Big Witch Energy Molly Harper with Amanda Ronconi (Narrator), Teddy Hamilton (Narrator)

The Wiltons can't leave Starfall Point or they will die. This has been true for generations. And it was true for Caroline Wilton's brother. Once he died, her family fell apart. Her father has been depressed since then, her mother took on most of the burden of the family bar (the Wilted Rose) and allowed her to take on the rest of it. Her other two brothers do the bare minimum. Or even less than. So it's mostly up to her. Thank goodness she has her two friends, Alice and Riley, her coven, to keep her sane. But could she also have someone from her past?

Benjamin Hoult has just moved back to town with his two teenagers. He's not expecting to see his old flame so quickly. So when he sees her, it's more awkward than he ever thought possible. It doesn't get better, especially when his daughter rides her moped into Caroline. But that opens up the door for his whole family to spend more time with her. And it's weird how they seem to fit. Which is good because the three witches will need the help of a new generation to take on a generations-old bad guy who is still trying to pull strings.

I really liked that both Mina and Josh were real characters; not just kids dropped into the story.

Four stars

This book came out

Starfall Point #2  

Follows Witches Get Stuff Done

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

The Trouble with Hating You by Sajni Patel

This is one of those books where, if the characters had just TALKED to each other, there wouldn't be nearly so much drama. Patel navigates this terrain more deftly than most authors but it's still quite a bit of sturm and drang where there doesn't need to be. There are also some really HEAVY topics that I wasn't expecting based on the cover or the description. 

Liya Thakker has a reputation in the Indian community. It's (mostly) undeserved but her parents believed the source of the rumors and have treated her badly ever since. But that hasn't stopped her father from simultaneously treating her badly but also trying to get her married off. Liya most definitely does NOT want to be married and has expressed that but he lives in a mysoginistic world and he keeps trying to force it on her as well. So, when a man shows up to what was explicitly promised to be a family dinner, she bolts. 

Jay Shah doesn't want to get married either but he's willing to go along with what his mother wants if it will make her happy. He's not happy to be literally bowled over by Liya. When he sees her out and about and then at work, he makes his displeasure very known. Because what he knows that she doesn't is that her company is about to go under and he's their best chance of it being saved. 

Really more like three and a half stars but rounded up for Goodreads.

Three and a half stars

This book came out May 12, 2020

The Trouble with Hating You #1

Followed by First Love, Take Two

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

What the Vicar Saw by Benedict Brown

This book opens with a funeral and a dead body. To be clear, the funeral was for one man (a despicable baron whom no one in the small town of Condicote liked) and the dead body is that of another (the local vicar.) Christopher and his grandfather are on the spot because the family had come down to look at the church as a possible wedding venue for Christopher's brother. While there, their paternal grandmother insisted that they stay for the funeral. 

When the vicar didn't show, Christopher and his grandfather went looking. They found the body and also discovered that there was an item missing from the church. That same item was found in the hands of a man who has had some shady dealings in town and he is immediately arrested. But did he really do it? While Lord Edgington is sure, Christopher is not. But then somebody else dies and, at least for Lord Edgington, the case is reopened.

We actually start to see more growth for Christopher (physically as well as mentally) which is nice. While I adore Hastings and Watson as characters, they never changed. We get to see that in Christopher. 

Four stars

Lord Edgington Investigates #9

This book came out March 24, 2023

Follows The Snows of Weston Moor

Followed by Blood on the Bannisters

Borrowed as Audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

This is one of my favorite Poirot stories. Partly because of the story itself and partly because I love the David Suchet episode of this story; the dog that plays Bob is adorable.

Emily Arundell has fallen down the stairs. She nearly died. Her family said that she slipped on her dog's ball (Bob has a habit of dropping the ball down the stairs and then chasing after it) but that doesn't seem quite right. She writes to Poirot in April, asking him to come.

Poirot receives the letter in June. Why was it posted so late? And was Miss Arundell's eventual death because of some food she ate that upset her stomach? Or did one of her loving relatives help her along?

Four stars

This book came out July 5, 1937

Hercule Poirot #16

Follows Cards on the Table

Followed by Death on the Nile

Borrowed as audiobook from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

On the Street Where You Live by Mary Higgins Clark

There is... a lot... going on in this book. MHC often has several stories that come together in the end but this feels like more than usual. 

Emily Graham felt a pull toward the house in Spring Lake, New Jersey. It was a house that her family used to own. The one where her great aunt disappeared from. But, she's got money from selling off some stock before a tech company went under. So she buys the house. It's getting her out of town after her divorce and after her stalker is put in jail. All she wants to do is put in a pool and be able to relax. But that plan goes by the wayside when a set of bones is uncovered. Well, it's actually two sets because a second set, because one is her great and and the other, a woman who had gone missing within the last five years. Oh, and someone is still sending her creepy letters.

Three stars

This book came out in 2001

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Between a Flock and a Hard Place by Donna Andrews

If you've ever looked up how houses have fared after a makeover show, you'll see that people are often unhappy. Based on what she's hearing through the grapevine, the Smetkamps are going to in the same place. They've won a makeover from Marvelous Mansions but the producer seems shady and the workforce is unsettled. Meanwhile, Meg is just trying to make sure they stay in code. 

Someone seems particularly against the show though (or maybe it's the Smetkamps) because they've gathered up the wild turkeys and released them on the Smetkamps street. There's a fairly amusing bit where an Amazon driver almost gets taken out by the turkeys. He makes it out alive with some help but someone else on the street does not. So, Meg is once again sleuthing a murder mystery. 

This book doesn't have much with Josh and Jamie, nor Michael. We do see any number of other regular characters in this book though and it is a nice addition to the series. 

Four stars

Meg Langslow #35

This book comes out August 6, 2024

Follows Let It Crow, Let It Crow, Let It Crow

Followed by Rockin' around the Chickadee

ARC of ebook kindly provided by MacMillan and Edelweiss

ARC of audiobook kindly provided by MacMillan and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

High Energy by Dara Joy

I used to have a copy of this book and I remember LOVING it. You've got a prototypical manic pixie dream girl matched up with a richer than rich physicist who can do no wrong. In the reread, that did bug me more that poor Zanita couldn't seem to do anything right but I still felt some of the joy that Joy's deft prose brought. It's really more of a three and a half star review but rounded up for Goodreads.

Zanita just wants her big break. She KNOWS she could be an amazing hard-hitting journalist (even if it's for her grandfather's small town paper) but she just needs the chance. So she'll find her own story. Even if that means hunting down a visiting psychic. Except... Tyberius Evans is a tall, incredibly handsome man and she feels like she knows his name from something else...

In a crowd of men (this was the 90s), Zanita stands out. Tyber is instantly entranced. He knows he'll do anything to keep this pretty lady around. Including some things that are a little shady in this day and age but were terribly romantic when I was younger and dumb.

Three and a half stars

This book came out October 1, 1998 

Tyber and Zanita #1

Followed by High Intensity

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own