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Sisters Cooking Up Competition: A Catered Bake-Off and The Chicken Sisters

25 Jun

A Catered Bake-Off
by Isis Crawford
A Catered Bake-Off is the latest in Isis Crawford’s long running cozy Mystery with Recipes series. I had read a few in the series in the past and enjoyed them so was curious to give this one a peak since I’m a fan of The Great British Baking Show something that the New York based competition in the story took inspiration from. The Simmons sisters Bernie and Libby run a catering company A Little Taste of Heaven and are excited to participate in the baking competition, but from the start of the first run through in preparations for filming, disasters abound; some like a herd of goats in the tent are funny, but when a judge receives life-threatening injuries from an espresso machine, it becomes much more serious. A creepy anonymous prologue which sets the suspenseful tone for the story, lets the reader in on the fact that these aren’t just horrible accidents. The sisters must solve the mystery before the killer comes for them. The story weaves in some contemporary issues like the real estate crisis which keep it feeling current. It was easy also to jump in to the drama even not having read all of the other novels that came before this one since the novel largely focused on a group of new characters rather than a huge cast of reoccurring ones. The author adds a personal element by including 3 recipes from family and friends at the end of the story. Fans of cozy mysteries like Donna Andrews’s Meg Langslow Mysteries should enjoy this tasty treat.

The Chicken Sisters part of Hoopla’s Hallmark+ BingePass
The Chicken Sisters reminded me of the Gilmore Girls if the family/community dramedy were located in the South rather than in New England its fun quips, but at a slower pace with a southern drawl. The story is about two beloved fried chicken restaurants feuding over a generations old grudge, which was only increased by a Romeo/Juliet romance between two of the younger generations. The TV series is based on the book by K. J. Dell’Antonia. Wendy Malick and Lea Thompson are the stars at the two matriarchs, but the younger generations of children and grandchildren are also charming. When the TV show Kitchen Clash comes to their town it heats up the competition between the two restaurants and forces them to deal with the family drama that has been simmering for so long. It is definitely good that this addictive drama is part of the Hallmark+ BingePass. You can watch as much of the show and other Hallmark Chanel series and movies as you have time for over a 7 day period using just one of your Hoopla checkouts. I also recommend streaming the mystery movie series Curious Cater (based on the books by Diane Mott Davidson) , Murder, She Baked/Hannah Swenson Mysteries (based on the books by Joanne Fluke), and the Aurora Teagarden Mysteries (based on the books by Charlaine Harris).

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

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Valentine’s Day Picks: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales and Dead Until Dark

12 Feb

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, here are two romantasies, one a classic and another brand new that I recommend checking out.

Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales
by Heather Fawcett
Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales is the third and supposedly final in Heather Fawcett’s series about a scholar studying fairies who becomes mixed up in their magic. The books are written as if fairies are a real scholarly subject and Emily is studying them as one would another culture; footnotes to various fairy stories are even included throughout to add to the seeming reality of the stories. However, fairies can be capricious and dangerous. In this novel Emily has the possibility of becoming the queen of a fairy realm if she marries its heir. She has some hesitation though that despite Wendell’s devotion that fairies have been known to tire of their mortal loves. The couple must also overcome a curse put upon the land by Wendell’s half fairy/half human step mother. Fawcett does a great job at creating a strange world that is both beautiful and yet spooky at the same time such as trees that have leaves with eyes and kind brownies with needles for fingers. Beauty can be monstrous and monsters can be kind in the story which also speaks to being aware of ones expectations and prejudices. You can also read my two previous reviews of Fawcett’s books. We are reading the first in the series for this month’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club, if you would like to join us on February 24 at 6 PM at the Main Branch.

Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
It had been awhile since I had read the first in the Sookie Stackhouse series or watched the HBO show True Blood that it was based upon so I enjoyed rereading it along with the Science Fiction and Fantasy book club last October. This series starts with vampires being revealed to be real after Japanese scientist find a blood alternative that they can survive on. Slowly over the course of the series other supernatural creatures including weretigers, shifters, and fairies also are revealed. We know from the beginning that Sookie is special with her ability to read human’s minds and her irresistible scent when it comes to vampires. Much like with the fairies, vampires are both alluring and yet highly dangerous to people. Sookie struggles in this story to decide if Bill’s charm and the sense of peace she gets from not constantly having his thoughts enter her mind is enough to overlook the more deadly side. Craving more?; you can also read the review of the last book in the series, Dead Ever After, that I had written when it came out as well as a review of the True Blood Cookbook.

Love is in the air! According to the National Retail Federation’s survey those celebrating Valentine’s Day are up from last year with over half those in the US celebrating. Need to get statistics? Access Statista.com while in the library to get statistics and graphs on a variety of topics.

Share your favorite Valentine’s Day Read in our Comments!

Written by:
Aimee Harris
Information and Digital Services Manager

Tags: ,

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