Books-n-Kisses

With a needle and thread, Harlow Jane Cassidy is capable of magic. Her neighbors in Bliss, Texas, on the other hand, are capable of murder….

Any garment Harlow stitches together has the power to grant the deepest desire of whomever wears it. So when she’s asked to sew aprons for a local women’s group, Harlow must get to know each member. First up is Delta Lee Mobley, who doesn’t care much for Harlow’s family—or anyone else in Bliss, for that matter. Granting Delta’s greatest wish could only lead to trouble….

But trouble finds Delta all the same. The day after Harlow delivers her apron, Delta’s body is discovered in the cemetery. It seems one of the townsfolk harbored ill will toward one of their own. Harlow’s sleuthing skills are a cut above the rest, and with a few magical tricks up her sleeve, she is determined to cuff this killer once and for all.

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About the Author:

Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, is a middle school teacher by day, and a writer by night. She lives lives in an inspiring century old house in North Texas and loves being surrounded by real-life history.  She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.

She is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series, as well as A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series. She also has written two romantic suspense novels, a light paranormal romance, and is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox, a practical marketing guide for authors.

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Jennifer’s Review of A Seamless Murder

Review (4 Stars): What a spellbinding series! Harlow is working on a new project in this mystery where she has been asked to sew aprons for the Red Hat Society dinner party. While she is trying to come up with the perfect design for each apron, the leader of the Red Hat Society is found dead in the local cemetery.  Harlow must now use her sleuthing skills to track down a killer before they decide to add another victim to their list.

A Seamless Murder is the sixth book in the Magical Dressmaking series and I am completely enchanted by this series.  Harlow is a great character that has the wonderful ability to create the perfect designs for people based on her magical abilities.  She gets a vision of what fabrics would look great on a person and then she is able to make that design come to life.  With this mystery, Harlow has the job of sewing several aprons in a short amount of time, when the body of Delta Mobley is found in the cemetery.  Delta’s family hasn’t cared much for the Cassidy clan, so Harlow had hoped that this assignment would make amends between the two families and it is a bit of shock to find that Delta has been killed.

I liked how Ms. Bourbon has the ability to create an intriguing mystery that has the right amount of plot twists and turns that will keep people guessing. For me, Harlow has grown so much as a character and I loved to see how far her relationship with Will has come over the course of the series.  The ending of this book made me very happy and I want to see what happens next with Harlow and Will in the next installment of this series.

Giveaway

Questions readers asked Beverly Allen about the Bridal Bouquet Shop Series

How did you come up with the characters? Are they based loosely on some folks you know?

Perhaps I had a little inspiration. Audrey Bloom’s Grandma Mae is patterned loosely after my own wonderful grandmother. But that’s probably the closest parallel. Much of the character development starts with Audrey. She’s really the girl next door, or at least that’s what I was aiming for. She doesn’t have it all figured out, but she’s getting there. She has a bit of a romantic streak, especially shown in her love of flowers and for the language of flowers, but it’s balanced with an inherent practicality, normal insecurities, and just a tinge of residual angst, so she’s not so idealistic and sentimental that her feet ever leave the ground.

Where the other people come from is a little more complicated. It’s hard to create a person out of thin air. Some characters, like her cousin Liv, have helped Audrey become the person she is. Others might be antagonistic. Just like real life. A few might have been inspired by real people I knew or people I wish I knew, mixing and matching traits and details, kind of like playing Mr. Potato Head with your friends and family.
The cats, however, are definitely patterned after my cats.

Did you always know a lot about flowers? Or did you learn it for the series?

True confession: Because of some pretty severe allergies, flowers were never really my thing. I had a crash course when I first started writing the series. Since part of Audrey’s charm is that she likes to create bouquets based on the language of flowers, I started a Pinterest page to keep track of the meanings. That helped me learn to recognize a number of unfamiliar flower varieties.

A couple of very nice florists allowed me to hang around their shops for a while and answered a lot of my newbie questions, and there’s a lovely lady at my church who used to run her own flower shop. She reads over the novels before I turn them in. She says I made the flower shop pretty realistic, except maybe a little more pleasant than the norm. She’d love to work with Audrey and Liv!

Besides all the online references and books, I also was able to sign up for a floral design course offered by a local florist to get some hands-on practice. Considering the allergies, that was fun. I was wearing gloves, since sap of some flowers will give me welts, and by the time the class was over, my eyes were burning and I could barely see to drive home. It did, however, give me the inspiration for a character, a police chief with intense allergies to flowers. And for some reason (wink), all the murders in Ramble, Virginia, now take place in the presence of lots of flowers.

What is a day in your writing life like? What is your process?

Well, this is a little embarrassing. Let me first say that a couple of years ago, after my daughter vacated her bedroom, I took the opportunity to repurpose the room into a proper office: floor to ceiling bookshelves (jam-packed with mysteries and my writing and reference books), a daybed (perfect for reading), a sleek glass desk, laser printer, and a display board where I can pin up maps or plots or things I want to keep handy. I imagined long hours in my comfy desk chair, typing away.

Well, that room sits unused, for the most part. Because here’s what really happens:

I wake up half comatose and use the wall to guide myself down the stairs and to the Keurig. I watch a few minutes of the morning news and check email and Facebook. Generally, there’s something waiting on my DVR, so I catch up on that while the caffeine is kicking in. After breakfast and a little more procrastination, I’ll sink into an overstuffed leather chair in my family room, put my feet up, and get to pounding the keys of my laptop.

I tend to plot ahead of time, but my characters don’t always obey my outlines. I write in segments, and I aim for about 500 words in a segment. On busy days, or when I’m struggling with a section, I might only get 500 words in. Most days, however, I try for at least 1,000. But when the words are coming easily and quickly, or if a deadline is looming, I try to capitalize on this by adding segments. I think my record high was about 7,000.

In between segments are usually breaks for coffee, food, maybe a little housework, sometimes a mental break with a game or a program on television. (I’m watching through the Gilmore Girls at the moment.)

For those interested in the details, I generally do not have music on while I write, but when I do, it tends to be instrumental because lyrics distract me. My beverages of choice are decaf coffee, sweetened and with chocolate soymilk, and water with a splash of cranberry juice. And I’m definitely a pajama writer. Only after I’ve finished my writing for the day will I shower and dress. Personally, I think that is one of the biggest perks of the writing life.

About the Author:

Barbara Early (A.K.A. Beverly Allen) grew up buried in the snowy suburbs of Buffalo, NY, where she developed a love for all things sedentary: reading, writing, classic movies, and Facebook Scrabble. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, but her penchant for the creative caused her to run away screaming from the pocket-protector set.

She taught secondary English and science for several years before home schooling her daughter successfully through high school. Barbara cooks up cozy mysteries with a healthy dose of comedy and sometimes a splash of romance.

When not reading or writing, she enjoys cooking, crafts, home-improvement projects, and spending time with her husband and daughter.

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Florist Audrey Bloom, co-owner of the Rose in Bloom, creates fragrant bouquets for brides. But when a wedding goes fatally wrong, it’s up to Audrey to sniff out a killer . . .

Everything is coming up roses for Audrey when her dazzling creations are picked to be featured on a wedding reality show. The hot series is filming an episode about a bride who’s bonkers for bells, and Audrey’s bouquets of campanulas, calla lilies, and Bells-of-Ireland are perfect for the bridal theme.

But Audrey’s debut quickly becomes a hothouse of trouble. Her ex, Brad, shows up as a crew member on the show, threatening her blossoming relationship with Nick the baker. To make matters worse, when one of the show’s hosts is found dead in the bell tower of a historic church, all the evidence points toward Brad.

Now Audrey needs to weed out the real killer before someone else’s chance at stardom is permanently nipped in the bud . . .

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Jennifer’s Review of For Whom The Bluebell Tolls

Review (4.5 Stars): Audrey Bloom has the amazing ability to create beautiful bouquets while understanding the meaning of each flower that will be the perfect addition to the bridal theme. Audrey soon discovers that her shop is chosen to appear on the reality show, Fix My Wedding and Audrey is excited to be a part of her favorite television guilty pleasure.  But when one of the hosts is found dead and her ex-boyfriend is blamed for the murder, she must find a killer before her screen debut is permanently cancelled.

This is the second book in the Bridal Bouquet Shop mystery series and I was captivated by the characters in this well-written cozy mystery. I loved the reality show aspect in this mystery because it made the story exciting and fun and kept things moving right along.  The mystery itself had several plot twists and turns, which made For Whom The Bluebell Tolls a delightful addition to this enchanting series.  Looking forward to reading more about Audrey Bloom and her dazzling flower shop in the future.

Giveaway

I’m excited to give away a copy of For Whom The Bluebell Tolls. This giveaway is for US Residents only.  To be entered in the drawing by January 21st, please leave me a comment below:

Sisters Lucinda and Ricarda Ricardo—better known as Lucy and Rikki—are at each other’s throats over the family business, Roble Foods. Lucy wants to sell and Rikki is against it. Rikki asks medium Emma Whitcastle to contact their deceased father, Felix, to help her convince Lucy not to sell, but the ghost of Felix Ricardo has his own bombshell to drop. Now it’s up to Emma and the ghost of Granny Apples to chip away at the mystery and stop a killer from double dipping in death.

Amazon/B&N

About the Author:

Sue Ann Jaffarian is the author of the popular Odelia Grey mystery series, the Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series and the Madison Rose vampire mysteries, as well as short stories.

Like the character Odelia Grey, Sue Ann Jaffarian is a middle-aged, plus-sized paralegal. She lives in Los Angeles with her two cats, B and Raffi.

In addition to writing, Sue Ann is sought after as a motivational/ humorous speaker. You can visit her on the web at www.sueannjaffarian.blogspot.com.

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Jennifer’s Review of Ghost in the Guacamole

Review (5 Stars): Emma Whitecastle is asked to consult on a new case involving two sisters that are at odds with each other about selling a family restaurant business.  Emma has been asked to contact their deceased father and seek his advice on keeping the business while another wants to sell it to the highest bidder.  What Emma finds out is that their deceased father wants them to sell and his untimely death wasn’t an accident but murder.  Now Emma and her ghostly sidekick, Granny Apples, must find a killer quickly before they make murder a family affair.

This is the fifth book in the Ghost of Granny Apples mystery series and I have to say this one is a winner.  I was immediately sucked into the story and didn’t look up until I was almost done with the book.  Emma is a fun, likable character and Granny Apples always seems to steal the spotlight with her sharp wit and entertaining dialogue.  The mystery was complex and engaging and I think that Ghost in the Guacamole is one of my favorite mysteries so far this year.  Can’t wait to read more adventures of Emma and Granny Apples because I know that it will be a fun, entertaining thrill-ride.

Giveaway