Review: Tides Wait for No Witch by Natalie Summers

Tides Wait for No Witch (Spelltide Bay Magic Mysteries #1)
by Natalie Summers

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
A magical island. A mysterious relative. A family she didn’t know existed.

Inheriting a house from a dead great-aunt she’s never met should’ve been Sara Rivers’ first clue that things were about to get weird. The talking sea otter? That was clue number two.

Sara’s plan was simple: stay the six months to get her inheritance, sell the house, and figure out what comes next. What she didn’t plan on was discovering she’s half witch, half undine, has magic she can’t control, and has a family history she was never meant to know.

Then a suspicious journal entry makes her doubt everything she’s been told. The locals are friendly, the town is charming, and absolutely no one wants to talk about how her great-aunt really died.

When another body turns up, Sara realizes the killer isn’t done.

Between mandatory magic lessons, the game shop she inherited, a runaway teen hiding out in her basement, and an infuriatingly attractive FBI agent who may (or may not) be on her side, Sara’s getting closer to a truth someone killed to hide. And the killer is watching.

Welcome to Spelltide Bay, where the gossip travels faster than seagulls, sea otters have opinions, and secrets never stay buried for long.

My Review

I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.

This book just sounded so good and I was so excited to receive an ARC copy and I started it shortly after receiving it. Tides Wait for No Witch starts off with Sara moving to the island of Spelltide Bay after she found out she has inherited a house there from an aunt she never knew she had. I liked how it dives right into things and there are some pretty big events like her finding the family she never knew she had and learning about her magic pretty early on. I liked this. I read the free prequel I got from the author’s newsletter first, which gives a bit of background information about Sara and how she found out about her inheritance. I liked reading the prequel first, but I think you can easily skip it and you won’t miss too much.

This book was so much fun and well written. I felt like there wasn’t a dull moment, from Sara finding out about her family she didn’t know she had, to realizing she’s magical and learning to use some of her powers to discovering Katrina, the aunt from whom she inherited the house, was murdered and trying to solve the mystery. This book had a lot going on with the relationship plot lines, the getting to know the town, the magical aspects and the mystery. There was plenty going on, but it never felt like too much either. It was blended all together well and I just wanted me to keep reading.

Sara is convinced early on that Katrina was murdered and I wasn’t quite sure why she was so convinced at first, but slowly more evidence comes to light and the mystery really takes shape. There are some interesting layers and reveals to the mystery and I liked seeing how Sara investigated and how often she asks one of her family members or the hot FBI agent Zander to accompany her, so I liked how she usually went about it in a smart way. She was quite stubborn tough and wouldn’t stop investigating even when she realizes she might be in danger too, but I think that usually works well in books like these. There was a part in the earlier part/ the middle that felt a bit slower mystery wise as Sara kept asking a lot of the same questions and getting the same answers, but after that it picked up again. I hadn’t guessed who the murderer was and there was a twist I wasn’t the biggest fan of and that would make it pretty hard to guess the murderer, but I liked seeing how it all fell on it’s place.

While the mystery was a solid one, I enjoyed the other aspects even more. Seeing Sara get to know her family that she never knew she had. I liked the characters and there are so many fun side characters from the people she meets to the talking sea creatures. I liked how she helped out Ray. And her lessons with Corta were interesting too. I liked seeing her slowly grow more comfortable with her family. There also is a bit of romance and I thought that was just okay, with how the other relationships get some time to build, the romance seemed to mostly be built on mutual attraction and I wish there was more time they spent together to get to know each other.

I also liked the magical aspect of this book. The island is filled with magical people and interesting magical powers, from talking with animals to fire kitsune and dragons and shapeshifting orcas. It was all great to read about and I liked seeing Sara discover this new world and getting to know more about it and the magic she has. The whole island has such a magical vibe and I also liked how Sara uses her magic to help solve the mystery.

To summarize: This was a great start to this series. I liked gettign to know Sara as she moves to Spelltide Bay where she meets the family she didn’t know she had, finds out she’s magical and discovers her late aunt was murdered. There was a lot going on and it kept my attention. I liked the mystery and seeing it play out, there was a place in the middle where things seemed to slow down a bit, before picking up again. I liked the reveal and seeing everything fall on it’s place, although not a fan of a certain twist which made it hard to figure out who the murderer is. I think I liked the other elements even more. It was fun seeing Sara get to know her family and interact with the other characters on the island. There’s a bit of romance as well, which was okay, but I would’ve liked more of them getting to know each other. I liked how magical the whole island felt with various magical creatures and people with magical powers and learning about those. All in all I had a great time reading this book and look forward to the next book.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.