DNF at 67%

I can’t stand the MC. She’s so unlikable, judgemental, sexist, body shaming,… the list could go on for ever.

Definitely not a person I want to read about. And definitely not as the MC. 9 s1 comment Ellie37

I'm a big fan of the main character, Mia. Yes, she's rude and a little judgy at times, but her background (which is explored quite a lot in this first book) explains why has a lot of the hangups that she does. I know that some may say that isn't an excuse for her, at times, poor behaviour, but I think that as the book story develops, so too does Mia.

Mia has lost her job and her now douche-bag of an ex-boyfriend Andrew has locked her out of his/their apartment. Mia is at a loss, knowing that her mother will say, "I told you so," if Mia asks her help. Thankfully, Mia's Aunt Hazel has passed away and has left her home to Mia. The timing is great (not so much for Hazel), and Mia realises this is a perfect transition to a better, or at least, a different life, however, when she arrives in the sleepy river town, she slowly realises that she may have found a place where she feels 'at home.'

Someone else quickly dies (what is this place ... Midsomer county?) and she becomes acquainted with the hot lawyer, his equally hot brother, two very quirky but friendly neighbours, and other townfolk who are friendly and welcoming and kind. This is very different anything that Mia has ever come across before; the judgyness that was ingrained in her (courtesy of her mother) slowly fades away as the book progresses, as Mia learns more about who she really is.

This is a 3.5 stars to 4 kind of 4 stars book. The pacing was a little slow at times, and there was a lot of background/introduction to new characters, but that's to be expected in a first book. I read this in a few sittings; for the next one I'm going to to try and read it all in one sitting to see if this changes my opinion about the pacing.

I found the reveal of the murder a little ho-hum (there could have been a bit more of a build up) but the means, motive and opportunity were all there, and it made perfect sense.

In terms of the main character, I really the character Mia. A woman in her mid forties who isn't married and doesn't have children and is interested in solving crime and murder boards? Sign me up.6 s Erin Lewis4,957 180

4 Star review Petal To The Metal (The Bloomin Psychic #1) by Annabel Chase

Audio Review:

Annabel Chase is a new author to me although I have listened to outer books by narrator Meghan Kelly before. This cozy mystery kept me guessing to the end and that is what I want in a good mystery.

The main character Mia Thorne grated on my nerves on numerous occasions and there were times that she really frustrated me. Not only that, but her behaviour seemed juvenile for a woman who is supposed to be 42 years old. I know life hasn’t treated her well recently, but I don’t think that was a good enough excuse for her behaviour.

Finding a body in the garden of the house she has just inherited can be a bit of a shock. However when Mia decides to investigate her life becomes even more complicated. The secondary characters were quirky and I found myself drawn in to the story.

Thankfully Mia improved throughout the story and I look forward to seeing what’s next in the series.3 s Maria854 6

2.5 stars

Oh boy, I'm not sure what to say about this book. I've learned to not judge a cosy series by its first book, but this one made it hard for me not to.

I often found the "humour" to be more bizarre than to my taste and Mia Thorne as a main character was more insufferable than interesting.
Ditzy and silly rather than clever she made me squirm so many times throughout the book, I lost count. I couldn't really root for her, even if I wanted to. Sometimes I just wanted to slap her. (With a chair in the face.)

And then we have the fact that the author plays up her *ehem* very mature age (all of 42 years old) as if that's when you basically start dying and falling apart.
Plus, apparently need to make a big deal out of needing to pee after drinking two glasses of liquid. I seriously haven't heard that amount of needless analysing about having to pee before, not without the character being pregnant.

I (not yet 40, but suffering from chronic pain since my mid 20s) felt mentally ancient while listening to Mia whine about her crappy body and it's crappy bodily functions. , O-M-G, for being 42, Mia is maybe the most immature 42 I've encountered in a book, at least that I can remember right now. More a mental teenager, at best.

All this - while simultaneously seeming physically worse for wear than Richard Osman's octogenarians in the Thursday Murder Club books. Just saying...

The mystery was OK. Not sure I cared all that much about it or the why, but it was not bad.
Same thing can be said about the side characters. The only one I quite d was the potential love interest. Him I actually did . And the senior police officer/sheriff.

My favourite thing in the book was (of course) the cat. Go figure.

I might revisit this series simply because of the cat - and the fact that I've sworn to always give a cosy mystery a second chance/book.
Even when the first book isn't great, the series can grow and become something really nice, in my experience. Fingers crossed this one does!audiobook2 s Caitlin C428 14

Mia Thorne is a 42 year old woman, living the dream in NYC, just waiting for her boyfriend to propose to her. She decides to take the bull by the horns and orchestrates a flash mob at work to propose to him! This back fires on her and she loses not only the guy, but her job and her apartment. She finds herself out on the street with two options, move in with her mom and step-dad number 3 or move to Newberry, PA into a home she inherited from her estranged aunt, on her fathers side. She choses option number two, with every intention of selling the house when she gets there. She learns a lot when she arrives in Newberry...for one she isn't allowed to sell the house for a year, and for two, she comes from a line of psychic women.

Mia hasn't been in the house long before her eclectic neighbors, Scarlet and Patrick swing by to introduce themselves. Mia finds herself drawn to the strange duo and also to the geriatric, overweight cat left behind by her aunt. Mia is out exploring her aunts garden when she stumbles upon a dead body. Mia becomes suspect number one and has to work to prove her innocence, while trying to find the actual killer. I laughed out loud a lot while reading this and immediately started reading the second once I finished! february-20222 s Magiccats210 5

I really enjoyed this book although I found the main character a bit over the top. Fun and entertaining read. 2 s Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*2,599 1,139

Cute and amusing!2 s Brianne Haug4

Witty Page Turner

It took me a couple chapters to get into it, but this book turned out to be an attention grabbing, humorous mystery. Looking forward to the next one.1 Antoinette Wilson3 1 follower

Great book. Really d it

Really d this book. Can't wait for the next one which I'm going to download right now and read with a nice rum and coke. 1 Paranormaly Romantic54 3

Reviewed at Paranormal-y Romantic

Petal to the Metal begins The Bloomin’ Psychic series with a story that kind of defies putting itself in a genre – it’s a bit Paranormal Romance, but then it’s also a bit of a Paranormal Cozy Mystery, and then it definitely has tones of Paranormal Women’s Fiction… so don’t let all of that stop you from discovering a really fun, engaging, entertaining story no matter what the “official” genre it falls under.

Mia’s life pretty much got upended in 24 hours. She’s been fired, her boyfriend decided they weren’t working anymore and dumped her while putting her stuff in storage and changing the locks. Not a good day by any means, at all. Add to the drama a phone call from mommy dearest just caps off the day with… well, wait, maybe an answer to one of her problems. Seems she has or had an Aunt Hazel who recently died and left Mia her cottage in a small Pennsylvania town. Okay, check off ‘has a roof over her head’ at least. But is this going to be life-changing or just a quick look and see before selling the property and coming back home? Not so fast, Mia. It seems that Mia must live in the cottage for a year before it officially becomes hers to do with as she wishes.

In addition to all of this chaos going on, Mia has also discovered that she has a psychic legacy attached to her. Now that’s going to come in handy since during the tidying up the garden part of fixing up the cottage, Mia has stumbled upon a dead body. Somehow she’s become the main suspect in this murder. Can her newly found psychic abilities find the real killer before she ends up behind bars?

I had fun with Petal to the Metal as a beginning story to a new world. There is definitely world-building here. I didn’t find it overpowering, mainly because I crave that kind of introduction to a new series. We’ll meet a romantic possibility, some townfolks who are destined to become friends, and some nasties as well. And snark. I love, adore, and need snark in a PWF or even in a PCM – those two genres just cry out for snark, and it’s here in delightful doses.

While there isn’t a lot of paranormal activity, there is the introduction to people and events that will matter in the ongoing series. So, while I did figure out what was going on I still completely enjoyed my time discovering this new world by an author that I’ve read often. Now I’m left needing to know more about that romance possibility, and when will Mia’s abilities begin to show up and how, and there’s a BFF in the making here. Yeah. I’ll be back for the next title that is coming in May of 2021.

If you love your Paranormal Women’s Fiction with a touch of Cozy Mystery or the possibility of Romance – then you’ll want to get started on this series, right now.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.beginning-new-series paranormal-cozy-mystery paranormal-romance ...more1 Spinneretta2,475 13

Good

A sweet tale of a midlife reboot!
The heroine, after an embarrassing scene of her own making, and a second one from a louse of a boyfriend, finds herself heading towards the house her great-aunt left her in a will.
Starting over in a new town, new friends, new life... murdered body?

The heroine is a bit ditzy, the product of a rather verbally abusive mother, and the early death of her father.
It’s an entertaining book, a slight taste of romance and only a hint of magical goings on. In this book, the mystery is front and centre.
There are a number of strong support characters, some more intriguing than others.

An enjoyable paranormal mystery for fans of the genre.
1 Tyrannosaurus regina1,075 25

I hate to say it but I was a little bit disappointed by this, and I'm not sure it was any one thing but a culmination of a series of things that just didn't quite ring true (such as being locked out of her apartment, the gay character being too stereotypical - but at least there was one!, the too-aggressive questioning). It took a long time to get to what I was looking for. That said, it was still an Annabel Chase book so there was a lot to in it. I was left with the feeling that I will actually the second book in the series more than the first, once it's a little more lived in.cozy mystery paranormal1 Loretta TheMoodyRedhead726 2

From Aunt Hazel:

“You are special, Amelia Thorne, and you come from a long line of special women. Be true to yourself, learn to honor that authentic part of you, and you will always—always—be okay.”

I can’t wait for Mia to finally embrace her “special” gifts. She must realize her own worth and accept who she is first though.

I can’t believe I’ve waited nearly 3 years from the time I marked this book as Want to Read in GoodReads until now when I’ve finally read book 1! Then again, at that time (August 2021), only the first 2 books in this series were available. 5 more have been released since then! Woot woot!

This book is in the first person from Mia’s POV. Mia was dumped by her boyfriend - who she proposed to in a very dramatic and public way - and then she lost her job because of the fashion in which she made that proposal (I still wonder if the woman he dumped her for was her boss that fired her, because why would the boss fire such an exemplary employee for such a small reason?) And because Mia had been living in her boyfriend’s home, she was also homeless. So, dumped, fired, and evicted all in about 2 hours time. How in the world will she find a place in her home of New York when she is barely scraping by when she had a roommate?

So what does Mia do first? You may have guessed - called her mom. As she’s getting chastised by her narcissist mother, her mom tells her that her paternal great aunt that died a couple months ago willed Mia her house. So Mia decides to go check out the house and stay a couple of days while she figures out what steps to take next. She figures she’ll get some sleep in her new bed, shower, and then sell it and use the house sale money to move forward.

However, her aunt doesn’t make things that easy for Mia. Nope. Her aunt Hazel leaves a contingency in her will that Mia cannot have the house unless she lives in it for one year. After that period she can sell.

The house is adorable and a 20 lb cat comes with it - Aunt Hazel’s cat, Ophelia (my guess is that she’s a Maine Coon cat because that type is known for being huge). I also believe Ophelia is… was Hazel’s familiar, because it’s becoming more clear to Mia every day that her aunt was witchy.

Two people show up at Mia’s doorstep welcoming her to the neighborhood. Patrick is a very flamboyant spiritual cleanser aka ghost whisperer who lives a few doors down and Scarlet lives a couple blocks over and owns a landscaping business and is a pro on all things garden. Those 2 are great friends and totally complement one another. They are the exact type of folks I wish I could hang out with every day!

It’s around the second day when Mia literally falls over a body that is in her new garden. Mia is most definitely not a pushy broad, so un some characters in some books, I am not easily annoyed by her approach to murder suspects and persons of interest. She is more nonchalant. I that!

While Mia is stressing over getting the police Chief’s eyes off of her as a suspect, questioning people in town for motives, and turning down offers from different men asking her on dates, she’s also slowly realizing she may just have a gift of her own as her aunt Hazel had.

Great, so far!

Book 2 of 8 in The Bloomin’ Psychic series is called “Life’s a Birch” and I’ve already started reading it.

Add-on: Ok, now that I’m into this book #2, something is mentioned again that was in the first book and that is talk of hot flashes. Mia talks about having hot flashes several times throughout the book. What?! Wait a sec… she is only 42 years old. That is much too young for hot flashes unless she is on Depo Provera. The way Mia talks and the way she’s portrayed, one moment she seems she’s juvenile and immature a 20 year old, but then she talks about getting those hot flashes and Midlife crisis. At 42. Unrealistic. Bette2,717 13

Awesome Story & Narration
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