#jess lea

REVIEW

A Curious Journey by Jess Lea

Murder Under The Gum Trees #3

A few years have passed since Margaret and Bess met and worked together to solve a few murders. They are in love and have just purchased their own home. As they are hoping to settle in and christen their new living space, they are less than thrilled to have Bess’s Aunt Hattie show up wanting to move in with them. Tensions rise, Hattie does something they cannot forgive, and they are off to find her instead of settling in as they had hoped to.

What I liked:

* Bess Campbell: Focused in living a positive life, empathetic, open, honest, caring, good friend, has a difficult relationship with her family, loves Margaret, nurturer

* Margaret Gale: protective, strong personality, closed off, controlled, dark, snarky,  softer with Bess, worried about her health, loves Bess

* Aunt Hattie: annoying, brilliant, pushy, bends the rules, journalist-writer, in a relationship with Len

* Len: driver, met Hattie through a yorkipoo dog club, strong, really likes Hattie,

* The way Hattie grew on me and also how Bess and Margaret began to see her differently

* How the death-murder of Nick Mantiatis was solved

* Being able to thoroughly dislike the Pyrite Center that was more cult than anything else – also hoping Karma would hit hard for a few of the henchmen and “gurus”

* That Margaret, Bess, and Hattie came through alright in the end

* Hattie not deferring to Bess’s mother’s wishes

* The plot, pacing, setting, and writing

* The way the story ended

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* Thinking about how easily Kevin and his henchmen were able to do evil things for money

Did I like this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Ylva Publishing for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars

BLURB

REVIEW

A Curious Woman by Jess Lea

Murder Under the Gum Trees #1

Interesting, intriguing, intricately crafted introduction to a new cozy mystery romance series

What I liked:

* Bess Campbell: focused in living a positive simpler life, lives off-grid, open, honest, caring, comfortable, good friend, persistent, intriguing backstory, stronger than she realizes

* Margaret Gale: Museum owner/director, protective, strong personality, closed off, controlled, dark, snarky, difficult backstory, loving sister, intriguing and she grew on me

* That the main characters grew on me and were not cardboard but real and though an opposites attract vibe…they also had common ground and balanced one another.

* The Midnight Hags: three young, bright, entrepreneurial, somewhat shady, females that I really enjoyed getting to know – hope they show up again

* The murder mystery with clues and red herrings that had me wondering – though I did read ahead to find out who the bad guy was

* The small-town vibe

* Being able to dislike and like with good reason

* That I was invested in the characters and the outcome of the story

* The plot, pacing, setting, and writing

* Reading a new-to-me author that drew me in and made me feel part of the story

* Knowing that the next book in the series is available now

What I didn’t like:

* Who and what I was meant not to like

* The cruelty of more than one character in the story and the pain it caused others in the story

Did I like this book? Yes

Would I read more in this series? Yes

Thank you to NetGalley and Ylva Publishing ~ This is my honest review.

5 Stars

BLURB

Bess Campbell has escaped to the windswept Australian coastal town of Port Bannir, determined to begin her life again. She is loving her fresh start, thanks to her fun job running a hip gallery, her territorial chickens, and a lot of self-help books to find her new, better self.

Port Bannir local Margaret Gale runs an austere maritime museum, and rules her staff with an iron fist. She has no time for that crazy modern gallery or upbeat, earnest Bess sweeping around town on her hipster bicycle.

After a heated dispute over an antique collectible dildo, there’s little hope Margaret and Bess will ever see eye to eye.

But when Port Bannir is rocked by a senseless murder, both women find themselves implicated. Can they work together to expose the truth––or will the truth prove far too dangerous?

A funny, fabulous, cozy mystery filled with quirkiness and a sweet serve of lesbian romance.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A Curious Woman by Jess Lea

I’m not doing a lot of this these day, I know. I read a lot (for me, it’s a lot) but I don’t always come back here and rehash. But then I win books and I wanna give back to the lovely people giving me free books… yeah, I won another one.

It’s not bribery if the book is really good, you know? And this one’s another amazing one and fits into the category I’m doing most of my reading in anyway:…

In Search of the Perfect Kiss - Lesbian Fiction Edition

What makes a perfect kiss? Ylva author Jess Lea looks at four of the best kisses in lesbian fiction to find out what makes magic on the page. Tenderness, heat, passion, and transformation are all pieces of the puzzle when it comes to puckering up. 

[Read full article here]