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A Call to Charms

Forever Charmed Mysteries, Book 1

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A Call to Charms

By: Denise Swanson
Narrated by: Tiffany Morgan
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About this listen

If life had gone as she planned, Lexie Green would have been teaching English at a prestigious university, not persuading spoiled, rich women to buy overpriced clothes they didn't need and often looked ridiculous wearing. Can you say electric yellow see-through skirts and torn jeans with unfinished hems?

Still, although this isn't the life Lexie would have chosen, all is going well. At least until Lexie is fired and her deranged ex-boyfriend tries to kidnap her.

Deciding that it's better to accept a mysterious inheritance from a great aunt she's never heard of rather than end up kept in a cage as her ex's pet poodle, Lexie packs up and heads to Kansas. So, what if she has to go by a new name and live in a town that she can't find on a map?

Unfortunately, once she arrives in her new hometown, everyone there seems just a tad off-kilter, and Lexie's cousin insists that the citizens are magical.

Even though Lexie doesn't believe the nonsense about her being the Ravenscraft Shield, she does believe her father was murdered - a father she never knew existed, and she investigates his death.

Too bad whoever killed her father now wants Lexie dead as well.

©2019 Denise Swanson Stybr (P)2020 Tantor Cosy Detective Fiction Mystery Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Suspense
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Nice easy going book, interesting concept. I said it is a good bedtime listen, but I enjoyed it most when out walking the dogs.

a good bedtime listen

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On the surface, this was a tickbox of a certain type of fantasy crime. A woman at a crossroads in her life discovers her magical ability and a new home. This is thanks to an unexpected inheritance that takes her to a hidden town where the residents are magical in some way and new friends and dangers lurk. The trouble is that this was light on magic, light on character, light on romance or meaningful connections, light on town charm, and worst still, and light on much depth in the main character.

I found it difficult to like her. She seemed far more interested in designer labels and money than the people around her, and parts of the book sound like clumsy product placement. She notices nothing about her love interests but their looks and clothes. She also manages to learn very little about her own talents, never meeting or finding out more about 'her raven'. Most of the characters were one-dimensional, including her own it seems. Her lack of connection with others could be explained by the fact that she knows a master of dark magic and other threats hunt her, and that she grew up a loner. But it is unsatisfying when there is a lack of character development. Her materialistic personality can be understood to some extent by growing up with very little, but when that seems to be her main trait, it is disappointing. I got the feeling that the author was not yet at ease writing in the fantasy genre, and so skirted the edges of it instead of diving in. It's a shame because she has shown skill in her other work.

Superficial Main Character

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Pathetic crap, sexist and derogatory to women. Don’t bother with this rubbish. Unless you like the pathetic woman trope, avoid!

Rubbish

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Long boring descriptions of clothes, foods, travels and drawn out feelings. Took forever to get down to predictable outcome. What an uninteresting heroine, setting and bunch of individuals. Skipped to end - teen

Boring waffle

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