A Potion To Die For

The Good: Hitching Post, Alabama doesn't sound like a place that would be teeming with magical ability, but quite a few residents possess witchy powers. Almost all of them are quirky, bordering on incurably eccentric. The book features a murder that's twisty and an utter surprise, but the real fun here is the relationships. Carly's long rivalry with her cousin Delia and the super messed up situation with her ex-fiance Dylan both make for compelling reading. The "Will they or won't they?" of both relationships kept me completely involved in the book. Will Carly and Delia be able to work together and perhaps become friends? Will Carly and Dylan get past a little case of left at the alter? It all just worked.

The Bad: Carly is a little much show more to take. She's stubborn and has only a minimal grasp of understanding what's going on around her and the appropriate way of dealing with those situations. Quite a few of her issues in the book stem from reacting to what's on the surface and never, ever looking beyond what she assumes to be true. show less

I’ve been waiting on this book to come out for many months! I bought it early on release day and gobbled it up. A POTION TO DIE FOR had all my favorite elements: a puzzling mystery, surprising plot twists, a cast of colorful characters, a little woo woo, and the beginnings of a second chance romance to boot!

Carly Bell Hartwell is a healing witch and owner of Little Shop of Potions, located in Hitching Post, Alabama. The tourists and townsfolk are always in need of her magical potions, especially when a seer predicts an upcoming divorce. On the same day as the prediction, Carly finds a dead body in her store’s break room. It’s a local lawyer, obviously murdered and clutching one of her potion bottles. Bad news for Carly and her show more livelihood!

Carly is soon wrapped up in an intriguing, multilayered mystery. Her ex-fiance Dylan is the investigator on the case, which makes for some nice romantic tension. (Yep, there’s still something between them, even if they don’t want to admit it – yet.) Being that Hitching Post is a very small town, Carly is able to see and hear things that may help with the investigation. With a little help from her arch nemesis (also known as her cousin Delia), Carly is able to piece together what really happened to the murder victim and bring the killer to justice. By the way, I loved Delia. She owns the hex shop across the street from Carly, and she only deals in the dark arts. There’s an interesting family squabble going on there, with lots of history behind it.

A POTION TO DIE FOR is an enchanting start to Heather Blake’s new series. Fans of paranormal cozy mysteries are sure to be delighted. Looking forward to more! show less

Heather Webber/Blake is one of those authors who not only write multiple series (this is the beginning of her third current one) but writes them all really well. I'm certain she's not in a small group in this regard, but she is one of the few authors I trust enough to just blindly pick up their new series based on my enjoyment of her past ones.

A Potion to Die For introduces us to a new cast of characters in Hitching Post, Alabama. It's a fictional town but it sure sounds like a beautiful setting for crazy. A small town known for it's quickie weddings (and quickie divorces) and incredibly eccentric characters, including a weather forecaster that occasionally throws in premonitions pertaining to relationships ("Sunny with a chance of show more divorce"). Ms. Blake loves to surround her MC with crazy, so if you like quirky and eccentric characters, this book will surely tick that box.

Carly Bell appears to be just about the only sane one in her family. She's a witch and runs a potion shop in Hitching Post. As the oldest of her generation, she inherited the family house (falling down), grimoire and the "magic drops" that ensure the potency of her potions. These drops are the result of the tragic deaths of her great-great-(maybe one more great) grandparents. G-g-g-grandma was a white witch and grandpa was a dark Voodoo practitioner. In present time, Carly chooses to follow the path of her grandmother and practice white witchcraft. But she has a cousin, Delia, that chooses to follow the Voodoo path and runs a shop across town that specialises in hexes. Family history results in these two being estranged, but as the book progresses the two find themselves having to deal with each other. I really liked the dynamic between Carly and Delia, and I love the very deliberate division of light and dark between the two relatives.

There's a cast of odd-duck parents, aunts, neighbours and best friends, but the only other major character in this book is Dylan Jackson, the chief investigator for Hitching Post. He's Carly's ex, but under sort of funny yet sad, circumstances. He's obviously going to be the love interest here and I like him a lot.

The murder mystery in the book was done very well. A dead body holding incriminating evidence found in an incriminating place. Nothing was obvious, although it occurs to me that because this is the first book, and we're being introduced to a whole cast of characters, any obvious suspects would be hidden in plain sight. Either way, I never had a firm grasp on who the killer was and I found the ending delightfully twisty, with a nicely unexpected ending.

Ms. Blake's books all have a delightfully innocent air about them - characters are for the most part happy, optimistic and with an air of innocence you don't often find in books today. I struggled a bit with it at first, but decided after the second book of her Wishcraft series to just go with it and enjoy it - I don't actually require angsty characters to enjoy a book or series and I do love me some crazy. This book wasn't an exception. I found Hitching Post to be a really entertaining place to visit and I'm looking forward to finding out what's up for them in the future. show less

A Potion To Die For is one of the best first in series cozies that I have read. The character all played a distinct role and and we're a pleasure to get to know. The story is told from the MC's perspective and what a lovely way she has of telling a story. Her sense of humor and southern charm are beyond charming and it had the feel of a friend telling a tale. Much love, Heather Blake. You have set the bar pretty high for further installments.

Carly and her family have lived in Hitching Post, Alabama forever. And her magical potions are a staple for the community and tourist alike. But when a body is found in her shop, people start wondering if Carly has turned to the dark side. Determined to clear her name, Carly dives into an investigation and ends up with the wrong sort of attention. Now she is just trying to stay alive.

This was so much fun. It is a nice start to a new series, introducing a cast of fun and eccentric characters. The mystery was good but as will all good cozies, it is the characters and the setting that really makes this book. First books can sometimes be clunky but this one is as smooth as buttercream on a wedding cake. I fell into the setting and show more characters right away. Looking forward to the next in the series. show less

fluffy fun, for the most part. But for someone who can read other people's feelings when she wants to, Carly is incredibly dense about complexities in feelings, and how many contradictory ones people have. This made the whole situation with Dylan just unreal to me. She brought the whole thing on herself, was incredibly (and unbelievably given her gifts) naive and rigid, and compounded it all by refusing to look at any of it - complete cowardice at odds with the rest of her actions in the book. And since that runs through pretty much the entire book... well, it kind of brought down the fun and fluff part for me. Plus the stuff with Delia on top - talk about prejudice. That could have been done a whole lot less crudely.

Doubt I will move show more on in this series because of those. show less

Listened for Review (Tantor)
Overall Rating 4.00
Story Rating: 4.25
Character Rating: 3.75

Audio Rating : 3.50

First Thought when Finished:A Potion to Die For by Heather Blake was a witchy good time!

Quick Thoughts:I thought this was a good mix of mystery and magic. The mystery was strong and loved all the twists/turns. The characters were fun. It took a bit for me to warm up to Carly but by the end I really liked her. Oddly, I really liked her cousin D from the beginning so I am hoping she is in book 2 more. Overall, this was a really good cozy mystery that makes me want book 2 NOW! I will wait for the audiobook though :)

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated by Carla Mercer-Meyer/Running time 10 hrs

Carla did a solid job but it did take a bit to warm up show more to her accents. As the story went on the more I liked it. The females were strong and the male voices were easy to get used too. I have a feeling I will like Book 2 narration right off the bat.

Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews show less