Death of a Cupcake Queen-Lee Hollis

 

As the food and cocktails columnist for the Island Times, Hayley Powell attends a lot of events—but this one will be murder…

On the eve of her high school reunion, Hayley dreads seeing the trio of mean girls who used to torment her: Sabrina Merryweather, Nykki Temple, and former prom queen Ivy Foster. These days Ivy wears a different crown as the cupcake queen—and flaunting her success is just the icing on the cake.

But maybe the prom queen should have been voted Most Likely to Die. At the reunion, Ivy is found murdered, cupcakes scattered around her. Is a killer out to teach the mean girls a lesson? As Hayley tries to get the scoop, she’ll have to be careful…or someone may be writing this columnist’s obituary next.

I cannot get enough of this series. I just fly through each book. The characters are warm and funny and there is always a great mystery. I can't wait for more. 

Killer Run-Lynn Cahoon

 

Jill Gardner—owner of Coffee, Books, and More—has somehow been talked into sponsoring a 5k race along the beautiful California coast. The race is a fundraiser for the local preservation society—but not everyone is feeling so charitable…

The day of the race, everyone hits the ground running…until a local business owner stumbles over a very stationary body. The deceased is the vicious wife of the husband-and-wife team hired to promote the event—and the husband turns to Jill for help in clearing his name. But did he do it? Jill will have to be very careful, because this killer is ready to put her out of the running…forever!

I love this series. The mystery is always good and the characters are always fun.  

Owls: Our Most Enchanting Bird-Matt Sewell

 

In this beautiful follow-up to Our Garden Birds, Our Songbirds and Our Woodland Birds, street artist Matt Sewell captures the world’s most evocative bird: the owl. In his much-loved pop-art watercolours and accompanied with his whimsical descriptions, Matt Sewell expresses the individual characters of owls as never before.

This was a lovely book. The illustrations were fantastic. I am a huge lover of Owls and this satisfied my love immensely. 

Energy Healing for Women-Keith Sherwood and Sabine Wittman

 

Energy Healing for Women is all about healing and empowerment practices for women. Restoring the feminine spirit through knowledge of female energy and power, with practices that focus on karmic release, subtle energy/chakra healing prescriptions, mudras, meditations, breathework, affirmation use, and even healthy eating tips. Includes story examples, history, theory, and exercises.

-Empower yourself and to express your feminine energy freely.-Increase your self confidence by loving your unloved body parts-Use your functions of mind to overcome restrictive beliefs-Overcome negative archetypes of women that demean you and replace them with life affirming archetypes. -Enhance both your physical and inner beauty. -Enhance your intuition, creativity and sensuality. -Make the transition from a traditional relationship to a transcendent relationship -Share what you've learned with the your family and circle of friends.

I loved this book. It gave me so many ideas on what to do to help myself that I don't know where to begin. I cannot wait to incorporate a lot of these practices into my daily life. 

Yoga Nidra for Complete Relaxation and Stress Relief-Julie T. Lusk

 

Chronic stress is a silent assassin that can lead to a number of health and mental health issues, such as anxiety, weight gain, diabetes, and heart disease. In this book, holistic health expert Julie Lusk offers readers a powerful Yoga Nidra program to stop stress in its tracks.

If you feel stressed out, you aren’t alone. Stress is a modern-day epidemic, and if you don’t make healthy changes to keep it under control, you could end up with a weakened immune system or a number of health and mental health issues. This book offers the solution: Yoga Nidra—a practice based on a lucid, sleep-like state of relaxation—focuses specifically on alleviating both the mental and physical manifestations of stress, so you can live a better life.

Packed with meditations, relaxation skills, and visualization techniques, the ancient practices in this book will help you relax, reflect, and revitalize for unshakable peace and joy.

This is a good book for beginners and yogis alike. There is a lot of great information on how to relieve stress through yoga.  

Lemon Pies and Little White Lies-Ellery Adams

 

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Books by the Bay series and the Book Retreat mysteries--Includes pie recipes!

After Pecan Pies and Homicides comes another tangy slice of life—and death—in a charmed, and charming, small town...
 
Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe has become a phenomenon beyond her wildest dreams, providing the enchanted town of Havenwood, Georgia, with spellbinding desserts and magical pies. Her personal life is also heating up as she takes on the responsibilities of leadership within her magical community. In fact, the only thing weighing her down is the fact that handsome Hugh Dylan won’t return her calls…

Still, when Havenwood is rocked by a series of mysterious deaths, Ella Mae must put romantic longings aside—especially when she realizes that the mystical symbols left at each crime scene are dangerously personal. Now she will have to whip up all her supernatural skills to uncover a killer out to settle an ancient score—before the murderer devastates everything Ella Mae is determined to protect.

This is another great addition to this series. They just keep getting better and better. 

The Art of Sinning-Sabrina Jeffries

 

American artist Jeremy Keane refuses to return home and take over his father’s business. He’d much rather sample bevvies of beauties abroad, in search of a model for the provocative masterpiece he’s driven to paint. When he meets Lady Yvette Barlow at a London wedding, he realizes she’s perfect for his work—and determines to capture the young heiress’s defiant spirit and breathtaking sensuality on canvas.

No stranger to scandal, Yvette agrees to be Keane’s subject—in exchange for his help gaining entry to the city’s brothels he knows intimately, so she can track a missing woman and solve a family mystery. But when their practical partnership leads to lessons in the art of sinning, can they find a bold and lasting love?

Sabrina Jeffries does it again. She is a master in writing historical romance. Everything was great about this book, the setting, the characters, and the story. I can't wait to see what Sinful Suitor will be next.  

The Dead Assassin:The Paranormal Casebooks of Sir Authur Conan Doyle-Vaughn Entwistle

 

1895. Victorian England trembles on the verge of hysteria in Vaughn Entwistle's The Dead Assassin. Terrorist bombs are detonating around the Capitol and every foreigner is suspected of being an Anarchist lurking beneath a cape.

Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle is summoned to the scene of a gruesome crime that has baffled and outraged Scotland Yard's best. A senior member of Her Majesty's government has been brutally murdered, and the body of his attacker lies close by-riddled with bullets. More perplexing, one of the attending detectives recognizes the dead assassin as Charlie Higginbotham, a local Cockney pickpocket and petty thief. Higginbotham is not just an improbable suspect, but an impossible suspect, for the young detective watched him take the drop two weeks previously, hanged at Newgate Prison.

Conan Doyle calls in his friend Oscar Wilde for assistance and soon the two authors find themselves swept up in an investigation so bizarre it defies conventional wisdom and puts the lives of their loved ones, the Nation, and even the Monarch herself in dire peril. The murders continue, committed by a shadowy cadre of seemingly unstoppable assassins. As the sinister plot unravels, an implausible theory becomes the only possible solution: someone is reanimating the corpses of executed criminals and sending them shambling through the London fog… and programmed for murder.

I flew through this book. It was fantastic. I haven't read the first in this series, but will be getting it. What a great read.  

Punky Brewster #1-Joelle Sellner, Lesley Vamos

 

The beloved TV series returns in this heartwarming, lushly illustrated story of a brand-new family made from persistence, pluck, and Punky Power!

Punky Brewster, a bright eight-year-old girl, has been abandoned and is getting by on the streets of Chicago. Punky thinks she doesn't need help - except from her puppy sidekick, Brandon - but after getting picked up by the police she enters a foster home and starts to search for a family. Punky meets Henry, a long-lost relative, and decides he's the adoptive dad for her. All she has to do is convince the foster home, adoption judges and lawyers, and possibly Henry, himself! Luckily, she's got an unbeatable resource - her limitless reserve of Punky Power!

I really liked this book. I was worried because I had been a fan of the show that I wouldn't like it. But that wasn't the case. The book was quite good and has a great message for children of all ages. 

Sound Healing For Beginners:Using Vibration to Harmonize Your Health & Wellness-Joshua Goldman, Alec W. Sims

 

An introduction to the field of sound healing, written with beginners in mind. Solid fundamentals are the key to true mastery in any discipline. This approach makes the work accessible to both newcomers to the field and practitioners with more experience.

Sound Healing for Beginners includes practical exercises, techniques for using sound and vocal toning for individualized energetic balancing, and techniques for personal enhancement and manifestation.

I found this to be a very interesting read. I can't wait to try out some of the techniques for myself.  

Strolling Through Rome: The Definitive Walking Guide to the Eternal City-Mario Erasmo

 

How can one visit the monuments and sites of Rome and not feel overwhelmed? Strolling Through Rome guides visitors, first-time or returning, through the streets, museums, piazze, and parks of the Eternal City. A guidebook that acts as a companion rather than an obtrusive guide, Erasmo's walking tours are literal strolls through history and often retrace the exact steps taken by ancient Romans, early Christians, Medieval Pilgrims, Renaissance Artists and Architects, and Northern Europeans on the Grand Tour.
 
Visitors and readers will be given a cultural history of Rome that contextualizes the history, art, and architecture of various periods of the City within a single book. This informative and lively book incorporates the latest archaeological and architectural research and is essential for anyone intending to explore the extraordinary sights and fascinating secrets of one of Europe's most beguiling cities.

This is, truly, the perfect guide for Rome. Having been several times, it is quite clear that the Author knows Rome and it's grand history.