A Triple Shot of Trouble

Cassie Black, owner of Mystic Keep’s Perfect Brew café, is having a difficult time. She is tasked with fighting off evil forces to protect Mystic Keep while simultaneously having to deal with territorial men. While dealing with the danger of The Lord of Darkness, Erebus, Cassie must also fend off the advances of her vampire ex-lover, Alessandro. Her current lover, Sanjay, is none too pleased at Alessandro’s frequent reappearance. To top it all off, a good friend of Cassie’s is murdered. Cassie will stop at no length to find her friend’s killer, even if she must juggle it as supernatural forces begin to infiltrate Mystic Keep’s peaceful state. 

Jo-Ann Carson creates an idyllic town filled to the brim with fun characters of supernatural and mundane human kinds alike. Ms. Carson does a wonderful job of keeping the story moving while also filling in details for readers who may not have started the series at the beginning. The array of characters is diverse and entertaining, though perhaps not as fully fleshed out as they could be. The love triangle between Cassie, Sanjay, and Alessandro stays stagnant throughout rather than growing or evolving until it abruptly does near the end out of necessity. This allows readers a fun, but not entirely satisfying, diversion. The familiars, however, add a highly entertaining amount of comic relief. At times, the mystery plot line seems to go on the back burner. The supernatural plot-line, however, truly keeps the readers engaged and on the tips of their toes to know what will happen next—and the world building keeps them invested in the fun, quirky town that is Mystic Keep. 

Shailyn Rogers