Tegan Maher

What I immediately liked about this one is that the MC for once isn't an outsider in her community but the opposite, full-on gossiping with the other ladies at the hair salon and totally owning it.
I've never been a fan of this small town gossip culture, neither in books nor in reality, but the way it is portrayed here is just fine with me and I even find it entertaining. On top of that, it is really refreshing as I am kind of tired of the whole "nobody likes me, me against all the odds spiel" especially in books that have "cozy" in their genre description.

I have two main problems with this book.
First, the love interest is a dense douche which is being acknowledged and even point out to his face but there never is any kind of redemption or even an apology or anything on his part.
All his jerk behaviour is just forgiven after the bad guys have been found out despite him not only not helping but actively preventing progress with his ignorance, boneheadedness and pure stupidity even tho he is supposed to be the one in charge of the investigation.
Her attraction to him really reminds me of this:


My second problem is the convenient uselessness of all that supposed magic.
We are told there is such a thing as "pulling in defensive magic" but it never amounts to anything. Not even a spark regardless of the seriousness of the situation. We know there is such a thing as "Wards" but they are conveniently absent everywhere they might prevent anything bad from happening and it's all like that. The magic really only exists as a plot device and nothing else. The book doesn't in the slightest considers the consequences and implications of all the things this magic is supposed to be able to do not to mention what implications ghosts that are able to show themselves to normal people at will would be.

In essence, an interesting and refreshing premise but a lazy execution.
I think my 3-star rating is generous.… (mais)