Danielle Garrett

Cora, a wind witch, runs a successful magical candle shop with the "help" of her recently inherited familiar, Selene. Selene used to be her aunt's ancient familiar, a grumpy grey cat with a broken filter, and is now Cora's. The two of them end up entangled in a murder investigation when a handsome stranger wanders into Cora's shop asking for her help. If that wasn't stressful enough, Cora's ex-husband Roger has also recently moved back to town and is looking to reconnect.

Witchy Whiskers is show more the first in the Nine Lives Magic series by Danielle Garrett. I picked this up on a whim when I saw the cute cover and the book blurb promising a talking cat in a paranormal cozy mystery. So how was it?

I enjoyed this fast and fun read. This story has everything you could want in a cozy mystery - small town location, a local resident turned sleuth, potential romantic interests, a mystery to solve and a talking cat. Selene is like a cat version of Sophia from the "Golden Girls" and can be hilarious with her comments. Cora is also likeable and I wish I could buy one of the candles from her shop. The mystery is well done and I like that it took priority over the romance, though there is future potential there. There is even some unexpected action. The story ends with a great hook for the next installment so I'm glad I bought the omnibus and have the second book ready to read soon. show less

iI won this book from a reading challenge from my library. Free book? You bet I'll take it! I loved the idea of the talking cat before I even opened the book. After all I was owned by various cats in my lifetime...the last ownership lasted 19 years...I am absolutely positive that my Margie could not only talk but she was choosey in the human's that she did this with...throughout her long, luxurious life...I was the only one that she deemed worthy of communicating with. Back to Selena...she show more really is more rude than snarky, but as I read on I could understand why. Cora...the human...runs a magical candle shop in a town that's mostly magic but has human tourists. She's temporarily taking care of her aunt's familiar, Selene, a cat with a major attitude problem. Who could blame her for that. The aunt took off without any notice whatsoever and we find out that Selene is a grumpy old lady cat that is on her last life. Cora and Selena are barely putting up with each other...Selena wonders "why she didn't just learn to use a can-opener ???... then a murder happens and the weapon just happens to have come from Cora's shop. Just for fun lets throw in an ex-husband who doesn't understand the "ex" part yet...and a potential new boyfriend who just might be the murderer. The mystery and characters are so very well drawn. I'm looking forward to the next book. show less

True to its genre, this book delivers what readers want: a fun cozy murder mystery that is solved by an accidental sleuth (who just happens to be a witch that owns a magical candle store named Cora), some dabbles of clean romance and a snarky cat named Selene who spends more time making life difficult for Cora than helping her. And yes, Selene will do cat things like dropping things on the floor on purpose when she feels spiteful.

Unlike most cozy sleuth stories, this series mixes a lot of show more Urban Fantasy elements. Magic is well-known among society and witches are allowed to live in the open without suffering from persecution. A few pixies appear in the story and it seems like vampires exist as well albeit we never meet any.

Much to the chagrin of a lot of readers (and I agree), while we do get a nice taste on how Cora creates candles with air magic and some of their ilusory effects, most of the world is surprisingly well... ordinary. While the book lands a few punches on the primitiveness of magical birth and marriage registry offices on purpose, internet delivery services and public transportation is not even remotely special. This book will lose extra points in this regard because 100% of the plot takes place in a touristy lake town somewhere in the USA that has a large magical being permanent population. You'd think magical public buses that can squeeze hundreds of rowdy drunk springbreakers or teleportation portals to visit tourist traps would have made a much warranted appearance.

Cops seem ridiculously incompetent in the story as well. The great AHA! moment to solve the crime could have been suspected by the cops ages ago if they had visited every medical clinic in town and the civil registry office.

Some reviewers don't like how utterly trusting Cora is towards a complete stranger, but I will personally give it a pass because some of the questionable events were caused by Selene's mischief and the fact Cora grew up in a small town with very little crime. She seems to be the type of person that doesn't lock the door of her car (funnily her aunt Lavender is the polar opposite and uses Fort Knox level defensive mechanisms to protect her house from looters).

The writing is easygoing, avoids swear words or large amounts of violence, so it is a good PG-13 read for middle grade kids. I find the mystery to be rather predictable and many readers will solve it quickly into the story, but the road getting to the conclusion is still quite fun. I did find the scenes where Cora's ex shows up completely uninvited to be cringe. Readers can skip those scenes if they want since they are essentially filler.

Despite being unable to be a major groundbreaking story that could have used a bit more worldbuilding, it delivers the cozy light reading fans of the genre are looking for. show less

True to its genre, this book delivers what readers want: a fun cozy murder mystery that is solved by an accidental sleuth (who just happens to be a witch that owns a magical candle store named Cora), some dabbles of clean romance and a snarky cat named Selene who spends more time making life difficult for Cora than helping her. And yes, Selene will do cat things like dropping things on the floor on purpose when she feels spiteful.

Unlike most cozy sleuth stories, this series mixes a lot of show more Urban Fantasy elements. Magic is well-known among society and witches are allowed to live in the open without suffering from persecution. A few pixies appear in the story and it seems like vampires exist as well albeit we never meet any.

Much to the chagrin of a lot of readers (and I agree), while we do get a nice taste on how Cora creates candles with air magic and some of their ilusory effects, most of the world is surprisingly well... ordinary. While the book lands a few punches on the primitiveness of magical birth and marriage registry offices on purpose, internet delivery services and public transportation is not even remotely special. This book will lose extra points in this regard because 100% of the plot takes place in a touristy lake town somewhere in the USA that has a large magical being permanent population. You'd think magical public buses that can squeeze hundreds of rowdy drunk springbreakers or teleportation portals to visit tourist traps would have made a much warranted appearance.

Cops seem ridiculously incompetent in the story as well. The great AHA! moment to solve the crime could have been suspected by the cops ages ago if they had visited every medical clinic in town and the civil registry office.

Some reviewers don't like how utterly trusting Cora is towards a complete stranger, but I will personally give it a pass because some of the questionable events were caused by Selene's mischief and the fact Cora grew up in a small town with very little crime. She seems to be the type of person that doesn't lock the door of her car (funnily her aunt Lavender is the polar opposite and uses Fort Knox level defensive mechanisms to protect her house from looters).

The writing is easygoing, avoids swear words or large amounts of violence, so it is a good PG-13 read for middle grade kids. I find the mystery to be rather predictable and many readers will solve it quickly into the story, but the road getting to the conclusion is still quite fun. I did find the scenes where Cora's ex shows up completely uninvited to be cringe. Readers can skip those scenes if they want since they are essentially filler.

Despite being unable to be a major groundbreaking story that could have used a bit more worldbuilding, it delivers the cozy light reading fans of the genre are looking for. show less