Hexes and Vexes (Amethyst’s Wand Shop Mysteries #1)
by Laura Greenwood and Arizona Tape
My Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Paranormal Mystery/ Paranormal Suspense
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF
Blurb:
Wandmaker, Amethyst, is certain that her lot in life is to make wands for her fellow witches. Until a Detective shows up at her shop asking for help only she can give.One taste of an investigation, and Amethyst is thrown into the world of mystery and crime. Can she use her skills to catch the killer before they strike again?
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Hexes and Vexes is book one of the Amethyst’s Wand Shop Mysteries series. It is an urban fantasy mystery with an underlying slow burn romance.
My Review
I enjoyed books by these authors before and this series sounded exactly like the type of books I enjoy, so I picked it up. I really enjoyed Hexes and Vexes. Main character Amy is so fun and quirky. I liked reading about her. And then there is a paranormal mystery as well.
Amy always has had an interest in solving crime and wanted to be part of the magical police, but she didn’t got accepted, so now she owns a wand shop, which I thought was pretty cool. Now she gets her chance to help solve a crime as a detective needs help. His latest investigating got stalled and the only clue they have is a sliver of a wand. Amy with her knowledge of wands is the perfect person to help him. I like how it made sense how she got involved and it was endearing to see how enthusiastic she was to help, although she also didn’t hesitate to say some parts were boring.
I liked the mystery, it’s mostly them figuring out who the wand belongs to and I liked reading about the steps they took to find out more about the wand. I enjoyed learning a bit about wands and how they worked and how they use this sliver of a wand to find out more about who wielded it. Only by the end we find out who the murderer is. I liked seeing how they solved the murder, but I thought the motive felt a bit underwhelming.
I had a lot of fun reading about Amy, she’s just such a fun and quirky person and I liked her personalty. She made me laugh a few times with her unique brand of humor. There is a hint of a possible romance with Amrbose, but I appreciated how it’s only a hint so far. Amy seems more invested in helping solve crime and becoming friends and working together, which I liked. Although it’s clear they have a connection, there’s some banter and I liked seeing them work together.
I liked reading about Amy’s wand shop and learn a bit about how wands work. I am still a bit confused about the difference between mages and witches, but I hope we hear more about that in future books. This book mostly focuses on witches and wands as the murderer is a witch. I also liked Amy’s grandma and her stone cat.
To summarize: I had a lot of fun reading this book. Amy gets involved in a murder case when the detective on the case needs someone who knows a lot about wands. I liked the focus on wands and how Am’s expertise helped solve the mystery. I enjoyed following them along as they figure out who is the murderer. I thought the motive was a bit underwhelming, but I liked seeing how they figured out who the murderer was. Amy is such a fun and quirky character and I liked reading about her. There is a hint of a future romance between Amy and Ambrose and I liked seeing them get to know each other and work together to solve the case. I already bought the next 2 books in this series and look forward to continuing the series!
A wandmaker? Love the idea of this one. Glad it was fun.
I thought it was so fun she’s a wandmaker. It’s a fun series so far 🙂