Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
I am excited to feature Potions are for Pushovers today!
Potions Are for Pushovers (An Eleanor Wilde Mystery)
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – England
Publisher: Kensington (November 26, 2019)
Hardcover: 288 pages
ISBN-10: 1496719638
ISBN-13: 978-1496719638
Kindle ASIN: B07PCHV2KP
It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions…
Selling mystical elixirs and tantalizing tonics is a pretty good way for a fake medium to earn a living. Or at least it’s Ellie’s main source of income—until a villager turns up dead. The cause? Murder by poisoning. And though Ellie’s concoctions don’t include anything worthy of a skull and crossbones, suddenly she’s the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne. No one liked the mean old battle-axe. But did anyone hate her enough to kill her?
It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Besides, Ellie’s taken on two young witches-in-training—apprentices if you will—and both of them are convinced a werewolf is the murderer.
Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home…
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Werewolves aren’t my thing at all, in fact I have turned down books for review as soon as I saw them mentioned in the synopsis or stopped reading books where they have appeared unannounced but after reading the first book in this series Seances Are For Suckers
Eleanor Wilde has set up her business in a mistress cottage on the Hartford family estate and become quite close with Nicholas Hartford III after using her “powers” to clear “ghosts” out of the Hartford castle. He knows she is a fake and is fine with that. She has clients who believe in her and buy her potions and elixirs, but when Sarah Blackthorne is poisoned she loses what clientele she did have and also becomes the number one suspect.
New in town she didn’t know that basically everyone hated the woman that was killed which eases her mind as far as the authorities but overwhelms her as her suspect list includes almost everyone she knows. She also finds herself with two young apprentices who due to another death and some missing animals including Ellie’s cat, Beast, believe a werewolf is responsible for the deaths. Ellie even starts to buy into their theory.
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I really like Ellie and the way she finds her way in this community of characters as the story continues. She has her issues like a leaky roof and the responsibility for her apprentices all while she tries to investigate a murder. I really appreciated that Ellie’s sister Winnie is still a very important part of her life. I also enjoyed the way her relationship with Nichols is progressing. We have learned quite a bit about our protagonist but Nicholas is still mostly a mystery himself.
The plot of this mystery is complex and filled with twists and turns and a very hairy individual. The death of a neighbor’s animal was a little gory but was critical to the progression of the story. I enjoyed that the young girls played key roles in solving part of the mystery and that she got a little help from an unusual source. I was caught off guard when the actual killer was revealed. A person completely off my radar. I should have realized after reading the first book to expect the unexpected. Ms. Berry has proven to be excellent at keeping this reader captivated by the story and totally surprising me at the end.
Potions Are for Pushovers
This story can be read on its own but recommend reading both books in order for maximum enjoyment.
You can read my review of Seances are for Suckers here.
About the Author
Tamara Berry is a part-time author and part-time freelance writer/editor. She has a B.A. in English Literature from Eastern Washington University. In addition to books, she has mad love for all things TV, movies, and pop culture. Visit her at www.tamaraberry.com. Facebook – Twitter
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
