Tag: author C.P. Rider

Review: The Wolfing Hour (Smokethorn Paranormals  #4) by C. P. Rider

Rating: 5⭐️

From Book 1: “Thanks for your concern, but I don’t need your protection. I have a mystical cat, an unprincipled gnome with a violent streak, and I have my magic.”

Such an excellent series, my only regret being the wait time between releases. But its absolutely worth it as proved by the newest book in C. P. Rider’s Smokethorn Paranormals series, The Wolfing Hour.

In a series already bursting with thoughtfully crafted, complex and compelling storylines about multi dimensional damaged characters, this story took them all to new levels. 

Of betrayal, pain, loss, self discovery, recovery and revelation. New depths to their relationships and, of course, a cliffhanger of a twist in one or maybe two of the series plots. 

Never has the writing been better or more engrossing, able to pull the reader immediately into the story and the ongoing conflicts and never losing their interest. 

Betty’s character here undergoes an extraordinary transformative growth.  It’s startling and terrifying. To her, those characters around her and the readers who have come to know her. It’s truly a remarkable piece of her journey and the story.  And we’re not done yet. 

A thriller of an urban fantasy romance that’s absolutely amazing and satisfying in every way.   I’m highly recommending this series. And eagerly awaiting the next one to come. 

Cover design by The Book Brander

The Smokethorn Paranormals Series (5 book series):

Strike It Witch #1

Any Witch Wolf #2

Wicked Witch of the Wolf #3

The Wolfing Hour #4

Last Witch Effort #5 – July 31,2026

Buy link

        The Wolfing Hour: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 4

    

Blurb 

“Ah, Ronan. This witch is about to make your life a whole lot more complicated.”

Just when Betty Lennox thought she had a handle on her life—reconnected with her earth magic, brought the saguaros back from the dead, sexy alpha wolf sharing her bed—everything goes sideways.

Turns out she’s not just an earth witch. Thanks to dear old Grandpa Sexton, she’s got a demon side that’s tired of being locked away. A powerful and ruthless demon side with zero qualms about damage control when someone threatens her people. When Demon Betty takes the wheel, Witch Betty ends up doing morally questionable things like killing people who really, really need to die.

Meanwhile, Ronan’s birth father—Alpha Floyd Pallás, certified creep and all-around evil person—has kidnapped his sister to force him into submission. The pack is in chaos, shifters across the county are dying, and Betty’s running out of time to find her before the convocation where Ronan must challenge Floyd for the pack.

But here’s the thing about power-hungry wolves: they cheat. And here’s the thing about Betty: She won’t let the people she loves get hurt—even if it means embracing the monster within.

For fans of urban fantasy.

VC Group, LLC

Publication date

July 31, 2026

Accessibility

Learn more

Language

‎English

Simultaneous device usage

Unlimited

ISBN-13

978-1969799013

Book 5 of 5

The Smokethorn Paranormals Series

Review:  Wicked Witch of the Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 3 by C.P. Rider

Rating: 4.75⭐️

Wicked Witch of the Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 3 by C.P. Rider is absolutely my favorite and most satisfying read of this terrific series. 

When Betty’s friend, Bronwyn, asks her to investigate why Maya, a woman and close friend who had been seeking a divorce now has an odd personality and is content in her marriage.  Marriage to a male witch known to be problematic and in Bronwyn’s coven. 

Wicked Witch of the Wolf resolves a number of complex conflicts and character issues that have been long standing elements within the series. And it makes the book so compelling, satisfying and fascinating as it moves so many relationships forward.

The personal growth that Betty undergoes is enormous. That’s aligning with the magical power that comes from the knowledge and acceptance that she achieves here.  Betty’s stubbornness or resistance to acknowledge certain truths, a trait she’s been slowly working through, is a main element of her storyline. 

And the characters who have impacted her life in the past , here are the ones who will help her finally move forward. 

There’s so many layers to this book . So many threads, great characters, new and old, fantastic developments, and one or two where I just want to thump Ronan, as he’s still too much “controlling, save the weak women” figure.   Luckily, the women here are quick to tell him to knock it off, and they don’t need saving, and btw, they just saved him.   He, however, is in need of much change or growth. 

That may be coming next book. 

As always the mysterious omnipresent DJ with their on point selection of 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s rock music is fabulous. 

I need to know if each book has a complete set list. Awesome. 

Highly recommended and wish I had the next book now. 

Cover design by The Book Brander”

The Smokethorn Paranormals Series :

Strike It Witch #1

Any Which Wolf #2

Wicked Witch of the Wolf #3

The Wolfing Hour #4 – Nov 30,2025

Buy link

        Wicked Witch of the Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 3

    

Blurb 

“One thing, though. What was the last straw that made Maya file for divorce?”
“She told me Desmond said he was going to kill her.”

Betty Lennox, earth witch and paranormal investigator, has a whole slew of problems. Her magic is as finicky as a jackrabbit in the desert; the local werewolf alpha lurks around every corner, giving her death threats; and a certain sexy werewolf isn’t returning her calls.

What’s a witch to do? Focus on work.

Betty is hired to investigate a one-eighty personality change in a woman who was going to divorce her husband but suddenly loves him again. That’s suspicious by itself, but the fact that he’s a member of the local coven puts Betty on high alert.

With her team of allies—Ida, her BFF and a retired necromancer; Fennel, a magical cat, and Cecil, a homicidal garden gnome with a penchant for explosives—Betty digs deeper into the case and quickly realizes this deadly plan goes far beyond Maya’s marriage. She finds herself facing off with witches, shifters, and dark, arcane magic.

The good news? Betty finds unexpected new allies to join her crew and help her solve the case. The bad news? Some of them start disappearing. It’s up to Betty and her unreliable magic to find her friends, protect her client, and save Smokethorn as something wicked this way comes…

For fans of urban fantasy with a side of slow-burn romance.

  • Publisher: VC Group, LLC
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: May 31, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 302 pages
  • Book 3 of 4: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series

Review:  Any Witch Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 2 by C.P. Rider

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Any Witch Wolf was a terrific story in a number of ways. The first is that Rider did the unexpected in terms of moving the character’s development and the apparent storyline in new directions than I’d anticipated.

Instead of moving comfortably with Betty’s magic and her settled in the trailer park, Rider’s story has Betty’s painful struggles with her magic, her memories of her mother’s love and legacy, as well as the trailer park’s own story still vividly in place. 

Betty’s grief is being dealt with and shared with her friend, Ada, a retired necromancer living in the same trailer park, along with her familiar, a magical cat named Fennel and Cecil, a homicidal garden gnome.  

Rider’s dusty small town citizens, human and paranormal, are beautifully crafted. Each feels genuine and natural to their age and living circumstances, doesn’t matter if they’re elderly werewolves who like to garden or frisky otherworldly beings who end up in a black book of a missing Lothario werewolf, they are realistic and characters who we connect with. 

And when Betty is asked to find that missing werewolf, it becomes a funny, poignant journey we take with her. One of discovery through an older community very reflective of those around us. 

Of course this investigation is not the only storyline that’s being played out here. Sexton’s involved. As is Betty’s past. 

Any Witch Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 2 by C.P. Rider is another compelling read, setting up multiple dramatic plots for the next story to come. 

I can’t wait as I’m completely invested in this desert paranormal trailer community and Betty!

Highly recommended.

Great cover.

Cover design by The Book Brander

The Smokethorn Paranormals Series :

Strike It Witch #1

Any Which Wolf #2

Wicked Witch of the Wolf #3 – May 31,2025

Buy link

        Any Witch Wolf: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 2

    

Blurb 

“Promise you won’t do anything to put yourself in danger.”

“That’s not a promise I’m comfortable making. My partners are a delinquent gnome and a willing-accomplice magical cat. Plus, my best friend just bought a case of spelled wine from the witches in Sundance.”

Betty Lennox is an elemental witch in a desert town that gives Hades a run for its money in summer. Her magic is tied to the land under a paranormal seniors’ trailer park she inherited from her mother, land that hasn’t fully accepted her. Because of this, her power has become unpredictable, unreliable, and unbelievably inconvenient.

Small-town trailer parks don’t pay much, so when a job pops up to find a missing beta wolf—an octogenarian lothario with a shoebox of questionable toys and a little black book filled with juicy tidbits about the town’s senior ladies— she takes it. As Betty delves deeper into the investigation, she attracts the attention of a dangerous stalker and a deadly alpha wolf.

To track down the missing Casanova and avoid her enemies, she’ll need to rely on her partners—a magical cat named Fennel and Cecil, a homicidal garden gnome with a penchant for explosives—her retired necromancer best friend, a graveyard demon she doesn’t trust, and the sexy-as-sin son of her worst enemy.

For fans of urban fantasy with a side of slow-burn romance.

  • Publisher: VC Group, LLC (January 31, 2025)
  • Publication date: January 31, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 307 pages

Review:  Strike It Witch: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 1 by C.P. Rider

Rating:4.5⭐️

“Thanks for your concern, but I don’t need your protection. I have a mystical cat, an unprincipled gnome with a violent streak, and I have my magic.” Betty Lennox

In my quest for writers and books with new approaches to their main characters and the tropes I enjoy reading, this is a great new find that I can’t wait to share. 

Although the author is a popular writer, C.P. Rider is new to me. The Smokethorn Paranormals is the first series I’ve read by Rider and all its characters and elements have struck a chord with me.  

Starting with the main character of Betty Lennox, a grief torn earth witch, living in a 19 ft Airstream trailer in the paranormal seniors’ trailer park she inherited from her mother.  Betty’s curvaceous, dark-haired reflective of her Mexican heritage, and trying to leave her desert hometown of Smokethorn, California.  But she has to honor her mother’s wishes and legacy and find the right earth witch to buy the property. 

From the paranormal senior citizens in living in the trailer park, beautifully realized and hilariously depicted in a number of scenes, to the desert area around her, the location feels fresh and authentic. A vibrant new world for a series and group of extraordinary characters. That extends to the town itself. 

Rider’s Betty Lennox is a woman so consumed by her loss that she doesn’t even realize how it’s caused her to become stuck in life, a kind of limbo.  Unable to move forward however she tries.  It’s a powerful portrayal of love, loss and grief.  And magic. 

For it’s magic or its absence that a clear sign of loss and grief. 

Betty’s friends, one of whom is a retired necromancer in her eighties, Ada, 

Cover design by The Book Brander”

The Smokethorn Paranormals Series :

Strike It Witch #1

Any Which Wolf #2

Wicked Witch of the Wolf #3 – May 31,2025

Buy link

        Strike It Witch: The Smokethorn Paranormals Series Book 1

    

Blurb 

“Thanks for your concern, but I don’t need your protection. I have a mystical cat, an unprincipled gnome with a violent streak, and I have my magic.”

Betty Lennox is an elemental witch on a mission to leave her desert hometown of Smokethorn, California, for good. But first, she needs to sell the property she inherited from her mother to someone who, among other things, doesn’t mind living in a paranormal seniors’ trailer park in a town where it’s so hot in summer that the local demons head back to Hades to cool off.

She’s also running low on cash to keep up the protection spell on the park. When she’s offered a job to procure a cursed grimoire, one so dangerous the local coven won’t touch it, she takes it. Even though the job comes from a vicious wolf alpha who won’t rest until she’s dead.

To get the grimoire and keep her soul, she’ll have to lean on her partner—a magic cat named Fennel—Cecil, a homicidal garden gnome, a graveyard demon, her retired necromancer best friend, and her second-least favorite bartender in town, who also just happens to be the wolf alpha’s son.

If they can manage to work together without killing each other, Betty just might survive.

For fans of urban fantasy with a side of slow-burn romance.

  • Publisher: VC Group, LLC (October 30, 2024)
  • Publication date: October 30, 2024
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 264 pages