Welcome to book review forty-one of fifty-two for this year’s virtual coffee shares. I’ve picked books related to the Brewing Coffee, Twisting Words & Breaking Pencils theme—coffee, books, and puzzles.
Death by Hot Cocoa
The author is Alex Erickson
Published in September 2022
The publisher is Kensington Cozies
Available in eBook (92 pages), Audiobook
Women Sleuth Mystery | Holiday Mysteries | Women Sleuths
At ninety-two pages, this is a fast read. The setting is fun—a Christmas escape room with a murder mystery.
Rita’s character is one that I think could have some of her own stories. Throughout the last couple of books, she has been full of surprises.
If we were having coffee, I would share an image of a fall puzzle that I completed. It was a fun one.

This is going to be a food-filled weekend. If we were having coffee, I would share that this is a fun weekend. We are celebrating Thanksgiving for the first time in our new house. I’m excited to cook a big dinner and make memories: turkey, cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash, corn, buns, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream. I might try making a charcuterie board for lunch. My birthday is also this weekend. For that, we are planning a menu including homemade seafood linguine (not me cooking) and carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Of course, it’s movie night on Friday. So, there will be a snack of some sort that night.
If we were having coffee, I would share that I started a trial of Noom. I’ve been curious about it for a while; I’ve been stuck at the same fitness point for a while, feeling frustrated. So, I thought I would try the trial and go from there. Has anybody tried it?
Well, coffee share friends, here is the coffee bean grinder. How was your week?
By Shari Marshall – 2025

What a beautiful puzzle! I hope your Thanksgiving dinner goes well. Happy birthday!
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Thank you, Joanne. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
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Happy Thanksgiving and happy birthday, Shari. That’s a very nice puzzle. I haven’t used Noom. Thank you for your weekend coffee share.
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Happy Thanksgiving weekend, Natalie.
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Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday!! So many good things at once. The country scene on your puzzle is lovely.
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Thank you, Maria.
I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Happy Sunday.
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Thank you. We’re trying to recover from some kind of flu.
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I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon.
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Happy Birthday and Happy Thanksgiving! Your weekend of food sounds absolutely divine! I am a HUGE fan of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, so I hope you enjoy every single bite of everything, but extra of the cake 😉
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Thank you, Melissa. I purchased a handful of tiny candy pumpkins from the Bulk Food Store to use as toppers on each slice of cake. The best part about the cake is that my younger son and I baked it, and my older son and I made the frosting.
Happy Sunday.
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This all sounds absolutely perfect! Happy Sunday ❤
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