Founder's Night: Supernatural Witch Cozy Mystery (Sabrina Donner Mystery Book 1) by Zoey Summers

3 out of 5 stars

Sabrina Donner owns the Badger House, a B&B named after her Labrador, located in the small town of Nescott Bay, Oregon. When a series of petty thefts rock the area, Sabrina doesn't worry much. Figuring it's just a bored teenager, she focuses on getting ready for her guests who will be arriving soon. Then she notices some things missing from the yard, a guest arrives and has jewelry taken from her room, and then Sabrina's purse is stolen and she is attacked. Now, not only is she having to solve the robberies, but she's also dealing with the discovery that she may be a witch!

I got this short story free from Kindle. I've had it on my tablet for quite a while and I decided to finally read it as I was looking for something that I could pore over quickly on my lunch hour. It was a cute, fun, and fast little read. I liked all the characters, especially Badger the dog, and the story was well written. My only complaint is that Sabrina could be a bit dense. When weird things start happening to her, like she could nod her head at her phone after talking to someone and it would hang up, or when she needed a pen and it wasn't within reach so she just thought about it being in her hand and then it was, she would write these off as nothing. If it was just one or two odd occurrences I could understand, but there were several and they happened too frequently to just be nothing to be concerned about. It isn't a big deal though. Just something that bothered me a little. Aside from that I enjoyed the story.

If you are looking for something to pass a little time without getting involved in a lengthy novel, I would recommend this Founder's Night.

Total pages: 50 on Kindle app

No longer available on Amazon.

Is currently available as a Nook Book through Barnes and Noble at the link below:

Founders Night by Zoey Summers

A Witch and the Whispering Woe by Raven Cross

2 out of 5 stars

When Bed & Breakfast owner Brianna Olney discovers an employee murdered outside of her establishment, she has to follow the clues to find the culprit, but finding the answers won't come so easily for her. With her magical cat by her side, Brianna uses her natural gifts to try to piece all the mysterious elements together, but soon finds herself in danger.

Are Brianna's natural gifts enough to help her solve the case or is there another, even more magical mystery brewing behind the scenes?
I got this book free from Kindle and I'm glad I did. I wouldn't have wanted to pay for it. The idea of a talking, magical cat will always appeal to me in a cozy mystery, but this story just felt thin and weak. There was no character development and the backstory was virtually non-existent. I couldn't get a grasp of the characters or their connection to each other. Everything was pretty non-descriptive so trying to get a visual was difficult. The mystery was somewhat sloppy and didn't pull me in. It is definitely a quick read if that's what you are looking for. Other than that I don't have much to say about it. The only reason I didn't rate it one star is because I didn't actually hate it and believe it could have been a great story if the author had given more time to developing the characters. Unfortunately she didn't and I probably won't remember I even read this book.

Total pages: 119 on Kindle app

Available on Amazon at the link below:

A Witch and the Whispering Woe

 

Karma's A Bitch (A Pet Psychic Mystery #1) by Shannon Esposito

4 out of 5 stars.

Karma is a Bitch is the first installment of the Pet Psychic series by Shannon Esposito. Darwin, the main character, moves to St. Pete, Florida and opens a Pet Boutique with her friend Sylvia. She’s trying to escape from the family gift and making an attempt to be normal. It’s alluded to that her family is full of psychics. Darwin herself is able to get visions from touching animals. She ends up befriending a homeless man, Mad Dog, who has a canine companion, Karma. When he ends up dead, Karma is alone and Darwin takes him in. She gets visions from him that shows her it is not a suicide like the police believe. She starts investigating on her own and finds out both the good and bad side of the homeless world.

I got this book free from Amazon Kindle and I have to say, I really liked it! The characters were well developed and the story was engaging. Darwin was very sweet and easily likable and I absolutely loved the dog, Karma. I was glad to see that the love interest side of the story with Will, the detective, flowed nicely and didn’t take away from the mystery part. That is something I have seen happen in other cozy mysteries. Although I do have a hard time really calling this a cozy. It is a bit on the darker side but not so dark that you could categorize it as a hard hitting mystery. I think the fact that the author used the homeless community for this story is why. She was able to show the way they become family to each other, while also giving you a glimpse into the darker side. It wasn’t as light as other books and while there is a fun tone to it, there is also a depressing one as well.

One thing I especially like though was the fact that when it came to the ending, it wasn’t one of those moments where the main character gets saved before anything happens to them. She didn’t walk away completely unscathed and it made it more believable. I was also not expecting the why. I had kind of figured out who the murderer was (I was not completely dead on, but close) but I had no idea really why they had done it so the ending came as a surprise to me.

There were a couple of issues I had which led me to not give it a full 5 stars. I was disappointed that she didn’t share her secret with anyone, especially Will, since it was looking like she was going to. I was also wishing the author would have given more of a back story on Darwin’s family and why she left.  The idea is that they are psychic, but doesn’t explain why that would be something for her to run from. Aside from that though I really enjoyed the story.

 

Available on Amazon at the link below:

Karma's A Bitch

 

The Latent Psychic: A Tarot Card Mystery #1 by Ashley Carrillo

3 out of 5 stars

Tasha Costerman finds a deck of Tarot cards on sale when her roommate Lauren and her visit their favorite book store. She thought it would be something to do on a Saturday night. But when they get them home and decide to try them out on a reading for Tasha, their normal, un-exciting lives change. Her cards reveal a death, a scandal and her own latent psychic abilities. An accidental death at work she "knows" is more than an accident. When the police say it's just an accident Tasha decides she needs to investigate to prove it was a murder and her main suspect is the handsome new forklift driver, Knox. But even Lauren thinks she's nuts, not psychic.

This was a short (about 99 pages), quick read. I got it free through Kindle. There were quite a few grammar errors and the story was very rushed, but overall it was actually enjoyable. I do think the author could have built up the mystery a little more and there were things that could have been omitted since they didn't really add to the story much. I would never have guessed the killer because I don't think he was even introduced until the reveal, but I could be wrong on that. There were quite a few characters whose names all started with the same letter so I could have missed it. If you can handle the bad grammar, it's not a bad book if you are looking for a quick read.

Here is a link to get yourself a copy from Amazon:
The Latent Psychic

Ghost of a Chance (Chintz 'n China, Book 1) by Yasmine Galenorn

1 out of 5 stars.

Emerald O'Brien, single mother of two, owns Chintz 'N China Tea Room, where guests are served a blend of tea and tarot reading. She never set out to be a detective but once word gets out that she can communicate with the dead, there's no turning back....

I really could not get into this book. I have liked Yasmine Galenorn's books in the past but this one just annoyed me to the point that I could not finish it. First off, the character development was just not there. I didn't feel any connection to any of them....even the main character, Emerald. Being first in the series, it was surprising that there was no "getting to know" the characters or real explanations as to who they were to Emerald. It was as if you just jumped into the middle of a book and you were supposed to guess how these people fit into her life. Even her children came off as one dimensional. The weirdest one for me though was....whatever his name was. The romantic story line between her and....him, never really built as much as it just suddenly happened. Not only that but he came off as really creepy and I could not figure out why she would date someone like him. They had no real connection and he seemed like a total jerk. As far as the sex scenes, those typically wouldn't bother me....IF there had been some chemistry between the two people. Unfortunately there wasn't.

I also agree with some of the other reviews I've read, that there were too many references towards food and tea. I understand she owns a tea shop, but do we have to read indepth details about all the tea she is selling, making, drinking, or owns? Also these people never seem to stop eating. I am surprised they had the time to even try to solve a mystery (what little of that there was) when they were so busy describing their food and stuffing their faces. It got to the point that just reading the book started making me either hungry or nauseated.

I didn't tap into any of the mystery part because I didn't feel there was any. Bottom line is it is basically a book about a woman who likes to eat, drink tea, call her friends babe and sleeps with a creepy guy all while being a single mom who sees dead people. Not sure I will even bother reading the next one in the series.

Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, No. 5) by Victoria Laurie

2 out of 5 stars.

Ghouls, Ghouls, Ghouls is the 5th installment of the Ghost Hunter Mystery series.

For the next episode in their reality show "Ghoul Getters", M.J. and her crew travel to Ireland to visit a haunted castle. The castle is on a secluded island and at times, it cannot be accessed. Once there, it may be awhile before you can leave.  M.J. has had plenty of experience with ghosts, but she is knocked off her feet by a powerful phantom, who is guarding some hidden gold. Some people who have encountered this phantom have died, and M.J. isn't willing to risk her life and would be more than happy to leave once they can actually get off the island, but there is a problem.....her producer, Peter "Gopher" Gophner has gone missing and MJ is afraid the Phantom has taken him. M.J. and her partner Heath have to stop the phantom and rescue Gopher before it's too late.

I was really not happy with the last book in this series so I was really hoping that this one would be better as I really like Victoria Laurie's books. Unfortunately this one is even worse than the last. I found myself having a really hard time even finishing it and had to force myself to get to the end. The whole "Scooby Doo" feel of it was disappointing. Gilley's whining was worse in this one...which I didn't think was possible. I do not care for the MJ/Heath romance either. I don't feel the connection between them. It seems to me the emotions leading to their "attraction" just kind of pops up as a second thought. Its not something that is woven throughout the entire book. There's no real build up. The only thing they seem to have in common is their gifts and Heath's grandfather. Unfortunately when it comes to Heath's psychic abilities, he is pretty much useless. There is nothing that he can do that MJ can't. I also don't understand why his grandfather is MJ's spirit guide. As for MJ, she has gotten to be so annoying for me that I can't stand her as a main character anymore. She once came off as a very independent and strong woman...now she is just an arrogant know it all. Her over use of the word spook grates on my nerves more and more. This book was so cartoonish it really should be in the childrens section (minus the really lame sex scene..if you can call it that). I think I may take a much needed break from this series and concentrate on some other books for awhile.

Ghouls Gone Wild (Ghost Hunter Mysteries, No. 4) by Victoria Laurie

2 out of 5 stars.

In this 4th book of the Ghost Hunter Mystery series, M.J. and her friends travel to a small town near Edinburgh, Scotland, to film their Ghost Hunting show, Ghoul Getters. While there, they find plenty of spooky action in a series of haunted caverns. But when they discover the body of a maintenance worker, the cause of death is reminiscent of an old legend involving a witch's wrath.

I usually like Victoria Laurie's books and was really looking forward to reading this one as I've enjoyed the others in this series so far. Unfortunately it turned out to be a major disappointment. It was pretty violent, which isn't typically a big deal for me, except her books are not usually like that so it came as a bit of a surprise. The dialogue at times was pretty juvenile. I started to get really tired of the word spooks. I also felt the characters really lacked in this book as well. Gilley's constant whining and melodramatics were a bit much. I found myself becoming more and more irritated with his character. His unrelenting terror of the paranormal continually makes you wonder why he even works for MJ in the first place. I liked Heath in her other book, but in this one I found him somewhat sleazy. I understand that Ms. Laurie is trying to incorporate some sort of love triangle, but MJ does in fact have a boyfriend and it seemed to me that Heath didn't respect that. It was a turn off. I even found myself disliking MJ herself. She went from a very strong female persona to kind of a mega b***h. She was snapping and lashing out at people throughout the entire book. She came off as selfish and arrogant. Everything had to focus on her. Even Heath's grandfathers spirit talked to her instead of his own grandson! That really didn't make a lot of sense to me. I also didn't care for the fact that her relationship with Steven was so non-existent in this book. I found that kind of odd. I think they spoke on the phone once the entire time she was in Scotland. If you are going to create a love triangle, it helps to include all people so you can actually get a feel for the character being torn in two. Once she landed in Scotland, she seemed to forget all about her boyfriend and since Steven was not there to give her direct attention, MJ immediately looked to Heath for that. It made her seem fickle. I had a hard time even finishing this book which is surprising because I usually can't get enough of Victoria's books. I'm hoping the next will be better and the characters will be a little more believable and little less self indulged.