"Fantastically funny debut of magic gone wrong!"
Pastry chef Tammy Jo Trask is not very fond of her current
customer, Jenna Reitgarten; to begin with, the fact Jenna
is arguing with her over the two cakes she made is not
helping. After Jenna calls Tammy Jo's boss to complain,
Tammy Jo has enough of caving in to the woman and quits.
Driving home, Edie—the family ghost—appears and causes
Tammy Jo to hit a car. Naturally, her ex-husband Deputy
Zach just happens to be at the scene and ends up taking
Tammy Jo home. The relationship between Zach and Tammy Jo
is a strange one. Even though they're divorced, they're
still in love and lovers. Of course, the fact Tammy Jo is
descended from a line of witches may be part of the reason
why they're divorced now. See Zach never did believe Tammy
Jo could see Edie. He even went so far as to send Tammy Jo
to a shrink. But in the small town of Duvall, Texas, it's
pretty hard to avoid anyone. Unfortunately for Tammy Jo—and
lucky for anyone who irritates her—Tammy Jo cannot access
her magic. She's never been able to get even a simple spell
to work out right. At the Halloween party her best friend gives, Tammy Jo runs
into none other than Bryn Lyons—rich, handsome and on the
have-nothing-to-do-with list—who is obviously very
interested in her. With her mother and aunt both gone,
Tammy Jo can't ask them why the Lyons are on that list.
Everyone is having a good time when some masked burglars
show up. Everyone thinks they're just part of the
entertainment and gives them their valuables.
Unfortunately, the burglars were real and they took the
locket—which houses Edie's soul—Tammy Jo was wearing. When
Bryn offers to help Tammy Jo retrieve her locket, she is
instantly suspicious but feels she has no choice but to
take him up on his offer. Bryn shows up at her house with a gift—a cat. Against Tammy
Jo's best efforts to ditch the cat, turns out he's decided
to stay with her. His name is Mercutio and he's still a
kitten. Naturally, Mercutio doesn't get along all that
great with Zach. Will Tammy Jo be able to find her locket before Edie is
lost to her forever? Will she ever be able to access her
magic? Is there any reason behind Bryn's attraction to
Tammy Jo? Will they be able to work together to get Tammy
Jo's locket back? And where does Zack fit into this? Will
he stand aside for Tammy Jo to get involved with Bryn? WOULD-BE WITCH is one heck of a debut from Kimberly Frost.
From one misadventure to the next, I was kept turning pages
to find out how everything was resolved in the end. We have
everything from ghosts and zombies to a merman and
werewolves in this story. And how Tammy Jo managed to end
up going from the frying pan into the fire kept me laughing
all the way through the story. This is definitely an
excellent read, and for a debut, it's nothing less than
fantastic. This is one author I've added to my auto-buy
list and I intend to watch her releases very closely in the
future. I sure don't want to miss what further
misadventures Tammy Jo becomes involved in. I very highly
recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good paranormal
read.
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted February 4, 2009
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