A Prophecy Awakened by Angie Barton #giveaway #countdowntoHalloween2024 #bookseries #fantasy #recipes #poetry

Book Description:Family. Destiny. Magic. Lore.Forced to leave behind her only known family, on the night of her eighteenth birthday Charlotte Delgado flees through the invisible veil that has granted hers safety since birth, with only an age-old diary to guide her. Given less than a day to read the four-hundred year-old tales scripted amongst its pages, she barely understands the predetermined path her ancestor writes of, let alone believes it.However, despite the dangers the journal warns of—supernatural creatures that will hunt her along her journey—it’s the ominous twist of fate that surrounds the last bloodline witch in her family that fills Charlotte with the most fear.Is she that witch or merely a pawn moving the prophecy for war.

The Velvet CoffinBlack are his eyes,His lips stained red,This sinister creatureWe know as undeadBorn of the nightA soul without mercyAn evil incarnateImmortal and thirstyHe dreams of blood,His fangs sharp and baring,His desire awakensAs he lays there staringThe lid to his coffinCreaks as it raisesIts velvety liningHis hand lightly grazesMoving to the shadowsHe expels a hissHe catches her scentAnd disappears into mist
Amazon-----------Vampire Punch

I LOVE all things vampire and I LOVE to host! Planning and setting up the décor is just as much fun as the event itself, and this punch looks great on the table!It is perfect for Halloween parties and can be made for kids or adults! It’s the perfect blend of sweet and tart, and its deep red color makes it both fun and delicious!*If you’re familiar with using dry ice, it can be added for a spooky effect!Ingredients:• 2 liters ginger ale or club soda, or lemon lime soda (Sprite or 7Up)• 1 quart black cherry juice• 2 pints (32 ounces) Pomegranate Juice• 16 ounces frozen cherries• alcohol your choice (I typically add Vodka)Instructions:1. Combine the juices and ginger ale together in a large punch bowl. If you areusing alcohol, add it now.
2. Add the frozen cherries and stir.3. Serve with ice and any decorations you may have for your spooky punch! I’veused plastic vampire teeth and my guests thought it looked “fang-tastic!”About the Author:Award winning author, Angie Barton, published her firstnovel, Immortal Wounds, in 2022. Angie’s love forwriting centers around the fantasy genre, but she alsoenjoys writing thriller and romance. Her passion forreading, which led to her love of writing, began inelementary school with the Scholastic Book program.Her parents, who are life-long avid readers, have been ahuge influence on her reading. Therefore anything andeverything Angie could get her hands on she read.Angie has been an early childhood educator since 1986 and hold a B.S. in ChildDevelopment. Her love for literacy has continued throughout her career, not onlyfor herself, but also with the children she has cared for and taught. What Angie ismost passionate about is helping others discover the excitement that reading brings. Her greatest desire in writing is to create and bring joy and entertainment to everyone she touches.Currently, if Angie isn't reading at least three books at a time or working on a rough draft for her next book, she can be found outdoors gardening, woodworking,or relaxing by her pond. She shares that she's a Capricorn, tried and true, drinks way too much tea, and that her "to be read" pile of books can spike at any time.www.authorangiebarton.comhttps://www.goodreads.com/goodreadscomangie_barton
Spooktacular GiveawayFree ebook copy of A Prophecy Awakened

A Murder Yule Regret by Winnie Archer #Recipe #giveaway #Spotlight #cozymysteries #Christmas

 

7th in Series
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kensington Cozies (November 30, 2021)
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 149673355X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496733559
Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08Y69YZKB

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Freelance photographer and Yeast of Eden bakery assistant Ivy Culpepper has just scored the job of a lifetime shooting the Dickensian dress-up X-mas party thrown by It Girl film actress Eliza Fox . . . until an unwanted guest appears.

A holiday costume party in the sleepy coastal town of Santa Sofia could be just the boost Ivy needs for her fledgling photography business. At the party, Ivy enters a Victorian fantasy come to life, all courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Fox. Ivy gets to play shutterbug while hanging with Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits, and more classic Dickens characters. But what begins as the best of times turns out to be the very worst for one of the party guests—a tabloid journalist with more enemies than Ebenezer himself.

When the man’s body is found sprawled across the jagged rocks below the house, the fingers begin pointing at Eliza. Meanwhile, Ivy gets roped into helping prove the starlet’s innocence. Her festive photos are now official evidence—and the Ghosts of Christmas Present could mean the party for Eliza is over, once and for all.

RECIPE:

My dear readers, I am pleased to offer a recipe that the author has provided. This is a recipe that can be read from the book. Enjoy!

CHRISTMAS PUNCH

 

Ingredients

 

• 5 cups 100 percent cranberry juice (cranberry juice cocktail)
• 2 bottles very dry sparkling wine (champagne, cava, or prosecco)
• 2 cups apple cider
• 11⁄2 cups diet ginger ale
• 11⁄2 cups dark rum or brandy
• 2 oranges, thinly sliced into rounds
• 1 cup fresh cranberries

 

Instructions

 

1. Chill all ingredients.

2. Fill a large punch bowl with ice. Top with the cranberry juice, sparkling wine, apple cider, ginger ale,

and rum.

3. Stir to combine. Garnish with the orange slices and fresh cranberries.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Winnie Archer is the nationally bestselling author of the Bread Shop Mystery series, and the Magical Dressmaking Mystery series written as Melissa Bourbon. A former middle school English teacher, lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and the youngest of their five children. She can be found online at MelissaBourbon.com.

Purchase Links - Amazon 

GIVEAWAY

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The Corpse In the Gazebo by Debra Sennefelder #giveaway #spotlight#ghost #CozyMystery #recipies #CountdowntoHalloween2021

 

Cozy Mystery 5th in Series Setting 

Connecticut Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kensington (September 28, 2021)

Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages 

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1496728939 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1496728937 

Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08RWQYH54

About the book: 

 Food blogging is turning Hope Early into a household name. But the dead body down the block makes her a #1 suspect . . . 

 It seems everyone loves Hope’s blog these days, and she’s busier than ever volunteering to help other women create their own paths to success. So she’s shocked when a neighbor petitions to run Hope right out of her small Connecticut town! Set in her ways, apparently Birdie Donovan doesn’t like the chaos Hope’s sleuthing creates, the police activity and crime scenes, and it’s happening way too often lately.

Eager to make amends, Hope bakes Birdie a batch of her best muffins. The delicious treats might have smoothed things over—until Hope discovers Birdie dead in her gazebo the very next day . . . Now instead of worrying about holding on to her beloved home, Hope is trying to stay out of jail. Because suddenly she’s the lead suspect in the case. Not even her boyfriend, Police Chief Ethan Cahill, is promising he can clear her name, much less discuss the investigation with her. It’s up to Hope to get to bake new ground on the case before the lifestyle brand she’s created—and her whole life—crumbles . . . 

 Includes Recipes from Hope’s Kitchen! 

  About the author

Debra Sennefelder is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. Her first novel, THE UNINVITED CORPSE (A Food Blogger mystery) was published in 2018. In addition to writing the Food Blogger mystery series, she writes the Resale Boutique Mystery series. 

When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person. Born and raised in New York City, where she majored in her hobby of fashion buying, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in retail and publishing before becoming a full-time author. Her writing companion is her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih Tzu, Connie.

 Author Links · WEBSITE NEWSLETTER

 Purchase Links – AMAZON – BARNES & NOBLE

Giveaway:

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#Spotlight and #Recipe: The Hasidic Rebbe's Son by Joan Lipinsky Cochran #cozymysteries

 The Hasidic Rebbe’s Son (A Becks Ruchinsky Mystery)

Cozy Mystery

2nd in Series

Setting - Florida

Perricot Publishing (March 30, 2021)

Number of Pages - 318 pages

Digital - ASIN : B08ZVF86VF

Synopsis:

Boca Raton reporter Becks Ruchinsky is stunned when her son, Gabe, brings an ultra-Orthodox friend home from college and asks her to hide him. Six days later, his body is found floating in a canal. When police deem his death an accident, Becks launches her own inquiry—a journey that takes her from secretive Hasidic enclaves to the seedy underbelly of South Beach’s glitzy club scene—to find his killer. What she discovers jeopardizes her son’s life and challenges her religious conviction.

The Hasidic Rebbe’s Son is an intriguing and compulsively readable mystery that contrasts the beauty of Hasidic tradition with the unbending rules that may lead to desperation and murder.

Review: Coming soon. 

Recipe from the book:

Becks Ruchinsky loves cooking almost as much as she enjoys poking her nose in other people’s business. She should know better, especially since her curiosity often draws her into murder investigations. Fortunately, Becks’ background as an investigative reporter provided her with the skills and connections she needs when looking into a suspicious death. In The Hasidic Rebbe’s Son, for example, a newspaper colleague-turned- private eye and, oddly enough, an elderly ultra-Orthodox yenta, helped Becks uncover the secrets that led to a Hasidic young man’s murder.  Becks has been a food writer and cookbook author since her son’s disability forced her to abandon her newspaper career and is now working on a collection of Southern desert recipes, most of them handed down by her Savannah-born mother. Here’s a recipe for Haggard Cake, one of Becks’ sons favorites. Despite the rather dismal name, it’s delicious and pretty easy to make. Enjoy! You can sign up for my mailing list to receive a free collection of Jewish recipes entitled “Homemade Jewish Cooking.”

 

Haggard Cake

By Becks Ruchinsky

Even though I was raised in Miami, I grew up under the influence of a Southern cook, my mother, who was raised in Savannah, Georgia. On special occasions like birthdays and school graduations, she’d go all out, making sweet tea, fried chicken and mashed potatoes. Dessert was almost always Haggard Cake. I rarely make it anymore – I struggle with my weight – but like to have it waiting when the boys visit. It’s classic Southern cooking in the sense that it includes coconut, pineapple and pecans. One of the best parts of making this cake is the easy icing. You cook a few ingredients on the stove for three minutes and pour that over the warm cake. Perfect for the lazy and time-pressed cook. And trust me, as weird as this recipe appears to be – no butter or eggs in the batter – it works.

 

Haggard Cake

 

BATTER

2 cups of flour

1½ cups of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking soda

Dash of salt

20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, undrained

1.       Preheat oven 20 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 inch pan.

2.       Pour everything into a large bowl and mix well with a spoon. Pour into the pan and bake 35 minutes or until a toothpick or knife placed in the cake comes out clean. Leave in pan.

ICING

1 small can of evaporated milk

1 stick of butter or margarine

1½ cups sugar

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

 

1.       While the cake is baking, melt the butter and milk in a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly.

2.    2.  Once the butter is melted, add the sugar and stir to combine. Beat for two minutes in the saucepan with an immersion blender or hand-held mixer. A whisk is probably fine.  Add the vanilla, salt, coconut and chopped pecans.

3.       Pour over the cake while both are warm, and let the cake sit a few hours to absorb the liquid. 

About the author:

Joan Lipinsky Cochran is a South Florida-based writer whose crime and mystery novels focus on subcultures of American Judaism. In her latest novel, The Hasidic Rebbe’s Son, her protagonist is compelled to explore the glitzy South Beach nightclub scene and the secretive world of Hasidic Judaism to find a killer. It is the second in The Becks Ruchinsky Mystery Series. The first, The Yiddish Gangster’s Daughter, is the story of a woman whose world is upended – and life threatened – when she discovers her father was a member of the Jewish mafia.

Website www.joanlipinskycochran.com,

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/joanlipinskycochran/

Purchase Link - Amazon

 

 

#Review: Here Comes the Body by Maria DiRico #cozymystery #recipes

Synopsis:
After her philandering husband’s boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she’s got a whole new life—including some amateur sleuthing . . .

My review:
This book is a first of series for this author and a pretty good one at that.

Mia coming home from a terrible accident and being the number one suspect, comes home to help her father run a catering hall/ wedding hall. The only problem is her father was know as a mobster and wants to keep this place legit. No problem!

Her very first gig turns out to be awful as a dead person ends up in the huge cake set aside for a bachelor party. Bummer!  She hangs on to clues to help her father and herself to gain freedom while battling the police and the mob.

I found it interesting to see Mia trying to juggle the catering business while trying to keep the mob at bay. Of course, there had to be a love interest but it is a bit sad the way that went. I won't tell you except to read the book.

The police, as in many cozies, are inept and Mia's sleuthing helps to win the day. She is smart and family oriented which is nice to see. I like her strong character. Also, the supporting characters make a good all around book.

I love that the book includes Italian recipes in the back for the readers to try out. It is obvious the author comes from an Italian family as it shines throughout the whole book.

There is only one problem that I had with this book and it may not be the author's fault. The storyline with the cake and someone dead in it, I have read before with another author. This threw me off a bit but did not distract so much that the story was not still good. Fortunately, both stories were different enough that the book was not a direct copy.

4 stars.

Disclosure: I bought a copy of this book for my own collections. The views posted here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle

Where to find the author:
Amazon

Cozy Food Cookbook! #Giveaway & Recipe! Edited by Nancy Jarvis #cookbooks #cozy #anthologies

Purchase – Amazon - Kindle - Amazon Paperback 

I don't know about you but I like to eat and I like to read. Reading a good cozy is a lot of fun and I have reviewed and spotlighted a few on this blog. 

Now, 128 cozy mystery writers have come together and are sharing some of their favorite recipes possibly found right out of their books. Wow!

Check out these two recipes and then see more about the cookbook below.....

Here are a couple of recipes from Hawaiian mysteries.

Cindy Sample shows you how to end an afternoon or start happy hour with a Tiki Goddess from Dying for a Daiquiri

After a tough day chasing deadly villains in Hawaii, it’s time to relax on the beach with a cool tropical drink. Although the calorie count may be deadly, there’s nothing tastier than Laurel’s favorite cocktail.

 1 oz. pomegranate juice or ½ oz Pomegranate liqueur

1 oz. white rum

2 oz. pineapple juice

1 ½ oz coconut milk or cream of coconut

Pour mixture in a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Add pineapple wedge, maraschino cherry and umbrella. Party on!

You may want to end the day with a slice of Hawaiian Chocolate and Coconut (Haupia) Pie

From The Islands of Aloha Mystery series by JoAnn Bassett

This is a truly “pull-out-all-the-stops” dessert based on a heritage sweet served in Hawaii—haupia pudding. If you really want to impress your friends or family with a Hawaiian-style dessert that will leave you groaning for more, give this a try!

1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

1 cup milk

1 (14 oz.) can coconut milk

1 cup white sugar

1 cup water

½ cup cornstarch

1 ¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups sweetened whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 C.) Bake the crust for 15 minutes or until golden brown and then let it cool.

In a saucepan whisk together the milk, coconut milk and 1 cup of sugar. Bring to a boil.

In a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water.

Reduce the coconut mixture to simmer and whisk the cornstarch mixture into the coconut mixture. Stir the mixture over low heat until it starts to thicken, about 3 minutes. Take it off the stove.

In a glass bowl microwave the chocolate chips just until melted (about 1 minute or less).

Divide the still-warm coconut mixture into two bowls. Mix melted chocolate into one-half of the coconut mixture and spread it on the bottom of the baked pie crust.

Pour the remaining coconut mixture on top and spread it smooth.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Cover top of cooled pie with the whipped cream and decorate with chocolate shavings, if desired.

Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes by Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes 

Cozy Cookbook Good Read Mysteries

 (May 15, 2014) 

Number of Pages: 241 (167 of recipes, 70 of contributor bios and books) 

ISBN-10: 0983589178 ISBN-13: 978-0983589174 Kindle ASIN: B00KGZSEQ6

What happens when 128 cozy mystery writers get together to do a cookbook? You get more than 220 recipes that are as varied and interesting as an amateur sleuth’s day job.

Regional recipes come from every part of the United States and England — a couple find their way from Australia and Italy, too — and from diverse times. There are recipes from people looking to keep gluten out of their lives, eat vegetarian, or make a treat or two for their furry four-legged friends. And yes, there are recipes that appeal to the sweet tooth, lots of them, in fact.

There’s no mystery about what happens when cozy writers get together. They bring the wit, inventiveness, and adventure found in their books right along with their recipes.

The recipes are introduced by their authors and linked to the writer bios in the back of the book. You can look up your favorite cozy writer and see which recipes are their favorites; they'll tell you what the recipe means to them. Or you can enjoy a dish and then link to the recipe's author's biography and books.

Either way you enjoy the cookbook, you're sure to find great new recipes to make and terrific new cozy authors to read.

About Editor Nancy Lynn Jarvis

Nancy Lynn Jarvis was a Santa Cruz, California, Realtor® for more than twenty years before she fell in love with writing and let her license lapse.

After earning a BA in behavioral science from San Jose State University, she worked in the advertising department of the San Jose Mercury News. A move to Santa Cruz meant a new job as a librarian and later a stint as the business manager for Shakespeare/Santa Cruz at UCSC.

Nancy’s work history reflects her philosophy: people should try something radically different every few years, a philosophy she applies to her writing, as well. She has written seven Regan McHenry Real Estate Mysteries; a stand-alone novel “Mags and the AARP Gang” about a group of octogenarian bank robbers; edited “Cozy Food: 128 Cozy Mystery Writers Share Their Favorite Recipes” and a short story anthology, “Santa Cruz Weird;” and even done a little insider’s book, “The Truth About Hosting Airbnb” about her first year as a host.

Her newest venture is “The Glass House” is the first book in a planned series of PIP Inc. Mysteries. Now she’s trying to figure out when to work on another series she’d love to do called “Geezers with Tools” about two older handymen who will solve mysteries in the course of doing their work, and setting up writer retreats at her house.

Editor Links Website – https://www.nancylynnjarvis.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn
GoodReads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2918242.Nancy_Lynn_Jarvis

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