Customer Reviews

Where There's a Witch (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 5)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've read all the books in the series. I like the paranormal themes and believe the characters do have potential. I'm having a lot of trouble with this one, however. It moves very, very slowly, and the identity of the murderer is obvious even before the murder is discovered. I actually peeked at the end because I couldn't believe it would be so obvious. When I saw that it was, I lost interest and it is still sitting on my night table, gathering dust. Now that I've read the other reviews, I may finish it just to see the resolution of the love triangle.

One of the reservations I have with this series is that Alt doesn't seem to know who her audience is. People who like paranormal mysteries don't need to be convinced that the occult isn't "evil". They're already with you. We don't need to be lead through five books of Maggie trying to work out in her own head that using her abilities is okay. The only reader who needs to be lead that way isn't going to be reading what is obviously a story with paranormal themes in the first place. Maggie also needs to grow up and tell her controlling mother to butt out. Five books of being trapped in someone else's dysfunctional relationship? No thank you.

Maybe Alt should write a book where Maggie leaves town and Lis becomes the main character. Maggie is just too consistently irritating to be a wholly sympathetic character.

I was so looking forward to this book and was truly disappointed. It started out VERY SLOWLY and then continued in jerks and stops. The mystery was one that has been much overdone and the villain was obvious early on. The characters were only ghosts of themselves from the previous books, a little too see through this time and not enough substance. Too much time was spent on mundane details and not enough on adding a since of thrill to the story. Even the love-interest angle fell a bit flat, though I'm glad things worked out the way they did. My fingers are crossed that the next book will have a little more zip to it.

I have read three books in this series, and I like them, with some reservations, listed later. My main problem with this book is the mystery plot, which hides the killer behind a screen so flimsy that it seems the author expected little intelligence from the reader. Not a bad subplot to be revealed, just way too obvious practically from the beginning.

I like her characters, I like Maggie's struggles with accepting her own unusual gifts. The positive and negative sides of witchcraft, the pitfalls in using it, the need to grow in ones gift, are all presented well. I find Felicity, Maggie's boss, a bit too perfect for believability, but she works as a "teacher" figure, if you need teachers to be a bit beyond human frailty.

I get somewhat bored with Maggie's endless internal dialogs, however. They slow the action. Perhaps, if the author had shortened them, she'd have had more space for extra convolutions in the murder plot.

And it's hard to see why Maggie's agonizing over ditching Tom. What's not to like about Marcus? Yes, the intensity of the attraction is a bit scary, but, at this point, she seems simply wishy-washy. I feel a bit like the romance is strung out so far I've lost interest.

To summarize, I'd say this works as a story for those who love getting to know the characters, finding kindred spirits in their difficulties, but if you're looking for a good mystery, try another book.

Stony Mill, Indiana - just everytown USA, right?
Maybe more than many people would like to think.
Maggie O'Neal, 29 year old employee of Enchantments, for the most part takes center stage in this best of the series. Felicity Dow, owner of Enchantments lets her young friends/employees go to a local evangelical church's fundraising carnival to have some fun.
The event has everything a church planned event usually has, games, frozen lemonade stands, etc., but Maggie hears a fight between a young girl and her boyfriend. As the day goes, Maggie sees the grounds including the gorgeous garden the church has.
When the groundbreaking starts for a new wing to the church, the preacher states that the sudden news of witches and paranormal assemblies that had been unveiled (in the last book), they have to do what they can to stop these folks from practicing in their town.
After Maggie and the girls leave, one of the girls remembers she left her cell phone at the carnival. The girls were having pizza at Maggie's apartment and Marcus happens to come by. Marcus is a gorgeous Wiccan who is a dear friend of Liss, and in the last book it is revealed that Marcus and Liss were only friends, freeing up the attraction between Maggie and Marcus. Tom the cop, whom Maggie had been dating on/off, was still in the picture, but he has no tolerance for the paranormal and doesn't like Maggie working at Enchantments, much less being part of the NIGHTS group that help with their paranormal gifts.
The girls find the cell phone, but also find a body.
And a young boy's spirit (Elias) seems to have attached himself to Maggie.
Each of the characters shine in this series, but it is Maggie that shines, and grows into who she is.
AND she seems to have made a decision on her love life which we all are thrilled for her!
The one warning I HAVE to put - the girls use a makeshift OUIJA board on several occassions - the OUIJA is not used casually - it is an instrument that can be used for fun, but also can invite in spirit that you may not want to have around.
I remember William Peter Blatty saying on talk shows for kids never to use one - he wrote The Excorcist - I never touched one since. Sorry if I've mispelled their names, but this has stayed with me.
The OUIJA does play a part in this book, but I must stress caution if someone is tempted to use one.
Maggie grows as a character, our favorite familiar, the black kitty, grows to be a formidable part of the Enchantments group, all grow and we see more of the conflict between the people who don't know and understand the religion of nature and spirit and the established religions. I fear the conflict will get more passionate.
But this series is growing, maturing and is a formidable part of the genre.
Alt is a talented writer that knows how to write some of the most sensual/chaste love scenes that always make you come back for more.
A great read - can't wait for the next one!

Stony Mill's empathic Maggie O'Neill manages to get involved in a murder during a local church carnival to celebrate the ground breaking for a new wing. During the excavation an underground room is discovered. Later that night Maggie, Marcus, Tara and Evie return to try and find Tara's cell phone, but instead they find the body of a woman Maggie had seen arguing with her ex-boyfriend earlier in the day.

Those that follow the series know that Stony Mill is home to Felicity Dow, Marcus, Tara, Evie and others that have witching powers that they use for good. Throughout the series Stony Mill seems to have come under a dark cloud of some sort and each book deals with part of that darkness.

Although the beginning of this book was slower than the start of the previous four books, I felt that Alt finally and I do mean finally moved some of her characters along. Maggie finally seemed to grow some back bone. Maggie finally made a decision with regards to her love life. Atfirst I thought this book was going to continue the very boring love component with Tom and the more exciting one with Marcus in the same vein as the other four mysteries. Four books was way too long for Maggie to come to a decision about Tom and Marcus!!!

As far as Madelyn Alt's writing goes, it is so nice to see her improving book by book! In this book, in spite of hte slow start, she finally seems to have all her components coming together. Hopefully number six will fully realize this promise!

Being a Bewitching Mysteries fan, I was patiently awaiting this book's release. I finally got it yesterday and couldn't wait to crack it open. I literally put aside everything else I'm reading. I wasn't disappointed. In this fifth book of the series, Maggie once again finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. This time at a local Evangelical church. Meanwhile the town is buzzing about the elicit (allegedly) practices of Maggie's boss, Liss. And her love life is still a mess. I have to say -- I think this is the best written book of the series so far. It's like the author has finally become confident in her writing ability and her characters and it's a great combination. Not to mention {SPOILER FORTHCOMING} Maggie finally pulls her head out and we get to learn what Tom really is. Plus, she finally makes a choice - Thank Gods! Oh -- and the strong pagan undercurrent of this novel is delicious. It's so wonderful to have a cast of strong pagan characters that work so well together. Bravo! I hope there are more of this series forthcoming, or at least more by this author in the near future.

I've been reading this friendly little "bewitching mystery" series since the first book came out and have enjoyed watching Maggie find out about her empathic talents, get a fulfilling job, and make new--if unusual friends--and have felt indignant about her pushy mother and manipulating sister. In the previous story, "little miss perfect" sister let the cat out of the bag about the esoteric activities going on with Maggie's employer and friends. Now, as reaction about the "heathens" spreads, groundbreaking at a new church reveals a hidden room--which soon holds the corpse of a murdered young woman. The buildup to the story was slow, the murderer really obvious, and I really disliked Alt ultimately making Maggie's staid policeman boyfriend "the heavy" in the triangle between Maggie, Tom, and romance-novel-hero wannabe Marcus. I'll keep hanging on hoping Maggie will eventually tell off her mom...and her sister.

Love Maddy's books. Love the characters. This book? Not so much. It had soooo much potential but Maggie just dragged and droned..blah blah blah. I had to skip paragraphs because the author just went overboard with description and trying to make Maggie funny and screwball at the same time. I totally kept forgetting that there was a mystery going on. Not surprisingly, I figured it out about 1/4 into the book. I really hope the future books contain more paranormal content, mystery and character involvement than Maggie's musings and such. But on the flip side, she finally grew a set and chose her man. I still wished she would have more spine and just tell off Tom. But oh well. Not her best work but enjoyable.

The pace of this book drags a bit compared to the first four. The author needs to resolve the romantic relationship issues and get back to the mystery. Right now Maggie supposed to be maturing in her spiritual life but her relationships with the two romantic interests put her right back at about 14 years old. Also Tom, Maggie's mom and sister just like they are included just to fill up space this time around.

As a previous reviewers pointed out it not only took a long time to get to the point but it was extremely easy to figure out what was going on early into the book. That takes a bit of the interest out of it for me.

Nobody visiting Stony Mill, Indiana would believe there is a witch living there. Veteran Felicity Dow is mentoring rookie witch Maggie O'Neal, who is an intuitive, sensitive and a strong empath. Felicity gives her thegift of Maggie finally understanding there is nothing mentally wrong with her because her hunches that seem to always come true and her ability to separate emotions and thoughts of others always frightened her; now she knows she is not alone and what her skill means.

A carnival is operating as a fundraiser to enlarge the Baptist Church. The highlight comes when the machines start digging the first hole but almost immediately they must stop. A hole is found in the ground that leads to a room. The outside is decorated with all kinds of crosses. The next day they find the body of Ronnie Maddox who Maggie overhead in a violent argument with Tyler Barnett. An Ouija reading conjures up the spirit of Elias, a child who died in the underground room; he attaches himself to Maggie who has no earthly idea the danger she is about to face.

There is a certain magic brought to this fine book by caring Maggie, but she is not the only psychic in this eerie part of Indiana. Her interactions with the spirit are fascinating as the reader tries to comprehend what he wants of her. There is a strange case of conservatism and fundamentalism in the Baptist Church as they mount a hate campaign to ostracize and demonize Felicity and her friends. This breeds an atmosphere of hate and distrust of which the new witch on the block could a victim. Madelyn Alt places a social spin with hate crime in the middle of her terrific Hoosier fantasy that will have readers not just believing in the spirit world, but walking along aside the heroine in the spirit world.

Harriet Klausner