Carole's Monday. Murder ar Raven's edge

Author: Louise Marley

Narrator: Christopher Bonwell
Title: Murder at Raven's Edge

Series: An English Village Mystery #1

Genre: Murder Mystery, Thriller, Romance
Format: Audiobook
Published:  May 7, 2024
Where I Got It: Audible 

Summary: 

When Milla Graham returns to her childhood home of Raven's Edge after eighteen long years away, she finds the perfect English village looks much the same – all rose-covered cottages, nosy neighbours, and chintzy teashops full of scones and gossip.

But her nostalgic visit takes a dark turn when the body of a local woman is discovered in an abandoned manor house on the edge of the forest. The murder scene is chillingly close to that of Milla’s own mother, whose death was never solved. As she begins to investigate the connection, Milla realizes this adorable village is guarding some dark secrets.

Handsome, grumpy local policeman Ben Taylor doesn't believe in coincidences, and he doesn’t think mysterious newcomer Milla Graham is as innocent as she seems. Why is she really here in Raven’s Edge, and how come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes, causing trouble? Can he solve this murder case without losing himself – or his heart – to the rather distracting Miss Graham?

When another body is found, everyone becomes a suspect – from the barmaid at the local pub to Milla Graham herself. It seems that in Raven's Edge, not everybody is as friendly, or as innocent, as they first seem...

Review:

This was my pick for book club!

Here we follow Milla and Ben. Ben is a grouchy policeman who doesn't believe in coincidences, and he doesn't trust newcomer Milla Graham. Why is she really here in Raven's Edge? How come she keeps turning up at his crime scenes? There is a murder, and she is connected somehow. Milla returns home to Raven's Edge after 18 years. She is here to figure out who really killed her mother and why. When a body shows up that is eerily similar to her mother's...she knows that her life could be in danger. Can she trust Ben? Can she trust herself? 

It took me a minute to get fully into the story. I didn't like Milla. I didn't trust her. Every other word is a lie. I guess I'm a grumpy man like Ben hahahaha. But once we really got past her web of lies to others and to herself, I grew to like her. I wanted the truth to come out. 

Honestly... my biggest takeaway from this book is that if people told the truth, none of this would have happened! Yes, some lies were meant to protect, but in the end...it made things worse. I wanted to shake everyone. THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREEEEEEE!

I enjoyed the mystery and uncovering it. There were times I was super confused, but then by the end it ALL made sense. The ending made me happy. 

The narrator did an okay job. His voices for characters weren't that different, so you really had to pay attention. 

Overall, I did end up liking this story. The beginning and the one main character were a slow start for me, but it was worth it. Nice mystery and interesting charatcers. I know there was a murder there...but can I move to the town? It sounds like an adorable small town. 

4 stars from me. 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #24

Audio: So material a change

By: Amy D'Orazio

Narrated by: Stevie Zimmerman

Series: The Engaged to Mr Darcy Series

Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins

Release date: 09-15-21

Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing

Own

Another engaged to Darcy book!

In this one someone tries to compromise Darcy and he ends up blurting out he is already engaged...to Lizzy! She says she can play along for a little while, but that is it. The she goes home and Collins proposes. And her mother and father tells her she must marry. So then she also blurts out that she is already engaged.

Both lies. But both better than the alternative.

Caroline is a scheming B. Collins is a creep. Wickham is a creep. Miss Darcy is a mess. Mr Bingley has no spine. Society looks down on Lizzy. They have their work cut out for them.

But as always, it all works out, happily. And I wonder how they will get engaged in the next book.

Great narration too. I enjoy her voice.

MATRIMONY IS THE LAST THING on Elizabeth Bennet's mind when she arrives at Netherfield Park to tend to her ill sister. When proud Mr Darcy acts rashly to thwart a compromise and tells her that the entire household believes they are engaged, she dismisses him outright and refuses his offer of marriage.

BUT MORE SURPRISES AWAIT her at Longbourn. Mr Collins is ready with an offer of marriage and it is not only her mother who thinks it a fine match; Mr Bennet is willing to press the point until Elizabeth makes clear such a connexion is impossible-because she has accepted an offer of marriage from Mr Darcy.

IT IS AN INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNING, an engagement neither desires, driven to by the machinations of others. Yet what begins as a forced alliance soon changes into something quite different. Will it be enough to lead them into love?

The spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Series: Spellshop (#1)

Format: 376 pages, Paperback

Published: July 9, 2024 by Tor UK

Cozy fantasy/own

This was a cozy fantasy, I am a bit afraid of those because not a lot happens, but this was sweet.

Kiela is a librarian who flees the city with books as the city burns . She has a talking plant with her and goes back to the island she left long ago. She settles in her parents house and decides to make the best of it.

The islanders are nice, well except for one. There is a nice fisherman too. But she is always afraid the rebellion and the books she took will catch up with her.

I enjoyed it and it was a sweet and easy read. I will def read more

Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.

When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.

In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.

But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.

Audio: Nobody´s quest by Alyssa Day

Narrated by: Maeve York

Series: The Nobody Chronicles, Book 1

Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins

Release date: 06-02-26

Publisher: Tantor Media

Categories: Romance, Fantasy /to review

Soli is an indentured servant and will be that for the rest of her life. She is a nobody, and something called a greymind that makes her mind slip away at times.

And then she is dragged away with others to try and put their hand in a box. And if they burn they are the wrong person. Well that is not good.

She is the chosen one, as she is not dead. But she probably will be as she and some others are going on a quest to save their missing Goddess. Through lands ravaged by war and monsters.

There will be some romantic tension growing on this quest. There will be danger, and hopefully some answers for her greymind situation. But as it ends the journey is not over, but just beginning.

I enjoyed it, and I wonder if they will get to save their missing Goddess.

The narrator was also well done, and she did different voices well.

For a hundred years, Altarra has burned. The goddess of war, Morrigan, has conquered kingdom after kingdom, leaving only ruin in her wake. Every prophecy says the same thing―nobody can defeat her. And after a century of failure, someone finally takes that literally.

When the goddess Artemisen chooses Soli Graymind―a nobody from the lowest caste who suffers from chronic depression―to lead one last desperate quest, the world laughs. But Soli won't be alone. She's joined by five others just as broken, just as A thief with no Guild. A noble with no wealth. A sorcerer with no hope. A warrior with no morals. And a prince with no kingdom―the one man she can't stop thinking about, even when hope itself is dying.

Together, they are Altarra's last chance.

Because maybe being a "nobody" is more powerful than anyone imagines―including themselves.