Audiobook Review: Read and Gone by Allison Brook

Author: Allison Brook
Narrator: Mia Gaskin

Title: Read and Gone

Series: The Haunted Library Mysteries #2

Genre: Cozy mystery, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: Audiobook
Published: September 11, 2018
Where I Got It: Audible

Summary: 

A devoted dad is as precious as diamonds, but Carrie Singleton wouldn’t know since her dad Jim’s been on the lam most of her life. In an unusual family reunion, she finds Jim breaking into her cottage in the middle of the night. The fun really starts when he begs her to help him recover his half of a twenty-million-dollar gem heist he pulled off with the local jeweler, Benton Parr. When she refuses, Jim takes off again. Carrie finds her father again behind bars for the recent murder of Benton Parr. Who made the connection? Unbeknownst to her, Carrie’s boyfriend Dylan, an insurance investigator, has been searching for the gems. Determined to find the jewels herself, she starts examining every facet of Parr’s life. She turns up a treasure trove of suspects, one of whom bashes her on the head as she’s searching the victim’s country cabin. Retreating to the quiet confines of the library where she works, Carrie watches as Smokey Joe, the resident cat, paws at a hole in the wall. Is he after the library’s ghost Evelyn, or something shinier?

Review: 

Finally diving into book 2. Been waiting on this one. 

Back with Carrie who thinks life is finally perfect. She has her dream job at the library. She has amazing friends and family and a cute cat. Oh and she has a cute boyfriend. Things seem to be going great just in time for Christmas until her dad shows up. Her dad is a professional criminal. He comes to town to beg her to help him recover his half of a 20 million gem heist he pulled off with Benton Parr. When Benton is found dead, Jim is suspect #1. Dyan, Carrie's boyfriend, comes back from a job and it turns out that he is an insurance investigator and he's been searching for the stolen gems too. Many people are after the gems so there are many suspects on the table. It will be up to Carrie, the library ghost, and her cat to find the gems and the murderer. 

Every time we turn around there was another twist. I loved that. I really had no idea who it could've been. Everyone had a motive. Benton was one bad dude and he really took advantage of EVERYONE. Gah. What a scumbag. 

I think I enjoyed this one a touch more than book 1. However, I did still have some of the same issues, but they didn't bug me as much I guess. Yes, the author overexplains EVERYTHING. We really don't need that much detail on what they are eating and etc. I love a good detail, but even I have my limits. It really slowed the story in some spots. 

Also, we rarely got to see our library ghost in this one! Sure she had some sage advise for Carrie (which I feel like Carrie ignored 50% of it), but not much else. She helped with a teeny tiny lead....-ish. I wanted more of our ghost friend!

The ending was nice. No cliffies which is lovely. I do think I want to read the next one. I read the summary and I'm shooked! Yessss! Utterly shooked! I can't wait to see what happened. 

In the end, I liked this a hair more than the other one. I love our main cast and I loved the mysteries. Lots of suspects and a cute kitty. Plus Xmas themed? Love. I did have a couple issues still, but it's easy to ignore and keep going. I'll give this 3 stars. 

ONE WORD SUMMARY: Twisty

Challenge(s):

- Audiobook #60

- Cloak & dagger #25

Audiobook Review: Death Overdue by Allison Brook

Author: Allison Brook 

Narrator: Mia Gaskin

Title: Death Overdue

(The Haunted Library Mysteries #1)

Genre: Cozy mystery, Paranormal, Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy

Format: Audiobook

Pages: 329 

Published:  October 10th 2017

Where I got It: My shelf (Audible)

Summary: 

Carrie Singleton is just about done with Clover Ridge, Connecticut until she's offered a job as the head of programs and events at the spooky local library, complete with its own librarian ghost. Her first major event is a program presented by a retired homicide detective, Al Buckley, who claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster, a much-loved part-time library aide who was bludgeoned to death fifteen years earlier. As he invites members of the audience to share stories about Laura, he suddenly keels over and dies.

The medical examiner reveals that poison is what did him in and Carrie feels responsible for having surged forward with the program despite pushback from her director. Driven by guilt, Carrie's determined to discover who murdered the detective, convinced it's the same man who killed Laura all those years ago. Luckily for Carrie, she has a friendly, knowledgeable ghost by her side. But as she questions the shadows surrounding Laura's case, disturbing secrets come to light and with each step Carrie takes, she gets closer to ending up like Al.

Review:

I picked this up without even reading the summary. Decided to take a gamble! All I check was that this was book 1 of the series ;) And I feel my gamble worked out well. 

The story follows Carrie who is about to leave again and go somewhere warm. The heart of the traveler rarely stays somewhere too long. However, she is offered a good job as the head of programs and events at the local library. She was going to deny the job at first but with the gentle nudge from the a ghost she decides to take the job and stay. Her first major event at the library is Al Buckley who is a retired detective and claims he knows who murdered Laura Foster 15 years ago. During his presentation he suddenly keels over and dies. Carrie feels responsible and decides to try and uncover who killed Al and Laura Forster. 

Woah. I expected a mystery and maybe a murder...but it turns into two! Haha you should've seen my face since I was totally going in blind to this book. Loved it. 

The mystery had a lot of twists and turns but I stuck my guns to who I thought it was and I was right. HAHA! I shall pat myself on the back. However, I will say....I doubted my choice especially as more clues and hints and red herrings popped up. The ending was fantastic! I cheered when Carrie did what I was wanting her to do since nearly the beginning. You go girl! 

I liked Carrie. She was very sweet. I did get really sleepy during her long-winded explanation of nonimportant things. Like what everyone was eating at the table or her shopping trips that didn't really seem to push the story along. I think I would've been more forgiving if this was more of a journal/diary format? 

I loved our ghost friend. She was funny and a nice cherry on top of this story. I hope she is in more books. Well...I do want her to find peace and not haunt the library anymore, but I like her a lot so I am selfish and want to see her more. 

The narrator was good. I liked her voices and she did well overall. No issues there. She fit and did well with all the characters. 

In the end, I did like this. A good mystery with a fun set of characters which includes the library ghost. Fun. There were some moments that dragged on a bit, but overall, this was a nice holiday cozy mystery for Halloween AND Thanksgiving. I am tempted to check out book 2. We shall see. 3 stars is what I shall stamp this one. 

Challenge(s):
- #49 for Audiobook Challenge