Book Giveaway!

Hello Peoples! I interrupt this hiatus to announce a book giveaway! Berkley Prime Crime is giving away one copy of, No Escape Claws by Sofie Ryan! 

If you would like a chance to win this cozy mystery, just leave a comment below informing me you would like to be entered in the drawing to win! This drawing is for U.S.A. residents only. You must have a valid U.S.A. address to win. I will announce the winner on February 5, 2019 on this blog. I will also post my review of the book that day. My good looking husband draws the winner! He’s very good at it!  🙂  Don’t be shy!

Much love ~

Kathy

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Classic Movie Friday!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Dick Van Dyke   Sally Ann Howes   Lionel Jeffries   Heather Ripley   Adrian Hall

Caractacus Potts is an inventor, raising a son (Adrian Hall) and a daughter (Heather Ripley) without a wife. An eccentric Grandpa (Lionel Jeffries), lives with them. Dad’s inventions are great, unorthodox, but great! Their home is run down but so much fun! And! They have a windmill! I loved the windmill.  🙂  The Potts are broke. Even though they don’t have any money, Dad stumbles upon a way to earn the funds to purchase a less than desirable old race car and he turns it into an amazing piece of machinery.  Caractacus, Jeremy and Jemima, along with their new lady friend, Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes) go on a grand adventure to save Grandpa! He’s been kidnapped! *gasp*

I love Dick Van Dyke. He’s a great entertainer. He can sing, dance, act!!! He didn’t disappointment me in this film. The story is silly, ridiculous and wacky but it is also touching in places and so much fun. I saw this film for the first time a few days ago. I know! This may sound odd, but I think, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was grateful to Caractacus and his children for saving said vehicle, and served them well for years and years!  🙂

Enjoy!

Alibis & Angels by Olivia Matthews

Publication Date: February 26, 2019

Publisher: Kensington Books

Complimentary copy from Kensington through NetGalley.

Sister Lou is back with another mystery. In this story, the mayor is receiving threatening letters. Her campaign for re-election will soon be announced and someone doesn’t want the mayor to be re-elected. After the director of finance, Opal, falls to her death, the mayor decides to seek out help. She doesn’t want the local law enforcement or the public to know about the mysterious, threatening letters, so she turns to Sister Lou for help.

I liked it. It was a good mystery. It was nice to see Shari, Chris and Sister Lou back again. The mystery was written at a good steady pace and the author did a great job with the antagonist who was annoying Shari! Of course, a Sister Lou mystery wouldn’t be complete without the ever pushy Sister Marianna! 4 **** stars!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Classic Movie Friday!

The Strange Woman (1946)

Hedy Lamarr   George Sanders   Louis Hayward   Gene Lockhart   June Storey

This film transports the viewer to Bangor, Maine where we meet Jenny Hager (Hedy Lamarr). As a child she is raised by an alcoholic father. She knows, even as a child, she is going to grow up into a beautiful woman and she’ll marry a wealthy man. After the death of her father, she marries a wealthy middle-aged business man (Gene Lockhart). Jenny is a piece of work. She does use his money for good, however, even though she is married she manipulates men and seduces them.

This film had two surprises in it! I did like the film. The Strange Woman is the first movie I’ve seen with Hedy Lamarr. She is lovely. George Sanders was in this film and it is the first movie I’ve seen where his character is a good guy!  🙂  In the past he’s always been a cad or an antagonist.

Have you seen a film with Hedy Lamarr? What films have you seen?

Enjoy!

 

Hello Peoples! :)

I hope everyone is enjoying January!  🙂  I am taking a hiatus. I will be gone for a few weeks, but I will return. I will post a book review now and then and Classic Movie Friday! You are all great and I look forward to returning soon! Thanks so much.

Much Love ~

Kathy

The Shoebox Mystery by Glenn Lindsey

Publication Date: December 4, 2017

Publisher: Xpresso Book Tours

Glenn Lindsey Children’s Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers

Complimentary copy from Xpresso Book Tours through NetGalley.

Billy Fender is a great kid! He’s smart, energetic, personable, inquisitive and he’s crazy about Sherlock Holmes!

Oh no! The television broke and now he can’t watch the Sherlock Holmes marathon that is coming to TV. He talks to his parents about a new television, but there isn’t any money for a new one. So! Billy decides to start his own business, to purchase a new TV ~ Billy Fender Private Investigations!

Miss Applebee hires him to investigate his first mystery. She finds a body, in a shoebox, in her garden. When Billy accepts the case, he calls on his friends, Lisa and Raffi to assist him in his sleuthing, not realizing they are about to embark on a great adventure!

The Shoebox Mystery is a great book for kids. I really enjoyed it. It’s well-written and at a good pace. 4.5 stars!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Xpresso Book Tours through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Classic Movie Friday!

Fallen Angel (1945)

Dana Andrews   Alice Faye   Linda Darnell   Percy Kilbride   Anne Revere

Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) is asked to leave a bus because he doesn’t have the funds to travel any further. He finds a small diner and visits it frequently. There he meets Stella (Linda Darnell), the waitress at the diner. Eric is a con man. He’s really not a nice guy. He wants Stella and he believes that if he had money she would marry him. So, he marries June Mills (Alice Faye) for her money. Soon after they are married someone is murdered and Eric is a suspect. However, his new bride loves him, believes in him and supports him. He does some sleuthing and discovers the identity of the real killer.

I like a good Noir film. I don’t really have a favorite but I do like Dana Andrews. Remember him??? Laura (1944) and Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950). 

The beginning of this film was questionable for me. I almost stopped watching it. I persevered and I was glad I did. It turned out to be a good movie and the ending was satisfying. Dana Andrews was a cad in this film, but the woman he married (June) knew he married her for her money and she loved him anyway. She believed in him and saw what he could become.

I felt sorry for the waitress (Stella). She’s a diamond in the rough. She was searching for a husband, home and family. That’s all she wanted. Her method of reaching said goal needed improvement.

I didn’t know who the killer was??? It kept me guessing. I suspected everyone at least once.  🙂  Good film.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

I finally did it! I read Dracula! Surprised??? Me too! I had little knowledge of Dracula and vampires and some such nonsense. In fact, the only knowledge I have of said fictitious creatures comes to me from, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and The Librarian III: The Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008). Abbott and Costello is of course comedy and The Librarian was really creepy and I didn’t like the film at all. I honestly didn’t know what to expect from the book. I had been tossing it around in my brain as to whether I should read the story or not. One fine day, I discovered Dracula in one of the little free libraries in town. I took it home, kept it for a few days and then returned it without reading it. *sigh* As my brother was known to say, Not to decide is to decide.  🙂  So, another fine day, a blogging friend encouraged me to read, Dracula, and here I am.

Amazingly enough, Dracula has a plot.  🙂  Dracula purchases an estate in England. Jonathan Harker is an attorney, who travels to Dracula’s castle, in Transylvania, to settle the estate. Soon after Jonathan arrives at the castle, he discovers he is a prisoner in said castle.

Dracula does leave Transylvania and travels to England. Not good!

The book is diaries, letters and journal entries. That surprised me but I’m ok with that form of writing. It was interesting. The first section of the book is Jonathan Harker’s journal at the castle and it is dark and creepy. I didn’t think the book was scary at all. It was heavy in places and creepy at times, but not frightening.

One interesting bit of information ~ Professor Van Helsing is a doctor from Amsterdam. I didn’t know that. I thought he was probably some random guy concerned about vampires! He’s a good character and a pleasant man. There are several characters in the story that were admirable ~ Jonathan, Mina, Dr. Seward, just to name three.

If you like Gothic novels, you might want to read this one. 3 *** surprising stars!

 

A Memory Of Violets by Hazel Gaynor

A Memory of Violets is the first book I’ve read for the Alphabet Soup Challenge! This is a story of London’s Flower Sellers.

Flora and Rosie Flynn are sisters, orphaned at a young age. In 1876, they live in the filth and squalor of London, selling flowers. Flora keeps her younger sister Rosie close to her, clinging to one another, devoted. One day they are separated and their lives take a very different path. Flora never forgets her younger sister ~ always searching for her.

In 1912, Tilly Harper leaves her home in the Lake District to work as an assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls. When she arrives at the home, she discovers a box with a journal in it. Tilly reads the journal and learns the story of Flora and Rosie. Tilly decides to search and learn what happened to the missing Rosie.

I loved this story. The author transported me from the beautiful Lake District, to the filth and horrific conditions of London. Here I met Flora and Rosie, without proper food and clothing ~ ignored, stepped on ~ clinging to one another, and Flora determined to take care of her younger sister! Here in the filth and disease the author also introduces us to individuals who care about the children living in these horrific conditions, one of them being Mr. Shaw. The girl’s in Mr. Shaw’s home are crippled or have a significant handicap. It was amazing how these girls created such beautiful silk flowers and flower arrangements. They were definitely artists. They encouraged one another, helped one another and they were typical girls, giggling, having fun, wanting to be treated like everyone else. They were very successful in their work, although, I would hardly call it work. They loved what they were doing. The author described everything so well. It is truly an extraordinary story. Mr. Shaw was a father to the girls. He knew them all by name and took wonderful care of them, although money was a concern and he had health issues.

The story has a few twists that surprised me. There is a small paranormal experience at the end of the book. I don’t normally read the paranormal. Anyway, I did love the story. I read the first 100 pages at the bakery. I couldn’t put it down! 5 ***** stars!

 

Classic Movie Friday!

The Secret of Convict Lake (1951)

Gene Tierney   Glen Ford   Ethel Barrymore   Zachary Scott   Ann Dvorak

Barbara Bates   Helen Westcott   Richard Hylton

Jim Canfield (Glen Ford) is a man wrongly accused and convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Jim along with several other men escape a prison in Nevada. Jim is determined to kill the man who falsely testified against him in court. Jim leads the criminals to a small community in the mountains. When they arrive the convicts discover the men of the town are gone, leaving the women alone. The men want food and shelter and they have a young man sick with a fever. Jim soon finds himself in love with the fiancé (Gene Tierney) of the man he wants to kill. He also realizes the women need to be protected from his cutthroat companions. The situation becomes tense and it gets complicated as the husbands return home. There was a shoot out and they were all bad shots! Those guys couldn’t shoot the side of a barn at ten paces! It was a good story though. I liked it.