Review: A Fondant Farewell by H.Y. Hanna

A Fondant Farewell (Bewitched by Chocolate #9)
by H.Y. Hanna

My Rating: 4 stars

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

Blurb:
Ever since she stumbled into the quaint village of Tillyhenge and discovered the enchanted chocolate shop run by her grandmother, Caitlyn Le Fey has been dreaming of finding her long-lost mother and finally unwrapping the mystery of her past. But meeting Tara isn’t the sweet reunion she’d hoped for: not only is her mother far from the gentle, maternal figure Caitlyn had imagined, she’s also the prime suspect in a murder that’s left the village in a stir. The locals are wary and suspicious of her, and even Lord James Fitzroy is turning a cold shoulder, in spite of his feelings for Caitlyn.

Desperate to clear her mother’s name, Caitlyn plunges deeper into the sticky tangle of magic and intrigue. She knows Tara is a powerful witch with a ruthless, audacious streak—but is her mother really the bad egg in this recipe, or is there another culprit lurking in the shadows?

Meanwhile, the villagers are being spooked by superstitions and fearmongering, courtesy of Leandra, a woman with mysterious motives of her own. Plus, the hunt is still on for the Widow Mags’s missing grimoire—a powerful “book of spells” that many would kill for. And what about Nibs, Caitlyn’s mischievous kitten, who seems to have vanished without a trace?

Luckily, she still has her vampire uncle Viktor by her side (when he isn’t busy searching for his missing fangs), not to mention her sassy cousin Pomona and her own budding magic powers. With Samhain Eve fast approaching, can Caitlyn conjure answers from this murky concoction of family secrets and dark magic to solve the mystery and bring peace to Tillyhenge at last? Or will this witch’s brew of trouble bubble over?

Don’t miss the thrilling conclusion to this beloved series—an enchanting whodunit brimming with whimsical characters and magical mayhem. It’s a wickedly delicious read that’s sure to cast a spell on you!

My Review

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

A Fondant Farewell is the last book in this series and it was such a wonderful ending to this series. I have to admit I kinda expected it become more epic in scope somehow, as I haven’t read many cozy mystery series enders, but I actually ended up appreciating how consistent it stayed in tone to previous books. I liked spending time with all the characters once more and seeing them all interact together. The ending itself was really well done and hit the right emotional notes and ended things on a positive note.

This book is a continuation of book 8 and the two books really read like one large book more than 2 separate books. After the big reveal at the end of book 8 I was a bit peeved it took a while before the story actually revealed what happened and even longer for more information and interaction. This book continues the murder investigation from book 8. The actual murder mystery in this one wasn’t the strongest in my opinion, but I felt all the other elements more than made up for that.

I liked following Caitlin as she dealt with everything going on in this book, Hosey Houdini is still on the lose, she’s finally meeting her mother, the murder investigation is still going on, she and James had an argument and the Samhain celebration is coming up. There’s a lot going on, but I felt the threads wove together quite well and it made for an engaging story. I enjoyed seeing Caitlin finally get some answers about her mother and father as well as what happened between her grandmother and mother all those years ago. The Samhain festival was also fun to read about and that made for exciting scene toward the end seeing this festival take place.

The ending wraps things up quite well, bringing everything to a satisfying conclusion and leaving the characters in a good place. The Dumb dinner was interesting and I especially liked those last few bits that wrapped things up for Caitlin in such a satisfying manner.

To summarize: This book is such a satisfying ending to a series. I haven’t read many cozy mystery series enders so wasn’t quite sure what to expected and for some reason thought the tone would be more epic, but it has the same cozy vibe as previous books. I liked the way the story threads all played out and got wrapped up. It was fun to spend some more time with these characters and get some more answers. The ending wrapped things up really well for Caitlin and I really liked the ending, it hit all the right emotional notes and ended things on a positive note. All in all this was a great series and while I am sad to see it end I really enjoyed the ending.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.