First Chapter, First Paragraph Tuesday Intros. February 28th

Every Tuesday, this book blog prompt is hosted by Bibliophile By the Sea. The idea is to share the first chapter, first paragraph of a book you are reading or plan to read in the near future so others can decide if they might be interested as well.

Today, I am starting a book that I received from Netgalley.  I love the cover and, though I haven't officially started yet, the first paragraph sounds intriguing...

"Let me be clear: I never intended to raise my brother from his grave, though he may claim otherwise. If there's anything I've learned from him in the years since, it's that the dead hide truths as well as the living.  I have not been a bone witch for very long, whatever the stories you've heard, but this was the first lesson I learned."

I will definitely be continuing on...

Review: Spying in High Heels

Several years ago, I was binge reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I adored the first six books, enjoyed the next few, and then they began to get so repetitive that I just had to stop. She is a great writer and I loved the characters but I wanted to finally have some relationship resolution or some kind of new twist to the plot and it just never happened. It was like the never-ending love triangle.

Spying in high heels reminded me a lot of the Stephanie Plum series when it was still enjoyable to me. I loved the main character, Maddie. She is sassy and snarky and a little bit of a hot mess in life. She accidentally gets involved in a murder investigation when her current boyfriend goes missing. She meets Jack Ramirez, one of the officers assisting with the investigation. He reluctantly shares information with her and ultimately ends up fishing her out of some sticky situations as they try to solve the murder mystery.

The story is a lot of fun. I laughed a lot and the character interactions are engaging. There is a nice pacing to the story and I never got bored. Yes, Maddie makes some dumb decisions but it isn't too overdone and she eventually smartens up a bit. There is action, mystery, and some romance but it's not overwhelming. In my opinion, it was a great first book in a series and I plan to pick up the second one immediately.

Will I get bored of this series as I did with the Stephanie Plum books? It's possible, but I'm hoping the author doesn't fall into the pit of repetition and knows to end the series while it is still on a high note. For now, I can't wait to see what happens next!

Feature and Follow Friday, Feb 3rd

The Feature and Follow is a Friday meme hosted by Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. The idea is very simple and the name explains itself. It is about following and meeting new bloggers. 

This week's post prompt is:
Groundhog Day! What book or scene from a book could you live in and have it on "repeat?"

While I'm sure so many people including myself could easily pick any Harry Potter book, I'm going to go with A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.  I would love to be a part of this magical adventure as Matthew and Diana join forces and begin to unravel the mystery of the enchanted manuscript at the Bodleian Library at Oxford.  One of my all time favorites.