Showing posts with label Blood Orange. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blood Orange. Show all posts

Apr 5, 2016

Book Review: Blood Orange by Susan Wittig Albert

Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph every Tuesday. Share the first paragraph(s) of your current read or book interest, with information for readers
Blood Orange by Susan Wittig Albert, published April 5, 2016 by Berklely
In the newest China Bayles Mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, China comes to the aid of a nurse who ends up in the hospital... (publisher)

First chapter, first paragraph
Today's commercial beers are almost exclusively brewed with hops, the female flowers of the hop plant (Humulus Iupulus).The result is a uniform, easily controlled flavor... 
Every chapter in this novel, in fact in all of the China Bayles mysteries if I remember correctly, begins with a brief treatise or description of plants and plants in the garden or used for food or drink. And all of the books include recipes, an added bonus.
First paragraph of the novel itself:
"Excuse me." I put down my teacup. I don't think I heard that right, Ruby. "I thought you said that Ramona has bought a brewery."
"That's exactly what I said," Ruby sank into the chair opposite mine at her kitchen table and ran her fingers through her frizzy red hair.... 
China tries to find the person who forced a hospice nurse, Kelley, off the road in a car accident, critically injuring her. Things slowly come to light that someone wants to keep his/her other crimes a secret, and the mystery plot gets on the way......
What I like most about the series is the setting - the Hill Country in south Texas, which the author describes in such excellent detail, as well as the interesting main characters, and the detailed information on plants in every book. Not to mention delicious and unusual recipes.

Here are the ingredients for my favorite recipe in Blood Orange, one I am bound to try:


Blood Orange Liqueur
4 blood oranges
1 lemon
Fresh ginger, about 2" long, peeled and sliced
2 cups vodka
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

In brief, add the ginger and vodka to the de-pitted oranges and orange and lemon peel in a quart jar. Add the simple water and sugar syrup and store the jar in a cool, dark place for at least a month. (The complete detailed recipe is on pages 308-309 of the book). 

It sounds absolutely delicious to me! 
Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book for their book tour of Blood Orange. 

Mar 6, 2016

Sunday Salon: More Mystery Novels

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer.
Also visit Mailbox Monday, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

We hope to see the last of the snow today as it will be near 70!!! one day in the middle of next week. We are on a see-saw of temperatures, and that one day will stand out like a promise of not even spring, but summer! 

Lots to prepare for this summer, including visitors from afar that I can't wait to see.  Big smiles!

My mailbox was full with two mystery novels and a bunch of welcome cozies.

Blood Orange 
by Susan Wittig Albert, China Bayles Mystery #24 to be released April 2016 by Berkley.

In the newest China Bayles Mystery in the New York Times bestselling series, China comes to the aid of a nurse who ends up in the hospital...
Murder She Wrote: Design for Murder, the 45th in the series written by 
Such a popular series, it's the 45th book,  based on the television mystery series.

 Reading Up a Storm 
by Eva Gates, to be released April 5, 2016.

The bestselling author of Booked for Trouble returns with the third Lighthouse Library mystery set in the most literary lighthouse in North Carolina’s Outer Banks
A Clue in the Stew
by Connie Archer, to be released April 5, 2016 
Soup Lover Mystery #5, Soup shop owner Lucky Jamieson stirs up more trouble in the latest mystery from the national bestselling author of Ladle to the Grave...

What's your cozy read this week?

Just finished reading:
Lone Star by Paullina Simons.  I enjoyed this coming of age story and romance set in Eastern Europe and Italy. 

Goodreads describes the book  as "the unforgettable love story between a college-bound young woman and a traveling troubadour on his way to war—a moving, compelling novel of love lost and found set against the stunning backdrop of Eastern Europe."


Sunday Salon: Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson

  Books reviewed Letting Go of September by Sandra J. Jackson, July 31, 2024; BooksGoSocial Genre: thriller , family drama Themes: reflectiv...