Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Hannah Swensen #2) by Joanne Fluke

2 stars Made it through another Hannah Swensen Mystery. When I started out listening to the second book, part of me was conflicted on why I was so disappointed in the first one. The writing is not by any means good and everything is irritatingly overly explained as though Joanne Fluke thinks her readers can’t…

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Archival Quality by Ivy Noelle Weir, Artwork by Steenz

2 stars Bit disappointed in this one. As someone who works in a library and lives with depression and anxiety, I thought I’d relate to this a lot more. I was really excited when I got it from the library and couldn’t wait to start reading. Unfortunately, much of it fell flat for me and…

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swenson #1) by Joanne Fluke

2 stars I currently work in a library and this series is quite popular among our patrons. Though I haven’t read many cozy mysteries, I wanted to see what it was all about. There were a lot of cringey moments with bad writing, overly detailed scenes, terrible police work, unethical vigilantism, talking down to the…

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Secrets of Camp Whatever by Chris Grine

4 stars After reading this, I already want to spend another summer at Camp Whatever. Complete with mysterious fog, horrific garden gnomes, a camp director with ulterior motives, shadowy figures, and odd happenings, this book has got it all. It’s packed with adventure, mystery, magic, and suspense. There are plenty of twists and turns in…

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Audacity Jones Steals the Show (Audacity Jones #2) by Kirby Larson

4 stars Another fantastic adventure with Audacity Jones. Complete with mystery, new acquaintances, stage magic, and of course some charismatic (and possibly magical in their own right) animal companions. This is the second book in the Audacity Jones series. While it picks up where the last one left off, there is enough explanation given that…

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Audacity Jones to the Rescue (Audacity Jones #1) by Kirby Larson

4 stars An engaging story that mixes adventure, mystery, history, and a hint of the fantastical. This was a nice bit of historical fiction geared toward young readers. Larson admits to taking a lot of liberties with the story of the disappearance, but many elements are inspired by facts and the whole thing comes together…

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The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

3 stars Listening to this audiobook was… a journey. Started off to kind of a rocky start, but after things picked up a bit I was interested in the premise. For a good chunk of the story, I was convinced I was going to like it, which surprised me given my usual dislike of Flynn’s…

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