Review: Mind Over Magic by Lindsay Buroker

Mind over Magic (A Witch in Wolf Wood #1)
by Lindsay Buroker
narrated by Vivienne Leheny

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
As a bookish, introverted database programmer, Morgen Keller never thought she was a candidate for a midlife crisis. That was before her husband divorced her, her boss let her go, and her grandmother died. Forty wasn’t supposed to look like this.

When Morgen heads up to the small town of Bellrock, Washington, to settle the estate, she looks forward to taking a peaceful break from life and figuring out what she’s going to do next.

But peace isn’t to be had. The old farmhouse is full of witch paraphernalia, a fearsome werewolf has claimed the property, and contrary to what the family was told, Grandma didn’t die of natural causes.

Embroiled in a mystery, and heir to powers she knew nothing about, Morgen must turn to the only person who might be able to help: the werewolf who threatened to rip her throat out for trespassing.

This isn’t the fresh start on life that Morgen had in mind.

A Witch in Wolf Wood is perfect for fans of mystery, magic, slow-burn romance, and second chances.

My Review

I wanted to try this series by Lindsay Buroker as I’ve enjoyed the books I read by her so far and thus I grabbed the first book in this series in audio. Mind Over Magic was a solid start to this new series. I like how the book starts right in the middle of things with Morgan driving to the house she inherited when she encounters a werewolf. Not much later Morgan finds out her grandmother was a witch and she is one too.

I liked this book, the pacing was well done and I liked the story for the most part. Morgan doesn’t know anything about magic, but is curious and picks a few things up. I liked how she is a bit skeptical at first, but once she sees magic works and werewolves exist she quickly accepts this. I liked how she got to know Amar, there is quite a lot of banter and they grow a bit closer throughout the book. There’s definitely a set up for a future romance there.

I liked learning more about witches, werewolves and the property Morgan inherited. I didn’t like how the witches and werewolves talked about the other party and treated them, there is some bad blood between them. The witches have a spell to control werewolves and that just felt wrong to me and I hated that the witches actually used it. The mutual dislike between the witches and werewolves is a big part of the book and it did make sense why they disliked each other.

There’s a bit of a mystery in this book with Morgan and Amar investigating and trying to figure out who killed Morgan’s grandmother. It wasn’t a very twisty mystery, but I liked seeing how they handled things and finding out who is the murderer and why. I also liked how this caused them to work together as they both want to find out who killed her.

The narrator Vivienne Leheny is one I already know and her voice is just such a great fit for Lindsay Buroker’s books. I was happy to listen to this one and plan to get the rest of the series in audio as well. She has plenty of variety in voices and it’s easy to hear who is who.

To summarize: Mind over Magic was an enjoyable first book in this series. While it’s the first book and has some introduction to do, it starts right in the middle of things and it’s not long before Morgan knows werewolves and witches exist and that she is a witch too. I liked learning more about the witches, werewolves and the property Morgan inherited. Morgan is a likable main character and I liked how it doesn’t take her long to accept magic is real. I liked seeing how she handled things and there’s some fun banter with love interest Amar. I didn’t like how the witches could control werewolves as that felt wrong to me, but their mutual dislike for each other made sense and is part of the plot. There’s a bit of a mystery as well with them figuring out how killed Morgan’s grandmother, which while relatively straightforward was still an interesting plot. The narrator is awesome and I like how well Vivienne Leheny’s voice fits Lindsay Buroker’s book and I plan to listen to the rest of the series as well. I look forward to book 2!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– Audible
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.