Rating: 3.5⭐️
I made the mistake of reading this without reading the prequel, Magic Muffin Magic, and felt that Pumpkin Spice Spells was decidedly lacking in background knowledge and in world building for the story to make sense and the reader to feel any connection.
After I backtracked and read the prequel and got up to speed, Pumpkin Spice Spells was a better story. Ivy’s new start in her deceased aunt’s bakery in Harvest Hollow is slowly becoming her own, venturing into her own recipes and making her own mistakes, all with the help of her best friends and Nutmeg.
The rest of the town is still vague in community and shops, details of which I’m sure the author will fill in as events happen. But it’s the town inhabitants and descriptions that give the reader a glimpse into its own character and a sense of “identity “ that small towns have about them.
So far that’s lacking here. Surprising in a book that is very wordy. It’s too “told to” and not enough, ambiance, I guess to make up for it. Something is missing here, and I’m finding it hard to figure out what.
Whatever it is that is the missing ingredient, it’s what is keeping me from being 100 percent engaged in the lives of the people here and the storyline. I’m just too removed emotionally to care about the mystery and the characters involved.
Surprising in a novel by this author.
I’ll keep reading, you never know.
Lick it up and check it out for yourself.
Witchcakes (3 book series)
Maple Muffin Magic #0.5
Pumpkin Spice Spells #1
Apple Cider Charms #2
Sugar Cookies Sorcery #3
Buy Link
Pumpkin Spice Spells (Witchcakes Book 1)
Blurb
Welcome to Harvest Hollow, where the pastries are sweet, the magic is real, and murder is always bad for business.
Ivy Merriweather never planned to come home. But when life in the city goes up in flames, she returns to Harvest Hollow to help save her family’s bakery, Witchcakes, just in time for the town’s busiest season… Halloween.
Between pumpkin spice cupcakes, enchanted recipes, and a chonky orange cat named Nutmeg who is far more trouble than help, Ivy already has enough on her plate.
Then a member of the Halloween festival committee is found dead behind the bakery, and suddenly all eyes are on Witchcakes.
The police chief is more interested in keeping the peace than solving a murder. The town rumor mill is working overtime. And Ivy’s kitchen magic keeps warning her that the wrong person is about to get away with it.
To clear her name, protect her bakery, and keep Harvest Hollow’s spookiest season from turning deadly, Ivy will have to follow the crumbs, trust her instincts, and hope Nutmeg does not destroy the evidence first…
September 15, 2026
Accessibility
Learn more
Language
English
File size
527 KB
Screen Reader
Supported
Enhanced typesetting
Enabled
X-Ray
Not Enabled
Word Wise
Enabled
Print length
225 pages
Page Flip
Enabled
Book 1 of 3
