Betwixt by Darynda Jones

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Title: Betwixt
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Betwixt & Between #1
Published by: Tantor Audio
Release Date: March 2, 2021
Format: Audiobook, Kindle Book
Narrator: Traci Odom
Length: 6 hours and 45 minutes
Genres: Women's Fiction, Paranormal
Source: Libby
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Summer
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

A Paranormal Women's Fiction with a bit of class, and a lot of sass, for anyone who feels like age is just a number!

Divorced, desperate, and destitute, former restaurateur Defiance "Dephne" Dayne finds out she has been bequeathed a house by a complete stranger. She is surprised, to say the least, and her curiosity gets the better of her. She leaves her beloved Phoenix and heads to one of the most infamous towns in America: Salem, Massachusetts.

She’s only there to find out why a woman she’s never met would leave her a house. A veritable castle that has seen better days. She couldn’t possibly accept it, but the lawyer assigned to the case practically begs her to take it off her hands, mostly because she’s scared of it. The house. The inanimate structure that, as far as Dephne can tell, has never hurt a fly.

Though it does come with some baggage. A pesky neighbor who wants her gone. A scruffy cat who’s a bit of a jerk. And a handyman bathed in ink who could moonlight as a supermodel for GQ.

She decides to give it three days, and not because of the model. She feels at home in Salem. Safe. But even that comes to a screeching halt when people begin knocking on her door day and night, begging for her help to locate their lost objects.

Come to find out, they think she’s a witch. And after a few mysterious mishaps, Dephne is beginning to wonder if they’re right.

My Review:

4 stars — The humour on this one sucked me in practically from the first page and was picture Lenore perfect right to the end.  The snarky wise-cracking between Dephne and Annette was just *mwah* perfection.  If I hadn’t listened to most of it, I probably would have highlighted a whole schwakload of their banter, because it just made me laugh.

This book so had the potential to be a 5 star book, it was just a bit drawn out at times.  It felt like, at the end of the day, not a lot happened.  There was a lot of learning, and stalling, and fainting, and distracting, and more learning…and I just started to get a bit impatient with it.

Even if I grew impatient with Dephne, she still delighted me to absolutely no end.  She was hilarious, just the perfect amount of insecure and self-deprecating, not without flaws (hello talk to your Dads girl), and also caring and brave when needed.  I loved seeing her come into her own (yes, at 44), and learn all these mysteries about herself.

Her friendship with Annette is what my book dreams are made of.  Her potential romance with Roane was just…*swoon*  Definitely looking forward to that moving forward.  Her relationship with her Dads was adorable.  And Gigi?  Awww, that’s going to be complicated, but I loved seeing the relationship they developed.

I can also see potential in the setting — the town as well as Percy — and the background characters, like Ink and the Chief to name 2.

The narrator was pretty awesome — just had the right quality for the book and the characters (ie perfect snark).  Great voices, pacing, comedic timing…

So sooooo glad that a friend recommended this book, I can’t wait to read more!  Maybe with her!  It’s a great pick me up series, because it’s not too heavy, with the perfect amount of snark to make me happy.