A naïve young witch. A decades-old murder. Can she put her topsy-turvy magic to good use before someone else gives up the ghost?Lily Sweet is enchanted by the idea of belonging. So, when she discovers an enigmatic clue to her heritage while settling her mother’s estate, she eagerly sets off on a journey toward her estranged family. But her curiosity quickly turns to chagrin when faced with … faced with supernatural forces, a jealous relative, and literal skeletons in the closet.
Freaked by the bizarre powers bubbling out of her, Lily hopes solving the long-forgotten cold case will keep the bats out of her belfry. But when a second body appears and the spells start flying, the inexperienced initiate’s lack of control may place everyone in town in harm’s way. Will Lily fall prey to a killer before she learns to wield her magic?
Home Sweet Witch is the charming first book in the Lily Sweet Briar Witch paranormal cozy mystery series. If you like engaging characters, page-turning puzzles, and plenty of snark, then you’ll love Bettina M. Johnson’s diabolically funny tale. Buy Home Sweet Witch to stir a cauldron of mischief today!
The Lily Sweet Briar Witch Mysteries 1
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Lily has recently lost her mother and is dealing with that loss. Then she gets information from the lawyer handling her mother’s will and that sends her on a trip to a home and life she has no memory of. This was a really fun book and I loved meeting all Lily’s family and solving the mystery. You will laugh, smile and cringe at some of the characters in this town. I am so glad this is a series as one was not enough. Looking forward to book two.
This book starts and ends in clouds of questions and though difficult to become engrossed in initially, it does start picking up pace, interest and mystery somewhere post the first few chapters.
The typical plot for a newly orphaned young woman who finds out she has a huge inheritance to her name and goes to see what it’s all about, ends up finding she has a huge family on both the sides, she is a super powerful witch, nothing is what it seems to be and of course there’s someone out there who wants her dead.
With 3 men showing interest in her, this witchy business is about to get a little fun, a little risky & a lot more magical.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Lily Sweet has lived a difficult life, always on the move from place to place because her mother was afraid “they” would find them. She never could get who “they” were out of her emotionally-distant mother and even broaching the subject would upset her. All alone now, her mother gone after a two year long battle with cancer, Lily is about to find out.
But upon her death, her mother left Lily a surprise legacy. After having done without, living from meager paycheck to paycheck, and hiding in the shadows of rural upstate New York for years, Lily is floored when an attorney approaches her at her mother’s memorial service with a box of mementos and cryptic instructions regarding a home, money, and the existence of family members somewhere in Georgia. All Lily has to do is sneak into the town without any of the relatives knowing she’s there, scope out the place, and find further instructions from her mother hidden somewhere in the house.
Thinking this is doable, Lily sets out in her ancient Ford pickup (named George) for Sweet Briar, Georgia. A budding sculptor, she’s delighted to learn that her destination is an artsy, crafty, tourist town, and has hopes that she can even find a studio to create ‘found art,’ and settle down. Things look even better when she hits the area and meets some of the local guys who are friendly, welcoming, and particularly good-looking. But when she is immediately caught making her first ‘secret’ visit to her new house and unearths the skeleton of a young woman under the front porch floorboards, things don’t feel quite so charming any longer. And when the cute guys try to convince her that they and she are actually witches, Lily wonders what kind of place she’s come home to.
What a fun, entertaining start to this new witchy mystery series! Lily is smart and snarky and funny. I especially liked her great-grandmother, Adriana, and their snappy exchanges. Lily and Adriana are very alike even though they are generations apart and have been separated for most of Lily’s life. I look forward to more interaction between the two in future books, especially as Lily begins to come to grips with her new-found witchy powers.
I liked that the romantic plotline is still at the beginning stages. Lily doesn’t just jump at the first pretty face. (There are choices!) And there is tension from her not knowing who she can trust and who has hidden motives or agendas. This was entertaining in this book, and I think it will be fun to see where this goes in future ones.
The town of Sweet Briar is full of surprises and engaging characters, and it is depicted as Small Town USA. Everyone knows everyone else, their background, and most of their secrets. And there are a lot of secrets to tease out in this story and exciting possibilities for love interests as well. All the mysteries that arise are not resolved in this book, leaving room for future novels in the series.
I recommend this book for cozy mystery readers that enjoy elements of magic, witches, and witchcraft in their stories.
I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving a free copy.
I enjoyed reading it. It was a fun fast read and kept me reading until I finished it. Hope to see more by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I am enjoying this new series. Bettina M Johnson has done an excellent job of developing her characters. I especially love the MC who is spunky and humorous. I love the storyline and found myself laughing aloud several times throughout reading it. I cannot wait for the next installment in the series. I hope there are many more to come!
Lily Sweet, a young, somewhat naive sleuth and budding witch, tries to solve a decades old crime and uncovers a complicated set of clues that point down diverging paths. Just when you figure it out, you discover you’re wrong. Rethink, repeat, wrong again. Then, all is reveled, only there are loose ends. Great hook for multiple future paths in follow on stories. Keeps your attention. A new author worth watching!
When it comes to reading there are quite a lot of things I like. However, I have an extra sweet spot for mysteries and I have an even sweeter spot when the mysteries are mixed with some paranormal elements. So, when I saw this book on BookSirens I was sold right away! This book mixes a girl discovering she’s a witch, a lost family and a murder mystery with starting anew in a new town. I didn’t doubt I’d enjoy it to the fullest.
And in a way the story contains everything that was promised. There are witches, there are bodies, there are loads of questions and very few answers and there is a determined dark witch discovering all this and her new self. It was quite exciting to discover this town, its dynamics and its inhabitants. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the loads of old feuds. I know for sure that there are another few skeletons waiting in closets for future books.
However, the setting also has one big downside and that’s the huge amount of characters the reader has to keep it up with. Lily is meeting her family for the first time, and it’s quite a big one, there are at least three handsome guys involved and then we have all the other inhabitants of the town we get to know. I will admit that it’s partly my issue that I’m terrible with names and keeping characters apart, but in this case I was truly overwhelmed. So many names and characters en relationships!
All those characters made the book seem a little chaotic at times and I’m afraid that Lily didn’t really make that better. I will say that this one is totally a me issue, but I would have enjoyed the book more if Lily had been a little more intelligent. A lot of dangerous situations could only happen because Lily wasn’t thinking. I’m all for curious characters in mysteries, but Lily wasn’t just curious, she was at times acting downright stupid.
It’s a fun read, but I’m afraid that the click I had hoped for was not there.
Home Sweet Witch is the first book in the Lily Sweet Mysteries series by Bettina M. Johnson.
Lily Sweet’s mother passes away and she is evicted. She gets a mysterious set of instructions from her mother’s attorney that takes her back to her hometown where she discovers her family and that she is a witch.
I really enjoyed this book. Lily’s sarcastic comments were so funny and spot on. There are a lot of great characters. It was really interesting watching Lily trying to come to terms with who she is when everyone else so readily accepts it.
I look forward to catching up on the rest of the series.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.