Jingle all the Slay (Marshmallow Hollow Mysteries, #1)

by Dakota Cassidy

• ISBN13: 9798696654720
• Publish Date: 12 October 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Independently Published
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 230
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

The story takes place in Marshmallow Hollow, the quintessential all-year-round Christmas village. But someone is greedily set on destroying the charm of the village by turning it into a giant theme park. When that man is found dead, the question remains… accident or murder?

Enter Halliday Valentine (a witch with visions) and her friends and family and familiar to solve the case. The characters were fun and interesting, both the humans and the non-humans. At times, the non-humans stole the show. Karen the talking reindeer was feisty and hilarious, willing to do most anything to get her hands/hooves on a candy cane. Atticus is Hal’s familiar, a hummingbird with a British accent and an admonishing yet loving hand for his witch.

This is a fun and funny cozy mystery, well paced and with fantastic characters!

[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.This was the reader’s/listener’s first experience with the author. The title and cover had an immense influence in the decision to listen to this book. There were no regrets.

Jingle All The Slay turned out to be a fun read. From the storyline, to the charming town and to the delightful characters. A splendid start to the series. Readers of the Witchless in Seattle series will be happy to know that this is a spinoff. Those who never read the series would be happy to know Jingle All the Slay is self contained so they can read it on its own.

The story took the listener/reader through the town of Marshmallow Hollow, where every day is Christmas. Someone wants to destroy the beauty of the town by buying up all the shops and land, intending to develop a theme park. However, the person was found dead, was it an accident or murder? Halliday Valentine (a witch and a psychic) with the help of her new neighbour Hobbs jumped at the chance to put their amateur sleuthing skills to the test in unveiling the identity of the killer.

As stated earlier, the characters were such a delight, with the listener’s/reader’s favourite being Atticus, a hummingbird and Halliday’s familiar. The reader found it funny when he scolded her about using her magic for inappropriate reasons.

Fun, cute, humorous, well paced, captivating story, with a well-developed mystery, which kept the reader entertained from start to finish.

Hollie Jackson narrated, and what an exceptional narration. She captured all the facets of the characters. Her melodious voice added an extra flavour to the story.

Fans of cozy mysteries would have fun with this new series by Dakota Cassidy. Whichever medium chosen to dive into this delightful story, prepare yourself for a fun experience. This review was originally posted on Totally Addicted to Reading

[EBookObsessed]

Not as duplicative as I anticipated.

Halliday Valentine returned to her hometown of Marshmallow Hollow to run the family's Christmas decoration factory after her mother passed away. The factory is an integral part of Marshmallow Hollow, a tiny town dedicated to Christmas 24/7, 12 months of the year. Halliday is a witch hiding in plain sight of humans and her tiny hummingbird familiar named Atticus makes sure she doesn't abuse her powers, especially were others might see. The only other person in on Hall's secret life is her BFF since middle school, Stiles, who is a local police officer.

After meeting her sister, Stephanie Cartwright a few months ago and her boyfriend, former International Man of Mystery, Alistair "Win" Winterbottom, Hall has become quite the Real Murder Mystery fan, watching all the shows and working out theories with Stevie. When a murder happens in the middle of the main square in Marshmallow Hollow, Hall can't stop herself from being like her sister and investigating along with the police.  Since Stiles can't give her any help with an ongoing police investigation, Hall begins her investigation work with her tenant, the very handsome Digby "Hobbs" Dainty and his bulldog, Stephen King.

Hall can't believe that one of her beloved neighbors in Marshmallow Hollow could kill but she will do her best amateurish sleuthing to find the killer.

You all know that I love Dakota Cassidy's Witchless in Seattle series. It is the literary equivalent of a Twinkie but I love it all the same. When Stevie's previously unknown sister arrives in Witch It Real Good and whisks Stevie and Win to Marshmallow Hollow, ME for a brief vacation, and an introduction to the characters in the spinoff, I feared it was the Marshmallow Hollow series would just end up being a cookie cutter copy of Witchless in Seattle but with a little more magic since Halliday still has her magic. Like Stevie, Hall has a tiny familiar and a handsome love interest and they investigate homicides in what should be a quiet, murderless town.  After reading Jingle All the Slay, I found there was enough differences in this series (so far) from the Witchless series that I will give the next few stories a chance and see how the series goes and see if we can follow both series without so much overlapping of situations.

Dakota Cassidy has this same character set up in her Lemon Layne series but without magic which I just didn't enjoy as much.

See more at EBookobsessed.com

[Berls]

I didn't realize this was a spin off of the Witchless in Seattle series. I'm a couple books behind on that series so I missed out on where they connected. I think I'm going to go back and catch up on that one so that I get the connection. It's certainly not necessary, but Hal (Haliday) frequently mentions her sister from that series and I wish I knew how they found each other.

The mystery was fun and I liked the characters a lot. The magic is interesting and I think I'll enjoy the Christmas town setting as I continue in the series. I enjoyed the many references to different books and series that I enjoy (Darynda Jones, Nalina Singh to name a couple). And, as in the Witchless in Seattle series, there's fun companions - this time we've got her hummingbird familiar, Atticus, and her grandmother who was reincarnated as a reindeer, Molly. The romantic interest I also think will be a fun one to watch develop. All in all, a pretty standard Dakota Cassidy small town cozy mystery with a side of paranormal. It's nice to get what you expect and have a fun time :)

The narration was good, as I would expect form Hollie Jackson who also narrates Witchless in Seattle. I listen at 2x speed and enjoy it with no problem - she does fun voices and really embodies the characters.