The Calamity Cafe by Gayle Leeson - #review #giveaway

Aspiring chef and small-town Virginia native Amy Flowers is ready to open her own café offering old-fashioned Southern food. But her dream may go up in smoke when someone kills the competition…

Tired of waiting tables at Lou’s Joint, Amy Flowers doesn’t just quit—she offers to buy the place from her bully of a boss, so she can finally open the café of her dreams. Amy can’t wait to serve the kind of Southern, down-home treats and dishes that her grandmother always loved to the kooky cast of regulars at the restaurant. She knows her comfort food will be the talk of the sweet, small town of Winter Garden, Virginia.

At first Lou Lou refuses to sell, but when she seems ready to make a deal, she tells Amy to come see her.  Showing up at the eatery ready to negotiate, Amy is shocked to find her former employer murdered. As the prime suspect, Amy will have to clear her name by serving up the real killer—and with Lou Lou’s stack of enemies, that’s a tall order.

#bookreview Killer Wedding Cake by Gayle Trent

Daphne Martin’s wedding to Ben Jacobs is only a couple of weeks away. An award-winning cake decorator, Daphne is busy designing their wedding cake. Her twin nephew and niece, Lucas and Leslie, are excited about being in the wedding party. And Daphne’s brother-in-law Jason is planning a bachelor party for Ben. Everything is going beautifully until Daphne’s ex-husband Todd shows up. Just released from prison after serving a sentence based on his shooting a gun at Daphne, Todd comes to Brea Ridge to profess his undying love for her.

Despite Daphne’s attempts to make Todd leave town, he insists on hanging around to reconnect with people he used to know. When he’s found murdered, Daphne finds herself at the center of the investigation. Now she must track down Todd’s killer before she becomes the next victim. Can she still make it to the church on time?

Book Review/Giveaway: Wicked Stitch by Amanda Lee

When murder strikes the small town of Tallulah Falls, embroidery shop owner Marcy Singer isn’t afraid of getting into the knitty-gritty to clear her own name…

For most small-business owners in Tallulah Falls, the upcoming Renaissance Faire is a wonderful way to promote their specialty shops. For Marcy’s nemesis, Nellie, and her sister Clara, it’s an opportunity to finally put Marcy and her shop, the Seven-Year Stitch, out of business. Apparently the sisters like to keep their grudges all in the family and have set up a competing booth right next to Marcy’s at the Faire.

When Clara is discovered dead in her own booth—strangled by the scarf she had almost finished knitting—Marcy becomes the prime suspect. Now she has to do whatever it takes to keep her reputation from unraveling and get to the bottom of a most deadly yarn…

Teaser/First Chapter Tuesdays - Thread End

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

p. 215

"You weren't ready for your mother and me to meet when she came into the shop the other day."

"You sound like we're going to a war zone rather than out to dinner."

~~~oOo~~~

Every Tuesday, Bibliophile by the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where she shares the first paragraph or (a few) of a book she is reading or thinking about reading soon. Care to join us?

My selection for today is from the above book, "Thread End":

It was almost lunchtime on Friday, and I was pacing.  The museum exhibit I'd been anticipating for two months was finally opening that evening!  My boyfriend, Ted; my friend Rajani "Reggie" Singh; her husband, Manu; and I were all going together.  The guys weren't overly excited about the Padgett Collection textile exhibit, but they knew we were - and they were great guys, so they were taking us.  Reggie was library director for Tallulah Falls's one and only library, Manu was chief of police and Ted was his head detective.  I almost felt that we should be VIP guests, given the extra security Reggie and I would be bringing along.

Angus, my Irish wolfhound, could sense my excitement, and he paced with me.  I perched momentarily on one of the red club chairs that helped make up my embroidery shop's sit and stitch square, and he sat and placed his head on my lap.

"It's all right," I said soothingly as I scratched his head.  "I'm just excited about tonight.  Reggie will be here to see you soon.  Yes, she will!  She's bringing lunch!"

Another book in this series, "Thread on Arrival" was one of the first books I read when I discovered reading for myself again, and reading challenges.  It is also one of the first cozies to land on my shelf.

Come back next Monday for my review of "Thread End".