Witch You Well

By: Colleen Cross

Narrated by: Petrea Burchard

Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dead billionaires are not good for business!

That's what Aunt Pearl complains to Cen when the dead body is found in the cozy family inn at Westwick Corners.

Still, it's not Cen's problem. She lives an ordinary life away from her witch-ful family for a reason. She got her ordinary fiancee, and her ordinary job as a journalist - using no magic whatsoever, and no inconvenient local murder is going to change her comfortable existence.

Even if the entire town is now accusing Aunt Pearl of murdering her guest. Even if her fiancee is acting weird and talking about seeing ghosts. Even if the town's sexy new sheriff, Tyler Gates, treats her like the most hexing of all the witches.

If you love funny cozy mysteries infused with a dose of humor and the supernatural, you'll love this paranormal witch cozy!

Witch You Well is the first audiobook in the Westwick Witches Cozy Mysteries series by Colleen Cross.

From the author:

Westwick Corners isn't your typical small town. Or even a normal ghost town. It's where people go not to be found, and witches go to work their magic without attracting too much attention. The combination makes from some interesting and humorous mysteries, and the witches are always at the center of the action!

Ruby's cooking, Cendrine's amateur sleuth and investigator activities, and Aunt Pearl's magic school are always looking for that one secret ingredient that will propel the witches to fame and fortune, and put the small town of Westwick Corners back on the map again. The witches are forever cooking up new business opportunities while they unravel riddles, spin magic spells, and create their own witch mysteries.

©2016 Colleen Cross (P)2017 Colleen Cross

Fun story.

Cendrine “Cen” West lives in a small town called Westwick Corners. She is descendant from a powerful line of witches, but she doesn't practice that much. She is in the process of marrying the mayor and having the grand reopening of her Inn. Life is good... until the day of her grand reopening sees a billionaire murdered and all clues pointing to her Aunt Pearl. It's up to Cen to try to figure out who the murderer is, while trying to keep her Aunt Pearl from antagonising the new Sheriff, Tyler, and getting thrown in jail for murder.

This was a fun read. I liked the characters but thought the mystery left a lot to be desired!! I'm sorry, but who leaves the murder weapon in a bin, in their room?? There were a few elements like this that had me rolling my eyes and thinking, seriously, you couldn't find a better way to handle that!!! The mystery of who murdered him was also kind of glaringly obvious. I wanted a little more subtlety, a lot more mystery!! I also didn't particularly like the fact that Cen fell for Tyler so quick.

Other than that, it's a fun read. The characters are all well written, I liked Aunt Pearl a lot!! We get the typical cozy mystery feel to the book and it was easy to read. It's a book that I call a mindless read, and I don't mean that in a bad way! By "mindless read" I mean a book that I can read and not have to concentrate on too much or put a lot of effort into to.

In all, this was an easy read with some flaws.

Petrea Burchard was ok. She was clear and has a pleasant tone suitable for this type of book, but I found she didn't have enough cadences or tones for the different characters to really bring the story to life. She could have portrayed Pearl a lot.... nuttier ;) Lol.

I was voluntarily provided this audiobook for free from the author, narrator, or publisher. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

Witchy Little Cozy Mystery Romance!

Witchy Little Cozy Mystery Romance!

Excellent narration with a little romance in the mix. This doesn’t quite make it as a romance, but there is enough there, so I’m going to count it!

This is #1 in the Westwick Witches Series, and the only one in audio format.

The witchcraft of this story has a very Bewitched style to it, especially with crazy relatives popping to and throw causing mischief all the time.

♥ Story ♥
Cendrine is a witch who has recently acquired the somewhat defunct local newspaper of her small little town that sounds like it is on the outskirts of the Seattle, Wa area, or at least on that end of Washington state. The town is trying to rebrand itself in an effort to attract tourist. Her family owns the local inn/restaurant/bar and it’s days away from its grand opening. So when the famous travel writer they were counting on to help promote the place ends up dead, things take a detour on the hot mess train!

Cen’s problems get even worse because her infuriating Aunt Pearl keeps setting things on fire and taunting the new sexy sheriff Tyler Gates who is completely oblivious to fact that magic exists. Oh, and did I mention Cen is engaged to the town’s Mayor and due to get married in less than a month.

Cen has to use her amateur sleuthing skills to prove her family’s innocence without letting it slip to the world that they are witches. While doing this she also has to juggle helping her mom keep the grand opening on track, keep her aunt out of trouble, and decide if marrying her high school sweet heart is what she really wants. So, easy, right?

♥ Author ♥
This is my first read-listen by Colleen Cross. It’s a Cozy Mystery, and very true to the sub-genre. No excessive cursing, sex, or violence. There were a lot of nice twists to the story for a very pleasant mystery read.

♥ Narrator(s) ♥
Petrea Burchard did the narration, and this is the only title listed under her name @ Audible. Given how expressive the narration was, I would wonder if this is the author herself with a pen name for audio. The level of detail the narrator has is as if the they wrote it, if not, you could of fooled me. I mean that in the bests of ways!

♥

Overall it was a good read but sometimes I felt like I was missing some pages, or a book. It did not read like book one of a series. There were references to curses and grudges as if they were from a past book or series. I could not find any other titles that this could be a spin off from, or any short works that could have been the precursor works.
Besides that, it was crafty, witchy read.

Ebook obtained through Scribd
Audiobook obtained for free at my request and I am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review
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5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great!

Great listen! Great mystery and I loved the characters, especially Aunt Pearl, she’s a hoot. Great narrator too. I received a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Delightfully Fun Supernatural Murder Mystery.

This book is delightfully fun and light. The main character, Cen, is a witch from a family of witches. She tries very hard to be normal and to keep her family's witchcraft under wraps. She keeps busy trying to keep her Aunt Pearl out of trouble. Pearl is a charmingly cantankerous old witch. Cen finds herself and her family in the midst of a murder when a billionaire is found dead in the gazebo of her family's inn with her Aunt's bloody wand stuck in his chest. It is up to Cen to find the real murder and clear her Aunt's name. But Aunt Pearl is constantly making things worse by sneaking around, hiding things, burning things down and antagonizing the sheriff.

To complicate things further, Cen is engaged to her high school sweetheart. She is to be married in a few weeks. When she meets the hot new sheriff, the flaws in her current relationship become obvious. So in the middle of the murder, Cen must figure out how she feels about her fiance and this new Sheriff.

This is a good story. It is light and entertaining. The narrator does a very good job. I received this book for free from the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for an honest review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Urban Fantasy and Cozy Mystery

Cendrine belongs to a family of witches. It is not something publicly discussed in the little town of Westwick, but not entirely a secret either. Cendrine is attending her wedding rehearsal at her family’s inn, when they find a corpse at the gazebo where the wedding was going to take place. There is a new sheriff in town, but finding the murderer will be much easier by using some magic, so Cendrine will be doing some sleuthing with the help of some of her family members.

I was looking forward to this book. Urban fantasy and cozy mystery together is something that we do not see everyday, and it is a great combination for a pick me up, at least for me. This story has great and charismatic characters, like aunt Pearl. I really liked this character and the situations she created. There were some hilarious moments that made my day.

Although Cendrine is the main character in the book, there was something missing that made her distinguishable. I think it was a good idea to have aunt Pearl and other characters as sidekicks to make the story work in a better way.

It is not a long book, just under six hours, and the story kept my attention from beginning to end. This makes it ideal for lazy days or when someone doesn’t feel like committing to a longer or deeper book. It was a light, easy, and relaxing listen.

Petrea Burchard did a very good job narrating this book. Checking audible I only see this title narrated by her, and I have to say that she did extremely well. The audio production was good, and her voice range and interpretation skills were impressive. I just found Cendrine’s interpretation a bit on the dull side, but this matches my perception of Cendrine’s personality, so it could have been intended. I think some parts required a more lively narration, but this is just my personal opinion.

I really enjoyed this book, and I think it would delight both urban fantasy and cozy mystery fans. I am looking forward to the sequel.

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fun and cozy

I really enjoyed this fun listen! Both the author and narrator were new to me, and I will definitely look for more books by them. This story was well written and performed so well. I enjoyed the various twists and turns this book had along with the characters. This is a standalone listen. I was received a review copy of this audiobook and have voluntarily written my review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great adventure.

Loved it. It has it all, witches, magic, crazy aunt, a conniving fiance, new sheriff(good looking), new bed and breakfast opening and of course a dead body. What next? Come join Cin while she tries to piece together what is going on. I look forward to more in this series.
The characters were great and well developed. I loved the narrator. She did a great job. I hope there will be more of these in audio book form. I received this book free for an honest review. .

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Fun Cozy Mystery

I have not read many mysteries but this one caught my attention. I enjoyed how fun the characters were and the narration was done to perfection. Petrea brought the story to life and kept me engaged all the way to the conclusion.

The characters were well developed and I really enjoyed aunt Pearl's craziness! The humor was great and the paranormal aspect was what first attracted me to this cozy mystery. The only thing missing to make this beyond 5 stars would have been a touch of romance. Perhaps on the next one! I'm looking forward to Colleen's next book in this fun series!

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Witch you Well

Wonderful story. Well written. Kept my interest from beginning to end.

Narration is very good. Voices were perfect for the characters.

I received this audible free at my request and I'm happy to provide my honest review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

This book is great...loved the humor

I received this book for an honest review. This book was so enjoyable. I wish I had read/listen the other two books before this one. There was some things like grudges that evidently been addressed in the other books. But as a stand alone book it is wonderful I love book with mystery and witches and magic. It was funny and entertaining. Cendrine and her family is lovely and funny especially the aunt that gets in so much trouble. Cendrine is juggling so may things in her life but her family keeps her busy trying to keep their magic a secret. The characters were well written. If you like light mystery this book is for you. I would listen to this book again.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Witches

The characters are all well written, We get the typical cozy mystery feel to the book and it was easy to read. It's a book that I can read and not have to concentrate on too much

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Solve this witchy murder mystery!

Colleen Cross has penned a fun cozy mystery. It was an easy listen with narrator Petrea Burchard and she did well at drawing me back to the story if I got distracted while driving. Yes I listened to the entire audiobook on an epic drive interstate. I enjoyed the journey with Cen and her crazy aunt. There was some good banter and twists. It was light-hearted and easy listen.

Nice Easy listen with No Heavy Lifting

I had previously read book two in this series (which was enjoyable and had enough backstory to make it easy to slip into ) but it was certainly great to start at the beginning and learn the whole backstory.

The book was enjoyable, a nice easy listen with no need on my part to work out things which is what I want in my relaxing listens.

I want a story that tells you everything (too many leave you having to work out things yourself even if they give you all the information fine in a work of non fiction but not for a relaxing book). To me, an author should provide everything and this author does just that, no work from the listener required except to listen fully.

The author ensures all the Is are dotted and Ts crossed which I am very happy about.

To me this series is ideal as a relaxing read - you can slip into their world and just enjoy being a looker-on, totally immersed in their world.

The Narrator, with me, already listening to book two this time fitted the book - you see for me I had felt she sounded too young as I am not used to all US accents but now I am used to her accent I see how well she fits the main character who is the one telling the story.



If you love mixing witches with murder and a side of romance then this book series is definitely for you yet it's not a book I would think the males out there would find to 'girlish' but nor is it x rated either, suitable for all ages really - I am an oldie but teens would love it plus all in between.


I was given this book free on the understanding that I would be willing to write a truthful review.

If I had not received it free I certainly would have bought it and do plan to purchase the other books in this series.

Well thought out mystery

The story and plot were well thought out. What happens when murder visits a witch, the witch starts looking for what goes bump in the night. The performance was done well and the plot was engaging enough to carry the listener through with good pacing and lack of extraneous details

Enjoyable whodunnit

The story overall was quite entertaining. However, as the main characters were witches, I would have liked a little more magic. It all seemed a little too secretive.

Initially, it took me a while to enjoy the narration, as Sandrine had rather a lazy way of speaking. I soon realised that the narrator was rather clever in her use of her voice to give each character a rather distinct way of speaking and the main character soon grew on me.

Cozy mystery

The book is OK. This is a cozy mystery with fantasy but it is not the best mystery that I have read. You would be able to figure out who did, so it is not taxing on the brain. However, I did like some of the characters, I found them to be funny.

Fun paranormal mystery

An enjoyable magical mystery, read well with good characters. Great to listen to as a break from hectic normal life!

Fun & witchy games

I really enjoyed this. It has laughs and troubles and fun, witches trying to live normal lives? Not if Aunt P has anything to do with it. Cantankerous & troublesome but well meaning. Everything comes together nicely and this tale is the product of it.
A good storyline padded out with really good characters. I’m looking forward to learning more about them. Hoping Hazel pops up more, I think she’ll be a good 1 to follow!
Narrator was good kept the story flowing and the ups & downs as things happened were great.
An all round good audio book.