Moonlight Murder by Uzma Jalaluddin

 

Title:  Moonlight Murder

Author:  Uzma Jalaluddin

Narrated by:  Deepti Gupta

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 56 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial the review copy of the physical book.  Audiobook purchased from audible.

Where was the last book that you read set?  I just finished Moonlight Murder this morning and it was set in Toronto, Canada.

Kauser Khan has moved back to Toronto to be near her family.  She soon finds herself involved in investigating the mysterious death of Qasim, a young man who was dating her granddaughter, Maleeha.  This mystery also inspires Kauser to investigate the hit and run death of her son, Ali, eighteen years before.  Was it an accident or was there more involved for both mysteries?

My thoughts on this book:

·       Moonlight Murder is the second book in the Detective Aunty series.  I did feel a bit behind in the beginning, but I soon caught up. I would like to read the first book in this series.

·       This was a cozy mystery that was relaxing to read.

·       This was great on audiobook.  Narrator Deepti Gupta has great voices for all the characters.

·       Kauser was a great character.  I loved how she is really coming into herself at her stage in life.  She no longer will fade into the background and lets her thoughts be known.

·       I liked the glimpses into the Muslim Pakastani heritage world.

·       The grief of losing a child is a theme and part of the discussion. 

·       Teenagers and bullying is also a theme.

·       I loved the female friendship between Kauser and her friend May.

·       There is a second chance for romance after being widowed for Kauser.

·       I enjoyed the family drama.

·       I really liked how the mystery was revealed, layer by layer with a few red herrings thrown in.  Kauser was great at talking to people, really listening to their stories, and putting together the puzzle pieces to solve the mystery.

·       I would recommend this book for those that love character driven mysteries such as The Thursday Murder Club.

·       There was a great ending for both mysteries – I did not guess how they would end.

·       There was also an awesome cliffhanger to set up the third book. I am ready to read it right now!

Overall, Moonlight Murder by Uzma Jalaluddin was very engaging and was a well-paced cozy mystery with great characters.

One Leg on Earth by 'Pemi Aguda

 

Title:  One Leg on Earth

Author:  'Pemi Aguda

Narrated by:  Délé Ogundiran

Publisher: Dreamscape Media

Length: Approximately 6 hours and 39 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @w.w.norton for the review copy of the physical book.  Audiobook purchased from audible.

What country is your current book set in?

Yosoye is a lonely women, excited to be in Lagos for an architectural internship.  After a one-night stand, she finds herself pregnant.  As other pregnant women start being found drowned in the sea, Yosoye feel herself pressed by a fear that she will be next.  Does it have anything to do with the new development she is working on that is located on reclaimed land that is meant for the rich?

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       The title comes from a saying, one leg on earth and one leg in heaven.

·       This is a literary novel that is also a women’s contemporary fiction novel.

·       It was a slow paced, but short novel.

·       It was interesting on audiobook.

·       The story explores the loneliness of motherhood.

·       I thought it was an interesting look at the parallels of growing a city as a designer and growing a new life within you as a mother.

·       I really enjoyed the setting in Legos.

·       The story never does resolve why the women were drowning.

Overall, One Leg on Earth by 'Pemi Aguda was an interesting literary fiction novel with a riveting setting in Lagos.

Fast and Fastidious by R.M. Caldwell

 

Title:  Fast and Fastidious

Author:  R.M. Caldwell

Narrated by:  Fiona Hardingham

Publisher: Harper Perennial

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 22 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of the physical book.  Audiobook purchased from audible.

Do you like to watch any type of racing?  My daughter is in track so I’m often at track meets these days.

Lucy Elliot strives to be a proper lady, but she secretly attends the Night Races.  The Night Races are carriage races on country lanes where unchaperoned men and women gather from all social classes.  When her new neighbor, Captain Dashwood starts racing, Lucy is afraid her secret will come out.  As carriage robberies start to take place in the neighborhood, will Lucy and Captain Dashwood be able to find the culprit?

My thoughts on this audiobook:

·       This a fun adventure story which was what I needed during a stressful week.

·       This novel is set during the Regency time period.

·       I loved how Lucy is a mechanical engineer at heart with her “fastidious” mind and she works on several item to make racing carriages go faster.  I love engineers in novels – especially lady engineers as I am an engineer myself.

·       Lucy seems like she is on the spectrum and it was interesting having her as a neurodivergent character.

·       The audiobook was entertaining.

·       I liked the unique concept of having racing in this novel.

·       The description on this book cover was Pride and Prejudice meets Fast and Furious which is accurate.

·       This is not really a romance even though it is labeled as one, it is more a mystery with espionage.

·       The loved the relationship between Lucy and her very different sister, Margaret.

·       This is a debut novel.

Overall, Fast and Fastidious by R.M. Caldwell was a light and fun regency historical mystery.

Retreat by Krysten Ritter with Lindsay Jameson

 

Title:  Retreat

Author:  Krysten Ritter with Lindsay Jameson

Narrated by:  Krysten Ritter

Publisher: Harper Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 41 minutes

Source: Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of the physical book.  Audiobook purchased from audible.

Who is your favorite con artist in book or film?  I love Thomas Crown in the Thomas Crown Affair.

Liz Dawson is a beautiful and smart woman who has lived her life as a serial con artist.  She takes an easy job installing a piece of art in Isabelle Beresford’s vacation villa in Mexico.  When she is mistaken for Isabelle, Liz takes over her life.  She soon finds out, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when we first practice to deceive.”  What secrets did the real Isabelle have and will Liz make it out alive?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I liked that the main character, Liz, is a con artist and it was interesting to hear her story and how she can pretend to be high class people and scam them.  Even thought she was a con artist; I find myself liking her and rooting for her.

·       This was riveting to listen to on audiobook.

·       This was a fun book to read.

·       I loved the beautiful Mexico setting.  It was nice this week especially with the giant blizzard we had in Northeast Wisconsin.

·       I don’t want to give away the plot, but I sort of guessed the end, but not quite all the way.  There was a great twist!

·       There were a lot of rich people behaving badly in this story.  It was a good escapism read.

·       This was a fast-paced suspense thriller and a quick read.

·       The story is contemporary and a psychological thriller. 

·       The ending was open ended and has kept me thinking.   I do wish it had been a clear ending. 

Overall, Retreat by Krysten Ritter with Lindsay Jameson was a great escapism thriller read.

 

Passage to Tokyo by Poppy Kuroki

 

If you could take a secret passage to any time period, what would you chose?  I think at this moment, I would pick the 1920s.  I’d like to go and visit my Great-Grandma Kile as a teenager and help her out during the terrible time when she and her siblings were abandoned by her father, and she was trying to keep care of her dying mother.

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of Passage to Tokyo by Poppy Kuroki.

In 1995 Tokyo, Yui Sanada is struggling to help her mother make ends meet and raising her twelve-year old brother Hiro.  One day, Hiro disappears into a tunnel at Ueno Park.  Yui follows him and finds herself in 1923, Tokyo.  As she looks for her brother, she meets a young nanny named Chiyo.  Chiyo takes her home to stay with her family.  While she searches for her brother.  Yui realizes that the Great Kanto Earthquake will happen in a few weeks.  Will she be able to save her brother before the earthquake?  Without about Chiyo and her family?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       There was a historical romance between Yui and Chiyo as their relationship grows.

·       This was also a historical fantasy with time travel involved in the story. I love time travel in novels.  It brings up so many ethical concerns and interesting questions.  If two different time travelers leave at the same time, will they end up in the same time period? When you go “back,” what time period are you going back to?  How does the past change due to time travelers?  How many time travelers are there in this world?

·       This was a new time period for Japanese history for me and it was very interesting.

·       I did not know about this devastating earthquake.  It was written in vivid detail and would have been a terrible thing to see and experience.

·       Immediately after the earthquake there was terrible racism against Koreans and non-Japanese.  Thousands of deaths were actually people murdered after the earthquake due to the rumors that Koreans were poisoning the wells or doing other terrible things.  The rumors were not true, but they caused a lot of deaths.

·       I was sad again thinking about how many people died in the past due to not having proper medicine or medical care.

·       I was sad that at the end of this book, a character disappears during WWII, and it is never determined what happened to the character.

·       This was the second book in the Ancestor Memories series, but it can be read as a standalone.  I do want to go back and read the first book.

·       There was an interesting author’s note at the end as well as historical timeline and glossary.

Overall, Passage to Tokyo Poppy Kuroki was a fascinating historical fantasy sapphic romance that has the reader to experience the Great Kanto Earthquake in real time.

The Jilted Countess by Loretta Ellsworth

 

Title:  The Jilted Countess

Author:  Loretta Ellsworth

Narrated by:  Caroline Hewitt

Publisher: Harper Audio

Length: Approximately 8 hours and 24 minutes

Source:  Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of the paperback copy The Jilted Countess by Loretta Ellsworth.  Audiobook copy purchased from Audible.com.

What is your favorite Valentine’s Day candy?  I am a fan of chocolate myself – dark or milk chocolate!

Roza Meszaros was a ballerina in Vienna and a Hungarian Countess.  WWII destroyed the opera house, and the communists have taken the family estate.  Her father never returned after being taken by the Nazis. The one bright spot is her fiancé, Joe, an American GI.  After falling in love and becoming engaged, Joe returned to the US.  They continued to write and figure out how to get Roza to the United States.  Two years later, she arrived in Minneapolis, ready for marriage with Joe, but he doesn’t show up.  She soon discovered he has married another.  Needing to find a husband in just under two weeks to stay in the US, Roza tried a desperate bid and told her story to the Minneapolis Star newspaper.  She received over 1,000 offers of marriage.  Who will she marry, and will it work out?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       How terrible to travel all the way to the United States to marry your GI American fiancé, only to find him married to his former American sweetheart.

·       This book was set in St. Paul and Red Wing, Minnesota. This was the second book that I read within two weeks to mention a date at Como Zoo in St. Paul.  I visited that zoo once when my kids were small, but it made me want to visit again. 

·       This was a very engaging story; I didn’t want to stop listening to the audiobook!  The narrator was fantastic.

·       I loved how the letters and dates made it seem like an old-fashioned bachelorette.

·       Roza is a fish out of water in Red Wing Minnesota living a very different life than what she grew up with as an aristocrat.  I loved how she was able to make a life that worked for her with starting a ballet school.

·       This historical romance had one of my favorite tropes of marriage of convenience. 

·       The romance was closed door.

·       Finn has PTSD after losing his entire platoon in WWII.  He has invisible wounds that no one can understand except for Roza.

·       Finn has a degree in mechanical engineering and works for the railroad.

·       I was very annoyed by some of the poor choices that Roza made, but I loved the ending.

·       There is a fascinating author’s note at the end about the real-life countess who inspired the story.  It was interesting that there is no trail for what really happened to her after she was married.

Overall, The Jilted Countess by Loretta Ellsworth is an engaging historical romance that shows how life can go on with a marriage of convenience when two people work together on their relationship. 

A Royal Christmas Wedding by Rachel Hauck (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @tnzfiction for the review copy of A Royal Christmas Wedding by Rachel Hauck.

Have you ever attended a Christmas wedding?  I’ve been to a couple of weddings right after Christmas, but not on or before Christmas.  It’s a beautiful time of year to get married, but we did have to drive through a snowstorm to get to one.

Avery Truitt was a college volleyball star and has dreams of coaching college volleyball.  She is traveling with her mother to the (fictional) Kingdom of Brighton for the holidays as her sister, Susanna, is pregnant.  She will see her former love, Prince Colin, for the first time since he stood her up at prom five years ago.  Will Avery be able to find out the truth on why Colin ghosted her?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I loved the prologue.  It was a very exiting story set in the 19^th century where a man must ring the Pembroke chapel to signal that there will be a royal wedding on Christmas day.  This last time the bell was rung, it resulted in death.  I admit that I did want more resolution on this flashback and wish the story would have flash backed to it again.

·       This is book number four of a series, but it was okay reading it as a standalone.  I would like to read the rest of the series.

·       This book is definitely for fans of the Christmas Prince series on Netflix.  This book would make a good Hallmark Christmas movie.

·       This was a slow read for me and I’m not sure why, maybe the business of the season?

·       This was a clean read and inspirational contemporary romance.

·       It was a modern-day fairy tale.

·       Brighton royalty all seems to marry girls from the American south for some reason.

·       The trope was second chance romance which is one of my favorites. 

·       This story had echoes of Persuasion by Jane Austen although this time it’s the man, Colin, who is persuaded that he shouldn’t pursue a relationship with a foreign non-royal.

Overall, A Royal Christmas Wedding by Rachel Hauck is a sweet inspirational contemporary romance that is for lovers of Hallmark Christmas movies and the Christmas Prince series on Netflix.

The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for the review copy of The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey.

What is your favorite book, story, or movie that features a governess?  I love Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and the movie Mary Poppins.  I felt like the Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey channeled a bit of both in this new and unique story.

Miss Lada Cassidy is a Scottish governess that has taken a post in Singapore.  She is the governess to a young girl, Sarah Jane, who has recently lost her mother and six siblings.  Her father seems not quite himself.  Miss Cassidy utilizes her special skills and realizes that Captain Bendemeer is being sapped of his energy by a vampire spirit.  As she helps them out, she meets the widower Mr. Kay who also has his own problems.  Will she also be able to help Mr. Kay and his family?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I loved this book and the rare and fun story.

·       This is a historical fantasy novel.

·       I enjoyed the Singapore setting.  I was intrigued by the setting and enjoyed when Miss Cassidy ventures out into Singapore and meets new people

·       I loved the character of Miss Cassidy.  She is quirky and smart.  I enjoyed how she solved the supernatural mysteries of what is going on.  She is an unusual being herself.  I liked learning more about her as the story progressed and I can’t wait to learn more.

·       This story is told in three parts.

·       This is the first book in a new series.  I can’t wait to read the next book.

·       The story takes place from 1895 to 1904.

·       I adored the old-fashioned chapter titles.

·       I appreciated the romance.

·       The story incorporated Singapore and Scottish folklore.

Overall, The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey was a unique and charming history fantasy novel.  It had great characters, setting, and supernature elements.

F*cked Up Fairy Tales by Liz Gotauco (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @w.w.norton for the review copy.

What is your favorite fairy tale?  My two favorites are Beauty and the Beast and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

F*cked Up Fairy Tales Is a collection of some of the “strangest and darkest stories humans had the audacity to invent.”

My thoughts on this collection of stories:

·       Publication Date is October 7, 2025.

·       This was an entertaining book that was perfect for me.  I have loved reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales and “real” fairy tales from around the world since I was young.  I once read the entire fairy tale, myth, and legends section of my middle school library.  Fractured Fairy Tales were my favorite thing to watch as a kid and this collection is the adult version.

·       The introduction details the authors research on fairy tales across the world.  It was fascinating.  There are many similarities between stories, but also some truly odd ball stories.

·       There is also a list of trigger warnings before the stories start that was hilarious.  Real fairy tales are not Disney stories.

·       There were great drawings/illustrations throughout the book.

·       In the stories there were little asides from the contemporary point of view.  They were hilarious, but also sometimes stopped the flow of the story.  The stories are told through contemporary language.

·       The stories were from all over the world

·       There were great references at the end of each story for further reading if you enjoyed the story.  There was also a great overall reference section at the end of the book.

·       F*cked Up Fairy Tales is apparently a TikTok web series.  I need to check this out.

·       The book was split into five different sections:  F*cked Up Family Trees, Swipe Right to Your Happy Ending,  So. . . . You Married an Animal, What’s Your Body Count?, and Crappily Ever After.

·       Many of the stories made me gasp and think “WTH did I just read?” “OMG”  “LOL” I laughed a lot while reading this.

Overall, F*cked Up Fairy Tales by Liz Gotauco is a hilarious book of some of the strangest fairy tales one will ever read.  I appreciated the details and facts.  It’s perfect for any fan of “real” fairy tales.

The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer (Bibliolifestyle Book Tour)

 

Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @bethanyhousefiction for the review copy of The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer.

What is blooming in your area?  We have a lot of hydrangeas blooming around town and turning beautiful colors.

Zoe Dufour is a soon to be 30-year-old podcaster that is beginning to doubt she will find the true love that she reads about in her favorite Regency novels.  When a Regency themed singles retreat opens not far from her hometown of Minneapolis, she decides it would not only be a great topic for her podcast, but also a great place to look for love.  Her best friend’s brother Harrison is back in town and is her podcast producer.  Will sparks fly between the two?

My thoughts on the novel:

·       I loved all the Jane Austen references throughout. They were delightful.

·       I wish that A. Nathaniel Gladwin, a fictional regency era author in the novel, existed.  I want to read her novels!

·       The novel has dual narrators as it switched between Zoe and Harrison.

·       I loved the Minneapolis setting.  It’s nice to read books set somewhere else besides New York City!

·       This novel was a contemporary romcom set in a fictional regency themed singles retreat. So, there were great costumes and dancing.  I loved everything about it.

·       It was a very fun book, and I loved the humor throughout the novel. Zoe and Harrison had great banter.

·       I enjoyed the side romances between other characters as well.

·       Zoe and Eden’s friendship was also great.

·       Zoe must learn to bend her own dating rules to find happiness in life.

·       This was a clean read.

·       Great tropes in this novel – friends to lovers (or best friend’s brother to lover), forced proximity and slow burn.

·       The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer was published on September 2, 2025.

Overall, The Rules of Falling for You by Mollie Rushmeyer was a sweet and delightful contemporary romcom set primarily at a regency themed dating retreat.  I loved the characters and the storyline.  It’s a fun book and I especially recommend it to all my fellow Jane Austen and regency lovers.