Midlife Magic & Magnolias

Paranormal Women's Fiction (Magic at Midnight, Book 1)

By: Meredith Carlisle

Narrated by: Maria McCann

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

A house with “personality.” One ridiculously tall leprechaun. Two nachtmares. And three geriatric defenders straight out of the retirement village.

These are my ducks, and they are not in a row.

It wasn’t until I lost everything—my home, my marriage, even my career—that I started to wonder if our “family curse” might be more than an unfortunate turn of phrase. Now turning forty-five, the age at which every woman in my family dies, I need answers not only for myself but for my two daughters. And I’ll see every specialist in the country if that’s what it takes.

But when a lifelong friend discovers a link between my strange family history and an abandoned estate, I can't pass up the opportunity to learn what happened before the death certificates started piling up.

What I find may mean it’s too late to change my fate, but that doesn’t mean I won’t die trying. If there’s a curse on our family, I’m coming for it with everything I’ve got.

Might as well make use of these raging hormones and decades of suppressed emotions while I still can…

The time for surviving is over. It’s time to start living.

If sarcasm is your love language, this new humorous Paranormal Women's Fiction series is for you! Perfect for fans of Shannon Mayer, K.F. Breene, and Robyn Peterman.

©2022 Meredith Carlisle (P)2023 Graye Castle Press

Had to keep listening!

The entire book takes you on a wonderful adventure filled with laughs, puns, and fantastic fantasy!

Midlife shouldn't be this complicated…

I'm honestly not sure where to start… The story… The main character… Narrator… The other characters… There is just so much.

The narrator – Maria McCann – did pretty good job considering all of the different accents she had to deal with. For the most part the women sounded like women & the men sounded like men & the different characters sounded different enough to help you identify them by the voice she used for each.

The main character – Whose name I cannot remember off the top of my head (this does not bode well) is a woman about to hit her expiration date by turning 45. This seemed a bit too on the nose for me but… To each their own. Her main worry is that she's about to turn 45 & every woman in her family has died in their 45th year… Though none of them have died in the same way, so my question is why. This is literally one of the first things we learn about the MC, so once we finally find out why, I kept expecting a solution. There was no solution. She has the key but she needs somebody strong enough to turn it? Not only does she not know what that means, she doesn't seem to be trying to figure it out anymore! I understand that her whole life has changed, because now she has magic, and has had the block on her magic removed, but the clock is still ticking down on her life now that she is 45 & though she's been scared of this her whole life, now, just because she has magic, she's willing to let the chips fall where they may???

The story – there is way too much going on & the explanation of those things is somewhat lacking. I couldn't sink into the story because my understanding of what was going on was constantly in question. It was a great premise, but I'm not certain that the author actually pulled it off. I doubt I will be continuing with the series.

The other characters – there is definitely an interesting makes of supernatural characters & human characters… But it is very confusing & a bit too outside my ability to suspend reality. This is on because I typically like quirky characters and things that push my ability to suspend reality… Unfortunately this author did not ever get me to a place where I could sink down into the story and except all that came.

I don't know exactly where she went wrong… But I did finish this book and I wanted to, even if I was slightly disappointed in the way it ended. Another adventure is forthcoming undoubtedly, but I won't be joining them on it.

Interesting/ Entertaining but...

The story was very slow. Over half of the book was the main character doubting that she was the heir of the estate.

There are to many minor characters. I'm bad with names which made it hard for me to keep track of them all.

I did finished and enjoyed the book. I dont think I will get the next one.

Hilarious

fantastic narration, great story line and so many little quirky jokes about going through midlife changes I thoroughly enjoyed this title

Awesome! Funny! Well read!

I haven't laughed so hard while listening to or reading a book in a long time. Some of the things that happen to the main character reminds me of myself.
The story is well written and keeps you listening. The narrator does a great job reading and acting out the book as well. I can't wait to listen to the next book!

Very well done!

Good character development and good humor as well as excellent story line. Well worth the read.

Alex's sense of humor

I loved her family. especially Eleanor, Silas, and Nellie. They made me laugh out loud. Ready to start book 2.