Book Review: Fangs and Frenemies by Sierra Cross
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Age: Adult
Autumn feels like such a good time to dig into these kind of cozy, paranormal mysteries. Yes, it’s the month of horror, but it can’t be all horror, all the time (I know some might argue with me on that) can it? So, during the most recent Stuff Your Kindle event, I grabbed a few of these kinds of books, and was instantly drawn to this one, digging in almost instantly.
Hazel is a green witch, apprenticed to her grandmother and working at their family bakery. It seems things might be going right for a change – she might not have the magic mastered, but she has a wonderful, too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, she’s on the verge of taking over the bakery, and she’s been invited to the wedding of the season. But when the bride goes missing and Hazel’s boyfriend is implicated, along with her former bestie’s brother, Hazel teams up with said former bestie, as well as one of the ‘mean girls’ who made a trio with the bride and another girl. It turns out Hazel isn’t the only one hiding something magical, not just with the women she finds herself working with, but across the whole town, not to mention there’s something oddly strange about the hot new coffee place that’s opened up, who happen stealing Sage Bakery’s customers.
Fangs and Frenemies was enjoyable and managed to build up enough of the mystery I was keen to see where it went. The town of Blue Moon Bay is just interesting enough I want to spend more time here, especially with the amount of magical inhabitants seemingly dotted all over. I really like the way magic is used here, too. Hazel is a Green Witch, putting her at odds with her mother and sisters, all Beige Witches. Each different colour represents different areas of magic, but it’s the grey magic that threatens Hazel’s livelihood, a type of magic used mostly in the corporate world.
At some point though, I started to find Hazel a little annoying, maybe a touch too whiny, and the issues she faced felt easily resolved with Hazel often feeling a bit too passive. It also got to the point where I was reading just assuming everyone we meet is some kind of supernatural creature, because there does seem to be so many of them who Hazel has never noticed before, despite living there her whole life.
So yeah, a few pros to this one, a small number of cons, but I think if you enjoy these kind of small town, paranormal mysteries, or are looking for something a bit fun, easy to read, and a touch spooky over Halloween, this might be a worthwhile one to check out.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter: @elleturpitt
Bluesky: @elleturpitt.bsky.social
www.elleturpittediting.com
I purchased this book for free during the Stuff Your Kindle event, hosted by Romance Bookworms
