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Home for a Spell (A Bewitching Mystery #7)
by
Madelyn Alt
Back to work at her antique shop, Enchantments, Maggie's broken leg makes helping customers a lame proposition-but that doesn't mean the rest of her life is slowing down. While her boyfriend, the magically- inclined Marcus, has some unfinished business to attend to and her best friend is getting ready to tie the knot and move away, Maggie decides it's time to find her own...more
ebook, 304 pages
Published
January 4th 2011
by Berkley
(first published November 23rd 2010)
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I read several in this series back to back, although not in order. I have to say that this one did not hold my attention like the previous books – I actually fell asleep reading it.
One of the strong points of this series, and this book, is the building of the relationship between Maggie and Marcus, who were attracted to each other from the first meeting. Here, they are working together on compromises and becoming one, instead of the normal series books which have the main character going back a...more
One of the strong points of this series, and this book, is the building of the relationship between Maggie and Marcus, who were attracted to each other from the first meeting. Here, they are working together on compromises and becoming one, instead of the normal series books which have the main character going back a...more
I read this shortly after the previous book, having rediscovered it on my floor. With this entry I can safely say that I'm kind of ambivalent about all of this now. The series is still "nice enough" but it lacks the oomph of the earlier novels.
First off, I'll state that like the previous entry, this novel also establishes the relationship between Maggie and Marcus. I like this, as it's something you don't often see in ongoing series. Many authors like to keep a "will they, won't they" thing goi...more
First off, I'll state that like the previous entry, this novel also establishes the relationship between Maggie and Marcus. I like this, as it's something you don't often see in ongoing series. Many authors like to keep a "will they, won't they" thing goi...more
The latest book in the Bewitching series by Madelyn Alt has heroine Maggie O’Neill side-lined by the broken ankle received in the last book (A Witch in Time). The ankle just isn’t healing as fast as she hoped for and now Maggie feels she’s being a drain on her boyfriend, Quinn. At the same time, her best friend is getting married and preparing to move out of the upstairs apartment where they both live. Feeling a little lost, Maggie decides it’s time for a change and starts apartment hunting. Whe...more
Maggie O'Neill is slowly adjusting to her recently discovered empathic abilities. But breaking her leg and being forced to stay with someone, even if it is her new guy Marcus, is frustrating for the normally independent young woman. She's even more frustrated when she finds out that Marcus is considering delaying going back to school for a degree until she's better. Since she can't go back to her own basement apartment, and her best friend/neighbour Steff is moving away anyway, she decides to lo...more
I wish lead character Maggie had had the balls to tell her family about Marcus and that she is happy. The O’Neills only knowing because Marcus answered her Grandpa’s question, is disappointing. Happily, we sidestepped the disdain I expected; perhaps with attention on Melanie’s difficult labour in the former novel. I like that her sister is overcoming strife and not a pampered housewife. In “Home For A Spell”, Maggie has lived with Marcus about three weeks. Madelyn Alt mercifully dispensed with d...more
This book was Cute with a capital "C." I found this one at my local library and was seduced by the cute cover. This is one of the few series cozies that I've read that made me wish that I had read the other books in the series. This is Book 7 in the A Bewitching Mystery series. It isn't that this book can't stand alone, but I wanted to know more of the back story between Maggie and her ex-boyfriend.
This is a cozy mystery, but it is more cozy than mystery. The mystery just didn't do it for me. It...more
This is a cozy mystery, but it is more cozy than mystery. The mystery just didn't do it for me. It...more
2 likes · like · see review
kinda spoilerish... relationship wise
ok, so i didn't really review any of these as i read them. so i'm going to give my thoughts to the series in this review. the books were ok to good. i really liked Maggie and i wish Liss was my boss and i worked in a store like that!! this isn't my usual type of genre. i like a little more sex and romance in my books. there wasn't much of either (actually no sex at all lol). this is why i tend to stay away from Chick Lit. i did enjoy the stories tho. some of...more
ok, so i didn't really review any of these as i read them. so i'm going to give my thoughts to the series in this review. the books were ok to good. i really liked Maggie and i wish Liss was my boss and i worked in a store like that!! this isn't my usual type of genre. i like a little more sex and romance in my books. there wasn't much of either (actually no sex at all lol). this is why i tend to stay away from Chick Lit. i did enjoy the stories tho. some of...more
May 31, 2011
Crys (The Hodgenator)
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
my-interests,
witches,
mystery,
witchcraft,
magic,
series,
ghosts,
supernatural,
bewitching-mysteries
Alt doesn't leave us guessing in this novel, but I was a little disappointed with this one - it is as if Alt wasn't too sure where she wanted to take her character, Maggie, especially now that she is with Marcus. Still, the book was worth the read if you're a fan of the series. After all, Maggie is always finding herself at the wrong place at the wrong time, and it usually has to do with dead bodies. This novel is no exception.
In this seventh installment of the Bewitching Mysteries series, Alt o...more
In this seventh installment of the Bewitching Mysteries series, Alt o...more
The star in the fun Bewitching Mystery series is Maggie O'Neill, who is definitely the odd one out in her family. In Home For A Spell she is being looked after by boyfriend Marcus while she is recovering from a broken ankle. Maggie believes that her presence at his house is a great inconvenience for and bother to Marcus. She is therefore eager to lighten his load of responsibilities by going home. But the home she has shared with her best friend is about to change, as Steff is getting married an...more
1 like · like · see review
With the relationships taken care of in A Witch in Time, the Bewitching Mystery series returns its focus to murder in Home for a Spell. The set up for the murder begins almost immediately, the body found soon after and readers will be delighted to find that almost the entire book is Maggie investigating.
Even while still incapacitated by her leg cast, Maggie still stumbling over corpses and ferreting out killers. Teaming up with both Marcus and Tom, making for some wonderful jealous tension, Magg...more
Even while still incapacitated by her leg cast, Maggie still stumbling over corpses and ferreting out killers. Teaming up with both Marcus and Tom, making for some wonderful jealous tension, Magg...more
Apr 13, 2011
Dorri
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
magic-ties,
mysterious
From Publisher's Weekly: "Though Maggie loves her temporary digs with Marcus Quinn, her doting wizard boyfriend, she doesn't want him to delay his back-to-college plans to care for her. Maggie finds a great deal on a place at New Heritage, a local apartment complex, but before she can sign the lease, she and Marcus discover its manager, Rob Locke, floating in the complex's pool, dead from blunt force trauma. Maggie's ex-boyfriend, policeman Tom Fielding, isn't thrilled that Maggie is once again...more
This book was slow to draw me in but once I got past the back story, I was charmed by Maggie and her companions. You'll have to wait a long time for the mystery to get rolling: Alt opens the book with a lot of Maggie's personal issues (a slow-healing broken leg, a crisis in her housing situation, a worry about her boyfriend delaying going back to school) before you read about the complex where the murder will happen.
The red herrings are pretty obvious and the impetus to murder is screamingly obv...more
The red herrings are pretty obvious and the impetus to murder is screamingly obv...more
This isn't the first book in this cozy mystery series, but it's the first one I've read. When you love to shop for books the old-fashioned way - IN PERSON, flipping through the pages of something you hold in your hands, as opposed to something done online or otherwise electronically - you're kind of stuck when you live in a not-so-big town where the only places that sell books are Target and a local store that is a combination Hallmark shop/bookstore. In other words, not so much variety. So when...more
Maggie is still recovering from her broken ankle so she can't get into her basement apartment. Not that she does not enjoy staying with her man, Marcus, but she does not want to be a burden. So Maggie decides that it might be a good time to find a new apartment. She gets a lead on a newly renovated place and although she has some bad feelings about the manager, the deal is too good to pass up. But with Maggie's luck, the manager turns up dead before Maggie can sign the lease.
I am not sure why I...more
I am not sure why I...more
This books is okay. There were a couple of flaws. The computer upgrade and giant bedroom mirrors at the appartments and a rather strange clause in the appartment contract gave away most of the book in the first chapter. The culprit hardly had any page time at all and the big twist was all in exposition right at the end. There was so much room to make the book so much better.
On the other hand, it was fast paced, entertaining, rather pleasant. It takes place over about a 3 or 4 day period that se...more
On the other hand, it was fast paced, entertaining, rather pleasant. It takes place over about a 3 or 4 day period that se...more
In Alt’s mystery novel, Maggie is back at work with her broken ankle still in a cast. A lot is going on from her best friend preparing to leave town, to her boyfriend Marcus working and preparing to go to school to her desire to find new lodging. With some help from Marcus’ Uncle Lou, Maggie finds a new dream home that quickly turns into a nightmare when the creepy apartment manager is found murdered before she can sign the lease. But what’s worse, Maggie finds herself knee deep in the search fo...more
Home For A Spell is the ninth book in the Bewitching Mystery series.
Maggie, recovering from a broken ankle, is staying with her boyfriend, Marcus. But when Marcus decides to put off returning to college, she figures it is time for her to look for a place to live while hobbling around with a cast on her leg. Marcus' uncle gets a lead on an apartment and Maggie goes to check it out. The next morning she returns to sign the lease, only to find the manager has been murdered and floating in the pool....more
Maggie, recovering from a broken ankle, is staying with her boyfriend, Marcus. But when Marcus decides to put off returning to college, she figures it is time for her to look for a place to live while hobbling around with a cast on her leg. Marcus' uncle gets a lead on an apartment and Maggie goes to check it out. The next morning she returns to sign the lease, only to find the manager has been murdered and floating in the pool....more
This is a fun series to read.
Maggie wants to get a new apartment. Marcus's uncle hears of aplace and it sounds to good to be true. No security deposit, 2 months free rent and cancel at any tme. When Maggie goes to sign the lease she and MMarcus find the apartment manager dead. They find out that the manager was spying on all the women living in the complex. Yes, the complex is all women. Maggie and friends get involved in the investigation.
Maggie works in a store called Enchantments, which sell...more
Maggie wants to get a new apartment. Marcus's uncle hears of aplace and it sounds to good to be true. No security deposit, 2 months free rent and cancel at any tme. When Maggie goes to sign the lease she and MMarcus find the apartment manager dead. They find out that the manager was spying on all the women living in the complex. Yes, the complex is all women. Maggie and friends get involved in the investigation.
Maggie works in a store called Enchantments, which sell...more
uggg... what a HOT MESS this book was. Mrs Alts books are becomming more and more chick lit than anything. Skim reading worthy at best. The dead body didnt appear until about the 6th chapter, and the entire 7th chapter was a re-hash of all the first 6 chapters. I was litterally able to skim read the last 2 chapters to get a resolution. I seems the NIGHTS are not active at all anymore. Pfft... so much for the whole paranormal theme they had going.
Im sad to say I honestly dont care anymore what h...more
Im sad to say I honestly dont care anymore what h...more
Jan 22, 2012
Babs
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
mystery-cozy,
mystery-paranormal
Bit better than the last outing in this series, but something seems missing that was there before. I think I enjoyed the series more when Maggie was growing into her power and learning more about magic. There’s an awful lot of talking in this book, some about magic, but very little actual magic.
Also, while I wasn’t pleased with all the relationship troubles in the last book, especially Maggie’s sister Melanie, whose husband walks out on her after she gives birth to twin girls, it seems weird th...more
Also, while I wasn’t pleased with all the relationship troubles in the last book, especially Maggie’s sister Melanie, whose husband walks out on her after she gives birth to twin girls, it seems weird th...more
I took me a long time to get into this book - i don't think it really picked up for me until after page 100 and that was with some skimming. I found there were many, many long paragraphs of descriptions, esp in bringing in the information from earlier in the series to make people understand the characters and such. I liked that we saw a lot of Maggie and Marcus and the interaction with Tom. I thought the mystery part was OK. i think this series has moved away from the mystery being the focus to...more
This was a charming (in several senses of the word,) and well written murder mystery.
I liked the characters and how they interacted within the storyline. I did realize early on that you were expected to have read the prior books to really know what was going on. I hadn't so I often was left wondering or creating my own story. Such as the powers of the boyfriend, Marcus. Is he a witch also? Do their families know? Things of that nature made me feel a bit left out.
I will keep this author in my min...more
I liked the characters and how they interacted within the storyline. I did realize early on that you were expected to have read the prior books to really know what was going on. I hadn't so I often was left wondering or creating my own story. Such as the powers of the boyfriend, Marcus. Is he a witch also? Do their families know? Things of that nature made me feel a bit left out.
I will keep this author in my min...more
Another cute addition to the series.
For once, I wasn't sure how the mystery was going to end up in this one. I had my suspicions, but the actual ending threw me for a loop.
I know I'm a dork for even noticing this, but it really bothered me that her cast on the cover is purple when she goes ON AND ON about it being yellow in the book. Jeez.
I'm looking forward to the next (last?) book. I sped through this entire series in a little over a week and had a lot of fun reading it, so I hate having to w...more
For once, I wasn't sure how the mystery was going to end up in this one. I had my suspicions, but the actual ending threw me for a loop.
I know I'm a dork for even noticing this, but it really bothered me that her cast on the cover is purple when she goes ON AND ON about it being yellow in the book. Jeez.
I'm looking forward to the next (last?) book. I sped through this entire series in a little over a week and had a lot of fun reading it, so I hate having to w...more
Madelyn Alt does it again with another wonderful installment of her Bewitching series. This one really didn't have that witchy flavor but it was still a great read. I'm hoping to see more of the supernatural themes (from previous installments)in Maggie's future as she continues on her path of personal enlightenment and I really enjoy the growing relationship between Maggie & Marcus ~ if I could request a little more steam please ~ *heh*. Now if we could just fix Liss up with a hunky warlock...more
Good book and a quick read. I found myself flying through it (obviously, if I read it in three nights). However, I was a bit disappointed that a lot of the details which had drawn me to the series were not included in this book. For example, many of the characters typically in the main character's circle of friends were not in this book and those who were mentioned were mentioned almost in passing. There was not as much foreshadowing of the mystery portion of the story which made the conclusion...more
I have to say the ending is brilliant...I never would have guessed the killer in a million years! However alot of that has to do with the fact you get absolutely no clues whatsoever because this book is so chalk full of FILLER! Personal problems in the main characters life that don't really seem like problems at all get in the way of the murder and just with the moving along of the story in general. It's an alright book but definetly not one that needs to go on anybodies "must read" list.
I've fallen in love with this particular series. Madelyn Alt has an easygoing style and wit that brings her characters to life. No one is perfect in her books, the heroine and her allies have their faults and insecurities that make them easy to relate too. And Minny the cat is a hoot (I love cats, their my kryptonite). It's a good read and I'm looking forward to finishing it as soon as my schoolwork permits.
Wow, been a while since I started this one. Sorry about that. Finished this some time ago...more
Wow, been a while since I started this one. Sorry about that. Finished this some time ago...more
Jan 17, 2011
❂ Jennifer
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
cozy-mystery,
paranormal-mystery
I like this series - although her mother and sister drive me nuts. :) This was a good addition, although maybe not her best one, to the series. I found I was getting impatient with the many many internal dialogue's about what is going on in the town that is causing so many murders. I like that she ties all the books to that theme, just found in this book she harped on it too much. Still, I'm looking forward to the next book.
3.5 Stars
I love this series. I was worried because I didn't enjoy the last book as much as I have the others. This one was better but still not as good IMO. It was a really good mystery. I didn't figure it out until later. It took about 80+ pages to get to the crime but I guess it was a set up. It was funny to have Maggie hobbling around trying to figure out the killer. I also liked how she stays strong and independent even though she has a wonderful man to take care of her. Nice, quick read and...more
I love this series. I was worried because I didn't enjoy the last book as much as I have the others. This one was better but still not as good IMO. It was a really good mystery. I didn't figure it out until later. It took about 80+ pages to get to the crime but I guess it was a set up. It was funny to have Maggie hobbling around trying to figure out the killer. I also liked how she stays strong and independent even though she has a wonderful man to take care of her. Nice, quick read and...more
I've really enjoyed this Bewitching Mystery series by Madelyn Alt...the first five I zipped on through...but #6 & #7 were a little slow to start. But if you stick with it, you too will soon find yourself caught up in this who-dunnit mystery. Once again, I didn't figure it out-and what a shocker too! One of my many questions is further intensified within this book...nope...you've gotta read it for yourself to understand what I'm hinting at. Overall, this series is a good, fun read.
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From the Authors Website
Madelyn Alt is the national bestselling author of the witchy and hip Bewitching Mystery Series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The Bewitching series features small town single girl and fledgling empath Maggie O'Neill, her witchy boss, and an unlikely circle of ghosthunting friends, the N.I.G.H.T.S., as they investigate an increasing level of paranormal disturbance--not...more
More about Madelyn Alt...
Madelyn Alt is the national bestselling author of the witchy and hip Bewitching Mystery Series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The Bewitching series features small town single girl and fledgling empath Maggie O'Neill, her witchy boss, and an unlikely circle of ghosthunting friends, the N.I.G.H.T.S., as they investigate an increasing level of paranormal disturbance--not...more
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Jan 22, 2012 09:00pm