Okay as mind candy. Mildly annoying to find a Harlequin romance masquerading as a cozy mystery, but I will continue the series until it goes off the deep end. ( )

2.5**

From the book jacket: When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier-brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister, Rebecca, that the nineteenth-century house they share is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s junk, she successfully outbids the other buyers and takes home her Hoosier. But that night on the summer porch where she’s left the Hoosier to be cleaned up, a man is murdered – struck on the head with the steel meat grinder that is part of the cabinet.

My reactions
True confession, I picked this up solely because I needed a cover image of “something broken” and this fit the bill.

I liked the basic premise of this new cozy series, including the small-town setting, the interplay between the sisters, and the cast of (potentially) recurring colorful characters. I even like her little three-legged dog, Hopalong. But Jaymie herself just irritated me. They way she went about doing her own investigation and the obviously ill-advised choices she made and dangerous chances she took just had me shaking my head.

Still, it was a fast, entertaining read, and I’d be willing to read another in the series. ( )

Jaymie Leighton spots an old Hoosier cabinet at a sale that she's attending with her sister Becca. Even though Becca warns against it, Jaymie buys it - noting that a couple of people who were fighting at the time, missed the gavel and she won her item.

But when she gets it home she needs to figure out a way to get it out of her van. Miraculously, a man appears out of the darkness, tells her he's staying at the local B&B, and helps her move her prized piece. They leave it out on the porch for cleaning, and Jaymie and her sister then retire to bed. But during the night they hear sounds, and Jaymie discovers a man near her cabinet, and he's dead.

Not knowing who he is, Jaymie is willing to find out, especially when she figures out his death had something to do with the Hoosier. But what is it, and can she find out before she becomes the next victim?...

This is the first book in the series, and unfortunately, it's going to be my last. I'm even surprised I got as far as I did, and also surprised I didn't hurt myself from rolling my eyes so much. There are so many sentences that are phrased as questions - almost like Jaymie is second-guessing everything that comes out of her mouth. And I got really, really tired of hearing about Tea with the Queen. Who cares?

There were so many things wrong with this that it was hard to like the book, and to tell the truth, I wasn't able to finish it. I read as far as I could and then I wound up just going to the back to find out who the killer was and why. This is how boring this book was to me.

First off, Jaymie's ex-boyfriend Joel walked out on her two weeks before Christmas (!) without a word; he just left the house (what kind of a coward doesn't give a reason why?), and went to another girl. Then, Jaymie meets the other woman, Heidi, and decides she's nice (!) and acts like everything is hunky-dory. Really? Honestly? a) This is not a nice woman if she knows (which she had to) that the boyfriend was living with someone and she had no problem making a play for him in the first place. How is this nice? He has a girlfriend that he's living with and you think it's perfectly fine to date him? Then, b) Jaymie has no problem being nice to her in return. What woman do you know is going to be nice to the woman who stole your boyfriend? A live-in boyfriend no less. What kind of stupid do you have to be to do this? c) Jaymie's even nice to the ex-boyfriend. Like it doesn't matter that he cheated on her, dumped her without a word just before Christmas. Honestly? Is she really this dumb? She didn't want to punch him or even ask him why he left without a word? What is wrong with this woman?

Plus, Jaymie starts worrying that Heidi will look beautiful for the Tea and since she'll be serving she'll look dowdy next to Heidi and Joel will see her and compare them. So she's obsessing about the man who left her for another woman and worries that he'll compare the both of them. Say what? Oh, and I have another tidbit of news for Jaymie: She might drink Tetley tea (brought all the way from Canada as she felt the need to tell us), but you can buy it anywhere in the states and it's lousy tea. (Sorry, this book irritated me so much I felt the need to throw that in).

When she brings the cabinet home, a stranger shows up out of nowhere, gives her a story as to why he's there, and she buys it without question (which is odd, considering she was questioning everything else during the book). Then this guy even asks her if she has an alarm system, and lo and behold, no alarms go off in her head that something's fishy about it.

She discovers a clue to the murder, but instead of calling the police immediately she decides to work in her garden for awhile. Huh? I also got tired of hearing about the summer porch. It's a porch, plain and simple. You explained it once, that's enough. Most people say front porch or back porch, I've never heard anyone say summer porch. Does that make her front porch the winter porch? Do they only use it in winter? At any rate, the things she does defy explanation. It's as if her brain is wired wrong and she can't think properly.

Life is too short to waste on bad books, so my first foray into this series will be my last. I would suggest that you skip this series and move on to something that actually makes sense and doesn't talk about irrelevant things and repetitive details. ( )

Jaymie Leighton, vintage kitchenware collector and cookbook writer, buys an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet/work center, over the objections of her sister and some rather spirited rival bidding. She takes her treasure home, and temporarily leaves it on the summer porch, until she can rearrange the kitchen to make best use of it.

Late that night, she and her sister are awakened by a shout, a crash, and Jaymie's dog, Hopalong, barking. On the porch they find a dead man, a stranger, apparently killed by a blow from a meat grinder pulled loose from the Hoosier.

The dead body on her porch is upsetting enough. Jaymie, though, lives in small town Queensville, Michigan, just across the border from London, Ontario, where her sister Rebecca lives and runs an antique china business. She knows everyone in town, and everyone knows her, and that means she almost certainly knows, or has at least met, the killer. Jaymie just can't do the sensible thing, and leave it for the police to investigate.

We get a lively look at life in Queensville, where Jaymie is active in the local historical society, has to cope with frequent encounters with her ex-boyfriend Joel and his new love, Heidi, and deals with the loving over-protectiveness of her sister and the friends they share, who are mostly Rebecca's age, i.e., fifteen years older than Jaymie. Closer to her own age is Anna, owner with her husband Clive of the bed & breakfast next door to Jaymie.

And then there are the two new guys in Jaymie's life. Daniel Collins is the wealthy new owner of the historic mansion where the Queensville Historical Society runs Tea With the Queen, a Victorian tea held every spring just before Memorial Day and the official start of the summer tourist season. He's cute, kind, and helpful in addition to being wealthy, and he's started showing an interest in Jaymie. Zachary Christian is the homicide detective investigating the death on her porch, a recent transplant from Chicago, and very, very attractive.

And then there's Hopalong, a.k.a. Hoppy, her three-legged little dog, whom she should listen to when he tries to tell her there's something wrong outside, and her cat, Denver, who is a much better judge of character than either she or Hoppy.

There were times when I wanted to smack Jaymie for not paying attention or doing really unwise things, but this is overall a fun, enjoyable, interesting book, and I look forward to more in the series.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys cozies.

I borrowed this book from the library. ( )

Sisters Jaymie and Rebecca of Queensville, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario attend an auction in Queensville, the town where they co-own their parents' home, where Jaymie purchases a Hoosier cabinet. Jaymie loves anything "vintage" related to the ktichen, whether it is old dishes or old cabinets. She thinks it is just the perfect piece to use with her next cookbook. Before she can get it into her kitchen a man ends up dead, and it is obvious the death had some connection to this vintage piece. Jaymie insists on investigating the case herself although there is no indication the detective on the case is incapable of solving it. The plot is a bit convoluted and probably went on longer than necessary as the listener (in my case) wished I could fast forward through some of the action without missing a potential clue. (This might be a case for reading it when you can speed-read or skim instead.) Hamilton created a number of red herrings--some more effective than others. The reader had a "sweet" voice that probably made this book cozier than necessary. I listened to the version available through my library's Overdrive app. I will probably read the next installment of the series as I like old cooking things and found the characters and setting somewhat to my liking. ( )