Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Books and Bag: Cozy

Books and Bag
doing some dreaming
a designer bag and books to fill it

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Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
by Jenny Bayliss
Contemporary, Romance, Holiday, Christmas | Published: 2022 | Goodreads

Elinor Noel—Nory for short—is quite content running her secondhand bookshop in London. Forever torn between her working-class upbringing and her classmates’ extravagant lifestyles at the posh private school she attended on scholarship, Nory has finally figured out how to keep both at equal distance. So when two of her oldest friends invite their whole gang to spend the time leading up to their wedding together at the castle near their old school, Nory must prepare herself for an emotionally complicated few days.

The reunion brings back fond memories, but also requires Nory to dodge an ill-advised former fling. When she falls quite literally into the arms of Isaac, the castle’s head gardener, who has nothing but contempt for the “snobby prep school kids,” the attraction between them is undeniable. And as Nory spends more time with Isaac during the wedding festivities, she finds herself falling hard for the boy she used to consider an enemy. Nory and Isaac explore their common ground, but pressures mount on all sides, and Nory must decide what kind of life she wants to live and what sort of love is worth the risk...


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* image source: bag -Polene Numero Neuf Mini, Ecru Shearling edition

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Ho-Ho-Ho Read-A-Thon 2021

Ho-Ho-Ho Read-A-Thon 2021
hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer
November 18-30, 2021 | details
read or listen to as many holiday or winter themed books

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The possibilities...

The Christmas Boutique
by Jennifer Chiaverini
Christmas, Quilts | Goodreads

Murder for Christmas
by Francis Duncan
Mystery, Cozy, Historical, Christmas | Published: 2015 (first 1949) | Goodreads

Christmas: A Biography
by Judith Flanders
Biography, History, Christmas | Published: 2017 | Goodreads

Simple Essentials: Christmas
by Donna Hay
Cookbook, Christmas | Published: 2016 (first 2005) | Goodreads

Friday, December 29, 2017

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas by Stephanie Barron

Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas:
Being a Jane Austen Mystery
by Stephanie Barron
narrated by Kate Reading

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website | Blog
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Published: 2014
Publisher: Soho Crime
Genre: Historical, Mystery, Christmas, Jane Austen
Hardback: 336
Rating: 4

Jane Austen Mysteries series:
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor
Jane and the Man of the Cloth
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Jane and the Genius of the Place
Jane and the Stillroom Maid
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House
Jane and the Ghosts of Netley
Jane and His Lordship's Legacy
Jane and the Barque of Frailty
Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron
Jane and the Canterbury Tale
Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas
Jane and the Waterloo Map

First sentence(s):
"Jane," said my mother over the lolling head of the parson slumbering beside her, "be so good as to shift your bandbox and secure my reticule.

Jane Austen turns sleuth in this delightful murder mystery set over the twelve days of a Regency-Era Christmas party.

Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide revelers dies in a tragic accident, which Jane immediately views with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is one of Jane’s fellow snow-bound guests. With clues scattered amidst cleverly crafted charades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help her discover the truth and stop the killer from striking again?


My two-bits:

Wonderful mashup of Jane Austen, Christmas and mystery. Loved learning a bit of Christmas activities in the 1800's.

Makes me want to do some embroidery.

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* Listened to audiobook version.

 
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