Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead (edition 2011)

Read for Fun!
Challenges: WBTC, Read for Fun
Overall Rating: 3.25
Story Rating: 3.25
Character Rating: 3.25

First Thought when Finished: What a quirky and fun Cozy Paranormal Mystery!

What I Loved: Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead is full of fun and quirky characters. Poor Mara has the worst luck in the world but I had to love her gumption. She tackled each issue to the best of her abilities (which were Witchy Wicked Cool)! I really was grinning through many of her escapades. I freaking loved the cottage that she inherited! It would be so cool to live someplace like that!

What I Liked: The side characters of Gus and Tillie were fantastic editions to the story. They were always with Mara and I think they were a big part of how she got through everything!

What made me go "huh": The story was a little choppy at times and the pacing was a little uneven. I thought the "romance" was a something that could be explored further but then again I like romances. That being said, it was such a fun read that those were just minor bumps in the road!

Final Thought: This would be a fantastic summer evening read for cozy mystery readers that don't mind a little paranormal.

(I know this book is not marketed as a cozy mystery but honestly that is how it read to me. That is just my POV though) ( )

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She’s Dead has a title that just draws your attention. And the book lives up to its fun title. There’s magic and quirky characters and lots of humor. I loved Mara’s voice – humoristic and a little sarcastic. Aside from that, there’s also an intriguing plot, especially in the second part of the book when the mystery-part really kicks off. And we end with a thrilling bang. All in all, a fun read and a good start to a series I will definitely be keeping my eye on. Recommended for those that like paranormal humoristic stories with a suspense twist. ( )

This was not my normal type of book to read but I did enjoy it. ( )

Read from March 09 to 23, 2012

Read for Fun!
Challenges: WBTC, Read for Fun
Overall Rating: 3.25
Story Rating: 3.25
Character Rating: 3.25

First Thought when Finished: What a quirky and fun Cozy Paranormal Mystery!

What I Loved: Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead is full of fun and quirky characters. Poor Mara has the worst luck in the world but I had to love her gumption. She tackled each issue to the best of her abilities (which were Witchy Wicked Cool)! I really was grinning through many of her escapades. I freaking loved the cottage that she inherited! It would be so cool to live someplace like that!

What I Liked: The side characters of Gus and Tillie were fantastic editions to the story. They were always with Mara and I think they were a big part of how she got through everything!

What made me go "huh": The story was a little choppy at times and the pacing was a little uneven. I thought the "romance" was a something that could be explored further but then again I like romances. That being said, it was such a fun read that those were just minor bumps in the road!

Final Thought: This would be a fantastic summer evening read for cozy mystery readers that don't mind a little paranormal.

(I know this book is not marketed as a cozy mystery but honestly that is how it read to me. That is just my POV though) ( )

Christina Miller's witchy tale is running on standard fare: cue one more-powerful-than-she-realizes witch with a serious crush on fattening foods and a spell of forced celibacy, a hunky but gay best friend, and circumstances beyond her control that both guide her path and inform the reader of contemporary Wiccan beliefs and practices.

But, despite the predictability of these elements, the story itself is delightful. While the protagonist is not one I felt a connection with, the story itself was humorous and engaging, and the conclusion wasn't exactly what I predicted, which made it all the more fun. While I could certainly do without the (admittedly minor) lecture material (on spelling tools, for example), Miller's explanations are less intrusive than some others and can easily be overlooked by those "in the know."

Somebody Tell Aunt Tillie She's Dead is god fun, and it's a steal of a Kindle buy. ( )

Rating: 3.5* of five

The Book Report: Mara's a thirtysomething Angeleno girl with the best kind of life a slightly portly, extremely witchy fag hag can have: Her GBFF Gus keeps her in snack food and gossip, her gay uncle/landlord keeps her in a super-cool apartment for less than market rent, and her spirit guides keep her in grocery money by enabling her to read Tarot with such accuracy she's scary. All in all, an enviably calm existence.

Until it isn't anymore. Gay uncle's new inamorato has a mama who needs a job, so he installs her as manageress of the apartment complex where Mara lives. Trouble is, the lady's a wacko fundamentalist with a major hate on for witches like Mara. Since what makes Mama unhappy keeps Uncle from gettin' laid, Mara has a month to vacate.

*Just* in the nick of time, and thanks to an ill-advised piece of spellcrafting, Mara's Great Aunt Tillie dies and leaves her a beautiful cottage in Devils Point, Wisconsin, on the shores of Lake Superior. (Side note: One pities the lassie on the first whiteout due to a lake effect blizzard, being from LA and all.) Mara packs up her entire worldly goods and sets out for Wisconsin in Gus's SUV, which she has traded her beloved 1965 Mustang convertible for (stupid woman).

Arriving in her new home-sweet-home brings many unsettling feelings, including being possessed by an ancestress, hit on by a super-centenarian, boinked to exhaustion by a ghost, and chatted up by a poison toad. It also brings a sense of complete and utter satisfaction, because after a lifetime of rootlessness, Mara is Home.

In the end, what Mara has to do to defend her home is heroically demanding of her witchly talents and worldly energies. Her life, however, is at stake, and her world finally has contours that please and delight her, so Mara sets about making what's hers safe and welcoming for her chosen family, no matter the cost to herself.

My Review: I think most of us desire a trip down the river of another's life as an escape, and so we read fiction or gossip magazines (minimal difference there), or watch "reality" TV, or listen to Faux News and pretend it's truthsome and logical.

When that mood hits, there needs to be something at hand that will scratch the itch as well as offer some pleasure in the process. This story did that for me on a few levels. I was quite taken by the characters...I've even been told by some "friends" that the annoying, arrogant, opinionated Gus reminds those perfidious ingrates of me!...and I was quite pleased with the author's plot-crafting.

I wasn't quite so taken with a few details, such as the missed opportunities for world-building and the overdrawn secondary characters that don't get the screen-time (so to speak) that their qualities set readers up to expect. Still, these are quibbles, and readily susceptible to ironing out as the series (Toad Witch, blurgh not the name I'd've chosen) progresses.

This is an investment of $3.99 that pays Kindle owners back with smiles, thrills, and fun in abundance. I say hit the Buy Now button without any hesitation.

You'd think that church of his would teach him tolerance. Whatever happened to love thy neighbor?"

"Did you miss the Crusades? The Inquisition? Since when has any fundamentalist religion taught religious tolerance?"

"You have a point," he snorted.

Kindle Locations 3851-3853. HekaRose Publishing. Kindle Edition. ( )

Maura is a witch living in California. She reads her own cards and realize things aren't going to go well. She has been out of work for a while, gets evicted from her apartment. While trying to find a new apartment she finds out an aunt she's never met has died and left her a home. She relocates to aunt Tillie's house to find out aunt Tillie might be dead, but she hasn't moved out of the house. Then the antics begin. ( )

This book started out as a very cute chick lit with a couple of fun characters. The problem for me was that halfway through, it became really dark. There were some unusual sex scenes towards the end that left me scratching my head since the rest of the book had been so fun. The romance was also unusual since Mr. Right didn't show up until the last third of the book. I liked the narrator a lot, and enjoyed her bff as well, but overall, I was left rather confused by what kind of book I was reading. ( )

From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

The cover is cartoonish and eye catching. In fact it was the cover that caught my eye on one of those free-ebook pages on Facebook. So yes, I downloaded this for the Kindle. I don't have a Kindle so I read this on my phone. I actually couldn't put it down, my phone went with me everywhere for a few days. My oldest asked me last night, "Why are you reading on your phone???" Because Mommy has to finish this book and it's not on the Nook. Nope, but I did just request it.

The characters are a hoot and a half. Mara and Gus are the only two that get really in-depth treatment. Mara being the main character, and it's all from her perspective in the first-person. And of course Gus is her best friend, he is a gay witch. So he's perfect in all ways but that one. He's also very aggressive and pro-active, which is the opposite of Mara. If it weren't for him she never would have made any movement in the story. It works really well, is all.

She moves from L.A. when her overly-Christian apartment manager evicts her and her Aunt Tillie dies. It's a tiny town on the northern end of Wisconsin. I think it was called Devil's Point. She finds the cottage gorgeous but slightly haunted. Against all her instincts, she decides to move in.

She finds a love interest and lots of fun and creepy things happen. I won't give any more away but I was shocked more than once. This book was not at all predictable. The paperback is a few bucks, but the Kindle version is only $3.49. If you have a Nook like me, you can request it be made available in Nook format as I just did today.

Seriously fun paranormal read. Romance is in here a little but it's not anywhere near the main story line. I would call it quirky paranormal...mystery? Maybe...anyway, it was a really good read. ( )