One Hex of a Wedding

One Hex of a Wedding fits What's in a Name 6 because a wedding is a celebration.

Emerald O'Brien is about to marry her fiance, Joe.  But, events keep happening that it seems that the wedding will not occur.  First, Joe is wounded by a gunshot and Emerald's ex becomes the prime suspect.  Then her gown is found in tatters and the band cancels.  Everytime she puts on a necklace that her sister sent her, she gets this weird feeling.  When she finally researches the history of the necklace, she finds there was a ancient curse on it that a friend removes by putting the item in holy water.  By investigating, Emerald finds that Joe was not the prime target, their friend was and her maid of honor is also in danger.  Maeve not only gives Emerald the perfect dress, but she makes sure the wedding does occur.

I was familiar with sage being used to cleanse by American Indians as I had a class where we studied different cultures.  Emerald is in touch with the spirit world and used her powers for good.  I enjoyed reading this paranormal mystery and would recommend it to others.  It is the fifth book in a series but does well as a stand-alone.  I had not read the other books and could enjoy this one.

I Am Spock

I Am Spock by Leonard Nimoy has been on my shelf for awhile.  I read I Am Not Spock when it came out and decided that this would be my Non-Fiction Book for the Literary Exploration challenge. This is my I book for A-Z.

Mr. Nimoy uses conversations between himself and the character, Spock to help set the tone of this autobiography.  It covers his life from the beginnings of Star Trek (the original series) until the end of Star Trek VI (the Undiscovered Country).  It includes his experiences as an actor and director.

I have had the opportunity to see Mr. Nimoy speak at some of the New York Star Trek Conventions and on stage as Vincent.  I also watched him on Mission Impossible, Star Trek and in the story of Golda.  It is interesting to see the struggle he went through being accepted as a director of comedy and then of drama.

This book should be read by Mr. Nimoy's fans as well as fans of Star Trek.  It shows that he accepted the fact that he will always be connected with his most famous role.

Oak and Dagger

Oak and Dagger by Dorothy St. James is my 14th book in the Cozy Reading Challenge.

It is part of the White House Gardener series.

Casey Calhoun is a gardener at the White House.  Frida Collingsworth, the White House's curator, accuses Gordon of stealing he research and notes about Dolley Madison.  The President decided to dig holes for two trees in honor of his children.  Unfortunately, he hits a pipe and mud and water shot up from the hole.  Casey and the secret service grab the President to pull him away.  

Later, Gordon Sims, the chief gardener is found face down in the Koi pond.  Casey and her sidekick Special Agent Jack Turner perform CPR on Gordon until the medical staff arrives.  An ambulance takes Gordon to the hospital.  Because Gordon feels like a father to Casey, she does not want to lose him.  Casey decides to look for Gordon's tools as he went out to trim a hedge.  She finds his pruning saw and Frida's body.

Casey sets put to find Frida's killer and clean Gordon as his prints were on the saw.  She also is trying to find seeds or plants to duplicate a historical garden and find the missing documents.  While she is doing this, Casey winds up meeting her father, who had disappeared years before.  

I love these books.  The descriptions make you feel you are there.  The characters are wonderful.  I love the way Jack's house is described.  I look forward to reading further adventures of the White House gardeners.

Blogging Things I Suck At

Laura at http://musicplusbooks.blogspot.com is trying to get this tag to get around. I do not do well at embedding things or spelling.  I use dictionary.com as much as any other url.

I suck at housework.  It is not something I was taught.  Using a vacuum is ok.  I just don;t do it enough.  I prefer spending time on the computer or reading.  I do not usually blog about personal things on this blog.  I use this blog for reviews.

I have not done any giveaways or really tried to let more people know about my blogs.

WWRAT5 Update

I have completed reading four books:

Quincey, M.E.

Another Saturday Night & I Ain't Got No Body

Murder of the Cat's Meow

Zombie Man: Feared to Cheered

I have done the Jigsaw Cover and Title Scramble Challenges and have posted in Songs for the Summer links for the four books I finished and one for the one I am reading (Oak and Dagger).

I did attend the 1st Twitter Party.

Zombie Man: Feared to Cheered

Zombie Man: Feared to Cheered by Pat Hatt was a free book from Wayland Press by way of E.C. Stilson's blog.  I am using it as my Z book for A-Z challenge and it was read during WWRAT5.

Zombie Man is an illustrated book recommended for age 10 and older.  The zombie becomes a super hero by saving others.  I normally would not consider reading anything about a zombie but this book won me over.  I certainly would recommend it to anyone wanted to read a cute book.

Murder of the Cat's Meow

 





Murder of the Cat's Meow by Denise Swanson was read during WWRAT5.  It is a wonderful Cozy Mystery.

Skye Denison makes her living as a school psychologist and is engaged to the Scumble River police chief, Wally Boyd.  Her friend Bunny Reid is having a cat show and is starting a dating servicce at her bowling alley.  Skye is called to come to the bowling alley to help find a missing cat.  The cat is found and she is convinced to stay and help with the cat show. There were dealers selling things for cats and a photographer.  So, Skye buys some things for her cat and arranges to meet the photographer in the morning. She winds up serving dinner and washing dishes and stays to see who gets matched but leaves before the disco dancing afterwards.

The next morning, Skye arrives at eight and finds that the show's hours were 9 to 2.  She tries the door and finds it open.  Bingo, her cat was in a carrier and Skye sees brown ooze coming from the mesh of the carrier.  Bunny comes in and smells the mess.  Skye wants to clean Bingo and the carrier so she is directed to the basement.  While looking for the utility closet. she finds Alexis Hightowner strangled by a cat toy and quite dead.  Alexis was one of the judges during the event and was disliked by a lot of people.

Since Skye did not know if the murder is still in the bowling alley, she hurries up stairs, finds Bunny and tells her what happened and gets them to Bunny's office.  She locks the door and calls 911.  When the police arrive, they do not let Skye clean the cat up after she promisses to make a list of people who may have convinced Alexis to go to the basement who may have had a reason to kill her.  She answers their questions and they let her leave to clean up.

Skye also happens to be a consultant for the police department and consults with Wally about who may have motives.  The police come up with a major suspect who is nowhere to be found.  Skye eventually comes up with a clue as to where he might be.  He is caught and confesses but Skye still does not believe he committed the crime.

While all this is going on, Skye is still needed at the schools where she works.  She spends time at the different schools and if needed at one, has to reschedule at the other.  Skye and Wally set a date for their wedding and her friend Spike comes to town to investigate small town corruption.  The next day, Skye finds a clue in something Spike dropped which leads to the conclusion of the book.

The book ends with Skye shopping for a wedding dress.

I love cozy mysteries and this is a very good one.  There is the added bonus of a ghost who refuses to let Skye and Wally have sex at Skye's house and the attempt to get rid of the ghost.  Since I own three cats, like the fact that Bingo is not forgotten - even if Skye is away from home.  This book will be discussed later this month at the cat mystery lovers yahoo group and I do not want to say any more about the mystery.  This book is a must read for cat and cozy mystery lovers.