Newly Wed and Slightly Dead by Danielle Garrett

Newly Wed and Slightly Dead (A Touch of Magic Mysteries, #1)

by Danielle Garrett

When a vampire marries a human, things are bound to get messy...

Nothing ruins a rehearsal dinner quite like a passive-aggressive toast from the unhappy mother of the groom. Things go from bad to yikes when she's found reduced to a pile of ashes and couture and the bride is pegged as the one wielding the wooden stake.

After years spent working the birthday party and baby shower circuit, Anastasia Winters finally has a corner office and a host of supernatural clients all begging her to plan their special day. But following a brush of bad luck, she finds herself on the brink of losing it all. With an ultimatum from her boss on the table, she knows her next wedding has to be perfect.

When the vampy mother of the groom is found dead, the bride goes on the run, and Anastasia is forced head-first into the murder investigation if she has any chance of getting the wedding back on track and keeping her job.

Unfortunately, this is one wedding crisis that requires more than a strategically placed bobby pin or double-sided sticky tape.

Can there be a fairy tale ending, or will it be Happily Ever Never?

***

Newly Wed and Slightly Dead is the first novel in a new series of paranormal mysteries by Danielle Garrett. Step inside the magical world of the Seattle Haven and see what happens when the magic and wedding worlds collide! Packed full of laughs, magic, mystery, and a little romance, this series is sure to have something for everyone.

Reviewed by Melanie on

3 of 5 stars

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My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

I’ve really enjoyed the first two series I’ve listened to by Danielle Garrett, Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery and Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mystery). This series is a spinoff from those series, but takes place in the Seattle Haven. It follows Anastasia, a supernatural wedding planner as she tries to make a wedding between a human and vampire something that will never be forgotten, but not in the way it turns out.

Anastasia is getting a lot of pressure from her boss about this wedding. She has a vengeful co-worker trying to undermine her and make her look incompetent. There is also the mother of the groom who doesn’t want the wedding to go forward unless the bride-to-be agrees to be turned, which she is refusing. What could go wrong? Someone decided they had enough of the mother of the groom and kills her and the bride is the prime suspect with no alibi.

While this story has a lot of the things I love about the other series, I found I didn’t enjoy this one as much as the first two series. I think my main thing was the lack of fun characters around Anastasia. I tend to enjoy secondary characters more than the main characters, but there really aren’t any great secondary characters in this story. I also think all the animosity that Anastasia is going through at work left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m going through similar types of things at my work, so it wasn’t escape that like I normally do in audiobooks. That being said, I’m not ready to give up on this series yet. I’m waiting on the next audiobook to be released and I will give it a try.

Narration
Amanda Ronconi again does an amazing job with the narration of this series. I had no doubt that she would. She’s always great at bringing out characters’ personalities with her choice of voices and tone. I always look forward to listening to any story that Ronconi narrates.

**I'd like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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  • 31 May, 2019: Reviewed