When I took a leisurely stroll through Barnes & Noble the other day, I was itching to try out a new genre of reading. Having not read much of anything lately, I realized I needed something different from my usual reads. I tend to read stuff that is either too-serious nonfiction or kid’s fiction for easy reading (probably to get away from said too-serious nonfiction).

I wanted something that was for adults but light-hearted enough to be fun but still thought-provoking without being romance-focused. Don’t get me wrong, I can totally read stuff that I can’t relate to – I like to get a different viewpoint of things outside of myself, after all – but to be honest, I try to avoid books that are heavily centered around romance, sex, female best friends, friend squads, etc. Basically, all the stuff that has been absent throughout my life. I can’t say I like being reminded that, by most people’s standards, I haven’t “lived” much at all. Those kind of themes tend to tickle the back of my mind, making me wonder if I’ve missed out on a lot in life? Maybe. It’s easier to read books about history or military-themed, testosterone-fueled adventures in Iraq or something. But not this time, I told myself. Not this time. I’m not going down the same old road, like I always do on my literary journeys of playing it safe.

And that’s when I stumbled upon two shelves of the Mystery section!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My inspiration for checking out this section is Tracy from The Tote Trove. She has many book reviews that center around this genre, and I always wanted to give it a go. And when I scanned the shelves, my eyes caught on the words Death by Coffee by Alex Erickson.

COFFEE IS THE THEME? Bestill my heart! Whilst finding this book on the shelf, I was literally sipping an iced mocha I’d gotten from the Starbucks café they have in Barnes & Noble. It seemed too good to be true. Some other books in this series include Death by Café Mocha, Death by Vanilla Latte, Death by Pumpkin Spice…could this be any more perfect for me???

Krissy Hancock and her best friend Vicki open a bookstore café in their new town of Pine Hills, deciding to call it Death By Coffee. The name becomes all too real when a customer, Brendon Lawyer, ends up taking his coffee…to the grave. How did peanuts end up in his coffee, when he had a peanut allergy?! And who took his allergy medication, coincidentally enough?

It’s up to Krissy to brew up some answers for Officer Dalton, the cute cop investigating the case, as to what happened to Brendon, a not-so-liked man about town. Someone is a killer, but whom? ☕️👀 I’m loving this book! I’m glad I tried something NEW. 💗

Finally, here are my favorite outfits from the past few days! I decided to change things up and sit on the ground for a few shots, ha ha…let it be known that in this first photo, literally two seconds after the photo snapped, a bumblebee charged into the backyard and I almost broke down the screen door trying to get inside the house.

The above photo makes me laugh…it’s a still frame I took trying to video myself and I look like I either just saw Christ descending from the clouds out of a sunbeam or overheard someone say they ordered me a pizza.

See ya next time, peeps!!! 💗