Review: Tarnished and Torn by Juliet Blackwell

Tarnished And Torn

Witchcraft Mystery, #5
Juliet Blackwell

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: Penguin Group
Date of Publication: July 2, 2013
Number of pages: 336

Available at the following retailers:
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Review: In a Witch's Wardrobe by Juliet Blackwell

This is the fourth book in the Witchcraft Mystery Series by Juliet Blackwell.  This book begins only a few days after the end of the Hemlines and Hexes.  Lily Ivory is heading to the Art Deco Preservation Ball with Aidan Rhodes.  On her way into the ball room, Ivory sees a vision in the mirrors, of a woman sleeping behind roses and briers  very Sleeping Beauty-ish.  And then, while in the restroom, a woman is found passed out on the lounge chaise.  It turns out this woman has been the victim of a curse or hex.  Lily sees her soul trapped in the mirror.  Aidan tells her to leave it alone, that he will look into it, but then he ditches her at the Ball and Lily decides to look into the matter herself.

When Lily goes to the hospital to check on Miriam, she finds out that she has a infant daughter. As it turns out, Miriam had been into Lily's vintage clothing shop and sold a box of baby clothes just a few days before.  Both the clothing and Miriam had the same something-is-wrong vibe to them.  When Lily meets little Luna, she realizes that whatever was affecting Miriam was also affecting Luna.  So she starts looking into who and why would curse them. 

Additionally, there is a group in town, called Defenders of Morality, or DOM and they are targeting anyone dealing with New Age type people and businesses, including witches.  Several of the local businesses and friends of Lily have their shops broken into and vandalized by the group. And with the suspicious death of a young woman who was in a local coven, SFPD inspector Romero is looking to Lily to get some background on the young woman to help solve the case. 

This book was fantastic!  There was plenty of intrigue, a new romance for Lily, an introduction of some new characters that look to be recurring and the end - OMG - talk about a massive cliffhanger.  It looks like the next book in the series will finally give us some information on Lily's father.  Since there was so much new and interesting going on in this book, plus the promise of an even better follow-up book, I just had to give this book 5 stars. 

Goodreads:

Lily Ivory is living her dream of owning a vintage clothing store—and practicing magic on the side. But when she encounters a sinister sleeping spell, Lily comes face-to-face with a nightmarish evil… 

Taking a night off from running her successful San Francisco clothing store, Lily attends a local art deco ball where vintage fashions steal the show. But when a young woman at the event falls under a mysterious sleeping sickness, Lily senses that a curse was placed on the woman’s corsage. 

Before Lily can solve the woman’s magical ailment, she’s asked to assist in investigating a string of poisonings in the Bay Area witchcraft community. She’s gained the trust of the local covens by supporting women’s charities through her clothing store. But soon, Lily suspects that one of her new acquaintances might not be so well intentioned and could be dabbling in dark magic and deadly botany… 

Review: Hexes and Hemlines by Juliet Blackwell

This is the third book in the Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell.  The book opens with Lily Ivory being called in to exam a murder by SFPD Inspector Carlos Romero.  Lily has had run ins with Romero in the previous two books and he has come to respect her talents.  The death in question, happened in the penthouse, on the 13th floor of the Doppler Building.  Malachi Zazi was the head of the Serpentarian Society, named after Serpentarius the thirteenth zodiac sign, and was trying to rationalize away bad luck symbols.  At first, Lily had no real plans to do more than advise the SFPD, but then she finds out that Bronwyn, her friend and Wiccan herbalist's daughter is married to one of the members of the Serpentarian Society and is being questioned in conjunction with Zazi's death.  Lily agrees to look into the matter and help out Bronwyn's daughter and son-in-law.  But things get complicated when she is warned off the case at nearly ever turn, and then someone leaves a nasty curse outside of Bronwyn's apartment.  Lily becomes even more determined to figure out who is doing these things and make them stop.  No one threatens her friends and gets away with it.

We see a return of Max Charmichael, but it looks like the romance isn't going to continue.  There is also more background information on Aidan Rhodes and Sailor, individually and how they came to know one another.  One mystery that is partially solved is about Oscar, Lily's gifted familiar, and what exactly he is.  We also get a much better understanding of Bronwyn and her family's dynamics.  The relationship threads that run between all the characters are becoming clearer, yet much more tangled together.

There was a lot of action in this book, at one point Lily was literally running for her life.  The drama level was high and kept the tension tight, with a bare minimum of comedic breaks.  Lily continues the use of her southern slang and her lack of pop culture knowledge.  I really want to know what has gone on with her Father and why we still don't know much more than was in the first book.  He is still hinted at, but remains a large mystery.  

I am giving this book 3 stars on Goodreads, mainly because I am ready to really delve into the mysteries of Lily herself.  Ms. Blackwell is keeping us in suspense and I am getting impatient.  There was also some serious repetition of certain phrases, from book to book, which kept knocking me out of the story.  Overall a good book, and a nice addition to the series. 

Goodreads:

With her vintage clothing store taking off, Lily Ivory is finding that life in San Francisco suits her just fine. But her ability to sense vibrations from the past, so useful in locating secondhand gems, has landed her in the middle of a new mystery...

Lily gets called away from Aunt Cora's Closet when the police need a witch's take on a strange case. Malachi Zazi was stabbed to death in his apartment, under a ladder, surrounded by the number thirteen, a broken mirror, and a black cat—superstitions that the victim, as head of a rationalist society, was devoted to discrediting.

When the police identify a suspect from the Serpentarian Society, Lily is shocked to learn it's someone she knows. But with bad luck plaguing all its members, she begins to wonder if there's more at work than mere coincidence. And while there aren't many clues from the crime scene, Lily finds evidence of dark witchcraft and a hex on her friend's doorstep. With her friend's safety at stake, Lily is determined to use magic to find the murderer before everyone's luck runs out...

Review: A Cast-Off Coven by Juliet Blackwell

This is the second book in the Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell.  This book opens shortly after the end of the first book, Secondhand Spirits.  This time, Bronwyn, the Wiccan herbalist who has a small corner of Ivy's vintage clothing store, Aunt Cora's Closet, knows that Ivy is a natural witch.  Maya, the young student who is now working for Ivy, does not. Maya thinks that Ivy is some kind of "sensitive" and brokers a deal with the provost of the local arts college for Ivy to do some investigating of strange noises in exchange for some vintage Victorian clothing recently found found in a storage room at the college.  

Unfortunately, on the evening of Ivy and Maya's initial investigation, they find a dead body, the wealthy father of one of the students.  Ivy doesn't think that the gentleman died of paranormal causes, but finds that there is some ghost and possible demon activity going on at the college and former nunnery.  And Ivy feels compelled to find out what exactly is going on. 

We are treated to a returning cast of characters, including the possible love interest Max Charmichael, male witch Aidan Rhodes, the "gutter punk" Conrad, the gifted familiar/potbellied pig Oscar, fashion editor Susan Rogers, as well as Bronwyn and Maya.  The by-play between the characters, Lily's colorful southern language and her lack of knowledge of American Pop Culture references help keep the story lively and interesting.

I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads.  It was a fast, fun read with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing. A perfect follow up to Secondhand Spirits.


Goodreads:

Students are spooked at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, and Lily is called in to search for possible paranormal activity. In return she's been promised a trunkful of Victorian-era clothes recently discovered in a school storage closet.

But Lily finds something else: the body of a wealthy patron of the school. In between running the store and seeing her new boyfriend, Max—a "mythbuster" who is uncomfortable with her witchcraft—she uses her sleuthing skills to try to solve the murder. Soon Lily senses something from the school's vintage clothes, but it's not the smell of mothballs—it's the unmistakable aura of evil intent.

Review: Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell

This is the first book in the Witchcraft Mystery series by Juliet Blackwell. We are introduced to Lily Ivory, a natural witch who has opened up a second hand Vintage, "never old", clothing store called Aunt Cora's Closet in San Francisco.   We find out that Lily has spent the last several years traveling around the world, never settling too long in one area and always staying out of the path and politics of other witches.  She had decided on San Francisco on the advice of a parrot, during a stint in Hong Kong, and had so far, loved the city and felt at home for the first time in years.  

Things get shaken up however, when a male witch, Aidan Rhodes, walks into her shop and gifts her with a "housewarming present" of a familiar.  Lily has never had a familiar, and has some very guarded feelings about Aidan, especially when he states that he used to work with her father.  Lily's father is quite the mysterious character.  We do find out that Lily left her hometown in Texas and was supposed to head to Mexico to complete her advanced witch training, but instead went in search of her father.  Apparently, things didn't go well and Lily has never quite gotten around to completing her training or finding a familiar.  

Lily shares her store with a Wiccan herbalist, Bronwyn.  Bronwyn has no idea that Lily is a witch, and especially that Lily's talents lie in botanicals.  Lily also has befriended a young woman, Maya, who is working on an oral history project by visiting and recording stories of the elderly.  Maya's contacts have helped Lily find some great Vintage clothes for her shop, and she pays Maya a finder's fee for the clothes. 

The same day that Aidan makes an appearance in Lily's shop, she has an appointment with a woman to go through her clothing.  During this house call, Lily and the elderly woman, Frances Potts, hear the sound of a keening cry, a demon's wail.  In the next moment, the scream of a child sounds.  One of the girls in the neighborhood, Jessica, has been taken.  And Lily has an idea of who took the little girl and why, the La Llorona.  When Ms. Potts is found dead the next day, even after Lily had worked a protection spell, Lily trys to save Jessica and remove the demon threat.

I read this book, because I found out that Juliet Blackwell is one-half of the sister writing duo that makes up Hailey Lind. And I was not disappointed.  This was a great book from start to finish.  We are given just enough information about Lily to keep the story moving, but there is still much that is a mystery and I can't wait to find out more in later books.  This got 4 stars on Goodreads.

Goodreads:

Lily Ivory is not your average witch. Her spell-casting powers tend to draw mischievous spirits while keeping normal humans at a distance. But now her vintage clothing store could give her a chance to make friends in San Francisco....

Lily hopes for a normal life when she opens Aunt Cora's Closet. With her magical knack for vintage fashion -she can sense vibrations of the past from clothing and jewelry—her store becomes a big hit.

But when a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area, Lily may be the only one who can unravel the crime. She tries to keep her identity a secret while investigating, but it's not easy—especially under the spells of sexy "mythbuster" Max Carmichael and powerful witch Aidan Rhodes. Will Lily's witchy ways be forced out of the closet?