Spellbound by Murder is a cozy magical mystery that takes place in a quaint Connecticut town. When Veronica’s grandmother has a fall she heads up to Connecticut from Florida with her teenaged daughter to help out at her struggling bookshop. What Veronica doesn’t know is that the bookshop might hold a little bit of magic. Veronica decides that having an author event might help out the bookstores sales and brings in an old friend named Adam. Well, you can guess what happens to Adam in traditional cozy mystery fashion Adam winds up dead and Veronica is the number one suspect. Was it Veronica or is something sinister going on? As someone who lives in Connecticut I like reading cozies that take place here. Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they don’t. This depiction was fine. I know there are some negative reviews about this book, but I found it an entertaining run of the mill cozy mystery. It reminded me of other cozy mysteries I have read before. This is the beginning of a series and I might pick up the next one. Thank you Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

This is book 4 in the Ernest Cunningham series. I read the first book and enjoyed it so I decided to give this one a try. I did the audio and it was very good. Ernest goes to the bank to take out a loan with his fiance when the bank gets held up by a bank robber. This is a locked room mystery with a large cast of characters and Ernest’s sense of humor. He breaks the 4th wall throughout and while funny most of the time sometimes you just want him to get to the point. There were some good twists in this book and the ending was fun. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the advance listening copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book involves young girls enrolled at a boarding school where suspicious deaths begin to occur. They try to solve the mystery of the deaths by having seances which prove effective. Is there something sinister affecting the school causing their deaths or is there a killer on the loose? I thought this story was ok, it read very YA to me. It isn’t marketed as YA, but it seemed that way mostly because of the age of the students at the school. The girls are quite immature and there wasn’t anyone that I was rooting for. I thought some parts of the story were creepy and some of the horror was good. This was a good debut for this author. I would be interested in more that she writes if it has more of an adult premise. Thank you Doubleday Books for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Lisa Unger’s new book is all about angry female characters who seek revenge on problematic men by means of poison. I found this book to be good and kept me entertained. The main characters are a bit unlikeable, but I think that’s needed because you don’t know who the killer is. I was surprised by who the killer was at the end and I enjoyed the story. I had a couple questions with the plot. I believe two plot lines were never explained, I can’t really say them in my review because it would be a spoiler, but I didn’t know what happened with two storylines. I found some of The Cove storyline to be a bit confusing and didn’t really think it was necessary. Overall, if you are a thriller and LIsa Unger fan I think you should pick this up. Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for an advance copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

3.75 This was okay. It's one of those books where the last chapter explains everything...don't love that trope.