Tempest in the Tea Leaves (Fortune Teller Mystery, #1)

by Kari Lee Townsend

[Stephanie]

Originally posted at Once Upon a Chapter

Really a 3.5

Sunny Meadows has decided that she’s going to strike out on her own. She’s 29 years old and her parents are oppressive. They don’t believe in her gift and go to great lengths to stifle her in front of their friends. Sunny packs her bags and leaves the Big Apple for Divinity, New York. She moves into a big Victorian that the locals claim is haunted. Sunny thinks it is perfect for herself and her business.

Sunny is psychic and plans to do readings in her home. Vicki (Sunny nicknamed her house) does come with an unexpected addition. A beautiful white cat seems to live there as well. In fact the house seems to be his. Sunny doesn’t mind the extra company and even tries to care for him. But Morty is no human’s cat and will do as he pleases.

Sunny’s first customer is clearly shaken when she arrives and the tea leaves reading does nothing to soothe her nerves. Within two hours of the reading, the town librarian is dead and Sunny is the prime suspect. She must work to clear her name!

Tempest in the Tea Leaves is the first in a new series by Kari Lee Townsend. For the most part I really enjoyed this book! There was a wide variety of characters, Morty was great in all of his page space, and the mystery was a hard one!

There were a few things that stuck out while I was reading though. Sunny felt a little immature for my tastes. In a serious argument, she’d stomp her foot. She’s 29. I’m 26. I would never stomp my foot in an argument. You can’t be taken seriously after that. This is a very small complaint and didn’t affect my rating but it was a few little things like this that stuck with me.

Two elements made this book great for me and why I think you’ll enjoy it. The tea readings were a lot of fun to read about. Sunny is so serious during them that she almost becomes a different person. Also, I didn’t figure it out! The murderer was a complete surprise and really made the book. I’m very much looking forward to the next installment and more of Townsend’s writing!