Glazed Murder

I was looking around for a cozy mystery when I stumbled upon Jessica Beck's Donut Shop Mystery Series.

I like Donuts.  Quite partial to mysteries, while eating a donut.  So why not?  And come on. The titles of these books are adorable.  "Evil Eclairs"  "Powdered Peril"
I'm a sucker for simple cuteness. 

I started with "Glazed Murder".  Like many other cozy mysteries, this series had the whole package.

• Desirable setting (donut shop in a cozy small town)
• Strong independent main character that takes up solving crimes
• Crazy murder mystery with police that want an open & shut case
• A quirky best friend
• An inevitable love interest
• Bonus points for providing recipes when it comes to foodie cozy mysteries!

Suzanne Hart opens her own donut shop, Donut Hearts, after divorcing her no good husband Max.  She takes on the changes brought on by her divorce in stride, focusing all of her time and efforts into her donut shop. Plus donuts are a great coping tool. 

One early morning, while preparing donuts for the day, a body is quickly dumped in front of Donut Hearts.  Thus begins the mystery.  Now a suspect as well as a possible future victim, Suzanne begins questioning motives and alibis of the citizens in the small town. 

This book was meant to be an enjoyable read, and so it was.  As much as I thought I wanted a cozy mystery, it just didn't grab me.  But it makes for a quick easy read!  I dove into the second one right after but my brain just wasn't into the cozy anymore.  There were a few chuckles in there and a bit of romance.  The characters weren't very relatable overall.  I kept feeling like I wanted to know more about Suzanne, her friend, the detective, the town.  The interaction between Suzanne and her ex-husband Max were a bit annoying as well.  She loves him, but he hurt her, but he's handsome, but he's lazy.... 

If you're looking for a quick cozy read though, this series will probably work for you.

Goodreads link: Glazed Murder

Link to entire series: Donut Shop Mysteries 

Behind Her Eyes

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough was hyped up to have a sensational ending.  Dubbed as a WTF-That-Ending read.

Single mom Louise is out at a bar one night when she meets the very handsome David.  They click instantly and share a kiss at the end of the night which results in a hasty retreat from David.  Suspicious activity.  Next day, Louise shows up to work to find that not only is handsome David her new boss, but he is also married to the very beautiful Adele.  Wine please.

Louise and Adele bump into each other shortly after (coincidence?) and quickly become close friends.  Louise begins to see David through Adele's eyes which makes him look somewhat controlling and unloving.  Despite this, Louise and David manage to enter into a torrid affair.  Louise's guilt keeps building, but she keeps pursuing both relationships with David and Adele.  Adele has plans for Louise though.  Keep your friends close and enemies closer..

This is one heck of a genre jumping book.  Labeled as a mystery at my library, this book also dabbles in a bit of fantasy or maybe sci-fi? Even though there was so much hype about the twist ending, I was unfortunately not impressed.  I wanted to be!  I really did!  And the book kept me hooked to every sentence.  But by mid-way I already had my predictions about what all of the "mysterious planning" was for.  The author gave away those hints pretty clearly.  And maybe this was to cover up the major twist at the end, but really there wasn't enough given away to even take a stab at what that twist might be.  I wasn't all that surprised either when all was revealed.  -> Yes I know. Stop being such a snobby critic..<-

Goodreads link: Behind Her Eyes

Hex

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

A creepy read.  Take a witch, a cursed town, rowdy teens, and ancient laws.  A complete mess!

Hex starts off almost comical.  The town's witch, Katherine van Wyler, walks around town and goes into homes.  People of the town adjust to her presence by ignoring her or throwing a towel or sheet over her face.  See, Katherine has sewn shut eyes along with a sewn shut mouth.  She's the picture of death all wrapped up in chains.

Reasonably, the teens of this town start to look towards their future, just to find that it is undeniably bleak.  The curse of living in Black Spring is that those who have been born in Black Spring can never leave, and those who move to and settle in Black Spring suffer the same fate.  Tyler, a teen boy living in Black Spring decides that a possible resolution to this problem would be to bring the witch and her curse all out into the open.  But the town keeps Katherine van Wyler and it's curse as a closely guarded secret, and their are dire consequences if this secret is leaked.

What would you do if your humanity was questioned?  Hex makes you question the 'good' in people, and how far a person will go for love, hate, survival, so on.

While reading the reviews, I thought this book would be more frightening.  Though it had it's moments (I was a bit jumpy here and there I'll admit) it was more terrifying how the author presented the people of Black Spring.  I would be sitting saying "no way; just no fricken way humans could do this to each other".

Overall an interesting read, but very very dark.  You wont be left feeling relieved or "complete" by the end.  But you will have the feels, the not good feels..

Goodreads link: Hex

Dark Matter

"Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch is the type of book I would want to write but would dread to write!

This book is complicated, scientific, and brilliant.  I found myself racing through it more and more, but also wanting to pace myself so I have something to think about at work the next day.

What if every decision you made had hundreds, thousands, millions of other ways the decision could have been made.  And these multiple decisions spread out to create another universe, or multiverse, that another version of you lives in, dies in, so on.  Yea, like I said, complicated but oh so brilliant!

Main character Jason Dessen experiences one of these multiverse's first hand after being taken at gunpoint, drugged, and thrown into another Jason's world. In his regular life, Jason lives with his wife and son and is a professor.  A cozy life that wouldn't have been if not for his decision to stay and raise his child with Daniella instead of pursuing his idea's and inventions.  This other world he has been thrown into is the life of fame.  The life of his opposite.

I can't imagine the amount of research the author had to do for this book.  Whatever the effort though, the book was definitely worth it.

I'm hoping to one day get into Blake Crouch's "Wayward Pines" series.  Unfortunately, I did the dreaded *watched the show/movie* before reading the book.

Goodread link: Dark Matter

A Dog's Purpose/A Dog's Journey

Weep fest.

"A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron is a unique take on a dog's life, and life, and life... The many lives a dog experiences through the reincarnation Cameron creates in his books.  Cameron manages to, in my opinion, masterfully write out a dogs perspective that appeals to my imagination. Do dog's actually think this way?  Probably not, but I love that he made me think that they do.

The first book, A Dog's Purpose, was probably the best invitation into the world of Toby/Bailey/Ellie/Buddy.  Yes, many reincarnations but you never feel overwhelmed.  Bailey is adopted by Ethan and his family, and this is where the heartwarming story starts.  Bailey's love for Ethan is so powerful, that as Ellie and Buddy, this dog is on a non-stop search for Ethan, but all the while learning so many new skills that he uses in each life.  Goosebumps people.  No Spoilers from here on.  But anyone with a shred of animal love will weep the tears of our animal loving people. And then you will wonder, what do I do with my life now?

You're in luck, because W. Bruce Cameron made a second book to the first called "A Dog's Journey".  Now we continue on with Buddy, and progress through Molly/Max/ and ending again with a dog named Toby.  Start Toby, end Toby!  GOOOSSSEEBBUUMMPPSS! In this book, Buddy feels that his new purpose is to protect Ethan's granddaughter, Clarity.   Clarity has a life that no one would wish for.  She becomes an angsty teen with a developing eating disorder.  She happens upon Molly.  Who is the dog there throughout Clarity's time of confusion and anger, and inevitably when Clarity runs away from it all.  It's a huge dramatic read, and it doesn't end there.  Eventually Clarity grows up and adopts the next reincarnation, Max.  Her life hasn't brightened much though.  She's away from her mother, but her eating disorder has progressed into very dangerous and she struggles to make ends meet. Not only do we see the progression of Clarity, but we see this dog (that is reborn over and over) grow into ways that are good but also bad.  The dog in this book becomes a bit less trusting in people, a little bit more sad, but a whole lot more loving and protective.  

Overall, this book was much darker than the first.  I definitely didn't like it as much.  There was just an overall feeling of sadness and nothing too positive to look forward to.  It wasn't bad by no means, just not as heartwarming, though my heart did warm at many parts throughout.

I haven't attacked any of W. Bruce Cameron's other books yet.  I'm thinking they are probably just as interesting.  I may dive into "A Dog's Way Home" next (No association to A Dog's Purpose series).

Goodreads links: A Dog's Purpose

                            A Dog's Journey