The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams (Friday 56)

Title: The Secret, Book & Scone Society

Author: Ellery Adams
Publication: 31 October 2017
Format: Kindle ebook 

Amazon Description: 

A quirky club in small-town North Carolina holds the keys to health, happiness, friendship—and even solving a murder—all to be found within the pages of the right book…

Strangers flock to Miracle Springs hoping the natural hot springs, five-star cuisine, and renowned spa can cure their ills. If none of that works, they often find their way to Miracle Books, where, over a fresh-baked “comfort” scone, they exchange their stories with owner Nora Pennington in return for a carefully chosen book. That’s Nora’s special talent—prescribing the perfect novel to ease a person’s deepest pain. So when a visiting businessman reaches out for guidance, Nora knows exactly how to help. But before he can keep their appointment, he’s found dead on the train tracks.
 
Stunned, Nora forms the Secret, Book, and Scone Society, a group of damaged souls yearning to earn redemption by helping others. To join, members must divulge their darkest secret—the terrible truth that brought each of them to Miracle Springs in the first place. Now, determined to uncover the truth behind the businessman’s demise, the women meet in Nora’s cozy bookstore. And as they untangle a web of corruption, they also discover their own courage, purpose, and a sisterhood that will carry them through every challenge—proving it’s never too late to turn the page and start over…

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

This is actually a re-read -- something I seldom feel the urge to do with books published within the past decade or so. I'll marathon watch television series multiple times -- especially when a new season is approaching -- but I rarely do with books.

Ellery Adams is different. In the best way.

I had already teased and rambled after the first time I read this gem in September of 2018 ... but it wasn't a Friday 56 post so that gave me the perfect excuse to share again.  

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

Revisiting Leslie Meier's Mistletoe Murder

The first time I attempted to read Mistletoe Murder was in December. It must have been the wrong time of the month for me to read it or something because I kind of freaked out, wrote a freaking out end to my blog post for it, and quit reading it.

Then a few weeks back came my beloved Kensington with an offer to read the latest in the series ahead of publication through NetGalley. I was torn. It was a pretty epic freakout and it would mean skipping straight to book # 22 in a series .... which I never ever do .... but .... in the end, I couldn't resist. So I downloaded # 22 and went back to reread # 1.

And I'm glad that I did.

Granted, the cause for my freakout was still there and still seems pointless. It could have been written in so many other ways without hurting the story, but when it comes right down to it, it ended up being a minor blip in an otherwise fun read.

By the end of the book (which took me less than a day to read -- including time spent sleeping and working) I cared about the characters and the town and decided to bump Candy Corn Murder up to the next book on my mental TBR ... and within just the first couple of chapters I'm already itching to backtrack and read the rest of the series in order as they should be.

Deanna Chase's Witches of Bourbon Street

This is the second book in the Jade Calhoun series. Trust me when I tell you that you want to read the first one before you even read this ramble.

Really.

Go do it.


So, have you ever had a character in a book that you've just wanted to shake really hard and maybe even give a good slap with a "Suck it up, Buttercup!" added for good measure? That's how I felt about Jade through much of Witches of Bourbon Street.

Twelve years ago her mother (a witch) disappeared during a coven gathering and ever since Jade has shunned all witchcraft. She's an empath but didn't know until the end of the first book in the series that she, too, was born with the craft in her blood. She's a white witch and , potentially, a very powerful one. And she fights it. And she whines about it. And she complains about the fact that it would be best for everyone around her if she actually learns how to use it. Her good friend and mentor, Bea, was badly damaged in the previous story. It's now three months later and Jade is the only one who can save her -- whining and complaining be damned.

Whining and complaining be damned? Oh, there's a lot more than that being damned this time around!

She finally finds her magic and saves Bea but, as it turns out, there are a lot more lives and souls at stake this time around than just Bea's.

There are witches trapped inside of portraits and voodoo dolls. Those "three ugly witches" that the strip club uses in their slogan? Yeah. Them ... and quite possibly Jade's missing mother, as well.

Her ex-boyfriend, Dan, appears to be possessed by something evil.

Her current boyfriend, Kane, has been making out with an evil angel.

Yeah, you read that right. An evil angel.

Through all of the turmoil and evil and men trouble, Jade still has her support system of Pyper, Kat, Bea and ghost hunter Ian ... and even Aunt Gwen has arrived from Idaho! (She got to be friends with Bea on Facebook and the two discovered they were at witch camp together years ago. Cute, huh?) With all of the crap she's dealing with she needs as much support as she can get!

The steaminess from the first book is still present but not as much (not much steaminess, after all, when your boyfriend is getting busy with someone else). Instead there's a lot more tension and anxiety and I may have actually caught myself holding my breath more than a couple of times while reading. I do it watching horror movies, too -- as though holding my breath will make the evil not be able to get to me through the screen/page/whatever. Believe me, the evil here you want to avoid coming into personal contact with.

Unfortunately for Jade she doesn't have much of a choice. Not if she wants to save those that she cares about. She comes to realize (much to her dismay) that in order to deal with the evil she needs her witchcraftiness (is that even a word? It must be since I just used it.).

Spells, potions, dreamwalks, general witchcraftiness and evil encounters (including some in Purgatory) take up much of the second half of the book making it for a quick-paced read. A little confusing at times, but it clears itself up. Of course, not everything gets cleared up ... there are more books in the series to read, after all.

Deanna Chase's Haunted on Bourbon Street

I first got Haunted on Bourbon Street in May 2012 thanks to it being a freebie on Amazon (which, at the time of this writing, it still is .... or is again .... whatever). I'd read that and then the second book in the series, Witches of Bourbon Street, and then got distracted by other things and life and never continued. I found out that one of my favorite side characters was going to be getting her own spin-off series which made me anxious to catch up. Of course, there are now six books in the Jade Calhoun series and the spin-off is set for March so that's a lot of catching up in a little time ... but first, I felt like I should refresh my memory on what happened!

(For now I'll only do a quick ramble about Haunted so you can then go and read it yourself before jumping in to Witches. You know I don't like spoilers -- getting OR giving!)

Jade Calhoun is an empath who has recently moved to New Orleans from Idaho. Her best friend since high school, Kat, lives there and Jade had lived with her for the the first month until it got a little too awkward. Kat happens to be dating Jade's ex-fiance which, of course, Jade didn't know when she agreed to relocate. SO, Jade decides to move in to her own place -- an apartment over the top of a strip club named Wicked. They advertise themselves as having "hundreds of beautiful women and three ugly ones."

Jade does a "cleansing" of the apartment before moving in with some sage and cedar, knowing a bit about such things from the witches in her own family. All seems to be well and good. She's given a housewarming present from her new co-landlords, Pyper and Kane, which includes some edible body powder called Honey Dust. It's been a long day and she takes a bath to unwind and give herself a cleansing... and quickly discovers that she's not entirely alone.

So, her apartment is haunted and ghost hunters are called in to try and straighten things out.

Before long Jade bonds with Pyper -- working for her part-time at a cafe and helping out when needed as a bartender at the strip club in exchange for some free furniture. She also feels a strong attraction to Kane and carries on a flirtation with her ghost hunter, Ian.

Oh, yeah. And she has sex dreams with the ghost.

(Yeah .... there's that. I'm the first to admit that I'm pretty prudish when it comes to what I read but luckily I also have an amazing talent of skipping over "steamy." It helps, too, that the dream occurrences are mostly italicized which makes it a lot easier to skip over. The "real life" steaminess that happens? Well, I'm a good skimmer.)

As it turns out, Jade isn't the only one with ghost issues. Pyper is having them, too, but hers aren't nearly as .... ummmm .... friendly. To make matters even more confusing, the ghost Jade refers to as "Mr Sexy" isn't the only one invading Jade's dreams.

With the help of her new friends, her psychic aunt (Gwen) back in Idaho, and her own empathic abilities Jade sets out to figure what's going on -- not only with the ghosts, but with her own life in general.

Steaminess aside, it's an excellent read. Even the second time around there were parts that got me laughing out loud and parts that got my heart racing from the suspense and anxiety oozing from the pages (or screen, since I've been reading it on my phone).

And now on to the next ...