Review: Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost

Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost
Trade: $14.00
Berkley (February 2009)
ISBN: 0425225771

Favorite Lines: “Cookie said I could either sell you the castle cake or get fired, and I’m going with option B. A cake this size will feed me for a month,” I said. “Longer if I act like you and starve myself.” (p. 3)

Tammy Jo Trask is a pastry chef and most definitely not a witch despite coming from a family of witches. She’s divorced from her childhood sweetheart, but still having sex with him. A her long dead, and several greats-aunt Edie keeps  making unwanted appearances at inconvenient moments.

Edie has anchored herself to a locket. A locket stolen from Tammy Jo at gunpoint. Unless Tammy Jo finds the locket quickly, Edie will be destroyed. Tammy Jo’s desperate enough that she’s using simple magic and consulting with a wizard listed on her family’s off limits list: Bryn Lyons.

I really enjoyed Frost’s Would-Be Witch. It was funny, exciting, mysterious and romantic. It’s a paranormal, light-hearted romance focused on a witch coming into her powers. Tammy Jo is the town screwup; whenever someone doesn’t like her actions or catches her making a mistake, they contact her ex-husband, Zach, who just happens to be a deputy in their small town of Duvall, Texas.

I have a love/hate relationship with Zach. He sounds yummy, but he flip-flops between being an alpha male who is all about his girl to being a condescending jerk. Yeah, I understand that Tammy Jo had no magic abilities before and that he is normal, but it doesn’t make it any better when he is looking down his nose at his “crazy” wife.

Now Bryn, what to say about Bryn? Well, he too is sexy as hell. He’s also rich, but for some unexplained reason he is on the list of magical families Trask women cannot date or associate with. So the idea of him being with Tammy Jo sets off warning bells. But that man can talk.  And it is hot. For example, after Tammy Jo and Bryn are attacked by werewolves Tammy Jo gets smart and says:

“I don’t go out with men who take me on dates where I nearly get eaten.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Then you haven’t had the right man nearly eat you.” (p. 97)

At times, while reading Would-Be Witch, I would get annoyed because parts of it are repetitive. I understand the reasons Tammy Jo and Zach were divorced and I understand the reasons separating Tammy Jo and Bryn. I wanted to Frost to stop beating me over the head with the reasons why Tammy Jo shouldn’t be with either man. Despite those moments I really enjoyed the story. I can’t wait to pick up the second book in this Southern Witch series, Barely Bewitched.

If you haven’t read the story, pick it up today. I found my copy on sale at Amazon for $5.60.

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