"Strike the Match" by Diane Moody (The Teacup Novellas Book Two)

So last week I decided I was going to read a new e-book by a popular author I'd seen on some bestseller lists over the years. The book was about women police officers, and I enjoy a good cop story so I thought sure, why not? I was dismayed to find the author decided to "equalize" the females by making them just as profane, as crass, and as violent as the men. Halfway through, I deleted the book from my Goodreads list, turned off my Kindle for iPad, and if I never hear that author's name again it will be just fine by me. This week I needed a kinder, gentler read, and one I'd had waiting on my Kindle was the second in Diane Moody's Teacup Novellas series, "Strike the Match."

I read her first book in this series, "Tea With Emma," last year, and I enjoyed the inspirational romance. These books have some features I really like. First, each has a story within a story. A writer named Lucy has decided to write a series of novellas based on some teacups she owns, so while the central storyline of each book (so far) is very different, each book's prologue features Lucy, her brother and the UPS man. The central storyline in this second novella stars a journalism student, Keri McMillan, who leaves NYU to go back home to Oregon and earn more money for school while working at her father's log cabin company. Soon after she arrives her father's latest project, a luxury home, is destroyed in a fire. During the investigation she has to take another job, and she ends up working for the local weekly newspaper, which she thinks is beneath her. The plot features her growing attraction to her boss, her concern for her father and his business, and her fondness for a very special Russian teacup.

Moody's writing style reminds me very much of that I find in good cozy mysteries. The book does have a few typos and grammar errors, but I found similar errors in the book by that "bestselling author" I attempted to read last week. Moody's strong suit is her storytelling, her ability to frame the story-within-a-story and keep us wanting more. I fully intend to read all these novellas, and I'm grateful to find a nice, wholesome series that almost makes the teacup a character as well.