Vision Impossible (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 9) by Victoria Laurie

 

Vision Impossible is a play on words, we're supposed to think of Mission Impossible... and the analogy is apt, in this case.

Here is the blurb:

Abby Cooper's next mission may truly be impossible...

Abby Cooper, the FBI's newest Civilian Profiler, is adding Spy to her resume. The military's digital photography software that captures one's aura- just like Abby can - sits in a drone aircraft that's been stolen. It's a major breach in security as every country's leader can be identified by their aura...

Abby springs into action to stop the criminals before they set their diabolical plan into motion, while making herself a prime target.

The plot was pretty good, though there were several things that were terribly implausible. Not saying the psychic stuff wasn't believable, I'm good with that... it was the procedures and CIA conversations and the way a few people reacted that just didn't ring true to me.

The continuing plot arcs were mostly okay, Abby and Dutch are still doing good together, their relationship still strong. Though honestly there was so much action in Vision Impossible that there wasn't much time for them to interact very much. Still, there were a few things that would have had less secure couples fighting, and both Abby and Dutch handled them like grown ups. That's a good thing.

The voice this time seemed a bit off to me. Nothing I can put my finger on, it's just that at times I was paying attention to the writing more than the story. In a few pieces it was repeated words, or the same exact sentence structure over and over and the cadence pulled me out. Once or twice it was the use of adverbs or adjectives in an odd way, something that made me stop and look at the writing instead of being immersed in the story.

As for the writing elements:

• The plot was good with lots of twists and turns. I figured out one of the bad guys fairly early on, but then another plot twist came up out of nowhere and surprised me.
• Pacing had some issues. Too much action in places and then too much talking and debating in places.
• Prose and dialogue could have used some help. Not terrible, but as I said, the writing pulled me out of the story more than just a few times.
• Character development was fairly consistent for Abby and Dutch, and was acceptable for the new people we meet. Not great, but not terrible.

This series was raised to an 8 of 10 from a 7 of 10 at some point, and I'm going to keep it at an 8 of 10. I'll give Vision Impossible an 8 of 10 as well. It's an enjoyable story with a nice series of plots that keep you guessing right up to the reveal.

• Book Rating: Vision Impossible: 8 of 10
• Series Rating: 8 of 10

1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
2. Better Read Than Dead
3. A Vision of Murder
4. Killer Insight
5. Crime Seen
6. Death Perception
7. Doom with a View (Sept 2009)
8. A Glimpse of Evil (July 2010)
9. Vision Impossible 

Home for a Spell (A Bewitching Mystery #7) by Madelyn Alt

 

Home for a Spell is the seventh book in the Bewitching Mystery series. I've enjoyed the books in this series, even though I haven't rated them especially high. There is a good voice, decent description of magick (the way it is spelled when it's "real" and not sleight of hand), interesting characters, and interesting town.

I had hoped that A Witch in Time was a transition book, and that Home for a Spell would pick back up with some of the ongoing story arcs.  Instead, I believe we saw two books that took a bit of a break with the story arcs. We saw a hint that the next book will pick back up with the metaphysics, since we'll be back into October.

However, even with very little magick/metaphysics in this book, it was still a pretty good book. The plot was a good one, and the relationship "stuff" in this book is good.  

Here's the blurb:

As the newest witch in Indiana, Maggie O'Neill already has plenty to deal with. So being hobbled by a broken leg doesn't help. Neither does the fact that her best friend and upstairs neighbor is getting ready to tie the knot with her own boyfriend and move away. This leads Maggie to wonder if it isn't time to find herself a new pad.

But when she finds a place, Maggie's dream of new digs turns into a nightmare: the apartment manager is found dead before she can even sign the lease. And Maggie finds herself not only searching for a new home- but for a frightfully clever killer.

As for the writing elements: the plot was good and I didn't know who the killer was until the reveal, pacing was fine, prose and dialogue flowed nicely, and character development continues to be well done.

I'm going to give Home for a Spell an 8 of 10, but I'll be leaving the series rating at a 6 of 10.

• Book Rating: Home for a Spell: 8 of 10
• Series Rating: Bewitching Mysteries: 6 of 10

1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch
6. A Witch in Time
7. Home for a Spell
.

A Glimpse of Evil (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 8) by Victoria Laurie

 

I have had issues with the Psychic Eye Mysteries in the past, enough that I almost dropped the series. The previous book in the series, Doom with a View, was pretty good and gave me hope.  A Glimpse of Evil once again did not disappoint. Once Victoria Laurie stepped out of the formula that wasn't working, it seems to have given the series new life. That's a good thing.

Abby and Dutch are moving to Texas, and Abby will be working for the FBI now.  It was a bit painful to watch Abby walk into a room full of FBI agents assigned to work cold cases, and who are all majorly skeptical about the psychic they've heard will be joining their department. But Abby handled it okay, and she had two people batting on her side. (Which, BTW, brings me to a major sticking point with me -- how believable is it that someone can move from Michigan to Texas and have her entire social circle move with her? Right, not very likely. But we have Candace and Agent Harrison and the handyman and even Milo joining them in their new city. It was a huge stretch for me.)

Back to the main part of the discussion: Abby has Dutch and Agent Harrison on her side, but a whole lot of other agents who are a bit hostile at first. Until she starts to work on the cold case files and shows she's the real deal, but that's pretty predictable, right?

The majority of the story involves a rocky relationship between Candace and Brice (Agent Harrison), Abby trying to deal with working for the FBI in a corporate environment. (No candles, all florescent lights, official paperwork, lots of rules, boxes and boxes containing oodles of files, etc.). We don't really get into the crime part of the plot until we're a decent ways into the book, but I guessed the culprit soon after realizing which of the crimes the plot was going to center on. So, I guess that annoyed me, too. I mean, Abby's telling the story, which means we have the same information she has, so should we really be able to figure it out so much sooner than she does?

Here's the blurb:

Professional psychic Abigail Cooper has received a cold welcome from some prickly investigators at the FBI. But that won't stop her from following her intuition...even if it brings her eye to eye with acts of true evil.

SOME COLD CASES ARE BETTER LEFT COLD...

As the FBI's newest civilian profiler, Abby Cooper has a tough job ahead of her. Not only does she have to use her powers of intuition to help solve a backlog of the bureau's cold cases, but she must also win over a frosty group of seasoned investigators and teach them how to develop their own perceptive abilities.

If that weren't challenging enough, Abby's sure that several of the cold cases are connected, but she's the only one who's convinced. Things go from bad to worse when Abby and another agent are suspended for not following protocol, leaving Abby and her old partner, Candice, to investigate on their own. To discover how these pieces fit together, Abby will have to call on every intuitive bone in her body...before she's the one put on ice. 

As for my usual rundown: there were multiple story lines, some of which were better than others, but the main plot was too obviously solved (in my head, not in the book) too early on. Pacing was well done, not really any slow points, which is good. Prose and dialogue were good. Character development is fairly well done.

In other words, the various elements don't win any awards, but the story, the entertainment value part of it, was higher than the individual elements would lead one to believe.

I'm going to give A Glimpse of Evil an 8 of 10, and I will raise the series from a 7 of 10 to an 8 of 10. The end of the book gives us a good idea of what the next book, Eye Spy, will be about, and we even get a preview of it. I'm looking forward to reading Eye Spy, when it comes out.

Book Rating: A Glimpse of Evil: 8 of 10
Series Rating: Psychic Eye Mysteries: 8 of 10





1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
2. Better Read Than Dead
3. A Vision of Murder
4. Killer Insight
5. Crime Seen
6. Death Perception<>
7. Doom with a View (Sept 2009)
8. A Glimpse of Evil (July 2010)
9  Eye Spy (2011)

A Witch In Time (Bewitching Mystery #6) by Madelyn Alt

 

I feel torn about giving this review, because it's not going to be a great review, and I really want to like this series. The Bewitching Mystery series has a lot going for it, but so far there is something that falls short. I'm not 100% sure I can define what doesn't work, but I'm going to try.

I've rated all of the books in this series a 6 of 10, with one exception, and that was a 7 of 10. And yet I continue to read new books as they come out. I like the characters, I like the basic premise of the series, and I enjoy the author's voice. There is some entertainment value, but the Bewitching Mysteries book are not what I'd call really good books.

Unfortunately, I think that A Witch in Time may be the weakest yet as far as plot goes, though there are a lot of good things that happen as far as series arcs go.

I originally thought I would give A Witch in Time a 5 of 10, but then I realize that Maggie is growing, and is accepting more and more of herself. I believe (or hope) that this book is a transition book in the series. There are conversations with Marcus that get put off for other, more pressing concerns. When Maggie and Marcus get around to having those conversations, Maggie is going to have to confront exactly what is happening with her powers, and she is going to have to 1) come to terms with them and 2) learn the best way to handle them.

I'm just going to assume I'm right about this being a transition book, the stage where Maggie gets new abilities but hasn't figured that out yet, and the next book will be about her dealing with them. With that assumption I can give the book a 6 instead of a 5.

Book Rating: A Witch in Time: 6 of 10
Series Rating: Bewitching Mysteries: 6 of 10




1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch
6. A Witch in Time

Doom with a View (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 7) by Victoria Laurie

The seventh book in the Psychic Eye series is one of the best books of the series. The pacing is well done, the plot is a good one, and the characters all act like the adults they are. A very refreshing change from some of the previous books in this series.

As Doom with a View starts out, Dutch has desk duty until Internal Affairs sorts through the events of the previous book. Abby is called in to help on a case, and she's pretty much on her own without Dutch's help, since he can't get involved until IA is done with him.

Abby does manage to keep Candace with her, and these two make a great team: A purely logical PI, and an intuitive who is good at figuring out what her intuition is telling her. The bad guys don't stand a chance.

The main protagonist in most of Doom with a View is Dutch's new boss. The man detests psychics, and all they represent. He tries to get Abby taken off the case, repeatedly. He's pretty nasty to her through most of the book, too. Abby does a good job of rising above it, but Candace does not, as Candace wants to defend her friend.

Speaking of protagonists, I figured out the bad guy long before he was revealed. Somewhere around half way through the book, actually. So I was a bit frustrated that Abby and Candace and the FBI weren't seeing it, but not so frustrated that it spoiled the book for me.

Here's the blurb:

Business has been frustratingly slow for Abby. She reluctantly agrees to a job with the FBI, putting her at the center of an internal political struggle between two agents. Abby's skills and patience are tested, but when she helps them locate three college students who've mysteriously disappeared, they know she's the real deal.

Her intuition says these weren't random abductions. With her psychic eye wide open she sets out to find a kidnapper...

Doom with a View easily gets a 9 of 10. In the past I've given the series a 7 of 10, and I think I have to leave the series rating as is. Some of the previous books have had some pretty serious problems, and one good book doesn't change that.

Book Rating: 9 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10

I really enjoyed Doom with a View. I even enjoyed the way it ended this time, and I look forward to the next book, A Glimpse of Evil.





1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
2. Better Read Than Dead
3. A Vision of Murder
4. Killer Insight
5. Crime Seen
6. Death Perception<>
7. Doom with a View (Sept 2009)
8. A Glimpse of Evil (July 2010)

Where There's a Witch (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 5) by Madelyn Alt

Where There's a Witch is book five of the Bewitching Mysteries series.

After book four, I thought I was done with this series, but I saw it used for a couple of dollars, so I decided to pick it up.

Once again, I knew who the killer was long before Maggie did, and yet she and I had the same information. I won't go so far as to say TSTL, but the annoyance factor is there.

The love triangle thing was (again) frustrating. Until the end of the book, and then there was (gasp) promise that things may be changing in the next book. Promising enough for me to buy the next book on release day? Nope, not that promising. But, promising enough for me to track the next book and then read some reviews and see if I want to buy it.

The books could be good, but they just don't quite do it for me. Maggie needs to learn more about herself, she needs to stop being clueless about life in general, and she needs to... I don't know.. stop floating through life and take the bull by the horns, I guess. The dialogue is good, there is comic relief placed appropriately, and there is some thought given to pacing (it's not great, but not terrible, either). But the love triangle is very badly done, and the plots are way too transparent. And the magical theory stuff, the metaphysics, is dragging, too. There was promise in the beginning of the series, I saw the whole "when the student is ready the teachers will appear" thing happening.. but the teachers aren't teaching. And Maggie isn't learning.

I'm giving Where There's a Witch a 6 of 10, and I'm leaving the series at a 6 of 10.

Book Rating: 6 of 10
Series Rating: 6 of 10





1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch (July 7, 2009)

No Rest for the Wiccan (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 4) by Madelyn Alt

No Rest for the Wiccan is book four of the Bewitching Mysteries series. This book was a little better than the first three, but not by much.

The characters aren't fully dimensional to me, and Maggie doesn't seem to really be growing. Sure, she's learned a few things, but actual growth? Not so much.

The love triangle thing isn't going anywhere either, and by now Maggie really should have come to a few conclusions that just seem to be beyond her. She's 30 here, not 16... can she not figure things out on her own?


Here's the blurb:

Maggie O’Neill loves her job at Enchantments as much as she loves being Indiana’s newest witch. But when her family needs her, she's still willing to lend a hand—even if she has to reach beyond the grave…

It's a long, hot summer in Stony Mill, and Maggie is busy watching TV reruns, minding the store, and figuring out her love life. Then she reluctantly volunteers to care for her bedridden, oh-so-perfect sister, Mel, and her beautiful nieces. But Mel isn't the only focus of Maggie's attention. There are some strange spirits hanging about the area—and it looks like a job for Maggie and the N.I.G.H.T.S. ghost hunting team.

And even as she tries to deal with the long-dead, Maggie must cope with the recently-deceased. A friend of Mel's loses her husband to a dreadful fall, and the police are calling it accidental death. Maggie's not so sure, and sets her second sights on finding a first-degree murderer…

I knew who the killer was almost as soon as we knew about the death. And didn't I have all of the same information Maggie had?

As for future books... I'd kind of like to know where the love triangle goes, but not really bad enough to read the next book. I'll probably look for some reviews of the next book, but at this point I'm not planning to read the next book.

The first three books were a 6 of 10 for me. I'm giving No Rest for the Wiccan a 7 of 10, but I'm leaving the series at a 6 of 10.

Book Rating: 7 of 10
Series Rating: 6 of 10





1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch (July 7, 2009)

Hex Marks the Spot (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 3) by Madelyn Alt

Hex Marks the Spot is book three of the Bewitching Mysteries series. As were the first two books in the series, this one is also your basic paranormal chik-lit book. There is (again) a mystery to solve while a 30-ish woman is beginning to learn about the world of energy and spirits and a bit of wicca. The author tried to insert some romance in this book, but it fell kind of flat for me.

Here's the blurb:

Maggie O'Neill loves her job at Enchantments, Indiana's finest mystical antique shop. But something dark is brewing in Stony Mill -- and it's not just the fabulous coffee Maggie serves to browsing customers. Looking for charming stock for the store, Maggie accompanies her boss--and favorite witch--Felicity Dow to the countywide craft bazaar. Felicity falls hard for a beautiful armoire, intricately carved by an Amish craftsman. Maggie can't help noticing that though his clothes may be plain, he himself is more handsome than a man sporting a jawline-only beard has any right to be. And he seems pretty aware that the ladies love his . . . furniture. But when the hunky craftsman turns up dead, with a strange hex symbol etched near his corpse, Maggie can't help but wonder if the craft involved might be the witchy kind. Because Maggie knows that the dead man could well have been oversexed . . . but she worries that he was also overhexed.

I'll be reading book four next, and I'm really hoping to see something better in the next book. If not, I won't be buying any more of this series.

The first three books have been a 6 of 10 for me, and that's what I'm giving the series as well.

Book Rating: 6 of 10
Series Rating: 6 of 10





1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch (July 7, 2009)

A Charmed Death (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 2) by Madelyn Alt

A Charmed Death book two of the Bewitching Mysteries series, is once again your basic paranormal chik-lit book. As with the first book, there is a mystery to solve while a 30-ish woman is beginning to learn about the world of energy and spirits and a bit of wicca.

We still have the friend upstairs, and the controlling mother. Maggie's new friends play a bigger part in this book, and I'm happy to see it.

Here's the blurb:

Maggie O'Neill was just your average small-town girl, stuck in a dead-end job until she started working at Enchantments, Stony Mill's finest antique shop with a unique mystical secret. Now Maggie is Indiana's newest witch. Learning to cope with her newfound powers is tough enough, but add to that keeping the stock at Enchantments organized, keeping the peace with her somewhat controlling mom, and remembering to tape reruns of her favorite show, Magnum, P.I., and Maggie's got a full plate.

But when a second questionable death occurs a scant two months into her store tenure, she can't turn her thoughts away from all the town gossip about the teenage princess and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the girl's charmed life and death. While the police get caught up in procedure and logic, Maggie uses every trick, charm, and intuition she can summon, with the assistance of her favorite witchy boss Felicity Dow, to get to the heart of this spellbinding murder.

A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. In this case? Get witchy!

I'm not really sure what's going on with Tom and Marcus. My choice would be Marcus, but Maggie thinks he's spoken for. I don't really think I like Tom that much, but we don't really know him that well yet, so perhaps there is more to him than I think.

I am hoping to see Maggie grow, the reviews of later books talk about that, and since I'm tired of the series out there where the main protagonist does not grow (like Stephanie Plum) I'm really hoping this series gives me what I'm looking for: someone who learns and grows and doesn't just stagnate as she is.

But so far, the first two books have been a 6 of 10 for me, and that's what I'm giving the series after two books, also.

Book Rating: 6 of 10
Series Rating: 6 of 10





1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch (July 7, 2009)

The Trouble With Magic (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 1) by Madelyn Alt

The Trouble With Magic is your basic paranormal chik-lit book. This one has a mystery to solve while a 30-ish woman is beginning to learn about the world of energy and spirits and a bit of wicca. There is some fashion, though thankfully it's friends and siblings wearing it and not the main character. There is a best friend who lives upstairs. There is a controlling mother.

It was hard for me to get into. I kept putting it down and doing something else, then picking it back up. The last quarter of the book was better, and I've read the reviews of the later books, so I'll be giving the second book a try.

Here's the blurb:

Bringing a little culture to Stony Mill, Indiana, Enchantments is one of the area's finest antique shops. But shop clerk Maggie O'Neill and her employer Felicity Dow do more than conjure up curios for the locals--the each possess a talent for spellbinding sleuthing.

Bored with her office job (and subsequently fired for excessive tardiness), Maggie jumps at the opportunity to work at Enchantments. She was a little weirded out when Felicity described herself as a witch, but if her boss wants to play with broomsticks and cauldrons, where's the harm? However, Maggie's first day on the job may turn out to be her last when police question Felicity in the murder of her estranged sister. With everyone in town proclaiming Felicity's guilt faster than the Salem Witch Trials, Maggie finds herself wondering if she'll also be tied to the stake. And lately, she's been receiving messages on a spiritual frequency guiding her to prove Felicity's innocence--and to embrace her own "charmed" life .

I can see the possibilities for a bit of a triangle in future books. I can also see that it might be interesting to watch Maggie learn about the spiritual world around her. The reviews for future books talk about Maggie's growth, and that's one of the things that makes me really like a series - watching a character grow and learn and change. So, while I didn't love this book, I think it's got promise that the series might be better than the first book.

I'm giving The Trouble With Magic a 6 of 10.

Book Rating: 6 of 10





1. The Trouble with Magic
2. A Charmed Death
3. Hex Marks the Spot
4. No Rest for the Wiccan
5. Where There's a Witch (July 7, 2009)

The Demon King and I by Candace Havens

I first discovered Candace Havens when I read the Bronwyn the Witch books. It appears she might be done with Bronwyn though, as there is no mention of new Bronwyn books at the author's website.

I decided to check out her new series, the first book being The Demon King and I.

This series revolves around four sisters who are the guardians of earth. They guard us from demons, dragons, some sort of sea creatures, and fairies. Each guardian being responsible for a different type of monster. The various beings/monsters live on their own planets, and (with the exception of the various king's who can behave themselves) they aren't supposed to come to earth. When they do, the guardians kill them.

Gillian Caruthers is responsible for killing the demons who come to earth. And she is quite good at it.

This is a pretty light hearted and fun story. Definitely chik-lit and not urban fantasy. It could have gone into paranorman romance, but chik-lit really defines it so much better. Just as it could technically be classified as Urban Fantasy (demons, dragons, fairies, etc. living in a world where humans don't realize they exist in quite the manner that they actually do), but this one deals too much with fashion and designers and shoes to be Urban Fantasy.

I will say that the girls are not shallow about the fashion stuff. They know it's not important, but since they are (sort of) celebrities, and they need to be able to hob nob with the rich and famous. Since world jumpers often end up in those social circles, fashion is just part of the job.

Here is the blurb from the author's site:

The Caruthers sisters are heiresses with privilege, wealth, beauty, and brains. But these party girls have something extra. As the Guardian Keys, possessors of an ancient family secret, they hold the fate of the world in their hands. Gillian, the eldest, is a sensation in the art world— this world, that is. In her other world she’s the Assassin, a knockout who snuffs out dimension-jumpers who foul up her personal space. She never expected to join forces with one. But when a plague of murderous demons plunges the earth in darkness, she has no choice but to get a little help from a being who knows his stuff.

It's a lighthearted fun story, even if it does deal with demons. I'll give The Demon King and I a 7 out of 10, but I can't exactly give the series a rating after reading just one book.

Book Rating: 7 out of 10


We've now met all four sisters. The next book will apparently be narrated by another sister. I have to wonder if the series is planned at the four sisters, or whether the brother (not a guardian) will have a book as well. And there is a mom and an "aunt" also, who it seems could have their own book, too.




1. The Demon King and I
2. Dragons Prefer Blondes (July 7, 2009)

Like a Charm (Bronwyn Universe) by Candace Havens

We've seen three books with Bronwyn the Witch as the main character. Bronwyn has a good friend Kira, who happens to be the librarian in Sweet Texas.

This is Kira's book, where we hear how she came to live in Sweet, and we get to see her come to terms with her own abilities as they begin to manifest. We saw Bronwyn helping her a little in the Bronwyn books, but now we see it from Kira's point of view. Unfortunately, Kira's point of view doesn't really fit with Bronwyn's point of view. I mean, the timing of when she met Caleb and when she started seeing ghosts doesn't seem to fit in with other stories. There were a few other things as well, where the timing didn't seem to be the same. It pulled me out of the story, which is never a good thing.

Here is the blurb from the author's website:

Kira Smythe never thought she'd end up back in her hometown of Sweet, Texas. But now that her high-powered job, along with her five-year plan, have gone right out the window, she's back where she started, staying with her hippie, tofu-obsessed parents-except that somehow she's inherited the local library. At least there's a gorgeous guy in town who seems quite smitten with her. So what if he's got a few secrets up his sleeve? After all, Kira's got her own secrets. Like the dead people who won't stop talking to her. Or the magical books on the shelves. Or the fact that someone who's very much alive seems determined to push her over to the other side.

This book puts us firmly back into the realm of Paranormal Chik Lit. Light, not much substance, girls-just-want-to-have-fun, reading.

Still an enjoyable read, but I didn't love it. I liked it, but I don't think I'm interested in any more Kira books. I would buy another Bronwyn book in a heartbeat, though.

Book Rating: 7 of 10



1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 3) by Candace Havens

The third Bronwyn book is good, but not quite on par with the first two. Of course, the first two books were a 10 of 10, so not being as good doesn't mean it wasn't good. It was still good.

Charmed and Deadly is not quiet as lighthearted as the previous two books in this series. To say what the heavier stuff is would be a spoiler, but trust me, this book takes us places I hadn't expected it to. That's not necessarily bad, it just wasn't expected.

I find myself not being able to talk much about this book without giving away spoilers. I think the author felt the same way, as this is the official blurb for the book:

Bronwyn is back...but so is her evil ex-boyfriend. From the author of Charmed & Ready and Charmed & Dangerous.

Bronwyn is used to making enemies - when you dedicate your life to ridding the world of evil magic dudes and dudettes, it can happen. So when she first realizes that an attempted hit on the Prime Minister was really for her, it's just "same spell, different day." But then something about this hex reminds Bronwyn an awful lot of an ex - Jason Gladstone, who was her college sweetheart until he tied her up and tried to drain her of her powers. Talk about a date from hell.

We've heard that there is a warlock ex that made her decide to never date warlocks again, but we never got the whole story. Now we have it. It's no wonder she wanted to kick Sam to the curb once she realized he was a warlock back in the first book.

The book actually has more plots than just this one though, and Bronwyn ends up doing a good bit of traveling around the world. And, the trust thing she worked on with Sam in the previous book gets stretched even farther in this book.

I can't see that the author has said whether there will be more Bronwyn books or not. She's put out one book in the Bronwyn universe since this book, but it features Bronwyn's friend Kira as the main character and Bronwyn as a secondary character. I hope to see more Bronwyn books from her in the future, but with more than two years since the last one, and two other books published, I'm left wondering if this might be all we get of Bronwyn.


Book Rating: 8 of 10



1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 2) by Candace Havens

This is the second Bronwyn book, and I'll again point out that 1) this is Chik Lit with substance and 2) it's written in diary form and that form works great to get this particular story across.

This book starts up not too long after the other one ended, and you really need to read the first book before you read this one. You can read my review of the other books in this series by clicking on the "Bronwyn the Witch" tag at the top of this blog entry. (And you really should read the review of the first book in the series to get an idea of who Bronwyn is.)

And Bronwyn is definitely back, and funny and serious as ever. It might sound like a contradiction, but it works well in this book.

The characters we got to know in the first book are also back. Plus, in this book we meet Zane, a rock star who doesn't take himself too seriously. He's got bad guys trying to kill him so Bronwyn is being payed to follow him around and keep him alive. Not a horrid job to have, with the lifestyle that Zane leads.

This of course leaves Sam at home while his girlfriend is off running around with a rockstar. And having paparazzi taking pictures of Zane and Bronwyn together and speculating on Zane's new lady doesn't make Sam feel any better. It's fair to say that Bronwyn and Same have to work on trust issues in this book.

The book again has a nice mixture of laughs and serious stuff and kick-as stuff and romantic stuff and every day stuff and this again makes it a very enjoyable read.

Book Rating: 10 of 10





1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 1) by Candace Havens

I should start this by saying that his book is paranormal chick lit. It's a fun and easy read with likable characters. It makes you smile, it makes you laugh. It's easy to get into, and there are no parts that make you want to put it down and do something else for a while.

Sometimes you want dark and serious. Sometimes you want lighthearted and easy. Both have their place on my bookshelf. That's not to say that there is no plot, or that the main character's life isn't in danger, or that she doesn't kick some serious ass when necessary. Because there is depth, there is good plot, and the weaving of the supernatural elements works well in the story.

So, it's not just a fluffy read, there is substance amongst the lighter stuff. But it's still chik lit.

And I have no idea of what genre to put this one into. It's not really urban fantasy, though it's got some elements of it. It's not exactly a paranormal romance, though again there are some elements. It could even loosely fit into mystery and crime drama. It looks like the libraries out there are calling it some variation of Occult Fiction or Paranormal Fiction. Maybe I should create a genre here and call it Paranormal Chik Lit. Works for me.

Here is the blurb from the author's website:

When Bronwyn turned twenty she took the oath to protect, and for the last five years she's kept that promise, working as a kind of one-witch secret service to the British Prime Minister. Her arsenal includes a combination of potions, spells, explosions, mind-reading tricks, and general butt-kicking skills. But Bronwyn has a soft side, too-especially when it comes to Dr. Sam, the favorite physician of her new hometown, Sweet, Texas. He's smart, funny, adorable, everything she could want in a man. Except he's also a warlock-a big no-no in Bronwyn's book of dating. Being a witch is definitely getting in the way of her sex life. If zapping evil jerks is easy, why is finding a boyfriend so hard?

This book is written in diary form. And it works. The book is funny and engaging, with a likable main characters and likable secondary and supporting characters.

Bronwyn isn't a normal witch, she's a High Witch. Which apparently means she's way more powerful than most witches. And apparently there are only a handful or two alive on the planet, so witches of this power are pretty rare. We all know how power can corrupt, but Bronwyn isn't the sort of person to be corrupted by the power she wields. I got the impression that she's the type of person to use her powers for good, no matter what might be offered to her. She is not flighty or airheaded. She is responsible and organized and thoughtful and a very good friend to the people in her life.

If I were to meet Bronwyn in real life then we'd get along with each other just fine. I mean, how can you not like someone who starts her diary entries with how many spells she's cast and how many dead bodies there are since the last entry? And sometimes even how many of those bodies she's responsible for.

There are also two hunks in this book that have a serious interest in Bronwyn.. There is the new doctor in town as well as a shiek she's supposed to be keeping alive. Since the sheik is a client and she has this personal rule against dating clients, and since the good doctor is a warlock and she's got a personal rule against dating those, too... you can see her dilemma here. Having the power she has is a big turn off to most men, so she's gone a while without a boyfriend, and now suddenly there are two very very eligible bachelors interested in her and if she follows her own rules then she really should say no to both.

And the town she lives in is great. I mean, every small town has their odd but lovable characters, right? And Sweet is no different. It's a great little town, and a perfect place for Bronwyn to call home.

I also liked the mixture of job and home life. When she's working there are lots of bad guys and she's pretty much constantly on her toes. But at home she gets to work on her gardening, and on remodeling her house. We get to see her as a regular person as well as a kind of superhero. Of course, even in her superhero role she's pretty laid back about it, but some of the things she can do are nothing short of superhero status for those she saves.

This doesn't really fall into the same category of books I normally like, but I loved this book. Adored it.

Book Rating: 10 of 10





1) Charmed & Dangerous (Bronwyn)
2) Charmed & Ready (Bronwyn)
3) Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn)
4) Like a Charm (Kira)

Death Perception (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 6) by Victoria Laurie

The sixth book in the Psychic Eye series is once again a pretty wild ride. Maybe even an e-ride. Unfortunately, I'm not a great fan of extreme roller coasters so some of this book was a bit uncomfortable for me. Is there a thing as too much suspense? For me, there is. Especially when we aren't sure if a character we really like is going to live or die, but we are given the impression they are going to die. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.

The premise here is that Dutch's cousin is kidnapped and Dutch needs to go to Las Vegas to try to find him. Abby insists on going with him to help and within a few hours they are on a plane.

Dutch goes missing and the FBI are after Abby. Running out of options, Abby calls in Candace and her sister for reinforcements. Candace used to live in Las Vegas and she knows her way around town, including knowing who to go to for help.

Once again the plot has many twists and turns and we don't know who the bad guy is until the grand finale at the end. Well, we know who a bunch of bad guys are, but we don't know... oh, take my word for it, we don't really know what is going on until the grand finale.

Abby and Dutch are coming along in their relationship and they aren't as annoying as they were a few books ago. I really wish we'd been able to see them resolve a few things in this book though. We are given a very quick epilogue type diatribe at the end to let us know how everyone manages afterwards, but we don't see Abby and Dutch deal with the fallout of some of the things Abby learns earlier on. It's wrapped up too quickly, I needed more.

And that's what I want to see. I want to see Abby and Dutch together, being a couple. Doing things together. We got that some at the beginning of the book, then they are once again separated for most of the book.

I wavered back and forth on giving this one a 7 or 8 out of 10. I'm giving it an 8, but it was a close call. The series rating is still a 7, though.

Book Rating: 8 of 10
Series Rating: 7 of 10




1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
2. Better Read Than Dead
3. A Vision of Murder
4. Killer Insight
5. Crime Seen
6. Death Perception<
7. Doom with a View (Sept 2009)

Crime Seen (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 5) by Victoria Laurie

Book five of this series starts a few months after the last book ends. Abby is still living with Dutch and she is on the way to recovery. Dutch is concerned because he thinks she is well enough to start working again, but Abby has lost her confidence and isn't really sure about the whole psychic thing anymore. She feels her intuition should have kept her from getting shot in the first place, and if it could fail so miserably for her, how can she trust it where other people are concerned.

Meanwhile her friend Candice (the PI from Kalamazoo) moves to town to open her own business, and she rents out the empty space in Abby's business office.

Dutch asks Abby for help on a few of his cases, and when she's closing her eyes and grabbing files she accidentally grabs a different one. A case that is closed, with someone already in jail, and Dutch and Milo put him there. And she sees that the man serving time didn't actually do it. The problem is that this is a hot button issue with Dutch and Milo, so she's got to secretly investigate it without them knowing what she's up to. She enlists the help of her friend Candice, and for once we see the girls handling themselves without having to get help from the guys. Nice.

And, Abby and Dutch (mostly) act much more mature with their relationship in this book. A very refreshing change.

I also like that we see Abby having to fight to get her life back as she recovers from the bullet wound. She has to fight to get her body back in shape and fight to get her emotions back in order. And there is that place in the relationship where it's time for Dutch to stop sheltering and protecting and start treating her normally again, and even that is handled well in this book. In real life we aren't just magically okay again after that kind of trauma, and I'm glad that we got to see Abby having to work through this in order to be herself again.

I didn't figure out the "who-dun-it" aspect of the mystery until everything was explained near the end, and I appreciated the twists and turns we were put through while our girls figured out what happened. One thing I wasn't so happy with: Even though I liked the ending, I think that Abby and Candice took too big of a risk handling things the way they did. As much as I enjoyed them handling things through much of the book without needing Milo and Dutch as backup, I think they should have waited for backup for the grand finale. It was fine the way it happened, but may have been a little more believable if they'd have had a Plan B in case Plan A didn't work out.

This book gets an 8 out of 10, and I'm moving the series rating up to that as well.


Book Rating 8 of 10
Series Rating 8 of 10






1. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
2. Better Read Than Dead
3. A Vision of Murder
4. Killer Insight
5. Crime Seen
6. Death Perception
7. Doom with a View

Killer Insight (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 4) by Victoria Laurie

In the fourth book in the series we don't have to deal too much with what bothered me so much in the last book - immature handling of a relationship by both Abby and Dutch. But that is because in this book they break up at the beginning and then Abby goes to Denver. Hard for them to bicker if Dutch isn't in much of the book.

I think I've realized that the author wants us to experience what it is like to know part of what is going to happen but not have the details we need in order to have the whole story. I'm sure that's how psychics feel when they see bits and pieces of the future but not enough to know for sure what will actually happen, just pieces of what will happen. I think she does a great job of throwing us off balance with this in this book. I actually didn't like it very much, it made the book more stressful, and harder to enjoy since I wanted to get to the part she kept telling us about to see how that worked out. But, I think that was the point, so I'm not really complaining.

As I said earlier, this book has Abby going to Denver, so we get a nice change of scenery and secondary characters for this book (though her sister is still around, and she talks to Dave on the phone since he's taking care of Eggy).

Abby's childhood friend is getting married and Abby is going to be part of the wedding party. She spends a week in Denver and almost as soon as she arrives the murder mystery starts. Her friend's brother is now (conveniently) the sheriff, and since he grew up with her he already trusts in Abby's psychic abilities, which is also pretty convenient since he believes her from the very beginning.

Speaking of which, I enjoyed hearing a bit more about Abby's childhood. We hear that when she was a child and someone lied she would chant out loud to them "liar liar, pants on fire", which makes sense since that is what she hears in their head when someone lies.

But even with a few lighthearted moments thrown in, this is a very stressful book, mostly because of the foreshadowing, but also because of the events that happen. It is not a light read. The ending is especially rough, and once again I stayed up later than I'd originally planned so I could find out what happened. (I actually have to set an alarm when I'm reading, otherwise I just keep reading until I either finish, get bored, or have to use the bathroom really bad. When my alarm went off last night there were only about 45 pages left, so I opted to keep reading.)

One final note, since I complained about how the sex was handled in the previous book: Abby has a fling while she is broken up with Dutch, and the sex is handled much, much, much better than it was handled in the previous book. No graphic details, but enough so we get an idea of how things start and how things end and that it was good in between.

This book gets a 7 out of 10, and I'll give the series the same.


Book Rating 7 of 10
Series Rating 7 of 10






Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
Better Read Than Dead
A Vision of Murder
Killer Insight
Crime Seen
Death Perception

A Vision of Murder (Psychic Eye Mysteries, Book 3) by Victoria Laurie

As I finish the third book in the series I'm still enjoying the series as a whole, but I didn't like this book as much as I liked the previous two.

The premise of this book has Abby going into business with her handyman Dave and her sister Cat. The three agree to form a business to buy houses and let Dave fix them up and then sell them for a profit. They buy the first house and it turns out to be haunted. Not just eeery-noises-haunted, but power-tools-flying-towards-your-face-haunted. The way to un-haunt a house is to learn the story and solve whatever issues the dead people had so said dead people can move on to The Other Side.

Which means they have to solve a mystery that started back in World War II.

The plot has plenty of twists and turns and even though I knew who the current-day bad guy was from fairly early in the book, the historic part of the story that told us what everyone was after didn't surface until closer to the end, so there was still a mystery that kept me reading later than I'd planned to stay up.

It's not the plot that I had a problem with. It's the relationship stuff I had a problem with. Abby and Dutch acted like two whiny-assed kids through a good part of the book and it seriously got on my nerves. And even if there were injuries, what is this with going to bed and going right to sleep? And then when there is finally some good stuff, we get a single paragraph that it was good and everything fit? Please. It doesn't have to dip into erotica to give us some details, and that was a pretty crappy way to handle that after the tease of the shower scene earlier. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

So, the plot gets a thumbs up but the romance portion gets a thumbs down. I like Abby and Dutch in every way except the way they handle their relationship with each other. I hope they grow up between this book and the next. And I will be reading the next book to see if they do or not.

I gave the first two books in this series an 8 out of 10 but this one gets a 6 out of 10. And that brings the series down to a 7 out of 10. The series rating is not an average of the individual books, it's an overall view of how I see the series, and the relationship kiddy stuff in this book annoyed me enough to bring it down to a 7.

I love the premise of the psychic who works with law enforcement, and of the FBI agent forced to accept the supernatural when he falls in love with an actual psychic. But no more hiding keys or hitting potholes on purpose, please. I want them to have an adult relationship, not something out of high school.

Book Rating 6 of 10
Series Rating 7 of 10






Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye
Better Read Than Dead
A Vision of Murder
Killer Insight
Crime Seen
Death Perception