The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding

 

Okay y'all! I finally finished this book! I started it around November or December of 2020 and am just now wrapping it up. I honestly thought I would never finish it! It just seemed to go on and on. In its defense it was a good read. It was just a plodding read that didn't seem to know when to stop. My copy of the book is on Kindle and it doesn't give a publication date at the beginning. But I just looked it up and found that it was first published in 1749. So, why did I pick this book to read? Awhile back a friend gifted me a book entitled On Reading Well by Karen Swallow Prior. In it there are several books that the author explores and The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling is the first one. I determined that I would like to read all of the books that this author talks about in her book. So, here we are with Tom Jones. Like I said, I enjoyed the story. I found the humor throughout entertaining. The lessons on virtue, wisdom, prudence were fun to mine out of the characters. I think the most off-putting of the whole story was the authors insertion of commentary throughout. I believe this was part of his sense of humor(and satire), but to me it was long and tedious and unnecessary. It added length to the story that need not have been there, it took me out of the story and away from the characters which made it hard then to delve back into where they were left off in the story. While I'm sure I totally missed the author's goal in writing the book, I enjoyed the characters and was routing for Tom to get his lady-fare. Are there classics that you like? Have you read this one? 

Lemon Drop Dead by Amanda Flower

 

Bailey and Charlotte are giving a baby shower for Emily Keim. Baby showers are not usually something the Amish participate in, but it seems that the powers-that-be in Harvest are determined that she will have a baby shower. Everything is lovely for the day of the shower except for the fact that a stranger shows up to confront Emily about a secret in her past. When that stranger ends up dead in the Esh Family Pretzels shop of course Emily's sister is suspected of murder. Emily enlists Bailey to solve the murder because even though she is estranged from her family, she knows that her sister would never kill anyone. Even though Bailey doesn't like Esther and her brother Abel she has no problem helping her boyfriend Aiden solve the crime. 

I really enjoyed LEMON DROP DEAD. Lots of little twists and turns kept the story moving along and kept me wondering who the murderer was. I enjoyed all of the characters as usual. And as usual there were a couple of animals in the story to add cuteness, humor and help to the plot. There were several potential suspects throughout that added to the mystery as well as some aspects of Amish life that I never would have thought possible for them. Bailey and Aiden's relationship was not front-and-center as usual, and it seems to be a bit stalled out. Here's hoping that in the next Amish Candy Shop Mystery they can move along a bit more. As mentioned, there are some cute animals in the story. I love Jethro, he cracks me up. As well as his owner Juliette. Bailey's cat and rabbit add some cuteness as well. I really liked seeing Lois and Millie from the Matchmaker series as well! They are quite the duo! There's a lemon drop recipe at the end of the book that I am looking forward to trying out next Christmas when I make candy! If you enjoy cozy mysteries then I highly suggest this series. It is peppered with humor along with mystery and the characters are entertaining.

**I received a copy of the book from the author for review purposes. All opinions are my own.**