Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case by Kristen Painter (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case

Author: Kristen Painter

Publication: 8 March 2016

Format: Kindle eBook

Amazon Description

Jayne Frost is a lot of things. Winter elf, Jack Frost’s daughter, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to the Winter Throne and now…private investigator. Sort of.

Needing someone he can trust, her father sends her undercover to Nocturne Falls to find out why employees at the Santa’s Workshop toy store are going missing.

Doing that requires getting to know the town, which leads to interesting encounters with a sexy vampire, an old flame, and an elevator that’s strictly off-limits. The more Jayne finds out, the more questions she has, but the answers lead her deeper into danger.

Will her magic save her? Or will she come up cold?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case has been sitting on my Kindle Cloud since January .... of 2018. I guess I just needed the perfect time to read it and this has definitely been the perfect time. I had started reading something else and even had the post started for it, but decided that I should at least pretend to be festive. Grabbed a Christmasy rom-com from Kindle Unlimited. And then another. And then said "screw it" because I'm apparently definitely not in a schmaltzy rom-com-y mood. 

Enter Kristen Painter. 

I looked to see if any of my upcoming Nocturne Falls books were Christmas-season-themed. I love Nocturne Falls. Just enough "rom" and just enough "com" without being too much of either. Unfortunately, it looks like I would have to jump around in the series order to get to Christmas again so ... no. But in my recommendations list was the second Miss Frost book -- it being a spin-off series to the original Nocturne Falls and all that. I was confused as to why it was recommending the second and not the first ... until I discovered that I already had the first.

Whoops.

I was immediately pulled in to the story of Jayne Frost. Her father is Jack Frost -- the elven Winter King. Her mother is Santa's sister, Klara. She herself has had some difficulty finding her fit at the North Pole so is sent to investigate some strange disappearances happening at their flagship toy store in Nocturne Falls, Santa's Workshop. She goes undercover as a "normal" winter elf named Lilibeth Holiday rather than the super-magical elven princess that she is.

If you didn't already know, Nocturne Falls is a town in Georgia where Halloween is celebrated 365 days a year. Supernatural beings can be themselves -- werewolves, witches, vampires, and so on -- and human visitors can just think that it's part of the gimmick. The entire town participates but, even so, Santa's Workshop "was one hundred percent Christmas. Right down to the genuine icicles hanging off the eaves and the canopy over the door, and the swirls of frost in the corners of the windows."  The store even smells of pine, snow and peppermint.

It's a new experience for Jayne being away from the North Pole and not having to hide who she is -- well, not entirely. She has a magic bracelet that changes her blue hair to white blond and other physical differences so no one recognizes her as being Jayne. Besides that, she's free to just be an elf .... and to potentially hook up with other elves (like her college ex who doesn't realize that "Lilibeth" is Jayne) .... or vampires. 

I'm personally rooting for the vampire. 

With Jayne. Without Jayne. 

Whatever. 

I'm rooting for the vampire.

You may already know that I have a bit of a thing for the vampires of Nocturne Falls. We can add Greyson Garrett to the list. He made a brief appearance in The Vampire's Fake Fiancée as the stand-in Vampire On Duty and has "a voice that sounds like silk drawn over steel and dusted with the lilt of the Irish." Oh ... added bonus? He's also part Roma (aka gypsy). 

If I was reading a hard copy instead of an ebook there would be drool stains. 

Oh, yeah, and the whole mystery of the disappearing elves is good, too.

It's "rom" and "com" and cozy-level mysterious and festive and wonderful and I definitely give it five great big fluffy snowflakes. You know, instead of stars .... because Christmas Eve and whatnot ....

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

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

I'll Sleep When I've Read ... The Vampire's Fake Fiancée by Kristen Painter

The plan was originally to have this read in time for a Double-Feature Friday with The Professor Woes the Witch .... and then I got a horrible awful really bad no good cold and the accompanying medicine made staying awake long enough to read almost impossible. Not a big hardship at all. I got a lot of sleep, the cold is practically no more, and it gave me something all set to read for my nights off. 

If you want to share whatever has kept you up past your bedtime because you just needed one more chapter ... or the entire book ... please comment! My TBR pile is already toppling, but I can always add more.

It really doesn't shock me at all that The Vampire's Fake Fiancée would be the one to keep me up. 

After all, it's the story of Sebastian Ellingham.

Poor, wounded, heart-broken Sebastian. We first met in the very first Nocturne Falls book. Even though his brother Hugh was technically the hero, many readers (myself included) fell hard for Sebastian, whose heart was broken centuries ago by Evangeline.

She's back and nobody is happy about it. She seems to think that even after all of these years, that Sebastian is pining away just waiting for her (which he pretty much has been), and they can just pick off where they left off before she broke him and made him believe that he wasn't good enough to be loved. His solution to ending this train of thought? Tell her he's not only over her (he isn't), but that he's moved on (he hasn't), and is engaged to be married (again .... nope).

Tessa Blythe's sister, Jenna, is a deputy in Nocturne Falls and has been trying to convince Tessa to move there. They're Valkyries -- direct descendants of one of Odin's shield maidens -- and basically tough badass women. Well, except for Tessa. She lost her confidence and desire to pick up her sword long ago and is hiding from life as a librarian (hair in a bun, glasses, cat and all). Jenna gets her to come to town to apply for the position of the Dean of Libraries at the private school for supernatural children and before the interview is over she's pretty much guaranteed the position -- if she can help Sebastian convince Evangeline that she is his fiancée. 

I absolutely loved this from the very beginning. Sebastian is the brooding broken work-obsessed hero. Tessa is the timid, also broken, book-obsessed heroine. The whole thing only spans about a week -- including the time it take Jenna to get Tessa out of Ohio. It's a whirlwind week of learning about each other and themselves, convincing Evangeline that she is no longer the center of Sebastian's universe,  and, of course, falling in love.

"They were a perfect fit, the recluse and the bookworm. The weapons collector and the sword wielder. The vampire and the Valkyrie."

I started late Friday night. 

I finished early Sunday morning. 

Definitely worth staying up past my bedtime for.

The Professor Woos the Witch by Kristen Painter (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

I first encountered Kristen Painter's Nocturne Falls way back in October 2015 with a short story collection she had contributed to. I fell in love with the idea of the town that celebrates Halloween every day because it gives its residents -- many of whom are supernatural -- to be their natural selves The paranormal in Nocturne Falls is normal. I got sidetracked, as per usual, and I finally got around to binge-reading the first three books of  the series back in October 2019. And then ... yep ... sidetracked yet again. It's been entirely too long since my last visit so I'm making up for some lost time with the next two books. Hopefully it won't take me two more Octobers to continue.

Title: The Professor Woos the Witch

Author: Kristen Painter 

Publication: 8 October 2015 - Sugar Skull Books

Format: Kindle eBook

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Cole Van Zant doesn't believe in the supernatural. He's a math professor during the school year and a construction worker during the summer. He believes in absolute truths and he doesn't believe that there's anything truthful about the town of Nocturne Falls -- where he just moved with his thirteen year old daughter, Kaley, after inheriting an old Victorian mansion from a great uncle that he never knew. He plans to renovate, sell, and go back to life as normal.

Kaley, however, was told on her thirteenth birthday by her more-absent-than-not mother that she's an actual witch. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, she firmly believes that Nocturne Falls is the perfect place for her to learn her new Craft and after a major blowout with her dad, she runs away to the address of the woman listed as the town's "House Witch" -- real estate agent Pandora Williams. 

Pandora is an excellent and very successful realtor. She's also the least successful witch in town. 

Pandora appeared in the first book in the series and played heavily in the third since her best friend, Willa, was that story's heroine. Now we finally get to learn more about Pan and she learns a lot more about herself thanks to her growing relationships (working and otherwise) with Cole and Kaley after she agrees to help Cole with the renovations -- and with Kaley, even though Cole insists that it's still just a ridiculous phase that she'll grow out of. 

Of course, everything changes ... well, almost everything.

Nocturne Falls is still an amazing town. Even though it has been a couple of years since I last visited, my favorite characters are still worthy of favoritism. I'm looking at you, Stanhill. And Sebastian .... poor, broken, wonderful Sebastian .... but that's another ramble for another day and another book. Hopefully we'll keep seeing more of Cole and Pandora and Kaley. I don't really think it's spoiling anything when I tell you that part of the magic of Nocturne Falls is that Happily Ever After is as much a thing there as witches and vampires and all the rest.

(today's "56" is from what Kindle considers page 56 -- not my usual 56%)

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As always, Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

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

WWW Wednesday -- 27 October 2021

 

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

My Current Read : 

Published by Berkley in 2014, Queen of Hearts is the eighth book in the Royal Spyness Mystery series by Rhys Bowen. It starts in 1934 and Georgiana is still at Kingsdowne Place in Kent where we left her at the end of Heirs & Graces. Her mother, former actress Claire Daniels, shows up out of the blue to whisk her off to America. Claire wants to marry mega-rich German Max von Stroheim but first needs to be UN-married from Texas oil tycoon Homer Clegg. It should be easy. Leave Kent. Spend a couple of days in London. Take a luxury liner to New York. Take a train to Reno. Get a quickie divorce. Go home. Of course, nothing is every that easy. The "quickie divorce" has a waiting period so Claire and Georgie head to Hollywood to stay with the movie producer they met on the ship, Cy Goldman. Cy ends up dead. There's a jewel thief who may or may not be involved ... and good ol' Darcy O'Mara just happens to be the one investigating that end. We also have to deal with Queenie and her total lack of progress at being Georgie's maid, Belinda constantly appearing wherever and whenever the wind blows as long as there may be men and money involved, a lot of new faces and some not so new, and a rather bothersome Charlie Chaplin ... and me wondering why and how I've managed to stick through eight books. I have about 15% left right now and it might very well be my last 15% of the series.

Recently Finished :

I stayed up ridiculously late Friday and Saturday night in order to finish the amazing Nine Elms by Robert Bryndza in the wee small hours of Sunday morning. I rambled quite a bit about it on Sunday as part of a new blog feature and I highly highly recommend it -- especially if you like thrillers and serial killer tales and, perhaps, even if you don't think that you do. At least go read the ramble.

What's Next :

It is, after all, Halloween Week and I have two letters left for the Alphabet Soup Title Challenge -- V and Z. 

Vampires and Zombies for the win!

But. Because there's almost always a but.

I was undecided about whether I would do Kristen Painter's The Vampire's Fake Fiancée or Kirsty Dallas's Zombie Playlist first. I was I'm leaning towards Zombie Playlist because the Painter is the fifth in her Nocturne Falls series and I think I have only read the first three. I never blogged any of them and they were victimized by the killed off Goodreads account ... but I do remember that I loved them, and that they were fast and fun reads. I really need to read the fourth before the fifth so if I can sneak in The Professor Woos The Witch, the two together would likely make for a fun Double-Feature Friday. So Painter it shall be. Zombie Playlist will also happen if I have time but the most adorable hotel guest (who happens to be about 11 years old) recommended another book that she is quite enjoying ... and it happens to start with Z ... 

Spell of the Ball (8 Magical Halloween Reads)

Spell of the Ball was NOT originally on my TBR for the month ... but then I was gifted a copy by one of the authors ahead of tomorrow's publication date and it ended up being perfect for SO many reasons. Well, three in particular:

1. I had it readily available when I decided to stop trying to force myself to like something that was on my TBR
2. Several of the authors/series included I've been interested in checking out and this gives me a lots of little tastes ... even though I've had a bit of hyperventilation over the whole "not reading in order" deal
3. Today has been declared "Boys Day Out" for my son, his dad and HIS dad so after a quick trip to the grocery store I've stayed curled up reading without a care in the world

Spirits, Hurricanes, and the Krewe of Ghoul by Deanna Chase
Series: Pyper Rayne (spin-off series of Jade Calhoun series)
Thoughts: I already know and love Pyper from the Jade Calhoun series but haven't read the first book of her spin-off yet. It's now moving way up on my TBR list because, well, I still adore Pyper and I really have to know more about her ghost sidekick/nuisance Ida May.
Tease: 

The Witch’s Halloween Hero by Kristen Painter
Series: Nocturne Falls
Thoughts: Kristen Painter isn't an author I was familiar with but I hadn't made it more than a third of the way through "The Witch's Halloween Hero" and I was scouring Amazon for books in the Nocturne Falls series. If the books are as delightful as this short then I'll gladly make regular visits to the little supernatural community. 
Tease:

Bad Moon Rising by Michele Bardsley
Series: Angelica Mortis
Thoughts: As you probably know (unless you're new here), I skim the steamy stuff almost all the time. There was a LOT of skimming here. Angelica is a demon hunter with a drag queen bestie and a new wizard guardian which would normally make for a must-read series for me ... but the steamy stuff? Not my thing. After some looking I've discovered the author writes a bit of erotica so I should have known ... but ... at least I'm good at skimming!
Tease:

A Charming Death by Tonya Kappes
Series: Magical Cures
Thoughts: I know that reading this without reading any of the others in the series (7 books plus two other novellas so far) has subjected me to big ol' plot-line spoilers, but sometimes it just has to be done. A cute little tale but I'm not really sure if I'll be diving in to the whole series. The first one is free on Amazon for Kindle, though, so there's really no reason not to at least give a full-length installment a shot!
Tease:

Mission Impawsible by Melanie James
Series: Karma Inc.
Thoughts: Humor, werebears, and a whole lot of snark. I love snark. The series is apparently new and a spin-off from James' Literal Leigh series. Great. Now I have TWO more series to add to my list.
Tease:

One Charmed Evening by Rose Pressey
Series: Halloween LaVeau
Thoughts: I've read a couple of Pressey's books from before but not from this series and not in several years. With how much I loved this short I'm now kicking myself for not keeping up with her books more because I have a whole lot to get my grubby little hands on. I'm beginning to think that this collection of short stories wasn't the best idea for me to read ....
Tease:

Catatonic by Liz Schulte
Series: Sekhmet Bounty (forthcoming spin-off series of Guardian & Jinn trilogies)
Thoughts: Dangnabbit. Of the 8 short stories in this book I've read seven so far ... and have six new series added to my TBR ... BUT I don't ... I have MORE than that since this one if a spin-off of two others and then there's the James book above that was a spin-off of another series ... and good ol' Pressey has multiple series that all look good ... and ... and ... and ... there's a HOLIDAY anthology coming out in November with many of these same authors and some more new-to-me ones, to boot!
Tease:

Desperate Housewives of Olympus by Saranna DeWylde

Series: Ambrosia Lane
Thoughts: I'm a bit of a mythology junkie but this just didn't do it for me. Fictional twists on gods and goddesses typically fall flat for me (except for when they're written by Rick Riordan ... most days I would pick a trip to Camp Half-Blood over a trip to Hogwarts). Not a bad story, just not one that has me clamoring to get the series for. I will, however, read any future anthology installments I come across. Maybe it'll grow on me over time.
Tease: