Fiona is a witch, and meets Carter, the grandson of a vampire hunter. Needless to say, there is a vampire killing people in the small town. I did enjoy this one, but must admit not liking the ending. Bounces between light heartedness and at times gruesome, but overall enjoyable. Would recommend.

As above, so below one star.
The premise was OK but the delivery was clunky and hard to hold my interest.
It started with a prologue set in 1752 with witches and wolves (I think). It was difficult to follow because I couldn't really tell what was happening. For me, it definitely started this book journey off on the wrong foot. When I finished reading the whole story, I even went back to reread it to see if I could now make heads or tails of it but it was still too vague and jumbled for me. I get the general idea of the creation of Ancient Oak but that's just by my own inference.
I couldn't really find any affinity for any of the characters. It was all just blah.
A sort of 'fated love' between Carter and Fiona, who met once when they were children and kissed, was a secondary underlying plotline. It just felt forced, especially with a sex scene thrown in.
I just wasn't happy or satisfied with the whole story. I would've put it down sooner but I knew it was a short book so I kept on.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley)

As Above, So Below is a cute story about a magical town of magical beings that mortals can't find or access and a man in search of what happened to his grandfather.

Vampires, town secrets, and magic gone awry. It was cute, reminded me a bit of Molly Harper's Mystic Bayou.

Fiona is a witch with a secret and Carter is a doctor in the military. He's never heard of anything like what he's seeing in this little town, but the more time he spends there, the more he starts remembering about the last time he spent there. Then the murders and mysterious goings-on start.

I'm a super huge fan of paranormal stories and little quick-read-type novellas or short stories. Sometimes you just need a little palate cleanser, you know?

The mystery was fun. The romance was a bit insta, but I'm not mad at it. With the page count, it's hard to work a slow burn and keep everyone engaged.

All in all, I enjoyed As Above, So Below. I look forward to more from Jennifer Bokal's backlog.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

This was a super quick story that kept me reading until the late into the night. The writing flowed smoothly and wasn’t too overly bogged down with description but I felt it could have used a little more depth. You’re thrown right into the story with Carter and learn what is going on as he does. This might have benefited more from being a full story rather than a novella because there was so much more that could have been explored. I enjoyed the story and would like to see another story with these characters.

This book had a little bit of magic, myth, romance, and adventure all rolled in to a quick read. Is this the start of a series set in this town? I hope so!

Carter is on a mission to find out what happened before his relative died. It takes a bit of doing, but he finally ends up in a town without a map. This town has purposefully made itself hard to find, protected by magic to keep the normal humans out. So why can Carter find it? Turns out, his family has a bit of an interesting lineage.

Fiona, the local bookstore owner and assumed leader of the town (eventually) is suffering from a loss of her magic. While coming to terms with this, she is faced with a man she never thought she'd see again. They shared a kiss when they were younger and then he disappeared. Of course, there's more to the story than just that. There's all sorts of other myth and legend out in the open in this town that Carter is forced to confront and acknowledge after he unwittingly gets sucked in to a town mystery. There is, of course, an element of romance and sexy times thrown in on top of the building adventure/showdown. While we get a good ending for these two, this town clearly has more to address in the final chapters.

A brilliantly executed cozy mystery. As Above, So Below was a delightful read which kept me guessing until the very end.

Synopsis:
A search for information about his grandfather's mysterious death leads Army physician, Carter Balan, to the town of Ancient Oaks.
Fiona Moon has a secret. Her magical abilities have been fading since her 40th birthday and with Halloween only a week away, the witch fears that her powers are gone for good.

This book had such potential. Mature MC's, magic, secret town, intrigue but it suffered for it's length.

If the author had fleshed out the story some more I think she would have had a stellar read but there was just too much happening in such a limited space.

The set up was brilliant, the characters were interesting and I will be checking back in with this series because the last chapter peaked my interest. I just hope there is a more robust story to go along with it.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As Above, So Below had a lot of potential based on its storyline but it fell flat for me.

Judging by the description and cover, I expected a spooky/Halloweentown-ish romcom but this story centers around the solving of a town murder.

Fiona is a 40-year old witch who thinks she's losing her powers and doesn't know how to deal with it. Carter is a mortal (or so he thinks) who heads into the magical town to investigate his grandfather's death. Both characters are likeable and have interesting backgrounds but this story just had too many instantaneous happenings for me. The story takes place over 24 hours and I think it could have used maybe 100 more pages to stretch out the storyline over a week or at least a few days. The romance is insta-love, the murder happens quickly, Carter comes to grips with this whole magical world instantly, and they investigate and solve the crime within a day. There is just a bit too much going on between the romance, the history, and the threat of vampires all happening within a day that there's really no flow to the story.

The bookshop on the cover is literally called local bookshop that’s just a bit non imaginative I mean I live in a small place and we don’t have a shop that has the word local in it, the name of the book is really confusing me and I’m not sure why, this book was interesting to read but also a little weird I’m not sure how to describe it but I did enjoy it it was fun

ARC provided by Netgalley and BookBuzz in exchange for an honest review

Cartan Balan is a soon-to-be-retired Army doctor. He arrives at the town of Ancient Oaks in search of what happened to his grandfather 30 years ago. Carter remembers being in this town with his grandfather but has no recollection of the events that led to his demise. There he meets Fiona Moon, a bookshop owner.

Fiona is a witch. And she has a secret: ever since her 40th birthday, her magical powers have been fading. She's afraid that when Halloween comes, her powers will be gone for good. When Carter enters her bookshop, she realizes that he is the first boy she ever kissed. They met when he came to visit the town with his grandfather. But Carter has no memories at all of the time he spent there and he has no idea that he comes from a long line of vampire hunters with his grandfather was a very well-known one! When a vampire attacks one of the town residents and they find out that the creature has been living in a cave in the woods, he has to decide if he will live up to his legacy and Fiona has to try to harness the magic within to save the town. 

I picked this book up because I was looking for a witchy, romcom for spooky season. Don't let the cutesy cartoon-y cover lead you on: this may be listed as a romance, but, although it does have a romantic element to the story, the book starts out with a violent death and the focus of it is the fight against the creature terrorizing the town. 

I was very attracted to the idea of a heroine who is over 40 and I love a witchy romance. However, this story is really not what I was expecting. It is a good book, but I was disappointed. You see, the story takes place over a 24-hour period (with an epilogue set one week later), so there is no time for a romance to develop properly. We know that there is history between the two MCs, but  it's not enough, especially because Carter doesn't even remember Fiona. 

As far as a paranormal tale, I liked it. Though I had some trouble accepting how fast Carter took in all the new information (this is a magic town, you are the last vampire hunter in your line, Fiona is a witch etc.), I liked the vampire storyline. The "twist" at the end was telegraphed from the beginning and it got me thinking if this will be a first book in a series. If that is so, I would really like to see the story developed a little bit more. It was a bit insta everything: installs, instalove, "insta-I-am-a-vampire-hunter" for me, but it was a fun read, especially during Halloween season.

Fiona Moon has a secret. Her magical abilities have been fading since her 40th birthday and with Halloween only a week away, the witch fears that her powers are gone for good.

When Carter walks into her bookshop, Fiona knows exactly who he is—the first boy she ever kissed. Carter has no memory of Fiona or the fact he comes from a long line of vampire hunters. When a vampire is discovered in the woods Fiona and Carter must work together to destroy the creature. Can Carter recover his stolen memories before it's too late? Will he accept his family history and pick up where his grandfather left off? Can Fiona find a way to harness her powers and save the town?

A supernatural mystery/romance. What's not to like? I really like Fiona. I especially like how she is an older character and not your usual twenty something. I like the supernatural world in this book and how there seems to be so many untold stories.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an arc.