Review, Guest Post & Giveaway ~ FIXIN' TO DIE by Tonya Kappas

Review ~ THE DARE ME DATE by Tonya Kappas

The Dare Me Date (A Small Town Romance Short Story Series, #2)

by: Tonya Kappas

Series: Small Town Romance Short Story

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: January 21, 2013

Source: Personal Purchase

Amazon | Goodreads

Jozy doesn't want to be alone on Valentine's Day. . .again! Especially since she lives in Floral, Wisconsin, one of the most romantic small towns in the United States.

Maddie, Jozy's long time best friend, dares Jozy to be someone she's not in order to catch the eye of a very handsome stranger.

Will Jozy take the dare so she doesn't have to be alone on Valentine's Day or is the joke on her?

Review ~ MURDER BY THE BAY by Tonya Kappas

Murder by the Bay (Blossom Bay Short Series, #1)

by: Tonya Kappas

Series: Blossom Bay Short Series

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Release Date: January 11, 2016

Source: Personal Purchase

Amazon | Goodreads

Welcome to Blossom Bay, a cozy east coast town with a colorful set of characters that you will fall in love with. The Blossom Bay Short Series is a series of short stories based on the characters of Blossom Bay. Some of the short stories will be mystery, some will be romance, while others will be woman's fiction. One thing is for sure, each short story with have the fun and charm of the Tonya Kappes novels you are use to reading.

Murder By The Bay

Julia France has had a reoccurring dream of the same house for years. On her way to meet up with a group of friends for a get-away weekend, the dream house appeared right before her eyes. Lucky her! The house was not only a bed and breakfast for the quaint community, it was for sale! Julia knew it had to be fate and bought the house.

Blossom Bay Inn is open for business and Julia's dream come true has come to a halt when someone is found dead at the Inn. Is Julia's dream over before it even started?

Spotlight ~ A CHARMING MAGIC by Tonya Kappes

A Charming Magic (Magical Cures Mystery Series, #5)

by Tonya Kappes

Published by MagiCal Press

Released ~ December 30, 2013

Magic is floating all around Whispering Falls. There is a new flower shop, Magical Moments, and an upcoming wedding that has the town on cloud nine.

Review ~ A NEW TRADITION by Tonya Kappes

For Sabrina Englehardt, Christmas has always been a special day filled with family, friends, and a wacky tradition of watching Breakfast At Tiffany's while dressed up in the stars costumes. . .…tiara and all.

 

Sabrina's biggest client insists on having a Skype call on Christmas day to secure a deal of a lifetime, which is fine with her, because this year she's going to make a new tradition, celebrating Christmas alone with her cat at her snowy remote family cabin as family and friends go their separate ways to celebrate the holiday.

 

When everything starts to go array, Sabrina has to call on her hunky neighbor for help in order to secure the deal of a lifetime.

 

Will it all work out or will Sabrina pull the quilt over her head waiting for Christmas to be over?

Review ~ A Charming Wish by Tonya Kappes

Bubble, Bubble. . .

It seems shop owner and newly appointed Whispering Falls Village President June Heal has it all: Beauty, wits, bewitching powers...Sheriff Oscar Park. Life is good. Because life in Whispering Falls is magical.

Cures and Trouble. . .

But when a member of the community is found dead on the steps of A Charming Cure, June's homeopathic cure shop, and her fingerprints show up at the scenes of local robberies, she is kicked off the village council and her powers fall under scrutiny. Until it's uncovered who is wreaking havoc on the town...June's magic is suspended.

Magic Stirs. . .

With the help of a rather obnoxious genie and Mr. Prince Charming, June's Fairy-God cat, June is determined to figure out who is framing her. Time is of the essence when it becomes clear that the true villain is trying to get rid of her...permanently!

And Trouble Doubles. . .

Oscar Park will do anything to protect June even if that means giving up all of his magical powers. . .or worse, his life.

Tonya Kappes - A Charming Wish Interview & Giveaway

A Charming Wish: A Magical Cures Series By Tonya Kappes

Bubble, Bubble. . .

It seems shop owner and newly appointed Whispering Falls Village President June Heal has it all: beauty, wits, bewitching powers...Sheriff Oscar Park. Life is good. Because life in Whispering Falls is magical.

Cures and Trouble. . .

But when a member of the community is found dead on the steps of A Charming Cure, June's homeopathic cure shop, and her fingerprints show up at the scenes of local robberies, she is kicked off the village council and her powers fall under scrutiny. Until it's uncovered who is wreaking havoc on the town...June's magic is suspended.

Magic Stirs. . .

With the help of a rather obnoxious genie and Mr. Prince Charming, June's Fairy-God cat, June is determined to figure out who is framing her. Time is of the essence when it becomes clear that the true villain is trying to get rid of her...permanently!

And Trouble Doubles. . .

Oscar Park will do anything to protect June even if that means giving up all of his magical powers. . .or worse, his life.

Review: A Charming Potion by Tonya Kappes

***THIS IS A SHORT STORY AND MAY HAVE SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ ANY OF THE BOOKS IN THE MAGICAL CURES MYSTERY SERIES***

June Heal's life in the charming little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky is amazing.  Finally her business, A Charming Cure, has taken off, and so has her love life with hunky sheriff Oscar Park.

When a client shows up begging for a love potion, June knows that the number one rule in the spiritualist community is not to mess with love.  But what's one little love potion on the greatest day of the year?  Halloween.

Things turn scary when the potion gets into the wrong hands.  Will June have enough time to reverse it before more damage is done?

There isn't any amount of Ding Dongs that is going to help her fix this mess.

Tonya Kappes' Strung Out to Die Blog Tour

Holly Harper's life is finally getting back on the right track after her divorce from "what's his name."  She and a group of divorcees have formed a strong bond plotting creative ways to get back at their exes and created a self-help group known as The Divorced Divas where their meetings are held in Holly's bead store, The Beaded Dragonfly.

It’s no secret that Holly’s ex husband, Sean Harper, and the wealthiest bachelor in Swanee, Doug Sloan, don’t get along because Sean is constantly fixing all of Doug’s shoddy handy man work.  Plus all the Divas would love to get their claws in some of Doug’s money.

When Doug ends up dead on the floor of The Beaded Dragonfly with a string of cat eye beads around his neck, it’s up to Holly to figure out whose framing her.

Strung Out to Die can be purchased from Amazon.

I’m new to the cozy mystery genre. I read one book and realized I liked it. I started searching the web to find out what exactly a cozy mystery was. My search lead me to this awesome review site called Cozy Mystery Book Reviews.

Cozy Mystery Book Reviews opened my eyes to a whole new world of books. I asked Bella at Cozy Mystery Book Reviews to tell me what a cozy mystery was to her. This is what she told me. “To me a cozy mystery is a "light mystery", where the murder takes place off stage and involves an amateur sleuth. There are some cozies (eg Agatha Christie) that don't involve a amateur sleuth. For example, Hercule Poirot is a detective, however Miss Marple is a amateur sleuth. To me cozy mysteries involve a murder set in a small town with a amateur sleuth trying to find the killer. Usually there will be a romance element, which can vary from light to heavier (eg Stephanie Plum books have more romance than some other cozies). They aren't gruesome, and give the reader a chance to try to and solve the murder, and enjoy the cozy setting.” 

Now, for my first cozy mystery book tour, I asked Tonya Kappes to discuss the appeal of Cozy Mysteries.

Why Cozy Mysteries Are Appealing To Readers

Years ago, when I started writing, I was bound and determined to write in the women’s fiction genre. With pencil and paper (Yes! I wrote longhand back then.) in hand, I sat down at one of my guy’s (I have three teenage boys living at home) pee-wee football practices under a big cozy tree and started my journey of writing women’s fiction.

I will write anywhere!

Quickly, that novel turned took a life of its own, which characters happen to do, turning into a whodunit instead of who am I going to love.

It was the intrigue of trying to figure a mystery that had me hooked. I had grown up on Murder She Wrote and Matlock, not to mention Veronica Mars. But I adored the short lived television series, Pushing Daisies.

(Pushing Daisies)

It was a show that was full of quirks, laughs, friendships, and mystery. Who doesn’t like all of those elements? I love them!

I am no different than you or any other reader. In fact, I’m an avid reader. So it’s a perfect combination for me.

Even though cozies are ultimately about figuring out the mystery, they are based around relationships. We are human, which makes us drawn to anything that deals with relationships. The main character in a cozy generally finds herself directly affected by the crime, and the reader loves the character which makes us have an emotional attachment to the main character. We root for her from the beginning until the end. It’s the emotion connection that we connect with.

And the setting of a cozy is a bonus to the reader. We love to gather at coffee shops, knitting groups, book shops, even bakeries and many other places so we can visit with our friends. I know when I go to a coffee shop to write or meet up with buddies that I get a warm fuzzy feeling which puts me in a great mood.

But that isn’t the only reason why readers love cozies. The hobby in the cozy is very appealing. In Strung Out To Die, the mystery is set in a lapidary or bead shop. In the book, the reader is going to learn more details about the beading/jewelry making hobby.

A cozy is all about a woman finding herself and not letting the little details of life (like a murder) derail them from reaching their dream and pursuit of happiness. Who can resist a lighthearted story and the possibility of a small romance?

What do you love about a cozy mystery?

Just who is Tonya Kappes?

Tonya is an author who writes fun humorous fiction, some with romance and some with a little mystery.

More than anything she loves to connect with readers! She’s a huge fan of them and LOVES getting to know them. Making readers smile and remembering not to take life too seriously is how she likes to write. She’s addicted to coffee. McDonald's Diet Coke and Red Hots Candy keep her going!

When Tonya isn’t writing about quirky characters and even quirkier situations, she's busy being the princess, queen and jester of her domain which includes her BFF husband, three teenage boys and two dogs.

And be sure to stalk (her word NOT mine) her on her Website, Facebook and Twitter!

 

Keep up with Tonya’s Strung Out to Die Book Tour by visiting these out sites.

January 14 – Cozy Mystery Book Reviews
January 15 – Brooke Blogs
January 16 – Mochas, Mysteries & More
January 17 – Melina the Reader
January 18 – Read Your Writes Book Reviews
January 19 – Must Read Faster
January 20 – Cozy Up With Kathy

 

Click HERE for a chance to win a $25 Amazon or Book Depository gift card.