Review: The Candy Cane Caper

Friday, October 18, 2019


"The theft of a friend’s priceless, family-legacy Christmas ornaments brings amateur detective and culinary expert, Sadie Hoffmiller, back on the case in a new standalone cozy mystery.

"In the latest chapter to the Culinary Mystery series, amateur detective Sadie Hoffmiller continues combining her sleuthing with her cooking and baking to connect with people and gain information she might otherwise not have access to. Moreover, now that Sadie is married to Detective Pete Cunningham, she has a street-savvy husband to test out her crime-solving theories.

"With Christmas approaching, Sadie is preparing for a large blended-family gathering including many new grandchildren--in their home in Fort Collins, Colorado.  Even with the festive chaos, Sadie drops everything when word gets out that her friend, Mary, is the victim of a holiday robbery.   

"At ninety-four years old, and nearly blind, Mary knows this is may be her last Christmas and the last year to enjoy her family heirloom Christmas tree ornaments. She wants just one more holiday to display her ornaments and following Christmas Eve Mass, she’ll pass them on to her great-granddaughter, Joy. Though priceless to the family, the collection has been valued at $40,000, and the Christmas tree in the care facility has never looked so good. But before the ornaments can be retrieved by Mary, eleven of the most expensive ornaments are stolen.  

"A holiday Christmas caper might be new to Sadie, but she’s ready to mix in her seasoned crime-solving skills with a pinch of new holiday recipes."

I learned something about myself while reviewing this book, that has the most adorable cover, by the way. I can read most books out of season, but I cannot read Christmas books out of season. I tried, getting about 50 pages in to The Candy Cane Caper, but ultimately put it down because I knew I would simply enjoy it more reading it in December rather than October. That being said, I am looking forward to picking it back up nearer to Christmas. I have never read any of Kilpack's culinary mysteries, but I am familiar with her other books and have enjoyed them, so I am hopeful I will enjoy this one as well. In case you are interested, here is my favorite Kilpack book.

Title: The Candy Cane Caper
Author: Josi S. Kilpack
Publisher: Shadow Mountain 
Format: Paperback 
Price: $15.99 on AmazonThe Candy Cane Caper (Cozy Culinary Mystery)
Source: Shadow Mountain

Fashion & Fiction was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Review: Six Ingredient Meals with Six Sisters' Stuff

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

"With only six ingredients or less per recipe, making dinner has never been easier.

"Six Sisters’ Stuff is one of the most popular blogs for quick and easy cooking and entertaining at home for families. In their eighth cookbook, they tackle how to master meals for any cook with any skill level with more than 100 easy recipes made with incredible flavor combinations from just six ingredients or less.

"From beginning cooks learning the basics to busy parents looking to save time in the kitchen, this cookbook is loaded with entrees, side dishes, and desserts. Whether it’s a one-pot wings dish or a no-bake peanut butter bar this cookbook is a fool-proof solution to meal planning and features kid-friendly chapters such as “Kid Favorites” and “Kids Can Cook.""

I have to admit, when I received Six Ingredient Meals with Six Sisters' Stuff in the mail, I may have squealed. I love cookbooks. I cannot get enough of them. And I could not be happier to add Six Ingredient Meals to my collection of cookbooks. Here is what I love about this particular cookbook. It is beautiful. It has full page photographs of every single recipe. (Anyone else dislike cookbooks with no photos?!) When opened to a recipe, it lays open flat on my kitchen counter without the need to crack the spine. (It's the little things, I tell you!) It has a great index. (Again, the little things!) And the recipes. They are truly simple and so many look and sound terrific. I am particularly drawn to the side dishes, which frankly I need more of in my personal collection. I cannot wait to try the maple-roasted butternut squash, the twice-baked bacon-and-chive sweet potatoes, the watermelon feta salad and the pomegranate salsa. Now, excuse me while I get into the kitchen and start cooking.

Title: Six Ingredient Meals with Six Sisters' Stuff
Author: Six Sisters' Stuff
Publisher: Shadow Mountain 
Format: Paperback 
Source: Shadow Mountain 

Fashion & Fiction was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Favorite Books of 2018

Monday, December 31, 2018
I am excited to share my favorite books of 2018 with you. These are the books I loved. These are the books I couldn't put down. These are the books I am still thinking about today. Let's get to them, in no particular order. (I should note, these are my favorite books I read this year. They were not necessarily published this year.)

The Book Thiefby Markus Zusak
5 stars

World War II historical fiction written from the perspective of death. It was like nothing I had read before. I loved everything about it from its unique narrator to its storyline to its writing. It was beautiful.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
5 stars

World Word II historical fiction told through letters. Though this was a reread for me, I had forgotten the story. I laughed and cried through the entire thing. I loved it. Pretty much the perfect book for me.

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
5 stars

A unique structure, an unreliable narrator, tragedy and hope. It again was like nothing I had read before. I must admit, I had to work for it, but I loved it.

Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
5 stars
Finally, Marilla's story. It was done so, so well. I fell in love with Marilla and Matthew and Green Gables all over again. This one could have been so disappointing, but it absolutely wasn't it. I thought it was perfect.

2018 Reading Goals - Wrap up

My reading goals this year were to...

READ MORE CLASSIC LITERATURE

READ MORE NONFICTION

READ MORE FROM MY SHELVES (PHYSICAL/KINDLE/NOOK/GOODREADS)


How did I do?

I READ 12 CLASSIC BOOKS

I READ 12 NONFICTION BOOKS

I READ 28 BOOKS FROM MY SHELVES

I am really, really happy with how I did.

#theunreadshelfproject2018 - Wrap up

One of my reading goals this year was to read more books from my shelves, whether they be my physical shelves, the shelves on my Kindle or Nook, or the shelves on my Goodreads account. To help keep me accountable, I loosely joined in with #theunreadshelfproject2018 on Bookstagram and checked in here, on my blog, monthly to see how I progressed with my goal. Overall, I read 28 books and removed 23 books. Here is how my shelves look today.

PHYSICAL (15)
Between Shades of Gray 
Salt to the Sea
The Alice Network
Reading People
The Chemistry of Calm
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Kristin Lavransdatter
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Gilead
A Share in Death
The Five Love Languages
How to Hug a Hedgehog
I am Malala
For Times of Trouble
Why I Don't Hide My Freckles Anymore
Intuitive Eating

KINDLE (5)
Brideshead Revisited
Whose Body
Cloud of Witness
Unnatural Death
Angelfall

NOOK (2)
A Timeless Romance Anthology - Mail Order Bride collection
Murder on the Orient Express 

GOODREADS (138)
The Book Thief
The Thorn Birds
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Jayber Crow
An Ember in Ashes
The Once and Future King
The Wednesday Wars
The Beekeepers Apprentice
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery
I Capture the Castle
Sense and Sensibility (The Austen Project #1)
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
Flight of the Sparrow
The Gilded Years
Dead Wake
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Amy Snow
Hannah Coulter
The Sea of Tranquility
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Girl in the Castle
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
The Eyre Affair
Gift from the Sea
Poison Study
Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2)
Emma (The Austen Project #3)
My Brilliant Friend
The Year of Living Danishly
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap
The Penderwicks
Honeymoon Hotel
The Night Circus
Code Name Verity
The Marvels
Moon Over Manifest
Enchanted Islands
At Home in Mitford
The Sweetness of Forgetting
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Into Thin Air
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper 
My Life in France
My Berlin Kitchen
The Professor and the Madman
Quartet in Autumn
The Muse
A Clearing in the Distance
Winter Solstice
Gods in Alabama
The Historian
The Winds of War
Team of Rivals
One True Loves
Atonement
The Tea Rose
The Night Watch
Night
Life After Life
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Mindset
Walk on Earth a Stranger
The Anatomist's Wife
A Portrait of Emily Price
Grave Mercy
Death at La Fenice
A Study in Charlotte
A Beautiful Blue Death
Flight of Dreams
I Was Anastasia
From Doon with Death
The Coroner's Lunch
Raven Black
A Test of Wills
The Cater Street Hangman
The Crossing Places
Whispers Beyond the Veil
The Mangle Street Murders
The Kitchen House
First Impressions
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Legendary
Another Day in the Death of America
The Essex Serpent
Caroline
The Other Alcott
Big Stone Gap
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Name of the Wind
Possession
Uncharted
Force of Nature
Birds of a Feather
The Likeness
Loving Lucianna
Terms of Endearment
Three Wishes
Still Me
The Horse Dancer
The Dark Enquiry
A Perilous Undertaking
The Austen Escape
A Fall of Marigolds
Origin
The Secret of the India Orchid
The Fairest Beauty
My Cousin Rachel
The Suspect's Daughter
Jane Austen's First Love
Orphan Train
Dawn at Emberwilde
44 Scotland Street
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window
The Forgetting Time
The Sea House
A Conspiracy in Belgravia
Magpie Murders
Caleb's Crossing
For Darkness Shows the Stars
The Moonstone
The Day the Angels Fell
Six of Crows 
Rules of Murder
The Mountain Between Us
Luck, Love and Lemon Pie
The Madwoman Upstairs
The Bean Trees
The Aviator's Wife
The Seven Sisters
Jane of Austin
Unequal Affections
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
A Wilder Rose
Everything I Never Told You
The Great Halifax Explosion
Dark Matter
The Time In Between
The Darkling Bride 

2018 Reading Goals - December update

December ended up being an okay month for my reading goals. Here is how I did.

READ MORE CLASSIC LITERATURE
  • I read one classic book - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
READ MORE NONFICTION
  • I read no nonfiction books
READ MORE FROM MY SHELVES (PHYSICAL/KINDLE/NOOK/GOODREADS)
  • I read no books from my shelves

#theunreadshelfproject2018 - December update

One of my reading goals this year is to read more books from my shelves, whether they be my physical shelves, the shelves on my Kindle or Nook, or the shelves on my Goodreads account. To help keep me accountable, I will be loosely joining in with #theunreadshelfproject2018 on Bookstagram and checking in here, on my blog, monthly to see how I am progressing with my goal. Here's how my shelves look today.

PHYSICAL (15)
Between Shades of Gray 
Salt to the Sea
The Alice Network
Reading People
The Chemistry of Calm
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Kristin Lavransdatter
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Gilead
A Share in Death
The Five Love Languages
How to Hug a Hedgehog
I am Malala
For Times of Trouble
Why I Don't Hide My Freckles Anymore
Intuitive Eating

KINDLE (5)
Brideshead Revisited
Whose Body
Cloud of Witness
Unnatural Death
Angelfall

NOOK (2)
A Timeless Romance Anthology - Mail Order Bride collection
Murder on the Orient Express 

GOODREADS (138)
The Book Thief
The Thorn Birds
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Jayber Crow
An Ember in Ashes
The Once and Future King
The Wednesday Wars
The Beekeepers Apprentice
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery
I Capture the Castle
Sense and Sensibility (The Austen Project #1)
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
Flight of the Sparrow
The Gilded Years
Dead Wake
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Amy Snow
Hannah Coulter
The Sea of Tranquility
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Girl in the Castle
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
The Eyre Affair
Gift from the Sea
Poison Study
Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2)
Emma (The Austen Project #3)
My Brilliant Friend
The Year of Living Danishly
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap
The Penderwicks
Honeymoon Hotel
The Night Circus
Code Name Verity
The Marvels
Moon Over Manifest
Enchanted Islands
At Home in Mitford
The Sweetness of Forgetting
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Into Thin Air
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper 
My Life in France
My Berlin Kitchen
The Professor and the Madman
Quartet in Autumn
The Muse
A Clearing in the Distance
Winter Solstice
Gods in Alabama
The Historian
The Winds of War
Team of Rivals
One True Loves
Atonement
The Tea Rose
The Night Watch
Night
Life After Life
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Mindset
Walk on Earth a Stranger
The Anatomist's Wife
A Portrait of Emily Price
Grave Mercy
Death at La Fenice
A Study in Charlotte
A Beautiful Blue Death
Flight of Dreams
I Was Anastasia
From Doon with Death
The Coroner's Lunch
Raven Black
A Test of Wills
The Cater Street Hangman
The Crossing Places
Whispers Beyond the Veil
The Mangle Street Murders
The Kitchen House
First Impressions
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Legendary
Another Day in the Death of America
The Essex Serpent
Caroline
The Other Alcott
Big Stone Gap
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Name of the Wind
Possession
Uncharted
Force of Nature
Birds of a Feather
The Likeness
Loving Lucianna
Terms of Endearment
Three Wishes
Still Me
The Horse Dancer
The Dark Enquiry
A Perilous Undertaking
The Austen Escape
A Fall of Marigolds
Origin
The Secret of the India Orchid
The Fairest Beauty
My Cousin Rachel
The Suspect's Daughter
Jane Austen's First Love
Orphan Train
Dawn at Emberwilde
44 Scotland Street
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window
The Forgetting Time
The Sea House
A Conspiracy in Belgravia
Magpie Murders
Caleb's Crossing
For Darkness Shows the Stars
The Moonstone
The Day the Angels Fell
Six of Crows 
Rules of Murder
The Mountain Between Us
Luck, Love and Lemon Pie
The Madwoman Upstairs
The Bean Trees
The Aviator's Wife
The Seven Sisters
Jane of Austin
Unequal Affections
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
A Wilder Rose
Everything I Never Told You
The Great Halifax Explosion
Dark Matter
The Time In Between
The Darkling Bride 

What I've Been Reading - December 2018

Welcome to What I've Been Reading, where I share my quick and personal thoughts on what I've been reading this past month. For specifics about each book, click on the provided book images.

Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan
3 stars
Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery is the third in Colgan's Little Beach Street Bakery series. I really loved the first in the series. I found it simple, sweet, quirky and fun. Unfortunately, the second and third books didn't quite live up to the first. However, I still enjoyed them and am glad to have read the entire series.

5 stars
Harry Potter needs no introduction. It has been six years since I read this series for the first time, so I felt it was time for a reread. I think I may have enjoyed this second reading more than the first. It was such a joy. I can't wait to read the rest of the series in the coming year.

Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
5 stars
I was so excited, yet so nervous to read Marilla of Green Gables. I had nothing to worry about, however. It is wonderful. I absolutely loved it. The story McCoy weaved feels genuine and I believe would be approved my L.M. Montgomery herself. Just beautiful.

2 stars
My family recently decided to start a family book club. My husband got the honor of choosing our first book and chose The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I must admit, I laughed out loud a few times while reading it, but ultimately, it wasn't for me. I am looking forward, however, to discussing it as a family.

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan
4 stars
Colgan is quickly becoming a favorite author. Her books are simply a lot of fun and The Bookshop on the Corner is no exception. This one combined two of my favorite things -- Books and Scotland. I enjoyed it so much and would be happy if Colgan turned this one into a series.

5 stars
5 stars
I thought I would return to the rest of this series in the new year, but I couldn't wait. I am so glad I didn't. These are the perfect books to read during the Christmas season. I am enjoying them so, so much this second time through. 

2018 Reading Goals - November update

Friday, November 30, 2018
November was an okay month for my reading goals. Here is how I did.

READ MORE CLASSIC LITERATURE
  • I read one classic book - A Little Princess
READ MORE NONFICTION
  • I read no nonfiction books
READ MORE FROM MY SHELVES (PHYSICAL/KINDLE/NOOK/GOODREADS)
  • I read no books from my shelves

#theunreadshelfproject2018 - November update

One of my reading goals this year is to read more books from my shelves, whether they be my physical shelves, the shelves on my Kindle or Nook, or the shelves on my Goodreads account. To help keep me accountable, I will be loosely joining in with #theunreadshelfproject2018 on Bookstagram and checking in here, on my blog, monthly to see how I am progressing with my goal. Here's how my shelves look today.

PHYSICAL (15)
Between Shades of Gray 
Salt to the Sea
The Alice Network
Reading People
The Chemistry of Calm
Jane and the Wandering Eye
Kristin Lavransdatter
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry
Gilead
A Share in Death
The Five Love Languages
How to Hug a Hedgehog
I am Malala
For Times of Trouble
Why I Don't Hide My Freckles Anymore
Intuitive Eating

KINDLE (5)
Brideshead Revisited
Whose Body
Cloud of Witness
Unnatural Death
Angelfall

NOOK (2)
A Timeless Romance Anthology - Mail Order Bride collection
Murder on the Orient Express 

GOODREADS (138)
The Book Thief
The Thorn Birds
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Jayber Crow
An Ember in Ashes
The Once and Future King
The Wednesday Wars
The Beekeepers Apprentice
The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery
I Capture the Castle
Sense and Sensibility (The Austen Project #1)
The Girl Who Wrote in Silk
Flight of the Sparrow
The Gilded Years
Dead Wake
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Amy Snow
Hannah Coulter
The Sea of Tranquility
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand
The Girl in the Castle
Ballad of the Whiskey Robber
The Eyre Affair
Gift from the Sea
Poison Study
Northanger Abbey (The Austen Project #2)
Emma (The Austen Project #3)
My Brilliant Friend
The Year of Living Danishly
The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap
The Penderwicks
Honeymoon Hotel
The Night Circus
Code Name Verity
The Marvels
Moon Over Manifest
Enchanted Islands
At Home in Mitford
The Sweetness of Forgetting
The Big Rock Candy Mountain
Into Thin Air
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper 
My Life in France
My Berlin Kitchen
The Professor and the Madman
Quartet in Autumn
The Muse
A Clearing in the Distance
Winter Solstice
Gods in Alabama
The Historian
The Winds of War
Team of Rivals
One True Loves
Atonement
The Tea Rose
The Night Watch
Night
Life After Life
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Mindset
Walk on Earth a Stranger
The Anatomist's Wife
A Portrait of Emily Price
Grave Mercy
Death at La Fenice
A Study in Charlotte
A Beautiful Blue Death
Flight of Dreams
I Was Anastasia
From Doon with Death
The Coroner's Lunch
Raven Black
A Test of Wills
The Cater Street Hangman
The Crossing Places
Whispers Beyond the Veil
The Mangle Street Murders
The Kitchen House
First Impressions
Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore
Legendary
Another Day in the Death of America
The Essex Serpent
Caroline
The Other Alcott
Big Stone Gap
The Time Traveler's Wife
The Name of the Wind
Possession
Uncharted
Force of Nature
Birds of a Feather
The Likeness
Loving Lucianna
Terms of Endearment
Three Wishes
Still Me
The Horse Dancer
The Dark Enquiry
A Perilous Undertaking
The Austen Escape
A Fall of Marigolds
Origin
The Secret of the India Orchid
The Fairest Beauty
My Cousin Rachel
The Suspect's Daughter
Jane Austen's First Love
Orphan Train
Dawn at Emberwilde
44 Scotland Street
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed out the Window
The Forgetting Time
The Sea House
A Conspiracy in Belgravia
Magpie Murders
Caleb's Crossing
For Darkness Shows the Stars
The Moonstone
The Day the Angels Fell
Six of Crows 
Rules of Murder
The Mountain Between Us
Luck, Love and Lemon Pie
The Madwoman Upstairs
The Bean Trees
The Aviator's Wife
The Seven Sisters
Jane of Austin
Unequal Affections
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk
A Wilder Rose
Everything I Never Told You
The Great Halifax Explosion
Dark Matter
The Time In Between
The Darkling Bride