“It's opening day of Sarah Morgan's gifts and curiosities shop, Heavenly Presents. Not only are her family and friends there to support her new business, but a local television crew is on-site to interview her. Sarah decides her latest acquisition, an antique music box that supposedly belonged to Thomas Edison, is the perfect item to show off on television. They've only heard a few notes in the strange melody when an onlooker claims her great-grandmother used to play that same tune on the piano but was secretive about its origins.
When Sarah discovers a hidden drawer on the box that requires a key to open, she is determined to unlock the box's secrets.
Meanwhile, someone in the Port Huron community is also determined…to see Sarah's business fail.
Can Sarah find out who is behind the troublemaking, or will she be forced to close the doors on her dream forever?”
Series: Book #1 in the “Gift Shop Mysteries” series.
Spiritual Content- James 1:17 at the beginning; Prayers & Thanking God; Church going; 'H’s are capital when referring to God; Sarah wonders why God would open doors for her dream, only to let her hopes be crushed by the negative things that have happened & wonders how He will make something good out of the situation; Sarah also wonders if God cares about the small problems in her life and while she knows the “pat answer” is “of course”, she doesn’t feel reassured; *Spoilers* Sarah soon learns that it’s true that God does give good gifts and brings good out of bad situations, even the small ones; At the end, Sarah knows that the next time she encounters hardship, she will hold tight to God *End of Spoilers*; Lorena believes that God brought Al (Thomas Edison) into her life and paired them together; Mentions of God, trusting Him, & Him bringing good out of every situation; Mentions of prayers, praying thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, services, a pastor, a sermon; Mentions of Easter, Palm Sunday, & Good Friday; A few mentions of blessings & being blessed; A mention of mission work;
*Note: A couple mentions of luck.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a form of ‘dumb’; Many mentions of rumors & gossip; Mentions of deaths & grief (including a young woman for her mother and father & a husband for his wife); Mentions of a child nearly being killed in an accident; Mentions of complications from Addison’s disease (including seizures and possible death); Mentions of stealing, stolen items, crimes, & criminals; Mentions of intruders, trespassing, break-ins, & thieves; Mentions of lies, lying, & liars; Mentions of jealousy & rivalries (including sibling rivalries); A few mentions of the Civil War, battles, & deaths; A few mentions of injuries & blood/bleeding; A few mentions of teens playing pranks; A few mentions of manipulators & manipulations; A couple mentions of fires; A couple mentions of threats; A mention of scarlet fever;
*Note: In the historical chapters, Lorena has a different opinion than her father of what her future should be (finishing school vs wanting to go to a music conservatory) which leads to her commenting negatively on what others think of women (such as some men believing that all women have silly interests and ideas) and keeping secrets from her father such as writing letters to a young man through a maid in hopes her father will later change his mind about the young man (Lorena feels smothered by her father’s protectiveness and plans for her); *Spoilers* Eventually, her father makes it known that he is aware of Lorena’s secrets and steals an item that the man gave Lorena to keep them apart; The relationship between Lorena and Thomas Edison does not go further which makes her cry when he is cold to her; Later chapters show her married to another man and seemingly happy in the marriage *End of Spoilers*; Many mentions of historical figures (Thomas Edison, Mozart, & Beethoven); Mentions of car brands; Mentions of an opera and a song from it (‘The Bohemian Girl’); A few mentions of brand names (Doxa & Rolex); A mention of the YMCA.
Sexual Content- A little bit of dancing & hand holding (barely-above-not-detailed); A little bit of noticing a man’s attractiveness & blushing over it (barely-above-not-detailed); Sarah tells others that she doesn’t have time to date as she is focused on her store; A few mentions of dating; A couple mentions of chaperones & reputations; A mention of a woman being accused of being a home-wrecker; A mention of a cute guy;
*Note: A mention of Sarah noticing a “bit of weight redistribution” after turning forty.
-Sarah Morgan
P.O.V. mostly of Sarah
Mostly contemporary, but also eight chapters from 1862-1865, 1867, 1886, & 1947
252 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
The beginning of a brand new cozy mystery series by Guidebooks! While I was planning on waiting to start this series until I finished the “Mysteries of Cobble Hill Farm”, I looked ahead and decided to begin the series due to holidays/seasons mentioned in upcoming books. This was a promising start to the series, even if it wasn’t a new favorite mystery. It took me a bit to keep track of all the new characters and how they are connected, but that’s common when starting a new series so I just made use of the search feature on my Kindle. 😉 I did find some of the side characters to have too much high school drama for women in their forties, so I hope the series will have less of that as it continues.
As a note about the historical chapters: I did have difficulty reading those chapters on my Kindle due to the font. I didn’t particularly care for the historical time period as the character then was deceiving her father about a relationship with a man and hiding about it from him. The man was Thomas Edison, who did not date a girl named Lorena according to some research I did while reading. I’m not really a fan of authors making up fictional events and love interests for an actual historical figure, so these parts weren’t the most enjoyable to read, personally. I preferred the contemporary time-period and meeting the woman who will be main character of the whole series.
Overall, not a bad start to the series and I look forward to seeing what the future books will be about in the months to come. 🙂
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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