Book Reviews

Pecan Pies and Homicides (Charmed Pie Shoppe #3) By: Ellery Adams

Pecan Pies and Homicides (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries #3) By: Ellery Adams

Plot:

Owning the Charmed Pie Shoppe and serving enchanted treats in the magical town of Havenwood, Georgia, seemed like a little slice of heaven for Ella Mae LeFaye. But now her hopes for both a lasting romance with Hugh Dylan and business success are starting to seem like pie in the sky, and Ella’s left wondering: Where has the magic gone?   When an enchanted grove is set ablaze, Ella realizes she has more grave problems. With her magic waning, she’s going to have to sleuth from scratch to stop an arsonist who has no respect for sacred ground—or human life…
Review:

Still liking this series a lot. The world was further developed, as were relationships, and goals created in the previous book. I actually really like that one of her major goals was accomplished and not dragged out. Unfortunately, there’s still no relationship resolution with Hugh.

Ella Mae is learning to use her powers and learning about the world around her, most of that seems to be happening off screen, but that’s fine. I really like the combination Adams has made of paranormal and cozy, it’s pretty much half and half, neither dominates, which makes things interesting. I like it.

As a character Ella Mae is kind of growing on me, still not someone I care too much about, but not quite as boring as before. Really looking forward to the next book and hoping for some Hugh resolution.

4/5

Lightning Blade (Ruby Callaway #1) By: D.N. Erikson

Lightning Blade (Ruby Callaway #1) By: D.N. Erikson

Plot:

After twenty years inside a supernatural internment camp, bounty hunter Ruby Callaway is granted a temporary release by FBI Agent Colton Roark to help capture a necromancer publicly killing high ranking government officials. Each year, on the same day, the necromancer kills. And today marks the eighth anniversary.

But after dying at the killer’s hand, Ruby discovers something strange: the day repeats over and over, in an endless time loop starting at midnight.

The killer has something much bigger planned for today. And Ruby, as the only one capable of seeing the necromancer’s endless time loop, must stop the psychotic necromancer from obtaining unlimited power.

But the world outside the fence has changed, the supernatural forced to live in sprawling slums lying just outside gleaming cities. And in this uneasy new world, there might be threats even greater than serial killers lurking in the shadows…

Review:

Lightning Blade is made up of things I love, time loops, futuristic settings, and a kick ass female heroine. Time loops are so rarely done, at least I seem to rarely read about them, that when I saw that was what this book was I couldn’t not buy it.

I’m still not exactly sure what Ruby Callaway is, she’s a realms something or other, but she seems to be unique but not over powered. She ages very slowly so she’s had some time to train, which explains the abilities we were shown. I’m curious to learn more, though.

The real winner, though, was the world created. A futuristic world with paranormal creatures is just so cool to me. Things, of course, aren’t peachy in the future, and our heroes must find a way to survive and break the time loop, but things are never what they seem.

I wish the villain had been better developed. The pieces were all there, but the only time I felt anything for him was when he was first introduced, after that it was just sort of, “oh yeah there he is again.” He wasn’t over the top and he had awesome motivation but I feel like he could have easily been expounded on.

Really enjoyed the book over all, though, and I’m looking forward to reading the next one.

4/5

Peach Pies and Alibis (Charmed Pie Shoppe #2) By: Ellery Adams

Peach Pies and Alibis (Charmed Pie Shoppe #2) By: Ellery Adams

Plot:

Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia–which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop’s extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.
But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers–and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.
Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she’s catering. Now she’ll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don’t contain a killer ingredient . . .

Review:

This book did not disappoint, all that I liked from the first continued and more. Adams expanded on the magic in the universe and it was interesting and unique. The side characters continued to be developed and were fun.

I’m still not overly fond of Ella Mae, she’s fine, but I don’t know, kind of boring maybe, honestly I’m not sure why I don’t like her. Her ex-husband showed up which I was kind of concerned about, but I liked how he was handled. I wish whatever was going on with Hugh would figure itself out and be explained but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

The mystery was good, though, I did guess who done-it before the reveal, but I was kept guessing. I ended up crying at one point because of what happened. I liked the book a lot and I’ve got the next two from the library.

4/5

Pies and Prejudice (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries #1) By: Ellery Adams

Pies and Prejudice (Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries #1) By: Ellery Adams

Plot:

When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren’t just delicious. They’re having magical effects on the people who eat them—and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn’s fiancé is found dead—killed with Ella Mae’s rolling pin—it’ll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

Review:

I’m not a pie fan, I like maybe three kinds of pie, not a huge fan of fruit in deserts. I’m also not good at making the ones I do like, each time I’ve tried I’ve screwed up somehow. I can bake cakes and cookies and I’m a pretty fair cook but pies have so far alluded me. All that to say, after reading this book I desperately wanted a pie. I wanted to make one, I wanted to eat one, I wanted a freaking pie, but I’ve yet to get my hands on one.

Anyway, I’ve been looking for a cozy mystery author that I like as much as Jenn McKinley and while I’m not saying Ellery Adams is there for me yet, she’s got promise. I even used birthday money and paid a full $7.99 for the sequel, that’s a lot for me to spend on an author that I’m unfamiliar with.

I enjoyed the world created, I thought the mystery was intriguing, and I loved all the baking. The characters were good, especially the side characters. This is a kind of paranormal cozy, but the magic system isn’t really defined and Ella Mae didn’t even know she had magic until the very end. She was just able to infuse her pies with feelings. It was very lite paranormal and could be interesting to see how it’s developed.

4/5

Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls #2) By: Thomas K. Carpenter

Web of Lies (The Hundred Halls #2) By: Thomas K. Carpenter

Plot:

Whoever controls the Hundred Halls, controls the world.

Aurelia “Aurie” Silverthorne has high hopes for her second year in the Hundred Halls, the world’s only magical university, but her expectations are destroyed when she accidentally unleashes a plague of faez-eating thralls and spends week after week getting killed in the Grand Contest.

But none of this matters when Aurie learns that the Cabal searches for a powerful magic that will help them get control of the Hundred Halls. If Aurie can’t stop them, then passing her classes will be the least of her worries.

Review:

Within the first 30% of the book a couple of the tropes that I’d been happy weren’t in the first book reared their heads. We got some mild angst and a super-hot guy interested in one of our girls. We also had some stupid decisions and some moments of why did it take you so long to do what needed to be done. I could also see the author introducing a love triangle in the future, though a second guy hasn’t been introduced yet.

Overall I was super disappointed in the second book of the Hundred Halls series. Yes, there was more world building, but the main characters weren’t developed further and they were back to getting over the death of their parents. It wasn’t the focus but it was mentioned a lot, especially by Pi who I’m not sure Carpenter knows what to do with at all.

Aurie is supposed to be the selfless smart one, but she makes several selfish stupid decisions. Pi is supposed to be smart and impetuous, and willing to take advantage of a situation to help herself, she mostly lived up to that but she also became a lone wolf and her storyline was pretty much over halfway through. There were definite pacing issues.

Honestly, I’m probably not going to read the next book and I think I’m just going to avoid the genre completely. We’ll see.

2/5