Saggy But Witty in Crescent City

Mystical Midlife in Maine #5

by Brenda Trim

Vampires with a vendetta. The Queen of Voodoo. Nasty necromancers. Just another day in my life.

If you need a magical mystery solved, apparently I'm your gal. As the go-to private detective for the supernatural community, I've got every shifter, fae, and ghoul knocking on my door. Now the local vampires have decided to test me by leaving a dead shifter in a public park.

Ever handled a pack of shifters looking for revenge? It's not pretty. And right now, I don't have the time to settle a feud. I have to get to New Orleans and find a necromancer to help me pull my ghoul's soul from the other side. In classic mom fashion, I put my foot down and force the vampires to give up the killer so I can finally head out of town.

The Crescent City springs more surprises on me than a jack-in-the-box and I'm on a roll from the moment we touch down. I accidentally unleash centuries-old magic on a plantation owned by six mundie sisters, and then I'm off and running through the swamps just to evade demons and more vampires.

After I'm forced to seek the help of the infamous Marie Leveau, I'm officially fed up. My best friend is fighting for her life, and by the time I get to the necromancer,]]] I have to stop one of the Houdun Loa from hijacking my attempt to bring Selene's spirit across.

Whatever happens next, I've made it clear to every magical being in bayou country why it's a very bad idea to underestimate me.

Genres: Paranormal

248 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2022

About the author

Brenda's Paranormal Women's Fiction

Mystical Midlife in Maine Series
1. Magical Makeover
2. Laugh Lines & Lost Things
3. Hellmouth & Hot Flashes
4. Holidays With Hades
5. Saggy But Witty in Crescent City
6. Nasty Curses & Big Purses
7. Fae Forged Axes & Chin Waxes
8. Demonic Stones & Creaky Bones
9. Underworld Frights & Sleepless Nights
10. Pixie Dust & Brain Rust
11. Magical Hands & Silver Strands
12. Deadly Quips & Furry Lips
13. Enchanted Tattoos & Lost Fools
14. Shady Secrets & Sun Spots

Twisted Sisters Midlife Maelstrom Series
1. Packing Serious Magical Mojo
2. Cadaver On Canal Street
3. Seances & Second Line Parades
4. French Quarter Fae
5. King's Day Magical Mischief
6. Etou-Fae The Hard Way
7. Hurricanes, Heros & Hail Marys
8. Royal Street Romp
9. Levees, Lost Crowns & Loa
10. Mud Bugs & Cherished Hugs
11. Creole Dishes & Deadly Wishes

Brenda's Paranormal Romance Books
DARK WARRIOR ALLIANCE SERIES
1. Dream Warrior
2. Mystik Warrior
3. Pemas Storm
4. Isis Betrayal
5. Deviant Warrior
6. Suvi's Revenge
7. Scarred Warrior
8. Hellbound Warrior
9. Isobel
10. Rogue Warrior
11. Shattered Warrior

Reviews

[Emily Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adventures in New Orleans . . .

The local vampires have interrupted Phoebe’s plans by leaving a dead shifter in a public park. She has no time to take care of these things. She has to go to New Orleans to find a necromancer to get Selene’s soul pulled back from the other side, as she has been promising. She just can’t catch a break. The entire supernatural community seems to need her private detective skills all of a sudden.

Even when she gets to New Orleans, things do not go smoothly. She accidentally sets centuries-old magic loose on a plantation with dire consequences, then runs through the swamps to evade demons and vampires. She has no time for this trouble! Can she struggle through these issues and find that necromancer she needs? Or will this day never end?

I love these stories! It makes me relieved that my bad days can’t be as bad as all that! Grab your copy and enjoy Phoebe’s efforts to take care of her friends. I don’t think she’ll mind if you chuckle along the way – quietly, of course.

[Tim Chappell · Rating 4 out of 5]

DUH!!

All due respect but Phoebe has to be the dumbest Witch alive. How does she keep walking into obvious traps and situations she knows aren't good ?Its very frustrating when she seems to have no learning curve and as powerful as she's supposed to be,she doesn't show it much. Do better, this is 4th book after all.

[randa d · Rating 2 out of 5]

Couldn't finish

Way too much going on. And lots of it feels like BS. I read about half, got so annoyed & frustrated that I skipped to the last chapter . That just made it worse. I'm not likely to finish the series at this rate...

[Cath · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book five of the Mystical Midlife in Maine series and the main character is Phoebe, who until a few months ago was just a divorced mother living a fairly mundane life. Until she was given the powers of the Pleisades witch by the outgoing one Hattie, who has been getting weaker and weaker and was looking for her replacement. She has suddenly got magic, but also a heck of a lot of responsibilities, such as being the new head of the local witch’s coven, being the Pleiades for one whole side of the States and also head of the highly successful companies Hattie ran which make millions! As Pleiades, she has to help sort out issues between supernaturals in her area, keep their very being hidden from humans, and now it seems, also help to solve a supernatural murder! On top of all that she is in love with Aidon (Aidoneus), the son of Hades, the God of the Underworld and trying to get a handle on her sudden magical powers. She has a familiar called Tarja, who can help her focus her intent when doing spells, but is mainly concerned with helping Selene, her resident ghoul, get her soul back and stop her being a target for demons who would be able to possess her. But murder trumps her finally arranged trip to New Orleans to find a necromancer to help get Selene’s soul back.
It seems a vampire has killed a young female wolf shifter and the pack alpha is furious, as are his pack, who want revenge against the killer. She can’t just and it over to the mundane police force, as the supernatural world has a very different sense of justice. Looking for the killer leads her straight into the lair of the Vampire Leader of Camden, Maine and he isn’t happy to see her there. He knows her magic is fairly new to her and doesn’t always work as she wants it to, so isn’t really scared of her. She has to make her point to him and his guards, leaving them in doubt of her powers, but also making a powerful enemy in the process. The vampire she forces him to hand over is very important to him personally and will see her facing a vampire vendetta in the near future. She, Selene, Aidon, Layla a wolf shifter and her best friend and human Stella, finally make their way to the Crescent City, but arrive to an ambush, only just managing to get away, but with Stella near death. They manage to find a healer and ask for advice on finding a necromancer, which leads them to an old plantation and the six Mundie sisters who own it. Phoebe has given Selene and Stella witch vision, but an OTT version, which allows them to see the colours of magic all around them! Phoebe can sense lots of different magic and a curse on the land around the sisters and tries a spell, but ends up unleashing centuries old magic on the plantation and sisters, giving them magic of their own, like what happened to Stella..
It seems she must go and see Marie Leveau and seek her permission to use a necromancer in her city, but it seems Marie and the Loa she is connected with, wants to put someone else into Selene and that’s not happening on Phoebe’s watch! It’s great to see the love between Phoebe and Aidon deepening and how protective he is about her, whilst also giving her the confidence to carry out her new role and use her magic. As with the vampire leader, Phoebe is being tested by various factions and must make it very plain to them all, that she is no pushover and is to be feared instead. There is a bounty out on her head from the vampire leader and this tale has zombies, demons, voodoo and hoodoo all interacting with the supernatural beings we already know and love. She and her friends would have loved to see more of the sights and taste the famous food they have heard all about, but Selene’s soul takes priority as well as surviving to make it back home again! She also has witches who want familiars and it seems she is the only one that can access the realm where they exist and bring them back, but she must first get rid of the dark forces that are stopping familiars from reaching witches in the first place. A heart stopping ending, as one who gives her comfort and support in all things magical is attacked and suffers life threatening injuries. Only a group effort may keep them alive and they may never be the same again, both magically and spiritually. There is a dark force at work and it looks like it will be Phoebe’s next port of call, to put an end to it and ensure witches are strengthened everywhere. I look forward to reading the next book to see what Phoebe and her friends can do about the situation and what else she may have to face, as well as catching up on the books I have missed. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.

[Cassie Edwards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am dead set on completing any series I start, but I’m just gonna have to hang it up on this one. Just can’t handle it anymore. It’s a great world, but it’s written like a 9th grade book report with a minimum word requirement that leaves a kid scrambling to find a way to write three paragraphs to describe the letter A. Half of every book is repeating, SEVERAL TIMES, everything that happened in every book prior, instead of simply assuming the reader has started at one and worked their way through, and these books are entirely too short for half of the narration to be a step by step walk through of everything a reader may have missed if they just happened to randomly pick up book 7. There are so many instances where miscommunication is blatant and absurd, followed by conversations where understanding is somehow immediately reached without thought, deliberation, or the passing of time or explanation of conclusion. It’s just “well now that you mention it, here’s a deeply emotionally intelligent connection and breakdown of this experience, followed with an empathic understanding of the other person’s viewpoint” and two pages later it’s “I can’t tell anyone, they’ll hate me.” Like… what? I wish I could tough it out but it’s time for me to give up the ghost. This will be an identical review to its sister series since they’re best read in tandem but equally infuriating as it relates to writing style.

[Sue-Dee Numb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Action on steroids!

Pheobe has made a promise to Selene to find a way to return her soul into her body, and she's become aware that she's not made good in that promise. Not that Selene has complained in any way. But she admits she feels empty.
But after speaking to Fiona over in the UK she's stumped and knows she needs to find a necromancer, one who is willing to help.
After dealing with a wolf shifter / vampire attack Pheobe is off to New Orleans where all the good necromancers are. But she finds so much more than she was looking for. If Pheobe thought this was going to be beignets and chicory coffee, Well she's very much mistaken.
Brenda Trim has you on the edge of your seat right from the off in this entry to Mystical Midlife in Maine, and it never stops! Poor Pheobe really can't seem to catch a break but she doesn't like to see people being taken advantage of, and get new position means she's in charge, she has to make sure that the magical population are not using others for power. Brenda really makes you feel the anguish of the main character that she feels she is letting people down that she's not good enough for the position she is in. Well written and well worth reading

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phoebe has finally decided she has to get in gear and get Selene's soul back. Of course, she has just started making preparation to head to New Orleans to find a necromancer when vampire trouble breaks out in her home territory in Maine. While confronting the leader of the local vampire clan about a vampire-committed murder, she manages to make an enemy she could have done without. Her group no sooner arrives in New Orleans when they are attacked by, you guessed it, vampires and Stella is grievously wounded. This will not be the only thing that goes wrong. She accidentally turns six sisters into witches (which fortunately will give us a new series!), but has to deal with the great-great-etc-grandaughter of Marie Laveau who is trying to hang on to her power in the city.

Find out what happens as Phoebe and company attempt to navigate the swamp waters of New Orleans without getting eaten by vampires or killed by zombies. There will be one more tragedy at the end of the book that will hang you off the cliff for the next book. Make sure your nails are sharpened...

I was given an advanced copy of this book by the author. My review is voluntary.

[Spinneretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

WARNING! Cliffhanger! This one is pretty big, so you will want to line up the next book to read ASAP.

Phoebe and her crew (Aidoneus, Stella, Selena, Tarja, and Layla) head to the Big Easy in search of a necromancer to bind Selena’s soul to her ghoulish body.
As always, things don’t go according to plan… Vampires with grudges, Marie Laveau and her crew, as well as a slew of demons, all combine together to make the trip unforgettable!
This is also the book that introduces the Twisted Sisters, which feature in their own spinoff series, so you need to read this one before you read those.
Finally, it ends in a cliffhanger to a really important part of the (ongoing) story!

An enjoyable, fast paced (breakneck speed really), trip to New Orleans for the Maine crew, with some anxiety inducing interactions.
Fun read for fans of Paranormal Women’s Fiction, and the Maine Pleiades crew.

[BigGirl BigBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I Read a LOT of series and even my favorites have a novel along the way that is needed to bridge the story but maybe not have the knockout storyline the rest of the series has had. THAT is not the case with this series, Mystical Midlife in Maine. The author does not slow down, well rather Pheobe doesn't slow down. These novels go so fast!! Just a constant pace, page to page.
What could possibly be more foreign to a lady from Maine than to be in the middle of New Orleans?? What about the reason she is there...necromancers and vampires are a constant thorn in Pheobe's side, why not go to the birthplace of hoodoo and voodoo. But of course things won't be easy and we as the reader are once again front and center to Pheobe trying to figure this s-show out. Too fun.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Phoebe learns every day of new responsibilities Hattie had kept under her control. some serious delegation appears to be in order - but whom can she trust? betrayals in her inner circle caused heartbreak and serious destruction

policing magical matters seems one area training and delegation might help.

alleged allies seem very entitled acting and granting little support

Her bond with Aidon continues to grow

can they survive long enough to get the chance to finish improvements, grow and diversify?

steamy and intense action and drama

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this series!!! This time lots of bad luck follows Phoebe everywhere... things always work out but dang things are ruff at best! A trip to New Orleans, learning about necromancers, trouble with vampires and finding new witches. Fast paced and fun but that ending is gonna bring tears!!! So sad, am looking forward to the next story and hoping everything works out! Poor Phoebe and gang are out through the wringer in this story!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Annalisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book number five in a series that renders me breathless. So many things have happened to Phoebe and the gang in this intense installment. She is struggling to use her magic better and become a force to reckon with. The death of a shifter woman in her territory led her to a major battle with the vamps when Phoebe demands the master bring the murderous vampire to her for punishment by the shifters. That set off many explosive events in this mesmerizing tale.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lynne Davison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting,really enjoyed this and have read a number of Brenda Trims books. Phoebe is the main character and she has her boyfriend son of the God Hades her family and friends.

The story continues with a trip to New Orleans to help Selene and we follow the friends adventures.

The story concludes with a cliff hangar, looking forward to reading more in the series.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tara Heilman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series has rocked since the very beginning. Phoebe has grown so much since then. With the help and support of her family and friends, real progress is being made in the magical world. This time, the gang heads to New Orleans. And you guessed it, they manage to find trouble their also. Another great addition to the series. Each book just keeps getting better. Loved it! I received an early copy and this is my voluntary opinion.

[Janet Smith McHardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phoebe and her freinds head to New Orleans to find a necromancer to give Selene her soul back. But nothing is ever that straight forward. The Vampires are causing problems and the decendant of Marie Laveau's is tring to interfear. This story is a rolercoaster ride of adventure and magic. A fantastic read I look forward to the next book .

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tahnia Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this 5th book in the Mystical Midlife in Maine Series, Phoebe and her entourage are searching for the answer to return a soul to a body. The group flies to New Orleans where they are attacked several times by vampires and zombies, the Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, and demons. This book has action, funny moments, heartbreaking moments, romance, and some heat and ends in a cliffhanger. Very highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Alicia Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOLA, voodoo and witchraft!

Trim took her A game writing and upped it infinitesimally with this installment! The danger kept me on the edge of my seat, the scenery was breathtaking, and the characters are beyond amazing! I am writing thus review through tears from the ending that has left me soggy, breathless and heartbroken! Please, get that next book out before I die from the susoense!

[Debbie Eyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampires with a vendetta. The Queen of Voodoo. Nasty necromancers. Just another day in my life. ”

This is so so good! Fast paced and action packed with twists and turns to keep you spinning this had me on the edge of my seat the whole read. The characters are fantastic , realistic and their adventure very enjoyable and magical and am so loving the journey.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is such a good series. Phoebe wants to head to New Orleans to help find Selena her soul and return it to her body. However, there is the small problem of the dead shifter, out of control vampires and dark witches to overcome first. It’s been a big 9 months for Phoebe since she got her powers.

[Shari · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read! These characters (for me) feel more real and authentic, probably because they are closer to my age of 40ish (lol)! When Phoebe heads to NOLA to help her friend adventure ensues! Looking forward to the next book!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Jo Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new author for me

Have just binge read the first 5 books in this series and really enjoyed them. Love that the main character is middle aged with middle age issues that she refuses to let take over her life. Looking forward to the next book in the series and now also have the Twisted Sisters and the Mid life Witchery series to look forward to reading whilst I wait.

[Ruben & Amiy Estrada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omg the wait is going to kill me

I could not sleep until I finished this book. I was on the edge of my seat and freaking out with every page I turned. This cliffhanger has me biting my nails waiting for the next book to set my mind at ease. Just wow! How so much can happen in just one page amazes me.

[Kimberly #Audiofile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big big changes in this one.
Witch and demon relationship is strong.
We meet Marie the ghoul queen as long as all the normal team.

Worth the listen I liked the narration lots of action, I would really have enjoyed some more smut but beggars can’t be choosers.

Gifted audio in exchange for an honest review

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent story, but I gotta tell you, I despise cliff hangers. It almost makes me want to take away a star, but the story deserves all five. The main characters are great and the reader wants to know more about them. The plot is easily followed and the feeling of family and loyalty is strong. I definitely recommend this book.

[Anne-Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

Wow what an amazing addition to the series!
The writing was wonderful and the characters are fabulous
It's nice returning to Camden, Maine and then on to New Orleans...
So much paranormal action I was on the edge of my seat
Oh but the ending...can't wait for the next boom!
Highly recommend this series

[Sheryl Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh wow!

Lots of action and not the sex kind. Wolves, demon, vampires and zombies on my! The last part of The book is a year jerker so make sure you have Kleenex handy. I have binged ready g this series and started taking my time until the next books are released. I can't wait to see what happens next!!

[tburbr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another great addition to the series filled with well written, entertaining characters and a story line that kept me reading from start to finish and had me chuckling out loud.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Veronica LaRoche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great read. There is no peace for Phoebe. Phoebe is on a mission to get Selene’s soul back and it’s not easy at all. I absolutely love Phoebe & Aidoneus together. Can’t wait too read the next book.


I voluntarily reviewed this Advanced Reader Copy of this book

[Juanita E. Arp · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book, it has an entertaining well written storyline. The interaction and chemistry between the characters is wonderful, I can't wait for the next book. I received this book 📚, as a FREE ARC copy to read and I voluntarily leave this review.

[Karen Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book but it would have been better if I had read the previous books in the series. It's full of action and never a dull moment. The ending took my breathe away....

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.