Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings

Lily Singer Adventures, Book 1

By: Lydia Sherrer

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Saving the world is such a bother when it makes you late for tea.

Wizard Lily Singer is kept busy managing library archives, studying magic, and trying to keep her witch friend Sebastian from dragging her into trouble. Unfortunately, he loves adventure even more than she loves being left alone.

She doesn't want to investigate a malignant spell in a haunted house, but Sebastian is promising rare books as the reward. She also doesn't want to hurt her family but is tired of being lied to about her past. And she definitely doesn't want to get stuck in a dangerously unstable time loop, but Sebastian is in trouble - again....

Strangling her friend, as satisfying as it would be, won't fix her problems. If she wants answers and to not miss tea, she had best find the right spell for the job - before everything goes to hell and takes them all with it.

©2016 Lydia Sherrer (P)2019 Tantor

Terrible narration

The stories are super cute, lighthearted, easy reading on my kindle; but the narrator has about ruined it for the Audible version. She finishes almost every single sentence in the same, flat tone and it is so distracting. I will avoid buying any book read by Amy McFadden in the future.

Good but not great

I guess it's not fair that I'm writing a review before I actually finished the book, but find that it just seems too much like a not so good Harry Potter book. Too many similarities for my taste. If I finish the book and have a different feeling then I'll update, but actually having a hard time getting back to it. I'll try again since I want to be fair about this.

Good but basic story within the genre.

I listened to this book from a targeted ad and found it good. It’s well written and narrated but fairly basic for the genre. It’s worth your time especially if you’re new to urban fantasy.

Magical

I really enjoy books about magic and witches and wizards.
This is the second time listening to this.

connected stories but not a novel

This first book in the Love Lies and Hocus Pocus series isn't really a novel but rather three short stories with very strong continuity. It felt like watching a movie that was a really just the cobbled together first three episodes from a TV show.

I did enjoy the stories.The world building was generic, magic users hide magic from normal society.

Having played my share of D&D appreciated the distinction the author made between witches and wizards.

The stories were engaging and fun. A ghostly curse, A witch massing with a street gang, and a magical time loop.

Narrator Amy McFadden really bright to life the banter between Lily and Sebastian. I also enjoyed her talent with voices.

For teens or even pre-teens

As a 64 year old, I could barely make myself finish this book. By the end, I had decided this must be a teen/YA book though I hadn't picked up on that from the reviews. Maybe it would be okay for that audience. The main character, Lily, is irritatingly prim and prissy and all the characters tend to be one dimensional stereotypes. I did want to see the cat be more than a bit player.

I was surprised and delighted!

Seemed slow to start but it got really good! Love the characters AND the performer!

Very entertaining

I loved the characters and enjoyed the story.
Really looking forward to the next book!

It’s ok

I was never really drawn into this book. Seemed like two books in one. I expected more of a cozy mystery but it fell flat. Narrator was good. Story not so much.

Not as charming as it could have been

This seemed like it would be a charming mystery with a bit of adventure and magic, but the narrator read much of it like it was a newscast or even a textbook. It didn’t work for me.