Here Comes the Bride

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. There Goes the Bride by M.C. Beaton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


When Agatha's Ex-husband, Charles, invites Agatha to his Wedding with a young Spanish woman named Felicity, Agatha feels jealous. She decides to take a trip to Istambul to get over her jealousy and possibly find romance there with her French friend, Sylvan, only to find that Charles and his fiancee are guests at the same hotel as Agatha. The Wedding is set and Agatha and her friend, Toni attends the enagement party; but when the Bride is murdered, Agatha is named prime suspect. The bride's parents hires Agatha to investigate the murder of their only daughter. There are many twists and turns in the investigation with a surprise ending.

I enjoyed the book. This is the third Agatha Raisin book I've read. Though I really enjoyed Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death , Here Comes the Bride is as funny and witty as The Quiche of Death. Agatha Raisin is a middled aged woman who retires to the Cotswolds. She owns a Private Detective Agency and goes around the Coswolds solving crimes in the style of Agatha Crhistie's character, Mrs Marpole.

Born in Scotland, M.C. Beaton worked as a journalist on Fleet Street. Ms Beaton divides her time between the village of Carsley in the Cotswolds and Paris.

The Undomestic Goddess

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Samantha Sweeting is a high powered, Workaholic attorney for a respectable law firm, Carter Spinks. She is good at her job and is waiting to be made a Partner at the firm. On the day she is to learn if she made Partner she discovers a huge error she's presumubly made.....one that costs her client £50,000 and Samantha her job. With her career over, Samantha flees her London life and boards a train to the country. Arriving at Gloucester, she comes across this house and rings the doorbell.

To her surprise she is mistaken for a housekeeper by Trish who opens the door. Samantha is confused as to why she'd be mistaken for a housekeeper. She knows nothing about keeping house. But soon she is offered the position. Samantha accepts the job thinking it is only a temporary thing. With little knowledge of what to do with a whisk or a broom, Samantha assumes the role of housekeeper, leading her employers, Eddie and Trish Geiger, to think she is a top-notch housekeeper and cordon blue chef! Learning as she goes along, Samantha begins to love her new role and life in the country.

She meets Nathaniel, the Geiker's gardener, his mother, Iris, who teaches Samantha how to cook and bake bread. Can Samantha keep her secret identity from her new employers and Nathaniel? Is she ready to toss her lawyer career down the drain and become a full-time housekeeper? The Undomestic Goddess is the story of a girl who has to slow down, fall in love, turn her life around and discover what an iron is for!

I really enjoyed this book. It made me laugh so much my sides ached! I read many of Kinsella's works, including the Shopoholic series, Remember Me and Can You Keep A secret, but this book really drew my interest. I couldn't put it down!

Little Beach Street Bakery

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan




After Polly Waterford's world turned upside down when the business she and her depressed and ' mamma's boy' boyfriend, Chris, went down the pan and had to sell their flat in Plymouth, all Polly wanted to do was start a new life.

She found a cheap flat in Cornwall in the little sleepy Cornish village of Mount Polbearne. There she meets a motely crew of characters including the insufferable Mrs Manse, her grumpy landlady who owns the local bakery, a group of lively fishermen, an American bee keeper named Huckle, Huckle's eccentric friend, Reuben and a puffin named Neil.



Polly tries to forget her past and takes out all her frustrations by kneading bread, which is Polly's favourite pastime. Soon her bread becomes famous throughout Polbearne and word soon spreads of her delicious bread much to the chagrin of Mrs Manse who forbids her to bake more bread. Determine to continue making bread, Polly starts selling her bread to the locals in secret.

When an accident strikes, though, involving Mrs Manse, Polly is forced into helping the old woman in the bakery. Soon Polly, with the gift of a brick oven given to her by Huckle's friend, Reuben, opens a new Bakery in town called The Little Beach Street Bakery.



I enjoyed this book from beginning to end! I especially loved Kerensa and Rueben's Star War-themed Wedding and the scene where Neil comes in the picture. Without giving too much away, the book has a happy ending.



This is the fifth food- related book that Jenny Colgan has written. I loved her Meet Me at the Cupcake Café, and she delighted me in The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris.

What inspired me to read her books was her baking -themed fiction. Being a baker at heart, I can relate to several of the characters in Jenny's books.



Each of these books include lots of recipes for the reader to try. Little Beach Street Bakery is a feel good kind of read. One of the themes covered in the book is starting over or turning a new leaf in life. The characters are well-rounded and believable. My favourite characters in the book are Polly Waterford, Neil the Puffin, the unforgettable Tarnie, Huckle, the Beekeeper from Savannah, Georgia, Polly's quirky friend, Kerensa and the eccentric chef, Reuben.



Born in Scotland, Jenny Colgan now lives in London and France with her husband and three children. Her books, Rosie Hopkins Sweet Shop of Dreams has won her the Romance Novel Award in 2013. A true Dr Who fan, Jenny has written a Doctor Who- related book, Dr Who-Into the Nowhere (Time Trip). Life definitely is Sweet with Jenny Colgan!

The Humans

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books.
The Humans by Matt Haig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Humans tells the story of an unnamed Alien who has assumed the identity of Mathematician, Andrew Martin after he discovered the Riemann Hypothesis—a hypothesis that would advance human technology by leaps and bounds! The Alien’s race, the Vonndorians, sent this alien to assume Professor Martin’s identity with the task of destroying Andrew’s hypothesis. The Vonndorians thought that the humans weren’t ready for this type of technological advancement.

In the process of his mission, the alien began to assimilate with the humans and began to like their ways. Through curiosity the alien began to deeply examine and question this primitive race and in doing so, fell in love with humanity and its many idiocracies and intricate ways. He fell in love with poetry, especially the poetry of Emily Dickenson; he fell in love with life itself.  In a way, this book is a love story as seen through the eyes of an alien.  This book isn't merely a a Sci-Fi story; it is also a love story.  It is the story about humanity and the quest to examine our own existance.  In one of the chapters the alien has written a set of advise for The Humans.  I thought this was brilliant!


Written at a low time in his life, The Humans is a semi-autobiographical work by the author of The Radleys. In this book, Haig has put his own humanity under the microscope, trying to make sense of this human existence and piece together his role in humanity. I found the book to be well-written and beautiful. It is a story everyone must read. It is one of those books that a person cannot tire of reading. This is the second book by the author I’ve read. I intend to read his other works. I strongly recommend this book to readers everywhere.



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The Christmas Basket

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. The Christmas Basket by Debbie Macomber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A Silver tea set was what sparked a row between two friends that turned into a family feud between the MacDowells and the Suttons. Mary Sutton lent Real Estate Agent, Sarah MacDowell, a family heirloom which once belonged to her grandmother—a silver tea set. Sarah had lent it to another Real Estate Agent whom Mary couldn’t stand for her Open House. The tea set was stolen and Mary never forgave her friend for losing her beloved tea set. This sparked a grudge between the two friends that went on for years, affecting everyone in their households and the community at large.

Their children, Noelle MacDowell and Thom Sutton bore the brunt of that grudge. Both children fell secretly in love with each other since high school. They planned to confront their feuding mothers and announce their plan to elope.
Both mothers were dead set against the idea. Nineteen year old Noelle stood up to her mother, Sarah, and stormed out of the house to meet her beloved Thom at the pre-arranged meeting place, only to find out that Thom had stood her up.
Hurt, betrayed and writhing with anger, Noelle moved to Texas vowing never to return to Rose, Oregon again. She wanted to forget about Thom Sutton.

But when her sister, Kristen, announced she was getting married to Jonathon, she asked her sister, Noelle to come to Rose to discuss wedding plans. Adamant to return to the place where her heart was broken, Noelle felt trapped. She didn’t want to return to Rose and come face-to-face with the man that broke her heart; but then again, how could she miss her chance to see her sisters. Boarding on a plane, she returned to Rose to face her past. Yet how could she forget what happened ten years ago when everyday would be a painful reminder every time she ran into Thom.

When Sarah MacDowell was asked to be in charge of the Christmas Baskets, a charity project for the Country Club where she planned to have her daughter’s wedding reception, she didn’t know she was going to run into her loathed enemy, Mary Sutton. Melody, the Club’s secretary, arranged for the two enemies to work on this important project. Their mission was to shop for six needy families and fill six Christmas baskets by Christmas Eve to take to the Salvation Army on the evening of Christmas Eve.

At a Christmas party, Noelle and Thom reunited. Their love rekindled after the two of them cleared the air. It was all a misunderstanding that ended their love ten years ago. Now, more in love than ever, they vowed to get together and try to put an end to their mothers' feud. Together they joined forces to search for a replacement silver tea set to end the feud between their two mothers. Thom proposed to Noelle and she accepted. Together they went to confront their mothers and announce their engagement. But will their mothers, sworn and loathed enemies, put behind their wrath and come to accept their children’s Engagement?

Lessons Learned

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. Lessons Learned by Nora Roberts
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Italian celebrity chef Carlo Franconi is a charismatic ladies man. He can charm women by his mere smile! His latest book, The Italian Way, is a best seller and publicist Juliet Trent helps him to promote his book. To Juliet Trent this assignment is the best so far; it can be her ticket to opening up her own Public Relations firm. Together, Trent and Franconi travel the US on a book tour. By the end of the tour Trent turns Franconi into a celebrity chef sensation. Even to a guarded, career woman as herself, Carlo Franconi, with his sexy looks and cooking talent, is hard to resist. Yet Carlo is a ladies’ man and Juliet cannot afford to fall head over heels for a man who loves so many women. The thought of ending up like her mother who fell in love with a man who left her eventually, Juliet Trent is bent over backwards to avoid the same fate. Over time and plates of linguini and spaghetti, Juliet Trent falls in love with Carlo Franconi. Can she resist his charms and learn the lessons he has to teach her or will she fall into temptation and indulge in his love?
This was the first Nora Roberts book I’ve read. I liked the book. The characters are believable and well-rounded. It is a light, romance novel that will have you falling head over heels in love. Who can resist a sexy, Italian chef, good food and sex? I am looking forward to read more of Robert’s work.

Halloween Fiction

Welcome to my little Niche within the library. So grab a coffee and let's review some books. Something Wicked by Lynn Bohart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Near Halloween, FBI agents O’Malley and Allen investigate the disappearance of three men who have all mysteriously disappeared without a trace in the small town of Colorado named Cisco Lake. They search the Scooter pumpkin patch, and adjacent farm, home of a strange boy named Demitre Rumonov and his blind grandmother, owners of the pumpkin patch. The villagers claim that the grandmother is a witch. Something sinister lurks in the pumpkin patch. Can agents O’Malley and Allen solve the mystery?

I enjoyed this short Halloween story. It certainly put me in a Halloween mood. The book reminds me of Children of the Corn by Stephen King and Pumpkin Head, two very scary films. I will certainly never look at pumpkins the same way. The characters of O’Malley and Allen reminded me of agents Scully and Mulder from the X-files. The book was only thirty-six pages; perhaps it could have been longer. It was definitely a good story. The author, Lynn Bohart, is an Indie author who has written several other novels, Mass Murder, Grave Doubts, and Your Worst Enemy. She has written everything from brochures to newsletters as a non-profit executive with a Masters degree in theatre.