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On Skein of Death by Allie Pleiter Review

 Happy Monday Friends :)


I hope you all had a great weekend, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I'm currently hoping the weather is going to stay nice for later on today. It's my nephew's fourth birthday, and restrictions have us unable to gather inside. We are able to gather together outside, as long as it's no more than ten people, so that's what we're going to be doing today to celebrate my nephew's birthday, and I'm just hoping the weather will let us be able to do so.

Yesterday, my parent's and I ended up visiting all of my grandparent's graves at the local cemeteries. We decided to try and find the grave for my mom's great uncle who died in the 1960's, and we spent a couple of hours trying to do so. It may seem like an odd way to spend Mother's Day, but it was nice to get to hear the many stories about our family history, and it's become a tradition for my mom to visit all the cemeteries everywhere Mother's Day. What has become your Mother's Day traditions over the years?

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you probably are well aware how much I adore Allie Pleiter's Love Inspired novels. She always writes straight from the heart, and I appreciate how her stories always dive into deeper issues, and always have a strong faith component. You can check out all my reviews of her books in the following links:

His Christmas Wish

Winning Back Her Heart

Their Wander Canyon Wish

Wander Canyon Courtship


I was excited when I heard she was was writing a new cozy mystery series, and I was interested to see how it was going to turn out having this new series be published in and targeted to the secular book market. Today I'm here to share with you all what I ended up thinking about the upcoming first book in the series.

On Skein of Death by Allie Pleiter:



Source: Publisher via NetGalley as Part of Allie Pleiter's Street Team

Publisher: Berkley Books

Publication Date: June 1st, 2021

Genre: Cozy Mystery/Adult Fiction

Series: Riverbank Knitting Mystery


Synopsis:

For Libby Beckett, opening her charming yarn shop, and introducing customers to the joys of knitting and crochet, is the work she was meant to do. Until the yarn she loves is used for murder....

Libby has come home to Collinstown, Maryland to live her dream and open her own yarn shop, aptly named Y.A.R.N., along the Chester River. To Libby, Y.A.R.N. stands for You're Absolutely Ready Now. But the acronym changes whenever inspiration strikes, and customers add to the list of suggestions that fill the blackboard wall in a shop stuffed with color, fiber, and comfort.

Libby is thrilled when she lands famous Norwegian knitting celebrity Perle Langager for a series of events at Y.A.R.N. Libby's English bulldog, Hank, has been modeling one of Perle's doggie sweaters, and customers just can't wait to see Perle in action. The mayor of Collinstown even decrees a Collinstown Yarn Day to celebrate. But once Perle arrives in town, she seems distracted and on edge. And when she's found strangled with a skein of red yarn, Libby knows she has to solve a knotty mystery before her new life unravels.

(synopsis from goodreads)


My Review:

I was really excited to dive into this one, as I couldn't wait to see how one of my all time favorite authors was going to tackle one of my all time favorite genres. I have to say this didn't end up being quite what I was expecting, but it was still an enjoyable read, and I have high hopes for the rest of the series.

I've long appreciated how Allie Pleiter always writes in an atmospheric style that really brings the setting alive to the reader, and I adored how the town, it's vibrant cast of characters, and the precious Y.A.R.N. shop easily brought a vivid picture to my mind. I felt like I was right there experiencing everything alongside Libby, and I always enjoy when an author can pull this off so effortlessly.

Anyone reading this one can easily tell of the author's love for knitting, and the close knit knitting world, and I learned a lot about different techniques and the like through the many mentions throughout the story. It made an already cozy story seem that much cozier, and I hope to see more of this in future books of the series. I also loved that this one really doesn't center around romance at all, and instead most of the focus is on the mystery and the shop itself, although I think there definitely could be potential for more romance in the upcoming books.

While this one did have a lot of elements I really ended up enjoying, it didn't end up being quite the five star read I was expecting. I obviously knew this wasn't going to include the same type of content as her books published in the Christian market would, but I thought it would overall be pretty squeaky clean. While compared to many other cozy mysteries I've read in the past few years, it was more on the clean side, it still had numerous content pieces added that I definitely could have done without.

Lastly, I unfortunately felt the mystery element was extremely obvious and I kept hoping I would be proven wrong in the final conclusion, but that wasn't the case. I was really hoping it was going to be a different character than I'd initially expected just to throw another twist or turn into the series, but I was left pretty disappointed with how everything ended up coming together in the end.

Final Rating: 3/5.

An enjoyable read, but not quite what I was expecting. I'm hoping I'll feel much more positive about the future books in the series.

Thanks so much to Berkley Books for allowing me to advance read and review this!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary advance reader copy of this novel from the publisher (Berkely) via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not required to give a positive review.

Thanks so much for reading guys! May the Lord work in your life in amazing ways this week, and may we all have our eyes opened to His Truth!


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