Book 2, 2022
Southern Magic by Amy Boyles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I took a "blowing snow" day off and used it to finish reading Southern Magic, which is the first book in Amy Boyles' "Sweet Tea Witch" paranormal mystery series. Main character is Pepper Dunn, novice witch.
When Pepper's life implodes in less than a day (she gets fired from her job, booted from her apartment for being late with the rent again, and her boyfriend can't be arsed to care), she is thrown a life line when she receives notice that she's inherited a shop from an uncle she didn't know existed. Pepper doesn't know anything about her maternal side, as her mom passed away in childbirth.
Pepper travels to Magnolia Cove where she meets her mother's side of the family. She discovers a grandmother, cousins, and aunts. She also learns that she's a witch, and the shop she now owns sells familiars to witches. Pepper isn't fond of animals, doesn't believe in witchcraft, and she'd just like to sell the shop and return home to Nashville. Instead, she finds a dead body and becomes a suspect in old Ebenezer's murder. Fortunately for Pepper, the PI that Ebenezer's family has hired doesn't believe she killed him. The fact that Axel is easy on the eyes is just a bonus, right?
Now all Pepper must do is discover how to wield her magic, learn how to run Familiar Place, dodge the wicked wizard, Rufus, who wants to drain her powers, and find out who killed Ebenezer. Lucky for her, she now has family she can count on to help...along with a handsome PI.
The story was lighthearted and fun. I loved that these witches flew around on skillets instead of brooms, and that Pepper is slowly learning to communicate with the animals in her care. While she bridles at some of the restrictions her Grandma Betty places on her, she also sees it comes from a place of love and caring, and Pepper hasn't had that in her life since her father passed away. There is definite chemistry between her and Axel, but they're both in denial.
Favorite lines:
♦ Sometimes life just threw turdballs at you when all you were trying to do was paint freakin' rainbows.
♦ My gaze flicked to the cat. I held my breath for three seconds, and then I screamed. "Ahhhh!" // The cat screamed in my head, too. "Ahhhh!" // Still screaming, I said, "Why are you screaming?" // "Why are you screamin'?" the cat said, still screaming. // "Because you're a cat! You're not supposed to talk!" // The cat threw up its paws. "Ahhh! No one ever told me that!"
♦ "I can protect myself if a flying can of whoop-ass is coming at me, but otherwise I'm out of luck."
Lots of fun! Four stars!