Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates Series: A Magical Bakery Mystery #1
Published by Signet on May 1st, 2012
Genres: Paranormal Mystery
Goodreads
EASY BAKE COVEN
Katie Lightfoot's tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her aunt Lucy and uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah's quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.
While working at the Honeybee Bakery—named after Lucy's cat—Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren't just tasty—Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!
When a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben's name and find the real killer..
Brownies & Broomsticks was exactly the palate cleansing, kind of book I needed before the Summer Lovin’ read-a-thon started. I knew going in from the blurb and the cover (yes I’m a cover judger) that this book would be light, funny, and easy to get through. And of course I was right and modest!
Brownies & Broomsticks is the uncomplicated story of Katie who, after being dumped by her fiancé, decides to move from Akron, OH to Savannah, GA to open a bakery with her Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ben. Not too much right? Well a wrench is thrown into Katie’s “new life” plan when a woman (who is a straight bee-atch!) is killed outside the bakery only days before the grand opening. Now I know most of you are all but Octavia, there’s no such thing as bad publicity! The death will probably help the bakery. And you’re right. Except for one tiny detail. The police believe that Uncle Ben is the murderer!
Bum bum BAHHHHH
Two seconds later Aunt Lucy’s “book club” is pouring into the bakery to see if they can help get Uncle Ben out of trouble. Not because they’re lawyers (well Jaida is) but because their WITCHES! And so. is. KATIE!!
What a SCANDAL!
But you know what? It wasn’t an overly done scandal and I love that it wasn’t all denial and danger. Yes, Katie of course tried to rebel against such a nutso idea, but she couldn’t ignore the truth in the signs, and that’s what I loved most about this book. Too often in paranormal fiction do we come a cross a MC who is “special” but fights it tooth and nail. Even though there is a giant flashing neon sign above their head that say “Yeah I’m special! I can do cool stuff!”. Katie asked questions like a rational person and didn’t fight the obvious signs that maybe her aunt and that crazy “book club” of her’s was right.
Of course there was more to like than just this fantastic display of common sense and logic; like each and EVERY character. Besides Katie, Uncle Ben and Aunt Lucy the supporting characters were an amazing addition that not once relied on one of the main characters to prop them up. They all had their own talents, skills, thoughts, actions, and traits that made me all happy inside. Add in the fact that all the food sounds so darn yummy and there were a couple recipes in the back and bam I’m sold! Of course it had things that aggravated me, but I honestly expected some issues, so I wasn’t really bothered by most of the crazy choices Katie started to make. Or the eventual and inevitable love interests. All in all it was a good read and I’ll pick up the sequel when my palate needs cleansing again.
