Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book
Rate this book
As a bookish, introverted database programmer, Morgen Keller never thought she was a candidate for a midlife crisis. That was before her husband divorced her, her boss let her go, and her grandmother died. Forty wasn’t supposed to look like this.

When Morgen heads up to the small town of Bellrock, Washington, to settle the estate, she looks forward to taking a peaceful break from life and figuring out what she’s going to do next.

But peace isn’t to be had. The old farmhouse is full of witch paraphernalia, a fearsome werewolf has claimed the property, and contrary to what the family was told, Grandma didn’t die of natural causes.

Embroiled in a mystery, and heir to powers she knew nothing about, Morgen must turn to the only person who might be able to help: the werewolf who threatened to rip her throat out for trespassing.

This isn’t the fresh start on life that Morgen had in mind.

247 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 14, 2021

1723 people are currently reading
6838 people want to read

About the author

Lindsay Buroker

198 books6,243 followers
I'm a full-time indie fantasy and science fiction author. When I'm not writing, I'm ferrying my dogs to hiking trails for adventures.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
2,124 (34%)
4 stars
2,011 (33%)
3 stars
1,446 (23%)
2 stars
382 (6%)
1 star
120 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 433 reviews
Profile Image for Jacob Proffitt.
3,314 reviews2,156 followers
April 25, 2022
I liked the idea of this better than the execution. Morgen inherits her Grandma's house in small-town Washington where it turns out she has a bunch of lakeside land and a lot of folks wanting to tell her how to use/sell it. Also, it turns out Grams was a witch with a werewolf tenant and none of the paranormals really care much about staying hidden.

I like that Morgen doesn't spend any time in denial about the world she finds herself dumped into. And I like that she's kind of looking for a break so she's not that eager to dump and run. Her determination was fun at first, though it turns out to be rather shallow. I mean, she's interested in the witchy stuff, particularly as it seems part of her heritage and she has some initial success with an incantation or two. But I ended up getting kind of impatient with her half-hearted dinking around.

See, the witches are antagonistic, controlling, and a bit evil, thinking nothing of controlling werewolves to do things like murder people. Amar the werewolf loner living in her barn is kinda nice, if a bit growly, but the other werewolves are jackwagons of the first order who think nothing of leering and bullying and haven't heard of consent as a thing. So it seems to me that the sooner she gets on with learning this magic thing, the better, if only to protect herself and Amar from being done in by the probably-evil movers and shakers in this little community. And it's not like she doesn't have stuff left by Grandma, including a couple of handy books that might have lots of answers. I mean, how long does it take to read a couple of books, at least well-enough to figure out what they do and don't have so she can plan a deeper dive later?!?

Only no, she's busy organizing things and labeling and other useless activities so that every encounter is a scramble that ends more-or-less randomly.

I think my final break with taking it seriously was when Morgen . And the plot stuff was interesting. But only as long as I could stave off the question "why is she doing this?" Which isn't good in a protagonist, frankly.

I'm giving this a couple stars because the story was evocative and the plot interesting enough to pull me all the way to the end. It was mostly after the fact that I wondered what the heck I just read. But I seriously don't get Morgen or what she's doing faffing around like this.

A note about Chaste: Morgen isn't much interested in a relationship. Or even sex, really. Not that she's asexual or opposed or anything. But she's smarting from her divorce and while the sometimes naked werewolf is hawt, he's obviously not interested. So this is pretty chaste.
Profile Image for Mara.
2,538 reviews270 followers
July 7, 2022
Shudder-worthy. Lacking logical thinking all over. All telling without showing. A watered down plot. I put it down and for the love of UF I couldn’t pick it up again.
This author and I went different ways years ago, but at times I try her books again. Clearly a mistake, but it’s on me.


She’ll never be a particularly good author in my mind and the only book of hers I truly liked was a, let’s call it, a “love song” to Cordelia's Honor. Still for that long lost love I try, but she shouldn’t suffer my bad moods 😃…
Profile Image for Ian.
1,433 reviews183 followers
September 29, 2021
Easy reading. What I would describe as an entertaining time killer. The challenge for a book like this is making the unbelievable, believable. The transition to the knowledge that werewolves and witches exist. And honestly I don't think it was done all that well in this book.
But it was good enough that I'll give book 2 a chance.
Profile Image for A Turtles Nest Book Reviews.
202 reviews11 followers
March 15, 2022
In all honesty, I had received this as a Goodreads Giveaway Kindle copy and due to unappreciated life events had not had time to really get into it. Picking back up recently, it's been a while since a book had me laughing so hard I had tears I my eyes. This was an awesome read, I thank the author for it and say I cab wait to read the rest of the series. One can not help loving Morgen (the very new witch) and Amar (long time werewolf) and hope to see what they get up to in the second!
Profile Image for Angela (Angel's Book Nook).
1,672 reviews974 followers
January 5, 2022
Mind over Magic is book one in the Witch in Wolf Wood series by Lindsay Buroker.

Morgan is newly divorced, unemployed, and never expected to find witches, werewolves, and a magical inheritance. She moves to her grandmother’s place after her death and is pulled into finding out who killed her grandma, but she’s not alone the residential werwolf is there to help her out.

It was a decent start to the series. The story is funny, intriguing, and a nice read. It had some interesting aspects I enjoyed and some I don’t quite care for, but still I had fun with this first book.

Rated: 3 Stars

angelsgp-seethisreview-blure
Profile Image for Mary Hopkins.
10 reviews30 followers
September 16, 2021
Murders, mayhem, monstrous wolves & magical moss get mixed up with a nerdy, midlife MC (and her dog), into an occasionally grisly, yet still entertaining modern fantasy. Definitely want to see what happens in the next book.
Profile Image for Anna (Bobs Her Hair).
1,001 reviews209 followers
September 27, 2021
A lighthearted (with a bit of throat-ripping) paranormal women's fiction novel with werewolves, witches, and mystery. Not fast-paced like I normally like and loads on internal musing but the main character is compelling enough for me to try the next book in this series.
Profile Image for Barbara.
1,330 reviews55 followers
September 23, 2021
Morgen Keller is newly divorced and unemployed and when her grandmother dies and leaves her property to Morgen, she travels to the small town of Bellrock, Washington to settle the estate. She never expected werewolves, witches and a magical inheritance, along with the mystery of her grandmother’s death to solve. Being an introverted database programmer, all of this isn’t exactly up Morgen’s alley, but with the help of the resident werewolf who was her grandmother’s friend, Morgen is determined to discover who wanted her grandmother dead. Most of the witches Morgen runs into are not too friendly, and the werewolves are even worse, but I liked the way she doesn’t let that deter her from her investigation. With plenty of humor, which is something I always enjoy from this author, and dangerous situations as well, this was a wonderful start to the new series A Witch in Wolf Wood.
Profile Image for Ami.
6,241 reviews489 followers
September 28, 2021
Lindsay Buroker is another prolific author in the urban fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal genre that I have yet tried. Let's just say committing into a series that has so many books in it seems like a heavy chore. This one, Mind Over Magic, is a start of a new series (claimed to have only three books so far). I decided to give it a go.

While the writing is good, and there are some good snarks between Morgen and Amar, the story doesn't completely pull me in. Maybe it's all the witch vs. werewolf hostility? Maybe it's the way Morgen seems quite blasé after finding out that her grandmother is murdered or that she may have a witch blood? Something's just not quite right for me but I can't put my finger on it.

Let's just say that I don't think I'll continue this series since I don't really care about the characters and whether or not they end up together.
Profile Image for Dan Heitzman.
50 reviews
September 21, 2021
As always a fun character driven story from Lindsay Buroker. Lindsay has indicated that this will be a short series of shorter books is our world, separate from any of her other series. It's meant to be a lighter series in between an epic gateway she's writing.

Knowing all that I'd say this fills the bill perfectly. As always with Lindsay's work I have a good grasp on the workings of magic in this world she's creating. I get the characters and what drives them. The story moves decently fast once the world and characters are introduced. This book tells a complete story but leaves plenty of room for more. The book does not end in a cliff hanger but there is an unresolved conflict.
Profile Image for Rebecca Chastain.
Author 34 books295 followers
September 22, 2021
Light, fun, and easy to read, with the added bonus of a 40-something introverted protagonist with no children and who didn't bemoan being old or falling apart. I *might* have felt a bit of kinship with her. :)
Profile Image for Andrea.
2,144 reviews1 follower
November 12, 2021
3.5

Warring packs, Witches, and Wolf Woods~Oh my!~
Fun premise!

H is left a huge house and land by a recently deceased grandmother in the middle of nowhere after her abrupt divorce, and on the way into the forest logged property she is stopped by a gigantic wolf on the hood of her car.

2c70c7d71fca08e8c437163d928d37ed

But wait a second is that wolf changing into a man?? A very naked...and muscled man... and why is he telling her to get off his land? What the hell was her 90 year old-motorcycle riding grandma up to out here before she died, and what the hell is she in for in this sleepy small town?
Profile Image for Jane.
1,489 reviews72 followers
December 7, 2021
Okay, I must admit that while it was a pretty decent book I prefer Buroker and her dragon books more.
Profile Image for TJ.
3,285 reviews281 followers
April 14, 2023
Not as strong as other series starters from this author. Morgen just kind of puddles around more than actually doing something about her discovery of and legacy for magic.
Profile Image for Bernadette.
213 reviews1 follower
January 12, 2025
It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either. I don't think I will be continuing this series because I can’t see how it can get any better. Life is too short to read mediocre books.

I listened to the audiobook. There were several times when I thought, "didn't they just say that", there seemed to be a lot of repetition.

This is not my normal genre but sometimes I find a good book that involves werewolves.
Morgen is forty-something, newly divorced computer geek who’s just lost her job. Inheriting her grandmother’s house. As Erin mentioned, it is nice that the protagonist is in an older age group.

Some thoughts/comments:

• What does one do with a dead deer in the driveway? Call animal control Morgan!
• I love that Grandma was a librarian who loved books she left behind many grimoires.
• Morgan’s sister is a know-it-all with no personality. The worst kind of family member to have to deal with, there is one in my family
• Amar can be described as a grumpy (and hunky) werewolf
• Cauliflower puffs, hmmm – buffalo cauliflower is very good though
• The vegetarian human trying to explain this diet/lifestyle choice to a carnivorous werewolf is interesting and amusing.
•Witches and werewolves DO NOT like each other so it has been interesting seeing the Morgan/Amar relationship develop.
Profile Image for Ruth.
604 reviews16 followers
April 29, 2025
3.5 rounded up to 4

This is an entertaining and fun story set in a small rural town in Washington state where witches and werewolves coexist, albeit with significant hostility toward each other. However, I’d classify this book as a paranormal cozy mystery with hints at a potential romance between two individuals brought together by a family member’s untimely death that they suspect could be more than the accident it was labeled by authorities.

High marks that the female MC, Morgen, is a woman in her mid-forties who has a career in data programming. She inherits from her grandmother a small town property and legacy of being a witch. Morgen is a strong woman coming off the painful end of a relationship, but she has respect for her grandmother and no intention of selling the property to greedy developers.

The story weaves together Morgen’s move to a new town, the responsibility she feels to preserve the sanctity of her family land, the suspicion that her grandmother’s death was murder, meeting local werewolf Amar, and grappling with the knowledge that werewolves and witches are real… and that she has innate witchy powers. Morgen and Amar have a tumultuous start, but very gradually allow a tense friendship to bloom. NO instalove or smutty content here, and for that I’m grateful!

This author, Lindsay Buroker, has written witty, mature dialogue and I laughed throughout the book. Morgen is an endearing heroine and I’m interested in reading the rest of this series.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator, Vivienne Leheny, really delivered a stellar reading and captured the tone of the storytelling.
Profile Image for Tiffany  (Bluestocking).
448 reviews18 followers
April 30, 2022
It pains me to say this but this book was boring. The plot was initially interesting and the first couple of chapters had me very intrigued but then things got really monotonous. Nothing significant really happens until about halfway in and still it wasn’t anything to talk about. Even the ending was anticlimactic.

Morgan & Amar were nice characters but were underdeveloped so I didn’t really connect with them and couldn’t understand their motivations for doing anything. While Morgan accepted her heritage and endeavored to understand it, she didn’t do much more than label questionable ingredients, talk to her dog and advocate her vegetarian lifestyle.

The plot was literally carried by happenstance and serendipitous events and a lot of it didn’t make sense. Things were partially resolved and the villain was revealed but ultimately got away, leaving things nice and open for a second installment. One that I will not be reading because I can’t see how this can get any better.

Content: Chaste, Innuendo throughout, Moderate violence, Mild language
Profile Image for Tina.
686 reviews2 followers
April 13, 2022
With a slight nod at the Twilight series, the author takes us on the beginnings of Morgan’s journey into the world of witchcraft and werewolves. The ending was pretty good, and leaves the ready expecting the sequel. I won’t bother though. I doesn’t have enough substance.
3,217 reviews67 followers
October 1, 2021
Had high hopes, sadly for me it was just OK. The mature h is cynical and her history shows her as somewhat uncaring, and distant with her family. She's clever and adaptable, with a smart mouth. The werewolf H reveals little to anyone, but does help the h. The story didn't really engage me as much as I had hoped. Just OK.
Profile Image for Lola.
1,988 reviews275 followers
September 26, 2023
I wanted to try this series by Lindsay Buroker as I've enjoyed the books I read by her so far and thus I grabbed the first book in this series in audio. Mind Over Magic was a solid start to this new series. I like how the book starts right in the middle of things with Morgan driving to the house she inherited when she encounters a werewolf. Not much later Morgan finds out her grandmother was a witch and she is one too.

I liked this book, the pacing was well done and I liked the story for the most part. Morgan doesn't know anything about magic, but is curious and picks a few things up. I liked how she is a bit skeptical at first, but once she sees magic works and werewolves exist she quickly accepts this. I liked how she got to know Amar, there is quite a lot of banter and they grow a bit closer throughout the book. There's definitely a set up for a future romance there.

I liked learning more about witches, werewolves and the property Morgan inherited. I didn't like how the witches and werewolves talked about the other party and treated them, there is some bad blood between them. The witches have a spell to control werewolves and that just felt wrong to me and I hated that the witches actually used it. The mutual dislike between the witches and werewolves is a big part of the book and it did make sense why they disliked each other.

There's a bit of a mystery in this book with Morgan and Amar investigating and trying to figure out who killed Morgan's grandmother. It wasn't a very twisty mystery, but I liked seeing how they handled things and finding out who is the murderer and why. I also liked how this caused them to work together as they both want to find out who killed her.

The narrator Vivienne Leheny is one I already know and her voice is just such a great fit for Lindsay Buroker's books. I was happy to listen to this one and plan to get the rest of the series in audio as well. She has plenty of variety in voices and it's easy to hear who is who.

To summarize: Mind over Magic was an enjoyable first book in this series. While it's the first book and has some introduction to do, it starts right in the middle of things and it's not long before Morgan knows werewolves and witches exist and that she is a witch too. I liked learning more about the witches, werewolves and the property Morgan inherited. Morgan is a likable main character and I liked how it doesn't take her long to accept magic is real. I liked seeing how she handled things and there's some fun banter with love interest Amar. I didn't like how the witches could control werewolves as that felt wrong to me, but their mutual dislike for each other made sense and is part of the plot. There's a bit of a mystery as well with them figuring out how killed Morgan's grandmother, which while relatively straightforward was still an interesting plot. The narrator is awesome and I like how well Vivienne Leheny's voice fits Lindsay Buroker's book and I plan to listen to the rest of the series as well. I look forward to book 2!
Profile Image for Simply Sam.
974 reviews112 followers
September 6, 2022
After inheriting her grandmother's property, Morgen (our female MC) is plopped into the center of a town where apparently witches and werewolves are the not-so-closely guarded secret inhabitants. Like, her literal first encounter with a person there is with a werewolf (our male MC Amar) who lets her see him shift. And instead of freaking out, she just takes it all in stride. Even finding out that her grandmother is a witch and that she (Morgen) has witchblood and could therefore train to be a witch herself, she remains pretty calm and collected about the whole deal. Anyhoo. The whole book is a pretty quick, easy read. I didn't dislike Morgen or Amar. I like that there was no romance in this book, like at all, but I know that there will be at some point. I definitely prefer slow burns. It's 3 stars primarily because it felt like everything just kind of happened at once and was super easy to overcome. I'm going to continue the series because honestly it's the kind of book I'm in the mood for at the moment, even if it's not quite top-tier material.
Profile Image for Hollie Smurthwaite.
Author 7 books56 followers
May 21, 2022
Cute

It’s nice to take a break from badass heroines and read about a “regular” woman coming across the supernatural. I love a story where someone learns they have paranormal abilities.

Great start to a series.
Profile Image for Brenda ..
245 reviews4 followers
November 19, 2023
It took me a little bit (most of the the first book really) to really get into it. Once I did however I really enjoyed it! Too bad it is only a 5 book series but definitely enjoyed it! Great series. I think I need to read more by this author.
Profile Image for Eve.
921 reviews20 followers
April 14, 2025
This was definitely a mixed bag. It was casually fun, the stakes didn’t feel that high and it was a pretty easy read. I’ve definitely, definitely read better from Ms. Buroker. I’m mildly curious about how this will go and can only pray that it gets better as I go on.

Can’t wait to find out more about Amar’s past and also Morgan’s ex-husband.
Profile Image for Talena Winters.
Author 9 books113 followers
November 3, 2021
This was so much fun. It was the first book of Lindsay's I've read, but it won't be the last.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 433 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.