Guilt and Ginataan by Mia Manansala

December 8, 2024

Guilt and Ginataan by Mia Manansala

It's time for the annual corn festival in Shady Palms, Illinois, and the owners of the Brew-ha Cafe are gearing up for the opening weekend. Known for the second biggest corn maze in the state, the festival draws crowds from all over the Midwest. After their booth sells out early, Lila, Adena and Elena decide to have a contest to see who can finish the corn maze first, but the fun comes to an abrupt end when they discover a body near the center of the maze.

A new mystery featuring the residents of Shady Palms. The aunties and Lola Flor don't appear in this story as much as in previous stories in the series, although there are still recipes at the end. Lila and Jae's sweet relationship continues to grow. Recommended for fans of cozy mysteries, especially those featuring food.

An example of ginataan, a sweet or savory Filipino dish cooked in coconut milk

Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala

October 19, 2023

Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala

Lila Macapagal and company are back for another cozy mystery set in Shady Palms, Illinois. Her three godmothers April, Mae, and June (aka the Calendar Crew) are opening a laundromat, which has started a war with the owner of the only other laundromat in the town. Just in time for their grand opening, April's niece Divina arrives from the Philippines, and the aunties figure they'll put her to work at the laundromat to keep her busy. But someone doesn't want them to open and vandalizes the laundromat, and the suspect list is long, since the aunties have offended most of the town residents at some point with their nosiness and gossip. Then disaster really strikes a few days later when Divina is found dead next to a washer.

The fourth adventure in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen cozy mystery series, complete with recipes. This entry is not as strong as some of the earlier books, with a lot of filler about food and meals. The romantic relationships are progressing slowly. There are recipes in the back for some of the yummy dishes. I worked for many years with Mia's mom, and I am so glad to see that Mia is fulfilling her dream of being a writer. 

Mamon cakes, a fluffy chiffon-y cake often made with coconut

The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

May 10, 2023

The House of Lincoln by Nancy Horan

Follows the lives of three families living in Springfield, IL, from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and their different experiences. The Lincolns are Abraham Lincoln's family; the Donnegans are a free black family who assist escaped slaves to freedom; and the Ferreiras are a family of Portuguese immigrants who left their home seeking religious freedom and settled in Springfield. All are affected by Lincoln's presidency and assassination, the Civil War, and emancipation and restoration following the war. 

I enjoyed Horan's previous books so I was looking forward to reading her latest novel. While well-researched, the author tried to cover too much territory historically, and there are too many characters for good character development. She tried to include too many important topics, such as slavery, the Civil War, Lincoln's presidency, the race riots in the early 20th century, Mary Todd Lincoln's life as First Lady. I think the title is also incorrect - I went into the book thinking it was about the Lincoln family, but they really play only a small part. There is much more about the Donnegan family and slavery than either of the other families. Needed a good editor - disappointing.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Springfield's main street and business district, mid-19th century

Blackmail and Bibingka by Mia P. Manansala

November 10, 2022

Blackmail and Bibingka by Mia P. Manansala

Lila Macapagal and her friends Adeena and Elena have finally opened their cafe, the Brew-ha Cafe, in Shady Palms, IL, right next door to Lila's family's Filipino restaurant. They are getting ready to participate in the town's annual holiday bazaar, when Lila's prodigal cousin Ronnie returns home to Shady Palms as the new owner of the local winery. But when one of his financial backers dies suddenly after drinking one of Ronnie's wines, Ronnie is a prime suspect and Lila's aunt asks her to help clear his name.

This is the third book in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen series, a cozy mystery series centered around a Filipino family restaurant in a small town about 100 miles from Chicago. Lots of food and eating. There are recipes in the back of the books for some of the traditional Filipino dishes. I worked with Mia's mom, Marian, for years at the Chicago Public Library, and I know she is proud as heck of Mia. Very enjoyable mysteries.

Bibingka, a traditional Filipino coconut cake served during the Christmas holidays

Homicide and Halo-halo by Mia Manansala

March 14, 2022

Homicide and Halo-halo by Mia Manansala

Lila Macapagal continues to live in her hometown of Shady Palms a hundred miles from Chicago. Since solving the mystery of who killed her old boyfriend, she has been just drifting along, still working as a waitress at her aunt's restaurant, unable to push herself to open her new cafe with her BFF. When the town council decides to resurrect the teen beauty pageant, Lila is drafted as a judge since she won the pageant many years before. When another judge is murdered, Lila's cousin Bernadette looks like the most likely suspect. Although the two cousins have a rocky relationship, they join forces to find the real killer and clear Bernadette's name.

This is the author's second mystery and she wrote it during the pandemic and admits that it's not as light-hearted as the first one. I still found it to be enjoyable. I worked with Mia's mom at the Chicago Public Library for many years and they are a lovely family. We are all so proud of Mia!

Halo-halo is a Filipino dessert made with fruits like coconut, banana, and jackfruit, fruity gelatin, ube (which is purple yam, although I've seen recipes that omitted the ube and substituted mangoes instead) and shaved ice. Traditionally, you're supposed to mix it together before eating it so you get a taste of everything in a single bite.

A dish of halo-halo

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

October 5, 2022

Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Charlie Reade is a high school student who lives down the hill from the neighborhood "psycho" house (every neighborhood had one when I was growing up). A reclusive old man named Howard lives there with his "vicious" dog. On his way home from school one day, Charlie hears the dog barking frantically, screws up his courage and goes to investigate. He finds Howard on the ground, having fallen from a ladder. He calls 911 and offers to care for Radar, who turns out to be a sweet elderly dog, while Howard is in the hospital. He quickly falls in love with Radar and continues to care for her (yes, Radar is a girl) and also for Howard when he comes home from the hospital. When Howard dies a few months later, he leaves everything to Charlie, including the source of his wealth, and Radar. But before his death, Howard tells Charlie a bizarre story about a parallel world where there is a sundial that can turn back time. With Radar's time rapidly coming to an end, Charlie sets out to find the mysterious world and save Radar.

Spoiler alert: Radar the dog is fine at the end of the book. As a librarian, this is the question I am most often asked when there is a dog in a book: is the dog okay?

The first half of the book is really good, with all the things that we love about Stephen King: great characters with well-imagine backstories, a search for redemption and a promise to fulfill, a worthy quest, and a wonderful dog. Second half, not so much. As long as Charlie is on his quest to save Radar, the story is great. Once SK delves into the darker disturbing side of the fairy tale world, it becomes a much different story. It's like King had ideas for two different books and decided to mash them together. I wish he had ended the book with the end of Charlie's quest - it still would have been over 300 pages long.

King said he wanted to write something during the pandemic that made him happy. If the imagery in the second half of the book made him happy, the pandemic went on a little too long. I shudder to think about what goes on in his mind. Stephen King fanatics won't care, they'll read anything he writes. Still, the first half of the book is worth the price of admission.

Love the cover art of Charlie, Radar, and the well.

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

March 5, 2022

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen

The Hildebrandt family is a fucked-up mess. The father is the assistant paster at one of those mega-churches, tired of his wife Marion, ogling one of the parishioners, and feuding with the youth pastor. The wife has a dark secret of her own (maybe more than one). They have four kids: the oldest is obsessed with sex and wants to quit college and enlist in the army and go to Vietnam; the daughter is in the middle of first love; the second son is 10 years old, brainy, drinks gin and sells 'Ludes at school; and the youngest, Judson, who is the only one with any redeeming qualities so of course, he's practically ignored for the whole book.

Annoying, unlikeable, uninteresting characters, focused on petty shit. This is supposed to be the first of a trilogy, but in my opinion, he doesn't need to write anything more about these people. Way WAY too long. Needed a good editor. Took too long to set up any kind of story (because there really isn't a plot). As much as I loved Franzen's first book, The Corrections, all of his books after that first one have been kind of boring. 

A mega-church

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala

June 5, 2021

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala

After a bad break-up, Lila moves back to the small town outside Chicago where she grew up. She works at her Aunt Rosie's not-very-successful Filipino restaurant while trying to avoid her multiple aunties' matchmaking attempts. When a local food critic (and one of Lila's former boyfriends) keels over dead after tasting food at the restaurant, Lila become the prime suspect in his murder due to her relationship to the dead guy and because she works at the restaurant. She soon realizes that she is the ONLY suspect the cops are looking at, so it's up to Lila and her friends to do their own investigation to clear her name.

Light, fun cozy mystery, the first book in a new series. I worked with Mia's mother at the library for many years, and they must be so proud!

Chicken Adobo, a popular Filipino dish - every cook has their own version