Ink and Shadows

By: Ellery Adams

Narrated by: Cris Dukehart

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nora Pennington is known for her window displays, and as Halloween approaches, she decides to showcase fictional heroines like Roald Dahl’s Matilda and Madeline Miller’s Circe. A family-values group disapproves of the magical themes though and wastes no time launching a modern-day witch hunt. Suddenly, former friends and customers are targeting not only Nora and Miracle Books, but a new shopkeeper, Celeste, who’s been selling CBD oil products. Nora and her friends in the Secret, Book, and Scone Society are doing their best to put an end to the strife - but then someone puts an end to a life. 

Though the death is declared an accident, the ruling can’t explain the old book page covered with strange symbols and disturbing drawings left under Nora’s doormat, a postcard from an anonymous stalker, or multiple cases of vandalism. The only hope is that Nora can be a heroine herself and lead the Secret, Book, and Scone Society in a successful investigation - before more bodies turn up and the secrets from Celeste’s past come back to haunt them all....

©2021 Ellery Adams (P)2021 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Quite Possibly my favorite of them all

I am a bibliophile. I love banned books. I am a strong woman, who comes from trail blazers and those who refused to be quiet. Survivors and far from saints yet their stories are in my heart. This book is like a love letter to those women through the years who refuse to be quiet, who refused to be told they couldn't do something and stood tall in the face of all adversity. Read this, listen to it, savor it.

Enjoyable and Intriguing Series

4th book in the series…The narrator is wonderful! She is very versatile and has a soothing vocal tone.
While book 3 has more information about three of the ladies’ relationships, as well as a murder mystery, book 4 focuses more on the town’s people and how magic, mystery, greed and deception can lead to murder in one of the saddest of ways.
Nora shines with her grit and determination, in-spite of apparent partner issues. June and Sheldon are highlighted as well.
I would love the recipes for Hester’s scones and Sheldon’s Cuban food. They sound delicious. I have been able to listen to books 1-4 in succession, and now have to wait for book 5….

Not interested in liberal lessons. I just want a good book.

First chapter opens with strong feminism and emphasis on cultural diversity. So sick of it. I get enough of it in the real world and I listen to books to try to escape it. I'm done with Ellery. This is the second book she's done this. Returned it immediately.

I Love this series

I like how all the Characters are developing in this series. I have found the narrator's voice to be calming and very soothing. I did enjoy all the different twists, this one had more than a few.

Books

This series always reminds me how wonderful it is to hold a hard back book in your hands to read and get lost in a story

Another cozy Miracle Books mystery

It feels so good to come back to Miracle Springs! I love how the Secret, Book, and Scone Society is growing by bringing in new book lovers who could also use a support system. All of the books in this series bring up somewhat controversial topics and multiple deaths/crimes, but the focus is always on the life experiences and relationships of the 4 main women and how they care for their town and its inhabitants. They work to get justice for victims and a sense of community and belonging to anyone new in town. Every loose end is addressed each novel and we see progress in the ladies' healing, friendship, and romance. I liked the change of seasons so we know how long these mysteries last, and the twists always throw me.

Common sense: I still recommend this series as adults only because of the sometimes gruesome deaths, troubled pasts of the characters, and adult situations like sex, violence, or drinking. However, this book was a little milder in those areas than the first few.

Another enjoyable installment

With so much stress in my life I’ve had trouble bring able to focus on a book for months. Then I started this one and finished it in two days. I’m so grateful for these characters and this series. I always enjoy going on another adventure with the ladies of the Secret, Book & Scone society of Miracle Springs. I look forward to the next one in the series.

Ellery Addams does it again

loved it! I thought it was gonna be a reread as I got awhile ago but forgotten if I read it or not. I hadn't which made it even better cause it was all new to me. I have a small book club and the secret scone and society reminds me a bit of our group

Enjoyable but too much repetition

I really enjoyed this series, but found the repetition a little much. When you're binge reading, you don't need to be reminded of everything little thing that happened in previous books. I am on the last book, but if more books are being added to the series, it's highly doubtful that I will read them. The narrator was very good, but she mispronounced a few words, and that was a little frustrating. I wanted to scream out the correct pronunciations.

an ok addition

the writer is trying to provide character development to the main people, but it's coming across kind of muddled. there were a LOT of themes in the book and I feel like it would have been more cohesive if it had more focus to it

Mystery with occult themes

Interesting premise, plot and themes, just very slow moving and repetitive and a lot of 'filler' material. It would be so much better if it was shorter. I expected a bit more of a fantasy slant, but it's mostly a mystery. I liked the cult/occult references and a little bit of reference to witchcraft in history and the theme of books in it.