Barely Bewitched (Southern Witch, #2) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jan 17, 2010 The Flooze rated it really liked it

Shelves: vanquished_2010, urban-fantasy-paranormal

Only a week has passed since the events of Would-Be Witch, and there's no chance of the world slowing down for Tammy Jo's sake.

She's barely come into her magic, but Tammy soon finds out that even the most well-intentioned newbie witch will be held responsible for spells gone awry. She's got visitors who are supposed to help her prepare for a magical licensing test, but nothing is ever simple where Tammy's involved.

In Barely Bewitched, Tammy Jo continues to be a likable, quirky little thing, wh Only a week has passed since the events of Would-Be Witch, and there's no chance of the world slowing down for Tammy Jo's sake.

She's barely come into her magic, but Tammy soon finds out that even the most well-intentioned newbie witch will be held responsible for spells gone awry. She's got visitors who are supposed to help her prepare for a magical licensing test, but nothing is ever simple where Tammy's involved.

In Barely Bewitched, Tammy Jo continues to be a likable, quirky little thing, while Bryn Lyons shows more and more of his true colors. (And those colors are as fabulous as the bright sapphire blue of his eyes.)

The rest of the town members appear again in all their insane glory, made ever more crazy by a heap of faery dust swirling through the air. Mix their raucous behaviour with murderous wizards, vengeful fae, and Tammy's wonky powers, and the poor girl is once more running around like a chicken without a head in her bid to save everyone.

The pace is fast and the writing is witty. Compared to the last book, Tammy still spends all her time on the go, but her thoughts are more organized and she's trusting her own instincts more. Frost's writing seems more cohesive and the plot lacks that ADD quality of Would-Be Witch.

Tamara is a fun heroine to follow and I eagerly anticipate the next book, but three things irk me:

Firstly, she should be a lot more indignant over Zach's treatment of her. I want her to have more stick-to-it-iveness when it comes to him, and the ending perpetuates a love triangle I'm already tired of. However, some game-changing realizations are made in this book, so I'll reserve judgment until I see how they play out.

The second gripe is that Tammy never questions one big detail: Why has she been commanded to keep away from the Lyons family? Any sort of blind obedience drives me insane. Even though Tammy is not doing a great job following that rule, she still thinks of it at the most inopportune and hurtful moments. It's getting ever so very old, and is a plot contrivance that had better be resolved in the next book.

Finally, Frost apparently doesn't believe in writing naughty scenes. That's fine, but the resulting description of intimacy reads like a pure metaphysical event and is terribly unsatisfying.

Despite these issues, I enjoy wacky, Armageddon-prone Duvall and I'm still anxious to read about the next mess Tammy gets into. ...more

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May 05, 2010 Steph rated it really liked it

Shelves: series-ongoing, author-웃, year-read-2010

Barely Bewitched was a fun, magical mess. Tammy Jo, the southern witch with powers that don't seem to work properly, has been found guilty for her illegal use of magic she and Bryn performed when they rid the town of the werewolves last week. The World Association of Magic (WAM) Conclave sends Jordan Perth, a wizard sent to assist her in training for her Initial Challenge. If she "should fail to comply with the completion of the Initial Challenge ... {she} will be subject to incarceration or Barely Bewitched was a fun, magical mess. Tammy Jo, the southern witch with powers that don't seem to work properly, has been found guilty for her illegal use of magic she and Bryn performed when they rid the town of the werewolves last week. The World Association of Magic (WAM) Conclave sends Jordan Perth, a wizard sent to assist her in training for her Initial Challenge. If she "should fail to comply with the completion of the Initial Challenge ... {she} will be subject to incarceration or extermination." In addition to Mr. Perth, Incendio, a fire starter who has a history with the women of Tammy Jo's family, is sent to help. Incendio has a wild temper and believes he's above the law, human and witch.

She continues to fight with Jenna Reitgarten, the obnoxious girl who stole her family's jewelry. Jenna is determined to get Tammy Jo to leave the town. Tammy Jo cursed Jenna with the hiccups, which she's still suffering from after one week. TJ's determined to get her jewelry back and decides she has to take matters into her own hands.

She's still in an on-again off-again relationship with her ex-husband, sheriff, Zach. Neither one of them can let go even knowing how badly things were when they were married. Tammy's growing and changing in ways that Zach has a hard time understanding. But, he's always around trying to keep her safe. TJ can't get over her physical attraction to him. Edie, her ghostly aunt and Mercutio, her cat, are there to help her as she gets herself into and out of trouble throughout the story. Her relationship with Bryn grows more complicated as they work together to try to find a way out of trouble with WAM. He brings out the magic in her and she helps him do things no one else can.

I enjoyed Barely Bewitched a lot more than Would-Be Witch due to the increased interaction between TJ and Bryn and the discovery of some interesting realizations about TJ's history/family.

I look forward to reading book 3, Halfway Hexed, next year.

[Format Read: eBook] ...more

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Nov 30, 2014 Marsha rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I won this book through first reads giveaway -

I haven't read the first book in this series yet, but I stress YET. I will definitely be going back and reading it. This book was a light, fun, quick paced read. I stumbled a few times because I didn't read the first book, but I think that was just my fault, not the fault of the author. The mystery and paranormal romance both played against each other nicely without overwhelming the story with the romance - though it was definitely there. I would de ...more

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Apr 25, 2011 Kristen rated it liked it

read this and the first installment back-to-back. Literally put the first down and picked up the next. So some of the details sort of smushed together. I still think PNR isn't really the right category. Maybe fantasy (I think of the Nicole Peeler book's categorization) or even mystery (thinking Madelyn Alt now) would be more appropriate. There are some touching moments, and the author tells us at one point that Bryn and Tammy Jo had a night (and there's lots of kissing between them), but that's ...more

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