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Brand of Magic by K.M. Jackways

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished reading Brand of Magic last night. It's the first in the "Redferne Witches" series by KM Jackways. The protagonist is Hazel Redferne, an empathic witch who's tried to block her own magic so as to not be constantly bombarded by others' thoughts and feelings.

After a bad break-up, Hazel has put romance out of mind and turned her efforts to her marketing job, which promotes Dunedin, New Zealand. Hazel lives in a small cottage owned by her aunt, and she shares it with Bonnie, her dog familiar, and the ghost of her grandmother, Em. When her neighbor, Joel, is on the verge of losing his family property, Hazel offers to help him spruce up the website for his woodworking business. Hazel's attention is pulled elsewhere, however, when her aunt Briar is cursed and left unable to communicate. Hazel's empathic abilities may be the only way to reach her aunt and to find out who is behind both the attack on Briar and the underhanded dealings that pertain to Joel's property.

I liked this story, I really did, but it doesn't deserve more than an average score. Characterizations were okay for a novella-length book, and the story itself was interesting. However, the plot lacked cohesion. It was more a series of vignettes than a well-ordered story. It was like Hazel went here, Hazel went there, Hazel did this, Hazel did that. Most disappointing of all, though, is how lacking in resolution it was.

( Spoilers )

Yes, I know it's the first in a series, but maybe stick to one plot point and resolve it, instead of spinning several plot-plates in the air and leaving them there at the end.

Favorite lines:
♦ He was not fond of cats--and therefore attracted every cat in Otago to brush against his legs.
♦ Anyone who's had a good cup of tea when they really need it must believe in magic.

I would have loved to give this a four, but its shortcomings knock it down to a three.

Dog Days of Voodoo by G.A. Chase

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Last night, I finally polished off Dog Days of Voodoo, which is the first installment in GA Chase's "Malveaux Curse" mystery series. Story is told in third-person pov, and the perspective alternates between the main characters, Kendell and Myles.

Kendell is a barista and the lead guitarist for the girl band Polly Urethane and the Strippers. She's always been interested in the paranormal, and when she learns that Myles, a former classmate of hers, may have psychometric abilities, she looks him up and asks him to explain and demonstrate his talent. When visiting an antique shop in search of an item that Myles can read, they come across a small pipe tool that Myles is drawn to. From reading the object, Myles sees that a young girl died while handling it. Her death was ruled a suicide, but Myles isn't convinced she meant to kill herself. As Kendell and Myles begin asking questions about the tool, they come to the attention of some of New Orleans' less than savory denizens, one of whom steals Kendell's dog, Cheesecake. Now it's up to Kendell and Myles to rescue the dog and learn the truth behind the Malveaux Curse.

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. I enjoyed the characterizations, the paranormal elements, and the burgeoning relationship between Kendell and Myles. However, the plot did not flow in a smooth fashion, there was precious little action except for their quest, and no overall resolution. This is just the first in a series, so we can expect more resolution in future installments. I hope.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Why do guys always think they can win females over just by offering us food?"
Works for me! :D
♦ "Do you really want your obituary to read 'He died covered in dog shit'?"

It was a fun story, but conflicts were resolved quickly and without much in the way of building suspense. Not a bad read, but nothing exceptional about it, either. Average score.

Unfinished Business by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Once I finished the housekeeping this morning, I rewarded myself by sitting down to finish reading Unfinished Business by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson. This is the first installment in the "Angela Panther" series.

Angela Panther is a typical suburban mom and housewife until her own mother dies. Now Angela can see her mother's ghost, and her Ma tells Angela that she's hanging around because she has unfinished business. After the initial freak-out, Angie finds comfort in being able to still see and speak to her mother. However, when she discovers she can also see other spirits, Angela begins to view this gift as a curse. Suddenly, other ghosts want her to help them, mainly by passing on messages to the loved ones they left behind. Angela hates every second of it, even though both her husband, Jake, and her BFF, Mel, encourage her to use her newfound talent to bring comfort to others. Will she embrace the new chapter in her life, or will Angela turn her back on the spirits who need her help?

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. I love all things paranormal, so reading about a woman whose world has just been opened to the other side was a delight. Angela is hilarious, fierce, loyal and loving. I liked her comfortable relationship with her husband, as well as her wacky friendship with Mel. Her interactions with her mother were, perhaps, the most amusing. But, it wasn't all laughs. There were some very emotional and poignant moments that had me swiping at tears. It was quite the rollercoaster read! My only (minor) complaint is that the story didn't have a plot, per se. It was more a series of events. There was no mystery to solve, no relationship to fix, and therefore, no real resolution at the end.

Favorite lines:
♥ Coffee for me was like sex to a twenty-year-old man--never too much and never too often.
♥ I swear, if Adam had bit into that damn apple first, men would be mothers and women could scratch their privates in public.
♥ "One can never have too many gasms."
♥ I'd rather have two root canals at the same time and go straight to the OBGYN for an annual exam than go shopping with my daughter.

Overall, very good. Four stars.

Your Coffin or Mine? by Kimberly Raye

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I finished reading my work book at lunch yesterday. It was Your Coffin or Mine? by Kimberly Raye, and it's the third installment in the "Dead End Dating" series of lite, paranormal romance. I have read the first two, but it's been quite some time ago. Story is told in first person point of view by the main character, hot and fabulous vampire Lil Marchette.

As the owner of Dead End Dating, a matchmaking service for supernaturals, Lil is looking to diversify and add humans to the mix. She signs on for Manhattan's Most Wanted, which is a local show a la The Bachelor. Lil has no interest in the eligible bachelor; she's looking to add all those eligible women to her list of clients. Unfortunately for Lil, she keeps progressing through the ranks of women on her way to the finale. Trouble is, Lil isn't interested in the human hottie. She's still trying to get over her amazing one-night stand with vampire Ty Bonner. They have a mental connection, and through it, Lil senses that Ty has landed himself in danger. Complicating things, she's trying to assist her (very human) soon to be sister-in-law with wedding arrangements, all while trying to fend off her mother who has no use for a human daughter-in-law and wants Lil to match her brother up with a nice vampire girl. The last thing Lil needs to add to the mix is a half-starved alley cat, but that's what she ends up taking home with her. Now all she needs to do is find Ty, avoid her mother, get eliminated from MMW, and train Killer to use the litterbox...all while wearing the latest fashion.

This book was a hoot! I really did laugh out loud several times while reading it. Not only is Lil witty, but the scrapes she gets herself into are beyond funny. I enjoyed the other characters, too, from her crazy family to her wacky employee, Evie. Through it all, Lil never misses an opportunity to hand out business cards to bring in more clients. Although there was a lot going on, including several plot lines, everything flowed and came together smoothly.

Favorite lines:
♦ "You turn into a hermit, invest in a couple dozen cats. They find you one day, facedown in the kitty litter. Dead. Alone."
♦ "You can't just stay here, pooping and starving."
♦ The urge to go home and plunge face-first into the kitty litter was pretty strong.
♦ The one thing I needed even less than an old, snotty cat was an old, snotty, psychotic cat and smelly furniture.
♦ "I just know we'll make fab babies together and every year we'll celebrate our wedding anniversary with a sentimental stampede through Central Park."

This book was everything that romance a la paranormal lite is meant to be. Five stars!

An Academy For Witches by D.L. Auberry

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I finally managed to slog through the rest of An Academy for Witches by DL Auberry. It's the first part of the author's "Witch in Progress" series. Main character is Anwen, a young witch embarking on her quest to become more than a 'witch in progress'.

The premise, I believe, is that Anwen is starting her first semester(?) at the academy, where she meets her new roommate, Eudora. She also learns that Harvey, a male witch whom she's been crushing on forever, is in attendance. Anwen strongarms Harvey into going on a date with her, which ends in disaster. She retaliates by using an ointment (I think the author meant 'potion') to turn Harvey to stone. Now fearful that she'll be expelled, Anwen and Eudora, along with Anwen's cat, Apricot, pretend to be mature witches in order to finagle their way into the Osage Orange Forest, which is where they can find a remedy to restore Harvey. Since they aren't meant to be there, they are taken into custody, escape, get taken into custody, escape, lather, rinse, repeat. Along the way, they meet several odd characters, including a young male witch named Brayden, whom Eudora develops a tendre for. They still need to escape the forest, get back to the academy, and restore Harvey.

Did that make any sense? Of course, it didn't! Reading it made no sense. This was the most senseless thing I have ever read in my entire life, and I have read "Firewhisky fic", written by drunk authors for the fun of it. Those were masterpieces compared to this dreck. I can only surmise that the author's first language is not English. That's fine, but have your work translated by someone competent. This seemed like the author ran it through one of those online translation sites and voila! It was like reading a train wreck, and like a train wreck, I couldn't look away. Sentence structure made no sense, certain words weren't actual words (at least not in English), and the plot (what there was of it) just ping-ponged hither and yon in the most absurd fashion possible. It was awful.

( Behold the horror )

Favorite line (and hoo, boy, it was a struggle to find one!): "This is awkward." // "What is?" // "You brought your cat on our date."

I just...have no words. It reminded me of the time I decided to immerse myself in a Spanish soap opera. I didn't understand everything that was going on, but I got the gist of it. In this case, however, not only did I not understand what was going on, but there was no gist! I see it had some high ratings, but most of them disclosed that they had received a free advanced copy. I call bullshit!

This was horrible, and it doesn't deserve any stars. It gets one, because that's as low as I can go.

About Thyme by Karny McFlynn

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



Last night, I completed the ebook novella About Thyme by Karny McFlynn. It's the first installment (prequel, I guess) of the "Thyme Witch" mystery series, featuring Everly Thyme.

Everly is in a rut, bored with her job, her boyfriend, and her life. She gets more excitement than she bargained for, however, when she is invited (summoned, really) to dinner with her enigmatic great-aunt Legoria Thyme. Legoria sends a car to pick Everly up, but before she even makes it to her aunt's house, the car is attacked by creatures out of legend. Everly barely escapes with her life, and now she must keep her wits about her to find out whatever became of her father.

This was utterly confusing. Narrative was choppy, I got no real sense for the characters, and memory spells were cast, which left Everly not recalling things. I believe I was affected as well, because I forgot certain parts, too, until I went back and gave it a quick skim read. For one thing, in the second paragraph of the book, there seems to have been a murder, yet no mention was made of it again. Did it happen, and Everly forgot about it, or will it happen in future installments? I have no idea. Another thing that confounded me was that Everly's boring boyfriend was named Jim, and her mother's on-again, off-again boyfriend's name was...Jimmy. Seriously?! I swear, that's the reason I went back and skimmed the story again, because I wasn't sure whose boyfriend Jim(my) was. Turns out, both of them. Oh, not as in it's the same guy, but men with the same name. Ick. At least the editing was fair, and there were a few lines that made me laugh.

Favorite lines:
♦ Finding out that monsters are real...well, that shakes things up. Finding out you're one, too? Priceless. I should have listened to my mother.
♦ To her "I'm O.K.," meant I was being held hostage by alien beings and probing was the first item on their to-do list.
♦ Worse than the Christmas Mom stayed up too late wrapping presents and everything I got the next morning was from Satan.
That last line left me howling with laughter!

I wanted to like this, but nothing made sense. It's getting two stars, and one is for that killer line about Satan.

Tardy Bells and Witches' Spells by Sarina Dorie

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Ice kept me home this morning, and I used the unexpected time off to finish reading Tardy Bells and Witches' Spells by Sarina Dorie. It's the first book in the "Womby's School for Wayward Witches" paranormal series. The story was told in first-person pov by Clarissa Lawrence, a young girl who would dearly love for magic to be real.

Clarissa is a geek and an outcast. She loves Harry Potter, Narnia, Star Trek, etc, and she would like nothing more than for magic to be real. Clarissa's only friend is her older sister, Missy, whom she adores and loves. When the family visits a local country fair, Missy goes missing for several hours. Once she's found, she insists that she met a witch who told her that Clarissa would kill her before her 18th birthday. Seemingly overnight, Clarissa's protective, loving big sister turns cold and distant towards her. Clarissa would never hurt her sister, and she does everything she can to prove to Missy that she loves her.

By the time school begins again, Clarissa is a freshman and is eager to go to the same high school as Missy. Her sister, however, shuns her in favor of hanging out with the cool kids. Clarissa is taken in by the self-named "nerd herd", where she meets Derrick, a blue-haired boy who does magic tricks. Clarissa's mother doesn't approve of Derrick and tells Clarissa to stay away from him. In the meantime, Clarissa suspects that Missy is dabbling in black magic, but she doesn't want to tattle on her, for fear of making her sister hate her even more than she already does.

It isn't until the night of homecoming during Clarissa's sophomore year that everything spirals out of control, and she learns just what price magic can exact. Clarissa's life will never be the same again.

I had a love-hate thing going on with this book. The story was compelling, and Clarissa is a fully-formed, engaging character. All characters were, except for Missy. We never knew what was going on with her. I think what most took me aback about Missy was that overnight, literally, she went from the fun, protective big sister to actively fearing and hating on Clarissa. All I could think was, you've known your sister all her life, and yet you're going to believe something a woman you knew for a matter of hours tells you, rather than believing in your sister? Missy was utterly vile to Clarissa for the rest of the story, and poor Clarissa was so heartbroken. Also, the book never really touched on Womby's School except to mention it in passing. I had presumed the story would, oh I don't know, be set in Womby's School for Wayward Witches!

( Some other things that bugged me... )

Favorite lines:
♦ I only had one cut on my face, a little one on my jaw. It was way less cool than Harry Potter's lightning scar.
♦ We had to wade through a sea of cats to get to the door.
♦ What kind of horrible sadist decided to make physical education mandatory in high school?

In spite of the annoyances and aggravations I felt reading this, I'm giving it five stars. Anything that can get that much of a reaction is well-written, yeah?

Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I brought my work book home last night and finished it. It was Ghost of a Chance by Kate Marsh (aka Katie MacAlister). Don't know why the author was using a pseudonym, when she was writing in her usual genre, which is paranormal lite.

Karma Marx is half-human, half-polter (poltergeist), and her specialty is exorcising homes of spirits. Rather than banish them, however, Karma takes them home with her where she has to hide them from her sleazy husband, Spider. All Karma wants from Spider is a divorce, and he promises to grant her one, if she'll do one final house cleansing for him.

In the meantime, Karma is assigned a moody foster teen to take in. She doesn't feel up to providing a home for Pixie, but the Akashic League (which polices the Otherworld), has her over a barrel. Pixie tags along when Karma goes to the home that Spider has purchased by less than savory means. The home isn't just inhabited by spirits; its rightful owner is also in residence. Soon, there is a veritable cast of characters there: Karma, her father, Pixie, Spider, Meredith (Spider's equally sleazy business partner), Meredith's wife Savannah, Adam (the owner of the house), and several spirits, including some that "belong" to Karma. When Spider is murdered and almost everyone had a motive, Adam seals the house for a period of 24 hours so he can suss out who committed the crime.

The tired trope of having a murder take place in a situation where the suspects are trapped together has been overdone. This at least had the added paranormal element to it. Characterizations were done well. The story was in Karma's first-person pov, and she comes through as a noble, relatable character. Spider was so loathsome that I wanted to kill him, myself, while Pixie's teenage angsting and flouncing were annoyingly believable. The plot moved along at a good pace, and it was nigh impossible to determine who had killed Spider, since virtually everyone had good reason to want him dead. The only certainty the reader had was that Karma didn't do it.

( Here be bitching (and spoilers) )

Favorite lines:
♦ "Whoever heard of homing imps?"
♦ "What on earth are you thinking? Crab salad after a denouement? Were you raised by sloths? Everyone knows the proper luncheon to be served after such an event is quiche."

I'd have given this a solid four stars, but that ending just ruined it for me.

Keep Me Ghosted by Karen Cantwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Earlier this evening, I finished Keep Me Ghosted by Karen Cantwell. It's the first installment in the "Sophie Rhodes Ghostly Romance" series.

Ever since she was a girl, Sophie has been able to see ghosts. Currently, her bff is a proper and stuffy English gent named Marmaduke Dodsworth. In desperate need of a job, Sophie applies at the office of optometrist Dr Callahan. Little does she know, he's equally desperate for the help. It seems the good doctor also has a ghost, but his is a malicious, jealous entity who calls herself Moonflower. He hires Sophie on the spot, and she sets about setting his office to rights.

It doesn't take Sophie long to find out why Dr Callahan is losing patients (and patience!). Moonflower keeps scaring off any females that come in, and she tries her best to scare Sophie away, too. However, when a medium comes to the office, she offers her assistance. Sophie finds herself needing that assistance sooner than she'd thought, when Moonflower goes on a rampage that endangers Marmaduke's afterlife.

Complicating matters is the fact that Sophie can't help but be attracted to Dr Callahan, but she vows not to act on it. That is easier said than done when he's so handsome and nice and smells so wonderful. But, is Moonflower the only one standing in the way of true romance?

I really enjoyed this book. Sophie was an engaging heroine, Marmi was a hoot, Cal was a dream, and even Moonflower ended up being a "villain" you could sympathize with.

Favorite lines:
♦ My animals were my family and they were also the reason I remained poor most of the time.
♦ Half of me considered sneaking slowly and stealthily back into my car, and then tearing off frantically in search of a large supply of chocolate and a dark room to gorge myself. The other half of me thought that was a good idea as well.

Fun story, and will be looking for more in the series.

A Touch of Shabby: A Shabby Hearts Paranormal Cozy Mystery by M.L. Bullock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Last night I completed the ebook A Touch of Shabby by ML Bullock. It's the first installment in the "Shabby Hearts" paranormal mystery series, featuring Arcadia Shabeaux, who owns and operates the Shabby Hearts Trailer Park and Campground. Arcadia has taken over the family business from her Aunt Mavis, whose behavior has become increasingly odd after an accident and a head injury.

The park is in serious need of repairs and upkeep, but Arcadia is struggling to make ends meet. However, when someone claims to have seen Bigfoot in the area, business is suddenly booming. It would be a dream come true, but Arcadia now finds herself fending off local reporters, trying to talk down a group of good ol' boys who want to go hunting Bigfoot in the woods behind the trailer park, keeping Aunt Mavis out of trouble, soothing the fears of the tenant who saw Bigfoot, dodging her jerk of an ex-boyfriend, Armand, and stay away from her bitch of a cousin, Kitty. Fortunately for Arcadia, she has a good support system around her.

When a local goes missing and someone else is killed, everyone is in an uproar. Arcadia learns she's a top suspect in the murder, because she had argued with the victim. Since the sheriff has little love for the Shabeaux family, it's up to Arcadia to prove her innocence on her own. To do that, she enlists Mavis' help, as well as recruiting the handsome newcomer who has taken over his uncle's bait shop after the man disappeared.

Wonderful story! It was peopled with a cast of quirky characters, including Arcadia's cousin, Tiffany, and her colony of cats. The plot was interesting and moved along at a good pace. For an ebook, it was pleasantly devoid of editing errors. Narrative was first person pov, in Arcadia's voice, and I enjoyed her fresh and funny outlook.

Favorite line: I swear that girl could hear a bat fart while standing fifty feet underground.

Will definitely be looking for more of this series--four stars:

****