Ashleigh's Bookshelf

Sheltering Spirits by Lori Allison With her dog grooming and boarding business finally taking off and her home renovations underway, Mallory finally has everything she has always dreamed of. However, when a freak accident with an old friend unleashes a new talent, Mallory begins to look at life in a new way. And death, especially after finding a dead body on her property. As her business suffers the consequences, she wonders which will come first: the poor house, prison, or the mental ward. This story took a long time to get started. The early chapters have a lot of background information to the point of being extraneous. The information doesn't seem relative to the story and made me wonder what the plot even was. I would have liked to have seen some of the information later, maybe told in dialogue to someone or showing how this information related to the overall story. I almost felt as if Mallory's backstory would have been better served as a preque...

My Little Green Umbrella by Sandy Little When a little girl finds an umbrella, she never expected it to become her new friend. It is difficult to write a review on a story so short without giving away spoilers. However, my daughter and I read this book together and we both loved it. The story is so heartwarming, it literally brought me to tears. More than once. I absolutely adored this book and look forward to reading more by this author. Ultimately, I would rate this story five quills and place it on my top shelf.

Paint the Town Dead by Sybil Johnson Rory is excited for the upcoming painting convention in the brand new Akaw hotel. But not everyone in town shares her excitement. Residents are protesting the hotel, threatening those involved in its development. Even though Rory only created the hotel website and app, someone throws a rock through her window. When people start dying, she finds herself trying to figure out whether it's all connected. This book starts strong with an exciting opening scene. However, it then progresses into the main character sitting down with her best friend and having a conversation that gives us a lot of background information that, in my opinion, probably could have waited another chapter or two and been introduced more organically. Many of the conversations and narratives in the early chapters felt this way to the point where the characters almost felt gossipy. It also took a while to really get to the heart of the mystery. (Here...

Stalks of Gold by Celeste Baxendell Aurelia is the humble daughter of the village miller who possesses a certain talent for the spinning wheel. Although she does not know many people, her best friend Sandor has always been there for her. But, Sandor has never told Aurelia his biggest secret. Before he can, the king arrests her, locking her in the tower and ordering her to spin straw into gold. While Sandor races to free her, Aurelia turns to the only other person who has shown her friendship, the mysterious stranger who appeared on her doorstep only days earlier. Can he help her to survive? A wonderful blend of Rumpelstiltskin and Rapunzel, this dual-narrative story is an interesting reinterpretation of the classic fairy tales. I especially appreciated how the main characters were constantly acknowledging their own flaws. While I found the characters well-developed and enjoyed watching them grow, there were a few places where I would have liked to see more....

A Novel Proposal by E. E. Everly Annalise has a problem. She is in love with her boss, but Evan is clueless. Fed up with being in the friend zone, she quits without warning. She doesn't even want to read the edits he made on her novel. But when a friend insists she read the book, she discovers he has made some drastic suggestions. Will reading his changes help Annalise see Evan in a new light? Or has she lost her best friend. This was a very cute story and something I recommend for all romance writers, as we can relate to a lot of the situations within the story. That said, I did have a couple of issues with the book. There were several scenes, specifically the ones involving the ski resort and the hospital, that felt they could have used a little more research. I'm not exactly sure where this story was supposed to take place, but Annalise and Evan's experiences were drastically different than mine and the events, while cute and helped dri...

Murder, She Edited by Kaitlyn Dunnett Freelance editor Mikki Lincoln has just inherited a farm boarding house, from a woman she barely knew. But there is one stipulation: she must find, edit, and publish an unknown number of journals within one month, else she loses the farm. The mystery in this book unfolds slowly, first with the mystery of learning what the main character has inherited, then learning the mystery of what happened to the original owners, and ending with the mystery of who is trying to thwart Mikki's attempts. While I enjoyed watching the story unfold, the ending felt a little forced. I would have liked to have witnessed the cold case confession instead of hearing about it second hand. I also still had a few questions at the end of the book. (view spoiler) [After Mikki published the journals, were they successful? Why was the stepmother killed in the first place? Mikki had several theories; I would have liked to know which one was correct...

Year 1: Renegade A supernatural academy book for teens by Tamara Hart Heiner Unlike the teenagers who have just arrived at the Guardian Angel Academy, Jez has not just completed her life on earth. She is a transfer student, wingless and bound by chains. While her instructors think she is trying to learn how to become a Guardian, she is actually on a mission from her master. This book is difficult to review without spoilers, but I will do my best. I really enjoyed watching Jez grow throughout the book. In addition to her book knowledge, she learned about relationships and emotions. The story begins a little slow, with a lot of worldbuilding information, but after the first chapter it really picks up. The book could also have used one more proofreading pass, as I found numerous typographical and grammatical errors. However, most of the time they were not enough to detract from the overall story. This story centers around relationships and I liked watchin...

Goodbye Sea Angel by Anne Shillolo When Detective Constable Holly Towns agreed to serve as security on the Sea Angel party boat, she never expected to end up in the middle of a storm. Or that one of the passengers would leave in a body bag. Or that she would be in charge of the investigation because the rest of her team is too busy dealing with a sniper back on the mainland. As if that wasn't enough, she's still haunted by a cold case: the death of her parents. Will she be able to solve any of these cases before any more lives are lost? Although this is the third book in the series, it is the first one I have read and I fell in love with the main character. She was very relatable and I loved the fact that, despite being a police officer, she was far from perfect. I loved watching her grow and working on being a team player. Although the two main cases had satisfactory endings, I was not thrilled with the cold case story. I loved its progression, however t...

Better Beginnings by Cyprus Hart After breaking up with her boyfriend, Leigh just wants to get as far away from LA as possible. Small town Maine seems like the perfect place. After being surrounded by fake people looking out for themselves, she is shocked by the realness of her new neighbors, who seem to look after each other. Except Ulysses. The bearded lumberjack just doesn't seem to like Leigh, and that doesn't sit right with her. Can she win him over, or will finding out his secret be too painful? For both of them. I'm not sure if it was the author's intention, but I really did not like Leigh. Like Ulysses, I found her shallow and egocentric and vain. I only kept reading beyond the first few chapters because I was convinced she would change. I hope it's not a spoiler to say that, in my opinion, I did not see much growth in her character. While she does eventually show she is capable of caring for one other person, I would have lik...

Chase: The Boy Who Hid by Z Jeffries Chase is angry. While everyone believes his grandad is dead, he knows the truth: Grandad is just missing. Since no one believes him, it's up to him to lead the search. Unfortunately, that means taking his spot in a top-secret government game of hide and seek, gaining the trust of the team, and maybe even interviewing the enemy. All without getting himself killed. Piece of cake, right? While I found this book entertaining, the worldbuilding was a little confusing. I understood the need to keep the descriptions of the Lack vague, but there were other elements I would have like to have explained a little more. For example, if the ball was for only the team captains, who were all the other people present? And, I was confused by some of the technology used by other teams during the game. I would have liked if the author had spent a little more time describing that for me. I would have also liked to have seen a little more...