Samantha & the Hot Man - A Paws for Alarm Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway

I'm pleased to welcome Samantha Armstrong to Cozy Up With Kathy today. You can find Samantha on the pages of the Canine Confections Mystery series by Amy Hueston. PAWS FOR ALARM is the second book in the series and was released last month.

Character Guest Post
by Samantha Armstrong
Author of Canine Confections series is Amy Hueston

Hi, everyone. I’m Samantha from Palm Beach. I run Canine Confections, a dog bakery on Worth Avenue. Can we talk for a minute? I want to get your opinion about something.

See, I moved to Palm Beach a couple of months ago because after I found my boyfriend getting snuggly with my best friend, I got out of town…fast. The last thing I wanted was to run into either one of them at the local Starbucks and pretend everything was groovy. But I don’t want you thinking I’m a pushover and ran off like a scared rabbit. That’s not it at all. It’s just that staying in my little hometown hadn’t been my big dream. My big dream was to move someplace else, even if it was another small town, to see what it would be like. Not just move to another town, but to open a dog bakery in my new town. So when Peter cheated on me it was the perfect opportunity to skedaddle.

Well, guess what? He showed up at my dog bakery. Yes, you heard correctly. I found him sitting in Canine Confections one morning, as if I didn’t have enough to worry about with the overturned chairs and tables in the café. Just because he has that whole long blond beach hair thing going on, I was supposed to drop everything and fall into his arms like nothing had happened.

My question to you is... what would you have done if you were in my place? Would you have welcomed him, acted cold, yelled… what?

Thanks in advance for your help. I feel better just knowing I have someone to talk to about all this…

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Review

PAWS FOR ALARM by Amy Hueston
The Second Canine Confections Mystery

 

Samantha Armstrong is desperate for Canine Confections, her dog bakery, to succeed. It's not so much a matter of pride, but failure means her aunt will lose her home. Business hasn't had a chance to recover from the dead body found in the shop on opening day, and now there's a dead body in the shop two doors down! Unwilling to wait for the police to find the murderer Samantha takes matters into her own hands. Things are complicated by a thief stealing small items from shops on the street and the reappearance of her cheating ex-boyfriend. Will Samantha be able to solve the murder before her business goes bust?

A series with great promise, the second Canine Confections Mystery suffers from some growing pains. Samantha and her fellow shop owners and store managers are young. Unfortunately, they act immature in this second Canine Confections mystery. There's too much cattiness, especially in a dog centered mystery. The friends act more like high schoolers than entrepreneurs; too much day drinking with an inability to hold their liquor, too much wondering who's the better friend with jealousy abounding, and then there's Peter. Samantha knows her ex is a louse, yet she's ready to be taken in by him again. Sadly, this behavior, though sad, is realistic for many women.

I did enjoy the mystery itself and I loved how the culprit was eventually caught. I was caught off guard and ready to complain before I realized the grand scheme. Samantha's relationship with her aunt is special and a grounding factor in the series. My favorite parts of the book are the details of the estate and the high end shops in Palm Beach. I appreciate how Samantha navigates the world of the ultra rich knowing she, and her aunt, could lose it all. I love Sweet Pea and look forward to seeing interactions with the new resident on the estate.

PAWS FOR ALARM provides an interesting mystery with lots of character drama in the toney shops of Palm Beach.

 

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 Paws for Alarm (A Canine Confections Mystery) by Amy Hueston

About Paws for Alarm

Paws for Alarm (A Canine Confections Mystery)
Cozy Mystery 2nd in Series
Publisher: Donelson Press (March 22, 2021)
Digital - Number of Pages - 196

When Samantha relaxes into her new role as a dog mom, finds a circle of friends in her new hometown, and sees her new dog bakery Canine Confections barking up business, she’s thrilled that things are going so well … until she hears a bloodcurdling scream from the pastry shop two doors down and runs over to find a dead body on the floor.

Suddenly Samantha finds herself in a race against time to find not only the thief who is stealing from the upscale shops, but a murderer, too. Samantha’s Lab-Mix Sweet Pea wags her tail through all of the clues, suspects and shenanigans. Both Samantha and Sweet Pea are aided in their amateur investigation by the other shopkeepers on the elegant Worth Avenue, and Samantha finds the suspect list growing at every turn.

To make matters worse, Samantha’s old boyfriend arrives in town, and mysterious people start showing up at the Sophisticated Pet and New Age stores nearby. Samantha soon finds that things are not what they seem, and she must figure out what’s going on—or become the next dead body on a bakery floor.

Includes an original recipe from the world-famous Three Dog Bakery!

About Amy Hueston

Amy Hueston writes mini-mysteries for Woman’s World magazine when she isn’t writing mystery and suspense novels. The first 3 books in her Canine Confections mystery series have an abundance of dogs and pastries, two of her favorite things, and will be available in 2021. Amy is also a professional singer who has performed nationally and internationally. A sought-after singer in South Florida, Amy draws on these experiences when writing.

Author Links: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amy.hueston.73  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyhueston/?hl=en  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HuestonAmy  

Website: https://amyhueston.com  

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20626879.Amy_Hueston  

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N  

My CD Download on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lets-Talk-Love-Amy-Hueston/dp/B08C252M8D  

 

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