Kimberly Frost

Southern Witch — (2009) Publisher: The family magic seems to have skipped over Tammy Jo Trask. All she gets are a few untimely visits from long-dead, smart-mouthed family ghost Edie. But when her locket — an heirloom that happens to hold Edie's soul — is stolen in the midst of a town-wide crime spree, it's time for Tammy to find her inner witch. After a few experiences with her dysfunctional magic, Tammy turns to the only person in small-town Duval, Texas, who can help: the very rich and highly magical Bryn Lyons. He might have all the answers — and a 007 savoir faire to boot — but the locket isn't the only heirloom passed down in Tammy's family. She also inherited a warning: stay away from Lyons.

Would-Be Witch

What a delight this novel was. It was great fun to read and I finished it in only a few days.

Tammy Jo is from a family of witches. Trouble is, she has no power. Or rather, she has power, but she cannot wield it. Or something like that. As the story opens, she's given up on magic and has become a pastry chef. And she's good at it.

Too bad her temper got in the way. A confrontation with a difficult customer left her out of a job. On the way home, Edie, her personal ghost who inhabits that locket you see on the cover, decided to pop in, startling Tammy Jo into a car accident. And once she finally makes it home, she discovers that the costume that she ordered for tonight's party — which was supposed to be Robin Hood — turned out to be "something of a pornographic peacock."

But the bad day gets worse when masked robbers invade the party and steal her locket — at gunpoint — stealing Edie at the same time. Now Tammy Jo has to rescue the family ghost before her deathday, which is just a few days away.

And wow; the plot really gets difficult to summarize from there. It takes twists and turns you would never expect. I'll just go ahead and gush about my favorite parts.

My favorite character is Zach, Tammy Jo's ex-husband. Zach is a muscle-bound Texas good ole boy, who also happens to be a cop. Tammy Jo still loves him, but thinks their relationship is like oil and vinegar — sooner or later they always separate. He's fierce and protective. He orders her around, but doesn't get angry when she does her own thing. He'd happily take a bullet in the chest for her. While they fight, he cooks her breakfast. And vice versa.

The other guy is Bryn Lyons. He's a mysterious wizard who belongs to a family that Tammy Jo isn't supposed to associate with. He's meant to be fascinating, but his chemistry just didn't work on me. Maybe it wasn't supposed to. I'm not even sure it worked on Tammy Jo... She just doesn't trust Bryn, and she has good reason not to. However, he also has his good points.

Would-Be Witch has one of the best love triangles I've ever seen and I anticipate it developing in future volumes of the series. Ms. Frost did a great job of giving both leading men their share of faults and their share of virtues. In this book I liked Zach, but I can easily see him becoming a stalker-type (although I hope not — it would break my heart). So who knows how it will turn out?

I only have one real nitpick. And that is that Tammy Jo is strangely clueless about the world of witchcraft. She is supposed to have been raised by witches — her mother and her aunt — but Bryn has to teach her an awful lot. Some things she is able to wing on her own, but more often than not, she muffs it.

For a book about witches, Would-Be Witch had some interesting Christian themes. In the same breath as a spell she casts, she decides to throw in a prayer to God for a miracle. And in another prayer, she tells God that only His Son was able to raise people from the dead properly. And she always capitalized the pronouns, as I did above, which you really don't see a lot outside of Christian fiction. At one point, when she suspects that she might have been disrespectful, she say, "And You know, I'd the the last person to lecture You ... So I'm just going to be real quiet right now." Except she isn't.

Ms. Frost was very careful to tie up every plot thread, almost to a fault. Some of them I didn't even remember. But that's a good thing; it means that this novel would hold up well for a rereading, which I can see myself doing, because Would-Be Witch is one for the keeper shelf. —Tia Nevitt
FanLit thanks Tia Nevitt from Debuts & Reviews for contributing this guest review.

Barely Bewitched

I read and thoroughly enjoyed Kimberly Frost's Would-Be Witch, so when I saw that the sequel, Barely Bewitched, was out, I just had to read it. Unlike many second novels, Barely Bewitched is even better than the first novel.

Barely Bewitched begins a week after the events of Would-Be Witch. In a rare plot convenience (there are very few of these, so I will allow Kimberly Frost the luxury of one or two without dinging her star count), Tammy Jo Trask's mother and step-mother — who are both witches — are still away. Tammy Jo is planning to rob her nemesis, Jenna Reitgarten, of Tammy Jo's jewelry, which Tammy Jo had pawned in the last book, and which Jenna had purchased from the pawn shop and refused to sell back to Tammy Jo.

And then comes a knock at the door, where stands a handsome stranger. Except this guy is schoolgirl crush handsome; one knows right away that he's not her type. His name is Jordan Perth, a Brit with a "yummy accent," and he comes with a summons from the World Association of Magic. Tammy Jo must now undergo a challenge, and Jordan and his colleague are here to prepare her for it.

Except the colleague turns out to have more than one connection to Tammy Jo. Plus, he's scary.

Another handsome man appears on her doorstep, and turns out to be Bryn Lyons, who is now off-limits in more than one way. He wants Tammy Jo to cater a party he's planning. While he's still there (of course), another handsome man turns up, and it is Zach, Tammy Jo's irresistible ex-husband from the previous book, with whom she never really broke up completely. And he's not at all happy to see Bryn.

This sets the tone for the rest of the novel. The meeting with the WAM wizard turns out to be a disaster, and it uncovers a part of Tammy Jo that she never dreamed existed. However, it does much to explain why her magic is so erratic and capricious.

Tammy Jo's adventures force her to get to know Bryn better, and she grows more and more attracted to him. However, Zach is still her first love, and he shows no sign of having moved on. For a while, I was thinking I'd have to ding the author for lack of character growth in Zach, but I was happily incorrect. Bryn grows both darker and more appealing, displaying both a ruthless side and a caring one. I still prefer Zach, especially in light of his decision on the last few pages. Talk about a teaser! Zach (who is a deputy sheriff) is going to take a little trip, get some special combat training. And I can't wait for him to come back. (I do hope this doesn't mean an entire book will have to go by without him.)

I usually hesitate to give a book five stars. After all, should not five stars be reserved for literary masterpieces, only? I think not. Five stars should be given to books that succeed in all its objectives. It's meant to be funny, and it is. It's meant to be light, and it is. It's meant to be devoured quickly, and it was. So yes, I'd give Barely Bewitched the same five stars that I'd give to The Grapes of Wrath. I've seen many books try to be funny, light and quick, and fail on one account or another. This one scored in all three areas.

So therefore, if you are looking for a literary chocolate sundae, with lots of hot fudge and drizzled in pixie dust, then Barely Bewitched is exactly the kind of book for you. Start with Would-Be Witch, because the story begins there, but don't hesitate to move on to Barely Bewitched. You will be charmed.
—Tia Nevitt
FanLit thanks Tia Nevitt from Debuts & Reviews for contributing this guest review.