By Golly, Ollie!

  • The Novel Had a Cat on the Cover, so Are We Even Surprised that I Loved this Book? | Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass

    The Novel Had a Cat on the Cover, so Are We Even Surprised that I Loved this Book? | Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass

    4 comments on The Novel Had a Cat on the Cover, so Are We Even Surprised that I Loved this Book? | Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass

    I recently went on a cozy book buying spree, which is when Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass was added to my e-library. I think I figured I was destined to enjoy this book for three reasons: 1. CATS!!! (obviously) 2. our sleuthing MC is a librarian, and 3. the series takes place in Michigan, my home state! Aaaaaand…basically I was right (but for more reasons than the three I just listed).

    Lending a Paw by Laurie Cass Book CoverLending a Paw by Laurie Cass

    Released: December 2013
    Publisher: NAL
    Add to Goodreads
    ★★★★☆

    Eddie followed Minnie home one day, and now she can’t seem to shake the furry little shadow. But in spite of her efforts to contain her new pal, the tabby sneaks out and trails her all the way to the bookmobile on its maiden voyage. Before she knows it, her slinky stowaway becomes her cat co-pilot!

    Minnie and Eddie’s first day visiting readers around the county seems to pass without trouble—until Eddie darts outside at the last stop and leads her to the body of a local man who’s reached his final chapter.

    Initially, Minnie is ready to let the police handle this case, but Eddie seems to smell a rat. Together, they’ll work to find the killer—because a good librarian always knows when justice is overdue.

    Reading books that take place where you live is the coolest

    Granted, Lending a Paw takes place “up north” in a fictional town named Chilson, which is located somewhere north of Traverse City and south of Charlevoix– basically, where all the wineries, cherry trees, and ritzy vacation homes settled on Lake Michigan are located. It’s totally different from where I live, which is part of the “Rust Belt“, if that paints a charming picture in your head at all. Still, it’s always interesting to see how authors perceive your state. Especially Michigan because Michigan is the best ;)

    Eddie the cat is also the coolest

    Aside from helping Minnie solve a murder (without magic) and being her co-pilot in the bookmobile, I also have a bias towards cat named Eddie (or variations thereof). Throughout this novel, I could help but picture my late cat, Ed, even though he’s orange. He just seemed like the Eddie in Lending a Paw.

    His name had been the inspiration of a bemused coworker. “Sounds like and Eddie kind of cat,” Josh had said after I told the story.
    “What kind is that?” Holly, another coworker, had asked.
    “Just…Eddie.” Josh had shrugged. “You know what guys named Eddie are like.”
    And just like that, my cat had a name.

    What impressed me the most was the sleuthing

    While I’ve enjoyed every cozy mystery novel I’ve read and reviewed for Books & Tea, I’ve always felt the actual sleuthing was minimal. A lot of times, clues are revealed by chance and the main characters, while intent on finding the perp, don’t always piece the puzzle together very well throughout the story. Sometimes I’m totally surprised when the identity of the perp is revealed and I wonder if that’s a good thing; did I not see it coming because the author did not give me enough clues or did I not see it coming because I’m…CLUELESS (hahahahah!)

    In Lending a Paw, Minnie “interviews” suspects, pieces together a family tree, and follows tracks and clues before the trail goes cold. She also keeps means and motive in mind, and while her hunches are not always right, another piece of the piece of the puzzle is usually revealed. This novel presented one of the most satisfying mystery-solving experience I’ve read so far.

  • This Book Destroyed Me | The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

    This Book Destroyed Me | The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

    8 comments on This Book Destroyed Me | The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

    The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson is not what I expected. At first, I thought it was going to be a mystery/thriller because teenage girls are vanishing in Door County in Wisconsin and then turning up days later, dead in the water. Then I thought it was going to be a ghost story, and maybe in a really abstract way it is. But really, it was the most haunting and devastating YA contemporary I have ever read.

    The Vanishing SeasonThe Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

    Released: July 2014
    Publisher: HarperTeen
    Add to Goodreads
    ★★★★★

    Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter’s come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I’ve watched the danger swell.

    The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I’m the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I’m tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

    I’m tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don’t know why. I think it’s because death is coming for one of them, or both.

    All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig. I am looking for the things that are buried.

    The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson is an atmospheric novel. It is a cold, quiet, and introspective novel. It’s a slow but intentional novel. It’s not something that will appeal to everyone. You need patience to read it, but at the same time, I read it in a single sitting. I couldn’t put the book down because it was one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.

    The Vanishing Season is a character-driven novel. It is a novel about friendship. It is a novel about betrayal. It is a novel about isolation and death and lost memories. It is a novel about unrequited love. It’s always the stories about unrequited love that make me cry. I knew it was coming, but I cried anyway.

    The Vanishing Season has one of the most upsetting endings I have ever read. I didn’t expect it, and it feels like the suffocating weight of melancholy. I wanted to love Maggie’s new friends, Pauline and Liam. But, I knew…I knew they were going to be toxic. I get so angry just thinking about them because it’s not fair. It’s not fair!

    The Vanishing Season is one of the best books I have read this year. It’s probably one of the best books I’ve read since launching Books & Tea five years ago. It’s so rare that a book moves me to tears or emotionally destroys me to the point where I’m fumbling to find words for a review. I need to read this book again. I think maybe that’s a bit masochistic, but I really do need to read this book again. I’ll wait for wintertime though. I think that’s when this book is meant to be read.

  • So, this is magical realism? | the Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson

    So, this is magical realism? | the Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson

    5 comments on So, this is magical realism? | the Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson

    I find myself irritated by the goodreads shelf labels associated with the Wrap-up List by Steven Arntson. Which is stupid, I know. I’m not a genre snob, I swear. But… Paranormal Fantasy? Supernatural Fantasy? Really? Okay…sure, I can admit, that part of it is gag reflex; when I hear Paranormal Fantasy I think of Twilight and the million other vampire novels out there, which are not in the same league as the Wrap-up List. But part of it is that these genre labels seem to simplify this novel; the story takes place in reality but has fantastic elements and revolves around some really complex issues like grief and mortality. After finishing the novel, I found myself thinking, “So that’s magical realism?”

    the wrap up listThe Wrap-up List by Steven Arntson

    Released: January 2013
    Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
    Add to Goodreads
    ★★★★☆

    In this modern-day suburban town, one percent of all fatalities come about in the most peculiar way. Deaths—eight-foot-tall, silver-gray creatures—send a letter (“Dear So-and-So, your days are numbered”) to whomever is chosen for a departure, telling them to wrap up their lives and do the things they always wanted to do before they have to “depart.” When sixteen-year-old Gabriela receives her notice, she is, of course devastated. Will she kiss her crush Sylvester before it’s too late?

    The synopsis seems to simplify the novel as well

    I’m glad I just skimmed the synopsis and flipped to the first page to read the first paragraph instead [your book has to “hook” me in the first paragraph, or it’s going back on the shelf!]. Had I continued the synopsis, I would have learned that Gabriela’s wrap-up list revolves around getting first kisses for herself and her friends. Sounds cheesy, right? Once I actually learned the contents of Gabriela’s wrap-up list, I was quite skeptical myself. It just seemed silly that a sixteen year old would become so preoccupied by first kisses when she had just one week to live. (Then again, maybe I’m the silly one; I would have been more preoccupied by trying to figure out how to see AFI in concert instead of getting my first kiss.) I think I was also a little concerned that the author’s treatment of the subject of death was going to be flippant, which it wasn’t.

    The world building is wonderful

    Which is kind of strange when you think about it– this book does takes place in a modern-day, suburban town after all. Except, these beings called Deaths, which children are taught about in school, roam our world to escort the chosen Departed to the place beyond the Fields. (The Fields is a very tangible place that the living can visit, but they cannot visit the place beyond the Fields.) People can also specialize in the study of Departure and work for the Departure Authority. Their reports may end up in the Municipal Archives, which contains all sorts of government records including record of all the Deaths, their Departed, and who was granted Pardons.

    Everything changes once Hercule is introduced

    Hercule is Gabriela’s Death, and she and her friends intend to kidnap him. What follows is a bit of chaos, some deep discussions about faith and mortality, and a second half of a novel that is so cleverly tinged with black comedy (sort of like when Percy Jackson met Charon and Hades in the Lightning Thief). While I enjoyed the entire novel, it was the second half of the novel that really affected me. The story became so much more complex and emotional and yes, sometimes even funny.

    Overall, the Wrap-up List by Steven Arntson is a wonderful novel. Just like Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern, I finished it in one sitting, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this novel to other readers.

    Have you ever read the Wrap-up List? What would be on your list?

  • An Oolong that Embodies Springtime | Charcoal-baked Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

    An Oolong that Embodies Springtime | Charcoal-baked Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

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    It’s hard to miss Springtime in Michigan. Part of me starts to rejoice because the temperatures are so sublime, and there is a brief period when windows and sliding glass doors can be drawn wide open. Part of me wishes for another blanket of snow because I realize just how many people litter in my hometown. The snow plows spend an entire season pushing trash-packed snow into gutters and tree lines, and it’s finally revealed in April. There is also, of course, all of the blossoming trees, but…I almost missed that this year.

    It is also the beginning of construction season, which is why I ended up taking a new route home on a sunny and particularly windy work day. I’d like to say it was something romantic that caught my attention and forced me to look up– like the sweet scent of clover wafting through my car windows or the gentle fluttering of white petals on the wind– but it wasn’t. A gust of wind caught the lid of a garbage can, whipping it open and almost tossing the can and its entire contents into the middle of the road and in front of my tiny Ford Fiesta. The garbage can also happened to be sitting right beside a tree with the sweetest, white blossoms. My eyes traveled down the length of the road, which I discovered was completely lined with trees with pink and white blossoms and shrubs with purple and yellow blossoms. My skin prickled as panic pulsed through me; this was partly a delayed reaction from the garbage can threatening to crash my car, but I also kept repeating out loud about the blossoms,

    When did this happen?

    When did this happen?

    When did this happen?

    This is what I thought of when I tucked into a mug of hot Charcoal-baked Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong tea from Tea Vivre. I thought about how I almost missed Springtime’s blossoms this year.

    The dried tea leaves are a dark, forest green color, and they are tightly rolled. They smell vegetal and slightly sweet; it almost reminds me of the seagrass that would grow and float in the Weeki Wachee River in Florida. They are quite unassuming tea leaves too because when I dumped them out on a plate to get a better glimpse of the leaves, they hardly filled up the plate (similar to Tie Guan Yin “Iron Goddess” Oolong Tea, which I tasted last spring.). They hardly filled up my tea strainer as well. But, after steeping for several minutes, they creep up the strainer and unfurl into full leaves.

    The liquor color, which is never demonstrated well in my photographs, reminded me of amber, and the flavor, which I didn’t expect based on the aroma of the dried leaves, was flowery. Perfumy even, though perhaps this is how my palate perceives the charcoal-baked aroma since I’ve never experienced it before. Regardless, it caught me off guard, like the sight of the street lined with blossoming trees.

    As usual, this Oolong Tea from Tea Vivre lends itself to multiple infusions. Based on reading about other peoples’ experiences, you can steep this four or five times to draw out more of the sweet floral flavor, though I only steeped it twice (the second infusion seemed more perfumy than the first, interestingly).

    Overall, Charcoal-baked Anxi Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea is another exceptional tea from Tea Vivre, and if you’re looking for a tea that embodies spring time, I would not hesitate to recommend this. If you’re interested in other spring teas, check out Tea Vivre’s 2016 Spring Tea Collection.

    Sample received for free from Tea Vivre in exchange for an honest review.
  • For the Loyal: a Harry Potter Fandom Tea

    For the Loyal: a Harry Potter Fandom Tea

    7 comments on For the Loyal: a Harry Potter Fandom Tea

    I believe I’ve never sipped a tea more tempting than the For the Loyal tea, a fandom blend by Aun-Juli Riddle, which can be purchased from Adagio Teas. And when I say “tempting”, I mean I could barely resist throwing aside all of my reading obligations just to re (re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re) read the Harry Potter series. I stayed strong though.

    I don’t care what the relaunch of the Pottermore Sorting Hat quiz suggests. I am not a Gryffindor (I’m afraid of the dark among most other things in this world); I am a Hufflepuff! So, without a doubt, I knew I had to have this tea. For the Loyal is a blend of black tea, white tea, apple pieces, natural apricot flavor, apricots, natural peach flavor, marigold flowers, natural vanilla flavor, and cinnamon.

    If For the Loyal could be turned into a candle, I would buy all of them just so I could make my apartment smell like the Hufflepuff Common Room. At least, I assume it smells sweet vanilla and fruit anyway. What I’m trying to say is, the scent of this tea is so warm and inviting (two characteristics of most Hufflepuffs, amiright?).

    For the Loyal is another tea that I prefer cool-to-cold instead of hot (like the coconut tea) because the flavor is more pronounced. The scent of the dried leaves was vibrant, so I expected layers of bold flavors, but when hot, the flavors just sort of run together– it’s not particularly fruit or creamy or spicy. When it cools down though, you can taste a hint of fruity apricot and apple. I also taste hints of something floral, but I think that might be the cinnamon playing tricks on my tastebuds.

    Have you tried any of the Harry Potter fandom teas? Which one is your favorite?

    Sample provided by Adagio Tea for free in exchange for an honest review.

About the Blogger

My name is Jackie, and I am a millennial / mother / Michigander / blogger / wannabe runner / accountant / local library enthusiast / gamer, kinda. This is a personal blog, which means I’m not entirely certain what you’ll find here, but it will definitely not show up on the first page of Google search results.