Spells & Shelves

A Library Witch Mystery, Book 1

By: Elle Adams

Narrated by: Hollis McCarthy

Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Bookshop assistant Aurora "Rory" Hawthorn thinks reality will never be as interesting as fiction. Content to spend her time escaping into a good book to escape her micromanaging boss, the very last thing she expects is to be cornered by a group of terrifying strangers hunting down a journal that belonged to her late father.

It turns out Dad was keeping a secret or two...most importantly, that he was a wizard and that Rory has a hidden magical family she's never met. When her witchy relatives invite her to live with them in their enchanted library, it's literally a dream come true.

Until she stumbles upon a dead body hidden behind a bookshelf.

Juggling a new family and job would be enough of a challenge without also having to deal with a murder mystery, cranky familiars, and the attention of the local reaper - even if he is the hottest guy in town.

It's up to Rory to embrace her new witchy powers to help catch a killer before she loses the new life she never knew she wanted.

©2019 Elle Adams (P)2019 Elle Adams

Potential For a New Series of Magic Librarians

This drops straight into explanation of girl keeping a journal her deceased father left to folks wanting to steal said journal within a few minutes to main character being fired without any real sense of why she is fired. Breakneck speed with almost no development or background left me feeling a little windswept with at the beginning. I know some folks like to drop straight into the action but for me I don’t like it at the cost of character and plot development. The story switches paces once our protagonist is swept away into a magical world and library with things about her background and abilities revealed to both she (Rory) and the audience. The whole rest of the story really takes place within the library, which is in itself and interesting entity that seems to live and choose to do things. We meet familiars, family, regulars, and reapers. The world has a great deal of potential and interest. It is confusing the journal that was such a major plot point in the beginning seems almost forgotten as does the original threat until much later in the story. In fact despite the heavy front load of action the next real conflict does not occur until chapter 5. The last chapter of the audible is a preview of the next book. I really enjoyed the mechanic of how the characters in the library use magic was fun and intriguing. The narrator is simply delightful and really made the story, although one complaint was I felt she would sometimes lose an accent she had done for a character and I would be confused about who was talking. There is plenty of moments of drama and getting to know one another and new power struggles as we watch Rory as well as potential love interests but nothing really developed. I will be listening to the next volume as there is something in this magical library that left me curious to hear more about it’s inhabitants.

Get a real Brit as narrator

Of all the amazing British narrators on the planet why in the world was an American trying to fake the worst British ascent EVER! Will someone please tell the narrator how to pronounce “library” with a proper British ascent.

Average

This was a little confusing with the onslaught of so many characters. Rory was explained some things about the library but was then just let go to get lost, wander or disappear for a while. Cass' disdain was so thick, it got annoying real quick. The idea of the library changing is pretty cool but I feel the description the author was trying to convey was botched. It doesn't intrigue me enough to continue.

Good Story, Bad Accent

I liked this book a lot, tho I didn't like the accent of the narrator. I liked the characters very much, especially Rory. I am so jealous she gets to live in a library, a huge library at that. That's the best part. This was my first Elle Adams book, I may go on with the rest of the series, if I can get past the narrator's accent.

Great fun I recommend

The book was enjoyable and a nice way to spend an afternoon. Was very entertaining