The Witching Place: A Fatal Folio

Curious Bookstore Cozy Mystery #1

by Sophie Love, Valarie Falken (Narrator)

Listening Length: 8 hours and 11 minutes

When Alexis Blair, 29, is fired from her book publishing job and breaks up with her boyfriend on the same day, she wonders if life is urging her to make a fresh start. She decides it’s time to pursue her lifelong dream of opening a bookstore of her own—even if that means leaving Boston and accepting a job in a curious bookstore in a small seaside town an hour away.

But the odd shop, Alexis soon learns, is from more than just a rare, occult bookstore. Something strange is going on in the shop’s secret back room, with its eccentric owner, and in the small town itself.

And when a dead body appears, Alexis, with her beloved newfound cat, may find herself right in the middle of it all.

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

9 pages, Audible Audio

First published December 1, 2020

About the author

A lifelong fan of the romance genre, Sophie Love is thrilled to release her debut romance series: FOR NOW AND FOREVER (THE INN AT SUNSET HARBOR—BOOK 1). Sophie would love to hear from you, so please visit www.sophieloveauthor.com to email her, to join the mailing list, to receive free ebooks, to hear the latest news, and to stay in touch!

Reviews

[Jordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

…I’m very confused. Why is this series called “the witching place?” Does the witching come in a later novel? What was up with all the weirdness that revolves around the bookstore? Also something you find out in a later book? Why am I left with way more questions than when I started?

Yeah, this book wasn’t for me. The writing wasn’t great- it came off almost juvenile. I felt like there was just so much unnecessary rambling- I found myself skipping literal paragraphs at a time without missing any important piece of the story. The characters were so dull. Lex was immature and all over the place. Monty was strange- but why? What the actual fuck was up with her mother? Like why was her disgustingness at all necessary?

Idk, it didn’t work for me. The “mystery” was ridiculous. Too many holes, too many unanswered questions.. none of which make me wanna read any more books in the series. I’m just left annoyed. What a waste. I knew I should’ve just left it DNF.

[Sunny Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

A cute concept held back by poor writing, cardboard characters, and kind of a racist ending. (Why is it always the poor immigrant service worker with a mysterious need for money?? Why is that person the villain when the evil greedy white rich dude is right there and ends up being able to sell off the rare books???) The mystery wasn’t even that mysterious! No twists and turns, the overarching themes felt kind of corny, and just boring. I really liked the concept of the story but I wasn’t impressed by the delivery at all

[Anubha (BooksFullOfLife, LifeFullOfBooks) · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was actually surprisingly good, murder mystery related to a person who buys rare ancient books in a book store selling used books. The main character being a suspect of mysterious secrets in a new town amidst strangers.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's partially because I wasn't in the right headspace to read this book (trying to finish it before it was due to the library), but the pacing seemed off. There isn't a dead body until halfway through the book, and the first half was dedicated to describing Lex's situation, which I might've been okay with, except that I didn't particularly like (or dislike) Lex. One of the more appealing things to this book/series is the "curious bookstore," which is actually in the title of the series, but we didn't get to find out much about why the book is so "curious." More info is probably forthcoming from later novels in the series, but I feel slightly bait-and-switched.

[Mskarla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I downloaded this for free and I still feel like I got ripped off. There are times that I feel that I am a very indiscriminate reader, too much so, but then I read something like this and realize I do have some standards for decent writing and a believable plot.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a book with a book editor as the main character, it really could’ve used more editing for missing and misplaced words, etc. I was a little over halfway into the book and considering giving up on it when it finally started to get vaguely interesting. The main character was a little annoying and a little dumb with the choices she made. I won’t be continuing the series.

[Avada Kaddavra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unterhaltsames Hörbuch, Sprecherin war leider nicht so dolle und außerdem war der Ton irgendwie blechern... egal, bei entsprechender Geschwindigkeit hat man beides nicht mehr gemerkt.
Ich frag mich, wann die Hexerei in dieser Reihe zum Thema wird und ob der Typ im schwarzen Umhang unser Love Interest werden möchte😁

[Sheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

My second (free) cozy mystery---a genre that has me slightly baffled. It seems like these books are either "book farm" projects of contract writers or possibly even AI written. "Sophie Love" and "Fiona Grace" are obviously pen names, and the writing itself is kind of stilted and amateurish. The starting place seems to be a woman in her 30s losing her job, boyfriend, and home in a day, and then magically finding a new amazing opportunity in a quaint New England town. Where she gets implicated in a murder which she decides to solve herself so she doesn't get sent to prison (or possibly worse, have to move home with her overbearing mother and imperious stepfather.) Additionally, both protagonists(in the two series I've started)have real fathers who disappear under mysterious circumstances, no doubt setting up another mystery to solve in a later volume.
So this one was quite a bait and switch with the title and the cover, as there are no witches in the story at all. There is a curious occult bookstore, and some perhaps supernatural things happen, but none of those threads are brought to any conclusion. The character of the bookshop owner and his cat Hecate are interesting enough that I may move forward with the series so long as subsequent volumes are free or cheap.
Pleasant enough and easily digestible, like an episode of Scooby-Doo.

[Una Tiers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This author did NO research or she would not have spewed complete misinformation about the probate system.
The secondary characters were flat. The title had little to do with the book. The blurbs and categories like culinary and animal were misleading.
It moved from a one star to a two only because the hook at the start worked.

[Alexia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my 2021 52 Book Club Reading Challenge for prompt shoe on the cover. I was intrigued that this was the start of a series of what appeared to be a light-hearted read about a witch, her cat, her bookstore and a mystery for her to solve based partly on the book cover and partly on the book description. Cool.

Unfortunately this is not what the book is about.

Lex is a serious non-fiction book editor. She loves history and science and yet unfortunately it is these types of books that just don't sell. These are academic books; they don't appeal to the masses. After learning that her section was being eliminated and refusing to work in the more successful Celebrity biography genre, Lex quits. She is at a pivotal point in her life and she decides she ultimately wants to open a used bookstore like her father once owned when she was a child. She has never understood how he has disappeared from her life without a trace.

Lex immediately finds a job advertisement for an assistant at A Curious Bookstore about an hour away and after a strange interview, she secures the job only when the black cat Hecate leaps on her lap and settles down for a purring nap. Lex quickly realizes she visited this town as a child with her father and her relocation there easily falls into place. The bookstore, the owner himself and some of its customers are all just odd and Lex has no idea what secrets it holds. When one of its most dedicated customers suddenly dies, Lex becomes the prime suspect and now she is without a job. Lex must find out who is the real killer to clear her name and hopefully get her job back to ultimately pursue her dream of opening her own bookstore.

The best thing about the book is that it is a super easy read. I was snowed in and literally read it in one day. I immediately identified with Lex (see my name) and liked her. My problem was that I felt completely misled by the cover. Lex is not a witch. She doesn't own the bookstore; she barely works there. She doesn't own the cat. The meaning of the cat or background of the bookstore is not given. I understand this is a series, but I don't want to be in book 3 before I learn much more; I want to have an idea of where this is going in book 1. Even the mention of the occult is scoffed at by Lex. She is a science girl. She doesn't believe in the occult. I actually forgot about the mystery aspect of the book. It doesn't happen until the latter half of the book and frankly it just isn't that exciting.

I really, really wanted to like this book more since it was such an easy read, but I felt completely let down. Series books can be great, but if there is not enough revealed to want you hang on, you lose your audience. The cute cover just didn't match the book.

[ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never judge a book by its cover, but also, the cover is used to convey themes and hints about the book and the characters. I judged that this book with the attached title would be about a witch or at least have witchy elements and supernatural occurrences.

Wrong.

I feel like this book was a paint-by-numbers and they just forgot to switch out the cover, title and every element of witches, supernatural beings, magic etc. It was a book that was void of really anything (we never go further than the surface on the townsfolk, the occult, the mysterious bookstore, or the other characters) and why oh why is the main character so ridiculously naive and stupid in her actions? The stupidity of her actions was the only way to keep the plot moving forward for the reveal of the murderer which was left field and made no sense whatsoever.

This felt like a ‘gotcha’ book, knowing full well that readers seeing a black cat, striped stockings, curled toed heels and a Halloween color palette about a mysterious bookstore would wait and wait and wait for the magic to finally appear in this cozy story.

Well, it never arrives and is just a bland story that you can find much better elsewhere for the genre that delivers.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery listening 🎶🔰

This was a free novella e-book from Amazon.

Alexa works in a publishing company in Boston but things are changing and she finds herself without a job. She answers an add for employment in a bookshop north of Boston. She gets the job and the fun begins ending with murder and arrest of the killer. Series continues in book two.

I have lived in Massachusetts and New Hampshire so this novella took me back there. I had the feeling I was walking the streets and entering into the stores. I would recommend this novella and author to 👍 readers of family and friends relationships with a murder mystery novels 👍🔰. 2023 👒😀😡🏡

[Romanticamente Fantasy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cassandra Gold - per RFS
.
Ben trovate, care Fenici. Quest’oggi ho il piacere di parlarvi del primo libro di una serie di gialli veramente originali.

Lex ha da sempre una profonda passione per i libri. Sviluppata da piccola insieme al suo papà, proprietario di una libreria di libri usati, la porta in età adulta ad avere un ruolo di spicco in una celebre casa editrice di Boston, occupandosi di saggi. Purtroppo, però, le cose non si evolvono per il meglio e, per una serie di sfortunate coincidenze, la ragazza si troverà a dovervi rinunciare. Con l’incarico sfuma anche la sua relazione sentimentale, già da tempo stantia e priva di stimoli intellettuali. Sì, perché la nostra protagonista ha una visione razionale del mondo, che spesso la porta a chiudersi al diverso e al particolare. Ma la sua vita presto cambierà, proiettandola in un universo sconosciuto, alla ricerca del lavoro dei suoi sogni e del suo papà, da molto tempo scomparso; il tutto condito dalle molte rimostranze di sua madre, che la vorrebbe come una donna in carriera, razionale, metodica e realista.

Un libro veramente piacevole, che racchiude alcune delle caratteristiche che preferisco in una storia: romance, suspense, meravigliose descrizioni di luoghi idilliaci e confortevoli, e una buona dose di magia. Lex è coraggiosa, pronta a fare di tutto per realizzare i propri obiettivi. Gli eventi iniziali sono l’agente scatenante, che la spingono finalmente a spezzare il senso d’immobilità nel quale era rimasta prigioniera. Lei vuole trovare suo padre e aprire una libreria di tomi usati, che rappresenta l’aspirazione di bambina coltivata con lui. Sentire l’odore dell’inchiostro, percepire sotto le dita la carta fragile e delicata di un libro antico, vedere la meraviglia negli occhi delle persone, trovando un insolito tesoro. Un dolcissimo desiderio di affetti ritrovati e di una dimora definitiva sono i pensieri che impegnano la sua mente, quando per ottenere dei risultati si ritrova a dover risolvere un incredibile caso di una sua cliente assassinata. Il fulcro di tutto è una piccola libreria situata in un paesino sperduto, apparentemente bloccato nel tempo. Un luogo incredibile, che sembra legato al suo passato. Tuttavia sua madre non fa dietrofront neanche nel momento in cui Lex le assicura di avere la situazione sotto controllo. In effetti, a pensarci bene, nel corso dell’opera parla dei propri sogni in funzione di quelli del genitore scomparso. A questo punto ci chiediamo: quali sono le vere speranze di Lex? Non ci resta altro che cominciare questo bellissimo percorso con lei, leggendo delle sue avventure, per capire quale strada il suo cuore sarà destinato a prendere.

Per il momento, vi saluto e vi do appuntamento alla Curiosa Libreria nella città di Incanton.

A presto!

[Lucinda Race · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book in audio format. The narration was well paced and kept me engaged in the story. I am looking forward to learning more about the magic of the town, as I'm sure there is something brewing. I did suspect the wrong person for the murderer which is always a good thing when you're playing sleuth while reading.
A fun listen.

[Sandee · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent start to a new series. Alexis starts a new job in a new town at a very strange bookstore run by a very strange proprietor. When a customer dies, everything in Alexis' life becomes complicated. There is a lot of world-building and character development in this book but the mystery is good. I am looking forward to the next book.

[Cee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m being generous giving this book 2 stars. It would be 1 star if it wasn’t for the cozy town and bookstore setting that I kind of enjoyed. Overall, it felt like this book was rushed through and none of my questions were answered by the end. Also, what was that ending?? Why was the spanish groundskeeper the murder when there were so many better ways it could have played out? It seemed a little too stereotypical and honestly a little problematic. The writing was bad too. I almost DNF’d this one but it was like a train wreck that I just couldn’t put down. I had to see it through to the end just to see if anything was salvaged… I wasted my time. Maybe I’m just not built for the cozy mystery books no matter how badly I want to be, but either way I do not recommend. Good luck. Lol

[Swatilekha Majumdar · Rating 1 out of 5]

For me, this book has one of the most unlikable main character I have ever come across. I simply could not form even an iota of sympathy or connection with Lex. The book started off like something out of fantasy genre, but once the murder took place (that too after 50% of the book was over), the book just takes a downward spiral to being pathetic. I will say, Lex was stupid and dumb. For someone, who desperately wanted to fulfil her lifelong dream of opening a used bookstore, she let her “curiosity” get the best of her? I mean, how dumb do you have to be!! The side characters add nothing significant to the plot. Overall, really bad read (I am sorry to the author for being so harsh).

Note: The book has a lot of errors as well, which makes me wonder who the editor of this book was!?

[Nicole's Bücherwelt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ich bin hin und her gerissen, wie ich dieses Buch bewerten soll. Anhand der Inhaltsbeschreibung hatte ich eigentlich etwas ganz anderes erwartet und sowohl Cover als auch Titel sind vollkommen irreführend. Wo waren die Magie (bei welcher Teestunde?) und die "geliebte zugelaufene Katze"? Hecate ist weder geliebt noch zugelaufen und taucht leider nur selten ganz kurz auf. Ansonsten war es - bis auf diverse Satzzeichen- und Grammatikfehler - ganz okay, aber nicht wirklich überzeugend. Und ich bin nicht motiviert, die weiteren Bände der Reihe zu lesen. Schade...

[Tatiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy read and funny. But it was poorly written and barely stitched together. As a Latin American, I just found the reveal of the murder kind of stupid, not to mention badly connected.

[D.L. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uh... where were the witches in this book exactly?

[James Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable tale

Sophie has created an interesting and exciting story to go with a great group of characters to make a book that was hard to put down.

[Abigail Prater · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never read a cozy mystery book before, let alone a five book cozy mystery series! I’m glad I started with this series after hearing great things about the offer. It’s the perfect quick read that includes mystery, drama, romance, love, magic, all while remaining lighthearted and not too “heavy”. I love how descriptive the author is, the entire time I was reading I was watching the book unfold in my head! It was the perfect plane read and now I’m invested in the story. Here comes me speed reading the next 4 books in the series! 😹

[Sunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda enjoyed it, though the first half of the book was very slow paced and the second half of the book was too rushed. Also, the killer didn't really make sense🤷🏼‍♀️

[Kristin Scearce · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title and book cover are incredibly misleading, and the fact that the blurb says the main character is 29 when she's actually 32 in the book tells you all you need to know about the quality of editing (even though the main character is an editor!).

2 very generous stars, mostly because the narrator for the audiobook is pretty good

[David Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new series for me

This was the first book in a series if cozy mysteries. Naturally, you get a lot of introduction in the story. You meet the main character, some of the supporting characters, the setting, and generally a feeling for how future stories will go. In fact, this takes up about the first half of the book.

The murder element only comes on at the half way point and in a way makes it feel like two separate stories. The murder is a little weak in my opinion. I am guessing that in later books, the mystery will be more of a focus and a little more involved.

There is a couple of elements that appear to be setups for events to be explored more in future books. The mysterious nature of the bookstore and the disappearance of the main character's father. These elements make me want to come back for more but hopefully they won't drag on forever without real conclusions.

There were a few rough spots in the book. A couple of sentences that were awkwardly written which can throw a reader off. There is also one detail that changes. A picture is described with the person having their hand on a dog's head but later the person has their hand on the back of a chair. It is a very minor detail that does not matter to the story but it stood out to me. In mysteries, those details can sometimes be clues so that is why it bothered me.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and will likely try more in the series to see how it progresses.

[Terry Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but when I finished, it felt as though I read an unedited draft rather than a final version. Questions were raised that were never answered which bugged me a bit (e.g., what happened to the previous store clerk? It was brought up several times with no explanation). Also, the main character had a degree in both Chemistry and World History, but neither were used in bringing the book to resolution. In fact, the character didn't even know the difference between pepper spray and black pepper "She didn't have any pepper spray but there was a pepper grinder in the kitchen - surely that would have the same effect?" Um... NO... and a chemist would know that. I think that was meant to make the reader laugh, but it bothered me based on what I was told about the character. Why not make the character an English major which would have been far more on-point? Also, the story felt contrived with too many coincidences that left me rolling my eyes (even with the lame explanation at the end).

[One Sentence Audio Critic · Rating 3 out of 5]

WARNING: This is a 5 book series with several storylines that go through all 5 books. While I enjoyed the first 4 books, BOOK FIVE (published 2021) IS NOT AVAILABLE (Kindle, Libby, Audible, HoopLa, etc.) So, you won't know about the missing person, her business, etc.

Anybody find book 5, The Witching Place: A Tainted Tome?

[Tina Clayton · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ the main problem with this book is the title and the cover. They are misleading. False advertisement. Other than a passing mention of the occult this book is not about witches. This is a Scooby-Doo middle grade murder mystery at best.

[Christiane_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This sounded so cute but was slow going. I thought this would be way more mystery based on the title but the mystery really didn’t start until after the 50% mark. The writing was good and overall the storyline was good. I just think it could have been shorter.

[Carrey 🍓 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Where do I begin? This book was absolutely terrible! And I will try my best to explain the many reasons why I hated it.

✖️First and foremost what this book does great is portray itself with a ton of false advertisement. From the cover to the synopsis.

-1- The book has nothing to do with witches or anything witchy and magical, despite what the whimsical title and cover art tell you. There is nothing witchy whatsoever, except the fact that our MC moves to a town a few miles from Salem, Massachusetts. I guess they want us to believe proximity equals witchcraft?

The cover is lovely, but all it does is con readers into believing this book is something it definitely is not. And the cat in the cover is scarcely in the book. So if you’re expecting cute witchy kitty, think again.

-2- The synopsis states that she was ‘Fired’ from her job. Again, false advertising. Seems like this author really wanted people to read their book, that they resorted to lying to readers about everything!

✖️Our MC was not fired from her job, she quit because she felt she was too good to work in another department. Alexis Blair, our MC worked for a publishing house where she focused on science books. She, from the very start looked down upon the other departments because those books aren’t as ‘important’ as her department’s titles. She comes off as very pretentious and snobby, and continues this way for most of the book.

When her boss informs her that her department is being disbanded, and that she will be reassigned to another department, (autobiographies). She refuses this, implying that these types of books are beneath her; and refuses to work with the company ‘mean girl’. Alexis quits on the spot, despite this being a well paying job and also a well respected job.

Couldn’t she have held on until she saved up enough to open her dream bookstore? Or at least until she found another job she enjoyed better? Also, we have all worked with insufferable co-workers at shitty jobs and don’t quit without at least a backup plan first. 🤦🏽‍♀️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦‍♂️

✖️On the same day she quit her job, she also broke up with her boyfriend. Look I get it, he was a conspiracy theorist weirdo, but you knew about his beliefs and stances on all these issues and still chose to date him. She even states they’ve argued before about these things, and yet she chose to stay with him. And to be honest, he was being quite supportive with her newly jobless status, getting pizza and watching movies comforting her the best he could. But of course she chooses that day to find a problem with his ‘flat Earth’ beliefs and break up with him. I think his views are wild, but again YOU KNEW HOW HE WAS! Why were you with him, if he wasn’t what you wanted in a partner?

And the fact that she implies that she is breaking up with him because he is not at her intellectual level is crazy. She is so full of herself.

✖️The bookstore is more of a minor subplot, with little to no substance. I will admit the bookstore, its owner and its clientele are the most interesting parts of this book. Unfortunately they are severely underused.

Alexis is terrible at her job at the bookstore, she has a problem with everything. She complains about the sorting system, the cash register, the layout of the bookstore, the books of which are not “good enough”. She is also highly critical of the clients, judging them on how they look or dress.

And when the owner entrusted her with a package that held a rare and very expensive book meant for an important client, and told her not to open the package or read the contents of the book - what does she do? Opens the package and reads the book. 🙄

✖️The murder takes place so far into the book, I really couldn’t care less about it. Sorry old woman who got murdered, I just don’t care.

✖️Alexis carries herself with this air that she’s better than everyone, and so much smarter than everyone. When in reality she is the stupidest MC I’ve encountered in a book in a long time. She misrepresents herself with a false persona to a lawyer to get the personal information of one of his clients, who happens to be the murder victim’s next of kin. She also breaks into the crime scene. Also she seeks out and terrorizes the poor housekeeper accusing her of murder, and berating her in her own home. She straight up threatens the poor lady then moves on like nothing. Sure girl, let’s harass little old ladies just for sport. Alexis is a peach! 🤬

She is the most infuriating, idiotic, narcissistic, unlikable main character. I hate her! And I don’t like using that word often to describe characters, but in this case I really do. She gets on my very last nerve.

✖️And finally the main reason I hated this book (other than Alexis);

THE RACISM!!!

The murderer was a literal racist caricature of a Hispanic/Latino. He was a gardener who spoke broken English and acted like a simpleton. Only for it to be revealed that he was this ‘criminal mastermind’ that murdered his employer to steal her very valuable 1st edition of Don Quixote by Cervantes. Like wtf?!

As a Latino woman I found this to be an extremely racist representation and a truly problematic one at that. I was highly offended. The author used stereotypes to portray this character and it makes me wonder if she has ever even met a Latino person? Or does she think like her MC that they are beneath her? Not worth the time to research that community of people? No? That’s right we are all Speedy Gonzalez-type people that live up to all stereotypes. “Oh no plis mees no let us look like idiot”. -note sarcasm-

I for one will not read anything else by this author. The book was lacking in many ways, and the not so subtle racism was the deal breaker for me. If I could give this book a negative score I would.

⭐️ ✖️ ✖️ ✖️ ✖️/5.

WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE!!!