Love a good cozy mystery and the spot. Second in a series but I wasn’t lost without read the first one. It was a quick read that was hard to put down.

I received this book for an honest review

Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this story. An amazing cozy I wish I had read them in order but i really enjoyed it.

The second in a cozy mystery series, Alex once again finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. Involving mermaids, dragons, and very coveted shield, Alex is trying to protect her family again from being accused of murder by her cop boyfriend Jack. There are some nice twists at the end, but this one felt a bit darker than the first book. Still a fun and quick read.


Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the arc.

I enjoyed reading A Hex For Danger the second mystery in the Enchanted Bay Mystery. We get an interesting mystery and a deeper look at Alex and the other members of her family. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Murder Mars Mermaid Festival....
The second in the Enchanted Bay Mystery series and the annual Mermaid Festival is taking place in Bellamy Bay. Needless to say not all goes to plan and when a death occurs Alex sets out to find a killer - with some help, of course, from her, magic enhanced, family Entertaining cosy mystery with a fantastical theme.

Family secrets and Polish roots, sounds like my family! A magical read with plenty of twist and turns to keep it interesting and the reader guessing. Looking forward to seeing this series develop.

A Hex for Danger is the second book in this series but the first I read and it does well as a standalone.

The premise is a bit unusual-Alex, our protagonist has settled in Bellamy Bay, North Carolina with her mother's family after her father's death.. Her father had forbade her to have contact with them after her mother's death when she was seven. She has recently discovered that she is a mermaid and descended from the Mermaid of Warsaw (the legend really exists!) and has supernatural powers. And she discovered the world was made up of Magicals and Mundanes.

Bellamy Bay has a mermaid history-Captain John Bellamy landed in the area and there were already mermaids there but no one believed him. However, the town used the mermaid story as a marketing ploy and had an annual summer festival. The small town attracted tourists and summer residents and Alex worked in her aunt's herbal apothecary. A famous artist is commissioned to decorate the local park with a mermaid mural. Alex's friend Celeste, is jealous of the attention that her boyfriend Jasper is giving to Neve and they have a loud argument at a reception held later at the historical museum. And when Neve is found murdered in Jasper's office, Celeste is arrested for her murder and Alex explores all the other options to free her friend.

While I enjoyed the book, the world building takes a bit to get used to and the later introduction of another species of magical being and magical artifacts makes the story very fantastical.

I applaud the author for a new, refreshing approach. I thought the mystery was a good one

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

"A Hex for Danger" is the second in the Enchanted Bay mystery series by Esme Addison. Alex is settling in with her cousins and aunt at their botanical shop, and is learning more about her mermaid heritage and powers.

The town is holding their annual Mermaid Festival, to celebrate their connection to the Mermaid of Warsaw. The artist who painted a mural for the event is found bludgeoned after a party, and Alex's cousin Celeste is the prime suspect. As Alex investigates, she is put at odds with her police detective boyfriend Jack, and encounters other supernaturals who are not as benevolent as the mermaids.

The characters are good, and I'm enjoying the series, but I have a few minor quibbles with this one. They may get corrected during the editing process, but here they are:
1- In the first chapter, there's a brief power outage and it states that people's cell phones go dark. The blip is later attributed to a blip in the power grid. A blip in the power grid might take out a cell tower, but it wouldn't cause cell phones to go dark, because they run on batteries.
2- Personal pet peeve - Don't write a book set in the South if you can't spell "y'all." Sushi Ya'll is not correct, unless it's meant as a parody/joke.
3- Alex is very judgmental of others' behavior, but is perfectly willing to do deep mental scans to get facts to clear her cousin. She considers that the ends justify the means, especially if the people she's mind-mining turn out to be not so nice people. There's one instance where someone holds her at gunpoint.. She disarms the assailant, but then holds the assailant against their will and forces them to answer her questions. That's not ethical behavior.

By the end of the book, it seemed like Alex realized that she was on some shaky ground, ethically, and might be making some improvements. I hope so, because I do enjoy the series, but Alex's actions are hypocritical and high-handed.

I received an advance copy from Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

myths-legends, murder, murder-investigation, museum, magic, magical-twist, mermaid, witches*****

And here I thought that the Polish immigrants all settled in the upper Midwest! Never knew there was an enclave in South Carolina, and I'd never heard about the mermaid legend of Warsaw. So this history geek had a really great time reading about a magical community within a regular community and the investigation of a murder. Terrific cozy well written with engaging, fun characters. Loved it!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Overall, this mystery book kept the reader on their toes and was very suspenseful. When you think you know who the killer is, the author would take you on a twist. It was very fun to read this book. I also liked how the mermaids used magical powers throughout the book so it had a little bit of fantasy as well. Since this book is the second in the series, I did not read the first so I felt like I was missing a little bit of information as I was reading. At the end of this book the story does not completely end, as they still have to ‘stop the bad guy’ so the reader would have to wait for book three. I also liked how not only did this book incorporate not just one magical creature (mermaids) but two (dragons) and made them more related to one another in this story; that was quite cool. Usually in a book you only get one or the other. I was actually scared at some points for the characters in the book during some of the suspenseful scenes but it never got to be too gory which is good for me because I do get grossed out easily.

When Alex is confronted by a woman who knows her family’s secret, but seems to want to keep it secret, she is intrigued. Before the two are able to speak again the woman is found murdered, leaving Alex to wonder who else knows the secret.

Rather than telling her family, she sets out to find who murdered the woman and determine if the secret is safe or her family is in danger. This could put Alex in an even more precarious position than just having the secret known, it could end Alex’s life. But she will not be deterred because after all, family is everything.

I really love this series! While only the second book so far, I hope it’s around for many, many years to come. The struggle between good and bad, the need to defend and protect those you care about, and the need to trust and be yourself all resonate throughout the stories, but most of all, it’s about family and I adore the Polish roots this family has. A great read for the true cozy fan!

I will admit, I did struggle a bit to get into the story, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down.
There were so many twists, turns, and red herrings in the story, that I was kept on the edge of my seat the entire time.
Alex, Minka, Kamila, Celeste and Lidia are a great cast of characters. I enjoyed all the information about Mermaids, and the magical aspects of the story were intriguing.
I’m curious to see how things play out with Alex, Jack & Dylan.
I definitely recommend this series.

I loved the magical aspect of this book, Alex, Minka, Kamila, Pepper use their skills to solve this murder. I enjoyed the interaction between Alex and Dylan, A really good cozy mystery.

Loved reading this book and series. I couldn't put the book down. I wanted to know what happened. I suggest reading this book and series.