The Goodbye Witch

The Goodbye Witch by Heather Blake
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Darcy's best friend Starla rushes in to As You Wish, panic-stricken because she's just seen her ex-husband for the first time since he tried to kill her two years ago, Darcy is determined to keep her friend safe. The trouble is, no one else can see Kyle, and how do you defend against someone you can't see? While Darcy's police chief boyfriend focuses on locating the fugitive, Darcy turns her attention to puzzling out why Kyle has suddenly reappeared after all this time. As with everything in this magical village, all is not as it seems, and unraveling the secrets to uncover the truth can be painful in more ways than one.

This is my favorite book in the series so far. The character development is especially strong for a cozy mystery, and I really enjoyed the relationships between all the major and even the minor characters. I admit, I was teary-eyed on more than one occasion! Bring on book #5!

For readers' advisors: character and story are both strong. There is no sex, bad language, or on-screen violence. There is magic, however, as most of the main characters are witches or related to witches. Contemporary setting--a magic-themed neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts.

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The Mill River Redemption

The Mill River Redemption: A Novel by Darcie Chan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the early 1980s, Josie DiSanti flees to Mill River with her two young daughters after they lose everything in a house fire, including Josie's husband.  The trio takes refuge with Josie's aunt, a lovely, generous woman Josie barely knows, and they begin to rebuild their lives.  Twenty or so years later, a tragic accident breaks the bonds of sisterhood.  A decade goes by in icy silence, until their mother's will forces Rose and Emily to live side by side one summer and work together to solve the clues to unlock their inheritance.

It's easy to get hooked into this story and the lives of these characters.  The nonlinear storytelling keeps readers in suspense for much of the novel, wondering what exactly happened the night of the fire and how is it possible that two sisters went from being devoted confidants to mortal enemies?  Eventually I did get a little impatient and wished Chan would hurry it up and tell the backstory faster, as she alternated between the early '80s and present day for most of the book.

The road to Rose's alcoholism was paved with Josie's good intentions, and my heart broke for them even as I inwardly groaned and chided her for focusing too much time on her career--a completely understandable series of mistakes that predictably snowballed into a giant mess.

I haven't yet read the first of the Mill River books--Mill River Recluse--so I'm not sure how much the characters overlap, but I got the feeling with this novel that the secondary storylines must have picked up where they left off in the first book.   I'm hoping the same is true in the next book, since it seemed like there was still more story to tell.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways, primarily.  No on-screen sex, but a little bit of bad language.  Many thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook copy I received in exchange for my honest review.

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True Love

True Love by Jude Deveraux
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Alix Madsen spent only one summer on Nantucket when she was a small child, so when Adelaide Kingsley dies and leaves Alix her home on the island for one year, Alix is puzzled and reluctant to go...until her boyfriend dumps her. After that, a year away seems much more enticing. What she doesn't know is that the year has strings attached: she is supposed to uncover what happened when Valentina Montgomery vanished two hundred and two years ago.

For his part, Jared Montgomery Kingsley really does not want Alix living in his home for the next year. She's a newly graduated architecture student, and he is a famous architect who has no desire to put up with the fawning adoration of an acolyte. He owes her parents for essentially saving him and putting him on the path to where he is now, yet he hates that he has to keep their secrets and not tell Alix that each of her parents has spent a great deal of time on Nantucket these past twenty years or so. However, his grand plan to avoid her falls through when she and her best friend Izzy arrive three days early. That's when he begins to discover that Alix is everything he never knew he wanted.

As expected, book one in the trilogy helped explain some of the context for book two, For All Time which I accidentally read first. I highly recommend reading the series in order.

When I began reading True Love, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. Jared starts out arguing with his (several times great) grandfather, the ghost who's haunted Kingsley House for the past two centuries. Caleb has been visible to each of the heirs as well as the occasional female relative...and Alix when she was four years old. The argument read like a temper tantrum, making 36-year-old Jared seem petulant and immature, but thankfully I kept reading because it got better. While he will never be my favorite fictional hero, Jared did grow up and develop over the course of the book.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story and setting secondary. Some sex scenes and sexual references. I can't recall if there is any swearing.

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The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy

The Good the Bad and the Witchy by Heather Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book #3 in the Wishcraft Mystery series starts off with a boisterous birthday bash for Harriette, an eighty-year-old "floracrafter," (a witch whose magical specialty is flowers), complete with her signature black roses and an aging stripper. The party is just getting going when Darcy Merriweather discovers the recently murdered corpse of the young man who'd come to deliver the birthday cake. Michael's ghost attaches itself to Darcy, urging her to help him find his killer, but Darcy's snooping puts her in conflict with Nick, her police chief boyfriend, because it gives the jealous Glinda ammunition she can use to threaten the couple.

Ms. Blake does such a good job of weaving together subplots and building 3-dimensional characters--better than many, if not most, cozy mystery authors. That's why my rating for this one is 4 stars, even though I often wonder why someone doesn't just wish to discover the murderer--Darcy is a Wishcrafter, after all, and I don't recall any stated laws of wishcraft she'd be violating. Perhaps Ms. Blake will explain that in a future book? Then again, if wishing solved the murders, these books would be VERY short.

I finally realized what I am picturing in my head when I read descriptions of the Enchanted Village: the set of Gilmore Girls but with a magical theme. Makes me wish it were a real place.

For readers' advisors: story & character doorways are both strong, and setting is secondary. No sex, bad language, or on-screen violence.

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Inn at Last Chance

Inn at Last Chance by Hope Ramsay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Jenny Carpenter used to be a teacher, but when she realized she was destined to become the unofficial spinster of Last Chance, South Carolina, she decided to take charge of her life in other ways and fulfill her dream of owning a B&B. She bought the rundown Jonquil House mansion from the last member of the Raintree family, famous horror author Gabriel Raintree, and she's spent the past few months renovating it into the floral-themed inn she's always wanted. She hasn't even received delivery of her mother's antique furniture yet when the grumpy former owner himself shows up on her doorstep demanding to be allowed to rent a room.

Gabe needs a quiet place to hide and write, and he is not pleased when the frumpy innkeeper turns him away. Jonquil House is both the source of his happiest memories and his greatest pain--the perfect place, he believes, to get his creative juices flowing again. Luckily for Gabe, Jenny's book group needs to ask him for a favor, so they guilt her into offering him a room in exchange for being the featured guest at their upcoming save-the-library fundraiser. And that is when the ghost starts making his presence known.

I requested a copy of this book from NetGalley, thinking it would be a nice, light romance, along the lines of Debbie Macomber's works. Just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover! Yes, some aspects were similar--e.g., there were no explicit sex scenes--but I was not expecting it to be more ghost story than grand passion.

I think the book had the potential to be a solid 4 stars instead of a weak 3 if Ms. Ramsay had also taken another look at her character development to make it more internally logical--i.e. to give it more of a solid foundation/structure on which to build the story. It would also have been nice to see Jenny develop more of a backbone & not be so meek with those sewing circle/book group ladies--the new pastor was a jerk, and she should have SAID so!

Ironically, I found the haunting more believable than the budding relationship. I found Gabriel's motives for hiding his diabetes from Jenny completely inexplicable, for example, and he was so rude to her for so long, and she had such unresolved mommy issues, that their attraction really didn't make much sense. Still, I did eventually root for them to get together.

What holds the book together is the plot, which I found to often be quite engaging, particularly when the ghost was acting up. However, I don't know that the homage to Jane Eyre works tremendously well, which would be great fodder for a book group discussion. (There is a reading group guide included at the end of the book.)

For readers' advisors: story doorway, a little swearing, what sex scenes there are fade to black. It's the seventh book in the series, so readers might want to start with book #1, Welcome to Last Chance.

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The Hundred Dresses

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Nobody really pays much attention to Wanda Petronski other than to tease the shy, silent girl about the hundred dresses she claims to have, so no one even notices at first when she stops showing up to school. When her classmates do think of her, it's often to wonder why she would lie about something so obvious--she clearly has only the one dress, which she wears every single day.

Maddie's best friend Peggy instigated the daily teasing sessions, and Maddie has always felt guilty about that, but she's been afraid to speak up for fear the girls' attention would turn to her next. After all, she's poor, too, although not quite so poor as Wanda. When Wanda stops coming to school, Maddie wants to do something to make up for hurting her, especially after they all learn the truth of the hundred dresses. But are they too late?

This classic story highlights not only the emotional pain inflicted by bullies but also the trauma caused by bystanders who privately object yet publicly do nothing to stop the abuse. Like Mean Girls, but for an older elementary school crowd. It would be a great choice for a classroom read-aloud and discussion (or role-playing session), as well as an excellent book for parents and grandparents to read (aloud or silently) and discuss with their children/grandchildren. Even though it was first published in 1944, it's still relevant today, other than the sexist design/coloring competition and the fact that girls only wear dresses to school.

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Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick

Sheila Rae's Peppermint Stick by Kevin Henkes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great little book about an older sister who doesn't want to share with her younger sister. The illustrations really tell this story and convey Sheila Rae & Louise's feelings better than words could ever do. The last page, however, I often skip when reading to my daughter because it seems like it was tacked on to appease parents, and I don't find it believable. Too saccharine.

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