Customer Reviews

A Witch In Time (A Bewitching Mystery)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I fell for Madelyn Alt's books with the magical theme since Maggie O'Neill first stumbled into Enchantments one rainy cold morning and met her future boss and mentor - Felicity. I have eagerly looked forward to each new installment and raced home to brew a pot of tea, find my favorite cat, pillow and blanket and settle in for a good long read. Each of Ms. Alt's books has built on the previous premise of magic, mystery and romance. "A Witch in Time" is her newest entry, and in hard cover. It is, ultimately (and early on) disappointing. Although Ms. Alt is a very good writer, for some reason, she has chosen to concentrate on Maggie's personal relationships with her family in this book and leaves the actual magic by the wayside. Nothing much seems to happen at all. Maggie's deepening relationship with Marcus is explored, but it never lives up to the tease of the last scene in her previous book. As for Maggie's growing "witchy" talents, for some reason, Ms. Alt chose not to write much about those until nearly the end of the book and then they are barely touched upon. Maggie's wonderful and quirky boss and mentor, Felicity, finally makes an appearance but not much of one at that. The mystery isn't much of a mystery and frankly, I found myself not caring at all about the characters involved. When I was done reading the book, I only wished I had waited for the paperback and not plunked down good cash for the hardcover. I have no idea why Ms. Alt chose not to write about witchcraft, magic or The Craft in this book, rather, to write very little about them as those themes have been so wonderfully explored in her previous books, but I was incredibly disappointed. It is the magic, Maggie's growing talents and the promise of more magic that keeps us coming back for more. Unfortunately, the magic just isn't there in "A Witch in Time." Ms. Alt is a very good writer and knows how to keep her readers satisfied, but I feel I will not be the only one disappointed with "A Witch in Time." If I had picked this installment up first, I would never go back and buy the other 4 or 5 titles, which would be a shame, as they are absolutely charming, fun reads.

Madelyn Alt has created a wonderful series, where a young lady, Maggie O'Neill, finds herself working at a magickal antiques shop called Enchantments run by Felicity Dow. The place is more than its name - Felicity and her friends are practicing witches.
Maggie's previous adventures have been discovering her own power, and seeing that these kind people who call themselves witches are regular folks who just worship in a different environment and may be gifted with different 'powers'.
The magic happens in these books, heretofore paperbacks, is when Felicity Dow is actively a participant in the body of the book. Alt's portrayal of her is indeed magical - a kind soul who has been allowed to grow and study her religion and help others who are so inclined to help grow with her.
What is so disappointing in this hardback book debut is, it focuses on Maggie, and while Maggie is our heroine, she is not the heart of this series. Felicity is.
The hunky witch Marcus has been interested in Maggie for a while, and she finally gets rid of her dud boyfriend Tom. Marcus and Maggie do some heavy kissing, and it is a prelude to them 'taking the plunge', i.e., making love, but it's romance interruptus when Maggie gets a call her sister is in labor and she has to go to the hospital stat.
Marcus is downsized from hunky sexy slightly dangerous dude to Maggie carrier (she breaks her ankle) and just another nice guy who dates Maggie.
Felicity is relegated to a disembodied voice on the telephone that more often than not only says, "What's up Ducks?".
No growth, no progression of characters, aside from Maggie's sister giving unexpected birth and some actions that reflect greatly from that.
Marcus isn't the dangerous hunk with long hair, and a motor cycle we love to read about, Maggie is clumsy, and hears something that misdirects the whole paranormal plot of the series. In fact, there are no paranormal activites at all in this book.
Sorry Ms. Alt.
Go back to paperback if this is an indication of hardback quality.
I want the old Maggie O'Dell and characters back. They are AWOL in this book!

Madelyn Alt has created a wonderful series with her Bewitching protagonist, Maggie who has discovered some new, rather witchy talents.

In this, the sixth book in the series, Maggie and Marcus are now a couple and throughout the story are trying to take their relationship to the next level, but something keeps interfering--like her "perfect" self-centered sister who gives birth to twins, her sister's husband leaving her, friend Steff's problems, continued crime in Stony Mill, and a broken leg.

The book moved slowly and the mystery wasn't that interesting as it was easy to guess "who done it" and why almost from the beginning. Personally I find Maggie's sister Mel to be hugely annoying as well as her mother. Unfortunately if you are like-minded, this book does have a lot of scenes with Mel and Mom. Maggie and Marcus's inability to advance their relationship is a source of frustration not only for them, but for the reader. While it is nice that their emotional commitment deepens, the journey of the pair through the book moves slowly with very little tension (in terms of keeping the reader's focus) provided.

Hopefully in future books, Alt will return her focus to her more interesting characters and focus a bit more on the "witch" issues or magic issues.

I loved Madelyn Alt and her series about Maggie O'Neill, budding psychic and paranormal investigator. This is her first hardcover book, and in my opinion, a poor one with which to take that step.

Maggie's sister Melanie goes to the hospital and has twins, Maggie and Marcus are in love but are thwarted in their attempts to "further their relationship", Maggie breaks her leg. That's about it for the book. There's a mystery of sorts but it feels like an afterthought - we never get a chance to really know the victim or the perpetrator and the other characters central to the mystery, and it's solved (fairly obviously) in an almost slapdash manner. We can see it coming, and we don't care.

Other characters that we've come to enjoy in the series have walk-on parts, but nothing of substance to contribute, and there is virtually no paranormal activity in the book, something that has been central in the previous books - no mention of the dark thing in the apartment, no woo-woo stuff about the town, nothing, really, except Maggie's rather unpleasant grandmother who has taken to talking in Maggie's ear.

Sometimes in a series, there is a book that seems mostly to exist to further the overall story line, but this one doesn't even seem to fit that description. I enjoyed it well enough, I suppose, as a sort of bland romance novel, but if you're looking for the sort of paranormal mystery Alt's previous books gave her readers, you may as well wait for the next one in the series. If you're interested in Maggie and Marcus, get this one from the library and spend your money on Yasmine Galenorn's Chintz and China series, Wendy Roberts' Ghost Dusters, Shirley Damsgaard's Ophelia and Abby books, or Victoria Laurie's Ghost Hunter series, all fine mysteries with strong paranormal content.

I've been a big Maggie fan for the first four books and was anxiously waiting for A Witch In Time. I even ordered the hardback, choosing not to wait until a paperback release - that's how excited I was to have this new book. Now, I wish I had waited.

Without giving away any spoilers, let me say the synopsis says this is a "mild" story and it really is. There is a definite lack of action (or in my opinion, plot) until three quarters thru the tale. Then the action that does ensue is completely predictable.

The whole tale feels lacking. I seem to miss Ms. Alt's wonderful humor that often made me laugh out loud. I miss the witchy moments that made this tale so much fun. And though we are treated to more between Maggie and Marcus (and yes, I do adore Marcus), and though I am glad we are spared riotous sex scenes, this romance felt flat.

The whole story feels slow, tired, and predictable. I can't help feeling disappointed. I recommend Ms. Alt but hope readers tune in to the earlier books first and do not judge the series on this one volume. With luck, the next book will be as well crafted and with the same love as the first books. I hope!

I love this series- the books had depth, intrique and great story lines. I especially liked the wiccan themes and explorations. What happened? All of that went away? One of the reasons people like a book series is the ongoing themes and character development that occurs. This one seemed completely out of sorts, please bring back the old flavors, they "read" so much better.

While the answer to the mystery was pretty apparent very early on, we get a little more of Maggie's Mom and Mel then I would like, and there wasn't enough Liss, this was another enjoyable quick little read. I like the way we hear how it all tied together in this installment. And I like getting to see more of Marcus. The little we get of Tom made me like him even less then I already did. Some of the things that occurred in this book had the ground work laid in the last 2 books. So, it would be helpful to read those before starting with this book. But the author does a good enough job with the background to make it not strictly necessary. For someone who's read them all in order, it makes these an even quicker read since some of this is skimmable - especially when you read a few of the books in just a few days. The more time spent with Maggie, the more I like the cast of characters that she considers her friends (Steff, Evie, Tara, Gertrude, Liss, Marcus and the bunch). And I think the mysteries get easier to piece together the more I read this series. This mystery was a little obvious - some of the info dropped as hints early on stood out a little too much, so I knew who the culprit would be as soon as the murder happened. And I knew the secrets that were being kept chapters before Maggie realizes it all. But when she does put it together, its great to see her do it with Marcus's help - and sort of as a team. I hope we get lots more of Maggie and Marcus in the next book. These are enjoyable and easy to read, with just enough magic to keep things interesting - and to keep it seeming realistic, instead of needing to suspend all beliefs in reality like you need to do when reading stuff about vamps/weres/etc.

This was not a favorite of Ms. Alt's books. There was no witchy magic here at all. To much detail in some of the story that just didn't need to be there. Was boring. Hopefully the next book will go back to the magic of Maggie and her N.I.G.H.T.S. crew that drew me to her books in the beginning.

"A Witch in Time" is the 6th Bewitching Mystery by Madelyn Alt, & I have to agree with other reviewers that I was a little disappointed in this installment. Alt's writing is always very good, but this plot was a bit thin. I even fouond myself skimming through a few parts, which I have never done in the past with this series. The mystery doesn't even get started until well into 100 pages in, & I wasn't even that interested in the outcome.

However, I do love visiting Maggie & the gang, & her relationship with Marcus develops a good deal in this book. In fact, several relationships with secondary characters take turns as well. Maybe this book was supposed to be all about relationships, &, in that case, "A Witch in Time" did its job. Still, I want the mystery aspect in the next novel.

I have enjoyed this series. This one, however, was definitely not as engrossing and entertaining as the previous ones. It even seemed to be floundering for the most part, unable to find very solid footing. Usually this author's books are full of thought-provoking new ideas to ponder. This one was lukewarm at best. I will still look forward to the next one and hope that we get more substance.
As a side note, I happened to try this series first because I knew of this author through a different channel and was happy to continue on with them after the first. However, if I was just looking for a book to read, I would have bypassed all of these solely on the look of the covers---they are rather juvenile and do not reflect the depth of content inside. My daughter considers them whimsical but they really annoy me.