Joanne Pence

A Certain Smile by Joanne Pence continues her cabin series. I have to admit I had mixed feelings about Pence turning the trilogy into a series. It felt rather complete with the sisters all finding love and making peace with their past. But, when I found out she'd written a fourth one, I couldn't resist checking it out. A Certain Smile brings in mostly new characters with references to the sisters. As the ghosts continue their journey to bring people together, even skeptics, there's a show more joyfulness behind the haunting of the cabin that made me wish for the existence of such things. As guests arrive at the cabin now being managed by the sister's aunt, there's a feeling of angst created from the differing personalities and their motives. As two guests, Tray and Sophie, grow closer and pull away from each other, secrets and miscommunications push them to face their own insecurities and pain as well as their assumptions about one another and themselves. Pence leaves a questions about another guest's, Bree, motives that I hope are answered in a future book. A Certain Smile elevates the idea that communication is key to connection in a story that injects a sense of hope into the pain of loss in a way that certainly made me smile. show less

Culinary expert Angie Amalfi has persuaded her boyfriend, San Francisco homicide cop Paavo Smith, to join her on a cruise to Acapulco – but only by booking passage on a freighter rather than on a cruise ship. Working freighters like the Valhalla carry a maximum of a dozen passengers. Before the end of the first day, Angie notices that everyone on the ship is acting strangely. Including Paavo, who doesn't seem like himself at all. Angie has somehow become mixed up in international intrigue. show more Is Mexico the final destination for Angie and Paavo?

This turned out to be a funny adventure and perfect escape reading for a holiday weekend. The action and adventure make it more like Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series than like a typical cozy mystery series. This is the first book I've read in this series so I don't know if this is characteristic of the series as a whole. I didn't have to make a mental effort to notice and remember clues. I just relaxed and enjoyed the armchair adventure. show less

Seems Like Old Times left me squirming the way we do when we recognize characteristics in a character that we don't necessary like about ourselves. Well, that's not quite true, perhaps its more accurate to say characteristics we thought we'd "outgrown" as we matured. The defenses we built to shut out love and true happiness often become mired in what we call reality though it's not really. As I read about Lee's struggles to become the woman she wanted to be I recognized my own struggles to show more please and find my place in the world. As I read of the love she and Tony shared and she abandoned, my heart ached for lost love yet I recognized my own reluctance to accept love at a young age. Seems Like Old Times is a love story that will strike at the heart of anyone who has ever loved and walked away from a love the heart refused to forget. Sometimes, just as Lee did, we make the decisions we feel we must in the moment, but we sacrifice our own happiness in the process. Then we spend a lifetime trying to find our way back to that happiness just as both Lee and Tony did. When Lee and Tony have a second chance, they struggle to figure out how to resolve the past and embrace a second chance. Seems Like Old Times had me in tears while I contemplated decisions from my own life yet it reminded me that love is never a mistake even when it hurts. Pence delivers complex characters who in many ways create their own problems just as we tend to do in real life. Throughout the pages of Seems Like Old Times, the question isn't just about second chances but about forgiveness, understanding, and acceptance of others but also of one's self. Be warned; reading Seems Like Old Times, may make you nostalgic for a lost love... Read at your own risk, but read. You won't regret it! show less

Joanne Pence's Two Cooks A-Killing is an amusing and entertaining mystery that centers around her series character Angie Amalfi and Angie's fiance, Detective Paavo Smith. Angie's naivete about the real continues to put her in dangerous situations as she makes decisions that leave the reader wanting to grab her by the shoulders and give her a good shake. I laughed out loud when Angie replaced the winery's wine with a better stating wine and serves it to the cast of those there for the show more shooting of the Christmas special of an old television show, Eagle Crest as well as the owners of the winery where the show is shot, especially when one of the sons of the estate's owner asks if it's their wine. Something about this book reminded me of the days when I used to sneak viewings of Falcon Crest because my parents didn't think I should watch the show. Two Cooks A-Killing: An Angie Amalfi Mystery is a quick, easy, fun, entertaining read. show less