A bakehouse in the making. A dangerous ghost in the tower. Will their welcome to the neighborhood be short-lived? Imogen wants nothing more than to complete her sweet dream. With her adoring fiancé Hank at her side, the witch and her friends dive into renovations for their new home and soon-to-be bakery. But all their efforts seem futile when they wake to find the house eerily ripped apart all … ripped apart all over again…
As Imogen examines her humble abode’s shady history, she discovers evidence for a malevolent spirit living inside. But with less-than-welcoming neighbors keeping a close, suspicious watch, she wonders if it’s not the dead but the living who pose the biggest threat…
Will Imogen root out the culprit, or will her culinary future collapse under the weight of an unsolved murder?
Eclairs, Scares & Haunted Home Repairs is the ninth book in the charming Spells & Caramels paranormal cozy mystery series. If you like lovable characters, chilling twists, and enchanting adventures, then you’ll love Erin Johnson’s marvelous tale.
Buy Eclairs, Scares & Haunted Home Repairs to solve a magical whodunit today!
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I still find it difficult to believe Erin Johnson has already published nine books in this series over an eighteen-month period. What’s even more surprising is how amazing the entire set of stories have been to date. It’s rare an author can keep your interest for such a lengthy period of time, but Johnson has definitely accomplished that task with the Spells & Caramels Cozy Witch Mysteries. Today, I’m reviewing the ninth one–Eclairs, Scares & Haunted Home Repairs–for a blog tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours.
If you’ve never read the series, here’s what you need to know: Imogen is an American baker who accidentally causes a fire and is visited by someone telling her she’s a witch. From that point on, she’s magically whisked away to a foreign land where her entire world changes. Over each book, she learns more about her magical relatives, the different types of kingdoms, and the trouble brewing for the future. After leaving her fiance’s kingdom mid-series, Imogen and her friends begin remodeling a house only to find out it’s haunted. A dead body in the form of a ghost appears, and neighbors don’t want her to renovate. Who killed the guy years ago? What does a kooky witch in the woods really want from Imogen? When will they get back home?
All these questions are answered in this story because there is only one more left to close the chapter on an amazing series of books. Although it might be a disappointment to see it end, I’m confident the author will pen another brilliant series. If you’ve not read any of these books, please read them in order. It will be worth it. I love the cross between fantasy and realism, magic and reality, mystery and romance. There is a bit of everything with lots to enjoy. Congrats on another successful book!
4.5/5 stars
I’ve mentioned in reviews before that one of the beauties of this series is that it more or less forms a continuous arc. Each book delivers a complete mystery with all pertinent questions resolved; and ties up at least one loose end from previous stories but I imagine the big finale and the answers to any outstanding questions await us in Book 10.
Mystery: Is the new house really haunted? And if it is, is it by the ghost of the missing and presumed dead Daichi?
The clues are well-laid out and fun to piece together. There are several suspects, all with compelling motives and adequate opportunity. The red herrings are well-placed and the pacing of the story is good. I was able to figure out the culprit before then end but there were still questions I got answered during the big reveal.
Just a reminder that this is a series best read in order as while the mystery is complete and contained in this novel, the greatest enjoyment comes from piecing bits together for the overall series arc.
The characters are just as wonderfully zany and endearing as ever. Annie finding a ‘love interest’ was just one of the cutest set of scenes. The friendship that binds this group is as strong as ever and a delight to read. Work on the house and their plans for it are pretty cool. I wonder how that will play out…?
The real growth in here is how everyone’s relationship with Horace evolves. They’re still weary of him but willing to give him a second or maybe even third chance!
Horace is probably one of my favourite cozy characters as he’s neither all good nor really all that bad. I’m interested to see what eventually comes of him.
Old friends reunite and new ones seal their bonds. I can’t wait for the ultimate unfolding of this imaginative and intriguing series.
*I received a free copy of this book which I voluntarily chose to write an honest review for.
What a fun addition to this adorable series. Imogen and friends are trying to make themselves a home in the island with the house they were given. The problem is that it comes with a load of problems as well as a decade old mystery. Wonderful world building really brings the story to life. Multiple things going on moves the story along as each new tidbit is revealed. That ending was really a surprise. An entertaining read for fans of the genre. I really liked it so I give it 4/5 stars.
Book 9 in this ten book series. Hank and Imogen get started renovating their new old-house. But is it possible that there’s a curse? Or a ghost? Who is undoing all the work they’ve done, and why?
It’s great to be back with the baker crew and their new friends, now located in the Badlands. This book finds them with a big project and a lot of problems. Are they up to these tasks? You’ll need to listen to find out, but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audio book, and I highly recommend it.
I received an Audible code for this book from the author. While I thank her for her generosity, it had not effect on this review. All opinions in this review reflect my true and honest reactions to reading this book.
Love that the author has kept true character for the next book. Love the cheeky statements, I feel like I’m reading story and dialogue as if I’m among friends so refreshing!
Can’t wait to read the next book!
Good book for tweens-to young adults.
This review is for the audio book.
Oh Wow, I just love this series!!! And each book just gets better and better. I use to think it was the great characters that made it so enjoyable and don’t get my wrong because there are still great but with this book you get a mystery, action, ghosts, witches, monster attacks, even romance everything you need to make a great story and all of it woven in a solid plot with good humorous dialog. Each book is very different from the last and you are never sure In which direction the author will take the story next, other than it will contain magic, a mystery and be highly entertaining and one I series that I can’t recommend enough. I just can’t get enough of this series and am eagerly awaiting the next book.
Hank has brought him and the rest of the bakers a house to live in and to turn into a bakery, the only problem is the house is haunted so nobody has lived in it for years. And the way it is going nobody might now, by morning all there hard work cleaning the place up is undone and graffiti sprayed everywhere telling them to get out. But is it really the work of a ghost? There protection spells have no effect on the house and with its checked past it might just take a bit more than wand waving. The gang turn to a necromancer for help but even the strange little old lady has a past with the spooky house. Will they every be able to live in there new house and with the crow’s anger with them do they really want to? The only way forward is to look into the past and find out what really happened on the night the storm arrived and a monster attacked the train.
I really like the narrator, she is so lively and full of excitement when she reads this books that you can’t help but feel that excitement along with her and she pulls you into the story with her and the monster sound effects help too.
Can Imogen and her friends solve the mystery of the haunted house they are rebuilding? A new dangerous adventure in the Badlands with a twist at the end. great audiobook
I am always happy to be back in this world for another adventure with Imogen and her friends. And despite some issues I have with the stories, they are just so fun and I always enjoy reading them. And I love Iggy. I really like these characters and the mysteries and the fun atmosphere these books have with a tinge of magic.
In this book the characters have bought a house, but something is not right. Strange things are happening and they have to figure out what’s going on. What happened in the house? Why did the previous owners left? What’s the whole story? Is the house haunted? What is causing all these strange phenomena? There is a lot to figure out. The story started off a bit slow at first in my opinion, but that’s mostly because their progress gets undone every time and that was just frustrating to read about and I didn’t get why they wouldn’t first figure out what’s going on before putting more time and money (not sure how they can afford all these repairs anyway) in it.
Slowly the pieces of the puzzle start to come together, what’s going on with the house and more information about the previous owners comes to light. There is a great twist toward the end and I liked the way all those little hints we got throughout the story fall on their place. I really liked that reveal. I did however found it strange that in a magical community no one ever thought of the thing that what was causing part of the troubles. And for a group of witches they also seemed awfully afraid of ghosts. But even with those issues, I thought it was an entertaining story and it kept my attention. The addition of the crows/ ravens also was interesting and while their change was a bit fast it was clear the author did her research about these animals.
The whole series follows this tight group of characters that grows with each book, they seem to pick up new friends everywhere. But it’s easy to remember who is who and every character has their place and their own personality. There is some relationship drama for the side characters. There are some some new characters and familiar ones that play a role in the story. And it’s just so fun to watch these characters all interact with each other.
I am still not sure what to think of the ending. This is exactly what I wanted to see happen in book 7, but now we’re 3 books further and that plot line is obviously forgotten. They have made their home here and settled and it’s clear the series just took a different direction after book 6. But now suddenly part of that forgotten plot line pop up again and I am not sure whether to be interested or not. Mostly I just think the book could’ve ended here with book 8 or the story should’ve continued with the main plot earlier. I am not sure, I feel conflicted about the whole thing. And I really didn’t like how Hank and Imogen went along with someone else their plans. It just rubbed me wrong as this is about them, not others. Ah well we’ll see what I think of book 10.
I like how the author incorporated the magic and paranormal world in this series, but there also seems to be some inconsistencies here and there. There are some things I would’ve expected a magical community to treat differently and someone could’ve used a spell for a certain something and didn’t and we even know that exact spell exists. Sometimes I still have a hard time figuring out how everything works. We suddenly find out there’s such a thing as necromancer, but is this just a different type of witch or what? It doesn’t really gets explained and explored as much as I like, but at the same time the whole series is just so fun to read. And I do like all those little touches about how magic comes in handy in their daily life, all those little hints are a lot of fun.
To summarize: I had a lot of fun reading this book. There is just something so fun about this series. I like the tight group of characters we follow in this series and the mysteries and adventures they land in the middle of. I do have some issues with things that happen in the book, but even so I enjoyed reading this book. The mystery is quite interesting in this one and I liked the reveal at the end and how everything suddenly fell on it’s place. The start did feel a bit slow as they don’t make much progress on the house. There also was something related to the house which seemed like a magical community should’ve been able to discover much earlier. And everyone is surprisingly afraid of ghosts. There are some minor things that didn’t quite make sense or aren’t explained as well as I would’ve liked. The overall story is awesome tough and it’s fun to read. I like the characters and reading about them. I am still not sure what to think of the ending, this is an event I wanted 3 books ago, not now and now it just feels like it doesn’t fit with the change of tone form the last few books. We’ll see what I think of it in book 10. Which is the last book in the series, it will be sad to say goodbye to these characters.
Who wants to live in a haunted house?! Imogen and crew, that’s who! Okay… not exactly. But Hank wanted a place they could all live together and the Kusuri council decided to gift them a house. The most haunted, dilapidated house in town. They they get to work, hope high. Day one of renovations and Imogen and Iggy get the scariest welcome ever. And it only goes downhill from there. Rumors of the ghost being the reason the house is in such disrepair have been rampant for 10 years. Since the homes last owner disappeared and was assumed dead by everyone. So, between rumors of ghosts, necromancers who love to taxidermy, people in town who don’t want a rival bakery and more secrets than anyone has a right to keep, there is action in this book. I love that it’s totally believable and I can see it being real. Even the magic, curses, vampires, and befriending of natures animals. The undercurrent of romance between the characters is just that. An undercurrent. Not too sappy, but not something you’re bound to miss as you read either. The story is woven perfectly with mystery, romance, realism and fantasy. My favorite characters are Iggy (of course! Who doesn’t love a seriously sarcastic little flame?!) and Horace, who has charisma and badassery seeping from his pores. He is the most real character in the way he acts and reacts. But then, I’ve always loved a good… villain? 😉 The ending leaves you with a taste of what’s to come. The storm, I think, is going to be a rough one. I can’t wait to see how it ends!
Will Imogen and her friends figure out why their house is haunted?
Eclairs, Scares and Haunted Home Repairs by Erin Johnson reminds me of one of the home improvements shows on HGTV. Well if the houses kept on undoing the changes that they were doing. Each time I read one of these books by Ms. Johnson I feel as though I am hanging out with my friend. Then when I am finished, I end up missing the characters and story.
What I like:
• Imogen in this one is even more sassy and funny than before. I enjoyed seeing that part of her especially when she had to deal with the house issues.
• The way Hank wants to make sure that everyone is on board with the house whenever something comes up that he didn’t expect to happen.
• The way Horace just comes in to check up on them.
• I love the mystery in this one since it was so unexcepted but so cool at the same time.
• Iggy was terrific in the way that he let his comments slide out and some other parts that I can’t say.
What I don’t like:
I didn’t like the way that no one was giving them straight answers regarding things that were happening. Another thing that I didn’t like was Madam Shi she’s a scary person. That walkway to her house and the poor taxidermied animals were freaky.
What I’m curious about:
I am interested to see if Imogen and her friends will return to the Badlands Island or stay in their home country again? I kind of want them to return to the Badlands as they seemed happy there.
Five Star
Eclairs, Scares and Haunted Home Repairs by Erin Johnson was a great book, and I can’t wait for more. I am a little sad that Ms. Johnson will be wrapping up the series in the next book. I am giving this book a five-star rating as it was an awesome read.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Book 9 in this quirky series!
I find this series so my much fun. I love al the characters and I think this story is the best one yet. Our bakers have bought/been gifted a house that will become their bakery. But bad things start to happen. Is it haunted or does someone just want them to leave? Or some of each? Plenty of twists in this one to keep you guessing! Can’t wait for the next book!
I received an ARC. This is my honest review,
This one had me chanting yes! Until the end. Imogen was robbed. Even though I have never been on team instalove Hank, she was finally getting some great things. This book has a great mystery, I loved the play out of the killer, and all the high-jinks leading up to it. But now, ugh. I so so so hope the next book doesn’t disappoint by making them live happily ever after in the wrong community. Overall this is the best one yet, I say that with each read, but seriously, I was sad/mad/joyous, all throughout the book. I love these characters, and their crazy quirks. Once this series wraps up it would be fun to explore, books from other characters point of views. Especially Horace!