First off, I was not aware that this was the second book in a series. That being said, I still enjoyed the book for what it was. The book starts out with some information that would have been good background to have from reading the first one, so it started off a little slow and confusing for me. Someone has been blackmailing Nina for years, but lately the threats to reveal her secret have changed to threats on her life, and on the lives of those she loves. With Alyssa contacting ghosts for insight and Nina getting used to her telepathy skills, they dash from city to city to track down the threat. The paranormal portion of the book was interesting, providing a coming to terms with grief, death, the main character discovering herself, and new beginnings. The friendship between the characters was cute and well done, providing a cozy kind of atmosphere when together. The romance was also done in good taste, being more closed door. The mystery portion was very interesting, even though it was slightly predictable.
All in all, it's a good cozy read, I definitely am interested in picking up the first one eventually to piece everything together fully.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ebook to preview.

It's sort of tough to review this, because on one hand, this series would probably appeal to a lot of library patrons, but on the other hand, this didn't work for me. After book one, I was definitely sold on this cast of characters, their powers and their cozy small towns. I was excited to start this one knowing that Nina, our MC's best friend, was going to be exploring powers of her own. Alongside learning more about Nina's past, we also see MC Alyssa and her cop boyfriend Nick work on solving a set of murders. Both of these things were interesting enough, but I felt that the ghosts in this lacked the personality that the ones from book one had. Also, there are other side plots in this that take up too much time, making the plot feel choppy. Finally, there are a few too many coincidences in this. They just happened to be visiting the headquarters of a secret society that was related to the murders they were trying to solve that happened states away? They quite literally just stumble into their biggest clue. All this coincidence just seems unnecessary when you have several characters with supernatural powers. Let them find clues by using them instead of having them randomly come across an old friend that can help. It just felt clumsy. However, this does work as a cozy mystery and has broad appeal.

In A Charming Touch of Tarot by Melissa Holtz the story is a charming mystery with supernatural elements. In particular I like the ghostly supernatural aspects and the way the author sprinkles in details from the first book in the series to allow the reader to organically catch up if you aren’t familiar with the book. I also liked the details of each woman’s power and how she expands on the details of their abilities, even demonstrating how much they have learned even in the course of this book.
The novel has a lot of charming mystery and intrigue as Alyssa works with her new beau to help him solve a crime and even though the description of the book does not quite match the level of threat in the actual book, I did find the ending adds to the intrigue and will work wonderfully to pull readers further into the series with a continued threat lurking.
If you like mysteries with supernatural aspects, this is a great one to read. I do think it would be helpful to begin with the first book in the series but there are only two so far so this would be a great start to a new mystery series. With a charming mystery and intriguing characters, this one is sure to keep you thrilled over the course of the series.

I wish I had known this was the second book in a series because I was lost for the first few chapters.
it was cute, I enjoyed the paranormal aspect, and it was cozy, but I don’t think I would call it a romance.

Extremely slow paced, even having read the first, still not as interested in the humans as I should be. Maybe this series is a dud for me.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as book 1, but I did like it. I honestly didn't care for Nina's storyline, but am interested more in the friendship between the four women.

I have very mixed feelings about A Charming Touch of Tarot. Overall I thought it was a pretty quick read and still an interesting enough concept for a book that is what I would consider to be a more mature type of cozy mystery.

I like the concept of a little bit of paranormal being added into the mix of mystery and friendship. But the main character will frequently have internal thoughts that she expresses that just rub me the wrong way. They weren't problematic enough that I still remember the specifics several days after finishing the book but they were enough that I literally wrinkled my nose as I was reading them. And I know that it's a book but I can't help but feel like the relationship between the main character and her boyfriend is going to have problems because he's a recovering alcoholic and she and her friends are literally always drinking.

I'm also not sure if I like that this is going to become the type of series where the mystery spans through multiple books. I liked that book one was more self contained than this one appears to be. So I honestly don't know if I'll continue reading if the book continues to keep up with the mystery through another book.

Okay so I did like this book, but I had no idea it was the second installment of the series. I wish I knew that when I first requested it. It did start to make sense about 20% of the way through.

While I did like this, I don’t think it really was a romance in my opinion. Maybe more of a “discovering yourself” and coping with grief and death. It was a cozy read, but this was just an “okay” for me. Was it cute? Yeah. Was the paranormal aspect of it good? Definitely. I just wanted a little bit more.

Overall, it still was a cute cozy read. Definitely wish I knew about the first book before starting this one.

The women of The Gin and Tarot group are back in this follow-up to An Enchanting Case of Spirits. Even more ghostly adventures, this book was just a humorous and fun as the first. If you enjoy cozy paranormal fantasy, with strong female characters, this may just be the book for you!
Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and Netgalley for this ARC!

What to expect when reading A Charming Touch of Tarot:

👻 Emotional story
👻 Full of surprises
👻 Mystery solving Scooby Doo-style gang
👻 Ghost whisperer
👻 Silver fox detective
👻 Family secrets
👻 Exorcism hijinks
👻 Diabolical enemies
👻 Game changing plot twist

What a wild ride. If my heart wasn’t clenching as Nick’s ex-fiancée’s ghost tries to matchmake Alyssa and Nick, it was in my throat as Nina and Lanie’s hidden secrets explode have monumental consequences for the group. I was completely enthralled in the storyline and gasped with every revelation.

The jaw-dropping finale has me chomping at the bit for the next book.

This is the first time I have read this series, and I strongly recommend that it be read in order. Unfortunately, I did not so there were a couple of times where I got lost, but the author quickly brought me back. There are sections of grief with death as well as second chance at life. There are sensitive matters as well like abuse, but the author manages it all with compassion.

The addition of visions and ghosts gives it a unique twist. The ending has made me curious to know what happens next.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. It’s funny, giving me paranormal Golden Girls moments, especially Nick’s reaction “of course it was Lanie”. I rate this novel 4 out of 5 stars.

A charming touch of tarot by Melissa Holtz is actually the second book in the series, I did not know this until I went to write the review and can say that you can read this book without reading the first one. That said, this book is so fun It makes me want to go back and read the first one.

The Gin and Tarot club is what Alyssa, Nina, Lanie and Corinne call their weekly girls hang. Each of the girls are dealing with different situations in their own lives and also are coming to terms with their different psychic abilities. When murders start to occur in their hometown, they band together to help solve it before it claimed more victims.

My favorite part had to be when Alyssa and her boyfriend get tarot readings, with the most ridiculous sounding tarot cards!

I love how each chapter was named after a tarot card.

Thank you Melissa Holtz for partnering with NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

I really liked this story of a close group of friends who work together to help one of them deal with a blackmailer. It’s a cozy mystery/paranormal book. These women have been friends for years when suddenly they develop magical powers. Imagine how it would feel if that suddenly happened to your group of friends!
They have to band together and rely on each other and their newfound magical powers. There’s a sweet romance subplot too!

From the Publisher:

Alyssa, Nina, Lanie, and Corinne's friendship is being put to the test. With Nina's marriage falling apart, Lanie acting distant, Alyssa's new romance, and no one quite trusting Corinne, this may be more than their bond can take. But when Nina appears at Alyssa's door, and confesses not just a decades-old secret, but a newfound magical power, the friends know that the only way to face this is together.

Someone has been blackmailing Nina for years, but lately the threats to reveal her secret have changed to threats on her life, and on the lives of those she loves. With Alyssa contacting ghosts for insight and Nina getting used to her telepathy skills, they dash from city to city to track down the threat. There's someone out there that will go to any lengths to keep their control over Nina, and it will take all four friends to get out of this without ruining, or losing, their lives. But with the strength of their friendship—and a little help from the beyond—these women are out to prove they're not to be messed with

This is an entertaining read that I highly recommend.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley, I received a complimentary copy of hethis book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

It is gray and raining outside today so I am perfectly happy to sit inside and enjoy a cozy read- a little bit of magic makes it all the better.
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A Charming Touch of Tarot is the second book in a series by Melissa Holtz. I didn’t realize it was a part of a new series until I had already started it. I wish I had read the first, An Enchanting Case of Spirits, before this one. However I wasn’t lost and enjoyed this one anyway. Now I am going to get the first one and read it ahead of the next in the series that I am sure will follow.
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This stars the most delicious group of friends. I’d love to be a part of their group. These friends all seem to have some recently realized magical skills that they use to come together and help each other.
This time, one of them is being blackmailed and they need to solve the mystery.
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With magic, mystery, and a slow burn romance, this is a fun and quick read. Thank you @BerkleyPub for my advanced ecopy. This hits the shelves tomorrow!! Grab it and be entertained as well.

If Hallmark ever branched into paranormal territory, they’d be grabbing up this series faster than … I don’t know, but really fast. When I was approved for an ARC of this book, I discovered that it was book 2 of a series, and was able to get an audiobook from my library of the first book. I really enjoyed the first one, and was excited to see where the series was heading.

One of my favorite parts of the story is how most of the major characters in the story are in their forties. Each of the club members is in a very different place in their lives, yet they all manage to come together and be supportive of each other. This is one of the coziest aspects of the story, with the friends having a really cool bond between them. Alyssa, Nina, and Lanie are long-term friends, and Corinne is a bit of a prickly new addition to the group, younger than the rest. This book let me feel like I got to know the characters a lot better, as they’re all dealing with issues.

Nina is going through an ugly divorce, Alyssa is just emerging on the other side of grief after her husband died suddenly, Lanie … had something going on, and we don’t really get to know much about Corinne yet, but I’m looking forward to learning more about her. As if that isn’t enough, there are still the paranormal talents to get used to: Alyssa’s being able to see ghosts, and now Nina’s new telepathy talent.

On top of all of that, Alyssa keeps seeing ghosts that clearly have a message for her, but she can’t quite figure out what these messages are. Although there is one ghost whose presence made me laugh a lot of the time, even as I already predicted that they would creating issues. More importantly, there are unsolved mysteries piling up at the police station, and they’re clearly related in some way to these cases, if Alyssa can just figure out what the ghosts are trying to tell her.

I really enjoyed the romance growing between Alyssa and her hot detective boyfriend. They are really developing more than just attraction, but also a great friendship, which is a pretty good way to create a romance that feels natural and realistic. Things are moving slowly, and the romance is closed door, so it actually feels like watching a relationship develop, as opposed to insta-love or something out of convenience. Both Alyssa and Nick are building on a foundation of honesty, cooperation, respect, and vulnerability, and I am enjoying seeing this blossom.

While I loved the romance aspect of the book, I especially appreciated the way that it didn’t overshadow the other aspects of the story, including the friendships and the mysteries. And yes, I did say ‘mysteries,’ because there are several of them in this book. Initially, it was a little bit confusing, but after I got everything situated in my head, I was fully invested. The story is a little slow in the beginning as it sets up all these different questions—what’s up with the ghosts? What are they trying to tell Alyssa? What the heck is going on with Lanie? Who is blackmailing Nina and why? What is happening with the missing girl?—but it does pick up the pace around 25% of the way in, and things move at a pretty fast pace from there to the end.

Overall, I really had a good time with this one. It’s fun, funny, the perfect mix of light-hearted and serious, has the sweetest romance, and what is giving me younger Golden Girls vibes. The author sensitively deals with grief, various types of loss, and still manages to feel light as a whole. Plot twists were a bit predictable, but I kind of like that in my cozy mysteries sometimes—it makes it a fluffy read that doesn’t involve too much overthinking, and it really allowed me to focus more on the different aspects of the story that have been developing over the course of the series. This was a great read, and if you’re a fan of cozies, this is one to check out for sure!

Alyssa is trying to find a balance after the loss of her husband.  Something that I know from experience isn't easy.  The relationship she has with her daughter is wonderful though, it's well-balanced and while she wants to hover, Alyssa still lets her daughter have some freedom.  Despite everything she's been dealing with - losing her husband and gaining the ability to see ghosts - she's handling it well and is upbeat and positive.  I like her a lot.  

The friendship-turned-hopeful relationship she has with the detective next door, Nick West, is fun as well.  Nick is both eager to help her while also attempting to keep her out of danger.  They're a cute couple and do work well together, so I hope that the next book really brings them together.  He's also suffering from a loss and I think that they'll be good for each other's healing process.  

One of the things I love the most about cozy mysteries is the group aspect.  Each sleuth has his or her own group of helpers and it makes the investigating so much more fun.  It can also lead to more chaos, which I live for.  Alyssa and her friend group are diverse and interesting, each with their own backstory and secrets.  Some of which sneak out during this story.  I need to read the first book while I wait for the third.  There's so much to know about all of these people.  

The revelation around Nina's backstory was interesting and made me really feel for her.  She went through a lot and still managed to make a good life for herself.  The revelation of her psychometry - being able to see things by touching an object - was fascinating to me.  I had thought Alyssa would be the only one with psychic inclinations and was pleasantly wrong.  Makes me curious to see what will be revealed in the next book.  

A Charming Touch of Tarot is exactly that - a charming and adventurous story about friends and lost love.  Alyssa and her group of friends are fascinating and I can't wait to learn more about their group dynamics - and everyone's histories - as the series goes on.

This book was brilliant!! It is book 2 of The Gin & Tarot Club #2 and I was anxiously waiting for it.

I Love Corinnes, Lanies, Nina and Alyssa's dynamic. Their friendship is one of the things I loved the most in this series. Even the challenges they were facing couldn't break them apart and I loved that. I need friends like this.. I have a real softspot for cozy mysteries and when they have a paranormal element.... that's a dingdingding!!!

What you will get... Some of the most incredible writing in the genre. Suspense out the wazoo... Some of the most magically heartfelt moments.

I definitely loved the paranormal parts the most but the mysteries were definitely a highlight too!! There was definitely more going on in this book and I was sucked right in!!

I did have a little listen of the audiobook as well and it was excellent too!

4.5 stars

Thank you to @berkleyromance @authormelissaholtz and @netgalley for my gifted copy

I’m torn with the book. It’s ok, but the characters feel shallow, a lot is not explained or finished. The paranormal aspects seem to be used to explain gaps in reasoning & to move the story. #ACharmingTouchofTarot #NetGalley

I have to say that I absolutely loved this book…it was so fun! It touched on whimsical magic, strong female friendships, and a new budding romance. It also demonstrated what it’s like to live in a small town and help take care of your neighbors and support the residents at large.

Alyssa, Nina, Lanie, and Corinne have been friends for some time. They love wine, margaritas, book clubs, and vision boards! They gather at least once a week for a ladies night out at one of their houses. They also love to talk about the magic that surrounds them and the powers that they have whether this be through ouija boards,

Their friendship is being put to the test recently as they are trying to solve a mystery that starts in their town but becomes a much larger affair. They are also keeping secrets from one another which is a first for their friendship group. Nina’s marriage is falling apart. Lanie is acting distant and weird. Alyssa has a crush that is turning into a romance. And, no one seems to be able to trust Corinne recently. Throw in a dead body or two, a few spirits, a poltergeist, and a prestigiously old secret society to the mix and everything becomes much more complicated and complex. The ladies and law enforcement aren’t quite sure what they are up against.

Please do yourself a favor: 1) add this book to your TBR and 2) put on your sneakers and run to the book store to grab your copy today!

I only read half this book, as I lost interest. It was cozy and I believe patrons will enjoy it, but it did not hold my attention