Forget Me Never by Susan Wittig Albert

 

Reviewed by Kristin

If you like your murder mysteries with an abundance of plants and folk wisdom, Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series might be for you. With 29 titles published from 1992-2024 (not to mention some spin-off series!) this will keep you reading for quite some time.

China is a former lawyer and current proprietor of Thyme and Seasons, a little shop in Pecan Springs, Texas, halfway between Austin and San Antonio. Her best friend Ruby Wilcox operates the Crystal Cave in the same building, and they have collaborated with other local business owners to staff a tearoom, catering, and other artistic endeavors.

Local blogger and podcaster Olivia Andrews was investigating a decades old crime when she was struck and killed while jogging on a winding foothills road one morning. Her death is declared an accident, but was it? Olivia’s sister Zelda has some questions, and she wants China to find answers.

As China reluctantly accepts Zelda’s request, she finds that Olivia may have been uncovering secrets that some people would much rather stay buried. A prominent citizen might find exposure of their past crimes embarrassing, but would they go as far as murder to protect themselves?

Albert plays fair with the clues, letting the readers attempt to figure out the mystery along with China. Of course China knows everyone in town and has plenty of legal and law enforcement connections. I had some suspicions as to “whodunit”, but I enjoyed the characters and the plot as it unrolled.

Albert also writes a charming mystery series called The Darling Dahlias, with a group of women sleuthing their way through Depression era Alabama. The China Bayles spin-offs are novellas in the Crystal Cave and Pecan Springs Enterprise series. Also noteworthy is her Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series.

Living with Air Plants

Once again, we welcome back Kevin Tipple with a review.  Catch up with more reviews, book news, and interesting links at his blog, Kevin's Corner.

Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

In a way air plants are the cats of the plant kingdom. They require little maintenance to thrive and will work almost anywhere. In Living With Air Plants: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing and Displaying Tillandsia by Yoshiharu Kashima and Yukihiro Matsuda, readers are taken step by step through the world of air plants.

Because no dirt is involved, you don’t have to worry about dirt or special soils. As long as you have air, you are good. If you don’t have air, you have bigger problems and this book absolutely will not help you at all. Instead of using soil, air plants take in water and nutrients by absorption through the leaves and are often hardy in dry conditions.

The very colorful and informative book is broken into three parts. “Part 1: Cultivating Air Plants” is where readers learn that air plants are separated into two categories- silver and green leaf color.  The silver ones are slow growers and are more resistant to dry conditions. They are also less suited for terrariums because they tend to grow mold. On the other hand, the green ones don’t do well in direct sunlight and usually like steamy conditions so terrariums work well for the. While air plants can be easy to deal with, it is important to getting the right ones for the right situation. Advice on location, sunlight, ventilation, watering, and other cultivation tips dominate this section.

Now that you have your plants and things are going well, you may have decided you wish to show them off a bit. That is where “Part 2: The Fun of Displaying Your Air Plants” comes into play. Starting on Page 27, various ways of showing off your air plants are offered and they are not just limited to standard pots on a shelf or a table setting. Using on old display rack, a hanging mobile, as a sort of wild chime, and other suggestions are offered as are terrarium options, a doorway bouquet, bird cages, and more.

With more than 110 types of air plants depicted in the book, “Part 3: Air Plant Reference Guide” is rather important. This part begins on page 54 and leads off with an explanation of their guide to plants. That is immediately followed by the 48 plants that make up their “Easy-to-grow Varieties Recommended for Beginners.” Each plant has a picture, an idea of their size when in bloom, how much sunlight is needed, and a short text about the plant that is chock full of information. These pages, starting on page 55, are color coded a light green color making them easy to find when flipping through the book.

They are followed by the light blue color coded pages. These signify the plants that are “Specialty Varieties.” Hard to find plants that can be difficult to grow. They outnumber the easier ones as there are seventy varieties in this section.

A two page index of the Latin name of each plant brings the book to a close.

Living With Air Plants: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing and Displaying Tillandsia is exactly as marketed. Filled with large color pictures and plenty of informative text, this is a book aimed primarily at folks new to gardening with air plants. This good book primarily serves as a resource for people new to this type of gardening but also has plenty of tips and information for seasoned air plants gardeners as well. 

Living With Air Plants: A Beginner’s Guide to Growing and Displaying Tillandsia

Yoshiharu Kashima and Yukihiro Matsuda

Tuttle Publishing

http://www.tuttlepublishing.com

ISBN#978-08048-5104-6

March 2019

Hardback (also available in eBook form)

96 Pages

$17.99

Material supplied by Twyla Marr, Publicist, Tuttle Publishing with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019

Season of the Dragonflies by Sarah Creech

Reviewed by Jeanne

For four generations, the Lenore women have crafted scents. It all started back when Great-Grandmother Serena ran away with a handsome young man to the rainforest of Borneo and discovered a wondrous, magical plant which became the main ingredient—the very secret main ingredient.  These perfumes don’t just smell nice.  They enhance the strongest traits of the wearer, enabling her to rise to the top of whatever profession she is suited for. The scents are sold only to a select few, and never to those who would compete in the same profession.

The business has been passed down from mother to daughter until now.  A business which has thrived is now threatened from several sides.  Willow, the current matriarch, finds herself struggling to remember things.  Mya, the elder daughter, has always been considered the heir and has spent her life learning the trade at the expense of her personal life.  She is chaffing to take over from Willow’s control and may be willing to cross some lines to do it.  Younger daughter Lucia fled the business and the magic to marry an artist, but now that marriage is falling apart and she has nowhere to go.

Nowhere, that is,  but back home to the family farm in Virginia.  She dreads facing her mother and Willow, knowing she’ll be seen as a failure.  She’ll stay just long enough to decide what to do next. She has no idea that things are about to go very, very wrong.

In addition to the family tensions, a pop star client has reneged on her word and is threatening blackmail. Worst of all, the magical plants seem to be dying.  One way or another, it appears the company is doomed.

At its core, Season of the Dragonflies is a tale of mothers and daughters, sisters and suitors. It reminds me a bit of Sarah Addison Allen’s books with the blend of romance, family relationships, and magic.  It also seems to take to heart the motto “Virginia is for Lovers.”  The female characters are strong and interesting, ready to make their own choices instead of passively waiting.  Sometimes these choices are the right ones, but they accept the responsibility.  A sheen of magic shimmers through the book, from the perfume itself to the dragonflies that seem to follow Lucia to Mya’s deer.  Creech uses the Blue Ridge Mountain setting to good effect, tying the most of the characters closely to the land.  The male characters don’t have as much depth or personality, but then they are just the means to an end.  This is a fantasy, after all, and we just want to get to the “happily ever after.” 

This is a debut novel. I expect we’ll be hearing more from Ms. Creech in the future.