High Strung, A Glass Bead Mystery by Janice Peacock published by Booktrope Editions is an entertaining mystery. Jacqueline O'Connell, aka Jax, received a house and savings account from her Great-Aunt Rita Haglund. The only condition was that she live in the house in Seattle, Washington and be creative. The house was divided so one side was a rental unit. I gave it four stars.

She had a fluffy gray cat named Gumdrop who she thought had psychic powers. When her boyfriend Jerry came home and started bossing her around, she called the attorney and told him that she would move.

Val had moved in opposite where Jax lived in her Great-Aunt's house. She had her bead studio in the back of the house. She hadn't thought it was what she would be doing but she was happy.

"Val was forever after me to look nice and act pretty. Or was it look pretty and act nice? I could never remember. I wasn't particularly good at either--at least not at the same time."

Jax went to Tessa's Aztec Bead shop and came across Dylan McCartney there. "Dylan never seemed to be in a hurry and was always scruffy around the edges. That comes with being a 22-year-old guy. If he’d been in Southern California, I’d have called him a surfer dude. Here in the Pacific Northwest, his T-shirt, flip-flops, and threadbare jeans looked out of place. He never looked like he was cold, but I couldn’t wear so little without freezing to death when temperatures dipped to the 40s outside."

I received a complimentary copy from itunes. This did not change my opinion for this review.

Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/High-Strung-Glass-Bead-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01GIBQTFY

“You could rattle the stars," she whispered. "You could do anything, if only you dared. And deep down, you know it, too. That’s what scares you most.”

This book was defiantly worth the wait, not wanting to get caught up in the hype and wanting to read the series as a whole I've waited since 2012 to finally read this!! I loved everything about it, the pacing and how it all built to the climax with all the threads coming together at the right time.

This book has laid the groundwork amazingly for the series to come, the main plot of Celaena fighting to become the kings champion to win her freedom and the more fantasy Fae element.

“Libraries were full of ideas—perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

After thinking on it a while I think I gave this book 4.5 stars because I wanted a slightly different Celaena. After reading the novellas I think I had expected her to spend more time in the mines, so I thought we'd have a more broken character who not only has to heal her mind but her body too. I wanted to see her shed her pampered princess attitude and grow differently.

But all in all this book was amazing, and absolutely worth the wait!! I do kind of regret not reading Maas sooner, but I love that I can just binge read her series now instead of waiting.

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