Book 47, 2021

[chez_jae]

Hopeless Pocus by Rachel Rivers

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I finished reading Hopeless Pocus in the wee hours this morning. It's the first part of author Rachel Rivers' "Hex Falls" paranormal mystery series. The story is told in first person point of view by the main character, Violet Vance.

Violet was born into a magical family, yet she's the only one who has no powers of her own. She tries to make a life for herself among mortals, but she gets fired from her job as an investigator. Looking to make a new start with her second career choice, interior decorating, Violet moves to the town of Hex Falls. There, everyone embraces the cheesiness of all things paranormal to entice visitors. Little do they know, there really are things that go bump in the night. Violet's excitement is dimmed when her helicopter family buys the large old mansion next door to her tiny cottage. Is there no getting away from them?! However, when Violet learns that she really is a witch who has yet to come into her powers, her family's hovering begins to make sense. Aunts Kit and Kat, along with glamorous Cousin Viv have been trying to shelter and protect Violet, lest she meet the fate of her mother.

Violet didn't think her life could get any weirder until she is hired to renovate the other old mansion in town...one that hasn't been touched in over a hundred years due to the owner's untimely murder. Weirder still, it's the owner, Sotheby, or rather his ghost, who has hired Violet. She can now see ghosts, and her familiar, a fat fox named Reggie, has begun following her around, and Sotheby has asked her to solve his murder. Making things more complicated, Violet must still keep the truth of actual paranormals hidden from the mortals, dodge her nosy neighbor, and butter up the cranky research librarian. When the sheriff, a good-looking yet slow-witted hunk named Jeremy begins to show interest in her, Violet has more on her plate than she can manage...which is when her powers decide to manifest.

There was quite a bit going on in the story; unfortunately, it did not blend together well. The plot sort of bounced around, and editing was a hot mess. Some things were never fully explained and others never resolved. I understand it's the first part of a series, but certain things should not have been left hanging. I cannot stand the trope of overprotective family smothering an adult; thus reading about it here got my hackles up. Jeremy was so damned dumb that it begs the question of how he came to be in law enforcement. Violet's drunken Auntie Connie was more of a caricature than a character. In fact, none of the characters was portrayed well. The solution to the main plot was so convoluted that it made no sense. This is why it took me over a week to slog through this. Guh.

Favorite lines:
♦ So instead of looking forward to a lifetime spent solving the world's most serious crimes, I'll have to settle for wiping out the world's most criminal decorating decisions.
♦ I don't think I could handle a crying fox on top of everything else right now.
♦ I like going to the gym about as much as I'd like to eat a pie full of pins.
♦ "For this one you will have to delve into microfiche." // "Micro-what?" // "It's an ancient time-traveling method."

The story was entertaining, but its narrative was sloppy for lack of a better word. Giving it two stars.