Monday, April 20, 2015

Review and Giveaway: Wedding Duress

Wedding Duress (Southern Sewing Circle - Book 10) by Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Publication Date: 04/02/2015
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 304
ISBN-10042525786X
ISBN-13978-0425257869

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, itunes

Elizabeth Lynn Casey on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Books in the series

Southern Sewing Circle

  1. Sew Deadly
  2. Death Threads
  3. Pinned for Murder
  4. Deadly Notions
  5. Dangerous Alterations
  6. Reap What You Sew
  7. Let It Sew
  8. Remnants of Murder
  9. Taken In
10. Wedding Duress

Coverart




Excerpt from, Wedding Duress, courtesy of the author's website.

Synopsis:

“The Southern Sewing Circle will win your heart.”—Monica Ferris, USA Today Bestselling Author

Librarian Tori Sinclair is tying the knot—as long as a murder doesn’t unravel her plans…

Tori is ecstatic to become Mrs. Milo Wentworth in a few days, but she has a lot to do before she sashays down the aisle. Favors need to be sewn, vows need to be written—and a mystifying murder needs to be solved.

When Beatrice, a fellow member of the Sweet Briar Ladies Society Sewing Circle, learns that her former nanny took a fatal fall in her new employers’ home, she suspects the death was not an accident. Now Tori’s spending her last days as a single woman untangling rumors and stitching together motives to find a killer. But can she nab a murderer and make it to the church on time?


Thoughts:

Elizabeth Lynn Casey continues her long running Southern Sewing Circle mystery series with her latest book, Wedding Duress. Readers who love the series will be enthralled by Tori and Milo's wedding plans and how that effects the Sweet Briar Sewing Circle. It's not fun and roses with circle in this book, as Leona once again speaks her mind, when she probably should have kept it shut. There is also murder afoot when a nanny from England ends up at the bottom of a basement staircase. A great addition to this ever changing series!

One of the things that I always find interesting about this series is the way that Casey is able to change things up. Readers have become accustomed to all the ladies in the sewing circle now that the series is ten books in, but I think there is still so much to learn about all of the ladies and their amazing friendships. Beatrice is a character we rarely hear anything from in the series and I thought Casey did a fantastic job of bringing her into the spotlight. Beatrice becomes a focal point that was unexpected and very enjoyable.

There is a lot going on in this addition to the series. Tori and Milo's wedding is just around the corner, Beatrices' former nanny has taken a tragic tumble and Leona is simply being herself in this one. Casey does a great job of melding all of the sub plots together to form an amazing cozy. We get a great mystery, time with friends and plenty of drama, both murderous and childish. I loved the way it all worked itself out. 

The mystery aspects of this one were intriguing. Beatrice's friend and former nanny Miss Grace is dead. It could have been an accident but Beatrice doesn't think so. It's up to the ladies to figure it all out. At first I thought I had it figured out, early on. Then after a few twists and turns, I wasn't too sure. When the final reveal came, I was dumbfounded. Nope, I did not have this one anywhere close to right... lol. That made it just perfect for me. Casey made the killer illusive and full of surprises. 

Bottom Line:

If you love a good cozy series, that has long standing characters and intriguing new plots, the Southern Sewing Circle books are for you. Wedding Durress centered around Tori's wedding, but it wasn't overwhelmed by it. Casey certainly kept me in the dark as to who the killer was until the very end. I love it when I'm totally surprised by what happens. A great read and a great addition to the series!

Wedding Duress is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag! 




About the Author:


Elizabeth Lynn Casey is the author of the bestselling Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries, including Taken InRemnants of Murder, and Let It Sew.


Giveaway Details:


The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Wedding Duress by Elizabeth Lynn Casey.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, April 28th.

1. Please leave a comment. Anything strange happen at your wedding or someone else you know?

2. Please fill out the FORM.

25 comments:

Debbie Puksar said...

I LOVE this series! I'm on book 3. I'm reading my way through the series to Wedding Duress. Would love the chance to win a copy. Thank you. :)
debrapuksar@ymail.com

traveler said...

A wedding nightmare. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com

Unknown said...

Thanks for the giveaway! Nothing strange happened at my wedding, thank goodness. I've been to tons of weddings and I've been a bridesmaid 14 times but nothing terribly strange happened at any of them. The only bad thing I can point to are the horrible dresses I was forced to wear and believe me, there were some doozies! LOL!

holdenj said...

Nothing strange happened at our wedding, but I did go to one once where the bride and groom were barefoot! Thanks!

B J English said...

Groomsmen put sardines on the car motor. From the reception we went to my father's house to enjoy a bottle of sherry he bought in Spain for my wedding day. My new husband used the garden hose to was the fish off the motor. We went inside and shared the sherry and everyone left. We finally changed our clothes ready for the 2 hour drive to our honeymoon cottage. This was before cell phones and the car would not start. So we had to wait for the car to "dry" before we could start that honeymoon.

FrangiePani said...

nothing strange for my wedding or any wedding i have ever attended.

Karen B said...

No strange happenings but have run into some rude guests who think they should share all the attention with the bride and groom!

lag123 said...

The only strange thing at my wedding was that a guy caught my bouquet.

lag110 at mchsi dot com

Candace knight said...

I really like this series. Thank you for the chance.
Moonbay7399@gmail.com

skkorman said...

Nothing strange has ever happened at any wedding I have attended.

skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net

Barb W. said...

Our wedding was a perfectly normal, 70's, outdoor, hippie affair with all our friends standing in a circle reading from our favorite inspirational books. Our parents thought it was a bit "unconventional."

Carol N Wong said...

We had 100 degree heat that day and just before the wedding the air conditioner in the church broke down! Waves of sweat were pouring down my faces at the reception. Also at the wedding itself, the flower girl obeyed her mother and dropped the flowers down the aisls. But then she thought better of it and went back and collected them! The ring bearer went back and dropped them again!

Alicia said...

Nothing really strange.... just the oddities of wrong music, wrong flowers, etc.

Rita Wray said...

My brother-in-law fainted during the ceremony.

Nancy said...

Our Oldest son's wedding was just outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Everything ran late because not allowing extra time for traffic. Anyway, the brides parents were divorced and her mom made her dad sit back in the 2nd pew.It's not like either one paid for anything either.The kids paid for most of it themselves. We helped a little but wasn't able to much.

Elizabeth Schroedle said...

When my cousin was married, her brothers got a hold of the groom's shoes. On the bottom of the left shoe, they wrote "HELP" and on the bottom of the right shoe, they wrote "ME". When the bridal couple knelt before the priest for the blessing, all of the guests could see "HELP ME" on the groom's soles.

Linda Kish said...

The only strange thing was my mother laughing through the wedding. I think she knew something I didn't know. We divorced after 16 months.

Grandma Cootie said...

We got married by a Justice of the Peace. He never turned Gunsmoke off the TV, and my husband (to be) forgot to take off his sunglasses. Still married, though.

bn100 said...

nope

cyn209 said...

thankfully, all of the weddings I've attended went smoothly....at least I think they all did.....LOL!!!

Unknown said...

I went to a wedding once where the bride and groom through chocolate chip cookies over their shoulder just before the wedding kiss.

It was an older couple getting married. They met and had a hanky panky when she was baking chocolate chip cookies. Cute idea to celebrate their first meeting. :D

Charlotte said...

I do not have any story to share, sorry.
CABWNANA1@bellsouth.net

Michelle F. said...

I like this series. Never been married and I don't really have a story to tell. I used to work for lawyers and one of them got married and had her wedding at the Clarion hotel. Afterwards we all went over to the other side where they had the reception. Nice and convenient.

Ann Summerville said...

The cover looks a little like the Duffy Brown ones. I wonder if it's the same illustrator.
Ann

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