4.5 stars
Ellie is back! She is such a fun character. Her remarks are both humorous and clever. There are many twists and turns as Ellie gets closer to solving the mystery. I definitely recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book, which I voluntarily chose to review.

Potions Are for Pushovers is an entertaining cozy mystery. Well crafted plot and characters.. Mystery fans will love this book. My thanks to the publisher for my advance ebook. This is my unbiased review.

5 stars, must-read.
Before I start, I gotta rant today about this novel. So let me start.

BEST NOVEL ON EARTH, I LOVE THIS BOOK. I LOVE IT MORE THAN ANYTHING ON EARTH. BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD GOES TO THIS ONE. ITS AWESOME, FANTASTIC, MIND-BLOWING, HATS OFF TO THE AUTHOR.

As you all have probably guessed I loved the book. It was a fantastic blend of romance, mystery, thriller, fantasy, craziness and excitement. This book has a simple and basic starting with an introduction to the characters and some reference to the first book but you dont need to read it to enjoy this one.

The characters, the ideology, the framing, the writing… One day, this book will be a cosy mystery classic, take my word on that. I don’t know why they call this a cosy mystery, it had more twists and turns than a normal mystery does.

I am literally dying to read the 3rd book. I can’t wait for it. I loved this book. I read 65% book and forced myself to sleep at 4 am in the morning, then got up and finished the rest of the book from 65% to direct 100%.

I was obsessed with it. Dying to know the killer and all the suspense revolving around it. This is a real mystery with much cosiness and less stress, but I was stressed to find out the murderer and trust me till the end, I was totally wrong about the murderer and was actually shocked to find out the real one. I can’t write anymore or I might spill out some secrets of this book but this book has some great characters and is a classical piece of work.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Ellie is a fraud. She is the first to admit she cons those gullible enough to pay for her potions and spells. But there are a lot of villagers who are willing to believe she has power. When a particularly nasty woman dies immediately after accusing Ellie of giving her the evil eye, there are those who are convinced it must be true.
Ellie is trying very hard to fit in but this just makes her feel even more isolated from most of the village except for her millionaire boyfriend and his family.. The harder she tries, the more she feels she is falling behind. But when the village is convinced there is a werewolf afoot, they figure if anyone can figure out a way to deal with it, it’s her. She reluctantly brings on two teenage assistants who are only too happy to dig deep into the lore. Then the two nephews of the dead woman arrive in town. Both are slimy in their own ways.
Once Ellie discovers the woman had been blackmailing anyone with a secret in the village, her money is on a less than supernatural killer. The only question is will she live long enough to figure it all out. It will keep the reader guessing as well.
Four purrs and one paw up.

What a fun book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters are well drawn and the mystery will keep you guessing.

Potions Are for Pushovers was a fun cosy mystery with some unique characters. The plot and mystery was interesting with a few twists and turns and a steady pace.

This is a fun cozy mystery and I can't wait to read the first book in the series.

"Potions Are for Pushovers" focuses on fake witch Ellie Wilde. She sells potions for love, protection, and other spells to make ends meet, but she doesn't believe it any more than she did when she was a fake psychic. When a local resident dies after Ellie gives an elixir, she's the prime suspect. But the dead woman is the least liked person in town, and virtually everyone had a reason to kill her.

Meanwhile, Ellie reluctantly takes on two young interns and has them research werewolves. Is it a coincidence that suddenly someone in town seems remarkably lycanthropic while several local pets are missing. And why is the local gardener suddenly missing the toxic wolfsbane from the garden?

The characters in the novel are fun, extremely unique, and it's a cute premise. I will definitely be following this series from now on.

A well written and plotted mystery with characters that I grew to like. I hadn't gotten around to reading the first one first, but this worked well enough as a stand alone. I really got a kick out of Lenore and Rachel being Ellie's apprentices. I hadn't guessed the killer but it made total sense at the reveal. Ellie's cat Beast had gone missing, and while she feared the worst, what really happened had been something adorable which I won't reveal.

The only drawback for me with this book was that I'm not a fan of present tense writing which imho, takes too much extra brain power to convert it to normal tense. For me, present tense was a very awkward read. Again, it's only my opinion, and as you can tell by the star rating, I didn't let it keep me from recognizing a basically good story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

Potions Are for Pushovers is the 2nd in the "Eleanor Wilde Mystery" series by cozy author Tamara Berry .
Thank you for the ARC . My review opinions are my own.

Our protagonist Eleanor (Ellie) has set up shop as a witch . However she has a secret that she she is not truly magical and is selling fake potions and spells to the town. She is also acting as a medium and no one knows she is a fake. Her business is steady and growing and she even hired 2 new people to work under her learning the craft. Everything is going along fine until a murder occurs. Victim Sarah Blackthorn seems to have been killed by one of her fake potions. Now Ellie is suspect number one in the opinion of the police and the town.


Ellie suspects something is amiss in town when animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s determined to get to the bottom of the murder and find her cat. Soon she is stumbling across clues that lead her to the right directions.

This is a fun mystery with a unique magical theme and great supporting charcters. Ellie is a fun protagonist who is well on her way to charming cozy readers with this 2nd in series.

Some mysteries suffer from sophomore slump but not this series. The second book is just as much fun as the first, Seances are for Suckers. In the first book, Ellie takes a case for big bucks (she has major debts to deal with) and travels to England, to the county of Sussex. One thing leads to another and she finds herself with a boyfriend who is rich and is okay with the fact that she is a con artist. Hey, it's a living and nobody gets hurt. Instead of returning to the States, Ellie settles down not far from Nicholas and his family home. She becomes the local witch, making herbal potions. Potions that don't contain aconite aka wolfsbane. When a local, much disliked, woman dies from an aconite laden potion, all eyes are on Ellie. Then talk of werewolves is bandied about and the case gets even stranger. Some decide that there is a werewolf in their midst.
Ellie sets about clearing her name and soon has even more motivation to track down the killer. Local pets have started to disappear, including her "familiar", her black cat named Beast. How are the murder and the missing pets connected? Who really, really hated the victim and didn't just dislike her?

NOTE: I would have given it a five star review but, while I could accept the thread of the missing pets, I felt obligated to warn potential readers of something that might be a trigger.

If you like a mystery with a ghost, a "witch' running a con, a bit of romance, an English setting and a whole lot of laugh out loud humor all wrapped up in a written and satisfying puzzle - give this series a try. It's one of those series that keeps me reading way past bedtime. I'm looking forward to the third book.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Potions are Pushovers is the 2nd instalment in the An Eleanor Wilde Mystery series by Tamara Berry. I was able to read as a stand-alone easily but recommend you read Seances Are for Suckers first.

It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions…

Selling mystical elixirs and tantalizing tonics is a pretty good way for a fake medium to earn a living. Or at least it’s Ellie’s main source of income—until a villager turns up dead. The cause? Murder by poisoning. And though Ellie’s concoctions don’t include anything worthy of a skull and crossbones, suddenly she’s the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne. No one liked the mean old battle-axe. But did anyone hate her enough to kill her?

It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Besides, Ellie’s taken on two young witches-in-training—apprentices if you will—and both of them are convinced a werewolf is the murderer.

Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home…

I enjoyed the setting of the small village is Sussex England. I found the story to be fun and well-written, with quirky characters and a realistic protagonist in Eleanor. We all have flaws and insecurities , and some of us have even felt like an outsider before so I found Eleanor to be a fabulous main character. I love her cat Beast, (just rescued 2 kittens last week I could picture one of them as her familiar). Her apprentices Lenora and Rachel are a hoot as well.

The mystery was well written with plenty of twists and turns and had a steady pace, even had a few surprises. I suspected but didn’t fully figure out whodunit until it was revealed at the end.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal mysteries.

I requested and received an Advanced Reader Copy from Kensington Books and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and Kensington Books, in return for an honest review. This is the second book in this series and easily read as a stand-alone. Eleanor Wilde is now the resident town witch, in a small English village. The only thing Ellie knows for certain is that she can hear her dead sister at irregular intervals, which isn’t enough to make a living on. She’s careful to only use edible ingredients (usually with a large amount of gin) and a bit of ‘hocus pocus’ for those who come to her back door for love potions and other tonics. She’s eking out a living until a villager is found dead by poisoning. Suddenly, Ellie’s the main suspect and realizes that if she doesn’t find the murderer, it’s not clear that anyone else will. Local millionaire, Nicholas Hartford, is more than willing to lend either a financial or residential hand but Ellie needs to make it on her own as they navigate their relationship. Add in two young ‘apprentices’ and Ellie has her hands full, particularly when her cat, Beast, is suddenly missing. It’s a fun cosy and enjoyable. I look forward to seeing what happens next!

This was a nice cozy mystery. Not too gory, not too sappy in the romance department... Ellie, the resident expat and witchy psychic of a small English village is accused of being a poisoner with the victim’s own last breath. The mystery deepens when werewolves somehow get into the mix. The story has some cheesy elements, namely the sister speaking to Ellie from “the great beyond.” Ellie also didn’t seem like a well fleshed-our character. She seemed like she could barely take care of herself and bumbled around town, but somehow figured out who the murderer was by taking generous leaps and bounds with vague clues. A fun read, but there are better cozy mysteries out there.

After deciding to settle in small English village, Eleanor Wilde finds establishing herself as a resident somewhat challenging. Ellie brews elixirs to sell and provides spells for villagers willing to pay, fueling speculation that she is a witch or psychic, when she is simply faking it.

In short order, Ellie gets caught up in the murder of Sarah Blackthorne, poisoned by tea laced with aconite. Distractions prove plentiful: Lenora, the 12 year-old daughter of the local school master, Ian McDougal, and his wife, Dr. Oona McDougal, signs up to shadow Ellie for a school project. Mr. Worthington buys a spell and elixir to help keep his pig Regina out of trouble and bound to him. Lewis and Rich King, Sarah's nephews come to claim their aunt’s estate. Rachel, Nicholas Hartford’s niece, inserts herself in Lenora’s arrangement with Ellie as the two young women decide they want to dabble in the paranormal.

Ellie just wants to find who murdered Sarah and Inspector Peter Piper doesn’t really discourage her sleuthing. Things get interesting when Lenora writes a paper on werewolves and Rachel joins in the research to prove they are real. Regina is killed and her heart ripped out of her body. Lewis King exhibits characteristics that some attribute to werewolves. Inspector Piper’s sister Margaret is an herbalist who grows poison plants in her garden. Reports of missing pets, including Ellie’s cat Beast, lead to more rumors of werewolves. And the appearance of a mysterious, handwritten journal piques the interest of Ellie, Lenora and Rachel leading to their determination to decode its meaning.

Tamara Berry certainly keeps the reader glued to the page as she weaves several plot threads into a complex mystery full of twists and intriguing details. The characters are well developed, the dialogue realistic and the pace steady. An unexpected development with Beast is a warm and welcome surprise.

This is becoming one of my favorite series as I love the humour and originality of the plot.
This is the second instalment and it was a lot of fun to read and I laughed out loud more than once.
I think that the writer had a lot of fun in writing it and you can feel it as you read.
The plot is full of twists and turns and the solid mystery kept me guessing till the end.
The quirky and funny characters are well written and likeable, Eleanor is a fantastic character and her dabbling in occult is always hilarious.
This could have been a 5* review but I don't like to read about animals being killed and even if I understand that in one case it was requested by the plot I think that is something that does not usually happen in a cozy mystery.
I can't wait to read the next instalment even if I know I have to wait for one year.
I highly recommend it with the above mentioned warning.
Many thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I had read the first book in this series, and I was ready to read the next. Eleanor is an interesting character in that she is not really a believer in the paranormal but makes her living pretending to, and, to top it off, she hears her dead sister’s ghost. As with the first book, this one is very well-written, has intriguing characters, and an engrossing plot. I love how it seems there is a paranormal element to the story, but the end is very different and ties into the mystery. The only thing that I didn’t really like is that I’m having a hard time relating to Nicholas and to a small degree Eleanor. Not bad enough to really bother me, but I do think about it once in a while. Overall, this is a fun, light, cozy-ish mystery that I quite enjoyed. Recommend this book, and I received a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

POTIONS ARE FOR PUSHOVERS is fast-paced, full of laugh-out-loud moments with twists and surprises that kept me flipping pages on my Kindle until the ending. I loved seeing Ellie begin to settle in to the village, even if she’s not a believer in ghosts or potions or witchcraft (or so she says) she’ll definitely take a few more steps toward believing in this addition to the Eleanor Wilde Mystery series. There are obvious suspects, those “hmm, I wonder if” suspects and enough clues scattered about to make solving this Paranormal Cozy Mystery a fun adventure for any reader. I don’t “have” to figure out mysteries, but discovering clues and following trails is my enjoyment and there are plenty of those to keep me quite happy in this story.

Because this is a Cozy Mystery of the Paranormal kind I’m even more careful with possible spoilers – so, I’ll simply say that I enjoyed POTIONS ARE FOR PUSHOVERS, it kept me engaged, entertained and guessing throughout. I liked seeing Ellie beginning to enjoy the village life now living near her very rich, very handsome new boyfriend. She probably wouldn’t admit it, but she is a softy at heart and it’s beginning to show. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for the next story in this series. I had fun and would not hesitate to recommend this story to any reader who loves a good Paranormal Cozy Mystery that will keep you on your toes and quite satisfied with the outcome.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

4.5 Stars
It may have been a ghost that led Eleanor Wilde to set up shop in a quaint English village. But now that she’s established herself as the town witch, Ellie’s contentedly casting spells on anyone desperate enough—or gullible enough—to request her mysterious potions.
When villager turns up dead by poisoning becomes the prime suspect. Her only recourse is to find the culprit who did do away with Sarah Blackthorne who was a mean old battle-axe.
It’s enough of a mystery to make Ellie hang up her witch’s hat and take millionaire beau Nicholas Hartford up on his offer to keep her afloat. Except Ellie is not the kind of woman to lean on a man—least of all a man she adores but whose place in her life is uncertain. Just as Ellie’s wondering if there really is something otherworldly going on, animals suddenly begin to disappear—including her beloved cat, Beast. Now Ellie’s on the warpath to uncover the wicked truth about the people and the place she’s only just begun to call home.
This is the second book in the series & for me it was a stand alone as I’ve not read the first, but that will soon be rectified. A well written book that I found very hard to put down & I found myself reading well into the night to finish it. Strong characters & a well developed plot had me engrossed there were also plenty of twists & turns too. The pages flew by & I look forward to reading the first book & hope there are plenty more to follow
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

The perfect cozy mystery for those looking for humor, whimsy and a healthy dose of sarcasm. We follow Ellie as she settle's into a small English town and sets up her witch's apothecary shop. Her potions maybe a lot of flavored water and good intentions, but the money she gets for them is real, lol.
Her status as the local witch takes a turn for the worse when one of the townsfolk ends up dead from poison and eyes begin to turn to her. Once again, she has to try and solve a murder, this time to keep herself out of jail.
Things get even more mystical when the curious events surrounding the poisoning seem to indicate a werewolf may be involved!
Super fun and will keep you guessing!

I feel like the wait for this book was so long, but once I got into it, the wait was completely worth it. Filled with humor, well rounded characters, and a mystery that does not give away a thing. The author does a great job weaving a magical tale that wisps around and traps the reader until they are finished. Such a great read and a wonderful series.