Candy Apples and Clairvoyants

Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries #4.5

by Danielle Garrett

The Ghost of Halloween Past heads to Winterspell in this time-traveling tale of a bygone spooky season.

It’s Halloween night and I’ve got everything I need for a spooky good time. And by that, I mean copious amounts of chocolate and sugar, and a pile of scary movies.

But when the pumpkins have been carved and the trick-or-treaters have all gone home to count their loot, I find there’s still a spirit stirring, with a reminder from a Halloween I’d almost forgotten.

And frankly, no horror flick can top the spine-chilling prospect of time-traveling back to my high school days.

Let’s just hope I wake up in time to grab a half-price bag of peanut butter cups.

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Fantasy, Cozy Mystery, Magic, Witches, Paranormal

53 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 29, 2024

Reviews

[BookishKB · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an ok book. I didn’t realize it was YA going in and it just wasn’t the cozy vibe I was expecting

[Brittany B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The more i read from this series the more i hate the cousin xD

[Jensen Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

wholesome backstory. cousin chloe sucks

[Cozy Reader Lady · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Candy Apples and Clairvoyants (Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries #4.5)" by Danielle Garrett is more like a prolog to the series rather than set after book 4. This is a quick little Halloween cozy magical mystery. The entire book is set back when the Midnight sisters are still in grade school in Winterspell on Halloween.

Rosella and her friends go to a Halloween carnival in town. Her cousin is causing drama at a fortune teller's tent. Later that fortune teller's genuine crystal ball is stolen. Rosella uses her magic to talk to the local animals and track down the thief. She gets the crystal ball back.

[Jen (That's What I'm Talking About) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candy Apples and Clairvoyants is a short story set in the Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries world, featuring a teenaged Rosella Midnight. When a valuable crystal ball is taken during the Harvest Festival, Ella and her sister Jasmine work to find it.

The mystery is pretty simply and solved quickly. The fun of the story is getting a glimpse of life for Ella before she left Winterspell. Most of the town thinks she’s cursed because of her white hair and ability to speak with animals.

Narration: Amanda Ronconi performs with her usual spark and flare.

My Ratings:
Story: B
Narration: B+

[Renee Marski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crows and Crystal Balls

Its Halloween and Ella is ready for a night with her friends. Things are going well until her mean cousin storms out of a fortune tellers tent in a rage. Then the tellers crystal ball goes missing and Ella volunteers to help. She has to find it by midnight.

A great little Halloween story!

[Sassy Mystic Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐️ 🎧

[Alysia · Rating 3 out of 5]

headache today.

[Ashlee Brooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute lil novella that goes back in time with Rosella🥹

Rosella is a teenager in this book and it follows her on Halloween night as she tries to help catch a thief🎃👏🏻

it shows the whole Alfred Hitchcock debacle that happened between her and Chloe as well (Chloe is so dramatic)🐦‍⬛

loved it🖤🫶🏼

~

✨✨✨/ 3.5 stars
/ 0 spicy peps

[Katie]

Only not doing a rating because it was less than 60 pages and that feels too short to rate 😥
But it was cute!

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A blast to Rosella’s past for this latest Sugar Shack mystery has her in a race against time to solve a mystery before it’s too late. What a delight that Danielle Garrett keeps adding to this light, but well-developed paranormal cozy mystery.

Candy Apples and Clairvoyants is the eighth entry in a series that reads best in order for the character and relationship development. Chronologically, though, this short novella goes back to Rosella’s senior year in high school so is a prequel. The reader/listener meets familiar characters when they were much younger and still sorting out their futures and their magic.

Candy Apples and Clairvoyants is a brief minor mystery that takes place all on Halloween night at the town’s carnival-like Halloween festival. Rosella attends with her two best friends where she encounters her mean girl cousin and wonders if her boyfriend will get off work in time to join her. While there eating treats, doing the rides, and playing the games, she encounters a psychic whose crystal ball is stolen. She uses the crystal ball to channel brief visits to the beyond to her dead husband and must have the ball back by midnight or she’ll miss her chance. Rosella and her friends eagerly rush in to aid the distraught woman and she discovers how her gift (aka the curse) of speaking with animal can aid in mystery solving.

Amanda Ronconi narrated and is a family and welcome voice of the series.

All in all this brief series entry was a fun Halloween holiday cozy mystery particularly since it showed Rosella while she and the others were still fresh and young.

I rec'd an audio copy from Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post at Books of My Heart on 3.23.25

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded to 5

This was a super cute cozy mystery in the form of a Halloween short story. It was only around 50 pages long but it was full of all of the fun fall festive vibes you come to expect from a seasonal read. There was pumpkin carving, a small town fall festival complete with all the yummy vendor foods, craft booths, corn mazes, hayrides & even a fortune teller. No fall festival is ever complete without the faithful fortune teller giving crystal ball predictions on Halloween night, is it? 😉 Of course not!

This story is part of the Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries series but can be read as a stand-alone since it's set in the FMC Rosella Midnight's past back in her high school days. Complete with entertaining friends, a snarky sister, a "mean girl" cousin as well as talking cats, crows & pigeons because well...that's Rosella's gift. She can talk to animals. It's a very entertaining read that will keep you turning pages until the end to find out who stole the artifact in question. But can they find it in time? The clock is ticking...

If you're looking for a quick, sweet & wholesome, cozy mystery with all the fall vibes as well as a cast of adorable characters, grab this one & add it to your reading list. Then, continue on with the rest of the series! More short stories are coming up as well!

[Laura R · Rating 4 out of 5]

We're back in time, and it's Halloween during Rosella's senior year. While at the town's Halloween festival/carnival, Rosella and her best friends encounter her cousin who storms out of a psychic's tent. A little while later, the psychic comes to Rosella for help -- someone has stolen her crystal ball. And it's not just any old thing, but an antique... with real magic. Rosella will have to discover who took the crystal ball and help the psychic get it back before midnight when the veil is no longer thin.

This was short and cute, and most definitely a prequel to the series. I love seeing this glimpse of a younger Rosella as she uses her magic (talking to animals) to help her solve a small mystery, which means this girl has been solving mysteries for years now. I found this to be unnecessary, because unless we are going to see the psychic in later books, all this did was emphasize that Rosella is destined to do great things, and I feel like we already know that. This wasn't my favorite of the novellas, by far, but still cute.

Actual Rating: 3.75 stars

[Carole Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is just so fun. I know this is fall-y and maybe I should've waited, but I have zero patience. LOL

Here, we follow a young Ella. This is her back in High School. Young and still so naive. But still so willing to help!

Boo, there will be no more of this series after this one. I wish there were more! I love Ella and her friends/family!!! I love watching her muddle her way through! Maybe she'll be in more later? I believe there is a spin-off in this world, so I may have to dive into that.

But this was super cute. I loved seeing a young Ella running amok.

Booooooooo Chloe! Hate her face.

This was sweet, and the conclusion? It made me sad for that person. I kinda feel bad. Poor thing.

I ended up reading this one instead of the audio. I really missed the voice, but it did fine as an ebook.

All-in-all, this was a nice taste. Short and sweet. I want more though!!!!!! 5 from me.

[Shana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lets take a trip back to Winterspell and the town Harvest Festival where Rosella is hoping to still have time to have a hay ride with her boyfriend Jake. While waiting for Jake to get off work she runs into the towns clairvoyant who ask for help in tracking down her stolen crystal ball. Using her unique magical talent can Rosella and her team of animal informants help find who stole the crystal ball in time.

This was a cute novella that can be read in one sitting. I enjoyed taking a trip back to Winterspell and getting a glimpse at Rosella as a high schooler and her point of view. You can really feel all the fall vibes with the festival.

I have really enjoyed this whole series and can’t wait for the next one hit audio.

Listened to on @audible. Narrated by Amanda Ronconi.

[Cin (cinsnextchapter) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Candy Apples and Clairvoyants
Series: Sugar Shack Witch Mystery
Author: Danielle Garrett
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Review:

Candy Apples and Clairvoyants is a charming and magical cozy that’s perfect for fall! When fortune teller Davina’s crystal ball goes missing right before the Halloween Harvest festival, high school senior Rosella Midnight — who can communicate with animals (!) — sets out to solve the mystery before midnight.

With help from a clever crow, a stray cat named Pepper, and a wise barn owl called Tumnus, Rosella juggles teenage drama, small-town secrets, and magical mayhem to uncover the truth.

The story is full of warmth, whimsy, and seasonal charm. Ro’s connection with her animal friends adds such a fun and unique twist, making this an enchanting Halloween mystery that’s as sweet as a candy apple! 🍎

[Stacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series just doesn’t do it for me, and I don’t understand backsliding into a YA novella. For no reason and no with no explanation whatsoever we time travel back to Halloween 2007 just to hear about horrible cousin Chloe for the entire book. She was nasty before the “crime” events of the book take place so this wasn’t a backstory or explanation about the bad blood between Chloe and Rosella. What saves this book is the fact that it takes place in the town square on Halloween (perfect for the week leading up to halloween) and all of the talking animals we get to experience felt like a treat all its own. Otherwise this one could be a skip.

[Sarah Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoiler free review: This was a cute little snack of a book. Reading it did not change my life or affect me in any profound way, but it was a relaxing listen before bed. The characters and setting were both charming and the descriptions and worldbuilding were detailed enough to visualize what you needed to without becoming overwhelmed by a lot of minutiae. The story wraps up neatly and you are not left wondering about any plot holes or threads left hanging. Overall, the plot is very low stakes, but sometimes that's what you need to get cozy.

[Miss W Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Candy Apples and Clairvoyants is a fun Halloween Novella in the Sugar Shack Mystery series.

It was so fun flashing back to when Rosella and her friends were teenagers.

This fun mystery has everything you want in a fall cozy mystery. I really enjoyed a mystery that wasn't a murder.

Halloween festival, corn maze, yummy food and fun animals left me wanting more.

I can't wait for the next Sugar Shack Mystery!!!

[Rose Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 4.5 book in the Sugar Shack Witch Mystery series. It is a novella. I have not read the first four books in the series and I feel you need to read them to understand the characters more. It is a very fast-paced novella. Told in first-person from Rosella pov. It is a Time-travel/flashback novella during her senior year in high-school. A small town feel on Halloween with a little mystery and a light romance.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a cute super sweet novella in the Sugar Shack series.

I really enjoyed going back in time and experiencing Ella's point of view of that time frame.
It gives us a really interesting perspective on how Ella, her family, and friends became the people we know and love today.

It appears the more things change the more they stay the same.

[Linda (ellsky) Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a nice blast from the past where we get to see Rosella and her horrible cousin Chloe when they are younger, but still antagonistic towards each other. The Halloween festival is the backdrop to this short novella, and we get glimpses of Rosella, Mattie, Sophia, Jake, and of course, Chloe. A sweet treat for a Halloween read.

[Jess Firlotte · Rating 2 out of 5]

all of the short stories are just so meh. like nothing interesting happened, it wasn't cute, it was just short.

I'm so glad to be done with this series. I bought the "collection" on audible and thought it was the complete series but was only half of the books.

I will not be reading anything further from this author.

[Madison Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn’t exactly overflow with depth — think Nancy Drew, but with an even lighter workload. Still, I can’t say I hated it. It was simple, quick, and the one-hour audiobook made it feel more like a fun little story snack than a serious reading commitment. Not life-changing, but honestly? Not the worst thing I’ve read.

[Phi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun Halloween short story! I loved getting a peak at Rosella's past, and the Halloween theme was so strong. Corn mazes, fall festivals, costumes, and crystal balls; just all the fun things to get you in the mood for Halloween! A fun, cozy story!

[Kristen Gamble · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this addition to this series. I have been waiting for another to come out. This was a cute and different addition by going back to when Rosella was younger. Have a little backstory to her story. I can’t wait for the next full length one in the series !

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short and sweet!!

I just love these stories. So charming and fun. this short story was a quick little adventure and I enjoyed it very much!the timeline of the characters adds good backstory!!

[Dot Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short story. I would have hurt that cousin. She is just mean. I did not get the boyfriend Jake until realized this book had been taken back intime when Ella was in high school. Love the author and narrator.

[DeAnna Criss · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series is very cozy and sweet and I’ve enjoyed the world a lot! This novella was a prequel story not adding to the the plot of the series so felt a little random and unneeded. BUT…looking forward to the next one, can’t wait to see where the overarching story goes.