I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Miss Frost Says I Do and Spider Too
by
Kristen Painter
amateur sleuth, cozy mystery, paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by Sugar Skull Books on November 21, 2019 and has 314 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Blood Rights, Flesh and Blood, Bad Blood, Out for Blood, Last Blood, House of the Rising Sun, City of Eternal Night, Garden of Dreams and Desires, Miss Frost Solves a Cold Case, All Fired Up, "Prologue to The Vampire's Mail Order Bride", The Vampire's Mail Order Bride, The Werewolf Meets His Match, The Gargoyle Gets His Girl, The Professor Woos the Witch, The Vampire's Fake Fiancée, The Shifter Romances the Writer, "The Witch's Halloween Hero", The Dragon Finds Forever, The Vampire's Accidental Wife, The Reaper Rescues the Genie, The Detective Wins The Witch, The Vampire's Priceless Treasure, The Werewolf Dates the Deputy, "When Birdie Babysat Spider", Miss Frost Ices the Imp, Miss Frost Saves the Sandman, Miss Frost Cracks a Caper, Miss Frost Braves the Blizzard, "The Werewolf's Christmas Wish", The Vampire's Cursed Kiss, Her First Taste of Fire, The Trouble With Witches, Moody and the Beast, The Vampire's Sunny Sweetheart, Miss Frost Chills the Cheater, Lost in Las Vegas, Wrapped Up in Christmas, Mystified in Music City, Sucks To Be Me, A Sky Full of Stars, Suck It Up Buttercup, The Forgettable Miss French, Sucker Punch, The Suck Stops Here, Nixed in New Orleans
Seventh in the Jayne Frost magical realism cozy mystery series revolving around an amateur sleuth who happens to be Santa Clause’s niece. The focus is on her and Sin’s wedding at the North Pole.
My Take
As usual, there’s a chasm between what the bride wants and what her maternal relations want, and that dress is a scream. Yep, Jayne “tunneled out of the dress”.
Fun for Birdie! My anticipation was high as Jayne gives her instructions on how to get to the North Pole. I couldn’t wait to read of Birdie’s reactions to the NP. She sure has a violent reaction to the contents of Vehicle Hangar Nine. And Santa has a custom-made Harley-Davidson Fat Boy.
I gotta say that Finnoula’s heart is in the right place, but her strategy sucks. I suspect she and her son will be on Jayne’s list of people to help.
Sin has a heart too, and he warns the constable to not bring in one of the suspects. Birdie is deputized.
It’s a cold case that may have a connection to George Bitterbark’s fled fiancée. Rachel had invited Finnoula to move to California to be with them and enjoy the warmer weather. So no one understands why she ran . . . until later in Miss Frost Says I Do.
It’s all experienced through Jayne’s perspective in first person protagonist point-of-view, so we know and feel all through Jayne.
Miss Frost Says I Do and Spider Too has characters, obviously lol, and it’s low-key in the action. Mostly the story has to do with wedding planning and solving cold cases. No, I meant cold as in unsolved!
If you get a kick out of North Pole and Santa stories, you’ll want to read this.
The Story
Jayne is battling the wedding dress designs while Sin is occupied in Prince Consort classes. The worse battle is to come with the discovery of the skeleton in the Crystal Carriage, and it taints the beautiful dress Bonfitte has created.
Weddings. They’re all about family. And about Spider and Sugar. But Sinclair is carefully not introducing Jayne to his parents. He’s terrified she won’t want to marry him if he does.
After all, what’s with all that planning if there aren’t problems?
The Characters
Princess Jayne Lilibeth Frost, Santa Claus’s niece, heir to her father’s Winter Throne, and soon to be married to Sin. Allene is her lady’s maid. Nesto is her hairdresser. Benna is her makeup artist. Davide handles her jewelry.
Sinclair “Sin” Crowe is a necromancer and donut maker from Nocturne Falls. Spider and Sugar are their cats. Will is Sin’s valet. His very successful parents are Anson, a conjurer with a show at the Oasis Resort in Las Vegas, and Lila (a zombie) who is his father’s assistant. They’re worried too that they are not a bride’s dream in-laws. Great-aunt Zinnia comes to the wedding too.
The North Pole
Jack and Klara Frost are Jayne’s parents. Great-great-great-aunt Lynette cavorted naked on the tundra. Galaxy had been Lynette’s pet reindeer.
Ezreal, half winter elf and half ice troll, is the new palace steward. Mrs Greenbaum is Ezreal’s replacement as Jack Frost’s assistant. Rizzle is the head of palace security. LeRoy Bonfitte is the royal couturier designing Jayne’s wedding dress. Charlotte is his assistant. Ingvar is the IT team leader. The Reverend Vandersnow will marry them. Wren Evergreen is the lead soloist in the Baker’s Choir. Mamie Wynters is Uncle Kris’ secretary.
The Royal Etiquette Committee must approve everything. The Crystal Carriage is the royal transport for specific royal events. Tianna Silverlead is the head of the Royal Transportation Division. The Honorable Pinneta Greene had been an NP mayor and is now on the Royal Historical Society board.
Constable Larsen is with the NP police. Deputies include Givens, Thurman, and Verne. Dr Charming is the medical examiner.
Dr George Bitterbark is the school superintendent with the very ill mother, Finnoula Bitterbark. Mamie’s suspicious of her illness . . . His father had been an architect. Elma is the Bitterbarks’ housekeeper with a gift of shimmer. Rachel Brightmoore had been George’s fiancée. I loved how George described Rachel’s engagement ring, that the stone reminded him of the sun and that Rachel was his sun. George has two siblings. A brother and sister who work in the mortal world as a chef and part-time in a florist’s shop.
Sweetie’s is a mom-and-pop diner where Jake is a waiter. White’s Fine Pastries, the oldest bakery and had made Jayne’s mother’s wedding cake, will bake the wedding cupcakes. Julianne White is the great-great-granddaughter of Earnest White, the shop’s founder. Matilda is about five and has a cat named Mr Boots. Her parents are bakers.
Grater’s lung disease is caused by too cold of a temperature. Shiver pox is the winter elf version of chicken pox. Gregory had been the palace steward in Miss Frost Chills the Cheater, 6. The Coldwater Detention Center is a new concept.
Nocturne Falls is . . .
. . . a small town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year and where Jayne and Sin met. Birdie Caruthers, a werewolf dispatcher for the Nocturne Falls PD, is a friend of Jayne’s. She’s really good at organizing stuff. Birdie is seriously dating Jack Van Zant (Wrapped Up in Christmas). Hank Merrow, Birdie’s nephew, is the sheriff. Charlie is Hank’s son and Birdie’s great-nephew (The Werewolf Meets His Match, 2). Hannah Rose is his new baby sister. Juniper “Juni” is the new manager at Santa’s Workshop, part of a toy shop chain, in Nocturne Falls. Some of Jayne’s friends here include Corette Williams who owns a bridal salon (“The Witch’s Halloween Hero“, 4.5). Zombie Donuts had been Sin’s shop.
The Cover and Title
The cover is so light and cheerful with its pale blue, icy background with falling snowflakes. The graphic fills half the cover with its giant snowglobe with a wedding cake inside and the series info in black on its stand. Jayne is facing the globe, wearing a low-backed wedding dress, carrying a bouquet of white, her long blue-black hair flowing down her back. Tucked under the snowglobe on the left is Spider wearing a red bow-tie collar. The title is at the very top in a heavily black shadowed white. An info blurb referring to Nocturne Falls is below it (and above the globe) in black. At the very bottom under the glove is the author’s name in the same black-shadowed white, as is the info blurb beneath that.
The title is the result of when Miss Frost Says I Do and Spider Too.
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