Book Review: The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

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The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a historical fiction novel that spans many years and tells of the friendship between former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune. I don't know if I would have picked up this book if it hadn't been the August selection for one of the book clubs I belong to in my area because I don't read a lot of historical fiction. However, I am so glad that I read it and was able to learn many things I hadn't learned about in any of my history classes.  I don't recall learning anything about Mary McLeod Bethune, and she is an important part of American history. The things she helped spearhead to provide African American people equal rights is quite impressive. One of the things I was horrified to learn about is Franklin D. Roosevelt's resistance to stop lynchings because he was afraid of losing the Southern Democrats backing for his New Deal Bill. Another thing that I fo...
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Book Review: A Catered Murder (A Mystery with Recipes, #1) by Isis Crawford

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a catered murder isis crawford
A Catered Murder (A Mystery with Recipes, #1) by Isis Crawford opens with Bernadette Simmons moving back to New York from Los Angeles, California to work for her sister Libby's catering business called 'A Little Taste of Heaven'. They get hired to cater a high school reunion where the guest of honor is Laird Wren who writes vampire novels. But when he keels over and dies, Libby becomes a suspect.
 
This cozy mystery series has potential to be a great series. I enjoyed the storyline well enough to keep reading, and it kept me engaged. The main characters were likable and had some good character development.
 
However, the thing that annoyed me about A Catered Murder by Isis Crawford is that there were some poor word choices in my opinion. It seemed as though the author had a thesaurus sitting next to her as she wrote and would randomly throw in a more complex word. Although the reader could figure out what the word means, the sentence structure didn't flow as well. It also seemed like the author was using big words just for the sake of using big words when a simpler word would have sufficed in many of these instances. Furthermore, there were a few instances where I wasn't sure who was speaking, and I had to reread the exchange a couple of times.

All in all, I enjoyed A Catered Murder (A Mystery with Recipes, #1) by Isis Crawford and gave it three out of three stars. If you liked this book, I recommend reading Killer Cupcakes (Lexy Baker, #1) by Leighann Dobbs.


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Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 28, 2023 at 9:31 AM

    Too much vulgar language for a cozy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 29, 2023 at 1:32 AM

      I don't remember it having much, if any, vulgar language in it.

      Delete

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