A Slice of Magic by A. G. Mayes (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

I've got such mixed feelings about this. It was a fast read because I couldn't seem to put it down for long ... but that was more because I kept waiting for something to happen that would really grab me and I kept thinking that I was almost there. Sadly, even at the end of the book I was still waiting to be grabbed. It wasn't a bad read by any means, it just didn't have the spark I was hoping for. If you've read it and loved it, please let me know what I missed!

Friday 56 (today is from the 56% mark of the ebook) is hosted at Freda's Voice

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe

To be honest, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane took me a while to get into and I was uncertain for the first 25% or so if I was going to finish it or add it to my DNF (did not finish) list. It was definitely slow to start and then, like magic, the pace picked up and I couldn't put the book down unless absolutely necessary. Even then I would sneak in a paragraph or two here and there whenever I could. Recommended for fans of American historicals ... who believe in the magic around them or are willing to suspend disbelief for a bit.

A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

I'm surprised that I haven't jumped on this series until now. It's like an Agatha Christie-ish Jane Austen and it's delightful. It drives me a bit batty when a book with a perfectly good title and a perfectly wonderful cover gets re-made. If you go looking for the first of Anna Dean's Dido Kent books now you'll likely have more luck if you look for Bellfield Hall (yes, they even renamed the location) ... but hopefully the beginning and 56% are still the same. 

Friday 56 (today is from the 56% mark of the ebook) is hosted at Freda's Voice

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

Building Mr Darcy by Ashlinn Craven (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

I've never been a huge fan of Mr Darcy. I'm more of a Knightly/Tilney girl. Above all, though, I'm an Austen girl and will gladly pick up just about anything that pays homage to my beloved Jane -- even if the main focus is Darcy. Typically I'll put them down again with a shake of the head and a disgusted "how could they do that to my characters?!?" sort of angst (this happens especially when I pick up a 'reimagining' of Austen's works, but that's another gripe for another time I'm sure).Ashlinn Craven's Building Mr Darcy has been sitting on my Kindle cloud for over a year and I'm glad that I finally opened it up. Sure, I still would have rather Building Mr Tilney, but I think here Darcy was the perfect choice. 

Zoe Bunsen and Max Taggart are working on building and perfecting an artificial intelligence version of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Zoe is very much an Austenite (she even wears a "Mr Darcy Ruined My Life" t-shirt to the office on her first day). Max knows nothing about Darcy, but is a whiz at the project management. She's full of exuberance ... he's, well, more like Darcy. 

It's a light read and I grew to care about the characters and even the Darcy AI prototype (and what a character he ended being at times!). Sure, there were times when I shook my head and debated whether or not I was going to continue, but in the long run I'm still glad that I saw it through and would gladly pick up another of Craven's books.

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. "Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.

Someone to Hold by Mary Balogh (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Someone to Hold is the second in Mary Balogh's Westcott series. I adored the first one when I read it in October and I think I may just adore this one even more (which hardly even seems possible)!

We met Camille Westcott in the first book but never really got to know her and this is the story where we get to know her and, more importantly, she gets to know herself. She had always been Lady Camille -- until it was discovered that her birth (and those of her sister and brother) was illegitimate as her father had been married to the mother of our Someone to Love heroine, Anna. Now Lady Camille is just Camille and living in the place where Anna had grown up. Not only is she living in the same town, but she starts to work at the same orphanage where Anna had spent the majority of her life leading up to StL! Of course, this means she gets to meet the people who knew her half-sister the best -- including her lifelong best friend, Joel Cunningham. 

It's a lovely story of opening up to others and self and I easily devoured it in just over a day. It would have been done in a sitting, but one has to work, eat and sleep ... rather unfortunately.

Friday 56 (today is from the 56% mark of the ebook) is hosted at Freda's Voice

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader.

In Peppermint Peril by Joy Avon (Tuesday Intros & Teaser Tuesday)

It's almost as though Vivian Conroy knew that I would need an author whose last name started with an A for the Alphabet Soup Challenge when she started her new Tea and Read Mystery series under the name Joy Avon. I always figured she I and had a special bond beyond author and devoted reader.

In Peppermint Peril is the first in a new cozy mystery series featuring Calliope (Callie) Aspen, who is home at Heart's Harbor, Maine for the holidays and to help her Great Aunt Iphy (whom I adore to pieces) with her business. She has a vintage tea shop where all of her treats are bookish and often mysterious ... which, of course, I adore. When the first couple of chapters drop shoutouts to Agatha Christie and Brother Cadfael I know I've landed in a happy place.

Oh how I'm going to love this series!!! It's got everything I love in a cozy. A setting I would love to call home; a spunky, sassy and sometimes snarky main character; a great set of supporting characters I can't wait to learn more about (I totally want to be Great Aunt Iphy when I grow up!); and an oh-so-swoon-worthy male who dresses up as well AND looks good rugged. Most of all, it had a story that hooked me immediately and it kept me laughing and guessing and wanting more. I already have the next one on my "want to read."

"First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros" is from the first paragraph or two of a book being read now (or in the future) and is hosted by I'd Rather Be At The Beach. "Teaser Tuesday" at The Purple Booker asks for a random line or two from anywhere in the book currently being read.