Witch You Well

The Westwick Witches

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.

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
More Reviews @ GoodReads Id: AudiobookRomance

Hilarious and Entertaining!

Colleen Cross is a new author to me but now that I have found her, I certainly will be looking into more of her books. This was a funny, creative and highly entertaining story. The characters were larger than life...From the feisty heroine and mischievous aunt to the ghostly granny. Cendrine wanted nothing more than to live a normal life apart from her witchy family, however Aunt Pearl is determined to make the opposite happen. When there is a murder at their newly re-opened Inn, and Pearl is the main suspect, they are forced to work together to find the real killer. Some of the scenarios Aunt Pearl gets them into are simply hilarious. This was a fun book to listen to and Petrea Burchard does a wonderful job of the narration. This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

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.

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.

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.

Very entertaining and fun cozy mystery

3.5 stars
Entertaining story with great narration.

This was just a fun, humorous, entertaining and very enjoyable cozy mystery. Bonus it's the first in a series so there are more fun filled adventures to come. Perfect book for the times you a light-hearted mystery with a little magic.

Interesting and fun cast of characters. Cendrine is immediately likable but Aunt Pearl was like that one pesky relative we all have that is annoying and lovable at the same time. She almost stole the show. Tyler was also immediately likable. The relationship between them reminded me of Sally & the Sherriff in Practical Magic. Things are bound to get interesting in the future.

This is the first book by Colleen Cross that I have read but it won't be the last. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Petra Burchard did a fantastic job with the narration. Her narration pulled me into the story from the start. Pleasant voice that is easy to listen to for long periods of time. Great character voices. Both male and female. She brought the characters and story to life. She is the perfect narrator for this series. Hopefully she will be narrating the rest of the series. Very enjoyable

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily provided this review.

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.

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. .

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."

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

Witch Way To Turn.

Cen, a witch, has a problem, her aunt, also a witch, is being accused of murdering a visiting billionaire. To add to the problem there's a new sheriff in town. This is a very well written and entertaining novel with good characterisation, a plot that has lots of twists and turns and it leaves you guessing until the end. Great narration make this a good choice.

I loved it!

I think it is important for posterity to say that I listened to this in the UK in the middle of the Covid-19 lockdown. I found it the perfect listen for these difficult times.

The characters are believable and interesting and the plot was fun. There are plenty of giggles along the way.

The heroine Cendrine is very likeable and I shall look forward to listening to the next book in the series which is already waiting in my library. I'm so glad that it is part of a whole series but it would work as a standalone book too.

The narrator Petrea Burchard was amazing and I think she was perfect for this book. Her voices for the characters were varied and just how I imagined them.

Liked it.

It's a nice clean romance, thriller which is utterly enjoyable for most ages including teenagers. I liked the writing and the performance very much.

A really fun enjoyable read 😀

This certainly is a well written story, full of laughs, fun, and even a murder thrown into the melle too. I really enjoyed this light hearted read. Colleen Cross certainly has the correct recipe to entertain her readers.
The characters are easily recognisable and fit the parts well, even Alan.

Full on entertainment from start to finish.

I'll be the first to admit that I don't usually read Cozy mysteries, however this four part book series appealed to me because of the Witches and magic contained within said stories. So because of that I decided to give the first book "Witch You Well" a go and I'm very glad that I did. 

This was full on entertaining with all sorts going on, from being a secret witch albeit not wanting to be one, an eccentric family plus the odd family ghost member, a unique dog (you'll understand what I mean by unique once you start reading the story), a new sexy sheriff in Town, a murder, lots of secrets, a not so by the books Mayor, problematic relationship, romantic feelings for someone you shouldn't, uncovering a murderer, and the reopening of the family Inn.  So it's all happening and definitely never a dull moment from start to finish.  Plus a couple of the scenes did make me giggle. 

So all in all, I very much enjoyed this and I'm looking forward to continuing the series with book 2.

Great book!

This was a fab book. I really enjoyed it. My favourite character was Aunt Pearl. It had a great plot and I look forward to the characters developing into their own in the following books. Great author and I love her style of writing. The book grips you and you have to keep listening right to the very end!!!

This book was given to me for free at my request and I have provided this voluntary review.

Brilliant book

I really enjoyed this audio book very much can’t wait for more audio books

Great book

First of many

I was given the opportunity to listen to this, and I am very glad I did. Not my usual genre I really enjoyed listening to this easy read.
The characters reminded me of relatives of my own, and I smiled at some of the stronger more mature family members.
The story line is perhaps a little bit longer then it could have been, but sets the foundations for future books in the series.
Highly rate giving this one a read, suitable for pre teens and adults alike. I will be passing it to my 10 year old to read.

GREAT READ

Great beginning to a serie. I found the story very enjoyable. I liked the narrating by Petrea Burchard. Can't wait to listen to the rest of the series.