Lemon Pies and Little White Lies by Ellery Adams

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Lemon Pies and Little White Lies by Ellery Adams
Published April 7, 2015; Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery

First paragraph:Ella Mae pressed chocolate cookie crumbs into the bottom of a springform pan with deft, quick motions. She then moved to her commercial stovetop and gave the marshmallow creme simmering in the sauce pan a gentle stir. Satisfied, she turned the burner off and set the saucepan in a stainless steel bowl filled with ice. When the marshmallow creme was sufficiently cooled, Ella Mae reached for the liqueur bottles on the worktable and poured small amounts of creme de menthe and white creme do cacao into the fluffy mixture...

Book description:
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.

My comments: A lovely cozy for those who like the magical and supernatural in their mysteries. Ella Mae can mix enchantment into her pies, and that doesn't mean just taste. And you can also pinch her for her luck or magic to rub off on you.

I like my stories more realistic but I know a lot of readers are spellbound and delighted with this theme. This is the fourth in the Charmed Pie series.

A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher. 

Sunday Salon: Books Bought, Not Borrowed

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 A Daily Rhythm for Blue Mondays Musings.

I couldn't wait for a library copy of The Goldfinch, A Spool of Blue Thread, and The Girl on the Train so I went out and bought and read them right away in the last couple of months. I was not disappointed. My most recent purchase is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doers; the waiting list at the library was well over 100! These days I want to read not just for a good plot but for good or excellent writing! 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doers
Published May 6, 2014; Scribner

From the publishers came a few intriguing books:

and an ARC described as a "sexy international scandal" of a book:

New May cozies include

I just love the cover of this one, don't you? 

What's new on your bookshelf this week? 

Book Review: Grave on Grand Avenue by Naomi Hirahara

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

Grave on Grand Avenue: An Officer Ellie Rush Mystery by Naomi Hirahara
Published April 7, 2015; Berkley

Book beginning: 

The Green Mile is gone. Not everyone will be bummed about it. After all, it's a green boat-sized 1960 Buick Skylark, no air bags and only twelve miles to a gallon. My best friend, Nay Pram, call it sick, but not the good kind of sick. She means puke, or at least its color. But I'm devastated. There is something about that car I love. The Green Mile makes a statement. A statement that I'm not your average LA girl. Or your average cop. 

 page 56:

Cece is speaking loudly in what sounds like Chinese to someone obscured by a parking column. I must have been spotted, because she immediately lowers her voice.

Ellie Rush, an LAPD bicycle cop, has a lot to handle all at once. She discovers a friendly gardener has been pushed down stairs to his death near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. She tries to discover what the father of a famous Chinese cellist has to do, if anything, with this death. At the same time, she is regretting the theft of her favorite though old green car, the Green Mile, and the appearance of a Portuguese man who looks like a derelict but claims to be her long lost grandfather.

On both the professional and family fronts, we follow Ellie trying to piece and hold things together at the same time. I enjoyed learning about the various ethnic peoples and neighborhoods in Los Angeles and their interactions with each other. This series does a good job of putting you right into the center of things.

There are two story lines at the same time but this only helps to add interest to the book as a whole. An enjoyable read for those who know and those who are curious about the inner city of LA! Ellis Rush, the main character, is a bit of a hothead and reacts strongly to situations at times, but that makes her even more of a realistic and likable character.

Objective rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.

Book Review/Tour: BITTERSWEET by Susan Wittig Albert

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

Bittersweet: China Bayles #23 by Susan Wittig Albert
Published April 7, 2015; Berkley
Genre: mystery

First paragraph:

Prologue
The blue and white Cessna 172 dropped out of the gray November sky. The pilot banked sharply, slowing to eighty knots, then turned on the carburetor heat and powered back to 1500 rpm. When he made the field, he extended another ten degrees of flaps, dropped his airspeed to seventy, and corrected for the crosswind that blew off the cliff to the west. He powered back, leveled off, and touched down at the end of the grassy north-south strip  The landing was bumpy but no rougher than usual...

Book description:
It’s Thanksgiving in Pecan Springs, and China Bayles is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother’s husband, Sam, who are turning their former game ranch into a vacation retreat for birders. But Leatha calls with bad news: Sam has had a heart attack.

How will Leatha manage if Sam can’t carry his share? She does have a helper, Sue Ellen Krause. But China discovers that Sue Ellen, who is in the process of leaving her marriage to the assistant foreman at a large trophy game ranch, is in some serious trouble. Before Sue Ellen can tell her full story, her car veers off a deserted road and she is killed.

Meanwhile, when a local veterinarian is shot, China's friend Mack Chambers believes his murder could be related to fawns stolen from a nearby ranch. China wonders if Sue Ellen’s death may not have been an accident, and if there’s a connection to the stolen animals. But their search for the truth may put their own lives in danger…

My comments and recommendations: 
The only part of Texas I have ever visited is Brownsville on the border with Mexico, so it was very interesting to read more about that state in this novel, Bittersweet. The birding is glorious, but also interesting are other events, such as the craze for game hunting on special ranches that import and breed deer for this sport.

More than invasive species of plants is at stake here. Deer and fawn are being imported from other states, which is illegal. A fascinating story and an equally fascinating mystery that is tied in to game hunting in Texas. I assume that this importing and breeding of deer is factual and incorporated into the mystery. A great read on many levels.

Objective rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this book.

First Chapter: AN UNCOMPLICATED LIFE by Paul Daugherty

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesdays meme hosted by Jenn.

An Uncomplicated Life: A Father's Memoir of His Exceptional Daughter by Paul Daugherty
Published March 17, 2015; William Morrow

First paragraph:

INTRODUCTION 

"I wide bike."

This is a story about a dream and a child and the progress of each. It starts on our driveway in early spring. Jillian Daugherty straddles a comically tiny two-wheeler that, against considerable odds and long-held perceptions, she intends to ride. She is 12 years old and prone to doing what all kids do. She's going to try to ride it. 

Book description:
A father's exhilarating and funny love letter to his daughter with Down syndrome whose vibrant and infectious approach to life has something to teach all of us about how we can better live our own.

Would you continue reading based on the opening paragraph and the book description?

Mailbox Monday: Mixed Genres

Visit Mailbox Monday to see what books bloggers are featuring.

Thanks to the publishers for the following books and ARCs for review: 

Murder on Amsterdam Avenue by Victoria Thompson; publication May 5, 2015

Second Chance Friends by Jennifer Scott; publication May 5, 2015

An Uncomplicated Life by Paul Daugherty; publication March 17, 2015

When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi; publication July 21, 2015

In the Dark Places by Peter Robinson; publication August 11, 2015

Losing Faith by Adam Mitzner; publication April 14, 2015

Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper; publication May 19, 2015

Circling the Sun by Paula McLain; publication July 28, 2015

What's new in your mailbox?

Currently reading:

Rock With Wings by Anne Hillerman, publication date May 5, 2015; Harper

Easter Sunday!

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

photo by Harvee Lau

I'm reposting a photo from last year, April 20, 2014, the day on which Easter Sunday fell.
By that time, the daffodils had sprung up and shown their yellow heads.
This year, April 5, they are still hibernating.

The cottontail rabbits have been running around the lawns, however, the only sign of spring apart from my valiant purple crocus.

Happy Easter! Enjoy spring colors wherever you are!
If you celebrate Passover, happy celebrations as well!