Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of CHILI CAULDRON CURSE (A Kitchen Witch Novella introducing the new series) by Lynn Cahoon in exchange for an honest review. Mia Malone has taken some time off from her regular job to return home to Magic Springs in order to help her grandmother, Mary Alice Carpenter, and her grandmother’s friend, Tasha Newton, get the local food pantry in order for the upcoming school year and the kick-off fundraising event. Mia has added to her own responsibilities by taking charge of her boyfriend’s “wild child” younger sister, Christina, during the community service project. When her grandmother’s new boyfriend is murdered in the facility, Mia adds a dash of investigation to her organization duties. Mia’s grandmother adds a zing of her own when a spell gone awry inserts the soul of the deceased into Mr. Darcy, Mia’s witchy familiar. Can Mia find the killer before Mary Alice, Christina, or another friend ends up in boiling hot water?

#ChiliCauldronCurse #NetGalley

CHILI CAULDRON CURSE by Lynn Cahoon is the prequel to the Kitchen Witch cozy mystery series. It is set mostly in Magic Springs, Idaho and this is the first book that I have read by this author. Since this is a novella, it is introducing the reader to the main character Mia, her grandmother (Grans) and a few of the people in the small community.

The book is well-written with characters that have some depth and there is an interesting plot. However, due to the short length of the book, the mystery was resolved rather quickly.

The characters are compelling, fascinating, and felt three-dimensional. There was enough at stake to keep me engaged throughout the story. The world-building was good and gave a clear sense of place. Themes include family, relationships, volunteerism, magic, and much more.

Overall, this was a fun and entertaining read. I would recommend it to those that enjoy witch cozy mysteries and are looking for a new series to start. I look forward to reading the next book in this series as well as checking out this author’s other series.

Thanks to Kensington Books and Lynn Cahoon for a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley and the opportunity to provide an honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

Chili Cauldron Curse is a lovely novella introducing Mia, a Kitchen Witch, along with her Grans, in Magic Springs Idaho. Mia is visiting from Boise to assist her Grans and Friend getting the local Food Bank in order before the new school year begins, hard work becomes that much worse when Mia finds the current Warlock dead in the Food Bank Warehouse. Not to mention, he just happens to be Grans new Beau! Will Mia get to the bottom of this murder mystery in time to clear Grans name and get the Food Bank in order? Lynn Cahoon has done it again, created a magical setting with mystical characters that I can't wait to read about again in the near future. Thank You to Lynn Cahoon, Kensington Books and Netgalley for this complimentary ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This novella is an fun, enjoyable read and is the intro to a new cozy mystery series featuring Mia Malone, a kitchen witch.

Mia takes a week off of work to visit her grandmother in Magic Springs and help organize and set up the local pantry. Magic Springs is truly magical with numerous witches and warlocks as well as “muggles” with different levels of beliefs in witchcraft.

This book sets up the new series well. We are introduced to various inhabitants of Magic Springs as well as gain an understanding of Mia and her grandmother’s relationship.

I enjoyed this intro and am definitely going to continue on with the series. However, I felt the murder mystery and discovery of the murderer is weak and rushed-the downfall of it being a novella?

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book from Kensington Books via NetGalley. All of the above opinions are my own.

I am not usually one for books with witches, covens, and the like. I am not usually into novellas either - they are just too short. But the prequel to the new series by Lynn Cahoon was just enough to introduce me to her upcoming series. It was light and fun. It kept me entertained. The characters are ones I would not mind visiting with again - I am sure they will become great friends as time goes on. I cannot wait for the first book in this new series!

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington Books for a copy of Chili Cauldron Curse in exchange for an honest review.

This is going to be a wonderful new series from Lynn Cahoon following her Tourist Trap, Farm-to-Fork and Cat Latimer series. Kitchen Witch had Mia Malone as her main character along with her grandmother Mary Alice Carpenter. The story takes place in Magic Springs, Idaho - Mia and her grandmother are witches. Mia has a wonderful familiar Mr. Darcy a brilliant cat who does not like Mia's boyfriend and boss Isaac Adams. As the novella goes along, it's easy to see why.

Mia is in Magic Springs from her home in Boise to help her grandmother and her friend Tasha Newton set up the Magic Springs Food Bank. Tasha has been having trouble keeping on top of things so food has been spoiling. Mia has some great plans to help her along. Of course, there has to be a dead body that Mia gets mixed up with the investigation of. Officer Mark Baldwin will be an interesting character to see the development of.

This was a lovely novella and I'm looking forward to a full length novel with theses characters to get to know them better.

Love this new series. Mia comes home to help her grandmother with the food bank. Before the food pantry can open there is a murder. Hopefully the killer is caught before then. This is a great new read by Lynn Cahoon

Another fun series from this author. Quicker read than most but still have the reader a sense of place, characters, and relationships. This promises to be another must read
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

It seemed to be a novella in an already set up series, characters were introduced as though you might already know them - as I hadn't read anything else by this author it was a little bit distracting - but enjoyable all the same. Will keep an I out by more and will recommend to my customers.

This is an introduction novella to the new Kitchen Witch Mystery series. Mia Malone is back in Magic Springs Idaho at her Grandmother’s request to help get the food bank in order before the upcoming school year. She lives in Boise with her boyfriend and he drops off his sister Christina to help and she senses something is off with their relationship but she promises to help her Grandmother for this next week. Mia learns that the local coven is having a power struggle with the leader Dorian being a new romance for her Grandmother. Mia finds him dead at the Food bank and her Grandmother becomes a suspect. Mia is curious who would want to kill him and she does a little sleuthing but her main focus is getting the food bank up and running before she leaves as well as getting the food bank ready for the upcoming charity Chili cook-off. The mystery gets wrapped up real quickly with a suspect not even on the radar screen but that is what a short novella must do. The goal which is successful is whetting everyone’s appetite for the new series. Looking forward to the first book.

This book was the beginning to a series I did not know I needed. It was the perfect introduction to a new series that gives you just enough to hardly be able to wait for an other book to be released. This book was a fun and mystery filled intro and I cannot wait to read more!

This is a fun magical novella. This is a short quick-paced mystery. Having said that there is no shortage of twists and turns or entertainment. We are receiving an introduction to our protagonists and her friends. These characters seem well-developed with likable quirky personalities. I am looking for to spending more time with this series.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way, I have been influenced by anyone.

This was a novella, and an introduction into a new series by Lynn Cahoon. In this book, we meet Mia, who has taken off a week from her chef job, to help her grandmother get the local food bank from her hometown up and ready for the beginning of the school year. Mia is a witch, though she doesn’t practice. But a lot of the people in the town of Magic Springs (awesome name for a town about witches), are part of the coven. As Mia is entering the warehouse that houses the food bank one morning, she finds the body of Dorian, a warlock, who has been fighting for a spot as leader of the coven. He’s been poisoned. Mia and her grandmother are both questioned for the murder.

This was a wonderful book. It was short, and super fast to read. I fell in love with Mia, Gran, and even Christina. The characters are all wonderful and I can’t wait to read more about them. A great introduction into this new series, and these characters. Definitely worth a read.

Mia Malone is in Magic Springs, Idaho, spending a week helping her feisty grandmother organize a food bank warehouse. Her organizational skills and kind heart are the most important things she brings to the table, but there's more. Mia, like her grandmother, is a Kitchen Witch -- though she tries not to use her magic any more than she has to.
She also has work, romantic, and family complications to deal with. Not to mention the secrets of Magic Springs -- there's a reason for the name, and it includes a local coven with internal political strife and its own family, work, and romantic complications.
The complications are increased when Mia's grandmother's secret suitor turns up.
This is a novella which introduces Mia and her involved community. There's a definite supernatural component, but the relationships are the big news here. Lynn Cahoon always provides a lively story with plenty of surprises, and this new series is no exception. I look forward to getting to know Mia and her crew better,

Another wonderful story from Lynn Calhoon. Chili Cauldron Curse will entertain you as Mia help set up food pantry and solve a murder. She returns home only to find she will be starting a new job that she really wants.

AHHHH this novella was so cute! I can’t wait for more books in this series, because this was such a good introduction and so stinking cute I wanna reread it!

Chili Cauldron Curse is a fun short novella. If you are a fan of cozy mysteries, you know Lynn Cahoon knows how to weave a good cozy, create well-rounded characters and craft a twisting and intriguing plot. The paranormal was a bit heavy for me, but that's just me. If paranormal cozies are your thing, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of this book!

This is a novella to introduce the author’s new kitchen witch series. We don’t really see Mia’s witchcraft much in this book but I really liked Mia and her grandmother. The story mixes mystery, humor, and an interesting cast of supporting characters. I’m looking forward to reading the full length book when it’s published.

I received a free copy of this book through the publisher on Netgalley. I voluntarily reviewed this book.

I heard lots of good things about Lynn Cahoon's books, so when I saw this prequel to her new series on Netgalley I excitedly jumped on the chance to read it. Chili Cauldron Curse is a fun short prequel novella to this new series. I liked getting a feel for the characters and the town where I think this series will take place as well as the magical aspect. There also is a short murder mystery to be solved.

I enjoyed this novella, while it was short it didn't feel rushed and moved along on a good pace. I often have difficulties with shorter reads to really get into the story and get familiar with the characters and that was something I struggled with here a bit as well. I liked what we saw of the characters so far and I definitely look forward to reading more and getting to know the characters better.

The mystery was pretty straightforward, which is understandable given the shorter length of this one. I have to say I liked the rest of the story more with the food bank volunteer work and the chili contest. The mystery progressed quite quickly and there isn't as much time to talk to potential suspects and really get to wondering who had done it. By the time you have some suspects the mystery gets solved already. The main character also solved the mystery sort of by accident. It was nice how she sort of just hears things instead of really have to investigate and her focus is on the volunteer work.

I liked main character Mia and her Grandma and hope to see more of them in the future books. I do feel like there's a lot of them we don't know yet and I had some trouble to really get a feel for their characters, but I like what we saw so far. There were a few instances where the dialogue felt a bit off.

I liked how this prequel kinda sets the stage for the first book, with the volunteer job and her being in another town than where she lives and then the events at the end of the book. I am curious to see what she will do next and how she adjusts to things after the events of this prequel. I also liked the paranormal aspect, there are scenes in which magic is used and a few mentions of what is possible.

To summarize: this was a fun short and serves as an introduction to this new paranormal cozy mystery series. I liked reading it and look forward to the first book in the series. The mystery was pretty straightforward and not as engaging, but that makes sense as it's a shorter read. I liked what I saw of the main character Mia and a few interesting side characters and I hope we get to see more of them in the first book. The paranormal element was interesting too. All in all this is a nice short taste and I look forward to the first book.

I enjoyed this story. It's really short I liked the main character, what we got to know. I hope to read more in the future. #ChiliCauldronCurse #NetGalley