Brownies and Broomsticks
by Bailey Cates
Series: Magical Bakery Mystery #1
Series Rating:
Narrator: Johanna Parker
Published by Tantor Audio on March 25, 2013
Genres: Cozy Culinary Paranormal Mystery
Pages: 7
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Book Depository
Katie Lightfoot’s tired of loafing around as the assistant manager of an Ohio bakery. So when her Aunt Lucy and Uncle Ben open a bakery in Savannah’s quaint downtown district and ask Katie to join them, she enthusiastically agrees.
In the Honeybee Bakery—named after Lucy’s cat—Katie notices that her aunt is adding mysterious herbs to her recipes. Turns out these herbal enhancements aren’t just tasty—Aunt Lucy is a witch and her recipes are actually spells!
But when a curmudgeonly customer is murdered outside the Honeybee Bakery, Uncle Ben becomes the prime suspect. With the help of handsome journalist Steve Dawes, charming firefighter Declan McCarthy, and a few spells, Katie and Aunt Lucy will stir up some toil and trouble to clear Ben’s name and find the real killer…
Can Katie prove her uncle is innocent?
Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates is a good book. I listened to the Audible version of it, and I loved it. This book that made me feel like I was there with the characters. Brownies and Broomsticks is set in Savannah, Georgia when it was nice and hot, which was splendid as the last few days it’s been getting cold here in Montana. What a perfect book to listen to while doing my chores or taking a walk.
The Main Character:
The main character in Brownies and Broomsticks is Katie Lightfoot. She is a twenty-eight-year-old baker who is a recent transplant to Savannah, Georgia. Kate arrives there after a breakup with her fiancé. She is in Georgia to open up a bakery with her aunt and uncle. The story is from her point of view. I think this worked quite well under some specific circumstances that Katie had found herself in throughout the story.
What I liked about Katie
- Katie loves to bake, and she was doing that with her aunt and uncle by owning a bakery.
- She took in a dog hoping that she wouldn’t have to take him to the pound. Thank goodness she fell in love with him instead.
- Katie is stubborn and didn’t take any prisoners when it came to trying to help to solve a murder.
What I disliked about Katie
- She didn’t at least try to entertain the notion of what her aunt told her about herself and her family.
- Katie didn’t trust herself or her instincts.
The Love Triangle:
This book is the first in this series, and Katie Lightfoot doesn’t know which guy she likes. However, before moving to Savannah, gave up on men for a bit to have a break. The two new men in her life currently are Steve and Declan. Steve is a newsroom reporter, and Declan is a fireman. They both like Katie but they hate each other. I have no clue which one she will choose.
The Villain:
I am not going to spoil this for anyone, but I will tell you that there are more than one. So, I figured out one just not the other. I liked how Ms. Cates was able to do this.
The Narrator
Ms. Parker did a great job on narrating. It was a bit hard at first, but toward the middle, I liked how she was portraying each character with her voice. It helped transport me to Georgia.
Five Stars
Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates was magnificent to listen. I loved it so much. This book was excellent and kept me guessing about who did it. There was a lot of red herrings until we finally got to the real killer and when we got to that part, I was certainly shocked that I was wrong. It was great. I am giving this book a five-star rating, and I am recommending to anyone that likes cozy mysteries.
Anyways until the next time enjoy this review brought to you by
About Johanna Parker
Johanna Parker is an Audie and Earphones Award–winning actress. Since narrating her first audiobook for Recorded Books in 2002, Johanna has received high praise for her work in all genres, including the YA Mediator series by Meg Cabot, Earlene Fowler’s Bennie Harper Mysteries, and her portrayal of Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire books, of which AudioFile has said, “Parker personifies Harris’ perky Southern heroine Sookie Stackhouse. Her splendid pacing allows listeners time to absorb the action and emotions … listeners will be enthralled.”
Johanna received her BFA in acting from Boston University and studied Shakespeare at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She has performed on stages in London, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York, and she has numerous film and television credits. Now a sought-after voiceover actress, Johanna has voiced commercials, video games, documentaries and websites.
Johanna writes: “I love books. I loved them long before I could read them myself and I will love them long past the time I can only listen to them. Telling stories, in whatever way, has always been my passion, and audiobook narration has become the unexpected niche where my love of books and my love of storytelling come together in an incredible, inevitable fusion. I get to play all the parts. I get to truly utilize my training. And my hair can look like #@$%&!”
About Bailey Cates
Bailey Cates also writes as Cricket McRae, and Bailey Cattrell.
I grew up in the West and earned degrees in philosophy and English from Colorado State University before moving to the Pacific Northwest for twenty years (where the Home Crafting Mysteries are set). I’ve worked at a variety of jobs, including driver’s license examiner, bookseller, and newspaper ad manager.
I traveled the world as a localization program manager for Microsoft, but am now back in Colorado where I currently write the Magical Bakery Mysteries and the Enchanted Garden Mysteries. Shotgun Moon is my only standalone, western mystery. I live with my guy and two felines: Cheesecat the Orange and Minerva the asthmatic wonder kitty.
Like many of my cozy characters, I believe magic is all around us if we only look for it. Having apprenticed with a master herbalist for a year, I’m prone to concocting teas and tinctures for family and friends from the stash of herbs stored in the corner cabinet in my office. I own a working spinning wheel and am on a first name basis with several alpacas and two sheep with questionable dispositions.
For two years, I managed my own soap making company, including product design, manufacturing and marketing. Aromatherapy played a large part in that business, and I have a collection of essential oils next to my herb stash. Unlike the main character in the Enchanted Garden Mysteries, I don’t distill my own oils…yet.
When I’m not writing, I love to cook, peruse cookbooks, garden, read, bike and hike the gorgeous terrain outside my door, and have been known to play the occasional round of really bad golf.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge
- 2018 Kitty Lit Reading Challenge
- 2018 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge
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