A second review of Embroidering Andrea

FIVE STARS     Addictive Mystery Wrapped Around Quilting January 2, 2015

By Edie VINE VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Embroidering Andrea continues the quilting bee based stories in the first two novels by Barbara Sullivan. The quilting bee and accompanying mystery theme draws the main character to search deeper into her own life history. The monthly bee brings the now familiar characters together for a night of quilting, but also opens up the door for murder and mayhem.

The husband and wife characters of Rachel and Matthew Lyons are an engaging couple with a relationship that seems true to life. The author shows the couple in a positive light although they can still have their difference of opinion which makes a much more pleasant read than novels that feel the need to have strong conflicts between spouses throughout a story.

The refreshing main characters offset the deep tragic lives of many of the secondary characters. Embroidering Andrea is not an easy read and the topic may be off-putting to some. However, keep reading as the story will draw you in and hold you hostage until the final reveal.

The Quilted Mystery series is well worth checking out. Hopefully the author is hard at work on the next installment.

This review is based on a complimentary copy of the novel provided by the author in exchange for our review.

My bio on Amazon's Author Central.

"Born in 1941 and raised in the then small town of Milford, Connecticut, Barbara Sullivan left the New England area to follow her Marine husband around the country and to travel far and wide before settling down in Southern California. Now a retired librarian, she worked for twenty-five years in the profession before stepping away to begin her writing career. 

Her first work in the Quilted Mystery series is Ada Unraveled. In this story Ms. Sullivan introduces her primary characters, Pi Rachel Lyons and her husband/business partner Matt Lyons. This very personal story about a woman named Ada is inspired by the author's difficult childhood and dedicated to her mother Rosalie. Here Barbara Sullivan attempts to unravel the painful emotions she endured as a growing child living in her parents' ofttimes alcoholic nightmare. 

The second book in the Quilted Mystery series steps fully into the Stowall family--the group of hand quilters Rachel Lyons has joined--telling the tale of the youngest hand quilter thirteen-year-old Abigail. The title, Ripping Abigail, is another play on sewing terms as Abigail is ripped from her childhood by the events told in this book. 

The third title in the series, Embroidering Andrea, also contains a play on quilting terms. If you've read the first two of these books you'll have already learned that Andrea Kelly, the subject of this novel, is into tats. But there is much more to learn about this title; a much deeper pain drives Andrea to carry her scars visibly on her body.

A longtime hand quilter, quilting has many meanings to Sullivan. Her earliest memories are patches of visual explosions that sewed themselves into an otherwise normal middle class family. The New England setting for those memories, with its dark and scary tales of witches and headless horsemen, only added to the sense of foreboding the author took with her into adulthood.

Barbara holds degrees in History and Library Science, and a Masters in Public Administration. You can view her quilts and learn more about her life at www.quiltmyst.com. Follow Barbara Sullivan on facebook.com and twitter.com as well."