By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Kim Richardson

Hollow Cove was never a dangerous city. Weird and eccentric, maybe. But not dangerous. Until now.

A new magic threatens our paranormal community and competes for dominance. Something awakens in the night, and it’s a real stinker. Not kidding.

I’m a Merlin now, and my plan is simple: get in, protect my family and friends, and defeat this new evil. But it’s never that simple. One small misstep could lead to disaster.

Soon, I’m neck-high in a giant, stinking mess of crap, and it’s steadily rising. But the last thing I expected was for the man I was falling for could threaten everything…

I recommend reading this series in order since each book begins where the last one ended.

Tessa is now a full-fledged licensed Merlin and part of her celebration includes Marcus in her bed, that was before her mother shows up. Amelia hasn’t offered up why she’s there, but she has taken back her room. Now Tessa is in the smallest room in the house which happens to be in the attic.

As a way to escape her mother and chill Tessa heads out to the after Christmas sales. After making her purchases and enjoying some quiet time at the Witchy Beans Café she heads back to Davenport house. Then the lights go out and the screaming starts. The dead are rising in Hollow Cove.

Of course, Gilbert’s the first on the scene, panicking as usual and demanding Tessa do something because she’s a Merlin and it’s her job. Even threating her salary. However, as she’s about to burn them one of them calls out to Martha. These Zombies are not the usual ones, they can speak and have their memories.

Marcus takes charge to find out who everyone is and find relatives while Tessa goes home to consult with her aunts. She gets a big surprise when she almost runs over her gran, who’s been dead for ten years. House won’t let her in and she’s arguing with it.

Iris, Ronin, Tessa and her Gran go to check out the cemetery, but they find nothing that points to a necromancer. Leaving them with a huge mystery.

Now while the revenants are the big problem, I get a real kick out of Gran and House.

This is a favorite scene.

My headache quadrupled at the sight of Gran sitting in the only chair that could fit in my room, right across from my bed.

I rubbed my eyes, only now noticing the stink of her pipe smoke. “Gran? What time is it?”

“Time to get up,” she answered and blew out three rings of smoke.

“What are you doing here?” The thought of her sitting in that chair for god knew how long watching me sleep was a little creepy. Hugely creepy.

“What does it look like? I’m sitting.”

I swung my legs over my bed and pressed my feet against the cold wood floor before moving to open the only window in my tiny attic room. I was glad to be wearing my tights and a long T-shirt. “I know that,” I said and hauled the window up so cool air rushed in. “I mean what are you doing in my room? Don’t you have a room? Someplace to sleep?”

“I’m dead, Tessie. The dead don’t sleep.”

“Right. Sorry.” I’m not sure when she decided to call me Tessie, but I realized I kind of liked it.

“I came here to think.” Her small eyes disappeared in her frown. “Can’t think with the idiots downstairs. All that whining makes my head spin.”

“You mean, your daughters?” I stared at her a moment. “What happened between you? I get the feeling something awful happened. What was it?”

Gran puffed on her pipe. “You can ask your questions, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to answer them.”

“Right.” But I did have another question. “You called Ronin a dhampir. Is that another word for vampire?”

“Not for vampire,” she answered. “But for half-vampire.”

“You knew?” I asked, impressed, wondering if my aunts had told her.

Gran closed her eyes and blew out twin columns of smoke through her nostrils. “I know everything.”

“Sure.” I turned around and smacked my head against one of the many supporting beams. “Ow.”

“That’s going to bruise,” said Gran as she laughed.

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a tiny lump. “Thanks for the tip.” I thought it was time for her to leave.

“Your room is too small,” observed Gran, glancing around, her face set in a wrinkled sour expression.

“No… ya think?” I stared at the only dresser I had that didn’t fit all my clothes, which also explained the piles of folded clothes I had all over the floor. “I had a bigger room. Well, technically it wasn’t really mine. Mom made sure to point that out. And I wasn’t about to take Iris’s room. It’s fine. It’s just to sleep. Right? I don’t think I’ll be bringing Marcus here.”

Gran glanced up at me and wrinkled her nose. “Marcus? Who’s Marcus?”

Yeah. Not going there. “It’s just that I like to work in my room. I like the quiet.” I swept my gaze around the tiny space. “I can’t even fit a desk in here.”

Gran blew out a mouthful of smoke. “Why don’t you ask House?”

I stepped into my even tinier bathroom, the kind where you could pee and wash your hands all at the same time. Awesome. “Ask House what?” I grabbed my toothbrush and began to brush my teeth.

“Ask House to make your room bigger,” expressed Gran with a shrug. “I’m surprised you haven’t done it yet.”

I spat the water from my mouth and looked out the bathroom to the little dead woman still sitting on the chair. “House can do that?”

Gran lifted her eyebrows, staring at me like I had a few loose screws. “Did you not ever wonder why each room in this house is larger than it should be?”

“Really? I never noticed.” That was news to me.

“You wouldn’t. But it’s true. Your aunts all did it. So did your mother.”

When I realized I was standing with my jaw hanging open, I immediately shut it. Having a larger room would seriously help with the clothes situation and the work situation. Even the man situation. Let’s not pretend it wasn’t my first thought.

“Why didn’t my mother mention it to me?” I wondered, a little pissed. She’d known the only room available was the tiny one in the attic. Yet, she’d never told me.

Gran stared at me for a moment. “You really need me to spell it out for you?”

I shook my head. “No.” Like I said, my mother was selfish. She couldn’t care less where I slept.

“Go on then,” ordered Gran. “Ask.”

I cleared my throat and said, “House. I’d like a bigger room. Large enough to fit a desk, a large closet, a decent size bathroom, a bigger bed and a bigger window—with a view.” I thought being thorough was best. “Please,” I added, just in case.

A ripple of energy washed through me as a blast of white light swept through the room. The rush of blinding and wild light went through my head to my toes. My eyes swam with color as my ears rang with phantom sound while a wind gushed through the room.

My hair flew into my eyes. Then a surge of electricity gathered from the air around me to my fingertips. The floorboards under my feet groaned as they stretched and elongated. The walls shifted as though made of water. They moved back, spreading out as though the room took a great big breath. My tiny window stretched out, as though made of rubber until it became a large bay window, complete with a bench.

The wind died, and I felt a release on the magic. I stared, both shocked and excited as the walls pushed back until the room doubled and then tripled in size. I wheezed in a breath, stunned and exhilarated.

My tiny, cramped attic bedroom was now the master bedroom of my dreams. With a vaulted ceiling, the room was even larger than my mother’s, and House had given me new furniture.

A new working desk sat next to the large bay window, complete with my laptop and my books. There was even a couch and a comfy, upholstered chair that Gran sat in instead of the hard metal one. The room had been without a rug, but now a massive, dark blue and burgundy Persian rug lay beneath a king-size bed.

I ran to a new door next to the bathroom door and peered in. Rows of shelves and hanging poles stared back at me in a space that was bigger than what had been my attic bedroom. Next, I rushed into the bathroom and moaned.

“A soaker tub? I have a soaker tub.” It was huge, big enough for two people—me, and a very fine wereape. The tub sat above the gleaming wood floors next to a marble-tiled shower and large white vanity. It was perfect.

I beamed. “House. You spoil me.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Enough of that.” Gran pushed herself up with the use of her cane. “Let’s go downstairs. I need to speak to all of you.”

“About what?” When she didn’t answer, I rushed inside my new fabulous walk-in closet and pulled on a pair of jeans that was magically hung on one of the hangers along with a gray sweater. After I was dressed, I followed Gran down the stairs, which took twice the normal time since she had to stop on every step to adjust her cane and balance.

“I can probably carry you, you know,” thinking she weighed about the same as a ten-year-old kid.

Gran gave me her signature frown. “If you plan on having children someday, you better not.”

When we finally made it to the kitchen, for some strange reason, I was out of breath.

“Veggie omelet?” offered Ruth as she angled her frying pan, a perfect omelet sliding to the side.

“Yes, please.” I waited for Gran to pick a seat, but the old dead witch just stood there, showing no sign she wanted to sit anytime soon. I grabbed the seat next to Dolores and sat as Ruth dropped a plate with the veggie omelet in front of me.
Richardson, Kim. Magical Mojo (The Witches of Hollow Cove Book 4). Kindle Locations (709-765). fableprint. Kindle Edition.

With revenants overrunning the town, they had to close the bridge, couldn’t have humans seeing the undead everywhere. That’s not the only problem Tessa is going to have, a woman shows up at the cemetery looking for Marcus. Introducing herself as only Allison she claims to be his girlfriend.

Then the stranger in the ley lines shows up again wanting to talk. He knows her name and says he will teach her more about the ley lines. This is just one more unanswered question.

Everything shifts and not for the good when screams of pain echo through town, and Harriette, Martha’s dead friend dies a truth death, a bright ball of white light remains and then she turns to ash. This light vanishes into the briefcase of another stranger and then he runs away.

Oh what a ride this story is, from here it goes from bad to worse and then worse again. I laughed and cried and fanned myself from the heat.

There are secrets revealed in this one, and now I can’t wait to read the next book to see how much more mischief Tessa gets into.

5 Contented Purrs for Kim!

Kim Richardson

Kim Richardson is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of urban fantasy, fantasy, and young adult books. She lives in the eastern part of Canada with her husband, two dogs and a very old cat. Kim’s books are available in print editions, and translations are available in over 7 languages.