#GatheringMist – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Publishing Reviews – February Recap – March Holds a Spring Promise

Rosepoint Publishing Reviews - February Recap

I loved it for a while, but alas, the AI freebies are over (used my free credits) both on Canva and Gemini. Now I’m back to sampling Freepik—without much luck. The background of the bookcase below is a sample, but obviously not very close to my description of the picture I’d envisioned. Must admit, Gemini came closer to creating the images I wanted, but it too is bye-bye. I used to try to use only those pictures I originated, my pictures or designs. That’s no longer working. Got a source you like? What is your favorite go-to for images?

February is a short one and it flew by. I used to love March. Spring. Warmer weather. New growth, babies. Promise. Of course, for me, it’s also birthday month and as usual the body is saying one thing and the mind another. It’s a clash of wills but it may be the body who wins and both the CE and I are beginning to make more of those dreaded trips to the doc. We used to joke we’d need a car only for groceries and doctor visits. Ugh. Not so funny anymore, but that’s where some of our reading time went.

I’m still using Goodreads to find good audiobooks, as well as blogger buddy suggestions. My library has most of what I look for but it’s amazing the number of books that are on waiting lists despite having numerous copies. Of course, I still find books at NetGalley, as well as author and publisher requests.

We managed ten reviews between us in February that included four audiobooks. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.

Rosepoint Publishing Review - February Recap — Background bookcase courtesy Freepik.com AI

You Have Gone Too Far by Carlene O’Connor
The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne (audiobook)
This American Woman by Zarna Garg
Connie: A Memoir by Connie Chung (audiobook)
From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough (audiobook)
Valley of the Wolves by Brock Farrow (CE review)
Guardian of the Crossroads by Melanie Forde
To Catch a Spy by Mark ONeill (CE review)
Gathering Mist by Margaret Mizushima
Audition by Barbara Walters (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

WOW, it was a tough one this month! A number of them could have been five-star reads from either of us, but despite a small issue that may have knocked off a half-star, the story was still outstanding. Included in the month—several memoirs! In particular though, This American Woman—super, Guardian of the Crossroads—excellent, and Gathering Mist—love the dogs—really ticked off all the boxes. Zarna Garg has an amazing view of issues—some alien to mine but always with a sense of humor. Melanie Forde definitely pushed outside of her familiar family sagas. This one deeper, darker than I’d seen before and it worked, leaving me slack-jawed. Most readers have sampled Margaret Mizushima’s books. Always good, fast paced, and informative. So which one gets the coveted Rosepoint nod?

Favorite for February – Guardian of the Crossroads by Melanie Forde

My Reading Challenges page…

My Goodreads Challenge is currently at 33 of a 2025 goal of 125. No, keeping up with my Challenge page wasn’t a New Year’s resolution. I’ll get to it…

Welcome to my new subscribers! So glad you joined this group. I hope you found a book or two that appealed to you here, and I’m always looking for your suggestions! And to all my readers, have a beautiful March!

It's so hard to choose! — Gemini-generated AI image

Gathering Mist by Margaret Mizushima #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery

Rosepoint Rating: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

Secrets hide within the fog deep in the mossy forests of the Pacific Northwest in this ninth thrilling installment in award-winning author Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 mystery series.

Deputy Mattie Wray, formerly Mattie Cobb, is summoned to Washington’s Olympic peninsula for an urgent search and rescue mission to find a celebrity’s missing child. With only a week left before her wedding, Mattie is hesitant to leave Timber Creek, but her K-9 partner Robo’s tracking skills are needed.

Dense forest, chilling rain, and unfriendly locals hamper their efforts, and soon Mattie suspects something more sinister than a lost child is at play. When one of the SAR dogs becomes ill, her fiancé, Cole Walker, suspects poison. Fearing for Mattie’s and Robo’s safety, Cole joins the search and rescue team as veterinary support.

Secrets that have lain hidden within the rugged terrain come to light, and when it is uncovered that the missing child was kidnapped, the search becomes a full-blown crime scene investigation, forcing Mattie, Robo, and Cole into a desperate search to find the missing child before it’s too late.

My Review:

I love mysteries and crime thrillers and throw in an awesome service dog and I’m there. This is one of my favorite K-9 series and this installment becomes a page turner very quickly.

With one week to go before her wedding to Cole, a veterinarian, Maddie is called in to fly to the northwest in Washington state to find a missing child. The change in climate is a shock, cold, windy, and buckets of rain with the attendant saturated soil and underbrush and difficult not only for ground trackers but scent trackers as well. The atmospheric description really sets up the scene and becomes a strong integral part of the plot.

This is one reason I enjoy these books so much. You learn so much about canines, their atheleticism, and learning capacity. It’s such a part of the prep for search or take down, however, the info is easily slipped in and just adds the wow factor rather than slowing the pace.

When one of the other search dogs becomes sick, it’s apparent that he might have been poisoned and Cole makes arrangements to join her. Together with the search teams and local search and rescue, they form the grid and begin methodically canvassing the area which includes interviews with off-the-grid residents.

The tension ramps up as the search intensifies. There are a number of support characters and the parents present a divided and suspicious countenance. The story turns to a darker subject than I ever remember being used before and the climax is hard and fast.

The writing style throughout is engaging with no slack in the storyline. Robo shines as a masterful SAR dog, intuitive, smart, and protective. Love the action scenes. Heartily recommended.

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
ASIN: B0CRTG7JRQ
Print Length: 252 pages
Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Margaret Mizushima writes the award winning and internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. She serves as past president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and was elected 2019 Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Active in the writing community, she is also a member of Sisters in Crime, Northern Colorado Writers, and Women Writing the West. She and her husband recently moved from Colorado to a home in the Pacific Northwest. Find her on Facebook/AuthorMargaretMizushima, Twitter @margmizu, Instagram @margmizu, and her website http://www.margaretmizushima.com.