This series just doesn’t grab me. I have tried but I just don’t like the characters. The premise falls flat.

Calile helps her Great-Aunt Iphy run her Book Tea shop. They are helping to organize and participate in a Valentine's event at a nearby manor. Lots happens at this event, including an old acquaintance of Iphy's showing up and book appraiser being murdered. Ace Falk is Callie's boyfriend and local deputy. Callie and Iphy set out to find the real murderer and free their friends whom they believe are innocent. This is a fun little cozy. The characters are engaging and fun. The story is easy-to-read and there are lots of suspects along with a few red herrings.

This was an enjoyable and fun read. In this installment Callie has to clear Aunt Iphy’s name in a murder investigation. There were many twists and turns throughout.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I randomly started reading this as it sounded comfy during these winters. This is a third book in a series and Joy Avon is a really good writer. The book was quite a light read even though it being a crime novel. There is a murder, but you aren't too interested nor are you not interested at all, it has just the right amount of interest and is quite predictable. You don't keep reading it for the murder mystery but because the situation it presents, the leading character dating a police man and how their relationship gets affected. Also, an age old romance which is full of regrets.

So if you want to go for a light murder mystery, to get out of a reading slump or just to feel comfy these winters but not wanting to read cheesy romances. Will totally recommend.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I honestly wanted to like this one more than I did. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid mystery but the characters didn't seem to spark and in particular Ace.
He'd always seemed charmingly gruff but he was awful in this book!

In Cold Chamomile is a perfectly good cozy mystery. It lacks a lot of the charm of In Peppermint Peril and no one in town feels quite as vivid in this installment. I think a big part of the problem is that there is not enough of a sub-plot in this one to bring the little town to life like in the others, I also had a lot less patience with Ace in this book. Once gruff, but endearing, he has gotten to the point where he's just controlling and borderline demeaning. It feels like he's very dismissive of Callie and I don't really like reading our protag just sitting back and putting the ball in some guy's court. Still, the mystery itself kept me reading and I liked the introduction of a bit more backstory to Iphy. She is an interesting character and I liked seeing her as more than a cardboard background figure.

I am a little bit in love with this book. I am not a fan of Valentine's Day and was hesitant about reading a book featuring it. However, falling in love with a book is definitely a theme that I can get behind and is the theme of Callie's party where not everyone leaves alive. It wouldn't be a Valentine's Day book without a little romance and this had just the right amount and a well plotted mystery. This is the third book in the Tea and Read series, it does work as a standalone but I think it would help to read the first two. I look forward to my next visit to Heart's Harbor.

It was a decent cozy type of mystery. I didn't find the characters evolved enough and the story was a little too fluffy for my taste but it was still not too bad.

This cozy mystery has a few curious twists and a killer with a devious and vicious mind. I don’t get it though, what’s deputy Falk’s problem why keep Callie in limbo like that?. Is it because she has an independent spirit?. Poor Callie the heart knows what it wants, this has been an interesting intriguing read, which is quite entertaining.

In cold Chamomile by Joy Avon
While I did enjoy aspects of this book it’s not up to par as the first two books .
Plenty of suspects and twist as a book appraiser is found dead.
A little disappointed with the roles that Peggy,Quinn,Callie and Ace are playing.
What a let down !.
Usually love Aunt Iphy but she was a bit stand-off in this book too.
Let’s hope the next book is better .
I will look out for the next one as I would like to know what happens next with all that’s going on .

A Tea and Read Mystery #3

Callie Aspen and her Great-Aunt Iphy run the delightful shop Book Tea, with her aunt's mouth-watering treats and the best tea and coffee in town. Although Heart's Harbor, Maine is not exactly a huge place.

Callie is still working to save Haywood Hall and with Valentine's Day approaching it's the perfect time for a different type of party. Turning the Hall into a place full of hearts and special books, music and even a book appraiser who has volunteered his time to come.

But from the start, there is a lot of tension. People are acting odd. One of their singers backed out and the replacement has caused Iphy quite a bit of anxiety. 

When the book appraiser is found dead, everyone is under suspicion and while she can't explain it to Callie, she has to prove that the man accused is innocent. With Ace already reminding Callie she can not get involved, we know she will.

This is the third in this series and was not my favorite. Callie seemed wimpy and her aunt came off as really rather mean. For me, this one fell flat.

NetGalley/ February 11th, 2020 by Crooked Lane Books

This is the 3rd book in this series. I completely enjoyed the first 2 books and in this book I struggled with liking the characters that I usually find charming. Hopefully, they will be back to normal in book 4. The book is well written, the characters just aren't enjoyable this time around.

This is the third book in the A Tea and Read Mystery Series, I have not read the first 2. This is set around Valentines day and Callie Aspen and her Great Aunt Iphy Aspen have organized an event to raise money for Haywood Hall. However, instead of love there is a murder. As I have not read the previous 2 books, I was not attached to the characters, in fact I hated most of them. I felt as people they were shallow, and selfish, and dumb, they made a lot of poor choices based on dumb reasons. Callie spent all her time moaning about her maybe boyfriend Ace, and seems like a weak pathetic woman. I expected as one of the lead sleuths that she would have a backbone and it was very much, "oh no! I didn't do what my boyfriend told me to do, oh is he breaking up with me?" Iphy should also have been a spunky 70 year old sleuth who at her age didn't care about what people thought, instead her character came across as a lovestruck 16 year old who didn't know how to use logic at all. Ace was a controlling jerk, who just wanted his girlfriend to "do as he said" and not disrespect him. Peggy was a whinny pathetic woman, who caused a lot of drama for no reason at all, besides to get Callie further "in trouble" with Ace. I knew it was a cozy mystery and I was hoping for something light and fun, but the characters were a little too light for me. Joy Avon's writing was good, the story moved at a nice pace, there was just the right amount of death for a cozy mystery. But I didn't like a single character in this book. I hope that for fans of the series this was just a one-off, and that I am missing a great series because I won't pick up the others.

Loved this mystery. Enjoyed the setting and the characters. It held my attention from the beginning until the very end. Thank you Joy Avon. I look forward to reading more.

I didn't like the characters that much, they aren't very well developed and have a tendency to jump to conclusions without listening to the people around them. The story is ok but the characters are similar in what they do and the cast to other cozy mysteries. It is ok as a casual read but I'm not that interested in reading the next one. I also don't know what the title has to do with the story as there's very little tea and no Chamomile tea in the story. #InColdChamomile #NetGalley

I love the concept of these books and really enjoy descriptions of the many delicious Book Tea creations. Having enjoyed the other novels in this series so much, this one fell a little flat for me. Iphy and Ace in particular seemed quite self centered in this novel, and while it was needed to get the narrative to it's conclusion, it also lost some of the magic and harmony the previous novels had for me. The novel was still well written and a good read, but not my favorite in the series.

A cozy crime, situated in Heart’s Harbor on Valentine’s day. Callie Aspen, working in her great-aunts vintage tearoom, is organizing a Valentine’s event in Haywood Hall, with books, tea and music. Everything is fine, until a murder is happening. Then things got worse, and Callie is unwillingly part of all of it.
It’s a nice story and an easy read. It’s the third part In the Tea and read mystery series, so characters should already be known. Reading only part three is no problem, but for the background of the characters it’s nicer to read part one and two first.
The story is great to read. A lot is happening. Friends of Callie are in personal trouble, but there is not much she can do about it. But she can help her great-ant solve the murder and find the real murderer. There are multiple suspects. Boyfriend and deputy Ace Falk doesn’t like her interfering, because she’s got in trouble before.
The murderer is caught, but people around Callie are leaving town. Will they come back, and how will it all work out? These questions will probably be answered in a new part of The tea and read mystery series, I guess.
It was a nice cozy crime, and I enjoyed reading this story.

A great read that you won't be able to put down! This series is definitely getting more and more engaging with each installment, and has finally hit its stride. The author does a great job setting the stage for the characters and the mystery.

Easy to fall in love with! Cute, funny, and very charming. For a Valentines Day cozy mystery, it’s perfect at romancing the readers with a high quality and well thought out plot line. 5/5 stars for a new, lovable read.

Okay story, but I'm in no hurry to find the other books in the series. Quite possibly I'm getting fed up with women coming new into town and immediately hitting it off with a local police officer, who always happens to be single too. While they date, murder after murder happens and the cop tells the woman, repeatedly, not to get involved. Then I'm thinking: why are they dating? Why is this woman seeing someone that tells her what to do and what not to do? And why is this cop continuing to spend time with someone that could cause trouble for them in their work? Possibly even jeopardize the criminal proscution of a murderer?

Or maybe it was just this book, where everyone had love trouble and our sleuth spent as much time wondering about who was the murderer as fretting about whether her cop boyfriend was still her cop boyfriend.

The story is straightforward: obnodious person gets killed; police suspect everyone that argued with the victim prior to the murder. Apparently, that is called looking at the evidence. I'm never sure whether the cop should be sent back to cop school to relearn the concept of circumstancial evidence and you need a lot of it to make a case, or back to elementary school to relearn how to add up things (argument + walking with scissors does not add up to stabbedy-stab).

I know it's a cozy and therefore doesn't have violence or gore in it. But if the murder victim was stabbed, I expect there to be some blood on the murderer's clothes. It should be mentioned, even if the phrase 'splatter pattern' is too gorey for a cozy. It would have ruled out one or two of the suspects. Unless everyone was wearing very dark clothes.

Callie was an okay character, but I don't think I liked any of the others. At least I didn't like her cop boyfriend Ace. And I didn't much care for his sister either. I didn't believe Iphy as a woman in her seventies. Fifties, sure, seventies, not so much. (Or is fifty they new seventy?)

Once again I am at a loss what the title of the book has anything to do with the story. No one in the book drank chamomile. The murder victim didn't even drink tea; he was offered coffee. One last gripe: the people who work for Book Tea are called Helpers. Which sounds like they are helping out rather then getting paid to do a job.