Witch Summer Night’s Cream (Bewitched by Chocolate #3)
by H.Y. Hanna
Rating: 4 stars
Genre: Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Blurb:
,em>A witch, a kitty and a chocolate love potion…Celebrating the summer solstice can be fun – especially when your grandmother is a witch with an enchanted chocolate shop! Caitlyn is looking forward to Midsummer’s Eve in the tiny English village of Tillyhenge. But when a teenage girl is murdered and a priceless love potion goes missing, she and her cousins are plunged into a puzzling mystery.
Is the girl’s death connected to the midnight bonfires at the ancient stone circle? What about the two strangers who recently arrived in the village? With her naughty black kitten and toothless old vampire uncle (not to mention handsome British aristocrat, Lord James Fitzroy!) all lending a helping hand, Caitlyn sets out to do some magical sleuthing.
But Midsummer’s Eve is fast approaching and spells are going disastrously wrong… can Caitlyn use her newfound witch powers to find the killer – and maybe even mend a broken heart?
WARNING: May contain traces of “Hahaha!”
This book follows British English spelling and usage.
Clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language.
Genre: humorous paranormal cozy mysteries / cat cozy mystery series / women amateur sleuth / British cozy mystery
My Review:
I received a free copy from the author and voluntarily reviewed it.
This was exactly the type of book I was in the mood for! It felt like I flew through this book, as I was enjoying it so much. And now I wish the next book was already here, because I want more! I am really enjoying this series so far and this book was so good! I always know I am in for a great read when I start one of HY Hanna’s books. I love how she mingles the mystery plot lines with the paranormal and other side plot lines in this series. Each book has it’s own mystery that gets wrapped up by the end and some side plot lines as well, but there are also plot lines that span the whole series so far.
The mystery was a good one. I was pretty stumped at first, none of the suspects seemed right to me and then a small sentence from someone suddenly made me realize who the murderer was with almost 100% certainty. It turned out I was correct and I felt pretty pleased about that. I enjoyed reading about how Caitlyn pierced it together eventually. I did think it was a good mystery with enough of those small clues that you could figure it your yourself. I always like that in a mystery book, when it is possible to figure out the mystery.
Besides the murder plot line we have the sprinkles of paranormal throughout the story. I think the paranormal part is very well done. It adds to some fun scenes and it’s present without being too overwhelming. Caitlyn learns a bit more about magic in each book. As the title suggest there’s a bit of a connection to a mid summer night’s dream. I haven’t ever read the story so I didn’t really get the references, but luckily it was pretty minimal. There’s also a bit more about the stone circle and a magical scene at the end of the book.
I like reading about Caitlyn, although sometimes she can a be a bit bossy and she can jump to conclusions at times. She determines who the murderer must be and tries to focus the police to look that way. But mostly I really like her, she gets herself in some trouble and fun situations and I like how curious and caring she can be.
There’s also a fun side plot line involving a herd of cows and the bull Ferdinand. From the first scene involving them I knew how that plot line would be resolved, but it was still fun to see it all play out. We also have the romance between James and Caitlyn progress a bit, with that last scene of the book I have high hopes for them. And I wonder if we’ll hear more about those horses from one of the later scenes in later books. There are some new characters and we see more of already familiar characters.
To summarize: if you enjoy a good cozy mystery with a sprinkle of magic I can’t recommend this series enough! HY Hanna really knows how to write a good mystery series and it felt like I flew through this book because I enjoyed it so much! The mystery was a good one, although after a small hint I was suddenly sure who the murderer was. But it was still fun to see Caitlyn figure it out and piece everything together. The paranormal aspects is well done as usual and leads to some fun scenes. There are also some side plot lines like one about some cows and some plot lines from previous books that progress a bit. We learn a bit more about the stone circle and the romance between Caitlyn and James seems to move forward a tad. I really enjoyed this book and I can’t wait for the next book in this series!
You can also read my review on Goodreads and Amazon.
Now that is a great feeling when you can’t wait to read a book because you know you’re in for a treat.
Neat how you worked out the mystery. I like that she is gain magical knowledge as she goes, but has enough flaws to be believable.
Hope the next release comes soon for you. 🙂
Sophia Rose recently posted…Review: Wolf Hunt by Paige Tyler
It sure is :). I like that feeling when you start a new book and know it’s going to be a good one. It was a good mystery and was happy I could work it out myself. The paranormal aspect is done really well and stays believable.
I just read a book with a cat named Humper..it was funny.
Mary Kirkland recently posted…Favorite Picture of the Week
I like seeing animals in books :).
This sounds like great fun – I always think animals are tricky to write well. The book I recently read that featured an enjoyable animal character is Winslow’s hippo Ruby in River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey – great fun, if a tad violent.
sjhigbee recently posted…While the Morning Stars Sing
I agree, I think animals are tricky to get right. But when well written they can be a lot of fun to read about. Good to hear you had an enjoyable animal in one of your reads recently!
I love magic and witches. And it has light mystery in it too?! Now I’m totally adding this to my TBR.
Vanessa @ Blushing Geek recently posted…Book Review – Searching for Gatsby by Niki Danforth
I hope you’ll enjoy it if you get around to reading this series :). This series really is a lot of fun!
I love when an animal is a great side character. Whether they are ones that speak or just a good character, even as just a regular pet, are always fun. I love when I find series with fun side characters. I love these covers. They aren’t available on audio (yet), but she does have another series on audio, Oxford Tearoom Mysteries. I might have to see about reading this series for Rabid Reads.
Melanie Simmons @mlsimmons recently posted…#JIAM #Audiobook Narrator Interview: Tillie Hooper #LoveAudiobooks
This author can write some great animals side characters, I really like the bull in this one.
Yes her other series is on audio. Her Oxford Tearoom series is just as good as this one. She sometimes has opportunities to sign-up for review copies if you’re on her mailing list. I would love to hear what you think of these!