Kristen Painter

I enjoyed the change of pace from the usual UF jungle.
No ridiculously huge stakes, no saving the world, just a story about an unexpected turn in a middle-aged woman's life in which for once not every plan ever falls apart immediately on contact.
Sadly the end was incredibly cheesy and I have to emphasise this. Cheesy like bad YA.
Furthermore, the story tries very hard to promote female empowerment which instead just comes across as shallow.
After that ending, I pretty much lost interest in reading the second book.

Edit: I tried the second one and it is basically the same as the first one with the difference that every aspect is amplified which mostly means its worse sadly.… (mais)

Mystified in Music City by Kristen Painter
Frost & Crowe Mystery series #3. Paranormal cozy mystery. Spin-off from the Jayne Frost series which is a spin-off from the Nocturne Falls series. Can be read as a stand-alone but better if you have read some of the Frost books, either series.
Jayne Frost and husband Sinclair Crowe are visiting another store branch, this time in Nashville. When visiting the Elvis museum, Sin ends up inhabited by a ghost of an Elvis tribute artist. As a necromancer, it might not be all that unusual, but when Sin starts singing in the shower, sounding exactly like the original Elvis, Sin and Jayne start investigating a murder in music city.

An entertaining mystery as Jayne and Sin try to solve a three year old cold case murder. They talk to people that knew the deceased and try to find clues the police could not. They rely a lot on intuition which is how most cozy stories flow. Here there is an extra twist of the dead man literally talking to Sin, but he’s lost a lot of his memories so isn’t all that helpful. Clues led me to one suspect but I was wrong until that suspenseful moment it’s all put together.
Recurring support characters include talking cats, a police dispatcher with mad skills, and lots of yummy sounding fudge and meals to make everyone drool throughout the entire book. It’s just not fair that as a winter elf, Jayne can eat, and eat and eat experience no ill effects. 🤣
A grand adventure of a new mystery to solve and friends to catch up with.… (mais)