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

Furious 7 (2015)

Furious 7 (2015)

Director:

James Wan

Starring:

Vin Diesel

Paul Walker

Dwayne Johnson

Plot:

Deckard Shaw seeks revenge against Dominic Toretto and his family for his comatose brother.

Review:

I’ve seen all the Fast and Furious movies, but I’m not really a fan of them. They’re merely okay at their best, in my opinion. Furious 7 was no different.

The best part was when the Rock flexed and his cast burst off, that was pretty awesome. The rest of the movie was just eh. The action scenes are poorly shot so they could be good but you’d never know. There were also scenes where the camera was rotated and I assume I was supposed to think that was cool but it was just stupid. Since I’m not emotionally invested in any of the characters the parts where they were all being introspective were just boring. Which is just about my view of the whole movie.

I am excited about the idea of a Rock+ Jason Statham spin off.

2/5

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

The Bells are Ringing (1960)

The Bells are Ringing (1960)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Starring:

Dean Martin

Judy Holliday

Fred Clark    

Plot:

Ella Peterson is a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who tries to improve the lives of her clients by passing along bits of information she hears from other clients. She falls in love with one of her clients, the playwright Jeffrey Moss, and is determined to meet him. The trouble is, on the phone to him, she always pretends to be an old woman whom he calls “Mom.”

Review:

For a brief time growing up we lived near an old video rental store and they had tons of musicals that I ended up loving. This was one of them. I was lucky enough to stumble across a DVD of it on my most recent trip to the McKay’s in Chattanooga (best used bookstore I’ve been too).

The songs aren’t up to Rogers and Hammerstein but what I really love is the story. Ella, Judy Holliday, is klutzy and sweet, so naturally she falls in love with playboy Dean Martin. It’s cute, but after my most recent viewing I think part of why I like it is nostalgia.

4/5