REVIEW: Eat, Pray, Hex – Crescent Moon Mysteries Book 1 – Tara Lush

Toby

Death takes a vacation. Literally.

I’m a not-very-grim Reaper, just enjoying my annual two-weeks summer holiday when something happens that I can’t ignore. I hear some lowlife striking a deal to save his sorry neck by giving his beautiful stepdaughter to an even bigger piece of pond scum. Even though I’m not supposed to intervene, I can’t resist, especially after I see her photo and see the face of the girl I fell in love with ages ago. I know this woman and the love I lost aren’t the same, but I know a sign when I see one. I’m supposed to save Molly—even if I have to break all the rules to do it.

Molly

When my stepfather tells me he wants to leave me a beautiful beach house, it’s a dream come true. One, it means he’s finally trying to make amends for the crap he put me through, and two, if I sell this place, I can pay off my student loans.

But when I arrive, Gary (AKA Loser Two) is nowhere to be found, and I’m someone’s prisoner.

It’s Death. Actual Death, a pale, ghoulish guy who reaps souls. Well, he’s not getting mine without a fight.

Funny, he almost makes me believe that he doesn’t want my soul—just my heart.

Two Weeks

I've promised Molly that I’ll let her go when my vacation is done—after I hunt down the man who tried to hurt her. I know it’s hopeless to believe that a monster like me can win her heart in just a few days, but I’ve got to try. Who knows? Maybe moonlight walks on the beach and a romantic retreat with someone who would die for her (or kill for her) will turn my eternity alone into a hot ghoul summer that never has to end?

Hot Ghoul Summer is a steamy paranormal/monster romance from the author of The Minotaur's Valentine and Velvet Wings. It's a spicy stand alone novella in the Pine Ridge universe!

Reviewed by S.C. Principale

Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team

Well, I have a new favorite mystery series! Eat, Pray, Hex comes in hot, and not just with hot flashes, although our leading lady, Amelia, certainly has those, too.

Amelia Matthews is going through a lot. She’s gotten divorced, her husband took her cookie catering business, and she’s moving to Cypress Grove, Florida to take over her late aunt’s business, the Crescent Moon Inn. Armed with her cat, Freddie Purrcury and coping with perimenopause symptoms, Amelia just hopes to get comfortable and settled in a new life of managing the small motel.

There’s just a few little issues with that. One, Cypress Grove is the psychic capital of the world. Two, the inn isn’t like the bright, sunny Florida Amelia imagined, but is more like a dark and creepy mansion in the swamps, and three,her Aunt Shirley, who is very much dead, is still dropping bombshells in the form of letters revealing Amelia’s psychic heritage and the haunting of the inn by a murdered teen name Billy. Amelia’s reawakened psychic powers will be needed to solve a decades-old murder at the inn as Billy’s unsettled spirit is gaining power and may soon take over the town. With instructions not to be afraid and to contact a local historian and professor for help, Amelia’s thrown into the deep end of a mystery with powers she definitely doubts.

This book is utterly charming, with a quirky small-town vibe, a cemetery where recipes are engraved on the headstones, a comical occult store owner who rapidly becomes Amelia’s best friend, and a hot older professor who just might make Amelia reconsider her views that all men should be shoved in deep, gator-infested waters. The investigation reveals family secrets and secrets about the town that some would much rather remain hidden.

Taut with clues and anticipation, believable despite the paranormal nature of the case, and still cozy, Tara Lush burst into the cozy mystery world with this amazing first-in-the-series novel. If you love cozy mysteries and a twist of magic, this one is perfect for you. I’m off to devour the rest of the series because even though Amelia has solved one case by the end of the book, in a town like Cypress Grove, there are bound to be dozens more!