Welcome to the Monthly Book Report and Book Review Link-up #22 – MAY 2026!
On the First Wednesday of each month I will be sharing my latest read – which could be a cookbook, a celebrity chef biography or memoir, a lifestyle book, a gardening book, a homemaking book or maybe even a cozy kitchen mystery book. They may be paper books, eBooks, or audio books. I have challenged myself to read or listen to at least one book per week, and I plan to share that with you all here.
In addition to my Book Report, there will be a Book Report LInky – a chance for all of you to share your own book review blog post (TWO per blog, please). We want to see what had you page flipping, can’t put it down, totally captivated.
Lastly will be a few Featured Reviews from the previous month’s shared posts. This will be a post picked at random by the host. Each host will likely pick their own features – so that’s multiple chances to be featured!
If you have any suggestions for me on book I should check out – please let me know!
Title: Cappuccinos, Cupcakes, and a Corpse: A Cape Bay Cafe Mystery, Book 1
Author: Harper Lin
Publication Date: January 2017
Published by:Tanter Media
Listed Price: $14.99 (paperback)$9.77 (audio books
About the Author:
Harper Lin is a 3x USA TODAY Bestselling Author of cozy mysteries. When she’s not reading or writing mysteries, she loves going to yoga classes, hiking, and baking with her family and friends.
Brief Description of the book:
Francesca Amaro moves back to her hometown of Cape Bay, Massachusetts, and takes over the family business, Antonia’s Italian Café. She spends her days making delicious artisan cappuccinos, until she stumbles upon her neighbor’s dead body. When the police discover Mr. Cardosi was poisoned, Francesca becomes a suspect. The victim’s son, Matty, happens to be Francesca’s old high school friend. Together, they uncover the secrets of the locals in order to find the killer in their idyllic beach town. Includes two special cupcake recipes!
My Review:
This month I spent a lot of time driving in my car, so I listened to a mess of audiobooks. I got into two different Cozy Murder Mystery Series – one of which was the Cape Bay Cafe Mystery Series by Harper Lin. It starts with the typical gal lost in the world and is brought back to her home town by the sudden loss of family only to find a crime to solve and maybe a love that was always there. While it is a bit of a cliche plot – Lin writes it very well. It is engaging and interesting. She has such vivid imagery and really dives into the Cafe owner aspect with details on the baking and coffee artistry. As an audiobook, this is a great series to dive right into as the narrator is very easy to listen to.
Title: A Deadly Grind: Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series, # 1
Author: Victoria Hamilton
Publication Date: October 2013
Published by: Tantor Media
Listed Price: $7.99 (mass market paperback) $19.94(audiobook)
About the Author:
Victoria Hamilton is the pseudonym of nationally bestselling romance author Donna Lea Simpson. Victoria is the national bestselling author of four mystery series: the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, the Merry Muffin Mysteries, the Lady Anne Addison Historical Mysteries and the Gentlewoman’s Guide Regency Mysteries. She is also the bestselling author of Regency and historical romance as Donna Lea Simpson.
Brief Description of the book:
A Hoosier to die for? When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister that the 19th-century yellow-brick house they share in Michigan is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s “junk,” she successfully outbids the other buyers and triumphantly takes home her Hoosier.
When a doctor is discovered dead in his own office, Mrs Jeffries is on the look-out for a prescription for murder, determined to discover the culprit, despite how her employer feels about interviewing suspects . . . “He hated questioning people. He could never tell whether or not someone was actually lying to him, and he knew, shocking as it was, that there were some people who lied to the police on a regular basis.”
My Review:
This is the second series I got into listening this last month and I also really liked it. It is a light but intersting tale of a local gal thrust into the middle of a crazy murder mystery brought to the titny town by a hapless criminal ring after a valuable antique. The storytelling is well done with each character all their own. You get an excellent layout of the town and it’s people. I have already listened to the second in the series and I am next in line to borrow the 3rd installment from my local library.
This Months’s Featured Posts:
These are posts that stood out from the list of linked up posts last month. I hope you will hope over and check out their review. And don’t forget to link-up your own book-centric posts – YOU MIGHT BE NEXT WEEK’S FEATURE!
Theo of Golden
Shared by Between the Bookends
The Perfect Child
Shared by Mom Lit
The Book Review Linky
Meet Your Librarians…errmmm I mean Hosts!
Now for the link-up!
Party Guidelines:
1. Please take some time to poke around and visit some of the other links.
2. Please take some time to check out your hosts and co-hosts on social media.
3. We appreciate the variety of blogs on the www; however, the Book Review Linky is for links related to Books. Please link accordingly.
4. All Captions need to be Family-Friendly and PG. If your post has EXPLICIT content, you must label it in the caption. If you DO NOT DO this your link will be removed.
5. You may add as many Book-Centric Posts as you like.
With your help, we can continue to grow the Book Review Linky Party ! Thank you!
We are looking for Co-Hosts. Help us Rock this party!
If you are interested, please contact Estelle at homemadeonaweeknight@gmail.com
By joining the Book Review Linky, you signify permission for the listed Hosts to share your posts and images here and receive an email reminder when our next Book Review Linky is LIVE.
