This is the first in a new series which is a paranormal chick lit cozy mystery sort of mashup - it reminds me very much of Shanna Swendson’s Enchanted, Inc. series, which is a high compliment from me as that is one of my all time favourite series. Protagonist Phoebe is entirely unmagical, but a series of unfortunate events lead to her discovering that not only has she been living in a magical world all along, her new landladies are a pair of actual witches, her roommates are a vampire and a werewolf, and her boss is one of the most powerful mages in London. Oh, and Phoebe is now under a magical curse that was meant for her boss, and has accidentally cursed her philandering ex to live in interesting times.. It’s been a bit of a week…
I’m utterly charmed by this. Unlike most cozy mysteries, it doesn’t start with a body - nobody dies at all apart from a hellhound, actually - but Phoebe getting stuck with a curse definitely leaves her with a crime to investigate, and she can hardly be left out of it while the magical folks around her do all the heavy lifting. In the end Phoebe is actually able to twist the curse to her own advantage, using her brains when the magic of her friends fails, and get the better of her opponent.
There’s some very interesting setup here for future books in the series, with at least three antagonists all with shadowy motives running around on the loose. While there’s no hint of romance for Phoebe yet, I think it’s pretty obvious who her love interest is going to be, and the events of this book basically had to happen to clear the path for that to begin.
Delightful, and I’m looking forward to more in the series!
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.