Bea Reviews Maya's Blanket/La Manta de Maya by Monica Brown, Illustrated by David Diaz

Publisher: Children's Book Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 15, 2015
Challenges: May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  NetGalley and Edelweiss ARCs
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Little Maya has a special blanket that Grandma stitched with her own two hands. As Maya grows, her blanket becomes worn and frayed, so with Grandma s help, Maya makes it into a dress. Over time the dress is made into a skirt, a shawl, a scarf, a hair ribbon, and finally, a bookmark. Each item has special, magical, meaning for Maya; it animates her adventures, protects her, or helps her in some way. But when Maya loses her bookmark, she preserves her memories by creating a book about her adventures and love of these items. When Maya grows up, she shares her book Maya s Blanket/La manta de Maya with her own little daughter while snuggled under her own special blanket. Inspired by the traditional Yiddish folk song Hob Ikh Mir a Mantl ( I Had a Little Coat ), this delightful bilingual picture book puts a child-focused, Latino spin on the tale of an item that is made into smaller and smaller items. Maya s Blanket/La manta de Maya charmingly brings to life this celebration creativity, recycling, and enduring family love." 

Bea Reviews All For You by Christi Barth

Publisher: Carina Press
Series: Shore Secrets #2
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 9, 2015
Challenges: Finishing the Series | May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Kobo | ARe* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Small-town park ranger Casey Hobbes has spent her life under the radar, carefully guarding a secret. "The forest flirt," as her best friend calls her, keeps things casual with men. That way she'll never care enough to be tempted to share the truth about her past. But when she spots a half-naked stranger on the lake's edge, Casey can't resist his muscles or his charm and she's all-in for enjoying both, while keeping emotion out of it. What could be the danger of one summer fling?

Professor Zane Buchanan has built his entire career on exposing the dark realities of cults, but one—the Sunshine Seekers—remains infuriatingly impossible to crack. Zane's shocked to discover its sole anonymous survivor is hiding in his new hometown. It's nearly impossible to concentrate on work, however, when he's derailed by his attraction to the beautiful blonde in khaki uniform shorts.

As things between Casey and Zane heat up, she struggles with keeping her past from him. And Zane's on a quest to expose the truth, no matter the consequences. Will their growing emotions finally unseal Casey's big secret? Or will she turn her back on love to keep the past safely buried?

Bea Reviews Musseled Out by Barbara Ross

Publisher: Kensington
Series: Maine Clambake #3
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 28, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies | May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The busy summer tourist season is winding down in Busman's Harbor, Maine, but Julia Snowden senses trouble simmering for the Snowden Family Clambake Company. Shifty David Thwing - the "Mussel King" of upscale seafood restaurants - is sniffing around town for a new location. But serving iffy clams turns out to be the least of his troubles....

When Thwing is found sleeping with the fishes beneath a local lobsterman's boat, the police quickly finger Julia's brother-in-law, Sonny, as the one who cooked up the crime. Sure, everyone knows Sonny despised the Mussel King...but Julia believes he's innocent. Proving it won't be easy, though. It seems there's a lot more than murder on the menu, and Julia needs to act fast....

Includes traditional Maine clambake recipes!

Bea Reviews Deadly Desires at Honeychurch Hall by Hannah Dennison

Publisher: Minotaur Books
Series: Honeychurch Hall Mysteries #2 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies | Finishing the Series |  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit*  | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When the body of a transport minister is discovered in the grounds on the Honeychurch Hall estate, suspicion as to his unusual demise naturally falls on the residents. After all, who could possibly want a high-speed train line and rolling stock depot built in their front yard?

News of the murder soon reaches our heroine Kat Stanford’s nemesis Trudy Wynne. A ruthless tabloid journalist and the ex-wife of Kat’s discarded lover, Trudy is out for revenge. She is also interested in exposing—and humiliating—Kat’s mother Iris, who is secretly the international bestselling romance writer Krystalle Storm.

As the body count begins to build, Kat becomes inextricably embroiled in the ensuing scandal. Is the minister’s death the result of a local vendetta, or could it be connected to her mother’s unusual past?

Review & Quote-Tastic: Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers 
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Challenges:  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

If only Maddy sees the mermaid, can it be real?
It's Maddy's turn to have a bayou summer. At first she misses life back home in the city, but soon she grows to love everything about her new surroundings -- the glimmering fireflies, the glorious landscape, and something else, deep within the water, that only Maddy sees. Could it be a mermaid? As her grandmother shares wisdom about sayings and signs, Maddy realizes she may be only the sibling to carry on her family's magical legacy. And when a disastrous oil leak threatens the bayou, she knows she may also be the only one who can help. Does she have what it takes to be a hero?
A coming-of-age tale rich with folk magic, set in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, Bayou Magic celebrates hope, friendship, and family, and captures the wonder of life in the Deep South.

Bea Reviews Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Challenges: May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* |  Kobo | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A hidden book. A found cipher. A game begins . . . .

Twelve-year-old Emily is on the move again. Her family is relocating to San Francisco, home of her literary idol: Garrison Griswold, creator of the online sensation Book Scavenger, a game where books are hidden all over the country and clues to find them are revealed through puzzles. But Emily soon learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in a coma, and no one knows anything about the epic new game he had been poised to launch. Then Emily and her new friend James discover an odd book, which they come to believe is from Griswold and leads to a valuable prize. But there are others on the hunt for this book, and Emily and James must race to solve the puzzles Griswold left behind before Griswold's attackers make them their next target.

Bea Reviews Pine and the Winter Sparrow by Alexis York Lumbard, Illustrated by Beatriz Vidal

Publisher: Wisdom Tales 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: February 1, 2015
Challenges: May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge | What An Animal
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Have you ever wondered why pine trees stay green all winter long and don t lose their leaves like other trees? According to an ancient legend attributed to the Cherokee Indians, it was a simple act of kindness towards an injured little bird that earned pine trees this very honor. Retold by award-winning author Alexis York Lumbard, this story invites readers to experience a world where trees and birds speak and interact with each other, and which shows us that no act of kindness and sharing goes unrewarded. Featuring beautiful paintings by multiple award-winning illustrator Beatriz Vidal, you will never look at pine trees in the same way again!" 

Bea Reviews The Rhyme of the Magpie by Marty Wingate

Publisher: Alibi
Series: Birds of a Feather #1
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: June 2, 2015
Challenges: Cruisin' Through the Cozies | May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge | What An Animal
Buying Links: Amazon* | OmniLit* | Kobo | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

For readers of Laura Childs, Ellery Adams, and Jenn McKinlay, the high-flying new Birds of a Feather mystery series from Marty Wingate begins as a British woman gets caught up in a dangerous plot when her celebrity father disappears.

With her personal life in disarray, Julia Lanchester feels she has no option but to quit her job on her father’s hit BBC Two nature show, A Bird in the Hand. Accepting a tourist management position in Smeaton-under-Lyme, a quaint village in the English countryside, Julia throws herself into her new life, delighting sightseers (and a local member of the gentry) with tales of ancient Romans and pillaging Vikings.

But the past is front and center when her father, Rupert, tracks her down in a moment of desperation. Julia refuses to hear him out; his quick remarriage after her mother’s death was one of the reasons Julia flew the coop. But later she gets a distressed call from her new stepmum: Rupert has gone missing. Julia decides to investigate—she owes him that much, at least—and her father’s new assistant, the infuriatingly dapper Michael Sedgwick, offers to help. Little does the unlikely pair realize that awaiting them is a tightly woven nest of lies and murder.

Bea Reviews The Kind-hearted Monster by Max Velthuijs

Publisher: NorthSouth (NY) 
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Challenges: May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  NetGalley and Edelweiss ARCs
Buying Links: Amazon*  | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

What do you do with a fire-breathing monster? Adore him! The Monster from Halfway to Nowhere... When the people of a little town discover that the fire-breathing monster in their midst is really a kind-hearted mind mannered monster, they all have different ideas about what to do with him. But the ideas make Mervyn unhappy, until a professor has an idea that lightens everyone's mood especially Mervyn's! The Monster from Halfway to Nowhere... Robbers have kidnapped Mervyn the monster by baking him cakes full of sleeping powder. They think the heist is a success. But the robbers don t know Mervyn . . . and the people from the town that s halfway to nowhere." 

Bea Reviews The Shadow Cartel by Layton Green

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Series: Dominic Grey #4
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Challenges: Finishing the Series | May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The sins of the past always return…

Called upon by a former love to look into the death of a family friend in Miami, veteran investigator Dominic Grey is sucked into the darkest reaches of international narcotics trafficking. The murders of multiple drug dealers during a bizarre religious ceremony, combined with the appearance of a mythical assassin, take DEA agent Federico Hernandez and CIA operative Lana Valenciano down the same deadly path.

Lying in wait is an enemy known only as the General: a criminal mastermind whose uncanny ability to avoid detection while cowing even the most ruthless of rival cartels has made him a legend.

Thrown together on a covert manhunt, Grey and the two government agents race across the Americas to unearth a dark chapter in the history of the CIA that has spilled into the present—and put them in the crosshairs of an underworld puppeteer with a frightening reach. 

Review & Giveaway - Bite the Biscuit by Linda O. Johnston

Publisher: Midnight Ink
Series: Barkery & Biscuits Mystery #1
Format Read: paperback
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 8, 2015
Challenges:  Cruisin' Through the Cozies |  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  What An Animal |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Carrie Kennersly, a veterinary technician, has become known for offering healthy and popular dog treats at the clinic where she works. When the local bakery's owner moves away, Carrie jumps at the chance to convert it into the Barkery, a shop to make and sell her canine delights.

But Myra Ethman, co-owner of another pet product store, hates the new competition. At the Barkery's opening party, she badmouths Carrie's homemade dog biscuits, insisting she'll find a way to shut the place down. So when Myra is found dead with a Barkery biscuit beside her, Carrie must prove she didn't do it before she's collared for murder.

Bea Reviews This Is Sadie by Sara O'Leary And Illustrated by Julie Morstad

Publisher: Tundra Books
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Challenges:  May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge |  NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge |
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Kobo | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Sadie is a little girl with a big imagination. She has been a girl who lived under the sea and a boy raised by wolves. She has had adventures in wonderland and visited the world of fairytales. She whispers to the dresses in her closet and talks to birds in the treetops. She has wings that take her anywhere she wants to go, but that always bring her home again. She likes to make things -- boats out of boxes and castles out of cushions. But more than anything Sadie likes stories, because you can make them from nothing at all. For Sadie, the world is so full of wonderful possibilities ... This is Sadie, and this is her story. 

Bea Reviews Bristly Hair and I Don't Care! by Nadia Budde

Publisher: NorthSouth 
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: May 1, 2015
Challenges:  What An Animal | May 2015 Clean Sweep ARC Challenge | NetGalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

A funny book about liking the way you look! Everyone occasionally dreams of being a little prettier, taller, slimmer . . . And Nadia Budde’s quirky characters are no different. Some wish they had more hair, some wish they had less. The only one who doesn’t care about his appearance is Uncle Ike—he doesn’t care what his looks are like. Nadia’s catchy rhymes and funny characters will appeal to readers of all ages and (hopefully) help us see that we’re all perfect just the way we are!

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge

The Caffeinated Reviewer is once again hosting this challenge and I am once again participating. While I have a huge stack of ARCs to catch up on, life is complicated right now so I'm keeping my goal simple, only 5.

Bea Reviews Reunion With Death by Sheila Connolly

Publisher: Beyond the Page Publishing 
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: November 21, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Laura Shumway couldn’t say why she’d agreed to go on the class reunion trip to Italy. Maybe it was to take stock of her life, or maybe it was just to catch up with old friends, take in the sights, and relax in the beautiful Tuscan countryside. Either way, she knew she’d discover a lot on the trip, about both herself and her former classmates. What she didn’t expect to discover was the dead body of esteemed professor Anthony Gilbert.

Gilbert had had a long and illustrious career at the college. Now retired to Italy, he appeared as a surprise guest speaker at the women’s vacation villa, still disarmingly handsome, still charming, but not nearly so eminent in the eyes of Laura’s classmates. As a young professor all those years ago, Gilbert used his position and looks to seduce and then cast aside many of his young and impressionable students, and at least some of the women on this trip had been hurt by his false promises of love. The kind of hurt that runs deep and may have given any number of them a motive for murder.

Before the polizia or carabiniere get involved, Laura and a few trusted classmates set out among the vineyards and hills of the Italian Riviera to solve the murder on their own. With the help of some influential locals and good old-fashioned detective work, they’re soon led to the conclusion that one of their classmates might be a killer—and what started as a trip to see how far they’d all come may turn into a stark lesson about just how far one of them would go.

Bea Reviews Cat-Eye Witness by Patricia Fry

Publisher: Matilija Press
Series: Klepto Cat #2
Format Read: Kindle book
Source: the author in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 7, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon* | * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Savannah and Aunt Margaret open the old Forster home to the Hammond Cat Alliance for a fundraiser to help rehabilitate the abused horses rescued months earlier from the catnappers. Before the afternoon is over, the collected funds go missing and someone is murdered in an upstairs bedroom.
Suspicion surrounds Iris, a local waitress and Savannah’s new best friend. The only witness to the murder is Rags, Savannah’s cat. With the assistance of a cat psychic and Rags’s good friend, Charlotte (the young girl with Downs), the cat helps to “paw” the killer…but not before an attempt is made on Rags’s life. The case is solved only after Rags comes face-to-face with the killer for the second time.
Detective Craig Sledge is new to this book, as is Damon, Iris’s errant son. Sledge finds this to be one of the muddiest cases he has ever worked, with inconsistent clues and no apparent motive. He’s constantly surprised, perplexed and impressed by the cat’s uncanny ability to come up with clues he has missed. His fascination with the attractive Iris Clampton also mystifies the detective.
In this story, one of the rescued horses goes into labor and there’s a night of high drama at the ole corral as veterinarians Savannah and Michael work to save the foal. This experience renews Savannah’s deep interest in horses and riding, which ultimately serves to help her bond with a very important surprise character who finds his way into her life and Michael’s just as they prepare to say their wedding vows.

While Rags is the animal star, he isn’t the only animal featured in this story. Layla is back in all of her tangerine beauty. And Rags makes friends with Buffy, a perky almost Himalayan and the inseparable duo, Walter, an all black cat and his sidekick, Lexie, a charming afghan mix. Savannah’s new ride, Peaches, also debuts in this story. An incident with this mare adds another dimension to Savannah’s and Michael’s relationship. Can he hold her with open arms?

Some say this is a love story with a mystery in the background. And it’s a story of family and friendship as newlyweds Margaret and Max continue to be a meaningful part of Savannah’s and Michael’s world.

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Bea Reviews Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout

Publisher: Hyperion
Series: Cyrus Mills #2
Format Read: eGalley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository*  | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When Dr. Cyrus Mills returned home after inheriting his estranged father's veterinary practice, The Bedside Manor for Sick Animals, the last thing he wanted was to stay in Eden Falls, Vermont, a moment longer than absolutely necessary. However, the previously reclusive veterinarian pathologist quickly found that he actually enjoyed treating animals and getting to know the eccentric residents of the tiny provincial town-especially an alluring waitress named Amy.

So Cyrus is now determined to make Bedside Manor thrive. Not an easy goal, given that Healthy Paws, the national veterinary chain across town, will stop at nothing to crush its mom-and-pop competitor. And the rival vet practice isn't Cyrus's only competition; a handsome stranger shows up out of nowhere who clearly has a mysterious past with Amy. To top it off, Cyrus finds himself both the guardian of a very unique orphaned dog and smack in the middle of serious small town drama.

This charming sequel to The Patron Saint of Lost Dogs is a wild and delightful ride through one jam- packed week, where Cyrus must figure out how to outsmart the evil veterinary conglomerate, win back Amy's heart, solve several tricky veterinary cases, find a home for an orphaned dog, and detangle himself from an absurd case of mistaken identity. DOG GONE, BACK SOON brims with Nick Trout's trademark humor, charm, and captivating animal stories, and is proof that all dogs, lost or not, on four feet or two, deserve a second chance.

Bea Reviews Beyond Belief by Helen Smith

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Series: Emily Castle Mysteries #2
Format Read: Kindle book
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When a famed psychic predicts a murder will occur at a seaside paranormal conference, budding sleuth Emily Castles is recruited as a “future crimes investigator” to stop the dastardly deed before it occurs. While tensions rise between believers in science, the supernatural, and the spiritual at the conference, Emily must use old-fashioned detective work to track the killer among a colorful cast of attendees which includes psychics, fortune-tellers, and religious cult members. Combining humor, horror, and British cream tea, Smith brings readers a satisfying and suspenseful new adventure featuring intrepid young sleuth Emily Castles.

Bea Reviews Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper

Publisher: Pocket Books
Series: Jane Jameson #4
Format Read: paper ARC
Source: publisher for participatjng in an online conference
Release Date: February 28, 2012
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | OmniLit* | Barnes & Noble
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads: SPOILERS FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS

Just as Jane Jameson's unlife seems to be stabilizing, fate sinks its fangs firmly into her butt. Despite her near-phobia of wedding planning, her no-frills nighttime nuptials to her sexy boyfriend, Gabriel, are coming along smoothly. That is, until she turns a fatally wounded teenage acquaintance, and the Council pronounces her responsible for the newborn vamp until he can control his thirst.

Jane's kitchen barely holds enough Faux Type O to satiate the cute teen's appetite and maintain Gabriel's jealous streak at a slow simmer. As if keeping her hyperactive childe from sucking the blood out of the entire neighbourhood isn't enough to deal with, the persnickety ghost of Jane's newly deceased grandma Ruthie has declared war on the fanged residents of River Oaks. Suddenly choosing monogrammed cocktail napkins and a cake she can't even eat seems downright relaxing in comparison.

Tensions inside the house are growing...and outside, a sinister force is aiming a stake straight for the center of Gabriel's heart. Most brides just have to worry about choosing the right dress, but Jane fears that, at this rate, she'll never make it down the aisle for the wedding all nice girls dream of...

Review & Excerpt - Hustlers, Harlots, and Heroes by Krista D Ball

Publisher: Tyche Books Ltd
Series: Guide Book #2
Formats Read: egalley and print
Source: egalley - the author in exchange for an honest review; print - owned by the reviewer
Release Date: April 24, 2014
Buying Links: Amazon* | Book Depository* | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Get ready to step into the back alleys of Jane Austen and Charles Dickens's London, and explore the alternative worlds of steampunk in this new guide book by fantasy author Krista D. Ball. Ball takes readers on a fascinating journey into the world of the Have-Nots, and explores the bustling, crime-ridden London during the Georgian and Victorian eras. Discover the world of knocker-uppers (it's not what you think), mudlarks, and costermongers. Learn how to scrub floors and polish knives, pick for bones, and catch rats. Learn about race and social status, and the difference between a lady's maid and a scullery maid. With her usual wit, insight, and snark, Ball gives historical, romance, and steampunk authors the tools to create vibrant, realistic worlds. Whether you're an author, a Janeite, or just a fan of history, Hustlers, Harlots, and Heroes gives you a fresh look into the dark past.