REVIEW: Prose and Cons

Prose and Cons
Author: Amanda Flower

I love this series about a magical bookshop! Customers in Charming Books get mysteriously matched with the books that fit them. Only proprietors Violet Waverly and her grandmother Daisy know the secret. They are the caretakers of the bookshop and the magical oak that grows up through the middle of the building. In Prose and Cons, everyone is gearing up for the annual Food and Wine Festival in Cascade Springs. The bookshop is hosting a reading of Edgar Allen Poe's work. The presenters will dress in period costumes and read selections on the front porch of the bookstore to entice tourists into the shop. It all goes along Poe-fectly until......one of the presenters is found dead just moments before the reading is to begin. When the magical shop starts giving Violet hints that the identity of the killer can be found within Poe's stories, she reluctantly investigates. Violet has learned in the past that chasing after killers can be dangerous and she doesn't want to be the next one that turns up......nevermore.

I know when I start reading a book by Amanda Flower that it's going to be magical and entertaining. I read this book when it first came out, but decided to re-read the first two books in this series before the third book comes out. Murders and Metaphors releases in February...so this is a perfect time to enjoy this enchanting series again. Although it isn't completely necessary to read the books in order, I would recommend it. There is a lot of character development, history of the shop and other details in the first book. I'd highly recommend reading it first before delving into this story. But.....a reader could piece together most of the characters and plot if they had to skip over book 1 and start with this one.

I listened to the audio book version of this 2nd book in the Magical Bookshop Mystery series. At just under 8 hours long, the audio is narrated by Rachel Dulude. I liked her reading and voice. She read at a nice, even pace and did a great job voicing the different characters...even Faulkner the Crow. :)

I did have a hard time with one thing though. And this is just me. Because the poetry reading is from the works of Edgar Allen Poe, it's called a poe-try reading. So the characters say that word over & over & over again....poe-try, poe-try, poe-try. For whatever reason I found this grating on my nerves. At first, I thought the narrator was mispronouncing the word. When I was fussing about it, my husband remarked that it might be written that way. I got down my print copy of the book and looked....sure enough....Poe-try reading.  If I had been reading that over and over in print, I would have found it cute. But pronounced that way in an audio book more than 1000 times.....it got annoying by chapter 3. Overused. But....most people would probably not find that irritating. [Mental note to self: When you start getting annoyed by cute, quirky things in cozy mysteries, it's time to drink more coffee, relax and just enjoy literature.]

This second book in the series is just as enjoyable as the first for me. I love the concept of a bookshop enchanted by a magical tree. I love the fact that the shop owners are caretakers of the tree. And, any shop where books magically choose readers.....OMG....I would be there every day! There is a bit of a spooky edge to this story....Poe lends that splash of darkness. I loved it!

Luckily I don't have to wait for the 3rd book to come out....I have a review copy waiting for me on my digital TBR. I'm so glad I took the time to go back and re-read this series before jumping into the new book. It's just a magical, entertaining, feel-good cozy mystery experience.