Bewitched (Betwixt & Between, #2)

by Darynda Jones

Forty-something Defiance Dayne only recently discovered she comes from a long line of powerful witches. Added to that was the teensy, infinitesimal fact that she is what’s called a charmling. One of three on the entire planet. And there are other witches who will stop at nothing to steal her immense power, which would basically involve her unfortunate and untimely death.

 

No one told her life after forty would mean having to learn new lifeskills—such as how to dodge supernatural assassins while casting from a moving vehicle—or that the sexiest man alive would be living in her basement.

 

Whoever said life begins at forty was clearly a master of the underappreciated and oft maligned understatement.

• ISBN13: 9781734385229
• Publish Date: September 2020 (first published 28 September 2020)
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Publish Country: US
• Format: eBook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.I had so much fun with this installment. After that bombshell ending in Betwixt I was looking forward to listening to Bewitched and Jones did not disappoint. It is the second book in the Betwixt and Between series. To recap the series tells the story of a forty something divorcee who discovered she had magical powers.

 Picking up six months from the ending of book one, the story provide humour and magic. It had me in stitches from the get go. Defiance fears her newly discovered powers, which is understandable. Discovering powers, which had been repressed and has the potential to both do harm and good while placing her in danger must  have been scary. Her fears grew to the point that she lied to friends and family that she had lost her powers. The one person she could not fool was Roane. I loved how he called her out on her lie. However, magical events to include passageways magically appearing, vines serving as her guardian and hidden dungeons left her reconsidering her stance.   Then with the residents seeking her help and revelations about her past how could she not stay. 

I enjoyed the rapport shared between the characters, I especially the ones sheared between Defiance and her best friend Annette. Annette is such a riot. She brought her own brand of humour to the story.  In addition to the humour, were the sizzling moments Defiance shared with Roane, which often got interrupted by her dads. Those interruptions made me giggle.

As much she tried avoiding it, danger landed on her doorstep, placing her in the position to use her magic to protect those she loves. At this point she gradually becomes confident in the use of her powers and embracing her destiny. 

Narration

Once again Traci Odom narrated and she did a wonderful job bringing the characters to life.  She voiced each of the characters distinctively so I always knows who is speaking. She made adjustments to the voices where needed.  An  incident involving Annette, required her to make changes to her tone and she made the adjustment perfectly to fit the situation. 

Conclusion/Recommendation

Overall, a great addition to the series. Looking forward to see what is next in store for Defiance and company.  I would recommend it to fans of paranormal cozy mystery, paranormal women's fiction and unban fantasy.This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

[Berls]

Another fun read/listen from Darynda Jones. I find myself falling in love with these characters easily and I really look forward to the rest of their journey.

As always, I laughed my way through this book. From the "quotes" at the start of each chapter to the banter between Defiance and her best friend Annette and Defiance's internal (sometimes hilariously external) monologue the laughs keep coming. And I think the fact that Defiance is in her 40s -- 45 for this book -- just makes it that much more enjoyable for me. You don't have to be a 20 something to have an adventure!

I love all the characters - her dad's, Gigi, Percy, Roan, the Sheriff - they're all well developed and I'm coming to love them all. And I think we've picked up a couple more that will be around moving forward, maybe? There's also a cozy mystery element, this time Defiance slept for 6 months and woke up very afraid and with a lot of people waiting for her to help them - plus there's the bigger thread of Defiance coming into who she is and learning about the mysteries of her magic and her past.

Traci Odom is doing a great job bringing this cast to life for me and I'm enjoying every moment, even at 2x speed. So glad to be listening to these and really looking forward to the next book!

[MurderByDeath]

A pretty good follow up to book one after a rough start involving a heavy and silly dose of self denial on the part of the mc that fooled exactly no one.  

Lots of heavy hints about upcoming darkness and drama, and a lot of unrelieved sexual tension for the mc and her romantic interest - which they deserve if they expected any privacy in the kitchen of a house with 4 other people wandering around in it.

In true Jones fashion, there's no one story line, but rather multiple small things that happen and several resolutions brought about, some more exciting than others.  Defiances' climbing of her personal learning curve might be a little conveniently easy, if for the author, if not herself, but given the publication time frame of these stories, it's understandable, and the story works in spite of it as long as you aren't looking for anything too meaty or involved.

I'm looking forward to book three and the chance to revisit the characters.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Oh, lord Jones can make me laugh and her heros are always mysterious and swoon-worthy. This isn’t a romance, but the attraction and shenanigans between our heroine 45-year-old Defiance Dayne and a kilt-wearing shifter was positively delightful.

This story picks up 6 months after Betwixt ended and if you haven’t read it, I suggest you begin there. Both are available in Kindle Unlimited, ebook and print. The third book, Beguiled releases in February 2021.

After the events of the previous book, Defiance isn’t sure she wants to stick around, but vines, secret passages, and discovers about her repressed magic soon have her caught up in things. Then there is what happens in the village, demands for help and Roane, the wolf. Eep!

I had such a fun time with this story, from laugh out loud moments to suspenseful twists and discovers. I am a sucker for a magical manor filled with enchanted objects, and pesky dead grandfathers. Of course there are Defiance’s Dads who seem to always interrupt moments with Roane, her grandmother, and meddling best friend Annette.

Annette and Defiance are a hoot together, and I really want to know what Annette did to a piss of a certain witch. These two remind me of Cookie and Charley, but have their own unique quirkiness. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[EBookObsessed]

Darynda Jones shows that the magic just begins at forty in her newest paranormal women’s fiction.

Bewitched begins right after Betwixted or should I say several months after Betwixted. Because of the amount of power Defiance used at the end at the end of Betwixed, it dropped her into an enchanted coma for a few months. After she wakes from her Snow White slumber, she tries to convince everyone that she lost her powers in a big burnout of magic. She does this because while she was imitating Rip Van Winkle, she felt something malevolent try to get to her. She knows that someone is coming for her charmling powers and she doesn’t know how to protect her friends and family when it finally arrives. She hopes that if she doesn’t use her magic, maybe it won’t be able to find her.

Problem with that is her BFF Annette has been preparing to open their Private Investigator/Finders of Lost Things venture, Breadcrumbs Inc., and has been announcing Defiance’s magical abilities for anyone to find on Facebook.

Defiance also has spirits following her home both evil and adorable but malevolence doesn’t just come in magical form. Banging on her front door is someone who wants Defiance to raise someone from the dead…you know, someone he accidentally killed and he’s pretty insistent that Defiance helps him…or else.

Everything about this series appeals to my fantasy loving heart. We have magic, shape shifters, ghosts, hilarious humor and a great cast of characters who support Defiance. And while she didn’t learn about her magical gifts until she was 44, it keeps coming back to her either subconsciously or when she is under pressure. This way Defiance doesn’t fall completely into that clueless group of fantasy heroines who suddenly find out of the supernatural world and run around waving their hands. She does keep walking into bad situations and has, on occasion, been rescued by the really hot wolf shifter living in her basement, but we’ll forgive her because…well, Roane. Hell, I would get myself into trouble just to have him jump in to save me.

The series also has a nice balance of breadcrumbs being dropped for the overall series arc but enough answers in each story to keep us from being completely frustrated. I am looking forward to the next story.

See more at EBookObsessed.com