Annette Drake

Joni needs the job as a news reporter. She has a lot to prove. Her parents look for her to follow in her big sister’s footsteps. Her sister just won a prestigious award in journalism. Fresh out of college she needs to get her feet wet.

She’s quickly in over her head when she starts sticking her pretty little nose into a murder investigation.Joni shows that getting the story runs in her blood.

I like the characters to be genuine and Joni is a bit flighty and naive, jumping to conclusions too quickly. To be expected with someone new to a job and with a lot to prove. She makes the mystery fun and confusing.

As with most cozies, there are plenty of colorful characters, numerous suspects and false leads, and it all takes place in a small town. Living in a small southern town myself, the depictions of small town life, such as how quickly word spreads, and how connected the characters are, rings true and makes for many fun encounters and conversations.

A cozy I’d recommend to those looking for a relaxing, humorous, mystery. I’ll be following this series.… (mere)

I did a pre-publishing beta read of Annette Drake’s "Bone Girl" a few weeks before its recent launch March 1st 2014. I was a little nervous about it since the book description and the age of the protagonist made me think of it as a book for middle school kids. It’s been years since I was in middle school. In fact, it’s been years since my kids were in middle school. Would I still be able to relate to it?

But I’d been happily reading a range of styles and genres since joining Goodreads. I’d enjoyed Ms Drake’s "Celebration House" despite not being a much of a romance reader, and I had no idea there were subgenres like paranormal romances until joining social media reading groups.

I began Bone Girl with an open mind and was soon caught up in the story. Josie was a very sympathetic and believable character and her father was a good-hearted long-suffering Atticus Finch type fellow who nearly broke my heart. Throughout the story, he quietly and stoically did what he thought was right without complaining or making a big deal out of it. (Can you guess he was my favorite character?) He reminded me of my own dad, and toward the end I wanted to shout for him to stop and let us help him.

And so, I liked the book despite my age. Maybe it’s because the story was a nice balance between real world challenges and a little hopeful idealism in which you just knew that somehow, some way, things had to turn out right. Or maybe it’s because Ms Drake simply knows how to tell a good story. By the time I was done, I wanted to live on a horse farm, and learn to play the trombone. I wanted to be a bone girl too.… (mere)