4.5 out of 5 stars.

Welcome! Today, I’m hosting another blog tour from Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. This time it’s for the book Black Arts, Tarts, & Gypsy Carts, the 2nd book in the Spells & Caramels series by Erin Johnson.  I absolutely love these books!

Purchase Link: Amazon

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Synopsis

With the Summer Sea Carnival visiting the enchanted island of Bijou Mer, Imogen jumps at the chance to help run the royal bakery booth. It’ll get her out of the palace and allow her to continue avoiding her feelings for a certain engaged prince.

Imogen’s plans to lay low are shattered when the world-famous necromancer, Madame Zerna, is found dead, sawed in half on the dark magician’s table and Imogen’s friend Rhonda is caught red-handed. With incriminating evidence piling up against Rhonda, Zerna’s rival, Imogen promises to help clear her name by finding the real murderer.

But between running the booth, encouraging Maple as she struggles to lead as head baker, and taking spell lessons from the friendly strong man, Imogen’s got her hands full. And it’s no easier getting information from the evasive dark magician or Madame Zerna’s secretive assistant. Even Rhonda’s hiding something.

With the Night of the Dead fast approaching, and Rhonda headed for a maximum security witch prison, Imogen races to unearth the real killer in time to save her friend. But in a mysterious carnival where nothing’s as it seems, will Imogen have the magical powers to keep from being on the chopping block herself?

Review

I loved this book and even tho’ it doesn’t quite have that extra pizzazz to put it up to a 5-star rating, it’s a solid 4.5 in my opinion.

I adore the characters in this series. Imogen, Maple, Iggy, and Hank have all become almost like friends to me and I really care about what happens to them and how they react to situations. Imogen’s a little too impulsive for my personal taste, but she at least does slow down and think sometimes, just not all the time. I still love her though. I love her enthusiasm and her intelligence. She’s a good friend to Maple and Iggy as well.

The setting of Bijou Mer is great. I love the descriptions of the area and buildings. Ms. Johnson does a nice job of discussing the settings without going overboard with her descriptions. I’m able to easily imagine the carnival grounds, the cemetery they visit, etc.

The plot line moves along steadily.  There were two villains. One I knew from the start. The other wasn’t quite as obvious and I was actually disappointed because I had liked the character a lot and hated to see him as a villain.

All in all, it’s a fantastic installment in the series and I highly recommend it! I do recommend starting with the first book, Seashells, Spells, and Caramels as there is backstory that you need to understand. You can find my review for that book here.

About the Author

 

A native of Tempe, Arizona, Erin spends her time crafting mysterious, magical, romance-filled stories that’ll hopefully make you laugh. In between, she’s traveling, napping with her dogs, eating with her friends and family, and teaching Pilates (to allow her to eat more).

 

 

 

Author Links

• Website: www.erinjohnsonwrites.com.
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/EJohnsonWrites.
• Twitter:@EJohnsonWrites

Thanks for joining me today for another wonderful blog tour about a fantastic book! If you wish to visit other sites on the blog tour, please click on the banner below!