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slc333's review
3.0
3.5 stars Cute, fun adventure story. Novella prequel to a series which tells the story of how organised, rule following wizard Lily and messy, carefree rule-breaking witch Sebastian meet and work together to find some missing magical books before they fall into the wrong (ie non-magical) hands.
briarrose1021's review
5.0
I do love a good origin story and that's definitely what this is. It's like a combination superhero origin story and a meet-cute for a couple, though that's not what Lily and Sebastian are... yet. I also loved the way it was told through flashbacks, with different parts from different points of view. while cleaning up Sebastian's apartment. I shudder at the description of that kitchen sink. Lol.
stephbookshine's review
5.0
*I received free copies of this novella and novel via Kevin Potter’s Magic Through the Ages event on Facebook*
I don’t know if I’ve explained yet my ‘real book’ vs ebook stance, but now seems like the perfect time (bear with me review-fans…there IS a point!). I live in a house with very little storage space, into which I have already squeezed 8 bookcases (6 for me and 2 for the children) at the expense of unnecessary frivolities like clothes and toy storage. Therefore, whilst I still love the feel and smell of both old and new ‘real’ books, I do 90% of my reading these days on my battered old first gen Kindle. It just makes logistical sense. I only buy hard copies of books that I consider ‘keepers’: ones that I know I will reread more than once.
All this to say that having received these books on e-format for free as part of a Facebook launch party for Kevin Potter’s The Fall of an Overlord, I have immediately added them to my personal hard-copy purchase list, and intend to buy the whole series, along with anything else Lydia Sherrer chooses to write. The Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus series definitely qualify for my ‘keepers’ pile!
The main reason is, of course, personal preference. I have a penchant for fantasy, but also a soft spot for well-written humour. The kind of bantery, light-hearted tone that you find in various formats with authors such as Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher and Elizabeth Peters. Not necessarily laugh-out-loud humour, but a kind of wry sideways slant that shows you the author, characters and story aren’t taking themselves too seriously. This series has that tone to perfection.
The characters are instantly likeable: imperfect but good-humoured about it, and with a familiar chemistry to fans of working couples such as Elizabeth Peter’s Peabody and Emerson. It’s a nice touch to have the labels of witch and wizard denoting the character’s access route to their magic, rather than any sort of gender role: wizards (Lily) have innate, genetic magical abilities, whereas witches (Sebastian) have to purchase their abilities via trades and favours. I am particularly excited to learn more about this system of trading and how the fae/demons etc fit into this reality.
The novella, A Study in Mischief, has a fun structure of the story of how the friends meet told in flashback format by the characters in turn, so we get their alternating points of view, and thereby a good insight into each character with plenty of showing rather than telling. I would recommend reading it AFTER Beginnings rather than before like I did, as there are character and plot developments contained that have not yet occured in the first novel (e.g. Sir Kipling the cat’s development into a more central character).
Beginnings consists of two separate adventures, one a short story about banishing a ghost and breaking a curse, and the other a slightly longer, two-part tale about the theft of a magical artefact and a dangerous loop in time. Both narratives introduce the characters, showcase their different styles and temperaments, and whilst the individual plotlines are neatly wrapped, the reader is given some nudges towards wider mysteries (around Lily and Sebastian’s pasts and family histories) that will evidently form part of a larger plot arc throughout the series.
I am excited to see how these characters evolve, and follow their further magical adventures, and can wholeheartedly recommend these books to other fans of magic, wit and adventure. Oh, and also fans of books, cats and more books!
I don’t know if I’ve explained yet my ‘real book’ vs ebook stance, but now seems like the perfect time (bear with me review-fans…there IS a point!). I live in a house with very little storage space, into which I have already squeezed 8 bookcases (6 for me and 2 for the children) at the expense of unnecessary frivolities like clothes and toy storage. Therefore, whilst I still love the feel and smell of both old and new ‘real’ books, I do 90% of my reading these days on my battered old first gen Kindle. It just makes logistical sense. I only buy hard copies of books that I consider ‘keepers’: ones that I know I will reread more than once.
All this to say that having received these books on e-format for free as part of a Facebook launch party for Kevin Potter’s The Fall of an Overlord, I have immediately added them to my personal hard-copy purchase list, and intend to buy the whole series, along with anything else Lydia Sherrer chooses to write. The Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus series definitely qualify for my ‘keepers’ pile!
The main reason is, of course, personal preference. I have a penchant for fantasy, but also a soft spot for well-written humour. The kind of bantery, light-hearted tone that you find in various formats with authors such as Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher and Elizabeth Peters. Not necessarily laugh-out-loud humour, but a kind of wry sideways slant that shows you the author, characters and story aren’t taking themselves too seriously. This series has that tone to perfection.
The characters are instantly likeable: imperfect but good-humoured about it, and with a familiar chemistry to fans of working couples such as Elizabeth Peter’s Peabody and Emerson. It’s a nice touch to have the labels of witch and wizard denoting the character’s access route to their magic, rather than any sort of gender role: wizards (Lily) have innate, genetic magical abilities, whereas witches (Sebastian) have to purchase their abilities via trades and favours. I am particularly excited to learn more about this system of trading and how the fae/demons etc fit into this reality.
The novella, A Study in Mischief, has a fun structure of the story of how the friends meet told in flashback format by the characters in turn, so we get their alternating points of view, and thereby a good insight into each character with plenty of showing rather than telling. I would recommend reading it AFTER Beginnings rather than before like I did, as there are character and plot developments contained that have not yet occured in the first novel (e.g. Sir Kipling the cat’s development into a more central character).
Beginnings consists of two separate adventures, one a short story about banishing a ghost and breaking a curse, and the other a slightly longer, two-part tale about the theft of a magical artefact and a dangerous loop in time. Both narratives introduce the characters, showcase their different styles and temperaments, and whilst the individual plotlines are neatly wrapped, the reader is given some nudges towards wider mysteries (around Lily and Sebastian’s pasts and family histories) that will evidently form part of a larger plot arc throughout the series.
I am excited to see how these characters evolve, and follow their further magical adventures, and can wholeheartedly recommend these books to other fans of magic, wit and adventure. Oh, and also fans of books, cats and more books!
fallonwilloughby's review against another edition
4.0
https://authorfallonwilloughby.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/major-pettigrews-last-stand-book-review/
storiesforhisglory's review against another edition
5.0
Cute and funny. I'm now intruiged enough to go find the series, as I liked the characters and want to see more of the world they exist in. It does kind of dump you into the middle of a storyline, but most of the story is their meeting, so it takes place before this moment.
emesskay's review against another edition
3.0
This is a fun prequel to the "Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus" series, explaining how the main characters, Sebastian and Lily happen to meet and start working together.
The tale takes place in current day Atlanta. Magic exists and can be used, but mundanes (non-magical) people don't know about it. There are two types of practitioners - witches and wizards. Wizards are people (male or female) who are born with innate magical ability, and witches are people (male or female) who learn to practice magic. Because of their different methodologies in handling magic, there is general distrust between the two groups.
However, Lily (the wizard) and Sebastian (the witch) have to work together in order to solve a mystery, and gradually gain respect for each other's abilities. The cast of characters also includes a talking cat, Sir Edgar Allen Kipling. In actuality, only Lily can understand what he says, everyone else just hears "meow." But Sir Kipling has some of the best lines.
An enjoyable book that provides a good introduction to the series, and encourages one to read further.
The tale takes place in current day Atlanta. Magic exists and can be used, but mundanes (non-magical) people don't know about it. There are two types of practitioners - witches and wizards. Wizards are people (male or female) who are born with innate magical ability, and witches are people (male or female) who learn to practice magic. Because of their different methodologies in handling magic, there is general distrust between the two groups.
However, Lily (the wizard) and Sebastian (the witch) have to work together in order to solve a mystery, and gradually gain respect for each other's abilities. The cast of characters also includes a talking cat, Sir Edgar Allen Kipling. In actuality, only Lily can understand what he says, everyone else just hears "meow." But Sir Kipling has some of the best lines.
An enjoyable book that provides a good introduction to the series, and encourages one to read further.
artemisienne's review
4.0
A 3.5 rounded up.
I first received this short story through the author's newsletter, and it was so good that I had to get the first book ([b:Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings|29541796|Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Beginnings (The Lily Singer Adventures #1)|Lydia Sherrer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458237137s/29541796.jpg|49842492]) immediately. Considering this was the first story in the series that I had read (meaning I didn't know much about the characters or the universe), this was a pretty good introduction, and it successfully got me invested in the main characters. Although I didn't much care about the plot in general (and to be honest, it wasn't as much of a focus as it was on the characters' evolving relationship), I quite liked the unconventional concept of wizards and witches and how they continue to live in secret among the non-magical folk.
That said, there were several aspects that reminded me of famous fantasy worlds, like Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments. Other than the obvious main character having the same name as HP's mother (which can easily mean nothing other than to evoke our memory of the HP world), the characters also call non-magical people "mundanes", which is also what the characters in TMI call them. Again, this could also be an honest coincidence, but the names just seem to remind us of these worlds as if to show us how similarly cool the book's world is to theirs, even though they're nothing alike. Added to the obvious comparison to the HP books, it really gives the idea that it may not be a coincidence.
Fortunately, other than the names, there really is nothing else that similar to the aforementioned books, and the main characters (a male witch and a female librarian wizard, not to mention the charming talking cat) is an unusual but quite likable pair. I would definitely recommend this to lovers of magical fantasy and those who love the usual YA boy/girl romance (although this book is not a romance, it has hints of it and is pretty cute and not cliched, if you ask me).
I first received this short story through the author's newsletter, and it was so good that I had to get the first book ([b:Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings|29541796|Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus Beginnings (The Lily Singer Adventures #1)|Lydia Sherrer|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1458237137s/29541796.jpg|49842492]) immediately. Considering this was the first story in the series that I had read (meaning I didn't know much about the characters or the universe), this was a pretty good introduction, and it successfully got me invested in the main characters. Although I didn't much care about the plot in general (and to be honest, it wasn't as much of a focus as it was on the characters' evolving relationship), I quite liked the unconventional concept of wizards and witches and how they continue to live in secret among the non-magical folk.
That said, there were several aspects that reminded me of famous fantasy worlds, like Harry Potter and The Mortal Instruments. Other than the obvious main character having the same name as HP's mother (which can easily mean nothing other than to evoke our memory of the HP world), the characters also call non-magical people "mundanes", which is also what the characters in TMI call them. Again, this could also be an honest coincidence, but the names just seem to remind us of these worlds as if to show us how similarly cool the book's world is to theirs, even though they're nothing alike. Added to the obvious comparison to the HP books, it really gives the idea that it may not be a coincidence.
Fortunately, other than the names, there really is nothing else that similar to the aforementioned books, and the main characters (a male witch and a female librarian wizard, not to mention the charming talking cat) is an unusual but quite likable pair. I would definitely recommend this to lovers of magical fantasy and those who love the usual YA boy/girl romance (although this book is not a romance, it has hints of it and is pretty cute and not cliched, if you ask me).
paperbacksandpinot's review
5.0
I don't think there is a single thing I don't like about this series! One of my favourites of the past year I have been holding off on this little novella as I'm not sure when the next main book in the series is out. When I saw that the full length books had had a gorgeous cover makeover last week I couldn't put this off any longer!
Set in retrospect, Lily and Sebastian recount to a curious Kipling the story of how their unlikely friendship was forged; in an effort to break up the tedium of the long overdue clean up operation in Sebastian's apartment. The reference to the Bog of Eternal Stench raised a little smile for me as it's one of my favourite parts of Labyrinth! Lily is collecting books from an auction house and Sebastian arrives taking far too much of an interest in her quarry. When Lily fails to be swayed by his charms he must take action to show her that he boxes are in fact lacking in a certain degree of bookish goodness and the unlikely pair set off together on their first little adventure.
I loved the immediate ease that they fell into, like it was an inevitable partnership. Each of them having more than one proverbial trick up their sleeve, filling the gaps for each other. There are glimpses of future books in little Easter Eggs for those who have read the main series, like Sebastian's unorthodox way of travelling and hints at issues from their past that shape them, but not enough to spoil. It's almost as though as much is revealed to the reader as Lily and Sebastian would have revealed to each other at that stage. There is a lot of comedy packed into the pages and I found myself smiling throughout as if back with old friends. My only issue with this is that it was over too soon!
It's free to download from Amazon and it's the perfect introduction to the characters (although there is a spoiler in respect of Kipling if you haven't read the first couple of books.) It's a truly scrumptious little addition to this great series.
5*
Set in retrospect, Lily and Sebastian recount to a curious Kipling the story of how their unlikely friendship was forged; in an effort to break up the tedium of the long overdue clean up operation in Sebastian's apartment. The reference to the Bog of Eternal Stench raised a little smile for me as it's one of my favourite parts of Labyrinth! Lily is collecting books from an auction house and Sebastian arrives taking far too much of an interest in her quarry. When Lily fails to be swayed by his charms he must take action to show her that he boxes are in fact lacking in a certain degree of bookish goodness and the unlikely pair set off together on their first little adventure.
I loved the immediate ease that they fell into, like it was an inevitable partnership. Each of them having more than one proverbial trick up their sleeve, filling the gaps for each other. There are glimpses of future books in little Easter Eggs for those who have read the main series, like Sebastian's unorthodox way of travelling and hints at issues from their past that shape them, but not enough to spoil. It's almost as though as much is revealed to the reader as Lily and Sebastian would have revealed to each other at that stage. There is a lot of comedy packed into the pages and I found myself smiling throughout as if back with old friends. My only issue with this is that it was over too soon!
It's free to download from Amazon and it's the perfect introduction to the characters (although there is a spoiler in respect of Kipling if you haven't read the first couple of books.) It's a truly scrumptious little addition to this great series.
5*
coinmanatee's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Meh.
Felt like things got over explained in the prose and I didnt enjoy the lead personalities or chemistry.
Felt like things got over explained in the prose and I didnt enjoy the lead personalities or chemistry.
Content Warnings
Mould
kelly_'s review against another edition
3.0
Not a big fan of stories within stories. If it’s at the start and end, I can deal. But when the story is constantly broken up with dull moments or actions to being us back to the present and then drop us back in the story, I find it jarring. Leave it alone!
Overall though, it’s well written. A light, short, easy read that describes the main character’s meeting and sets the scene for the series.
Overall though, it’s well written. A light, short, easy read that describes the main character’s meeting and sets the scene for the series.