When a client claims that her dead husband is trying to kill her, Morgan Summers’s new job as a paranormal detective takes off with a bang. As she dives headfirst into a dangerous case with a handsome new partner, Morgan is forced to dig deeper into her own family’s past. Can she solve the case or will she only unearth more mysteries?
Alexandria Clarke is a writer, cat lover, and all-around optimist. She loves to immerse her readers in mystery and intrigue, meaningful friendships, and the worlds of characters who learn by doing. When she's not writing, Alex enjoys playing guitar, watching Wynonna Earp, and spending time with her family. She currently lives in Orlando, Florida with her partner and their four pets.
This is the second book in the Witch Myth trilogy. This book picks up about 6 months after the first book. By this time Morgan Summers has settled back into Yew Hollow and has become a detective working with the local police department. Morgan deals with cases involving ghosts. She is assigned a case where the client claims her deceased husband’s ghost is attacking her. She also is hooked up with a handsome partner, Dom. As she tries to figure out what is going on with her client’s husband’s ghost, she uncovers a plot which threatens all of Yew Hollow.
As with others in this series, this was a short, quick listen. The narrator, Jo Nelson, is delightful to listen to. The story is interesting and has enough twists and turns to keep you interested. They are well-written and easy to listen to. If you want a quick cozy listen this is a good series.
As noted in other reviews, however, the title of the books in this series make it difficult to figure out which book is which as all have the same title and the numbering of the books varies greatly depending on source. This is very frustrating to know what order to read the books in and order is important for understanding the overall storyline of this series. This book had a significant cliff hanger which was not indicated in the description. Overall, these are enjoyable books but they frankly could all be combined into one comprehensive book that is more fleshed out and more in depth world building.
***I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my own, unbiased, review.***
Continuing with my reviews of books I have read this year that might make good Halloween reads for people who are interested in that sort of thing, we finally come to the Witch Myth Omnibus. I think this is the first book for this year that I can say is a definite possibility as a good read for Halloween.
(note: this edition does not appear to be available on Amazon anymore).
Although this book is tagged as containing books 0-2 of the Witch Myth: Yew Hollow Cozy Mystery series, the copy I have only contains books 1 and 2, with a link in the beginning to the prequel (book 0). That didn’t bother me, though, as I read the prequel a couple of years ago.
The Kindle covers of most of the Witch Myth books mostly show a young-looking cute witch smiling happily while flying around on a broomstick. Coupled with the ‘cozy mystery’ designation, they seem to imply a set of mostly non-threatening mysteries, similar to cat mysteries, featuring a pretty young detective who just happens to be a witch. This turns out to be a misleading impression. These Yes Hollow mysteries start out looking like they are going to turn out that way, but then they take a darker turn. (My other complaint about the covers, especially about the Kindle editions, is that the covers don’t indicate either the name or the series number of the individual books, so unless you are using your Kindle PC app which will show the complete name beneath the book, you don’t know which book you want to select to download).
Morgan Summers is our cute little witch detective. She is a member of the Summers family, which runs the large witch coven in the little town of Yew Hollow. Her mother is the head witch, and Morgan herself is the second or third of four daughters in the family. It appears that she is the strongest witch in the coven, however.
In this fantasy witch world, all the magical power is confined to the female members of the family. They treat the males in the family very badly. This put me off of this bunch a little bit. And in the prequel, it did not work out well for them, as they were attacked and betrayed by their baby brother whom all the sisters except Morgan had been shunning all his life.
In the first main book of the series, this shows up in a different way. Morgan has taken a job at the local police department, where, since she can talk to ghosts, she handles cases that require a paranormal investigator. While she is investigating the case of a woman who claims to be under attack by the ghost of her late husband who supposedly committed suicide recently, the police chief hires another detective, supposedly a regular human male, to help her out with everyday matters and investigations.
Turns out the new guy, Dominic Dobbes, is distinctly male all right. But he’s no ordinary human. It turns out he is the last surviving member of a witch family, since his mother and sister recently died, passing their witch powers to him. He has come to Yew Hollow with a secret agenda, and he wants Morgan to help him with it.
Despite outward appearances to the contrary, it appears that Dominic doesn’t intend to be evil. Nevertheless, the upshot of his attempts to bring back his mother and sisters is that Morgan dies.
The second book is mainly Morgan’s journey through the Otherworld, a place with a feel somewhere between the ancient Greek afterlife and Purgatory. There she meets up with her deceased father (she didn’t know he had died), who guides her through this Otherworld and introduces her to people who can help her get back to her real life, including one of her earliest Yew Hollow Witch ancestors.
So yes, if you like your Halloween reads to be a little darker without being outright terrifying, this book would be a good choice.
Witch Myth (A Witch Myth, #0-2) was a great read by Alexandria Clarke. Witch Myth: A Yew Hollow Cozy Mystery- Book 0 was a great read by Alexandria Clarke. Morgan Summers hates to talk to ghosts. The victim of a ghastly murder asks for her help and Morgan can't say no. Unfortunately she finds herself blamed for the murder and the town is out to get her. Witch Myth: A Yew Hollow Cozy Mystery, Book 1 was a great read by Alexandria Clarke. A client claims that her dead husband is trying to kill her. Morgan Summers' new job as a paranormal detective starts with a bang. Morgan must dive headfirst into her own family's past. Witch Myth: A Yew Hollow Cozy Mystery, Book 2 was a great read by Alexandria Clarke. Morgan Summers is trapped in the otherworld and knows she's in for a wild ride. Her enemy raises the dead back in Yew Hollow. She forges unlikely alliances and battles through the afterlife for a mythical weapon. I enjoyed reading this book and can't wait to read more by the author.
I expected this to be a standard cozy mystery combined with simple and funny magic. I was surprised! It does talking about it being six volumes in one and then volumes zero through two, all of which I really don't understand, but I think that it was volumes zero through two and I just don't get the six volume reference, but that's all neither here nor there. There actually were three stories that were all connected, and the world represented was kind of neat! I enjoyed all three parts, and I found myself liking the appropriate people and being totally turned off by those who were unreasonable – yes, the author manipulated me appropriately :-) . Anyway, it's a good collection.
This is the first book that I have read by author Alexandria Clarke and it is definitely a winner. I have really enjoyed reading this story of Morgan and the rest of the Summer's. I hope that there are more of the Yew Hollow Cozy Mysteries. I love mysteries and stories of witchcraft, so if you like this combination, then I absolutely recommend this book for you. You will not be disappointed.
Magic, with all of it's many nuances, has always fascinated me. Add to that some of the mythological beliefs of the afterword and you have a very engaging story. I do love the possibilities of the "happily ever after" ending. I couldn't put it down until I finished the whole story!
What a fun surprise to find a paranormal cozy series with different characters than the standard clueless witch who discovers her powers after being raised mortal. I especially enjoyed the implied bisexuality and generous nature Bay demonstrates. Looking forward to more of this fun, quick red series!
The first part of this book was a real page turner for me. Then I got to the part where Morgan was taken to the otherworld, and it kind of lost my interest. Then it gets better again in the last few chapters.
Being a witch is harder than you'd think as the highs and lows in this story reveal. Above all the connection of the coven always helps them from the darkness to the light. A not so cozy mystery, yet still sweet.
I liked the characters and the way they interacted. The story showed young women maturing and learning interdependency. They learned how to work together for the greater good.
Stepping into a new world, I was guided through the past, present and future with grace and understanding Looking forward to reading more of yew hollow.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was amazed at the depth of the story and how the characters were developed. It is very attentive to detail and I can't wait to read the next story!