Book Review: Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18) by Lee Hollis

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Death of a Tom Turkey (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery, #18)  by Lee Hollis  opens with Tom Farley and his neighbors in a snit because he's the last holdout to sell his house to a property developer who wants to build a resort. When Tom is shot at a pre-Thanksgiving community gathering and hospitalized, Hayley Powell puts her amateur sleuthing skills to good use. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Publishers for providing me with an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of this cozy mystery. I received a copy of this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion and review of the story. I loved the fact that this latest installment of the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery  series had a theme around the Thanksgiving holiday and included live turkeys in the plot. It was good to visit some familiar characters. Since this is the eighteenth installment in the series, Lee Hollis didn't go into much detail of the background of those reoccurring characters; however, she...
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Book Review: Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich

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sizzling sixteen janet evanovich stephanie plumIn the latest installment of the Stephanie Plum book series, Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich, Vinnie Plum has run out of luck. His gambling debts caused him to be kidnapped and put his business, Vincent Plum Bonds, in jeopardy. Vinnie's employee and cousin Stephanie ropes coworkers Lula and Connie into helping her find Vinnie.

Although, I thoroughly enjoyed Sizzling Sixteen, the one thing that I was confused about throughout the entire book was that Lula kept mentioning her car (a Firebird), and I thought it was destroyed in Finger Lickin' Fifteen (Stephanie Plum, #15). I kept telling myself that maybe she purchased a new Firebird, but she sure didn't act like it. I go back and forth between liking Lula and disliking her. There are some books where she just gets on my nerves, and this is one of them.

With that being said, I did enjoy that Connie was featured more than normal and that we learned a little bit more of her. I hope we get to see Connie featured more as the series goes on. And, I enjoyed getting to know Stephanie's cousin Vinny more as a full fledged character instead of being just a minor player in the series. I'm glad that his character description of being a weasel was expanded to show us how he was a weasel instead of just being told he was one. I think my favorite part was when he was locked out wearing only Stephanie's underwear and her utter horror of the situation. What I loved even more was when Morelli showed up with a replacement pair for Stephanie.

Have I mentioned that I really want Stephanie and Morelli to end up being married? If they got married, I feel like the story line could be advanced a bit without ruining anything.  I've seen it done in other book series, and it really worked out well. Furthermore, as much as I enjoy the character of Ranger, I'm growing bored of him being a distraction for Stephanie and getting in between furthering her relationship with Morelli. And, Ranger's character hasn't grown much since he quit working for Vinny.

All in all, I enjoyed Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum, #16) by Janet Evanovich and gave it four out of five stars. I can't wait to see what happens in Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum, #17).

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