Fangs and Frenemies (Blue Moon Bay Witches #1)

by Sierra Cross

It was times like this I bemoaned not having a cat for a familiar, or one of those cute owls.

between two old broomsticks (ceremonial, not for transport)

When a romantic relationship ended, at least you got a breakup. But friendship, even one as close as ours, could simply end. With no explanation.

this reminds me of rachel, who quite literally vanished 6 years ago and turned up states away with a new life. it would've been nice to have a friend breakup at the very least, instead of painful silence and the knowledge that she still exists with people we didn't like.

I wouldn’t say I had a posse, but I had peeps.

None of that old drama mattered anymore, I told myself firmly. Not the mean girl trio. Not the banishment. Not even Max, who I’d loved like a sister but who ghosted me. For reasons I’d probably never learn.

okay, now this is starting to sound eerily more like rachel.

Blink. Did I just get fashion-shamed by my own car? And a clunker, at that?

“According to Ashlee’s diary, the last person to see her alive was that hot new guy in town—the guy I saw you kissing on the pier the other night. Bryson Goodman.”

so hazel is insistent that he's a good guy, gran doesn't like his aura, and his last name is quite literally goodman? i feel like that's an omen lmao

“Really rich ice cream, with gooey caramel. And I have to feed it to you, as penance for upsetting you. Crazy, but it works for my parents—happily married thirty-two years.”

this is a tradition i can get behind...now to tell my boyfriend about it lol

He had a habit of not quite finishing his sentences that always made me feel tense. Like it was my responsibility to guess what he was driving at. Or die waiting for him to get there on his own.

The bad-friend accusation hung in the air like a fart.

But you can’t make fun of me for ordering rosé.” “Why would I make fun of you for drinking pink wine soda?” “I don’t know, given that you yourself eat live rabbits.”

“Got one. I break into the suspects’ homes as a bobcat and eat their pets. To see how they react.”

The woman had shifted into a woodland animal before my very eyes—shedding a pile of clothes, including sassy purple boyshort panties, on the ground at my feet.

“Oh, look, I dropped my character sheet.” Max announced in a loud, wooden voice. “I am a role-playing gamer, who plays a shifter. In a game that is not real.”

“Who says it’s fake? Who says I don’t play Werebear: The Forsaken with a real nice group of guys and gals, down at Gunnar’s Games on alternating Sundays?”

Maxine de Klaw!”

i can't believe it took me this long to realize de klaw is totally a cat pun. i am embarrassed at my lack of awareness.

I was firmly the type who covered my eyes during the scary parts of movies.

same, hazel, same

“All I want is for you to give him a chance.” Gran snapped the mini-waffle’s lid decisively. “And all I want,” she said, looking me in the eyes, “is for you to marry a man who’s not literally demonic.”

I texted Max: At the Kensington’s. Got a lead on Drew, possible affair with assistant Marina. Can’t believe I’m saying this but … do you think you could “go flying” into his suite to check it out? The response came instantly: Not a good time. Kade admitted to making fake IDs for Ashlee so she could leave Drew and start a new life. Driving him to a safe location to wait till the killer’s found.

okay but texting about the case you're not supposed to be involved in is probably not the smartest thing lmao

That’s when it occurred to me that the little bag of invisibility mints was still in my purse. I could do some spying myself.

wait, i thought we were out of the mints, when did we get more?

What was happening to this town? Was I the only person from high school who wasn’t a freakin’ vampire now ?

No amount of money, sadly, can shield you from growing old and sick.

“You almost had me. I wanted so badly for you to be a good man, like your name says. Did you pick the name Goodman just for me, or have you pulled this same scam on other young witches still reeling from their toxic childhoods?”

HA. CALLED IT.

“Aw, don’t be so dramatic, Haze.” He ruffled my hair affectionately, and I recoiled. Then right in front of my eyes his skin turned a deep, cold blue. Because that’s not dramatic.

“Drew’s latest venture is to open an upscale nightclub downtown and build a moat around the house. Because he likes moats.”

a fair reason for building a moat, tbh.