Review: Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers by Tonya Kappes

Title: Canyons, Caravans, & Cadavers

Author:  Tonya Kappes
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Publishing Date:  March 24th, 2019

Pages: 240 
Audio Length: 4 Hours and 15 Minutes
Genre: Adult Cozy Mystery

Series:  Campers and Criminals Cozy Mystery
Source:  Audio

 

Welcome to Normal, Kentucky where nothing is normal.

When the principal of Normal High School asks Mae West to teach a semester on small town economics, since she helped bring the thriving economy in Normal, Kentucky when she used her brilliant ideas to bring the Happy Trails Campground back to life, Mae is thrilled and happy to teach the young people. But when a fellow teacher and archery Coach Roger Carlson, is found stone-cold dead, facedown in one of Happy Trails Campground campers with an arrow sticking out of his back, it puts a damper on the thriving campground when tourists cancel their reservations and Mae's excitement to teach.

Mae's hankering to snoop into the coach's private life and find out exactly why he was renting a camper in Happy Trails and not living at home with his young wife. Her efforts don't leave her short on suspects. Especially, since Mae uncovered many unhappy parents who had relied on an archery scholarship as their child's ticket to get out of Normal and go to college. Mae has to be careful or she just might find an arrow with her name written on it.

I am almost caught up on this series.... almost... nope I am not... I am halfway through. I am not tired of this series yet. I love the characters and I love the murders. I have a lot of fun with this series and this installment was no exception. Fun, quick, and full of spunk.. the book and the main the character.

There is a new murder in the town of Normal, Kentucky, and Mae is on the case. I mean really she should just become a detective.  This time in Normal, an archery coach is killed and there are many suspects.... and of course, Mae and the Laundry Club Ladies are on the case.

This is going to be a quick and short review, I don't know how many new ways I can say that I love this series. I love this series, these characters, and the murders. The plot, the settting, everything is so well done. I have been hooked since the first book and can't get enough. I can say this one wasn't quite my favorite but it was still wonderful and kept me captivated the entire way through. 

I just adore Mae, I adore her relationships. Her freindship with the laundry club ladies is just spectacular and makes my heart smile. I also love her budding relationship ship with the Hank just makes me sing inside. I really do love Hank. I am not sure how he puts up with her messing up investigations all the time... well I guess she does help solve murder. Mae is sweet and quirky and I can't help but love her and I think Hank feels the same way. 

Romance, friendship, a crazy bunch of campers, a murder, and just a lot of laughs. What's not to love in this cozy mystery read. 

Of course this one owned my heart too.

For years, USA Today bestselling author Tonya Kappes has been publishing numerous mystery with unprecedented success. She is famous not only for her hilarious plot lines and quirky characters, but her tremendous marketing efforts that have earned her thousands of followers and a devoted street team of fans.
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Review: The Starlight Claim by Tim Wynne -Jones

Title: The Starlight Claim

Author:  Tim Wynne-Jones
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publishing Date:  September 10, 2019

Pages: 240
Genre: YA Survival/ Thriller Suspence

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  Audio

 

Four months after his best friend, Dodge, disappeared near their families' camp in a boat accident, Nate is still haunted by nightmares. He'd been planning to make the treacherous trek to the remote campsite with a friend -- his first time in winter without his survival-savvy father, Burt. But when his friend gets grounded, Nate secretly decides to brave the trip solo in a journey that's half pilgrimage, half desperate hope he will find his missing friend when no one else could. What he doesn't expect to find is the door to the cabin flung open and the camp occupied by strangers: three men he's horrified to realize have escaped from a maximum-security prison. Snowed in by a blizzard and with no cell signal, Nate is confronted with troubling memories of Dodge and a stunning family secret, and realizes that his survival now depends on his wits as much as his wilderness skills. As things spiral out of control, Nate finds himself dealing with questions even bigger than who gets to leave the camp alive.

I liked the sound of this one so I grabbed it on NetGalley a while back. My life got in the way and well I didn't get around to it til recently. I wanted a fast paced chase scene, scared to look around the corner, kind of book. I thought by the sound of the premise, I would get this. The book was okay and it had some quite good scenes, but it didn't quite deliver in the way I needed. 

Nate and his best friend Dodge, grew up together, and there was a camp in the woods where both boys' families stayed for vacation. The last time Dodge went up with his family, they didn't come back. Nate is desperate to find him, find out what happened, and get closure on the entire thing. He ends up going to the camp on his own and when he gets there finds there are strangers staying in his cabin. Strangers that are dangerous and don't want to be found. Snowed in, no way out, and in a dangerous situation, Nate must quickly figure out how to survive the weekend.

The book sounded so good when I first grabbed hold of it. It was okay, for the most part I enjoyed it. I had a few issues with it. The story was good and interesting. I enjoyed the survival and the danger. I think my main problem is that I didn't feel it was suspenseful or thrilling enough for what I was promised. It did have a few good scenes, but for the most part the book read as a coming of age for me. Which is fine, just not what I expected. 

The main character, Nate, I liked. He was very resourceful and strong. He is quick thinking. He has some guilt going on that is weighing him down. He goes to his families cabin to get answers about his best friend. He gets answers, just not the answers he was expecting. When his world becomes dangerous and turned upside down, he does what he needs to not only survive, but still do the right thing. 

The book was promised to be fast paced. For me, it was a bit slow. The entire book happens in one weekend and I felt the weekend lasted forever. I wanted more chase, more shadows lurking, more bone chilling and thrilling moments and didn't get that. 

What I did get was an interesting, a little emotional, slow burn through a very broken mind. Which was a good journey for what it was. I think if you go into this read expecting it for what it is, an emotional coming of age journey, you will enjoy this read. Just didn't feel it was a suspenseful thriller at all. 

It was an okay read. I enjoyed it, just not what I was expecting and wanted at the time of the read. 

 Wynne-Jones (born 12 August 1948) is an English–Canadian author of children's literature, including picture books and novels for children and young adults, novels for adults, radio dramas, songs for the CBC/Jim Henson production Fraggle Rock, as well as a children's musical and an opera libretto.

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Juvenile (2001): The Boy in the Burning House
Edgar Award
◊ Best Young Adult (2002): The Boy in the Burning House

Review: Careful What You Wish For by Hallie Ephron

Title: Careful What You Wish For

Author:  Hallie Ephron
Publisher: William Marrow
Publishing Date:  August 6th, 2019

Pages: 288
Genre: Mystery Thriller/ Suspense

Series:  Stand Alone
Source:  Audio

 

Emily Harlow is a professional organizer who helps people declutter their lives; she’s married to man who can’t drive past a yard sale without stopping. He’s filled their basement, attic, and garage with his finds.

Like other professionals who make a living decluttering peoples’ lives, Emily has devised a set of ironclad rules. When working with couples, she makes clear that the client is only allowed to declutter his or her own stuff. That stipulation has kept Emily’s own marriage together these past few years. She’d love nothing better than to toss out all her husband’s crap. He says he’s a collector. Emily knows better—he’s a hoarder. The larger his “collection” becomes, the deeper the distance grows between Emily and the man she married.

Luckily, Emily’s got two new clients to distract herself: an elderly widow whose husband left behind a storage unit she didn’t know existed, and a young wife whose husband won’t allow her stuff into their house. Emily’s initial meeting with the young wife takes a detour when, after too much wine, the women end up fantasizing about how much more pleasant life would be without their collecting spouses.

But the next day Emily finds herself in a mess that might be too big for her to clean up. Careful what you wish for, the old adage says . . . now Emily might lose her freedom, her marriage . . . and possibly her life.

This is one of my Edelweiss books that I am a little late in reviewing. I find many mysteries and thrillers just kind of hanging out on this site and this was one of them. The synopsis sounded great and intriguing and the cover was pretty, so I grabbed it. I finally got to this book on audio and I liked it. It was very entertaining and I was very happy with the read when it was done. 


Emily and her best friend run a de-cluttering business. They go out to their client's house and they de-clutter anything that they need to have de-cluttered. This includes a storage unit of one of their newest clients. Everything goes haywire when a body turns up in this storage unit....also its the husband of one of Emily's other clients. Now Emily is the main suspect. She and her family and her best friend are on the hunt for the truth.... the truth may be Emily's worst nightmare. 

I really enjoyed this book. It started off quickly. This book didn't take long to get to the crazy.  It was a very fast read and I quite enjoyed it. In this book there is a couple different mysteries going on. One that is about art theft and the other is a murder. It seems that the main character finds herself in the middle of both. I didn't quite know what was going on in the beginning and the building up to who was involved was well done. There was a point that I started to have my suspicions but didn't know the why or the how.  

There were some very interesting characters in this book and some very interesting relationships. There was the main character and her mother, the main character and husband, and the main character and her best friend, and finally the main character and her clients. They all interweave at some point and through all these relationships I was able to get a good read going the main character. She is a very loyal person in all her relationships and I quite liked her. I feel at times she was a bit naive but it seems many mysteries and psychological reads go. 



This was a very fast read and quite the page turner. The book never slowed for me and I was never bored.I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from this author.

Hallie Ephron (http://hallieephron.com) is a New York Times bestselling author of suspense novels. Her last five have all been Mary Higgins Clark Award finalists.

Her (August 2019) Careful What You Wish For tells the story of a professional organizer married to man who can't pass a yard sale without stopping. In this respect, Hallie is writing from personal experience. Early praise comes from Kirkus: "Ephron's tidy approach to stowing clues, arousing suspicions, keeping the chaos of the climax under control, then tying up loose ends makes her a professional organizer of this type of entertainment. In a word—neat."

Hallie's Never Tell a Lie was made into the Lifetime Movie Network film.

A book lover, she also wrote The Bibliophile's Devotional and 1001 Books for Every Mood. For twelve years she reviewed crime fiction for the Boston Globe. Her Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel (now in a revised/expanded edition) was an Edgar and Anthony award finalist. She teaches writing at writing conferences and workshops all around the world.

Hallie lives near Boston with her husband and has two fabulous daughters. She is the third of four writing Ephron sisters.

Review: Keep This to Yourself by Tom Ryan

Title: Keep This to Yourself

Author: Tom Ryan

Publisher: AW Teen

Publishing Date: May 21, 2019

Pages: 320
Audio Length: 8 Hours and 40 Minutes

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller
TW: Murder

Series:  Standalone

Source: Audio

 

It's been a year since the Catalog Killer terrorized the sleepy seaside town of Camera Cove, killing four people before disappearing without a trace. Like everyone else in town, eighteen-year-old Mac Bell is trying to put that horrible summer behind him—easier said than done since Mac's best friend Connor was the murderer's final victim. But when he finds a cryptic message from Connor, he's drawn back into the search for the killer—who might not have been a random drifter after all. Now nobody—friends, neighbors, or even the sexy stranger with his own connection to the case—is beyond suspicion. Sensing that someone is following his every move, Mac struggles to come to terms with his true feelings towards Connor while scrambling to uncover the truth.

This was my first read of April and let me tell you that it started everything off with a bang. I was really excited to read this and I feel like it set the mood for the rest of the month.

The cover feels very ominous to me, I feel like it's creepy and matches the book well. 



I think it's a really interesting story, even if not very unique. I almost always love serial killer books, because it keeps me on my toes and the edge of the seat, gives me a creepy crawly feeling, makes me hold me breath, clench my jaw while reading. 
As I said this one isn't very unique, the MC's best friend is killed by a serial killer and a year later he's trying to figure out who and why. 
But there was something that was unique about this story all the same, I just can't exactly put my finger on what it is. 



The pace was done pretty well in this one. It had a lot of build up, but not the slow kind of grueling kind of build up. It had the right amount of build up that had me just wanting to read more and more and not at all put it down. 
Then once it got going it really got going. It was a constant that made me want even more than I already wanted. 



Keep This to Yourself is really well written. As I said above it had a great build up. I felt myself really getting into this book. I could see myself there with the characters. Which I will talk more about in the world building. Oops.

Either way. Tom did a great job with the thrill part of this book, and not only the thrill, but the twist! Oh that twist! I thought I saw it coming and then I doubted myself and then it was so much more than I ever thought it would be. So I feel like he did a great job in leading up to it, and making you think it was one thing and then BAM it was something else. 

I did feel like the romance part of this was forced and a bit rushed. I didn't find it to be a cute romance, kind of an awkward one. And not because it's a M/M one, I feel like the characters didn't connect together. 



I liked the characters I think, for the most part. I've read a lot of books between this one and when I'm writing this. But I can't think of anything huge I didn't like.

Mac's obsession was a bit much. I feel like if it was dialed down just a bit that it would have still been a great book with the same result. I feel like it was just a bit... over the top. And weird.

And I did NOT like Connor. Man he got on my nerves. And the more I read about him I just hated him. I didn't see why Mac liked him so much. 



So I rated this one a three for a couple reasons. I did feel like the author did a good job in the description of the characters and I could picture myself there with them, as I said above.
But at the same time, I wish there was a bit more description of the area they were in. While I could picture myself talking among the characters I couldn't picture the area they were in, or their surroundings and I feel that would've bumped the book to a 5 star, because I feel like that really makes or breaks a thriller. 



As I said the twist was amazing. Well written and crazy and just whoooa. So the ending was a good one, it was satisfactory and I was okay with the book ending. 






Overall everything I hoped it would be and more. This was one of my most anticipated of 2019 and it did not disappoint. 

Tom Ryan is the author of several books for young readers. He has been nominated for several awards, and two of his young adult novels, Way to Go and Tag Along, were chosen for the ALA Rainbow List, in 2013 and 2014. He was a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction. Tom, his husband, and their dog currently divide their time between Toronto and Nova Scotia.