Would you drop everything and go to a small town after a voice mail message from an aunt you haven't seen in 20 years? Would you stay and try to run her pie shop based on a note she's left you? Would you call the police to file a missing persons report? That last is the one thing I would do but Susanna did the first two and not the second. Sure the small town of Hocus Hills is filled with quirky characters and this is a chance for Susanna to try something different but.....This is a light read and there are some bright spots. The magical pie shop wasn't quite as magical as I'd committed to hoping for but it might be just right for those who are so so on the genre. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I wanted to love this book. It has a charming small town, magical elements and pie. The main character seems very unbelievable to me. She drops everything to go to a town she has never been to and takes over her Aunt's pie business without any baking experience at all. There is a mystery as to where her Aunt is but the main character does little to try to find out anything about her.

Such a sweet charming cozy mystery book! I loved the town of Hocus Hills and the funny and interesting characters that lived there. I loved the small town feel and just all around wholesomeness of this book. A very nice light and refreshing read perfect for in between heavier books or thrillers! I need a sequel!

Well I was up for some magical realism because I definitely needed the distraction. Too bad that the story itself was pretty lackluster. You can't promise me a magical pie shop and then not really show anything that magical. This book also seems to be trying for a cozy mystery theme which didn't work at all. The characters in this one were not very developed either. Also some of the reactions that the main character, Susanna had were not believable at all.

"A Slice of Magic" has handywoman extraordinaire Susanna Daniels traveling to help out her Aunt Erma at her pie shop. Susanna hasn't talked to her aunt in 20 years. She still wonders why her aunt disappeared from her life and so is eager to find out what caused the rift between her aunt and mother. However, when Susanna appears in town of Hocus Hills, her aunt is nowhere to be found and just leaves her a note telling her to keep the pie shop running until she returns. A cast of many (seriously there's a lot going on) appears and there seems to be something odd going on in Hocus Hills.

Susanna is the main character, but honestly, I didn't really get her as a reader. She's terrible at making pies and instead of her trying to call the police to help figure out where her aunt is, her aunts friends just go things will be fine and eat pie. I am not kidding. We hear that Susanna is good at fixing things, but besides a scene where she starts fixing things at the pie shop, we just get numerous references to how handy she is. And of course there's a love interest, but he was super bland. There is a huge reveal about the guy and I was once again baffled by it.

The other characters are paper thin in this. They all seem to have time to stop by the pie shop. There's a whole thing with a cookie store opening up that can ruin her aunt's pie shop and I ceased to care. And there was a fitness guru who went around shaming people for eating pie (I hated her) and a lot of other characters we barely spend time with.

The writing was so so. Mayes decides to open each chapter with a question and response form the town's agony aunt named Eloide and I am still baffled why that was even in there. There was a whole thing about Susanna figuring out who Eloide was, but you think the author would have put in pie recipes or something since the whole book was about them. It was a weird narrative choice and I started skipping over them after a while. The book jumps around too much too. We have Susanna trying to deal with the pie shop and then she will have some memories about her aunt and making pies with her, or playing with her, etc. We get tidbits here and there about Susanna's life back home, but people from her home or mentioned, and seldom heard from which once again strains common sense. If I was gone for a week, my friends would all know and be texting or calling to check in.

The flow was not good. Once Susanna gets to the pie shop and realizes her aunt isn't there the whole book just grinds along. Susanna doesn't know how to bake and why in the world she stayed and didn't call her mother was a question for the ages. There was also way too many things going on for the sake of plot and not common sense.

The town of Hocus Hills should have been charming, but I found half the characters annoying. We get very little backstory on people and Susanna gets a letter explaining everything and I just heavily sighed. The why behind everything was really dumb too. I just couldn't take it seriously. There was no world building at all in this first book which was a mistake.

The ending was a letdown. Susanna finds out something about her aunt and what led to the rift with her mother and there was zero reaction to it. I just didn't find it believable. This book was fairly short and most of the ARC was then filled with the next couple of chapters of the next book in the series. I think this book is dancing around 200 pages which would explain why the world building wasn't that good.

A charming, cute, light read - a touch of magic, a bit of baking, an odd little town. Nice for an escape read, or a "palate cleanser" between heavier subjects.

This was a mashup of fantasy, chick lit and mystery. If you are looking for a short, cozy read then this is the book for you.

Susanna hasn't seen her Aunt Erma since she was 9 years old over 20 years ago, but when Erma contacts her for help at the aunt's pie shop, Susie immediately takes time off her job and drives to her aunt. The aunt isn't there, and Susie is expected to bake pies even though she's not a baker and take care of the shop while meeting a whole host of town characters and figure out what exactly is happening. The title promises magic, and it's definitely at the heart of this sweet tale, but the cute premise fell a bit flat for me as I never felt really drawn into these relationships. Everything felt a bit underdeveloped, and I never understood why Susie would upend her life for an aunt who had effectively abandoned her with no information even after she was an adult.

When Susana Daniels receives a distressed message from her long-estranged Aunt Erma, whom she adores, to help with her pie shop in a small magical little town, Susana jumps in her car and goes. Unfortunately, Aunt Erma is nowhere to be found and Susie really does not know how to bake pies.

This cute story of secrets and mysteries is well told with lovely fun characters, a questionable "love" interest, a few townsfolk with ulterior motives and just the right amount of spice to make this a fun littler read. I recommend this book for quick beach / fireplace read.

A Slice of a Magic is, yes, a magical, sweet story that will leave you hungry for more….

Susanna hasn’t heard from her favorite aunt, Erma, in twenty years – not since her aunt suddenly disappeared from her life – but now she has received an urgent message begging Susanna to come and help Erma at her pie shop. Taking a leave from her job, out of curiosity about her aunt’s past as well as her current situation, Susanna heads out to the town of Hocus Hills only to discover that her aunt is no where to be found. She has left Susanna to run the pie shop and unravel the mystery of her aunt’s disappearance – again.

This is, at once, a wonderfully charming cozy mystery as well as the age old tale of a family in need of forgiveness and second chances. It is filled to the brim with quirky characters whom you will adore, conniving ones you will love to hate and a pooch that will steal your heart. There also is a fair amount of magical influence throughout Hocus Hills that makes the town sparkle and entice you to come back for more. While this is a cozy read, there is plenty of substance within the somewhat brief storyline to make it a satisfying read. I definitely will be back for another visit to Hocus Hills!

Thank you to #Netgalley, @HarperImpulse and @AG_Mayes for my copy of #ASLICEOFMAGIC

“A slice of magic” by A.G Mayes is a mysterious magical fiction with a dash of romance in it.

Susanna receives a voice mail from her Aunt Erma who had disappeared from her life 20 years ago. She was requesting her to help her at her pie shop for a while. Susanna always thought why aunt Erma had left and this was a perfect opportunity to ask her some questions. The next day, she packs her bag and drives to the town of Hocus Hills where Erma lived. When she gets there, she finds out that Aunt Erma is not there, leaving her to take care of her pie shop and dog Misty.

The plot was okay. There was little to no character development. The magic was introduced very late the book. It took a while for the story to make sense but maybe it was because it was a different story idea.

WOW I have to say I'm impressed, I finished this book within 2 hours and it is that GOOD. Let me keep it simplistic, unique. mind-blowing. exciting. honestly CANNOT WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL!!

unfortunately this one just did not work for me. i didn't like the characters, i didn't believe or care about the story, i could not handle the writing... too much telling and zero showing. i hate shitting on books when i can't even imagine writing one, kudos to all the authors out there, really, but we can't like every book we read and there's no such thing as a book that will work for everyone. so i'm sorry if that offends, it's just how i felt. i wanted to love it, look at that gorgeous cover! and the premise sounds awesome. but it just did not work for me at all.

Sort of a practical magic with cake premise. It's a typical cozy mystery. Fans of the genre will enjoy this one. It's a fast cute read.

An Well-loved aunt from her past reaches out for help. Susannah rushes to her aid only to find h er Aunt Erma isn't anywhere to be found. The whole town seems to know she is coming and there is a note on the door of the bakery to take over. Too bad Susannah has no idea how to make the pies her aunt is famous for. What follows is almost comical in her attempts to bake pies to everyone's liking. As she learns the trade, things get better, but then strange things start happening the town. A magical story read best with suspended reality.

An enjoyable quirky book that’s not quite contemporary romance and not quite fantasy. It’s a peculiar mix of magic and typical chick-lit. Wouldn’t be the normal type of book I’d read but it was very engrossing. The story kept you hooked throughout and a range of characters that were engaging and entertaining. Would certainly look for more books by this author.

Sabrina the teenage witch meets Gilmore Girls is what sums up this book quite accurately. It has that little hint of magic in everyday life that you might recognize from Sabrina. (The sweet version of Sabrina, not the Kick Ass version now on Netflix.) And the small town feeling and its quirky residents from Stars Hollow is certainly there.
Saying that you might suspect that I absolutely loved this book, but sadly I didn’t. It’s a nice, little in between book, but it’s not a feel good book that I will remember in a few months’ time. The premise however is absolutely amazing. As some of you might know I am a sucker for everything food café related in the feel good genre. And of course I love everything witchy or magical. So A Slize of Magic seemed right up my alley. All in all it is. It hits all the right boxes. There is magic, food, a quaint little village, a sweet love interest and lots and funny dogs. All the right ingredients for a lovely, heart-warming, funny story.
But the writing was what threw me of a little. It was very simple and straight forward. No character development, all very one dimensional and very fast paced. This might nog sound like negatives, but in this case it was. A Slize of Magic is a very short story, so it is logical that everything progresses really quickly. But for me it is not an excuse for absolutely no character development and no world building. This whole book is set around magic, but the actual magic only makes its appearance by the end of the book.
Apart from that I think at times the story is a bit to childish or maybe the protagonist Susanna is a little simple minded. Throughout the whole story weird things are happening and Susanna just ignores them all. A kitchen that cleans itself, a cat that gets clothes out of the closets… She acts like this is all completely normal and nothing is going on. I just can’t describe it any other way than simplistic.
I actually think I would have adored this story if it was more fleshed out and the focus would have been on the magic more. I started to enjoy the story so much more for the last 20%.
All in all a very quick read. An ideal little Schnabel for when you need a moment to turn your brain of and indulge in some sweet smelling pies with a sprinkle of magic.

Review will be posted online on 11/02/19

Oh how I wanted to like this book but I just found it lacking in story, character development and it didn’t really hold my attention. I found myself skimming over the pages, and glad when it was finished. Sorry

This wasn’t terrible but I also cannot say it was a very good read. The story was mildly entertaining but predictable and the writing was a bit messy at times.
Overall this was a lighthearted fast read but I am not interested enough to read any more in the series..

Huge thank you to Harper Impulse and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to review this book!

What a thoroughly enjoyable little story! It wasn’t quite contemporary and it wasn’t quite fantasy, in fact I’m not sure what category I’d put it in, but either way it was the perfect thing to read between other very long, intense (and sometimes not as enjoyable) novels. It was funny, quirky, and somehow weirdly cosy. It kind of reminded me of a fluffier version of Practical Magic meets New in Town and I adore both of those movies. "Big city girl trying to adjust to small town life" is one of my favourite guilty pleasure tropes and with this one there's the added bonus of magic!

Full (spoiler-y) review here: http://wmsreads.tumblr.com/post/181734798542/

This is a cute, engaging and funny story. At the hurried and vague request of her aunt, Susanna rushes to her aid only to find her aunt missing and a pie bakery to run. Susanna does not bake and her pies show it. If not for the daily devoted crew of friends and the handsome, Henry, the pie shop would go under. Plus, there are some weird things going on in the small town and Susanna is determined to figure out what is going on and to find her missing aunt.