Author: Lauren Elliott
Genre: Mystery/Fantasy
Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496735201
Kensington Cozies
304 Pages
$26.00; $12.99 Amazon
November 29, 2022
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Even with her life in ruins in New Mexico, Shay feels uneasy about settling into the small seaside town where she grew up on California's Monterey Peninsula and taking over an estate bequeathed to her by Bridget Early, a woman she had barely known. Her heightened senses -- an empathic gift she's had since childhood -- go into overdrive upon touring Crystals & CuriosiTEAS, Bridget's eclectic tea and psychic shop brimming with Irish lore and Celtic symbols. They reach a boiling point when Shay looks up to discover a stranger's body sprawled across the shop's greenhouse roof...
With her new business a crime scene and questions brewing over Bridget's so-called accidental death, Shay fears she's also inherited the attention of a killer. The terrifying realization sets her on an impractical investigation for answers aided by her sister, an elusive pure-white German Shepherd, a strikingly handsome pub owner who speaks in a gentle brogue, and a misunderstood young woman with perceptive talents of her own. As Shay struggles to figure out her true purpose in Bray Harbor and the powerful connection she has with the tea shop, she must trust her judgment above all else to identify a ruthless murderer and save herself from becoming victim number three...
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Shay Myers has left her home in New Mexico, broken from a marriage that left her nothing and took everything. The reason she is here is because she's learned of an inheritance she's been left by a woman she barely knew, Bridget Early. Bridget left Shay her business and her home, a cottage by the sea. At first wanting to sell, she's changed her mind and decided to reopen the shop as a tea room. But the real estate agent is pushing her, as well as her older sister Jen, to leave -- especially when a body is found above the shop. But Shay is made of stronger stuff, and with the help of a young woman named Tassi, and a stranger white German Shepherd named Spirit, who seems to know what she needs, Shay decides to make her home here again.
But it's not going to be easy, With the pushback from others, and an even stranger gift, she wonders what Bridget was trying to tell her. With the help of the owner of the pub next door, a handsome Irishman, she knows she has to make this work, at any cost. Even if a killer is looking for her next...
This is the first book in the series, and I do love Ms. Elliott's other series, so I wanted to give this one a chance. I am not fond of fantasy books but this book had me enthralled in a very short time. There is so much I can say, but will not so in order not to spoil the book for others.
It is a lot of mystery, a little fantasy, a touch of romance...exactly what it should be to bring the reader into the story. The author takes us to another place, and even another time, and we are drawn into the story easily, and wanting to be a part of it. Oh, how I wanted to see the shop and the garden; but I will have to settle for seeing it through Shay's eyes. A little Irish folklore can go a long way into enchanting a mystery and showing us Shay's future, if not her past.
This is a most delightful beginning to a series, and I can still see it in my mind's eye; wanting to read the next in the series soon. I will definitely be looking forward to it. Highly recommended.
I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.
More on Lauren Elliott's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/lauren-elliott/
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