all your Reads in Here

Before I frustrate blog readers by once again reviewing the second in a mystery series, I wanted to congratulate author Amanda Flower. Like other writer/librarians before her, such as Jenn McKinlay, Amanda is leaving her library job in Ohio to devote herself entirely to her writing career. Congratulations, Amanda. Flower is the author of a number of series.  Death and Daisies  is the second in her Magical Garden series set in Duncreigan, Scotland. When Fiona Knox inherited her godfather's cottage and magic garden in Scotland in Flowers and Foul Play , she thought she'd be welcome in the village where his family, the MacAllisters, had lived for centuries. Instead, the village rector, Quaid MacCullen, refuses her admittance at the church door. He disapproves of the family and the magical garden. Then, on the eve of the opening of her new Climbing Rose Flower Shop, he threatens her. Despite the rector, the opening of the flower shop is a success. At least it's successful until...

There's a list of twenty-four other novels by Jenny Colgan in the front of Christmas on the Island, but I've only read one, The Bookshop on the Corner. I've picked up, and even brought home some of the books. The titles can be appealing - Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe, The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris. But, this one takes place on a small Scottish island. Since I hope to go to Edinburgh in September, it was time to try another one of Colgan's novels. This is the third in a series, but, of course, I picked up the third because it's new and it said "Christmas". Mure is a tiny island off the coast of the north of Scotland. As the story opens, Bramble, the retired sheepdog that belongs to the MacKenzies, makes his way around, a perfect introduction to the center of town. Flora MacKenzie is the owner and baker at Seaside Kitchen. She's in her thirties, and returned home from London a year earlier. She fell back in love with the island, and with the l...