LitPick Review
When Poppy’s husband Thomas makes dinner reservations at a special fancy local restaurant, Poppy doesn’t think much of it except that since they haven’t been able to spend much time together as of late because of Thomas’ busy work schedule, they’ll use this opportunity to spend some quality time with each other. Little does she know that Thomas definitely has an agenda for this dinner together, but it’s nothing even remotely close to what Poppy might be thinking. During their dinner, Thomas takes the opportunity to tell his wife of nearly nineteen years that he wants a divorce because he doesn’t love her anymore. Poppy can’t believe what she is hearing. But once she starts putting the pieces together, she realizes all the time that Thomas was saying he had to work late the past few months, it was during those times he was having an affair. Poppy is furious with him. Nothing is going to stop her. It’s time she takes a second chance at happiness, and she returns to live in her inherited grandparents’ house back in Grimm Cove, South Carolina. She had plenty of happy memories in this house, and she is determined to restart the next chapter of her life back in her beloved grandparents’ home. But Fate has a few surprises in store for Poppy including literally bumping into her first true love, Brett Kasper, who is now the Chief of Police in Grimm Cove. What happens when Poppy runs into Brett when she arrives in Grimm Cove? What are some of the other surprises Fate has in store for Poppy? Is deciding to relocate back to Grimm Cove really the right thing for Poppy to do?
Opinion:
First off, I want to say how much I truly loved this story! Right from the first page, Ms. Mandy Roth pulled me into her story and kept me hanging onto her characters and storyline right until the very last word in the book. I was so pulled into the characters, especially Poppy and Brett, which made me have nothing but venom for Thomas and all his foul, disheartening words he said to Poppy. I felt bad for her because she was nearly forty-years-old with almost nineteen years of marriage behind her, and this was where her life had taken her. All she had to show for those marriage years were her college age twins, Tucker and Pepper. Everything else was a pure waste of her time. Not having much to fall back on since she had a small home business she ran selling variety of herbs, handmade soaps, crystals, candles, and lotion supplies, relocating to Grimm Cove seemed like the best option for her at this point in time. But I have to admit, I worried about her and hoped that this huge transitional move would be the right thing for her. When I found out that Brett was now the Chief of Police, I had hoped that they could straighten out the kinks they experienced in their relationship decades ago when they dated. I felt Poppy was at least owed the truth as to why the first true love of her life, Brett, just ran out on her with no proper explanation as to why he did so.
Another thing I loved about this story was the quirky list of characters the author wrapped her story around. I loved Poppy’s best friends, Dana and Marcy, and I was so happy she had true best friends that were like sisters to her. I knew they would stick close by her and make sure she landed on her feet again after the vicious divorce from Thomas. Her true friends were just that and more to Poppy, so I felt good for her that life was going to take her down a fresh new path filled with love and happiness, a path that I had hoped would involve Brett in Poppy’s life again. I knew Poppy was hurt when Brett just ran out of her life, but I had hoped this was the time to get answers and set things straight between them and just maybe take a second shot at love together again.
This story had so much action and adventure right from the start that I had a hard time putting it down when I had to do chores or errands. I couldn’t wait until I had a few minutes to start reading again just to see how everything turned out for Poppy and Brett. I have to admit I had hoped that Thomas would get plenty of his own Karma back as well. The author did a great job developing her characters and made them to be so believable that you could have them as your own friends. I was so pulled into this story that I felt I was actually another character in it seeing everything happening right before my eyes.
I also enjoyed how the story revolved around witchcraft and wolf-shifters. Each played an extremely important part in the story and character development, and the author did well in entertaining this reader as I turned the pages. Both made the story even more believable, and I enjoyed reading how each nuance of magic played its part in telling this story to me.
If you’re looking for a story that has adventure, love, and some fun witchcraft wrapped around well-developed characters, then look no further. Cloudy with a Chance of Witchcraft is the first book in the Grimm Cove series, and I’m happy to say it will be an ongoing six book series. I highly recommend this book, and I can’t wait to read the rest of Ms. Mandy Roth’s series!
