chez_jae

Five Furry Familiars by Lynn Cahoon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Stayed up a shade later than I should have last night, but it enabled me to finish reading Five Furry Familiars by Lynn Cahoon. It's the fifth book in her "Kitchen Witch" series of paranormal cozies, starring caterer Mia Malone.

Mia has turned over the day-to-day running of her business, Mia's Morsels, to Abigail--her boyfriend's mother. In the meantime, Mia is working as an in-house caterer for the local ski lodge. She's not fond of either the job or her odious boss, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Things are running fairly smoothly until a blast from the past shows up in the form of an ex-boyfriend of Mia's assistant, Christina. Todd proposes to Christina out of the blue, and while she turns him down, she does agree to have dinner with him to appease their families. Christina calls Mia in a panic, because Todd has been killed in his rental house and now she's a suspect. Mia is dismayed to learn the police are focusing on both Christina and her current boyfriend, Levi, as persons of interest. She takes it upon herself to dig into Todd's life in an effort to point the police to a different suspect or two. Compounding the chaos, someone has dropped off a box of kittens at Mia's doorstep, and her boyfriend, Trent, has been gifted his own, highly magical familiar. Life at Mia's Morsels is never boring.

To begin with, why does the "blurb" that summarizes this book on Goodreads indicate it's a woman who's found murdered in Todd's rental? Hmm. Lots going on, which seems to be par for the course with this series. It's a wonder poor Mia didn't meet herself coming and going. Fortunately, she has a strong support system around her, including Trent, Abigail, and Mia's grandmother. The story line was engrossing and kept my interest, and characterizations were top-notch. I was able to figure out the perpetrator, which is always a delight. I like it when authors toss out some subtle clues that get me thinking. Biggest irritant was how overbearing Christina's mother was. We know she's like that, as Mia was once engaged to Christina's brother, but she got out while the gettin' was good.

Favorite lines:
♦ "You have to realize we got our information from a cat."
♦ "Either it's going well, or they're at a bar somewhere drinking."
♦ "I love the beginning of winter, but sometimes, it just goes on too long."
♦ She didn't see the point of having these silly games at a shower.
♦ "Communication, it's not just for breakfast."

Very good, five stars.

Three Tainted Teas by Lynn Cahoon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



Have just finished reading Three Tainted Teas by Lynn Cahoon. It's the third part of her "Kitchen Witch" mystery series, featuring caterer and witch, Mia Malone.

Things are looking up for Mia. Her catering business, Mia's Morsels, is doing well, as is her relationship with Trent Majors. When she is called upon to take over for a fired wedding planner, Mia accepts the challenge, hoping it will allow her to expand her catering business. Coming into the situation so late is daunting, and not helping matters is the fact that the families of the bride and groom have been in a long-standing feud. Things go from tense to worse when Mia comes across the original wedding planner, murdered in the lodge where the ceremony is to take place. It seems obvious that someone doesn't want this wedding to happen, and now Mia may be in danger as well. Fortunately, she has help in the form of Trent, his brother Levi, and Mia's grandmother--a powerful witch. Mia just has to navigate a minefield of an obstacle course and make sure this wedding goes off without a hitch.

Interesting and fast-paced. I got quite absorbed in the book this afternoon and had a hard time setting it aside to do other things. Mia is a wonderful character. It was nice to read about her doing her job instead of focusing on the investigation. Other characters were portrayed well, too, including those whom we met for the first time in this story. Plot and pacing were excellent, and the ending set up the next book in the series nicely.

Favorite line: "Shouldn't you be able to love who you love without worrying about what your family thinks?"

Delightful, exciting story. Five stars.

One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I just finished reading One Poison Pie by Lynn Cahoon. It's the first book in the "Kitchen Witch" mystery series. Story is in 3rd person pov, with Mia Malone as the main character. Mia is a caterer (as well as a kitchen witch) looking for a fresh start.

After a nasty break-up with her boyfriend, Isaac, Mia moves to the same small town in Idaho where her grandmother lives. In Magic Springs, real magic, witches, and covens are an open secret. Mia isn't looking to join a coven; she simply wants to convert the old school house she bought into a base for her new catering business. Her first client is her Gran's best friend, Adele, who also happens to be the town harridan. When Adele is found stabbed to death, Mia finds herself on the short list of suspects. Not helping is that Adele's nephew, William, publicly accuses Mia of murdering Adele and threatens her with legal action. In the meantime, the real estate developer who lost out on the schoolhouse is pressuring her to sell, Isaac's younger sister, Christina, has moved in with Mia to train as a sous chef, and Isaac himself shows up with his own brand of drama. Fortunately for Mia, she has a new, strong support system to rely on, including her grandmother, James (a local chef), Trent (who owns the grocery store), and Levi (Trent's younger brother). Mia will need all the help she can get to clear her name and avoid ending up a victim herself.

Well now. I enjoyed this story, but I felt like I was reading the second book in a series, not the first. Also, three villains?! Each one of those plots could have been its own book, but the author chose to include them all in one. It teetered on the edge of confusing. As far as editing is concerned, in two places, there was the tiniest shift to first-person pov. A competent editor should have caught and corrected that. Finally, I was not satisfied with the resolution. It came out of left field, and the motive for Adele's murder was so absurd that it boggled me. I may have even harumphed. You know what else annoyed me? The title of the book is "One Poison Pie", but poison had nothing to do with anything. Most vexing.

Favorite lines:
♦ Her first big gig and she would have to count on a teenage Goth sous chef and an I'd-rather-be-fishing grill master.
♦ "Got to save the world from another undercooked salmon."
♦ Her hormones must be flying for her to be in lust at ten in the morning.
♦ "I'm pretty sure he thinks I killed Adele, and probably shot JFK too, even though I wasn't even born at the time."
♦ Oh yes, she felt the attraction, the deep, gut-searing need to take this man to her bed and do bad things with him. And then try them all over again.
♦ Trent gently tossed the wallet into the console next to her, shrugging. "I don't like driving with it stuffed in my pants." He shrugged and put the keys in the ignition. // "There are so many responses to that statement that I can't choose one," Mia smiled.

In spite of my misgivings, this really was a fun story. Characters were portrayed well, the plot flowed without meandering, the narrative featured Mia engaged in the business of living, rather than focusing on any amateur investigation, and I liked the pace of the new, slow burn romance she seems to be kindling with Trent. Four stars!

Since this is the first in a series, I still want to put it to the ( Trope Test )

That's seven 'yes' answers, but I'm not going to change my score.