“Hannah Prentiss has barely opened the doors of the Hot Spot, her new restaurant in Blackberry Valley's old firehouse, when she receives a lukewarm review from a local food critic. She's determined to prove him wrong―and to prove to herself that she has what it takes to run a successful business.
But then Hannah hears about a fire in the home of her friend, Miriam Spencer. She doesn't hesitate to reach out and help, along with other members of her church's women's group. During the cleanup process, Hannah discovers a secret compartment under the scorched floorboards of Miriam's living room.
Inside is an exquisite ruby brooch that Miriam and her son claim to know nothing about. But there's evidence that somebody in Blackberry Valley does. As Hannah works to discover the origin of the brooch, she finds secrets that have been buried at least as long as it has. But what will be the cost of revealing them?”
Series: Book #1 in the “Mysteries of Blackberry Valley” series.
Spiritual Content- A Scripture is mentioned and quoted; A prayer; Church going; Mentions of God & forgiveness; Mentions of prayers, praying, praising and thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of churches, church going, pastors, sermons, services, & church groups; Mentions of blessings & being Blessed; A couple mentions of a Christmas pageant; A mention of streaming a church service;
*Note: The phrase ‘for heaven’s sake’ is said once; Mentions of luck & being lucky; A couple mentions of fate.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: an ‘oh my word’; Some eye rolling; Some grief (Hannah for her late mother); All about & many mentions of stolen items, stealing, & thieves; All about & many mentions of fires, damage, how they can start, and possible arson; Mentions of deaths (including from a sickness and a car accident) & grief (including Hannah for her late mother & a young boy for his mother); Mentions of intruders; A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of smoking & cigarettes;
*Note: Mentions of books, authors, & fictional characters (including a couple of quotes; ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy, ‘War and Peace’, ‘The Little House’ by Virginia Lee Burton, Sherlock Homes, Hercule Poirot, Batman, & Nancy Drew); Mentions of car brands; A couple mentions of a group & song (the Dixie Cups); A mention of an actor (Warren Beatty); A mention of a brand name (Henley).
Sexual Content- Seeing a married couple kiss (no details); Blushes; Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); Reading a journal with entries about the writer falling in love; Hannah says she’s too busy with the restaurant to even think about dating when her dad asks her about it (twice); Mentions of dates, dating, cute/handsome guys, crushes, & flirting; A couple mentions of blushes; A mention of girls swooning over an actor.
-Hannah Prentiss, age 35
P.O.V. of Hannah
260 pages
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Pre Teens-
New Teens-
Early High School Teens-
Older High School Teens-
My personal Rating-
Like every beginning book of a Guideposts cozy mystery series, this first book has a lot of characters we’re introduced to as the world of this book. So I definitely made use of the search feature in my Kindle while reading this book and recommend doing that as well if you need help keeping everyone straight!
I really liked our main character, Hannah, even if she felt a bit too much like a Hallmark armchair sleuth at times, haha! Some of her questioning and actions reminded me of those movies, which wasn’t my favorite, but I did like her overall.
There’s already the start of a potential light romance and I’m really excited to see where it goes as the series continues.
I do think the culprit of the mystery was a wee bit obvious, but as an avid mystery reader, it’s rare for an ending to take me by surprise. All in all, I enjoyed the start to this new series!
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.
