...
Summer is on the wane in the charmingly picturesque coastal village of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, but an upcoming fashion show benefit ensures there’s still plenty of excitement in store for the Seaside Knitters…

Like every coastal town, Sea Harbor needs tourists and their dollars. But there’s something special about that time of year when summer people return to their normal lives, and the wide sandy beaches welcome back locals with their dogs and strollers. And this year, even as the season cools down, Izzy Perry’s Sea Harbor Yarn Studio is heating up, thanks to an upcoming fashion benefit . . .

The show will feature hand-knit garments, and enthusiastic knitters flock to the shop for supplies to create runway-worthy pieces. Yet Seaside Knitter Birdie is enjoying flocks of a different kind, thanks to a rekindled interest in birdwatching, a hobby she enjoyed with her late husband. Along with a small group of passionate birders, she often spends weekend mornings looking for warblers, or keeping watch for gannets and grebes. The group members themselves are almost as fascinating as the birds. It’s a lovely, special time—until Birdie makes her way through a tangle of vines and stumbles upon a fellow birder’s body.

At first, it appears to be an accidental fall, but an autopsy soon reveals that the victim died before hitting a granite boulder. When police discover a clue linking the victim to one of the Seaside Knitters, the web of suspicion grows. Before the woods are ablaze in autumn glory and the knitters have cast off the final rows on their runway projects, they’ll have to unravel secrets and ties strong enough to bind friends and neighbors together—and some that may press a killer to take another life.

Sally Goldenbaum is also a prolific writer with 16 books in her ​Seaside Knitters Society Mysteries, all with 4.5 out of 5 stars from readers. Looking forward to reading Sally for the first time and nice to know there are plenty of mysteries to read after A Twisted Skein. Would you like to read a few chapters of A Twisted Skein? Follow this link! Published by Kensington Publishing, A Twisted Skein will be released November 28, 2023! Mark your calendars! I received a copy of the eBook from Kensington Publishing to review, so look for that coming soon! 

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Crochet and Cauldrons (Vampire Knitting Club) by Nancy Warren
Every family has annoying relatives; mine just happen to be undead.

My Grandmother, Agnes Bartlett, used to own Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting shop in Oxford then died and left her shop to me, without informing me that she wasn’t actually dead. She’s a vampire and part of the world’s strangest craft circle – the Vampire Knitting Club.

As you might imagine, this means she’s free to interfere in how I run the business that used to be hers. She’s trying to teach me to knit and it’s not going well. She’s also trying to teach me how to be a witch, since it turns out I’m from a long line of witches. Another tiny detail about my family that no one ever told me, along with the long-lost witch cousins I recently discovered.

But I’m learning. I’ve got my family spell book, my black cat familiar, some powers that sometimes scare me, and an interesting new group of friends. My archaeologist parents are coming to visit and bringing me a gift I could do without.

So, to recap, I run a knitting shop and I can’t knit. I’m a beginning witch who can’t always control her cat, never mind her magic, and my love life is as tangled as the last sock I tried to knit. Oh, and for some reason, I keep getting involved in murder investigations. Good thing I have my vampire knitters to help sniff out clues.

At least I’ve finally hired the perfect assistant, a real demon with the crochet hook. Or is she too perfect?

Here's a bit of crochet and a bit of vampire/undead in a cozy mystery by Nancy Warren, who has a few different series. She has a Witch Baking series and a flower shop series too. She also has gotten rave reviews from her readers, so I am looking forward to reading this book. Published by Ambleside Publishing, this is an older book published in 2019, but still available from your favorite bookstore.

Weekly Update...

Monday, Memoir Monday was a Graphic Memoir for an important woman, who captured the hearts of Cambodia.

Tuesday was about my sneak peek at the new Apple TV series, Lessons in Chemistry, based on the book by Bonnie Garmus. 

Wednesday, we played a game of This or That, comparing the UK and US covers of a book I was purchasing. Which do you prefer?

Friday on First Lines Friday, we put on our lipstick and read a little about... 

Do you read cozy mysteries?

Do you have a hobby besides reading?

Hope you found something interesting to read today! Let me know what other books your loving this week! 

Happy reading... Suzanne

First Lines Friday...

"The deadly virus stole unnoticed through the crowded cobblestone streets of Philadelphia on a  sunny September day, unseen and unheard amidst the jubilant chaos of the Liberty Loan parade and the patriotic marhes of John Philip Sousa."
                                     ....The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman


It would seem timely that this book came out now. The story brings us to the end of WWI, in 1918, as the Spanish flu, and the last modern day pandemic, broke out. Courtesy of Kensington Publishing, our book club is reading this as our August pick. Keep an eye out for my review, and what my book club thought of it. If you want to learn more about it, and read an excerpt, visit Kensington publishing. The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman will be released on August 4th!

In My Mailbox...

In My Mailbox... I've received some great eGalleys last week! And I decided I would join in on the fun sharing them with you and the other bloggers participating in Mailbox Monday!

Mailbox Monday is a weekly event for bloggers to share what books arrived in their mailboxes. Mailbox Monday was originally created by Marcia of To Be Continued and is now hosted by Vicki, Serena and Leslie at Mailbox Monday's own blog.

There are too many great books coming out! That really would NEVER be a complaint from me! My eReader is overflowing and I am experiencing reader happiness, but now I have to get to some serious reading!

Here's what eGalley's came my way...

Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman...

A heartwarming and hilarious story of a reluctant outsider who transforms a tiny village and a woman who finds love and second chances in the unlikeliest of places.

 Britt-Marie can’t stand mess. She eats dinner at precisely the right time and starts her day at six in the morning because only lunatics wake up later than that. And she is not passive-aggressive. Not in the least. It's just that sometimes people interpret her helpful suggestions as criticisms, which is certainly not her intention. But at sixty-three, Britt-Marie has had enough. She finally walks out on her loveless forty-year marriage and finds a job in the only place she can: Borg, a small, derelict town devastated by the financial crisis. For the fastidious Britt-Marie, this new world of noisy children, muddy floors, and a roommate who is a rat (literally), is a hard adjustment.

I have wanted to read this since I heard about it. It sounds charming! And I actually started reading this week and am really enjoying it. Britt-Marie is quite a fun character with all her "lists".Thank you to Atria Books!

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Hour of The Bees by Lindsay Agar...

Things are only impossible if you stop to think about them. . . .

While her friends are spending their summers having pool parties and sleepovers, twelve-year-old Carolina — Carol — is spending hers in the middle of the New Mexico desert, helping her parents move the grandfather she’s never met into a home for people with dementia. At first, Carol avoids prickly Grandpa Serge. But as the summer wears on and the heat bears down, Carol finds herself drawn to him, fascinated by the crazy stories he tells her about a healing tree, a green-glass lake, and the bees that will bring back the rain and end a hundred years of drought. As the thin line between magic and reality starts to blur, Carol must decide for herself what is possible — and what it means to be true to her roots

This book sounded like a wonderful story of a girl and her grandfather, and a coming-of-age story. I also loved the cover! Thank you to Candlewick Press!

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The Beauty of The End by Debbie Howells...

A haunting and heartbreaking new psychological thriller about a man thrust into the middle of a murder investigation, forced to confront the secrets of his ex-lover's past. 

"I was fourteen when I fell in love with a goddess. . ." So begins the testimony of Noah Calaway, an ex-lawyer with a sideline in armchair criminal psychology. Now living an aimless life in an inherited cottage in the English countryside, Noah is haunted by the memory of the beguiling young woman who left him at the altar sixteen years earlier. Then one day he receives a troubling phone call. April, the woman he once loved, lies in a coma, the victim of an apparent overdose--and the lead suspect in a brutal murder. Deep in his bones, Noah believes that April is innocent. Then again, he also believed they would spend the rest of their lives together. 

I've been into psychological thrillers lately and this sounded like it fit the bill and then some. Thank you to Kensington Publishing!

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What Comes After Dessert by Ren Benton...

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Twelve years ago, Ben Fielder's childhood sweetheart ran out on him, and his broken heart hasn't held another woman since. During the annual pilgrimage to his hometown, he finds something sweeter than cookies behind the counter at the bakery — Tally's back in town, and his response to her makes it clear the only flaw in his heart is that it's still full of her.

A love story revolving around second chances. Sounds promising. Thank you to Ren Benton!

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All The Presidents' Gardens by Maria McDowell...

The untold history of the White House Grounds.  Starting with the seed-collecting, plant-obsessed George Washington and ending with Michelle Obama’s focus on edibles, this rich and compelling narrative reveals how the story of the garden is also the story of America.  Readers learn about Lincoln’s goats, Ike’s putting green, Jackie’s iconic roses, Amy Carter's tree house, and much more. They also learn the plants whose favor has come and gone over the years and the gardeners who have been responsible for it all. Fully illustrated with new and historical photographs and art, refreshingly nonpartisan, and releasing just in time for election year, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the red, white, and green.

I couldn't resist requesting this! I love gardening and to be able to see the history and strategy of "America's first garden" intrigued me. I should have a review on this next week. I've been leisurely enjoying it this week. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing!

So, that's what was in my mailbox, how about you!? What do you think about these books? You can check out what everyone else received in their mailbox, by going to Mailbox Monday! Enjoy!

The Sunday Salon and 3 Books to Sink Your Teeth Into...

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the one day of the week we virtually connect to one another to talk about, what else?... BOOKS! Last week we explored Manga during Chick with Books Manga Week and I hope you've discovered some interesting reading! This week it's back to some great fiction. Here's what's on my nightstand and on my wishlist...

Secret of A Thousand Beauties by Mingmei Yip... Set against the vibrant and intrigue-laden backdrop of 1930s China, Mingmei Yip's enthralling novel explores one woman's defiant pursuit of independence. Spring Swallow was promised in marriage while still in her mother's belly. When the groom dies before a wedding can take place, seventeen-year-old Spring Swallow is ordered to become a ghost bride to appease his spirit. Under her in-laws' protection, she will be little more than a servant, unable to know real love or bear children. Refusing to accept her fate as a "bad-luck woman," Spring Swallow flees on her wedding day. In the city of Soochow, Spring Swallow joins a community of renowned embroiderers. The women work for Aunty Peony, whose exquisite stitching once earned her the Emperor's love. But when Aunty Peony agrees to replicate a famous painting--a lucrative assignment that will take a year to complete--betrayal and jealousy emerges within the group. Spring Swallow becomes entangled in each woman's story of heartbreak, even while she embarks on a dangerous affair with a young revolutionary. On a journey that leads from the remote hillsides around Soochow to cosmopolitan Peking, Spring Swallow draws on the secret techniques learned from Aunty Peony and her own indomitable strength, determined to forge a life that is truly her own.

One of my favorite authors is back with her 5th novel set in the land of China. I am so lucky to have an ARC for this and I am diving in head first. Her books always have beautiful settings, wonderful plots, intrigue, folklore, great characters and have a good bit of humor in them. Mingmei Yip never fails to trap me in the pages of her books. Secret of A Thousand Beauties will be available Nov. 25th from your local bookstore. Keep your eye out for a review from me soon.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters... It is 1922, and London is tense. Ex-servicemen are disillusioned, the out-of-work and the hungry are demanding change. And in South London, in a genteel Camberwell villa, a large silent house now bereft of brothers, husband and even servants,  life is about to be transformed, as impoverished widow Mrs Wray and her spinster daughter, Frances, are obliged to take in lodgers. For with the arrival of Lilian and Leonard Barber, a modern young couple of the 'clerk class', the routines of the house will be shaken up in unexpected ways. And as passions mount and frustration gathers, no one can foresee just how far-reaching, and how devastating, the disturbances will be.

I started reading a sample of this and had to go out and buy the whole book. Sarah Waters is a wonderful writer. In The Paying Guests, the pace seems slow, but it isn't really, it's delicious. I felt I was slowly devouring the pages like a piece of decadent chocolate cake. Look for a review coming soon for this one too!

The Story of Land and Sea by Katy Simpson Smith ... Set in a small coastal town in North Carolina during the waning years of the American Revolution, this incandescent debut novel follows three generations of family—fathers and daughters, mother and son, master and slave, characters who yearn for redemption amidst a heady brew of war, kidnapping, slavery, and love. Drawn to the ocean, ten-year-old Tabitha wanders the marshes of her small coastal village and listens to her father’s stories about his pirate voyages and the mother she never knew. Since the loss of his wife Helen, John has remained land-bound for their daughter, but when Tab contracts yellow fever, he turns to the sea once more. Desperate to save his daughter, he takes her aboard a sloop bound for Bermuda, hoping the salt air will heal her. Years before, Helen herself was raised by a widowed father. Asa, the devout owner of a small plantation, gives his daughter a young slave named Moll for her tenth birthday. Left largely on their own, Helen and Moll develop a close but uneasy companionship. Helen gradually takes over the running of the plantation as the girls grow up, but when she meets John, the pirate turned Continental soldier, she flouts convention and her father’s wishes by falling in love. Moll, meanwhile, is forced into marriage with a stranger. Her only solace is her son, Davy, whom she will protect with a passion that defies the bounds of slavery.

The storyline of this book seems a lot to digest, but it sounds so interesting. To see how these two girls grow up virtually together and yet separate because of their differences in birth. This is a time period seems interesting too and I can't wait to see how North Carolina is portrayed. On my TBR list.
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Weekly Recap... If you missed last week on Chick with Books, you missed Manga Week! Here's all the Manga we covered in just one week...

Last Sunday, Oct. 5th... Discovering the World of Manga... All about what Manga is, how to read it and where to find it.

Monday, Oct. 6th, Memoir Monday... A memoir about an American girl named Jamie Lynn Lao, and how she traveled to Japan to become an assistant to a Mangaka, or an artists assistant helping to draw and put out a Manga series. A behind the scenes look at how Manga are made.

Tuesday, Oct. 7th, What's So Cute About Manga... All about Cute and 2 Cute Manga's you've got to try.

Wednesday, Oct. 8th, A Review of the Manga Series called Ooku: The Inner Chambers by Fumi Yoshinaga... This is historical fiction with a dystopian take on Japanese history. LOVE this series! The women and men switch places in this series and it is so interesting. Think Shogun with women.

Friday, Oct. 10th, A Review of the Manga Series called Battle Royale by Koushun Takami and Masayuki Taguchi... Before The Hunger Games there was Battle Royale. Amazing Story, Graphic and Beautifully drawn this is a must read... if you can get through it.

Saturday, Oct. 11th, One Shot Manga's and 3 You Should Read Now... You don't need to always read a series of books to enjoy Manga. One Shots are stories that are complete in one book.

So, there's the recap of what we talked about all last week... Now lets add some more fun Manga to that (follow the links to learn more...)

Oh! My Goddess by Kosuke Fujishima, xxxHolic by CLAMP,  Sailor Moon by Naoko Takeuchi, Emma by Kaoru Mori (Victorian England), Midnight Secretary  by Tomu Ohmi (Vampire Romance Manga), Uzumaki by Junji Ito (Horror Manga).



So as we put down our Manga, what good books have you picked up this week?! Share them here! I'd love to know what's on your nightstand. And if you did you get a chance to check out some Manga, I'd love to know what you thought!

Happy reading... Suzanne

The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton... A Review

"The pages are "thick with the smell of gumbo"...

As You Crack the Spine of...

The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton

Welcome to the sleepy little backwoods town of Grand Prairie, Louisiana... Father Steve Sibille has taken over the parish in Grand Prairie where the most excitement comes from listening to confessions involving little old ladies taking nips out of their husbands Wild Turkey and trying not to get caught. But things are stirring a little in Grand Prairie... if it weren't enough to have pubescent teenage altar girls instead of altar boys, and a runaway gay priest hiding out at his home, there's also Vicki who stirs Father Steve in ways that make him pray for guidance. Top that with a new preacher, charismatic as all heck, who just moved in across the tracks and who's got on eye on Father Steve's flock. What's a priest to do?! What Father Steve does is seek advice from Miss Rita, who's over 100, loves Crown Royal, and can't get enough cracklins to go with her whiskey...

Miss Rita doesn't say too much about the altar girls, or about Vicki (except she thinks Father Steve needs a woman- even though he's a priest), but she plants the seed for Grand Prairie's First Annual Rabbit Festival...

"You need a fair... A festival or something... Something to keep your people busy with your church so they don't run off to his..."

And so an idea is born and a story that will make you laugh out loud and wonder, "what next!" Ken Wheaton is a great writer. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival is light-hearted, fun and an adventure in reading. His characters have a certain charm and resilience that just make you love them. You can tell Ken Wheaton writes with a genuine affection for his characters as they deal honestly with the situations handed to them and no one is ostracized for being "different". Gently touching on racism and sexual preference, these issues are part of the big picture of the book, but does not overwhelm the story. Hilarious one moment, tender the next, I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent in Grand Prairie. I could practically taste all that great food at the bake sales, Turkey fry, and the "February Surprise", where "a meal so stupendous, so amazing, so colossal, so mouthwateringly delicious, you'll want to SLAP YA MAMA!" If that weren't enough I felt a real attachment to the community and vested in the characters. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival is great writing, a great story and rich, well developed characters. My reading group just read this and loved it. There is a reading group guide in the back of the book with discussion questions, along with Ken's Cajun Cooking Primer- Gumbo for Dummies (along with a Gumbo recipe) and a recipe for Ken's Crawfish Etouffee, a rich buttery crawfish dish served over rice. Enjoy reading the First Chapter of The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival from Kensington Publishing.

*P.S. This Book is Kindle Ready!