keira anne with an e

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing via Netgalley. I was not required to leave a positive review.

⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.5/5 stars)

This book was fun. I mean, the cover is adorable, and I love the title, because I’m totally on board with cozy mysteries set on a farm! That really is such a fun premise, and I really enjoyed it a lot. Some of them I liked more than others, but overall, I would definitely recommend it if you’re looking for cozy mysteries on a farm without animal deaths.

Hog Wild by Cynthia Hickey- ⭐⭐✨

Shelby’s prize-winning hog has disappeared, right before the biggest competition of the year. Everyone else is certain he ran off– but Shelby knows it was kidnapping, and she’s determined to find him in time.

Just not quite my cup of tea, I’m sorry to say. I got frustrated that no one would believe our main girl, and there just weren’t that many surprises for me, so I got a little bored. I totally understand that a lot of people would probably prefer this type of mystery over a cozy murder story, but I just didn’t really feel the weight of the stakes as much as I was hoping to.

The romance in this one felt just a little dull, in my opinion, and I don’t feel like they really had any banter, but there was also this resentment between them, and it just wasn’t my favorite overall.

Super clean– people are shot at, and there are conspiracies in the small farming community, but nothing notable that I remember.

The Dark Side of the Moo by Linda Baten Johnson- ⭐⭐⭐✨

Liv’s family farm has been struck by a mysterious cow sickness, but when she goes home to investigate, the local vet turns up murdered in the barn. When Liv finds herself a suspect in the killing, she begins to sleuth for truth before she loses her freedom and her farm in one fell swoop.

This one was actually a lot of fun. It was an intriguing murder mystery, and I liked how our main girl kept looking for answers. I do feel like she should have maybe stopped and thought about it for a minute, because she might have gotten there a whole lot faster, but I still liked her and I liked the farming bits and the scientific research side of things. It was original and fun.

Another interesting thing to note about this book is that the romance was a very mild subplot, which actually kept the attention on the mystery, which I did really appreciate.

As far as content goes, this one did have murder, shooting, blood, etc. It felt clean to me, and the romance was very light, and also super clean. Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot, and I had a lot of fun reading it.

Fowl Deed by Teresa Ives Lilly- ⭐⭐⭐✨

April’s farm is failing. And that was before there was a body in the chicken coop. She doesn’t know who committed the murder, but she knows it’ll be pinned on her unless she can prove her innocence. If only the chickens would tell her what they saw…

To be honest, I kind of felt like I knew where this one was going. It did bear a lot of similarities to the previous story in this collection, so it felt like familiar territory. I liked the Airbnb aspects of this story, and I also really enjoyed how our main character narrated things. There was a slightly sarcastic undertone, which is definitely and always the right answer.

Content-wise, this one was fairly clean for a murder mystery. A lot of good faith content, and I really enjoyed how our main character viewed the world.

Searching for Sunshine by Janice Thompson- ⭐⭐⭐✨

Sunshine is the last chance she has of saving her family farm. But when the valuable horse goes missing, everything changes, and nothing is safe.

Was this story the most entertaining in the collection? Perhaps not. But, Janice Thompson’s writing always has a very special place in my heart, and this story was no exception. I enjoyed the fact that this one had a more high-stakes theft/kidnapping, and I overall did like it a fair bit. The writing style was very fun and conversational, which I enjoyed.

The content for this book mostly consisted of horse-breeding, and brief mentions of that, but nothing else.

EMOJI REVIEW!

• 🐖 a kidnapped hog
• 🐮 a murdered body on a cow farm
• 🐔 a corpse in the chicken coop
• 🐎 a valuable horse who has disappeared

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I hope that you enjoy it as well. Such a cute cover, again, and a very special thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book prior to it’s release!!!