Next in the Bewitched By Chocolate series by H Y Hanna. This is a cute cozy mystery series about a young twenty something girl who finds out that the woman she thought was her mother had really found on the side of the rode in a basket, left there by her true birth mother. When the famous actress who brought up dies, Caitlyn Le Fey leaves America and goes back to the English countryside to find her real family.
In this mystery series Caitlyn has found her birthplace, the little village of Tillyhenge, that is owned by the Fitzroy family. James is the current heir and handsome love interest of Caitlyn. She has also found the Bewitched By Chocolate chocolate shop run by the Widow Mags, who turns out to be Caitlyn's grandmother and her daughter Bertha who runs the local herb and remedy shop.
There is always a mysterious death in the village that Caitlyn and her best friend Pomona work to solve while Caitlyn tries to win the affections of James. It was cute at the beginning but now so many books into the series, her inexperience in the ways of love and flirting is getting a bit odd.
I get that the author wants to stretch the build of a romance between them but this has gone on too long.
In this novel, a woman comes to town saying she is a witch with potions and powers to place curses and cures on people. She stirs up the anger of the villagers who pay her and then don't get satisfaction for the magic skills they asked for. A famous witch hunter also appears in the village and is invited to dinner at the Fitzroy mansion. When a body turns up Caitlyn is on the trail to find out why the murder took place...
The best paragraph in the book is spoken by Caitlyn's aunt Bertha, when she explains about being in control over the power of witchcraft, " But how can you ever be sure you are in control, and it's not the other way around? You could become a slave to the forces of Dark Magic before you realize. The darkness is there in all of us you know, and it takes great strength of character to make the right choice - the difficult choice. To choose understanding over judgement, forgiveness over revenge."
I think this is a good message for everyone even those of us who have no magical powers and just need to make good decisions, and make our chocolate the old fashion way with our own two hands.
Monday, September 16, 2019
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Park Avenue Summer
Just as I am getting used to being a member of AARP and the fact that my doctors are now younger than I am and almost ready to start looking at how to sign up for medicare... another sign that I have crossed an invisible line... books that cover the 1960s are now considered "historical" fiction.
Renee Rosen mentions in her interviews that she was captivated by episodes of Mad Men which inspired her to find a way to write about that time period. Listed in the historical fiction genre is Park Avenue Summer, a novel written about Helen Gurley Brown as she takes over the reins of Cosmopolitan magazine.
The year is 1965 and Gurley Brown has just published her book, Sex and the Single Girl, which stirred up quite a bit of excitement among young women. This is also the time that Betty Freidan has written The Feminine Mystique. Young women are rethinking marriage and family. They are realizing they have more power than they thought. They can work and live on their own.
Alice has come to New York City to fulfill her childhood dream and become a photographer. Having lost her mother at a young age, she hopes to follow in her footsteps, leaving Ohio for the big city. Finding an old friend of her mother's as a mentor, she lands a secretarial job in the office of Helen Gurley Brown just as she is about to try and relaunch Cosmo as the new magazine that "her girls" are looking for. The fictional Alice is there to assist Gurley Brown as she historically goes up against the male executives trying to make Cosmo what she thinks is the new style of magazine young working women are looking for. With sensual cover photos and evocative articles she is hoping to turn around the failing magazine that has been covering recipes and how to get stains out of clothes.
Mixing fact and fiction we follow Alice, one of the women Brown's audience, as she struggles with the new age of women's mystique, the glamour and sexual appeal, and how she supposed to use it. As Alice works through her feelings about men, affairs and marriage, she finds her way around New York City and improves her photography skills.
Quite a fun book to read especially because I was a "Cosmo girl". Reading Cosmopolitan magazine in my late teens and early twenties, I can picture Helen Gurley Brown leading the way for a generation of women.
Renee Rosen mentions in her interviews that she was captivated by episodes of Mad Men which inspired her to find a way to write about that time period. Listed in the historical fiction genre is Park Avenue Summer, a novel written about Helen Gurley Brown as she takes over the reins of Cosmopolitan magazine.
The year is 1965 and Gurley Brown has just published her book, Sex and the Single Girl, which stirred up quite a bit of excitement among young women. This is also the time that Betty Freidan has written The Feminine Mystique. Young women are rethinking marriage and family. They are realizing they have more power than they thought. They can work and live on their own.
Alice has come to New York City to fulfill her childhood dream and become a photographer. Having lost her mother at a young age, she hopes to follow in her footsteps, leaving Ohio for the big city. Finding an old friend of her mother's as a mentor, she lands a secretarial job in the office of Helen Gurley Brown just as she is about to try and relaunch Cosmo as the new magazine that "her girls" are looking for. The fictional Alice is there to assist Gurley Brown as she historically goes up against the male executives trying to make Cosmo what she thinks is the new style of magazine young working women are looking for. With sensual cover photos and evocative articles she is hoping to turn around the failing magazine that has been covering recipes and how to get stains out of clothes.
Mixing fact and fiction we follow Alice, one of the women Brown's audience, as she struggles with the new age of women's mystique, the glamour and sexual appeal, and how she supposed to use it. As Alice works through her feelings about men, affairs and marriage, she finds her way around New York City and improves her photography skills.
Quite a fun book to read especially because I was a "Cosmo girl". Reading Cosmopolitan magazine in my late teens and early twenties, I can picture Helen Gurley Brown leading the way for a generation of women.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
A Better Man
I had a date with Chief Inspector Armand Gamache last weekend!. What a treat to sit and read the newest of the Louise Penny mystery novels. A Better Man is the newest in the Louise Penny, Gamache series.
Again we meet up with all the villagers living Three Pines. Though it never seems to be summer there or even good weather, the people are dedicated to the village and their neighbors. They muddle through protecting each other from harm and even negative feelings. They care for each other and keep each other warm and dry against the elements.
This time spring is coming and the thaw has started and snow and ice melt threatens to flood not only the village of Three Pines but all along the St Lawrence River throughout the province. There is a discussion at the Surete highest level about how to handle the dangerous situation and again Gamache has the best answer though his colleagues disagree. There is still unrest among the leadership of the force and respect for Gamache is challenged. His title has been taken away and now he answers to his second in command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, who is also his son-in-law. Along with Isabelle they are off to solve another crime.
After sandbagging the riverbanks around Three Pines they are watching the storm. The father of Vivian Godin approaches Gamache and asks him to find his daughter. Though Gamache knows he should put this aside until after flood is averted, struggles with the knowledge that he also has a daughter he would want searched for.
This is a psychological study in the different personalities of the girl and the people around her. This novel involves domestic abuse and the relationships between family members. Penny is so adept at interweaving the familiar characters in the village into the major plot. She involves them in the crime and weaves their personal stories in with similar themes to the crime motivations.
Clara is suffering from a bad review from the art critics, as Gamache is working through bad social media coverage of his last case. Both Gamache and Beauvoir share the thoughts throughout this novel, "What would I do if..." because Gamache has a daughter who is pregnant, who is also Beauvoir's wife, and they both realize how personal this case is. How can you abandon a missing girl and possibly let a killer walk free?
Again we meet up with all the villagers living Three Pines. Though it never seems to be summer there or even good weather, the people are dedicated to the village and their neighbors. They muddle through protecting each other from harm and even negative feelings. They care for each other and keep each other warm and dry against the elements.
This time spring is coming and the thaw has started and snow and ice melt threatens to flood not only the village of Three Pines but all along the St Lawrence River throughout the province. There is a discussion at the Surete highest level about how to handle the dangerous situation and again Gamache has the best answer though his colleagues disagree. There is still unrest among the leadership of the force and respect for Gamache is challenged. His title has been taken away and now he answers to his second in command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, who is also his son-in-law. Along with Isabelle they are off to solve another crime.
After sandbagging the riverbanks around Three Pines they are watching the storm. The father of Vivian Godin approaches Gamache and asks him to find his daughter. Though Gamache knows he should put this aside until after flood is averted, struggles with the knowledge that he also has a daughter he would want searched for.
This is a psychological study in the different personalities of the girl and the people around her. This novel involves domestic abuse and the relationships between family members. Penny is so adept at interweaving the familiar characters in the village into the major plot. She involves them in the crime and weaves their personal stories in with similar themes to the crime motivations.
Clara is suffering from a bad review from the art critics, as Gamache is working through bad social media coverage of his last case. Both Gamache and Beauvoir share the thoughts throughout this novel, "What would I do if..." because Gamache has a daughter who is pregnant, who is also Beauvoir's wife, and they both realize how personal this case is. How can you abandon a missing girl and possibly let a killer walk free?
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