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Little Pixie`s Bookshelf 2018


Little Pixie

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On 27/03/2018 at 7:27 PM, Marie H said:

Yes, I looked the Amazon books for Frances Crane, but the new paperback were quite expensive. I’m trying not to buy any books, just for a while, so I’m will be on Kindle Unlimited for 3 months for £1.99 :). I’m having lots of fun with the British Library Crime Classics. But I’ve got second hand copy of The Turquoise Shop (Pat and Jean Abbott Mystery #1) on my wish list.

 

Ooh, I just looked up that KU offer and it seems open to everyone, not just anyone who hasn`t had a trial yet. I`m quite tempted... :wub:

 

Kindle 3-month thingy

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The Cinnamon Murder - Frances Crane ( 1946 )

 

Pat and Jean Abbott are sitting in the lobby of the Waldorf Hotel, New York, when Brenda Davison greets them, claiming to have previously met them and insisting that they come to a party she's throwing at her home that evening. The problem is, Brenda is a complete stranger to the Abbots. Intrigued, they attend the party and stumble onto a mystery involving a little girl : Brenda' s daughter and heiress to a huge fortune. Is someone trying to kill the girl , or paint Brenda as an unfit Mother ? Or is Brenda really insane ? There's a touch of the psychological thriller in this novel, which reintroduces some of the characters from Frances Crane' s 1943 book, The Pink Umbrella. 

 

Initially, Pat and Jean plan to leave New York the next day, but find themselves pulled into the investigation when they take a Central Park carriage ride after the party and someone takes potshots at them. Have they witnessed something they should've have ? Dun dun derr. ;)

 

There are some lovely descriptions of New York  and Jean tells Pat :

 

" New York is like a big cat. It's feline. It never really sleeps. It relaxes and dozes, but you feel it may spring alive any minute. It kind of terrifies you.  " 

 

:)

 

 

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9 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

There are some lovely descriptions of New York  and Jean tells Pat :

 

" New York is like a big cat. It's feline. It never really sleeps. It relaxes and dozes, but you feel it may spring alive any minute. It kind of terrifies you.  " 

 

:)

 

That is such a great quote :D!

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On 27/03/2018 at 9:34 PM, Little Pixie said:

I`m also keeping a list of KU books, for when I get a subscription again. A lot of the Stuart Palmer books are available ; I`ve read - and loved - all the Hildegarde Withers books, though I`ve no idea if the Howie Rook series is as good. :)

I've been looking at Stuart Palmer Hildegarde series, and I love his style of writing. Plus, I am getting free, Audible KU for at least the first two of the Hildegarde series. :wub:

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8 hours ago, Marie H said:

I've been looking at Stuart Palmer Hildegarde series, and I love his style of writing. Plus, I am getting free, Audible KU for at least the first two of the Hildegarde series. :wub:

 

It took me ages to track down the Hildegarde books ; it`s so great that they`re now on Kindle. :)  Have you seen the films ? :D

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The Indigo Necklace - Frances Crane ( 1945 )

 

I have a book copy, but also got a free e-book ; this is an unbiased review.

 

Pat and Jean Abbott are renting a set of rooms in a large French Quarter house in New Orleans, towards the end of WW 2 .With Pat working hard in Military Intelligence , Jean is often alone in the apartment. One night, Jean is awoken by the sound of someone walking through her apartment , though later she comes up with logical explanations for the noise, deciding that the footsteps must have been outside, belonging to one of the extended Creole family who own the home. A couple of weeks later, there's more gothic spookiness,  culminating in a  death in the family . 

 

There are descriptions of New Orleans muggy weather and exotic food aplenty while Pat and Jean investigate.

 

Proviso : one of the nastier characters in the book is also a racist, and there are one or two instances of offensive language. 

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Witchy Tales - Amanda M Lee

 

The first urban fantasy spin-off (?) from the Wicked Witches of the Midwest. TBH, I found it a bit of a disappointment after the Wicked Witches mysteries ; Aunt Tillie isn`t in the book that much, and I felt that her absence showed. I could`ve done with more snark and less talking about feelings. Still, it was readable ( and I read it for free, through Kindle Unlimited ). :)

 

Oh, and I may have bought some more books. Oops. :ph34r: I got some more cosy mysteries, and pre-ordered the next Jim Butcher book, a collection of Dresden Files short stories. :) 

 

 

 

 

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On 3/31/2018 at 1:06 AM, Little Pixie said:

Proviso : one of the nastier characters in the book is also a racist, and there are one or two instances of offensive language. 

 

That's not nice :(. I'm glad you liked the rest of the book.

 

16 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Witchy Tales - Amanda M Lee

 

The first urban fantasy spin-off (?) from the Wicked Witches of the Midwest. TBH, I found it a bit of a disappointment after the Wicked Witches mysteries ; Aunt Tillie isn`t in the book that much, and I felt that her absence showed. I could`ve done with more snark and less talking about feelings. Still, it was readable ( and I read it for free, through Kindle Unlimited ). :)

 

It's a shame it wasn't as good as the mystery books. I'm glad you still found it readable though.

 

Have fun with Kindle Unlimited :D!

 

16 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Oh, and I may have bought some more books. Oops. :ph34r: I got some more cosy mysteries, and pre-ordered the next Jim Butcher book, a collection of Dresden Files short stories. :)

 

Woohoo for more books :D!!

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On 2/6/2018 at 7:29 PM, Little Pixie said:

 

That`s the Gilmore Girls DVD, the 4 TV movies they made for Netflix ( I should`ve put ` book and disc haul` ) ; no idea when I`ll watch the discs, I have a bit of a backlog ( and a video backlog, and a book backlog... There may be a theme here. :lol:)

 

I saw the picture and thought, what book is this, and why did I not know about it!! :D So the DVD(s) is out already, awesome! I have to buy it at some point! :)

 

I'm really late in saying this (I'm still going around visiting people's logs for the first time this year), but I hope you have an amazing reading year!! :smile2: I see you've read a huge pile of books already :D

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6 hours ago, frankie said:

 

I saw the picture and thought, what book is this, and why did I not know about it!! :D So the DVD(s) is out already, awesome! I have to buy it at some point! :)

 

I'm really late in saying this (I'm still going around visiting people's logs for the first time this year), but I hope you have an amazing reading year!! :smile2: I see you've read a huge pile of books already :D

 

Thank you ! :D

 

I haven`t watched Gilmore Girls-The Return yet. :ph34r:

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7 hours ago, Athena said:

Have fun with Kindle Unlimited :D!

Woohoo for more books :D!!

 

Yay ! :exc:

 

I finished the 2nd Witches of the Wild West : Amanda M Lee fantasy book last night and it was excellent !! :D

 

A Witch in Time - Amanda M Lee

 

Set around the characters of Bay, Landon and the wonderful Aunt Tillie, this is a fantastic romp. No spoilers for what actually happens, but it`s one of my favourite Winchester Witches books, with the sort of great lines which you have to re-read to get an extra giggle out of them. Brilliant. :)

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16 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

I finished the 2nd Witches of the Wild West : Amanda M Lee fantasy book last night and it was excellent !! :D

 

A Witch in Time - Amanda M Lee

 

Set around the characters of Bay, Landon and the wonderful Aunt Tillie, this is a fantastic romp. No spoilers for what actually happens, but it`s one of my favourite Winchester Witches books, with the sort of great lines which you have to re-read to get an extra giggle out of them. Brilliant. :)

 

I'm glad you liked this one more than the first one :)!!

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6 hours ago, Athena said:

 

I'm glad you liked this one more than the first one :)!!

 

Thanks :) - it was a big relief, cos I was a bit `meh` about the first one.

 

Last night, I read the next two novellas in the Wicked Witches series, Thistle while you Work and Landon Calling. The first one was readable, one of those `message behind the story` novellas and the second was hilarious - Landon hosts a big Law Enforcement seminar at the Inn and Aunt Tillie causes trouble. :)

 

Then I read the third Wicked Witches fantasy, Make a Witch. It read more like a mystery : the town gets a Wishing Well and shenanigans ensue. Great fun. :lol:

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Last night, it was the turn of : A Witchmas Carol and All My Witches, books 4 and 5 of the Wicked Witches of the Midwest fantasy books.

 

Book 4 was nice and readable ( if a bit message-y ; the message being, Don`t Mess With Aunt Tillie. ;) ) , Book 5 was a funny take on US TV Soaps from a Witch-y perspective. I may not have got all the in-jokes, but it was a good read. :)

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On 2.4.2018 at 6:30 PM, Little Pixie said:

 

I`m more embarrassed that I`d forgotten I had those DVDs. :blush::giggle2: I know ! :o And I even have all the rest of the seasons on DVD, lovingly bought one at a time. :) 

 

:lol: Well who could remember every single thing they'd recently bought... Not me! :giggle2:  Mind you, I re-watched the GG (for the umpteenth time) in the winter and when I started watching the first 'episode' of the four new ones, I couldn't somehow carry on. It just felt funny and awkward. :unsure: Sigh! I mean I've watched the episodes, but I haven't been able to watch them again. I just wasn't inspired. 

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8 minutes ago, frankie said:

 

:lol: Well who could remember every single thing they'd recently bought... Not me! :giggle2:  Mind you, I re-watched the GG (for the umpteenth time) in the winter and when I started watching the first 'episode' of the four new ones, I couldn't somehow carry on. It just felt funny and awkward. :unsure: Sigh! I mean I've watched the episodes, but I haven't been able to watch them again. I just wasn't inspired. 

 

:( What a shame.

 

I keep thinking ` I`ll get to something at some point` but maybe the time has come for me to do a to-do list for fun stuff, so I make it a priority. :)

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12 minutes ago, Little Pixie said:

 

:( What a shame.

 

Don't get me wrong: I did enjoy the episodes!! But of course they are not as dear and darling as the 'real' ones.  I would definitely recommend you watch them as I do think you'd enjoy them :) I did! 

 

12 minutes ago, Little Pixie said:

 

I keep thinking ` I`ll get to something at some point` but maybe the time has come for me to do a to-do list for fun stuff, so I make it a priority. :)

 

Maybe that is the case! Surely you'd want to know how certain people got along, and if they got along at all, in the end :smile2:  And other stuff, besides other stuff! 

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1 hour ago, frankie said:

 

Don't get me wrong: I did enjoy the episodes!! But of course they are not as dear and darling as the 'real' ones.  I would definitely recommend you watch them as I do think you'd enjoy them :) I did! 

 

 

Maybe that is the case! Surely you'd want to know how certain people got along, and if they got along at all, in the end :smile2:  And other stuff, besides other stuff! 

 

Ooh, cryptic. ;) I think once I decide to watch them, I'll be enthralled - but right now, I'm behind with a bunch of shows and am playing catch up, so am not sure about watching GG and get further behind with tv. I've got a few eps still to watch of The Frankie Drake mysteries, How to get away with Murder, all the DC shows, Under the Surface ( a Danish hostage thriller ) and I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten. :)

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The Bigfoot Blunder - Amanda M Lee.  A new series taking place in the Wicked Witches universe, and crossing over with the Winchester witches. Readable, but it didn't really click for me.

 

The last two Winchester Witches novellas - I Dream of Twila ( Twila has to babysit the teenage Bay, Thistle and Clove, while dealing with Aunt Tillie, and coping with a con artist. A fun read. :) )  and How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas ( a sweet Xmas story from Aunt Tillie's  POV. ) :)

 

 

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