Danielle Garrett

This is a new paranormal mystery series. One night Blair is watching out her window and sees someone attacked by a vampire, and a bunch more. She freaks out and turns into a black cat. She never knew she could do this, and it has her in panic mode. In walks a cute guy from the SPA (supernatural protection agency) to whisk her off to a safe house. This safe house is actually a bread and breakfast for magic folk. And the mystery goes from there.

For me this book was not memorable. It was cute, and I was glad to have listened to it, but after a month, I will not remember much about it. It is very run of the mill. Plus, it is written in first person, which drives me crazy. The book was good, but I would not remember enough of it to continue the series.… (meer)

True to its genre, this book delivers what readers want: a fun cozy murder mystery that is solved by an accidental sleuth (who just happens to be a witch that owns a magical candle store named Cora), some dabbles of clean romance and a snarky cat named Selene who spends more time making life difficult for Cora than helping her. And yes, Selene will do cat things like dropping things on the floor on purpose when she feels spiteful.

Unlike most cozy sleuth stories, this series mixes a lot of Urban Fantasy elements. Magic is well-known among society and witches are allowed to live in the open without suffering from persecution. A few pixies appear in the story and it seems like vampires exist as well albeit we never meet any.

Much to the chagrin of a lot of readers (and I agree), while we do get a nice taste on how Cora creates candles with air magic and some of their ilusory effects, most of the world is surprisingly well... ordinary. While the book lands a few punches on the primitiveness of magical birth and marriage registry offices on purpose, internet delivery services and public transportation is not even remotely special. This book will lose extra points in this regard because 100% of the plot takes place in a touristy lake town somewhere in the USA that has a large magical being permanent population. You'd think magical public buses that can squeeze hundreds of rowdy drunk springbreakers or teleportation portals to visit tourist traps would have made a much warranted appearance.

Cops seem ridiculously incompetent in the story as well. The great AHA! moment to solve the crime could have been suspected by the cops ages ago if they had visited every medical clinic in town and the civil registry office.

Some reviewers don't like how utterly trusting Cora is towards a complete stranger, but I will personally give it a pass because some of the questionable events were caused by Selene's mischief and the fact Cora grew up in a small town with very little crime. She seems to be the type of person that doesn't lock the door of her car (funnily her aunt Lavender is the polar opposite and uses Fort Knox level defensive mechanisms to protect her house from looters).

The writing is easygoing, avoids swear words or large amounts of violence, so it is a good PG-13 read for middle grade kids. I find the mystery to be rather predictable and many readers will solve it quickly into the story, but the road getting to the conclusion is still quite fun. I did find the scenes where Cora's ex shows up completely uninvited to be cringe. Readers can skip those scenes if they want since they are essentially filler.

Despite being unable to be a major groundbreaking story that could have used a bit more worldbuilding, it delivers the cozy light reading fans of the genre are looking for.… (meer)

Though, i have found some timeline continuity mistakes, it is really not a big deal and the story was so enjoyable, that i added the author to my list and will continue to read the other books in the series. It is a urban fantasy cute and cozy mystery, just the right thing to read to take your mind off and indulge, get enveloped like a warm bath.... No seriously, i did really enjoy the story and the timeline error, it is not big at all, I am sure not everyone will notice.

I am looking forward to getting to know the characters.… (meer)