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Brownies and Broomsticks

Author: Bailey Cates

Main Character’s Name: Katie Lightfoot 

Main Character’s Job: Baker

Themes: Hedgewitch, Herbs, Dog, Cat, Paranormal, Occult, Spell Book Club, Recipes

Setting: Savanna, GA

Series: A Magical Bakery Mystery #1

First sentence: “This was a grand adventure, I told myself.”

Dates Read: May 29 to June 2, 2012
Rated: 4 Teacups

The second book I purchased during my Barnes and Noble shopping trip was “Brownies and Broomsticks” by Bailey Cates. I do like cozy’s with a paranormal bent and this one really delivered.

Here is a quick synopsis: After a huge breakup with her fiancé baker Katie Lightfoot moves to Savanna, GA to open Honeybee Bakery with her aunt and uncle. Before the bakery can open, however, there is a murder and her uncle is blamed. When the police are slow to act Katie decides that she has to find the murderer. In the end she discovers much more than a murderer.

The book was well written and the characters were warm and welcoming. Also, I like books that leave you with new ideas and new recipes, and this book did both. I made the Peanut Butter Swirl brownies recipe and they are quite tasty. I used a natural peanut butter. If you do that you might want to add a touch more powdered sugar to the peanut butter mix. Rodney found them to be a not very sweet. I liked them like that though.  I am looking forward to the next book in this series.

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A note about the cover: I thought that the cover for this book set just the right tone. It seemed a bit magical, there were baked goods and it even had Honeybee, the bakery’s name sake cat.

A note about the first line: Yes, yes it was. 

Who Do, VooDoo?

Author: Rochelle Staab

Main Character’s Name: Elizabeth “Liz” Cooper

Main Character’s Job: Psychologist

Themes: Voodoo, Tarot, Cat, Paranormal, Occult, Hoodoo, Séance

Setting: Los Angeles, CA

Series: A Mind For Murder Mystery #1

First sentence: “Wait until the third date to fool around?”

Dates Read: May 26 to May 29, 2012
Rated: 4 Teacups

In my last post I mentioned that I bought a couple of new books. The two books I picked up were “Who Do, VooDoo?” by Rochelle Staab and “Brownies and Broomsticks” by Bailey Cates. After some internal debate I decided to read “Who Do, VooDoo?” first. Apparently I needed a cozy-fix because I read it in two days and I would have read it faster if I hadn’t needed to work. (That darn work! Always interfering with my reading time!)

I thought the book was well written and will paced. I did not agree with her definition of hoodoo. It insinuated that hoodoo was always evil, but if you read the Wikipedia definition they do not say that. Of course this could just be for effect, but it came out as too black and white to me. On the other hand, I felt that voodoo is treated quite fairly. If you like a cozy with paranormal overtones I would recommend this book. It is also a good solid cozy. 

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A note about the cover: I think the cover art is a bit off. I don’t quite get why there is a black cat on the cover and no tarot cards. There are a couple of black kittens in the book in a couple of scenes, but they are not a major part of the story. However, a deck of tarot cards is a major part of the story. So... ummm... where are the cards? Here are what they sort of look like:

These cards are from the Langustl Tarot. 

See? They would look just fine on a cover. Mind you, the deck in the book is fictional, but I am sure a good artist could have whipped one up. 

A note about the first line: It really has nothing to do with the rest of the book. It does pull you into the first scene though. 

I have been bitten once again by the cozy bug!

After a long hiatus from reading cozy mysteries, I found myself walking the aisles at Barnes & Noble scanning the cozy shelves. Two books called to me and I had to take them home, even though I don’t normally buy books at Barnes & Noble. (Usually I scan books there and pick them up at an indie bookshop or get them from the library.)

They were both the first in a new series, so I knew I had not read either of them before. Because while I love a good cozy, the one thing I find with them is that I tend to forget which books I have read. I have found that Goodreads helps by you by keeping track of what you have read. You can also rate and review each book. If you are trying to remember what you have already read the site Cozy-Mysteries.Com is great for helping you find books by theme and author.

Still sometimes those two sites are not enough for me to really keep track of what I have read. So I am starting this blog to log each of my books and to keep track of characters and themes. I still highly recommend both of those sites and plan to use them constantly. I plan to log all of the cozy’s read and I have read in the past here. I am not 100% sure I will remember them all, but I will start with new reads and add to them as I go. `

Now on with the reviews!