Review: It Takes a Witch

It Takes a Witch is the first book in the Wishcraft series by Heather Blake.  It is a fun and entertaining voyage into the lives of two sisters who recently moved in with their aunt and discovered that they are witches, wishcrafters to be more specific.

Synopsis from Amazon:
Darcy Merriweather has just discovered she hails from a long line of Wishcrafters-witches with the power to cast spells by making a wish. She's come to Enchanted Village to learn her trade but finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation...

My Review:
What a fun story! We begin in Salem, Mass (appropriately) where Darcy and Harper have just moved in with their aunt Ve.  Their parents are both deceased and they have just learned that they are wishcrafters, witches who can grant wishes as long as the intentions are true.  They discover that there are many types of witches in the enchanted village but that it is quite difficult to tell who is a witch and who is a mortal.  There are also a lot of rules and Darcy, our main character, is having some trouble following them, which leads to some humorous moments in the story.  Darcy is warm hearted and wants to help everyone.  She tries to make good decisions but her emotions often get the best of her. These humorous imperfections are what makes Darcy so likable throughout the story. In fact, all of the characters are likable and interesting and this is what made the story so readable.  Even the dog, Missy (short for Miss Demeanor) brings additional fun to this book with her great devious escapes.

One of the characters, a mortal who wants to be a witch, is murdered at that start of the story.  As Darcy begins getting involved in the investigation, she meets Nick, the man she doesn't want to like who is also investigating the murder.  Their chemistry was charming and it was funny how Darcy always tried to talk herself down during their encounters.  Their relationship however, was not the focus of the story so I'm hoping it will be revisited in the future.  I was glad of this because I felt that the author really gave me time to get to know the characters and truly appreciate them before jumping into anything.

The suspects and motives were abundant, which was a plus because I wasn't able to predict exactly who the culprit was until the end was near.  My many hunches were consistently changing.  I was satisfied with the ending.  It closed up this book/mystery nicely but also left plenty of room for more books in the series.  I already picked up the next book and can't wait to get started!

What I didn't realize was that Heather Blake is also Heather Webber, who wrote the Lucy Valentine series, which is equally entertaining.  If you want to learn more about these enjoyable cozy mysteries, visit Heather's website at www.heatherwebber.com  or www.heatherblakebooks.com.