Showing posts with label Morgan Vale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Morgan Vale. Show all posts

Friday, 3 March 2023

Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #232 featuring **Spells and Suspicions** by Morgan Vale PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins

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Hello gorgeous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks, and just look what I found while scrolling through photos yesterday!

Amber's Book Reviews #232 ©BionicBasil® Amber's Throwback To Fiji in 2018

This is a little throwback to 2018 and an excursion to Fiji for the Crotchety Cougars, sadly which I seem to be the last remaining memfur on this earthly plane.

That aside I can safely attest to the C.C.'s as a most gorgeous, impurresive, and highly furbulous clowder of senior kitties, the likes of which the world should bow down and worship daily. But that's just my humble opinion! MOL

So dearest furiends let's raise our glasses in a toast to all the late, great Crotchety Cougars, may they be raising all kinds of mayhem and mischief in The Rainbow Realm.

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Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.

1. __________________ is always ________________.

2. Did you ____________?

3. I know _________ all too well. 

4. I can’t explain _________


The P.A.'s answers are...

1. Fudge is always exactly the same, his constant mood is; chilled, happy and feed me, with a little bit of brush thrown in for good measure.

2. Did you ever think you'd be writing a cat blog? Twenty years ago, no, but I wouldn't change a thing, it's the best fun ever. Did you ever think you'd spend your whole adult life in service to cats? NO, but I wouldn't change a thing, I'd be lost without The B Team! 

3. I know blogger all too well. But WordPress is like my nemesis, I just can't seem to get a grip on it, I had another go last week, and ended up walking away telling myself I must get a Dummies Guide to learn how to use it! LOL

4. I can’t explain why blogger won't back up content at the moment? I've tried every browser, on three different computers. Three different wifi networks and 4G. I've cleared the cookies, cache etc... restarted the computers. I've posted in the blogger forum and sent feedback to google to no avail. I can download the blog template, but when I'm trying to back up content it gets stuck at 70.8MB and then tells me the network failed. The network didn't fail, blogger did. So if you have any ideas on how to overcome this hurdle, your input would be greatly appreciated.

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Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

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This week's top book pick is...

Amber's Book Reviews #232 What Are We Reading This Week ©BionicBasil® Spells and Suspicions  by Morgan Vale
Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

Spells and Suspicions 


Charmed and Dangerous Series book 3

by 

Morgan Vale


       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

When the biggest baking competition around comes to Haven, Kat's cousin Emily is ready to taste sweet victory. But the event turns sour when a judge keels over -- seemingly poisoned by her pumpkin pie!

With Emily's innocence at stake, Kat takes action. Delving deep into the world of competitive baking, she'll have to use more than a few tricks and treats to get to the bottom of things. Each contestant has something to hide, and any of them could have done it -- which baker isn't as sweet as they seem?

Join Kat, her black cat Albus, and her quirky friends as they embark on this deliciously dangerous adventure. Because this time, the desserts really are to die for.

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Remember last week when I wrote the wrong review? Well, this week I redeem myself and here is book three! MOL  After getting my fur all in a twist and losing my book list, I rewrote it and have now placed it in a secure location, hopefully, the library mice won't find this one! 

If mew missed the three previous book reviews here are the links:


 

So here we are with book 3, and if mew're looking for a cross between The Great British Bake Off, a Miss Marple Mystery with a smattering of Hogwarts, this is the purrfect paranormal mystery for mew.

Kat's cousin, Emily delivers a magically infused poisoned pie to the bake-off judges after the competition, and one judge kicks the proverbial oven door after tasting said pie. And another mystery is suddenly apaw in Haven!

And even stranger, the paranormal enforcement agency aka PEA just happens to be in the vicinity as the crime occurs. After the PEA carts Emily off for questioning, Kat and Albus declare their intentions to clear her name at any cost.  

 I like the premise of the bake-off and all the new characters that came with it. The main characters are fun, although Albus was not quite as snarky in this book, obviously, something is ruffling his fur the wrong way - no spoilers here.

  A highly entertaining, well-plotted story, and a good solid read. I did prefer this book to #4, but that's only my purrsonal preference. So far I've really enjoyed this series, and if mew have Kindle Unlimited, all four books are included.

I've just seen that Book 5 is more of a novella/short story at 60 pages long, and I can't find any further info on any more books being added to the series, but I'll check again when I review the novella soon.

Book 3 is a fun read, get it, read it, try it!

Paperback: 184 pages
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My Ratings Scale

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Ratings of:

Spells and Suspicions 


Overall Enjoyment

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I really hope mew enjoy the book as much as I did if mew decide to read it.

It's time for me to say BFN or bye-for-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 


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Friday, 24 February 2023

Love To Read Books with Cats? Book Reviews with Amber at The Mewton-Clawson Library #231 featuring **Tricks and Trials** by Morgan Vale PLUS Friendly Fill-Ins + Photo Fails Blog Hop

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Hello furbulous library guests 

and 

Welcome to the Mewton-Clawson Library at BBHQ 

Thank mew for joining me in the stacks today, and mew just caught me going to the kitty kitchen for some extra snacks.

And yes, I do eat between meals! In fact, I love a bit of fresh tuna and mew know that cat food we did a review on a couple of weeks ago, it was called Fuzzball, mew can check it out here. I really, really love their tinned food.

Amber's Book Reviews #231 ©BionicBasil® Amber off to the kitty kitchen for snacks

So that's where I'm off, to get a little platter of shredded chicken as I need the energy for my next catnap! MOL


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Today the P.A. is also joining in Friday Fill-ins Blog Hop with the pawesome 15 & Meowing and Four-Legged Furballs.
1. An item discontinued that I want brought back is ______________________.
2. I would ____________________every day if I could.
3. It’s almost time for _________, and I can’t wait.
4. _________ were the good old days.

The P.A.'s answers are...

1. An item discontinued that I want brought back is my old Urban Rebounder aka mini trampoline. It was amazing, it had the perfect bounce/tension for jogging on, and I was gutted when after nearly 17 years it finally bit the dust. I bought a new one after much research by Maximus Pro - supposedly one of the best - it was horrid and impossible to jog on as it was so soft, so I gave that to my mum and she loves it. I then bought one which has bungees instead of springs, which was touted as a hard bounce. It's not, and while I can jog on it, it's not a patch on the Urban Rebounder circa 2004! LOL 

2. I would go swimming every day if I could. I did want to put one of those swim spas in the garden, but with energy prices right now and the next £500.00 (approx) price hike coming in April, that will sadly remain wishful thinking for eternity! Apparently, wholesale energy prices have fallen 75%, but unfortunately, those hefty reductions are not being passed on to consumers.

3. It’s almost time for Spring, and I can’t wait. I really don't like the cold weather anymore, even though this winter hasn't been so bad. We've had a few weeks of freezing temperatures but in all honesty, the winters were way worse when I was younger, and we had hotter summers in the 70s, 80s and 90s. It does make me laugh that in the last couple of years, the fear culture that has been spawned off the back of the covid situation, a weather headline just last week was 'Terrifying Winds will Batter Britain'. Now just for argument's sake, we've always had storms, some of which result in a lot of damage. But my point is the narrative being used to describe events which are of a normal, cyclical occurrence is beyond comprehension for someone of a reasonable, sensible and rational mind. Why attach such an insurmountable amount of fear to a weather forecast?

4. The 1980s and 1990s were the good old days. I liked it much better back then. It was a lot less complicated.

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Today, as it's the last Friyay of the month, we're also joining in the furrbulous...


So do drop by the marvellous Mudpie's blog at www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com to join in.

Mew know how Melvyn does his modelling on our Midweek News Round-Up? Well, sometimes all doesn't go as planned, especially when trying to get a good snapshot of him wearing the bandana! MOL 

Friday Fluffers at BBHQ ©BionicBasil® Melvyn's Modelling Fail

He gets rather excited, and a lot of rolling ensues, though we must say on this week's catwalk run, he did it in the first take, check him out on TikTok.

Some weeks, if Fudge is loitering it can take half a dozen runs to get the final sashay down the catwalk, as Melvyn doesn't have the best attention span! MOL

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Let's see what I've got to show mew this time!

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This week's top book pick is...

Amber's Book Reviews #231 What Are We Reading This Week ©BionicBasil® Tricks and Trials by Morgan Vale
Mewton-Clawson Library Copy

Tricks and Trials 


  Charmed and Dangerous Series book 4

by 

Morgan Vale

       Here's a little snippet of the book blurb:      

When the Sheriff confronts earth witch Kat Sullivan with a strange letter, it’s just another day in Haven. Until she finds out her partner-in-solving-crime, Chance Wilder, is missing. He’s no stranger to bending the law and has more than a few secrets up his sleeve, but are they bad enough for someone to take him out…permanently?

Kat’s stuck with only a handful of leads and a human police department that doesn’t even know the half of it. In the background, a secret organization is hunting down people of unusual supernatural heritage. People like Chance.

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This is book 4 in the Charmed and Dangerous series. And as I'm writing this I've just realised that I should be doing book three today - OOPS! MOL 

Actually, I lost my book list, I keep a list of all the books I'm reviewing and tick them off each week, but this week the library mice have tidied my desk and said list is on the missing list. I do suspect it's now been shredded and is currently being used as a mouse nest.

Anyhoo, I'll review book three next week and then we'll be back on track.

If mew missed the two previous book reviews here are the links:



So what did I think to book four in this action-packed, paranormal series? Well, Kat's werewolf buddy Chance is missing without a trace, strange things are apaw and the sheriff is so stumped he's asked for the heroine's help.

Albus the cat is front and centre throughout, it's nice to see his character develop, and he has just the right amount of snark, which endears him greatly to me; a cat after my own heart! MOL

The story is well-paced, and the ancillary characters are getting a bit more depth. The plot dots about a little, and there were a couple of scenes that really didn't make sense; Spoiler Alert: Kat and Albus get split up after a near-miss mudslide, and as she's trying to get to his location she stumbles upon a door in the ground and decides to go and investigate. Yes, down a pitch-black hole in the ground, on her own, with no weapons, and no cat. I won't go any further but it just seemed a little stupid and unnecessary. As for the other one, if mew read it, mew will know.

Overall book four is a good, solid read. It's a nice continuation in the series with enough hooks to keep mew turning the pages, plus there's a dash of honour and a little romance if that's your thing.

I did notice that the author left quite a lot of unanswered questions hanging in the ether as it concluded, my only guess is she wants us to keep reading the series to find out if those questions are answered or resolved. And I'll let you in due course as there are five books to read so far. 

I did get this included with my Kindle Unlimited programme, so if mew subscribe why not try it!

Paperback:  188 pages
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My Ratings Scale

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Ratings of:

Tricks and Trials

Overall Enjoyment

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Other Fun Blog Hops to Join in Today


          Brian's Home   Catblogosphere    Feline Friday   Nature Friday    Flashback Friday   Friendship Friday          

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Do let me know if mew read it, and what mew thought!

It's time fur me to say BFN or bye-fur-now as mew know the drill, so many books, so little time and I'll be back next week with another specially paw-picked book just for mew, and don't furget that all my previous reviews can be found on my Book Review page.

Until next time...

Keep calm and read more books

Amber 


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& @BionicBasil® on Instacat

Don't furget to subscribe and never miss another review! 

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