Series Review: A Books by the Bay Mystery series by Ellery Adams

May it not be said that having money solves all your problems. Meet Olivia Limoges. Millionaire. Aspiring author. Orphan. Business owner. And amateur sleuth.
Accompanied by her canine companion Captain Haviland and her ever helpful Oyster Bay writers group, murder crosses her path more often than she would like.
Of course it helps that one of the writers and a close friend is the local police chief Rawlings.

After years of being away Olivia returns to her home town to finally settle down and get some closure to all the things haunting her - hopefully.
What she did find were new friends, maybe a boyfriend, and murder happening on her doorstep!
Not the kind of homecoming anyone would wish for herself.

Linzé's Comments: I have read several books in the series and I really hope that Ms Adams will write many more. I love the characters and the interaction in the writers' group as they struggle with their novels, their daily lives and of course, putting their collective intellects together to solve the murders plaguing their town.
As the series progresses you learn more about Olivia and her difficult childhood and while she is an intensely private person, I constantly hope that amidst all the murder and mayhem there would be someone waiting in the wings to love her. Hey, I am a sucker for romance!

There is no label on the cover to show that Ms Adams is a best-selling author, but to my mind she should be. I love the books and can highly recommend the series to any mystery lover.

The series earns 5 stars from me :)

Infographic Thursday: Punctuation...a reminder

Infographic from www.visual.ly

Romance in September: Love: Lost and Found by Pamela Beckford

Love: Lost and Found is Pamela's latest collection of poetry depicting the ups and downs of love. Poems filled with the ecstasy and joy of an abiding love, as well as the heartache of love lost.  Her book trailer can be found here - http://voice.adobe.com/v/USjFF45ByPZ

Buy Links Amazon

Author Bio:

Pamela Beckford started writing poetry in 2013 and quickly began centering all her efforts on poems dealing with the angst of heartache and the exhilaration and joy of love.  She incorporates many different poetry forms (with descriptions in the back of her book to aid the reader). Poetry can be very therapeutic for both the writer and the reader and Pamela's poems are heartfelt and draw out emotions. One reviewer said "She makes me feel things when I read her work that usually stay buried beneath the surface. " She has received several five star reviews for both of her love poem collections. Her poetry is written for those who don't normally write poetry. 

Pamela is a nonprofit executive by day and is passionate about her work with her community. She lives in northeast Indiana and has a grown daughter who is a talented fashion designer and the world's most adorable grandson.

Connect with Pamela online:

Goodreads 

Amazon 

Facebook 

Blog 

Series Review: Hamish MacBeth Mystery series by MC Beaton

A few years ago I found out that I have Scottish ancestors. Scotland is also one of the places that I want to visit before I die.
So reading this mystery series falls right into my "bucket list" if you want to call  it that.

While the sleuth is not an amateur, he is a police officer, the location and isolation of the village requires his investigative skills to rely on more than forensics and science.
Hamish MacBeth is not you average police officer. People call him lazy and the lord of the manor is of the opinion that he is not good enough to be considered for the dinner guest list. But underneath that veneer of society's perceptions, Hamish is a man that understands people and the things that make them tick, or is that what drives them to murder?
A series with very likeable characters, Hamish is not liked by all, the least of which is another officer who believes that Hamish's ambition is to take his job.
With his dog, hens and sheep to care for, a girlfriend of whom he is not always so sure of, and villagers who are perpetually up to no good, life is never the laid back, lazy thing that he is often accused of.
Set in the Scottish Highlands, in the village of Lochdubh, the reader experiences the life and love and investigations of Hamish MacBeth through the series of 25 books (so far).
Ms Beaton has written several series of books under various pen names, of which the Hamish MacBeth Mystery series is the longest running.

I always look forward to the next book on my reading list, and it is always one of the first that I would read when my order is delivered.

Worth its rave reviews and five stars? Definitely!

Infographic Thursday: Managing the distractions and disruptions in my life

This is one busy picture, but if you take the time you will see that it explains the reasons why we are running around doing lots of things and accomplishing...nothing.

Focus is essential in this digital era we live in. Email and social media and all kinds of other real life stuff, like dirty dishes, keep our minds spinning in all directions and yet at the end of the day (or week) we are exhausted and still feel as if nothing got done.

Does it happen to you?

Source visual.ly

It happened to me and for a long time before I realised that I can control what I do. Yes, there are distractions everywhere and disruptions all the time.

At work priorities need to be set so you can focus on getting the job done.

When a disruption occurs, make a quick decision: 1. will it prevent me from getting the job done today? 2. if important or serious, then yes, deal with it. 3. if not, add to the list of things that needs to be done after the important thing(s) have been completed.

Our own lives are much the same. What is important to you?

As a writer, my third novel needs to be finished and in my life that is important.

So what will distract me from doing what I want to do? Dirty dishes? Laundry? Dogs that need feeding? Family obligations? The party my husband committed the two of us to go to, three weeks ago?

Manage them. I try write for two hours everyday before I go to bed, if I cannot then half and hour or fifteen minutes will do too.

By then, what is not done has to wait until the next day, or the weekend. As you can see I am not an anal housekeeper, but my social life can be challenging, since my husband is more of a social animal than I am.

While saying 'no' is no longer a problem for me, I cannot alienate my friends, family and husband all the time, so I have to write around this. It works most of the time, and when things go wrong, there is always the fifteen minutes before I go to bed.