20 Questions with Authors : Kelly Brakenhoff

Kelly Brakenhoff is the author of the Cassandra Sato Mystery series which has 2 books (so far) in it.  They are Death by Dissertation and Dead Week.  She is also the author of the children's book Never Mind ! 

Let's get to know her personally.....

1.  What is your favorite color ?  Kelly Green!

2.  Sunset or sunrise ?  Sunset. (Not a morning person!)

3.  Coffee, tea or soda ?  Irish Breakfast Tea

4.  What is your favorite movie ?  The Harry Potter Series

5.  What are your favorite toppings on pizza ?  Supreme!

6.  Cake or pie ? What is your favorite ?  Chocolate Cake

7.  Favorite author (besides yourself) ?   Impossible to choose only one! Janet Evanovich

8.  Horror movie or chick flick ??  Chick flick

9.  Cat or dog person ? Do you have any ? If so, what and names please....  DOGS rule (and drool) We have a German Wirehair Pointer named Duke and an ancient Cockapoo named Sadie.

10.  Ideal vacation ?  European River Cruise

11.  Camping or 5 star hotel ?  Both can be an adventure.

12.  Favorite season and why ?  Fall. Husker Football, leaves change color.

13.  Name ONE thing you are afraid of ....  SNAKES

14.  Name ONE thing you cannot live without....  Chocolate

15.  What was your favorite subject in school ?  English!

16.  What was your least favorite subject in school ?  Biology

17.  What movie have you seen more than once ?  It’s a Wonderful Life

18.  What is your guilty pleasure ?  (Can't be an answer already given...)  Sleeping in late on a Saturday morning.

19.  Who is your celebrity crush ?  George Clooney

20.  Tell us something we don't know that you would like people to know about you ......A lot of parents and teachers have gotten a crash course in home schooling and remote learning this spring. I made a video on YouTube of me reading my children’s book and my deaf friend signing it in ASL. I want to spread the “Never mind is not allowed” message and help deaf children feel more included at home or with friends. Here’s the link to the video: https://youtu.be/Qnl9qq99dZc 

To learn more about her and her books, go to :  http://kellybrakenhoff.com/

20 Questions with Authors : Elizabeth Penney

Elizabeth Penney has written over 20 novels and short stories and her lastest series is one to watch.  It is the Apron Shop Series.  It has 2 books (so far).  They are :

Hems & Homicide
Thread and Dead

Let's get to know her personally......

1.  What is your favorite color ?  Periwinkle blue

2.  Sunset or sunrise ?  Sunset, I'm hardly ever awake at sunrise

3.  Coffee, tea or soda ?  Coffee all the way! Fuels my day

4.  What is your favorite movie ?  I don't have one

5.  What are your favorite toppings on pizza ?  Mushrooms! A must-have, also like feta cheese, peppers, sausage, artichokes, and eggplant

6.  Cake or pie ? What is your favorite ?  Maine blueberry pie or pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream

7.  Favorite author (besides yourself) ?  I don't have one, I admire a lot of authors

8.  Horror movie or chick flick ??  Chick flick, can't stand horror movies

9.  Cat or dog person ? Do you have any ? If so, what and names please....  Cat person, no pet right now. Recently lost our darling ragdoll Noah

10.  Ideal vacation ?    Italy--historic sites, lots of food, art museums, shopping, and the beach

11.  Camping or 5 star hotel ?  Although I love going out in the woods, camping doesn't appeal any more. So 5 star.

12.  Favorite season and why ?  Summer. Warm weather, sunshine, gardens, fresh vegetables.

13.  Name ONE thing you are afraid of ....  Heights

14.  Name ONE thing you cannot live without....  My faith

15.  What was your favorite subject in school ?  Reading, used to read ahead in the book

16.  What was your least favorite subject in school ?  Math

17.  What movie have you seem more than once ?  Sound of Music

18.  What is your guilty pleasure ?  (Can't be an answer already given...)  Brownie sundaes

19.  Who is your celebrity crush ?  Don't have one!

20.  Tell us something we don't know that you would like people to know about you ......  I spent my first childhood years in England and France. My father was stationed there and my mother is from England.

For more on Elizabeth Penney, go to :  https://www.elizabethpenneyauthor.com/

20 Questions with Authors : Aimee Shaye

This exerpt is taken from Aimee's author page on her website :

“I am many things but normal is not one of them,” says Aimee Shaye when asked to describe herself. She is a novelist whose genres include Fantasy and all its subgenres. When asked what drives her, Aimee says, “The world around me. The people I know. The love I have gained. The pain I have endured.” Though young, Aimee has experienced many things that she believes no one (man or woman) should ever have to endure, and as a result of that, she has turned her pain into liquid words that fill the pages of her books, novels, novelettes, and short stories.

Aimee's books are :

The Broken Daughter (The Cursed Kingdom Series Book One)

Silenced

The Prophecy (A Chronicles of the Seven Sons Prequel)

If You're Listening...

Have Mercy

Let's get to know her personally.....

1.  What is your favorite color?   My favorite color is black. 

2.  Sunset or sunrise?   Sunset. I love the way the colors blend into the ocean.

3.  Coffee, tea or soda?  This was hard! I love them all! But since I have to choose: coffee! 

4.  What is your favorite movie?  I watch both Hollywood films and Bollywood films. My favorite Hollywood film is Titanic! I have seen it a thousand times! My favorite Bollywood film is Kuch Kuch Hota Hai! If you haven't seen it, it's on Netflix and there are subtitles.

5.  What are your favorite toppings on pizza?  This is not going to be a crowd favorite but I love pineapple on my pizza, pepperoni, and mushrooms! I'm also not opposed to the barbecue chicken pizza, but it's hard to eat and my chicken always falls off! 

6.  Cake or pie? What is your favorite?  Pie!! Like Dean Winchester of Supernatural always says: "Love me some pie!"

7.  Favorite author (besides yourself)?  Haha! I love Sherrilyn Kenyon and Nicholas Sparks!

8.  Horror movie or chick flick ??  Chick flick for sure. I had a bad experience after a horror movie when I was a kid, so now I steer clear of them. 

9.  Cat or dog person? Do you have any? If so, what and names please....  Both! I have a dog whose name is Rusty. He's a cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle mix) and he's a lap dog. My brother has 2 cats (he had 4 but sadly three passed away this year). Their names are Oreo and Dash (he's the newest addition). 

10.  Ideal vacation?    Anywhere with my husband. I don't care where we go as long as it's a vacation! 

11.  Camping or 5 star hotel?  This is tough because I'd do both especially since my husband is an Eagle Scout. Oh man! Can I pick a 5 star hotel with two nights of camping at some point during our outing? 

12.  Favorite season and why?  Summer! I love warm weather and I get summers off, so there's a lot more I can do during the summer. I'm an outdoor person. 

13.  Name ONE thing you are afraid of ....  Heights. I have an impenetrable fear of heights that stopped me from climbing to the top of the Eiffel Tower, one of my life-long dreams. I made it to the second floor, saw the tops of the mountains and the deadly drop below me and I completely freaked and cried for about twenty-minutes!

14.  Name ONE thing you cannot live without....  My husband. He's my best friend, as cliche as it is. We do everything together short of going to work together (if we could, we probably would). I don't know what I'd do without him. 

15.  What was your favorite subject in school?  English and Social Studies! It's a tie because I love to write and I love to learn about the world around me. 

16.  What was your least favorite subject in school?  Math. I don't think in numbers, I think in images! So unless there's images (like graphing) I take a pass, haha!

17.  What movie have you seen more than once?  Titanic. I have seen it at least 100 times. 

18.  What is your guilty pleasure?  (Can't be an answer already given...)  Twilight! I know, I know. I'm 26 years old, it's insane that I'm obsessed but I totally pre-ordered Midnight Sun the minute the announcement was made! #NotSorry

19.  Who is your celebrity crush?  JENSEN ACKLES! I have loved Jensen Ackles since Dawson's Creek when I watched re-runs. I love him on Supernatural. I love him as part of his band. The man is amazing from being a playful father to being an amazing actor! 

20.  Tell us something we don't know that you would like people to know about you ......  I don't know if many people know this but my heritage is a mosh pit. On my father's side I am Guyanese and Indian. His dad and his parents were natives of Guyana but his mother's parents were native of Indian and immigrated to Guyana where my grandma was born then married my grandpa. On my mother's side I am mixed with Italian, Polish, Irish, and German. My mother's mom is 100% Italian from Naples. My mother's father, on the other hand, is mixed Polish, Irish, and German. His father (my great granddad) was 100% Polish; his mother (my great grandma) was mixed Irish and German (her mother was 100% Irish and her father was 100% German). Whenever we had to do family trees and heritage projects, I was always made fun of for my heritage so I'd always say "I'm Guyanese" to shut people up. Now I embrace it and explain it all the way through! I'm proud of my mixed culture and because of it my family is mixed religion. I have family members who are Catholic, Presbyterian, Hindu, and Muslim. It's pretty cool! 

For more on Aimee and her books, go to :  https://www.aimeeshayeauthor.com/

Cream Caramel and Murder (Holly Holmes #1) by K.E. O'Connor

Sweet treats, revenge, and murder.

‘I truly loved the characters in this book, they were so vivid and fun!’ Amazon review. 

Holly Holmes loves her new job working in the kitchen at Audley Castle, home to the eccentric and wealthy Audley family. 

With her faithful corgi cross, Meatball, by her side, she enjoys a quiet life full of baking, researching old recipes, and trying any fun fitness fad – weighted hula hoop, anyone? 

When the bumbling, and cute, Lord Rupert Audley requests some of her scrumptious desserts for his school reunion, she happily gets baking. 

Everything is going great until Meatball discovers a hand sticking out of the ground, Princess Alice faints, and Holly gets stuck in the spotlight for murder! 

If Holly can’t clear her name, she’ll lose her amazing new life in the beautiful Audley St. Mary, Meatball will go back to the animal shelter, and her freedom will be history. 

*** 

Welcome to a new cozy culinary mystery series, full of desserts, murder, and puzzles for you to solve. Meet baker, Holly Holmes, Lady Philippa who has an uncanny ability to predict murder, the ditzy Princess Alice, and a cast of quirky, fun characters who will entertain you throughout this book. 

Enjoy mystery, friendship, puzzles, and lots of tasty treats as you indulge in this delicious read. 

Written in American English (by a British author – so excuse the occasional British phrase!) 

This is a clean, cozy culinary mystery with only a small amount of peril and danger. The killer always gets their just desserts!   (Summary via Goodreads)


Cream Caramel and Murder by K.E. O'Connor is a fun, fast read !!  It was so fun I couldn't stop reading !!!
This is the first book in the Holly Holmes series and I hope that future books in this series are as captivating as this one was !!

Holly Holmes is the main character and readers will want to be her !!  She works in a castle and lives on the grounds !!  Her best friend is a real live princess !!  Holly works in the kitchen in the castle creating mouth watering desserts for the Royal family as well as the cafe on the grounds for the busloads of people that come to tour the castle and the gardens around it.

In Cream Caramel and Murder Lord Rupert is hosting a get-together for his old school buddies, they do this yearly and this is the year they come to stay at the castle.  On the first night after meeting them all, Holly gets an instant disliking feeling for one of them, Kendal, after he makes some unwanted advances on her.  Unfortunately the next morning when Holly and Princess Alice are taking Holly's dog, Meatball, for a walk around the grounds, Meatball leads them right to a hand sticking out of the ground !!!  Sadly it turns out to be Kendal and he was murdered !!!

While Holly tries to find out who killed him and why, Cameron who is head of security for the castle seems to have his eye on Holly and not in a good way.  Holly just met the deceased the night before, she has no reason to want to see him dead but she needs to prove that so that she can continue to live her fairy tale life.

Readers will fall in love with Cream Caramel and Murder by the time they finish the first chapter.  There are so many reasons to love this story..... the main character, her dog, her job, where she lives, who she hangs out with, her quaint little town, even the murder and the story behind it will have readers turning pages quickly.

I highly recommend getting lost in this first book in the series.... I am on to the next book, Chocolate Swirls and Murder and CANNOT wait !!!!


Review by Missi M.

20 Questions with Authors : Karen O'Connor

Karen O'Connor writes across a range of fictional genres, including young adult paranormal romance and adventure and paranormal cozy mysteries. She has a number of series already complete, with several in development.  They include:   

The Crypt Witch Cozy Paranormal mystery series with 8 books (so far) in that series and they are :

Luck of the Witch
Hell of a Witch
Revenge of the Witch
Curse of the Witch
Son of A Witch
Framing of the Witch
Trickery of the Witch
Harmony of the Witch

The Lorna Shadows Cozy Ghost Mystery series has 12 books (so far) and they are :

Ghostly Manners
Ghostly Secrets
Ghostly Games
Ghostly Affairs
Ghostly Business
Ghostly Rules
Ghostly Waves
Ghostly Play
Ghostly Proposal
Ghostly Vows
Ghostly Fright
Ghostly Hunt

The Old Sarum Witch Cozy Mystery series has 3 books (so far) and they are :

Witch Kissed
Witch Rose
Witch Guy

The Zee Town Series has 6 books in that series (so far) and they are :

Dangerous Tails
Murder Daze
Hearts & Murder
Murder Fling
Candyfloss & Murder
Furballs & Murder

The Ghost Academy series has 4 books (so far) and they are :

Chosen
Recall
Shield
Exile

The School of Exorcists is a 6 book set and can be purchased together or seperately.  They are :

Initiation
Revelations
Awakening
Conversions
Subversion
Vanquishing

The Holly Holmes Cozy Culinary Mystery series has 6 books (so far) and they are :

Cream Caramel and Murder
Chocolate Swirls and Murder
Vanilla Whip and Murder
Cherry Cream and Murder
Blueberry Blast and Murder
Mocha Cream and Murder

NOW.....we know all about her MANY book, let's get to know her personally as well.....

1.  What is your favorite color ?  I love black, but it makes me look like the walking dead when I wear it. I love black cats. I’ll go for red. It’s a bit foxy.

2.  Sunset or sunrise ?   Sunset. I live by the coast, and watching the sun lower over the sea is spectacular.

3.  Coffee, tea or soda ?   Tea all the way. Herbal and black tea. I subscribe to a service called Bird and Blend and they do amazing teas, including one called Birthday Cake. I never drink soda. I used to work as an usherette at the cinema. I got free soda and popcorn. You’d think it was a dream, but after drinking too much soda, it just tastes gross and so sweet. I hadn’t drunk soda since I was 18 – my teeth thank me.

4.  What is your favorite movie ?  I love Gremlins. It’s my go to festive movie. Cute critters, not so cute critters, love, humor, HEA, a hint of the paranormal, and Christmas. Genius

5.  What are your favorite toppings on pizza ?  Pineapple. I know, lead me to the firing squad. It’s a controversial answer, but I love fruit pizza. Never tried it? Get a pizza base, use jam/jelly as your base and cover in fruit. Sticky, gut plumping heaven.

6.  Cake or pie ? What is your favorite ?   Cake. Love it. My waistline doesn’t. Favorite cake… carrot cake with frosting (mainly for the frosting.)

7.  Favorite author (besides yourself) ?  What a mean question. Only one? Really? Harlan Coben writes page turning thrillers. He’s ace.

8.  Horror movie or chick flick ??  Hmmmm, at a push chick flick. But, I love an action movie, something over the top like Fast and the Furious and I love a period drama like Pride and Prejudice.

9.  Cat or dog person ? Do you have any ? If so, what and names please.... ALL ANIMALS (I’m shouting.) I love them. All of them. Fur, feathers, scales, snouts, claws, paws, trotters, beaks. Animals are amazing. They make life better. I’d love to own some pigs, but my apartment won’t fit them. I used to have three beautiful black cats, John, Janet, Cassie. Over the years, they left me due to old age and heartbreaking accidents, but they have a huge place in my heart. I had a portrait commissioned of John and Cassie and it sits next to my desk.

10.  Ideal vacation ?   I plan to stay in Gladstone’s Library in Chester. You get to live in a library!! Dream come true. There are 150,000 books. All they’d need to do is add cats and a never ending supply of cake, and it would be perfect. You can check it out here - https://www.gladstoneslibrary.org/accommodation/sleeping-with-books

11.  Camping or 5 star hotel ?   Hmmmm, I’d like to pick a 3 star hotel. May I? I like a comfy bed and no ants in my sleeping bag, but too much luxury makes me squirm.

12.  Favorite season and why ?   In the UK, we have summer for about three weeks, spring for about four months, which is usually chilly with a side order of damp, and then lots of long, gray cold days that blur into autumn and winter. I’ll go for Spring, but the seasons blur on this chilly little island.

13.  Name ONE thing you are afraid of ....  Losing my passion for writing. It makes me so thrilled that I get to offer these fab portals for people to jump into. If I woke up one day and thought nope, hate writing, I’m not sure what I’d do. Probably eat some cake.

14.  Name ONE thing you cannot live without....  putting aside the things we all need to survive (water, warmth, cake etc) I’d go for the classic: books. Book have gotten me through dark times. I see books as glorious escape portals you can fling yourself into and revel in the mystery or love story, or whatever it is you enjoy. Without books, I would be bereft.

15.  What was your favorite subject in school ?   I didn’t have a favorite subject. I didn’t love school. I’m a huge introvert, so being stuffed in a class with 30 other teenagers was painful. I didn’t mind history and geography. I studied English at A-Level, along with politics and geography, but I was sooooo glad to get out of there (and then spent four years at university - lol.)

16.  What was your least favorite subject in school ?   Maths. Yuck. It was mainly the mean teacher, but I didn’t see the point of all those dry equations.

17.  What movie have you seen more than once ?   I re-watch tons of movies. I’ve seen Sense and Sensibility about 50 fifty times. I love Emma Thomson’s speech when she’s trying to say how she feels about Hugh Grant – ‘I like him. I think very highly of him.’ ‘Like him? Like him!’ It’s so much fun.

18.  What is your guilty pleasure ?  (Can't be an answer already given...)  snooping on my neighbors. I’m a mystery writer. I need a source of inspiration! I shall leave it at that

19.  Who is your celebrity crush ?  James Purefoy. It’s his voice. It’s so delicious. I was also partial to the late Alan Rickman (again, his voice was dreamy, especially when he played Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility.) I can be totally seduced by a lovely male voice. If he plays the guitar, I’m lost.

20.  Tell us something we don't know that you would like people to know about you ......   I look like an innocent book nerd, but I’m a secret rock chick. I have a passionate love of rock and metal. A guy with a gravelly voice (there’s that voice things again) yelling into a mic accompanied by some finger shredding guitar action, gives me the chills – I’m listening to Iron Maiden as I type this answer.

You can learn more about Karen and her books at :  https://keoconnor.com/

The Poppy Drop: A Lily List Mystery (Lily List Mysteries Book 1) by C.L. Bauer

Florist Lily Schmidt can handle just about any emergency if it involves flowers, but when a box of hydrangeas she needs for a wedding is actually a drug shipment gone wrong, she could risk everything. Her business... her life... and even her heart.
Handsome DEA agent Devlin Pierce’s plan is to solve the shipment mystery in a couple of days and collect the puzzle pieces to take down the bad guys. But he has entered the world of weddings and flowers; Lily’s world. The woman with her lists and post-it notes is not his type, but he’s finding it harder to imagine a day without her. He may have just found the one thing he wasn’t looking for.   (Summary via Goodreads)


The Poppy Drop by C.L. Bauer is the first book in the Lily List Mystery series and it is different that other cozy mysteries in that there isn't a murder to solve....it's missing drugs !!!  And the focus is on a florist !

Lily Schmidt owns the flower shop named Lily's and it has been in her family since 1939.  Lily takes her job seriously, making daily to do lists and following them religiously.  Her main source of income is from weddings.  It is her goal to make sure the bride and everyone involved has beautiful flowers for that special day.

Lily's life is basically centered around her shop and her lists until one day after receiving an order of flowers directly from the airport and not from her wholesaler because the first order was wilted beyond repair does her world turn upside down !!  Little does she know that in this new order drugs were packed in with the flowers.  After the store is broken into, Lily meets a DEA agent assigned to the case however all he does is lie to her.  Apparently there are two bricks of drugs missing from the package from the airport and the Cartel is very anxious to get them back.  Unfortunately DEA Agent Devlin Pierce doesn't tell Lily the entire story leaving her in the dark......until it is almost too late !!

Reader's will love the cat and dog relationship between Lily and Devlin.  There will be a lot of times the readers will get just as frustrated as Lily or Devlin do.  The Poppy Drop is just as much a romance novel as it is a cozy mystery and readers will enjoy that balance.   I will warn readers that you will have to check your breathing while you read this book because there will be numerous times that you will find yourself holding your breath !!

I thoroughly enjoyed The Poppy Drop and look forward to seeing where Bauer takes Lily and Devlin and their to do lists......


Review by Missi M.

Photo Finished (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries #14) by Dane McCaslin & Kimberly Griggs

From USA Today bestselling author Dane McCaslin Kimberly Griggs comes a deadly day in paradise...


When photographer Autumn Season lands the job of official photographer at the prestigious Aloha Lagoon Resort, she's ecstatic. But a lively luau suddenly turns deadly, and Autumn realizes she may have accidentally snapped a picture of a murder in progress! Now the killer will go to any lengths to protect his (or her) identity, and Autumn is clearly in their sights. With the help of her best friend, super hottie, and head of the Aloha Lagoon Resort Security, Jimmy Toki, Autumn sets out to find the killer's identity before the killer finds her. What do stolen camera equipment, a bossy busty blonde, and a group of jealous surfers have to do with it all? Autumn isn't sure, but when another luau ends in another body, Aloha Lagoon might be headed for infamy instead of fame. If Autumn doesn't get to the bottom of it all soon, she may just be the next victim to wipe out!


The Aloha Lagoon Mysteries:
Ukulele Murder (book #1)
Murder on the Aloha Express (book #2)
Deadly Wipeout (book #3)
Deadly Bubbles in the Wine (book #4)
Mele Kalikimaka Murder (book #5)
Death of the Big Kahuna (book #6)
Ukulele Deadly (book #7)
Bikinis Bloodshed (book #8)
Death of the Kona Man (book #9)
Lethal Tide (book #10)
Beachboy Murder (book #11)
Handbags Homicide (book #12)
Tiaras Terror (book #13)
Photo Finished (book #14)
Fatal Break (book #15)


About Aloha Lagoon:
There's trouble in paradise...
Welcome to Aloha Lagoon, one of Hawaii's hidden treasures. A little bit of tropical paradise nestled along the coast of Kauai, this resort town boasts luxurious accommodation, friendly island atmosphere...and only a slightly higher than normal murder rate. While mysterious circumstances may be the norm on our corner of the island, we're certain that our staff and Lagoon natives will make your stay in Aloha Lagoon one you will never forget!   (Summary via Goodreads)



I love any time that I can get out of my head and travel to Aloha Lagoon Resort in Hawaii.  I love that whatever book I pick up in this series is guaranteed to take me away.

Photo Finished by Dane McCaslin and Kimberly Griggs is the fourteenth book in this amazing series and readers cannot help but get lost in the story.  Readers do not have to read these books in order as each book is written by a different author and focuses on different people and places around the Aloha Lagoon Resort on the island.

In Photo Finished you get an amazing murder case to follow and you get a hint of romance......  main character Autumn moved to the island from the Midwest to pursue her dream of surfing and photographing surfers.  And thanks to her friend Jimmy, who is head of security at the Aloha Lagoon Resort she gets a job as a photographer and her first job is to take pictures of a luau.  There is going to be a big surfing competition on the island soon and this luau is going to have professional surfers and sponsors at it.  Unfortunately during the luau one of the surfers ends up dead in his plate of sushi and to make matters worse, while everything is happening, Autumn's camera is stolen.   

It seems that whoever the killer is, they think that Autumn must have taken incriminating pictures of them so they had to steal her camera.  This means that Autumn could be in danger if the killer thinks that she also saw them in the act.  Who better to have your back than the head of security ?  Autumn and Jimmy have been best friends even since she moved to the island and as you read this story you can see that they both want to take their relationship to the next level.  But Autumn can't seem to get her head out of the murder investigation, even with Jimmy and Detective Ray Kahaolani continouously telling her to stay away from it !!  Autumn feels like she needs to figure it out as well as find her camera.  And when someone else asks for her help but ends up dead before she can find out what kinds of help they need, she becomes more determined than ever !!

All of the books in this series will have readers on the edge of their seat wishing they were right there along with whichever main character is in trouble.  And the way that all of the authors create the scene for us is quite captivating ....  I highly recommend reading this series so that you can return to Aloha Lagoon as often as possible.


Review by Missi M.