Hannah Reed (1)

This cosy lets you pretend that you are in Scotland. It is a quick and enjoyable read. Eden Elliot has been nursing her mother who passed away and her husband got jealous of all the attention, so he divorced her.

Eden's best friend buys her a round-trip ticket to Scotland to try to cheer her up. The only thing is that she put the return for six weeks later. She thought about backing out but her friend gave her enough push to get there.

On the flight, she met Vickie Mc Bride who was returning to her childhood home, bringing her two Westie terriers with her. She was quite chatty and Eden really wanted to be alone but Vickie asked her to be her friend and she agreed.

Eden rented a car and found that it is very difficult to rent an automatic so she had to take a stick shift which scared her to death. I learned how to drive on a stick shift and it was not a pleasant experience, the teacher scolded me for being timid all the time. Eden sets out to go to the village that her friend loves, Glenkillen, and has a disaster driving. A handsome Scot stopped to help her. She decided to trust him because he had a very cute Border Collie with him.

Her new friend, Vickie happens to be going to the same town, and a local sheep shearer is found dead. The town suspects Vickie and Eden is determined to prove them wrong.

We learn about local food, some that I would never want to eat and others that sound delicious, and hear a little of the Scottish dialect and sayings.

I liked this cozy very much, it was direct and entertaining.… (meer)

Scotland, inheritance, writers, romantic, murder, murder-investigation, attempted-murder, law-enforcement, family-business, family-drama, family-dynamics, rural, sheep, wool, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth*****

Two women whose lives are in turmoil meet on a plane and become involved in murders. The Highlands of Scotland are beautiful, but the villagers reactions to each of them is far from welcoming. There is danger, suspense, major plot twists, some intriguing red herrings, and a hint of romance (it started with a lesson in driving stick and on the unusual side of the roads). Loved this one and plan to hunt up more in this series!
I bought the audio on sale and Angela Dawe is one of my favorite narrators.… (meer)

Another cozy mystery series. I mostly liked it. I did find it a little bit long and somewhat overly involved for a cozy mystery. I hated the bullet point lists - I understood the point but I felt like it disrupted the flow - it was like I was always jarred out of the story at that point. I liked the inclusion of the newsletter at the end. The romance was a little odd - kind of just appeared out of nowhere. I didn't entirely love Story but she grew on me as the story went on and as there was less of Clay. But I liked Holly and Grams. I hated Holly's text speech. It didn't make sense and it was annoying af. No one over the age of eighteen speaks like that. Ever.
I don't know, it didn't feel as light and connected if that makes sense - as normal cozy mysteries do. Felt like it lacked some sort of spark, warmth of characters. That being said the beekeeping was an interesting inclusion and the information about bees was fascinating. I'll continue the series for sure.… (meer)