Charms & Chapters

A Library Witch Mystery, Book 2

By: Elle Adams

Narrated by: Hollis McCarthy

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's Summary

Rory Hawthorn is adjusting to her new life as a witch working at her family's enchanted library in the coastal town of Ivory Beach. Between the library's bewildering magic and her eccentric new family, life is never dull. When Rory and her cousin find the body of a local wizard on the beach, all the signs suggest he was killed by a vampire. Rory already has very good reason to fear the undead...even if she is developing inconvenient feelings for the local reaper. But it's not long before her friendship with Xavier draws them both into the investigation, and this time, even the all-knowing library might not have the answers.  

Can Rory face her fears and figure out the truth, or will she be the next to fall victim to the killer?

©2018 Elle Adams (P)2019 Elle Adams

Builds on the Last With Some Issues

We return to the family of biblio witches and their library with a new murder and a mystery of a vampire appreciation club at the center. Yet again we have corpses with no souls and Xavier the Jr Reaper is teaming up with Rory to get to the bottom of things. The different women in the library continue to develop in character mostly in their conflict with one another but in a way that is fun and quirky. It is interesting to see Rory develop her magic abilities while also cringe worthy the flimsy reasons she runs directly into unnecessary danger and withholds information from the proper authorities. This is definitely a cozy where the involvement of the main character really does not make sense and questioning would in most situations get her kicked out or worse. For example (minor spoilers) going to the parents of the recently killed college aged boy to collect a library book he had borrowed a day after his body was discovered and asking the bereft parents direct questions about the murder. Also it was very odd when there is a comment made that Xavier never loses souls but it was stated this story takes place a mere two weeks after the last book where multiple bodies were found without souls. Always tricky when the stories are on such close timelines. The narrator is fun but this time I noticed she would lose or mix up voices for characters which at times made it difficult to follow the thread. But new secrets and qualities of the library are revealed and things tie up with a happy ending and I find myself curious about what will happen next at the library and how Rory will get into trouble. Also the final chapter is actually a preview chapter of the next book so the story is closer to 5.5 hours.

Liked it

Better than first by long shot. Very much appreciated it and ind of fun. Kr

Good story, awful narrator.

I really like the stories but find the narrator hard to listen to, in short she spoils it. The accent is too upper class and plummy and the story would benefit from a reader with a softer accent.