Seven-Year Witch by Angela M. Sanders

Josie is still discovering how to use her magic. She is thrown off when her grandmother's letters come up telling her how to deal with hexes. She's confused and wary but moving ahead with helping the architect in town, Lewis, learn more about the mill that he is renovating into a retreat center. Meanwhile, old flame Sam is back in town. With his wife. And a baby.

So Josie just keeps living her life until Sam's wife disappears. Then a body shows up. And another body. Plus the levee is under siege with all the rain and there's all the books whispering about a curse and a mystery about Sam's great-aunt. There's... a lot going on in this book. Fast, fun and fluffy with some growth by Josie so three and a half stars rounded up for Goodreads.

Three and a half stars

This book came out August 24, 2021

Follows Bait and Witch

Followed by Witch and Famous 

Borrowed as ebook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

A Hunger like No Other by Kresley Cole

I have no good reason for why this book tickled me so much. I think it was the world building. Vampires and demons and Valkyries and werewolves all hanging out in the world? A fun romp.

The heroine of this story is fairly young at 70 years old. She's gone to Paris to try and research her parents. Not much is known about her father, other than the fact that he is a vampire. Her mother was a Valkyrie. So Emmaline, Emma, is a rarity among vampires, a female. Her arrival in Paris sets off a chain of events when the leader of the Lykae Clan, Lachlain MacRieve (whose conversation was annoyingly written in "Scots") scents her and realizes she is his true mate.

Lachlain has been imprisoned by the vampires for 150 years. They've been burning him with fire over and over and then letting him, as an immortal, regenerate painfully for almost that entire time. But the scent of the woman he's waited hundreds of years for helps him break through the chains (including having to take off his own leg to do it). Of course, when he finds out that she's a vampire... All bets are off.

There is a very short learning curve for Lachlain considering he's been locked up for a long amount of time but Cresley covers that by noting his super-intelligence as well. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Four stars

The book came out March 28, 2006

Followed by No Rest for the Wicked

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Trouble Brewing by Dolores Gordon-Smith

Something is rotten at Hunt's coffee. Mark Helston, the apparent heir, has just up and disappeared. Jack Haldean is called in by the owner, Mr. Hunt, to investigate. As he's looking into it, the man's niece, Patricia, is having problems in her marriage and Jack gets pulled in as her best friends is one of his good friends as well. Then, Pat's first husband returns from the dead with a story of amnesia having coincidentally worked at Hunts coffee in Argentina, the same place that Hunt is having difficulties with. 

It took me a LONG time to read this book. It's fine but it just didn't capture my attention like some of Gordon-Smith's books have. Luckily, I know that some of the later books are great so I'm going to continue the series.

Three stars

This book came out November 1, 2012

Follows Off the Record

Followed by Blood from a Stone

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own

Hello, Molly!: A Memoir by Molly Shannon, Sean Wilsey

I've been on an autobiography kick lately and enjoyed all of them, especially when the authors read them on the audiobook version. This book is definitely worth listening to.

Molly Shannon started performing at a young age. Not on the stage, per se, but with other children. It was one way to control her life after her family was in a car accident when she was four and her mother, sister, and cousin all died. There was a lot left out of Shannon's relationship with her father and enough information to know that she had a hard time while growing up. 

We learn about her going to school and really getting into acting, having to scramble in both New York and Los Angeles before finally landing her role on Saturday Night Live. 

There isn't much on her life post-SNL but I get the feeling that she hasn't had as much time process that as she has her early life.

Four stars

This book came out April 12, 2022

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen

Zoey grew up with a much older father and a volatile mother. Right after they divorced, her mother died and, when Zoey's father remarried, there was no room left for her. But it's okay, because she's going to Mallow Island, to the studio apartment her mother left to her. It's part of a small apartment complex that was bought and refurbished by an author, Roscoe Avanger, who is best known for his book about the Island. He only had one big hit but it was big enough that he could buy several properties and set himself up for the rest of his life. 

The first night Zoey is there, one of the other tenants, Lizbeth Lime, dies, buried under hundreds of copies of Roscoe's books. Her death, and Zoey being asked by the property manager to go through the hoarding of printed pages that Lizbeth left behind, sets off a series of events where the other tenants, Charlotte, Mac, and Lucy, will start to intertwine. Before, Lizbeth kept them separated by spying on them all and making everyone stay indoors.

Lots of magical realism in this book up to and including Zoey's invisible bird but woven into the story. The near ending was a little too much but this book is just another reason to really enjoy anything Addison Allen writes.

Four stars

This book came out August 30, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Books are often said to create new worlds, but what if maps could as well? Nell Young is struggling with that question. Years ago, her father threw her out of his office over a gas station map. It was stunning because she had lost her mother at a young age and her father had raised her. And he had raised her to love maps. So why would he distance himself over this one?

Now, her father has died under mysterious circumstances and Nell finds that same map hidden in his office. Why? And she's off on an adventure that will have her uniting a group of friends formed in college but who haven't been together in a long, long time. We see the formation and dissolution of that group in first person flashbacks. 

Not every voice is unique which makes it sometimes hard to read but this is a whimsical book that lets you escape into its own world for a little while. 

Four stars

This book came out March 15, 2022

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

Though this is the second book in a series, my book club assured me I need not have read the first and they were absolutely correct. A fabulous book about retirees solving crimes. A little darker than I was expecting but overall a delight. 

The Thursday Murder Club, consisting of Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron and Ibrahim, is getting back together. A series of subplots are delightfully woven together by Osman using all four of these characters as well as local police partners Donna and Chris. Donna and Chris are working on trying to take down a local drug lord. One of her runners decides to take a swing at Ibrahim who is just figuring out how vast the world is. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is struggling as her past, both personal and professional, comes back, even while her husband's dementia is getting worse. 

Four stars

This book came out 

Follows The Thursday Murder Club

Followed by The Bullet that Missed

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own