This could be a perfectly good paranormal cozy if a competent editor or two got their hands on it. As is, it’s full of typos, punctuation errors, wrong/missing words, bad grammar, and awkward dialogue. At least it was free and a quick read. I might be a little bitter if I’d paid money for it.

 

(Read for Halloween Bingo Black Cat square)

 

 

I'm a big fan of British period fiction. My love affair started at about 13, evolving from America's Henry James and Edith Wharton. It continues, four decades later.

Habits of the House is an enjoyable book. It's not demanding, and you'll not learn anything. I actually read it on the deck, in a loungechair, under an umbrella. It's that kind of summer read.

I think the author, a well-respected Brit with numerous awards, included just enough bawdiness to make the book marketable; just enough royalty to make it appear legit; just enough descriptions of food, jewels and fashion to make her work pleasurable to a female demographic. In other words, she wrote the piece like a pro.

As a well-traveled American, though, I take exception to her stereotypical depiction of American travelers of the period. Although she positions the heroine as the illegitimate child of a former burlesque dancer and a cattle baron, and these characters make for a colorful story, the ill-mannered American with a heart of gold is kind of tiresome, and it's about time to put the cliche to bed.

Habits of the House is great for time at the beach (or on the deck). There are two forthcoming books in the series, and unless it's a slow fiction day on my bookshelves, I probably won't invest in them.

Lift every voice and sing.

 

James Weldon Johnson

 

James Weldon Johnson (born June 17, 1871) was a high school principal, a lawyer, a consul in the Roosevelt Administration, a key figure in the NAACP and a celebrated author and songwriter with a successful Broadway career.

Sam is a witch - well, half witch on her mother’s side - who owns a shop on Bourbon Street in New Orleans named Bell, Book, and Candle. But when children start killing people, things could get personal as danger creeps closer and closer to home.. These attacks are only the beginning of the cases she will solve in this boxed set, and they could potentially start a chain of events that ends with someone she loves dearly being taken from her. Add a possessed doll head, a wolf familiar, and cyber magic, and this makes for quite an interesting read.

 

I must admit to a love/hate relationship with this particular set of books. Part of me would love to keep them, while the other part - the editing/proofreading part of me - wants to chuck it in the bin for its too simplistic writing and the fact that as a reader I feel like some of the antics of this main character have been lost in the ether. These supposed first three books should definitely not be the first three. There should have been at least one before these three according to situations described in the not aptly named first book of this series. However, in this case, the part of me that wants to keep them has won out, and that is due to the likability factor of the characters involved. Even the villains of these stories are likable, in a “hope they get caught and put away for life and afterlife” kind of way.