“It’s Blackberry Festival time, and the whole town is gearing up for the chefs’ cook-off and other exciting events. But right before the big weekend, Hannah Prentiss is disturbed to hear about prowlers roaming the grounds and items going missing from her friend Elaine Wilby’s hundred-year-old-farm. The incidents seem to coincide with an article in the local paper about another festival, held ninety years ago, when the newly crowned Onion Queen disappeared without a trace.
Elaine believes someone might be after her family’s special heirloom onion seeds. The uniquely flavored vegetable was grown on the farm decades ago but has long since disappeared.
Could the perpetrator have a connection to the long-lost seeds… and to the missing Onion Queen?”
Series: Book #3 in the “Mysteries of Blackberry Valley” series. Reviews of Book #1 and Book #2!
Spiritual Content- Ephesians 4:15 at the beginning; A couple Scripture are quoted & referenced; Thanking God; Church going; A few talks about God & praying; Mentions of God; Mentions of prayers, praying, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, hymns, Sunday school, a woman’s group at church, & a pastor; A mention of Bible reading & a morning devotional; A mention of doing something the Christian way;
*Note: Mentions of luck.
Negative Content- Some eye rolling; All about & many mentions of thieves, thefts, stolen items, robberies, intruders, break-ins, & trespassing; Mentions of crimes, criminals, & jail; Mentions of someone being attacked & injured; Mentions of a fight & a man punching another; Mentions of a dog getting injured (twice) & stopping in front of a moving vehicle (but is okay); Mentions of lies, lying, & deceit; A few mentions of the Great Depression; A couple mentions of death (Hannah’s mom & another’s father); A couple mentions of farm accidents & injuries; A couple mentions of rumors; A mention of a child disappearing being a nightmare for parents; A mention of a car accident; A mention of tobacco;
*Note: A few mentions of car brands; A mention of a brand name (Kewpie dolls); A mention of a movie (Tarzan).
Sexual Content- Hannah notes that while she insists she doesn’t want to date right now (despite her family and friends trying to set her up on blind dates), she wouldn’t mind getting to know the town’s fire chief better; Mentions of girlfriends/boyfriends, dating, & dates; Mentions of a couple falling in love & her parents not approving of the man (due to wanting her to marry a rich man); A few mentions of a man trying to give a woman a kiss (that she doesn’t want so she pushes him away); A mention of chaperones.
-Hannah Prentiss, age 35
P.O.V. switches between them
Contemporary & Scenes from 1932
275 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
While I might not be a fan of onions, I do enjoy gardening and learning about heirloom seeds, so I found this mystery very interesting! Add in the fun of the town’s blackberry festival—which totally made me crave blackberries the whole time I was reading—and it was a fun book!
I will say that this one started off a little strong and quickly jumped into the plot. A few things that were mentioned felt like I should have already knew the information, but I don’t recall them being said before (such as Elaine having a large garden or adopting a dog). But besides the slightly rough start, the pacing worked else wise. I didn’t care for the almost-dual-time-period historical parts, personally. There was a lot of jumping to conclusions and some slightly questionable advice in those scenes. I almost dropped my rating to 3.5 because of it, but I did really enjoyed the rest of the book.
I was absolutely thrilled at the end of the book because it had a recipe for the blackberry pizza recipe that Hannah references and makes throughout the whole book! For half the book, I was picturing it to be the blackberries on top of pizza, but it’s actually a blackberry sauce instead of tomato sauce. I think I would rather try them on top of the pizza as I don’t know about this no-tomato sauce concept. But regardless, I was excited the recipe was shared because I was expecting it to be the blackberry jam cake one instead. I definitely plan on trying this pizza! ;)
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
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