I love this series by Gretchen Rue, they’re just so homey and cozy and the descriptions really bring me into the world. It’s probably not for everyone, but if you’re looking for a cozy witchy murder mystery these books are so good!!

I really enjoyed Something Wicked which I read last October so was super excited to be sent the trilogy! I was so eager to see what happened next and what mess Phoebe would find herself in and let me tell you it did not disappoint.

I instantly felt like I was reuniting with old friends the second I picked this one up. Phoebe is such a loveable character and I love trying to figure out the mystery alongside her. This one was quite interesting in the fact that Phoebe herself was somewhat considered a suspect as it was her (or should we say Bob) who found the body. I also liked watching her learn more about her powers.

I really liked the progression with her and Rich's friendship/relationship. I think they work so well together and the way they bounce off each other. My favourite character hands down is Bob though. That cat is adorable and I honestly wish I could have my own Bob if I wasn't allergic.

If you're looking for a light-hearted murder mystery sprinkled with magic then I absolutely recommend picking up this series! I immediately read the third book right after this one so be sure to keep an eye out for my review which will be coming very soon!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, Aria & Aries, and NetGalley for approving this ARC.

I loved book 1, which I also read as an ARC, so to read book 2 as well, I was so happy to get stuck back into this cosy witchy world.

New to be a witch Phoebe gets herself in the middle of another murder investigation when she (her cat Bob) finds a dead body at an estate auction she is attending.

Phoebe can't help but want to use her sleuthing and witchy skills to use to help being justice and find the killer.

This book and series is just so cosy with that extra element of a mystery, it had book/tea shop, small town, slow burn romance, murder mystery and I really like Phoebe as a FMC esp as she is in her mid-late 30's.

Gretchen writes, and we feel like we are there in the story and she's really descriptive worh her characters and their feelings we understand why they are doing/feeling something which we don't often see in small town romances.

Fans of Murder she wrote are going to love this series.

"Spell Bound" by Gretchen Rue is a charming and cozy paranormal mystery that blends elements of magic, mystery, and a touch of romance. The novel is set in a quaint small town where the protagonist, likely a bookish or slightly quirky character, discovers an unexpected connection to witchcraft or magic. As mysteries unfold in the town, the protagonist must use her newfound abilities to solve them, often with the help of a close-knit group of friends or a love interest.

Rue’s writing is engaging and atmospheric, drawing readers into a world where magic is real but often hidden beneath the surface of everyday life. The story likely features a mix of light-hearted moments, suspense, and a sense of community, making it a perfect read for fans of cozy mysteries and magical realism.

"Spell Bound" is ideal for readers who enjoy a blend of mystery and the supernatural, with a focus on character development and a plot that keeps you guessing. It's a delightful escape into a world where spells, secrets, and solving crimes go hand in hand, offering a comforting yet intriguing reading experience.

This was a cute cosy mystery but I hoped for more of with witchiness. The characters were fun and though I didn't realise it was a second in a series, I still followed the story easily.

This is a cute cosy mystery series - certainly I'm finding them gently entertaining, to keep reading - but the marketing of these as "witchy romance" and the comparison titles are doing this series a huge disservice: it IS NOT witchy romance and those looking for that genre will be bored. The magic takes a minuscule backseat to the cosy mystery, endless tea making, and small-town politics, a la Gilmore Girls with more murder, and there's no romance to speak of in this one, just a bit of mutual pining. It's such a disappointment that these are being rereleased with such poor, misleading marketing.

I was looking forward to reading this sequel and I am so glad I finally have.
It really is as described - a great book for people who love stories with witchcraft, mystery and the Gilmore Girls!

Gretchen Rue’s Spell Bound is a delightful witchy romance sure to cast a spell on readers everywhere!

Phoebe Winchester’s To-Do List keeps getting longer and longer. Ever since she’s moved to Raven Creek, Phoebe has been renovating her Aunt Eudora’s cottage whilst also running a teashop (and secret apothecary) and learning to be a witch. Busy has become Phoebe’s middle name, however, things are about to get a whole lot more complicated for her when she stumbles upon a dead body at an estate sale and becomes suspect number one!

Desperate to clear her name, Phoebe realises that she’s going to need help if she’s to escape being jailed for a crime she didn’t commit, so she hires private investigator and childhood friend Rich Lofting. As if being wrongly accused of a criminal offence isn’t bad enough, Phoebe has to also keep her unresolved feelings for Rich under wraps – and that’s becoming more and more difficult with each passing day.

As their investigation takes a darker and sinister turn, Phoebe’s about to discover that there’s far more to Raven Creek than meets the eye. Will she manage to find out who is responsible for the dead body she found? Will she and Rich move out of the friend zone? Or is it all going to end in tears?

I couldn’t stop myself from galloping through Gretchen Rue’s Spell Bound. A beguiling mix of romantic comedy and cosy mystery, Spell Bound is imbued with laugh out loud humour, small town shenanigans, touching romance and plenty of nail-biting tension to keep readers glued to its pages from start to finish!

Fun, flirty and fabulous, Gretchen Rue’s Spell Bound should not be missed.

Pheobe Winchester has had a lot to deal with. After finally getting over, finding a dead body, and dealing with a near death experience, she's hoping for a more relaxed time. But whilst visiting an estate sale, hoping to find some books for her shop, she stumbles upon another dead body thanks to her cat Bob. When she realises she's also a suspect, she decides to take action by enlisting the help of her private investigator friend Rich to help her. Is Pheobe going to end up in the firing line again?

This is a very good cosy mystery series. I enjoyed being back with the characters from the first book, but I also feel that this could be read as a standalone as we do get details from the first book. My only complaints are that I wish there was more witchy-ness in this and more about Pheobe using her powers and that it wasn't so repetitive as many times I felt I was ready the same thing just worded a little different. I recommend if your looking for a fast paced cosy mystery.

I will begin with my only bugbear- this book is the second in a series. I didn’t know! And the worse thing is the other book by of this fab series was on my Kindle! Saying that I will be going straight back to read!

I loved this book! It brings together everything you need from a paranormal cozy, dead body found, multiple suspects, a tea room with magical herbal mixes, a town busybody … with a nice array of characters, some genuinely really well done red herrings where my opinion changed on what had happened this random person found dead, with some great magic (I would have loved even more!). This book ticked every box for me, with the fact that it’s on the shorter side making it one of those books you simultaneously raced through and savoured. A sparkling, fantastically magical read, that I’d definitely recommend and can’t wait to go back to the other!! More Gretchen Rue please, and Aria/Head of Zeus- ye are playing a blinder!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Rating: 5/5

She’s renovating the Victorian manor she inherited from her Aunt Eudora, running a tea shop (and secret magical apothecary), and learning to be a witch. But when she discovers a dead body at an estate sale, and suspicion falls on her, even Phoebe wonders if this is simply too much.
Forced to take action to clear her name, Phoebe enlists Rich Lofting, handsome private detective and childhood friend, to assist with her investigation, all while sorting out her unresolved feelings for him.

There is nothing more I love than a cozy mystery with a little bit of magic and this is exactly what this book was!

I had not read the first one in the series but felt as though I did not need to as straight away I was engrossed and knew everything I needed to know about the characters.
It was short, it was sweet and also it helped me get out of a stubborn reading slump.

I rated this 3 stars.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of this series. When I requested it on NetGalley I didn’t realise it was a series so I went back and read both books. I thought there was a bit too much going on in these books without any of the different aspects having much detail. I feel as though the story would be better if just one, the magic, the romance or the murder mystery was focused on in more detail rather than trying to squeeze all three into such a short book that doesn’t have the time to elaborate. I enjoyed the writing and the characters in the book, it had good dialogue. The idea for this book was great but overall it just felt like too much was squeezed into these books.

funny mysterious slow-paced
Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0 Stars

Even though I had not read the first book in this series "Something Wicked" (not advertised well as a second book in a series) , the first 15% of Spell Bound was all about recapping everything. I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book and all its characters and cozy vibes, but this really made the book difficult to get into. Recapping is never a bad thing but for it to take up such a large space at the begin of the book was really disengaging for me and took me days to get through and I found myself wanting to read other books...

Once I got to 25% the story really started to kickoff and I had a lovely time from there.

Great read if you are interested in a cozy and witchy town setting, slow-burn romances and a murder mystery driven plot!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a review!

I swear to god, I need publishers to make it clear when a book is the second in a series on NetGalley. Thankfully, this book does essentially explain the entire plot of the first one, so it wasn't as dire as it has been, but still. All you need to do is say Book 2.

Here's the thing about this book. There's little to no romance. There's essentially no magic to the point where I kept forgetting Phoebe was supposed to be a witch because she doesn't do any magic and it doesn't help her solve the mystery at all. There's a mystery but it's not well written and the villain reveal confused me because it was a such a minor character that I didn't even remember. There's a lot about whatever Phoebe is making to eat? I'm not really sure what this book is.

Phoebe makes a lot of bad, suspicious decisions against the advice of everyone around her and seems to be genuinely trying to get herself killed. She proclaims she wants to solve the mystery because she doesn't want to be a suspect, but makes herself incredibly suspicious and also discovers almost nothing. I wish she was interested in mysteries, or it had something to do with magic, like she thought she could help the cops with alternative means because otherwise, it's such a flimsy reason to be doing all this.

Phoebe also talks and thinks a lot about her body and what she can and can't eat, and honestly it was clear that she had unaddressed body image issues, which is fine, but like, let's address that? It's not fun to read and it makes me really sad for her.

I've got to be honest, I didn't get this one. I don't know what niche it is, other than vaguely cozy and low stakes mystery? It didn't do it for me.

Two stars for Bob being cute.

Magic, baking, romance and murder.

When Phoebe turns up to an estate sale to buy some secondhand books for her store, she doesn't expect to discover a dead body (or her cat at the crime scene).

Paranoid that she might be a suspect, she decides to investigate.

With the help of a few friends, and some magic, this bookstore and teashop owner is ready to solve a book-worthy mystery.

Thoughts:
As a series this has the ingredients to make for a tasty treat.
The set up of the town, Phoebe's store, her friend circle, and all the food - all super cozy, with just a sprinkling of romance thrown in.
The mystery - not 100 percent predictable.
But the plot does meander at times.
Favourite character - Bob the cat, hands down.

Review of both Something Wicked and Spell Bound

I enjoyed both of these books a lot. Tea, books and cats are a really good combination and adding in a murder mystery and a sprinkling of witchcraft pretty much made it the story for me. It was really nice just immersing myself in the little town of Raven Creek. It had a very Gilmore Girls vibe to it that I really enjoyed.

During the first book, I found that there weren’t enough mystery elements involved. It seemed like the mystery was something that was happening to Phoebe rather than her going out and investigating. The second book really made up for it though. The only thing I would change is, I would like more witchcraft. Again the second book did more of this, but I still felt it was a big lacking

There were also plenty of books and plenty of cat moments. The cat was not an incidental character in the books, he was central to all of the action, especially in the second book, which I found really great. So often there’s a cat on the cover and the cat is just there in the background. But not with Bob! Bob is definitely a main character.

I hope there are more of these books because I’m not quite ready to leave Raven Creek just yet!

This is a book to in the series and I have not read the first one, but it is not needed, it may be treated as a standalone with a tiny spoiler for book one.

I was intruiged when I first saw this book on NetGalley, so I requested an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion - so here we are.

Phoebe wants to live her calm and easy life, while renovating a mansion she inherited, running Tea Shop at the day, and witchy Apothecary after hours. She just wants to learn her witchcraft she newly discovered, Unfortunately, she is caught in the middle of murder investigation, and of course she needs to solve it, because it doesnt look good.

I liked cozy vibe this book is giving, even if I havent read the first book I didnt feel like I have lost something from Phoebes perspective, however for a witch book there was not enough witchy things going on inside. I was hoping for some spells and rituals, and well, it wasnt there. But still it was good read 😊.

Cosy mystery with witchy vibes and cats? Um, yes please!! This was a thoroughly fun and sweet little mystery, perfect for reading on a rainy day with cups of tea, and a kitty curled up on your lap. Highly recommend.

Phoebe moves into her Aunt's old manor, is trying to run a business, and learning how to control some of her new abilities. As any woman does, she stumbles upon a murder and is of course accused of being the killer. How can she prove she isn't?

A cosy witchy mystery is always a plus in my books. This was a cute and easy read and it kept me thoroughly entertained. Looking forward to whatever Rue writes next!

A great read. Phoebe is in the wrong place at the wrong time when there is another murder in proximity to her. She enlists Rich to help her prove her innocence by finding out who did it. Loved Bob the cat! I am assuming this will be a series, so looking forward to seeing what happens next.