Review : Tea and Tarot: Crossroads Queen Side Quest (A Cozy Urban Fantasy Novel) by Annabel Chase

Rating: 4.5⭐️

I absolutely love this story. Tea and Tarot is a side story in Annabel Chase’s completed and fantastic urban fantasy Crossroads Queen series.

It does help to have read that series to have a firm understanding of these characters and a foundation for their histories , the town and world building. Honestly, this makes me want to pick up that series and start over again.

That said, this is a wonderful story. We dive right back into the town and characters by way of the wonderful Tarot Mages we got to know in the Crossroads Queen series.

The fabulous cousins Camryn Sable and Gunther “ Gun” Saxon, and Indigo Briggs, all three former members of La Fortuna, a secret and ancient society of mages skilled in the art of tarot magic. Now along with Claude, the revenant, they are residing in Fairhaven. Cam and Gun are private investigators and , the focus of this story, Indigo, is trying to open a tea shop.

But Indigo is having trouble getting started launching her business. Then another mage appears with a surprise business proposal. Boone Fincher needs a fake fiancée that his strict ill father will approve of so Boone can get his inheritance.

Yes, it’s a fake fiancée trope storyline. And it works so well here. Chase has crafted a wonderful narrative with a great relationship between Indigo and Boone that’s got chemistry, vulnerability and shared background damage.

There’s also a side plot about Indigo’s past history, a dramatic event that comes back to haunt her and how that involves many other important characters from the Crossroads Queen series that just makes this even better and adds layers to Indigo’s story and her future adventures.

I really hope this is just the beginning of more stories like this in the Crossroads series universe. I adore the characters so much.

Highly recommended.

Crossroads Queen (9 book series)

Tea and Tarot: Crossroads Queen Side Quest

Cover design by Jenny Zemanek

Buy link

amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comTea and Tarot: Crossroads Queen Side Quest: Chase, Annabel – Urban Fantasy Novel

Blurb

She walked away from the life she was born to live. Now she has one chance to build the life she’s always wanted.

Indigo Briggs was one of the most feared tarot mages in the business—until a job went wrong and she walked away from it all. Now she’s in Fairhaven, a quirky supernatural town with secrets of its own, trying to build something quieter: a tea shop, a fresh start, and a life she might actually deserve.

The only problem? Her new venture needs funding she doesn’t have.

Enter Boone Fincher—charming, infuriatingly handsome, and in desperate need of a fake fiancée. His father’s will requires him to marry a mage with a powerful lineage, and Boone is running out of time. The arrangement is strictly business: Indy gets the money she needs, Boone gets his inheritance, and when it’s over, they part ways.

Simple.

Except nothing about this is simple. Between a blind vampire with unsettling insight, a revenant who likes to lend a hand, a mysterious bone monster that wanders through the crossroads, and a ghost from her old life determined to unravel everything she’s built, Indy is starting to suspect the universe has a plan she didn’t envision.

Then the past she thought she’d escaped comes looking for her, and Indigo must decide whether she’s willing to risk everything for the future she’s finally begun to imagine—one that includes a love that was never supposed to be real.

Tea and Tarot is a Crossroads Queen Side Quest Novel—an enchanting cozy urban fantasy standalone with fake dating, witty banter, found family, and the slow-burn realization that happily-ever-afters are worth believing in.

Red Palm Press LLC

Publication date

September 17, 2026

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Review: Pumpkin Spice Spells (Witchcakes #1) by Sara Bourgeois

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

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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

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Witchcakes

Review: Maple Muffin Magic (Witchcakes prequel) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 3⭐️

I’m a absolute fan of author Sara Bourgeois and am reading several of her terrific series right now , from a paranormal murder mystery set in a small mysterious town in the Arizona desert (a real favorite) to another unfolding in a witchy town of Cauldron Hollow. So when I see yet another book, the first one in a new series, yes, I immediately pick it up.

Especially when the cover is ablaze with fall colors and elements. Hooked.

That said, I don’t find I was as connected to the story and characters here as I was with the other series. Bourgeois loves a woman who is in the process of restarting her life. Whether it’s because she’s been fired from her job, or because her relationship has gone downhill, whatever the reason, she’s needing a jumpstart to a new stage in her life.

And the plot gifts her with a shop or something from a deceased relative, fill in who it is, and what it is, that allows the woman to relocate and begin again. With new powers. And a familiar.

Here it’s a bakery , a cat familiar, a magical town that leans into its reputation, and Ivy Merriweather returning to Harvest Hollow where Ivy takes over her aunt’s bakery shop, Witchcakes and Nutmeg, the aunt’s familiar.

Of course, soon after, there’s a murder, several mysteries to investigate, and recipes to bake for the next festival.

The friends that Ivy have in town make a nice foundation for the main character to settle into but the slow burn romance aspect is nonexistent here. You can see where the author wants to build the storyline but it’s a real stretch right now.

This is a nice outline at best. I feel her other series have better depth and deeper layering, even at the beginning.

Witchcakes (3 book series)

Maple Muffin Magic

Pumpkin Spice Spells #1

Apple Cider Charms #2

Sugar Cookies Sorcery #3

Buy Link

Amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.comMaple Muffin Magic (Witchcakes) – Kindle edition by Bourgeois, Sara. Mystery, Thriller …

Blurb

Welcome to Harvest Hollow, where the ovens are warm, the magic is old, and one chonky orange cat has already decided who belongs.

Ivy Merriweather only came back to Harvest Hollow to settle her grandmother’s affairs and decide what to do with Witchcakes. Clean the bakery. Make a plan. Leave before anyone calls it a homecoming.

Then she finds an orange cat sleeping in a proofing basket like he owns the place.

Nutmeg is nosy, bossy, underfoot, and somehow always exactly where he should not be. He is also determined to help Ivy reopen Witchcakes for Harvest Hollow’s fall market, whether she asks for his help or not.

But when Rosemary Merriweather’s signature harvest spice tin vanishes, small acts of sabotage start piling up. Someone makes it very clear that they do not want Witchcakes back in business, and Ivy realizes that her return may have upset more than just the “official bakery cat”.

To save the business, survive the market, and solve the mystery of who is trying to push her out, Ivy will have to trust her instincts, trust her magic, and trust the ridiculous orange menace currently sitting on her recipe cards.

August 8, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

106 pages

Review: It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death Book 1) by Robyn Peterman

Rating: 4.5⭐️

There’s multiple books and series about middle aged women (and surprisingly that age varies wildly) who find themselves launched onto new paths and into new lives from many authors, now available to pick from. And in several different genres.

Some I enjoyed reading and others not so much.

It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death Book 1) by Robyn Peterman is a definite delight. While I’m not sure I agree with a woman in her early 40’s as middle aged these days, (there’s another series whose writer has it as late 30’s), the characters and stories are so well written, the dialogue crisp and fun, and the emotional depth real and relatable, well, it’s just a winner in every way.

There’s so many positive aspects to the story and characters that I read quickly through and started immediately into the second book.

It opens with Daisy, a widow of one year, immediately having a tough morning. It starts bad and turns worse when she finds a hand in her laundry basket.

That’s the opener. We learn she sees ghosts, they inhabit her house to an unsettling degree and her life’s a mess. The bright side of her life are her friends and her grandmother who lives in a nursing home.

That’s the bare bones of a fantastic story that will include a Grim Reaper, portals, KrazyGlue, ghosts, angels, her ex-husband, a paranormal romance, and strange pets, and wonderful relationships.

Each book ends with a cliffhanger that the next book will pick up on with a rehash of the last events. It flows smoothly which works perfectly as all the books of the series are available now to binge on. All sixteen of them!

Gram is a definite favorite but I can easily see that others will grow on me as the development here is excellent.

And because ghosts and life and death are a part of the story, just know that there will be some characters who will pass on as part of the plot.

That too is as it should be.

I am thrilled to have found this author and series. And now can share it with you. Another happy recommendation!

Cover design by JJ’s Design & Creations

Good To The Last Death (16 book series)

It’s A Wonderful Midlife Crisis #1

Whose Midlife Crisis Is It Anyway? #2

A Most Excellent Midlife Crisis #3

My Midlife Crisis, My Rules #4

You Light Up My Midlife Crisis #5

It’s A Matter of Midlife and Death #6

The Facts of Midlife #7

It’s A Hard-Knock Midlife #8

Run For Your Midlife #9

It’s A Hell of A Midlife #10

A Leaner Meaner Midlife #11

Having the Time of My Midlife #12

Someone Save My Midlife Tonight #13

Semi-Charmed Midlife #14

Got To Get You Into My Midlife #15

Spice Up Your Midlife #16

Buy link

Book 1 of 16: Good To The Last Death

Blurb

A Paranormal Women’s Fiction with a bit of class, and a lot of sass, for anyone who feels like age is just a number!

Whoever said life begins at forty must have been heavily medicated, drunk, or delusional.

Thirty-nine was a fantastic year. I was married to the man I loved. I had a body that worked without creaking. My grandma, who raised me, was still healthy, and life was pretty damned good.

But as they say, all good things come to an end. I’d honestly love to know who ’they’ are and rip them a new one. One year later, I’m a widow. My joints are starting to ache. Gram is in the nursing home, and dead people think my home is some kind of supernatural bed and breakfast. Gluing body parts onto semi-transparent people has become a side job—deceased people I’m not even sure are actually there. I think they need my help, but since I don’t speak dead, we’re having a few issues.

To add to the heap of trouble, there’s a new dangerously smokin’ hot lawyer at the firm who won’t stop giving me the eye. My BFF is thrilled with her new frozen face, thanks to her plastic surgeon, her alimony check, and the miracle of Botox. And then there’s the little conundrum that I’m becoming way too attached to my ghostly squatters… Like Cher, I’d like to turn back time. Now.

No can do.

Whatever. I have wine, good friends, and an industrial sized box of superglue. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything, apparently.

All in all, it’s shaping up to be a wonderful midlife crisis…

Robyn Peterman

Publication date

February 17, 2020

Language

‎English

Print length

394 pages

Book 1 of 16

Good To The Last Death

Review: A Killer Heart (The Cat Lady Chronicles Book 5) by Helen Harper

Rating: 4.75⭐️

I just love Helen Harper’s The Catherine Lady Chronicles and this might be my favorite book of the series so far.

In A Killer Heart we finally get to explore more of cat sith Kit McCafferty’s history, both her dangerous past and her current life’s work with MET, the Magical Enforcement Team,besides Captain Montgomery.

Kit’s past history as an assassin has often been referenced in other stories but here it’s an integral part of the book. The EEL, or Eagle Enforcers and Liquidators where Kit was employed and later retired from after 20 years as an assassin, is under attack.

And whoever is targeting the people who work or worked there are harming others around them, innocents, as well as. Kit is immediately involved, both as a secretly retired assassin and as someone who is working with the MET, who is investigating the attacks.

This is a great story. Kit is trying to balance her life, her past family as a EEL assassin and her new life in the Coldstream community which she’s embraced. Along with her new lone wolf boyfriend.

Harper is terrific at showing Kit in her multiple identities, cat sith, dangerous assassin , an older woman who’s body is being uncooperative when she needs it most, and the “harmless cat lady “ persona she uses when she’s trying to make herself look like a helpless woman. It always feels credible to the reader, valid and occasionally hilarious.

The cats remain as cat like as ever, intriguing and mysterious. I love them.

The investigation is a good one. And ends satisfactorily.

The book ending however, oh my. An hilarious cliffhanger of sorts. It’s not fair to have to wait until next year to see the outcome of this one!

An absolute delight of a book. Highly recommended. A romantic relationship with no spice is included.

Book Cover created by Covers By Juan

The Cat Lady Chronicles (6 books)

Waif and Strays #1

The Dark Hiss of Magic #2

A Skirl of Sorcery #3

Night Maze #4

A Killer Heart #5

Kith and Kin #6 – April 30, 2027

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A Killer Heart (The Cat Lady Chronicles Book 5)

Blurb

What happens when the hunters become the hunted?

Kit McCafferty is an upstanding citizen of the magical city of Coldstream.

She’s a good neighbour. She has a fabulous partner, an occasionally tidy home, and only a moderately alarming number of cats. Her days as a professional assassin with Eagle Enforcers and Liquidators are behind her. Or so she thinks.

When Kit volunteers to assist local law enforcement with crowd control, she comes face-to-face with her former life. Someone is trying to destroy EEL — the discreet but deadly firm of assassins she once called home — and they’re not concerned about collateral damage. They’re willing to raze Coldstream to the ground to finish the job.

Whoever is targeting EEL knows its inner workings and its secrets. Kit’s old friends and colleagues, as well as the citizens of Coldstream, are at risk. To stop blood from spilling onto the city’s glittering streets and shadowed alleyways, Kit must decide who she is now – a heroic citizen determined to protect her city or a stone cold killer.

Walking away from her past might not be an option.

This is the fifth book in the urban fantasy series The Cat Lady Chronicles. Expect magic, adventure and a whole lot of cats.

September 18, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

288 pages

Book 5 of 6

The Cat Lady Chronicles

Review: Veil of Doom (Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow #7) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 4⭐️

Veil of Doom was good but left too many questions about the plot and characters to be a really fully executed story. It just feels rushed.

It starts with everyone getting ready for Blythe to be walked down the aisle at her wedding. Last minute preparations are getting underway, everyone is there. Blythe’s best friend, Paine’s family is there and Adelma Stonehart, matriarch and head witch is acting uncharacteristically giving and gentle.

But soon there’s screaming and someone has been murdered. Adelma Stoneheart herself. And the wedding is over before it’s begun.

Trust the author to throw a twist right at the beginning. Adelma started the series as a sort of enemy/frenemy to Blythe or at least to her previous family members. But Adelma has slowly become more welcoming and supportive towards Blythe, especially after Blythe has become a close friend to her granddaughter. So to see Adelma murdered at the beginning was a shocker.

And then comes even more twists of events. One right after another.

No spoilers but there’s new characters. A resolution, of sorts, to an ongoing question about the house. And frankly, more questions raised than are answered here by the storylines.

It’s too fast paced to make sense and feel satisfying. It feels rushed, especially at the end.

It left me feeling like ok that happened, now where’s the rest of it?

And I didn’t get it. And we usually do .

So it’s a good or interesting storyline but not the best.

I’m looking forward to the next one to see what happens and if we get our questions answered.

A wild ride to be sure.

Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow (4 book series)

If the Hat Fits #1

Under The Hat #2

Hat Out of Spell #3

Hat Trick #4

Bear Many Hats #5

Drop of a Hat #6

Veil of Doom #7

Hats off To Boo #8 – Oct 31,2026

The Hat Before Christmas #9 – Dec 23,2026

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Review: Veil of Doom (Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow #7) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 4⭐️

Veil of Doom was good but left too many questions about the plot and characters to be a really fully executed story. It just feels rushed.

But soon there’s screaming and someone has been murdered. Adelma Stoneheart herself. And the wedding is over before it’s begun.

And then comes even more twists of events. One right after another.

No spoilers but there’s new characters. A resolution, of sorts, to an ongoing question about the house. And frankly, more questions raised than are answered here by the storylines.

It’s too fast paced to make sense and feel satisfying. It feels rushed, especially at the end.

It left me feeling like ok that happened, now where’s the rest of it?

And I didn’t get it. And we usually do .

So it’s a good or interesting storyline but not the best.

I’m looking forward to the next one to see what happens and if we get our questions answered.

A wild ride to be sure.

Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow (4 book series)

If the Hat Fits #1

Under The Hat #2

Hat Out of Spell #3

Hat Trick #4

Bear Many Hats #5

Drop of a Hat #6

Veil of Doom #7

Hats off To Boo #8 – Oct 31,2026

The Hat Before Christmas #9 – Dec 23,2026

Buy link

Blurb

You didn’t think there would be a wedding without a murder, did you?

Blythe Fairfield is finally getting her happy ending.

The dress fits. There’s a groom waiting. Even the cat is wearing a bow tie.

Then someone dies at her wedding.

Adelma Stonehart, matriarch of one of Cauldron Hollow’s oldest witch families, is found murdered before Blythe can complete her vows. By morning, most of the town has forgotten. Blythe can’t.

Nobody said “I do” yet. But somebody’s going to answer for this.

September 8, 2026

Language

‎English

Book 7 of 9

Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow

Blurb

You didn’t think there would be a wedding without a murder, did you?

Blythe Fairfield is finally getting her happy ending.

The dress fits. There’s a groom waiting. Even the cat is wearing a bow tie.

Then someone dies at her wedding.

Adelma Stonehart, matriarch of one of Cauldron Hollow’s oldest witch families, is found murdered before Blythe can complete her vows. By morning, most of the town has forgotten. Blythe can’t.

Nobody said “I do” yet. But somebody’s going to answer for this.

September 8, 2026

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Book 7 of 9

Wicked Witches of Cauldron Hollow

Review: Nobody Told Me Dragons use Libraries by Lindsey Devin

Rating: 4.5⭐️

I really enjoyed Nobody Told Me Dragons use Libraries by Lindsey Devin, the name a team of writers co author under.

This makes for an inconsistency in the writing by books I find listed under this name, however this story is worth reading.

It’s well paced, the characters are engaging and the dialogue is very cleverly executed. This is what i hope to get when I reach out for more of their content.

Librarian Artemis and Dragon Arthur are both very endearing and relatable characters. Each one has their own individual struggles with their respective parents, Artemis with her toxic relationship with her parents and Arthur with his memories of his father and his role as the head of the clan. How the authors are able to genuinely understand and express their love and respect for each other and their knowledge of literature is one of my favorite things about the book.

The relationship between Arthur and Artemis is believable and builds upon true feelings and a great dynamic between intelligent people who respect each other.

This is a low heat romance that waits until the end for any kind of romantic love.

There’s wonderfully endearing side characters that I could have enjoyed watching more of.

This was just lacking a bit of world building but overall it is a great paranormal romance and adventure story. Intelligent, engaging and very well written.

Highly recommended.

Buy link

amazon.comhttps://www.amazon.com › books › shop-nowNobody Told Me Dragons – Best Sellers & New Releases

Blurb

Nobody told her dragons use libraries.

Or that one of them would ruin her filing system and her entire life plan.

She’s the head librarian who alphabetizes her trauma.

He’s the dragon alpha who crash-landed into her carefully ordered world ten minutes before closing.

Neither expected a thunderstorm, an ancient mystery, or feelings too big to fit on an index card.

✨ Perfect for readers who love: cozy chaos, grumpy/sunshine energy, nerd x nerd fated mates, and dragons who say “please” when they destroy your cataloguing system ✨ and for all the AuDHD readers, pattern-brained people, and anyone who organises their feelings into a spreadsheet.

Special Fiction Books

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April 29, 2026

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Review: Tides of Betrayal (Witches of Willow Cove Book 2) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 4⭐️

Tides of Betrayal, the second book in the Witches of Willow Cove, is another excellent read. It has a great magical mystery that involves the community, increasing nightmares and possible curses.

Rowan Page, her familiar, Moss and all the other Willow Cove inhabitants who are starting to become involved with Rowan in her inherited bookstore, Quill & Tide, are really developing their own roles and engaging personalities. With their unique backgrounds and their involvement in the community as each new disaster unfolds.

I enjoyed this mystery and most of the magical aspects surrounding it. There was a few twists and the villain, while being blatant, was truly cold about the ramifications of their actions, not a morally grey character. Unusual for this kind of story.

My slight issues are with the Cal, the Sheriff who, had a history with Rowan’s aunt. Now he still figures only minutely into cases that have a high impact on the community. Cal has a strong sense of something extraordinary going on but leaves it alone.

Then there’s the librarian, Jude, whose personality is as problematic as his name. I find Jude unlikable. He’s that person that makes you think, hmmm, he’s was voted the last person picked for just about everything. Justifiably so.

I thought leaving the story with an even bigger mystery was a great idea. Loved it and can’t wait for the next book to come.

Witches of Willow Cove (2 book series)

A Novel Death #1

Tides of Betrayal #2

Buy link

Tides of Betrayal (Witches of Willow Cove Book 2)

Blurb

Rowan Page would like to believe things at Quill & Tide are finally settling down, but the books have other plans. When a prominent local collector dies in what looks like a tragic sleepwalking accident, Rowan notices something the police can’t explain.

People all over town are having nightmares.

Moss wants nothing to do with the cursed books turning up across Willow Cove, Aunt Oona’s ghost is more cryptic than helpful, and the closer Rowan gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that some old betrayals were never buried.

They were shelved.

July 20, 2026

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Witches of Willow Cove

Review: A Novel Death (Witches of Willow Cove Book 1) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 4.5⭐️

I love Sara Bourgeois’s many different paranormal murder mystery series, whether it’s situated in the Arizona desert mountains or in a small NW Pacific coastal town. Whether a woman has inherited a ghost filled desert ranch or a seaside bookstore or witchy herb shop that’s accompanied by a cat familiar, whatever the location or inheritance, the characters and community are intriguing, plot and character development well written, and the series one that expands into a ever deeper layered narrative and leads to wonderful relationships and even more mysteries.

This is our introduction to Rowan Page, her inherited bookstore, Quill & Tide, the familiar, cat Moss, and the very interesting seaside town of Willow Cove, where things are brewing. Murder and plenty of mystery to go around with the charm and quirky community.

Her aunt’s presence is still there, and magic is winding its way into Rowan’s life.

Bourgeois has, through her other series, kept her characters layered, even the murder mysteries, from victims to villains, have dimensions that have a reader feeling about them from multiple perspectives. There’s a sense of realness in their behaviors that makes us able to understand them, if not condone their actions.

Even for a urban fantasy or paranormal murder mystery novel, having the author write characters that a reader would find engaging and relatable, even while we laugh at the “nosiness” make this a series I can’t wait to continue.

Plus I want to visit any bookstore with the name Quill & Tide. I’m sold.

Another winner I’m happy to share.

Witches of Willow Cove (2 book series)

A Novel Death #1

Tides of Betrayal #2

Buy link

Book 1 of 2: Witches of Willow Cove

Blurb

Rowan Page has a plan.

It is not a good plan, but it is technically a plan. She’ll come to Willow Cove, sort out the seaside bookshop her late aunt left behind, sell the property before the money runs out, and move on with her life.

Quill & Tide has other ideas.

The shelves are beautiful but impossible to navigate. The bathroom mirror keeps leaving messages in her dead aunt’s handwriting. And Moss, the sea-glass gray cat who came with the building, keeps glowing every time someone lies.

Rowan would love to pretend all of that is normal.

Unfortunately, denial gets harder when a bestselling thriller author drops dead at the town’s Masques & Manuscripts festival, right in front of half the waterfront.

The police have a suspect. The town has gossip. Moss has strong feelings about everyone involved, most of them unflattering. And Rowan has questions she really should stop asking, especially once they lead to a stolen grimoire and secrets Aunt Oona apparently took to the grave.

Willow Cove is charming, magical, and very bad at minding its own business.

Rowan was supposed to sell the bookshop and leave.

Instead, she may have inherited a murder mystery and one extremely judgmental cat.

Publication date

June 15, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

213 pages

Book 1 of 2

Witches of Willow Cove

Review: The Bone Charm (The Haunted Ranch Mysteries #8) by Sara Bourgeois

Rating: 4.75⭐️

The Bone Charm brings the beautifully written paranormal mystery series , The Haunted Ranch Mysteries by Sara Bourgeois to a heartwarming, richly satisfying conclusion.

Through 8 books, nine of you count the prequel, Claire’s development starting from a woman who has fled failures in her life back in Chicago, fired from her job and dumped by her fiancé to arrive in a small town in Arizona and a ranch left to her by a aunt.

Slowly she’s accepted that the dusty, weird town of Perdido Springs and her desert life out on Whispering Saguaro Ranch is where she belongs. The ranch becomes an animal sanctuary in odd scenarios, each a memorable character themselves and, the ranch is inhabited by ghosts, fully realized and completely a part of Claire’s life and the series.

Each book has a murder mystery, the casualty one that leaves a wound upon the community in multiple ways. Physically and emotionally and metaphysically damaging the magic that surrounds the desert and town.

That happens here.

The townspeople, like Buddy Kern feel incredibly real, as part of the landscape that the author describes so realistically and with such great detail. They’re believable in their crustiness and weariness from the everyday realities of ranch life in the heat of the desert.

And don’t get me started on how much I love Oso the livestock guardian dog lost in his grief while still watching his flock.

The thoughtful investigation, the way the case was resolved, both of them, because there was several aspects to this particular murder mystery that needed to be finalized.

And Sara Bourgeois brought Clair’s journey to a close with her role being tied to her land and town in a way that makes sense. She’s grown and become grounded, by her ranch, the animals, the land itself. And her magic has evolved as she has.

The end acknowledges her journey, her growth, and her future there. It’s all tied up together beautifully. And I’ve feel so thrilled and happy for this series to end like this.

One of my favorites. Highly recommended. As is the author.

The Haunted Ranch Mysteries (8 book series)

Last Call in Chicago #0.5 prequel

Death Rides The Desert #1

Bones and Cactus Blooms #2

Spirits of the Saguaro #3

Tombstones with a View #4

Body Beneath the Wither #5

Death Waits at Dead Rock #6

Skulls and Sunlit Secrets #7

The Bone Charm #8

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Book 8 of 8: The Haunted Ranch Mysteries

Blurb

Claire Caldwell’s life at Whispering Saguaro Ranch is never quiet. Between escape-artist goats, a rooster with a personal grudge against her wedding ring, and a spirit fox who disappears every night on business of his own, she’s learned to expect trouble in feathers, fur, or both.

Then Socorro Vega, the elderly herb seller from the farmers market, is found dead on a desert trail.

The county blames the heat. Claire might have believed them if she hadn’t gone to rescue Socorro’s goats and her grieving Great Pyrenees, Oso. One touch of a carved bone charm in Socorro’s kitchen shows Claire what really happened. A dark room. Hands pressed over an old woman’s face. A desperate voice begging her to sign a piece of paper.

Plenty of people wanted what Socorro owned. Her forty acres include one of the last live springs in a drying valley. Her handmade charms are worth a fortune to the right collector. Even her closest relative has debts he can’t outrun. Unfortunately, the sheriff has already closed the case, and visions from a dead woman’s necklace aren’t evidence.

While Claire and her friends search for something they can prove, Perdido Springs begins coming apart in ways no one can explain. Animals panic without cause. Lights wander through the cemetery. Ghostly cowboys flee into the desert. Socorro wasn’t simply gathering herbs all those years. She was tending a hidden boundary around the town, and her murder left part of it wide open.

Finding Socorro’s killer is only the beginning. If Claire can’t finish the work Socorro died protecting, whatever is pressing against that broken boundary may soon find its way through.

July 28, 2026

Language

‎English

Print length

154 pages

Book 8 of 8

The Haunted Ranch Mysteries

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