Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti

Magical Bakery Mystery Series, Book 2

By: Bailey Cates

Narrated by: Amy Rubinate

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

As a new witch - not to mention owner of Savannah's most enchanting bakery - Katie Lightfoot is still getting used to casting spells, brewing potions, and mastering her magical powers. But that doesn't mean she can't find time to enjoy a picnic with firefighter Declan McCarthy...until she stumbles upon a corpse.

The dead man's tattoo reveals he was a member of a secret society - and it turns out he's missing an object that was very important to the group. When Katie learns the killer was after more than the man's life, she and her Aunt Lucy leave the baked goods on the rack to cool and set off in hot pursuit of a killer.

©2012 Penguin Group (USA), Inc. (P)2013 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This paranormal cozy takes on a decidedly thriller overtone midstream. This is just what it needs to break out of the witchcraft tutorial mode that threatens to stall Cates's second title in her promising series. Partner this with Juliet Blackwell's Witchcraft Mystery series." ( Library Journal)

Great Series

I tend to get bored with this type of series and skip ahead chapters. I find I don't want to do that with these books because I don't want to miss anything!
Book 1 was a little slow building the basis for the future books, but so far this has been my favorite.

Huge improvement from 1st in series!

I was hoping the series would improve and it did! The author did a fine job with an engaging story and continuing character development that was very satisfying. There's still great potential with the multiple arcs of the story. I look forward to more. Good narration, too!

Fun story

I missed the upbeat energy of Johanna Parker, the reader of Brownies and Broomsticks, but Amy Rubinate did a fine job, with consistent voices for the individual characters. The only issue I really have with her reading quality is the fairly frequent tone that seems either like a "snarky" quality or a "come hither" tone, depending on the situation, and this is not always an appropriate type tone, which got a bit annoying at times. Got past that, and the book is a fun read/listen. Am about to dive into book 3.

What She Didnt know

Wow , great story! Love the characters as they continue to grow. Funny ( triangle of three?)) Didn't know until the reveal..who done it. Great reader! Can't wait to read the next one!

Much better narrator

First narrator was exhausting- too fast. This was much better. Fun stories. Rooting for Declan!

Delightful

Where does Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

My daughter and I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to Bailey Cates's Bewitched series. My only regret is that there aren't five more books! I appreciated the fact the my ears weren't assaulted with the "Bad Language" that seems to be in so many of today's audio books.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plots in each book were interesting and there were enough twists and turns to keep me interested in each book.

Have you listened to any of Amy Rubinate’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrator's voice was pleasant to listen to and the her inflections added to the story but were not over to the top to the point of being distracting.

Any additional comments?

I would certainly recommend the entire series as entertaining and fun to listen to.

it gets better and better.

I enjoyed this book even more than the first. I thought the reader had slow down just enough to be enjoying for me to listen. I hope book 3 will be as interesting.

Highly fun and addictive

The story is so good. keeps my attention to the very end. good narrator too.

So much fun!

If you could sum up Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti in three words, what would they be?

Spell Binding Fun!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Katie. I find baking to be very cathartic and I love her approach to cooking and magic.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, I wanted to, but life gets in the way!

Any additional comments?

I loved this book, and hope the third book in this series will be posted soon!!

A Dash of Magic and a heaping of Foodie Goodness

Would you consider the audio edition of Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti to be better than the print version?

Yes but mainly because I didn't read the print version. I do like this voice actor though.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not really on the edge of my seat but it definitely kept me interested. I just love the rich descriptions and trying to figure out who did it.

What about Amy Rubinate’s performance did you like?

I really enjoyed Amy's performance. She gives very distinct voices to each of the characters. I never question whose speaking. Great actress.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did.

Any additional comments?

Originally Written for the Paperback Cafe Book Review Blog.

Book two of the Magical Bakery series, I have to say that I enjoyed Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti by Bailey Cates even more than Brownies and Broomsticks, the first book of the series.

Yet again, Bailey Cates catches my attention with her adorable book covers. Honestly, I love what the cover artist did here. I only wish that instead of showing Honeybee, her aunt's cat who never comes to the bakery, they would have used Mungo, our heroine, Katie Lightfoot's trusty Cairn terrier familiar who plays a much bigger role in the books. Other than that, great job as always on the cover.

What's inside, is even better!

The pacing of Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti is definitely faster but I think that's always the case with the second book in a series.

We open up in beautiful Wright Square in Savannah, GA as Katie and one of her two love interest, Declan the Firefighter, are on a romantic picnic which is interrupted by the discovery of a dead body. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Katie is a training hereditary Hedge Witch - meaning she does a lot of herbs and gardening to produce magic - and owns a local bakery with her witchy Aunt Lucy and Retired Firefighter Uncle.

This book takes place just a few months after Brownies and Broomsticks and Katie finds herself wrapped up in yet another murder investigation. But not all is as it seems. What might seem like a heart attack turns out to be murder by magic.

Someone's out to release an ancient evil and Katie and her Magical Book Club coven must band together and figure out what is going on before its too late.

I absolutely love how Cates captures the rich culture of Savannah. Its such a beautiful town. If you haven't been, GO. Don't think, just GO. Its wonderful. Take tons of ghost tours.

There is no doubt in every page you read that Savannah is the town Katie lives in and I love that. So many authors just sort of put up a generic backdrop and give it a name but not Cates.

On top of this, as a practicing witch myself, I have to say that Cates knows what she's talking about. She matches up herbs and how a hedge witch would think while cooking or really doing anything in her life. There are so many aspects of magic and so many authors throw it to the wind to get done what they need done. That's perfectly fine because its their world but its always refreshing to see someone who seems to know what they're talking about.

This is also a great book and series for Foodies! Cates has a great way of capturing you with Katie's unique twists in her bakery. Many of these recipes I'd love to try for myself.

I would have to say if I have one complaint about the book on a whole its what Mungo, Katie's dog, eats. Once she mentions he loved raisins and another time she talked about eating onions. He also seems to eat a lot of sugar.

Every time that was mentioned, it really pulled me out of the story. Raisins and onions are actually highly toxic to dogs and too much sugar, just like with humans, isn't good either.

That being said, I did notice that on her blog, The Lightfoot Chronicles, Cates does acknowledge this in the post Forbidden Fruit -- At least for Dogs. The blog is written from Katie's pov so be sure to check it out.

As I said, I really loved this book even more than the first. Can't wait to sink my teeth into Charms and Chocolate Chips, book three of the Magical Bakery Series already available. Especially because of a couple of twists at the end!