Bailey Cates – Charms and Chocolate Chips

The third book in the Magical Bakery Mystery series, published November 5, 2013.
Genre: magical cozy mystery
Cover: sweet



A HALF-BAKED HEX
Between brewing magically spiced treats at Honeybee Bakery and volunteering with a local conservation group, Katie Lightfoot barely has time to see her firefighter boyfriend, Declan McCarthy, much less delve further into her destiny as a witch. But avoiding her fate won't be as easy as whipping up a new recipe - especially when Katie finds herself once again mixed up in murder.
When a fellow volunteer for the conservation group is found dead, Katie's mystical senses tell her that there's more to the death than meets the eye. Her suspicions are confirmed when members of her coven are targeted next. Katie will have to embrace her powers quickly...or she may find herself chewed up and spit out by some serious black magic.


Besides working a full time job at the HoneyBee bakery in Savannah, with her aunt and uncle, Katie is volunteering at the Georgia Wild preservation company. Her boyfriend is not so happy that she is doing this almost every night, he would like to see her in her free time as well. Especially as he is a firefighter and often on duty or on call. But Katie feels passionately about the environment, and wants to help in whichever way she can. She likes Autumn Boles, the one who started it all, and her other collegue Wren Knowles is the granddaughter of one of her spellbookclub friends.

When Katie arrives that night at Georgia Wild, something is not quite all right. First she is happy that some big SUV just leaves the place in a hurry, so she has a prime parking spot. But then she smells coffee burning, and there is just that strange feeling in the air. Then Wren stumbles into the room Katie is standing in, telling her that Autumn is dead. When Katie walks into Autumn’s office, she finds her laid out on the desk, with fingermarks on her throat. Katie knows Autumn is dead, but she has to look for a pulse anyway, while Wren calls the cops. The strange thing is, Autumn is having an origami maroon bat clutched in her hands ... and Katie feels pure evil emanating from the thing.

While Detective Peter Quinn is investigating the case, Wren is taken home by her grandmother, Mimsey. The spellbookclub is celebrating Imbolc at Katie’s house that night, and Katie doesn’t know if she should go on with it. But Mimsie tells her it is important to celebrate, and she will bring Wren with her. Wren is usually a solitary witch, but this time the company of other witches will be important to her. Of course Katie will have to help find out who did it, she is a light witch, and her job is it to fight evil. Especially as Wren gets that same origami bat shoved under her door the next day.

But there are suspects enough, Autumns ex-husband, or perhaps her new boyfriend. Or did it have to do with the Fagen swam, they tried to save from some investors who want to turn it into another high end golf course? Perhaps Steve can tell her who is behind that, as his father is one of the investors. When Wren and Katie are almost killed, the stakes get higher, and Katie has to use all her instincts to keep them safe from a madman. Lucky for her, her mother has come over to mend the bridges between them, and to help out.


Hmm another blurb that is not completely true. Wren is not a coven member, nor are the other ladies threatened.
I really love this series. Katie is a good witch, a hedgewitch and a lightwitch. She uses herbs into her baking to help people, and of course it is all very tasty as well. Her aunt is teaching her about herbs and gardening and how to be a hedgewitch, and they run the bakery together. It is a great place to meet with friends.

Katie is still a bit torn between Steve, the Druid (who is not so good for her) and her boyfriend Declan, the firefighter. He really loves her, and accepts her being a witch. Until he finds out first hand that her powers are for real, that she is not just dabbling a bit in Wicca for fun.

The mystery was a good one, really exciting, but it almost comes second place to the interaction between all the main characters. I do love those friendships, and I was very much surprised that Katie’s mother showed up and willing to accept Katie and her magic.

9 stars.

© 2013 Reviews by Aurian