A high school nemesis. A misuse of powers. An Unexpected Consequence.
Sixteen-year-old Charley Cooper is furious when her cousin Danu uses her powers to get back at a high school nemesis without considering the consequences.
When someone attacks the other girl and she ends up in a coma, Danu becomes the prime suspect. As annoyed as she is at her cousin, Charley doesn't want her to go down for something she didn't do.
Even though Charley has never had magical abilities of her own, when she has what she believes is a vision about an attack on Danu, she's forced to investigate. Can she find the guilty party before her cousin pays - one way or another?
If you enjoy magic, quirky characters, and small-town mysteries with a touch of romance, you're sure to enjoy A Witchy Mistake!
A little magic, a little mystery, a lot of heart Young adult author who writes cozy mysteries, urban fantasy, and romance. She lives in Texas on a small farm with her family, a cat & dog, miniature cows and donkeys, and chickens.
Before becoming an author, Rhonda's career put her in close contact with people from all walks of life. She uses her past experiences to develop characters that are diverse and full of life.
I picked this up because I wanted to read the series in order. It was a fast quick read, but enough to get me invested int he world. I loved Charley and the mystery of the attack on Tiffany, loved how it all played out and enjoyed it from start to finish. I’m desperate to dig into book two and see more from this author, and from the characters. Overall, a quick read, but one that helps you get into the world and the story around them. A great little mystery, recommended!
"A Witchy Mistake", the first book in a new series by Ronda Hopkins, introduces us to Charley, a typical teen with typical teen problems: does she like Jackson as more than a friend; does Jackson like her as more than a friend; can she save her cousin from jail; can she keep the rest of the school from finding out that a number of her family members are witches; and then there's Nate. To add to her angst, her mother's pig has taken to talking to her by casting messages into her mind. But, whatever happens, just don't make Grandma Ruby mad.
A fun read that introduces a most unusual family. Told from Charley's point of view, we know what she knows, so can follow along while she, somewhat ineptly, follows the breadcrumb trail of clues as she attempts to clear her cousin.
Charley who has never had any magical abilities is very upset when her cousin Danu uses her witchy powers at school to get back at her nemesis. Then when the girl who has annoyed Danu winds up in the hospital in a coma, Charley knows that she has to help prove Danu didn't do this to the girl no matter how annoyed she is with Danu. Can she find out what happened and prove Danu isn't responsable before she is punish one way or another for this girl's state. It is an intriguing prequel to the book of the same name which will be out next month. I truly enjoyed this book and you don't need to be a young reader to enjoy this book.
What an adorable story. I really loved all the characters. So many things they said made me laugh. This is a great beginning to the Witchy mystery series. A little teen romance makes it even sweeter.
I'm a huge fan of paranormal cozy mysteries, and I think I found a new favorite series!
Hopkins does an excellent job keeping me in suspense - wondering until the end "who dunnit." The thing though that makes her mystery better is her characters. I must admit, I think I want to be Grandma Ruby when I'm old. :-)
My niece will find this book downloading onto her kindle on Christmas morning, and I’m willing to bet she will follow the author to be sure she doesn’t miss the rest of the series! She will absolutely love the school setting, so different from her own in the UK, but with students she’ll recognise… or wish she knew. The element of magic takes it above flying way above the average story for teenagers, there’s a mystery and enough comic moments to make it an easy, captivating read.
A Witchy Mistake sets the stage for a great series. I loved the characters. There is a good mix from teens and their friends (and rivals) to a very sassy granny. If you have readers that like fun magic and suspense mixed with some laughs and sass this is for them. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Young or old, this story will entertain you. There is teen angst, bullying, a mystery to keep you guessing, toss in the witchcraft and a talking pig, it's got it all. It's a great start to what will be a fun series to read over and over.
I'm sorry, but cozy mysteries and high school dramas are already cringey enough on their own without combining the two genres.
There was a little too much cringe for me to fully enjoy this. First of all, you have the dancing around everything between Charley and Jackson. This includes the obvious crush jealousy as well as the way she keeps her family's magic on the down-low. I can never deal with main characters who are absolute idiots about everything, and I see a lot of those in cozy mysteries. Factor in the immaturity level of a sixteen year old and this becomes very uncomfortable all around.
Aside from that, there's the general idea of a high school murder mystery that happens in the school - in the office, no less - that makes this kind of thing hard to read. It can be done well, as in the case of One of Us Is Lying, but often it looks like it was written by someone who hasn't been to a high school in many years, and maybe never in a public one.
Then there's the issue of proofreading. I don't know how many times I counted the MAIN CHARACTER'S name being misspelled. For all the thanking the author does of beta readers and editors, you'd expect that would be caught more often than not, but this simply isn't the case. The main character, Charley, is spelled "Charlie" about half the time. If the author or anyone is reading this, please take note. Find and replace is a very simple function in most word processors.
All that said, there are parts of this where I'd like to know more, especially in terms of what happens with Charley and Jackson, and with the paranormal aspect in general. However, I'm not about to spend money on the next book. This very much has the feel of the Country Cottage mysteries, except with (even less mature) high schoolers.
When I started reading I was introduced to so many characters in the first two chapters that I wondered if I would be able to remember them all. However, as I read on, I was soon able to sift through them as the unimportant characters drifted out of the narrative. But this is only a minor criticism. This is a prequel to what promises to be a very entertaining series. The story is well targeted at the 13 to 18 age group. It comes across with a very authentic feel, with the thoughts and typical emotions of high school students in what could easily be a cozy community in Texas – – which of course was outside my experience, but with which I very quickly became acquainted and to thoroughly enjoy. The author has a deft touch when it comes to describing the hopes and feelings of teenagers enjoying some of the best years of their lives but also some of the most confusing, set in the years when distinct identities are developing rapidly. The mystery is introduced quickly, which is as it should be, following immediately from the opening scene, the latter being totally engrossing. Without a doubt this is the work of an author in her prime. If I might make a suggestion based on the fact that this is simply a prequel, as a reader I was left with a hankering for a little more magic to take place – – why? Because the magic which did happen was absolutely riveting, so good that I was almost convinced it could happen. And more familiars like Babette, the little pig with blue eyes, please! It was a pleasant surprise to find a great sense of humour. For example: Jackson maneuvered around me before I even knew what was happening. No wonder our opponents were frustrated by the end of football games. And this: Grandma Ruby waved him off. “That was some big bang, wasn’t it? Not sure exactly where it came from, but it nearly took 20 years off my life.” She lied so easily it was frightening. But above all I really enjoyed the characters, what they wore, what they ate, the way they talked, the tensions between them, the suppressed longings, all that one loves to find in typical teenagers. Not for one moment does the reader lose sight of the mystery, which is central to the narrative, with more than enough interest in it to carry the reader forward. I can see this series doing very well, and even though I’m not in the target readership I’m sure I would enjoy another book in the series – – yes, that’s how good it is!
This is our first introduction to the world of Whispering Pines where magic is abound and flying under the radar of humans. Our main character is Charley, who is trying to find the person behind the attack of her cousin's nemesis. In between her investigation, she is dealing with her feelings for Jackson, her best friend. What could go wrong? This book is such a good introduction to the main story and has intrigue and teen romance to keep you wanting more!
Cute, simple. A clean, witchy Nancy Drew. Who likes who? Who knocked the bully out? Will they or won't they? Did that pig just talk?
You, know, the usual. A little too simple for my taste. Bugged the crap outta me when the name Charley bounced back and forth from that spelling to Charlie. Also, ages changed and everyone had mostly the same voice. Pet peeve.
An enchanting and magical tale in every sense of the words …
It has been several decades plus since they were personally relevant to me, but I can still imagine and remember all the young adult themes and teenage angst this story addresses. The opening scenes are pretty much those you might expect to happen upon in almost any school-corridor the world over and were it not for the title/cover you might easily be lulled into thinking this was going to be just another schoolkid growing up or coming-of-age type story, though not for long. Despite the ‘seemingly’ normal and unremarkable opening, with all the skill of one of her magical characters, the author transports the reader into a literary magical realm that treads the waters between the likes of JK Rowling’s ‘Hogwarts’ and the ‘earthlier’ issues that confront the pupils of your more typical UK/US High school, confronting as it does issues of bullying, young relationships, race, family, and peer-pressure, etc.
I must say, I enjoyed this novella-length story way more than I expected or, indeed, should have. Amid all the magical shenanigans, the reader is also plunged into a cosy whodunnit type mystery that falls to our lead character, school reporter, and narrator, Charley, to investigate, albeit in tandem with her Chief of Police father, and minus any magical ability herself given that with her half-human parentage, the ‘magic’ gene seems to have bypassed her?
The overall story isn’t too demanding, but rather pitched at just the right level of complexity for the young or teenage reader looking for something more challenging as their tastes and understanding mature and is sure to hit the right note with many of the elements of growing up youngsters are faced with no matter what their background. Quite apart from a fun and easy to absorb writing style, as well as the usual villains of the peace such as teenage bully, Tiffany, the author treats you to several larger-than-life characters i.e., the slightly incorrigible and almost scary Grandma Ruby, the equally formidable Aunt Nadine, and Charley’s dad, a fully human non-magical Chief of Police.
Although clearly aimed at a younger or teenage market, ‘A Witchy Mistake’ is an intelligently written tale that addresses many of the current and historical issues relevant to its intended readership without any hint of patronage. I liked too its eventual ‘feel-good’ factor and the ongoing sense that everything will turn out for the best, an important factor given the intended readership, I think. An added bonus is that this is part of an ongoing series with lots of room for more character development and complimentary storylines, something the emerging young reader can invest their time, effort, and interest in ... an easy and well-deserved five-stars!
In A Witchy Mistake, Charley is from a family of witches, though she doesn't have any powers of her own, at least she's never exhibited any before. When her younger cousin, Danu, casts a small, harmless curse on the school bully, Tiffany, who later ends up in the hospital due to a blow to the head, Charley goes on the hunt for who really hurt Tiffany before Danu gets in even more trouble. In her search, Charley discovers a few hidden secrets and gets a surprise of her own.
This novella was adorable. It has a pig, an angsty great-grandmother, magic, and normal teenagers dealing with normal teenage stuff. It was a relief to read something for young adults that wasn't full of sex and foul language. I'm not a prude, but in so many books I read the kids are using profanity that I don't even say at age 41, and I use a great deal of colorful language, and they are all always worried about having sex.
Charley is a relief. She's too caught up in her family and her friends, and trying to figure out if she even likes the boy next door, to be thinking about sex, which was a huge relief. I'm far from the age the kids in the story are, but I do remember being that young and the things we talked about and wondered about, so I know its what kids do. It was nice to have a story that showed kids that they didn't have to think that way, that they can be modest in the dress, and that could act like gentleman and people, the right people, will still like them.
As I said, I really enjoyed the story. It is entertaining, suspenseful, and has a nice little twist or two at the end. My favorite character was the great-grandmother who is determined to hex everyone who looks at her family the wrong way. I want to be her when I grow up.
A really cute cozy mystery, with a family of witches trying to keep their talents secret. Charlie, the main character and a teenager getting ready to graduate from high school, is trying to keep her cousin out of trouble. She is always trying to make things right and frequently misunderstanding romantic things around her. Witches, bullies, suspicious happenings make this an interesting read.
A Witchy Mistake, the first book in my Witches of Whispering Pines young adult paranormal cozy mystery series, is now available at all major retailers for FREE. It's also available in paperback. I hope you enjoy it!
I am not the target audience for this cute mystery being a grandmother not a teen. It was an enjoyable read and I did love the witchie magic woven in. There were well developed characters that were fun to read about and a surprise ending.
I really enjoyed this prequel to The Witches of Whispering Pines. Nice way to introduce the characters to the readers and you get a short mystery as well. Charley and her friends Jackson and Grace plus her cousin, Danu, and her sister, Deanna. Charles comes from a family of witches but her father is human, which may explain why Charley has not come into her witch powers. The mystery that is in here is about the mean girl and who hit her plus all of the normal teenager going on. I would recommend this book to anyone that likes cozy mysteries/or young adult books.
I enjoyed reading what I expect will be the beginning of a witchy journey for Charlie, Will she gain the ability to become a witch?, No doubt will be revealed as the series progresses, As the first in the series brilliant.
This book is very fun. I couldn't stop reading. Lot's of twists that keept me turning the pages. And now I need to read the next book to find out what happens next. Great writing Rhonda. Thanks so much. Happy reading everyone
This YA novel was SO cute! I loved every minute of it and can’t wait to read more. The characters were well written and I loved the mystery woven into the story.
I enjoyed the book. It was very lighthearted and fun read. I felt like I was back in high school. Sometimes its nice to emerge yourself in things like that. First book I have read by this author. It was exciting and silly. Which makes foe a great read. Charley and her family are witches. They have to keep that under wraps. Mean girl drama happens and Danu is accused of causing it. Kinda felt like reading the Scooby Doo gang mysteries. Grandma Ruby is my favorite character. I really like Jackson too.
An excellent mystery of the magical kind for young adults and tweens.
I really liked this story about a girl and her friend and family. The mystery was interesting the descriptions were vivid and the characters were very likeable.
This is another story included in the box set I have and, again, it’s enjoyable.
Charley is sixteen, in a family of witches, though has no powers of her own. Her cousin Danu, has powers but no control over her emotions, which causes problems at school. When the school bully is injured, Danu is suspected of foul play...
This is a story of power, romance, growing up, school, and how Charley chooses to investigate what happened because she knows her cousin was innocent.
I liked the first-person writing style and its fast-paced easy flow. The characters were a good mix and I liked the humour, too.
Meet Charley, a sixteen-year-old, whose cousin has some strange powers. When Danu uses the gift in the wrong way trouble begins. A girl is now in a coma and Charley begins an investigation for the truth. This is a fun mystery that I think young adults will love. It is also a good story for anyone that likes a fun, quick mystery read.