Switching Hour: Magic and Mayhem Book One

This has been 1 amazing story I am truly in love with the series I plan on finishing it It was so nice and fresh story With so much seriousness going on in the world. I can't wait to finish the series

I read most of Switching Hour on a plane and laughed out loud repeatedly, getting me weird looks from nearby passengers. It’s fast paced, creative, a teeny bit raunchy and has one of my number one rules for a good book… character growth. Go ahead. It’s a fun read.

Initially the story made me roll my eyes and I was glad it was short and free. However, once I got about halfway through, while I'm not necessarily hooked, I did get into the spirit of the zaniness. I especially liked the protagonist's habit of calling her witch 'nemesis' by a different name each time that started with the same letters as her real name. Ironically, it is something I do myself in a series I write, so perhaps that's where the affinity for the work came into play. Be prepared for crazy antics and total lack of realism. It's pure escapist writing, and maybe that's actually the best part about it.

Life was definitely not good for a witch named Zelda. Sure she was supposed to be a white healer, but she used her powers to get designer cloths for free and to go to a non-stop vacations on different paradise islands. It all suddenly ended when she accidentally drove over his familiar (a cat) - several times. So off she went into a special witch prison in (can you guess the place?) the city of Salem. Poor girl had to wear prison orange all the time - and she really hates orange: after all it is new black as we all know.Finally she was released with her magical power severely diminished on the condition that she had to perform a task she had to guess or become a mere mortal forever, I mean until the end of her life. Sounds easy? Read and find out for yourself.First things first: this is a paranormal romance. It does have all the cliches of the genre and can be used as a checklist for them. Sorry, scratch it: there was only one drop-dead handsome guy. Usually the genre requires at least two (go, team Jacob!)I asked for a recommendation for a funny book when I realized my most optimistic reads were at best depressing (grimdark overload?) Funny book is exactly what I got. It was quite amusing for about 20 first pages and then I began laughing. Not non-stop my-jaws-hurt kind of laugh, but laugh nonetheless.Just to give you an idea: people even briefly familiar with Eastern Slavic folk tales know this badass lady called Baba Yaga (Baba Roga for Southern Slavs - thanks to my friend Ivana). She flies in a mortar using a broom for steering. "Colorful" does not even begin to describe her. She is one of the main characters here, only she looks like a woman in her late thirties with taste in cloths coming straight from the good old eighties - I mean the extreme examples of this. And yes, she was wearing that Madonna-inspired outfit (Vogue). I found this depiction of her very much amusing.To make a long story short: if you want to read something that makes at least one of your brain cells work - even to half of its capacity - do not even look at this book. If you want to read a tale which makes a serious philosophical concept look funny - this book is not for you. Only if you want to read a brainless funny story with no deep meaning: this book might work.As for me I rate it with 4 stars, the same rating as I gave to some timeless classics. My fairly frequent bursts of laughter were worth it.

Zelda makes me laugh! I am slowly collecting several of Robyn Peterman’s series, and laughter is the main reason. I’ve reread her Fashionably Dead series, and what I think is called the Hot Damned series, as well as this one, repeatedly.So...about Zelda. She is exactly what you would expect from her upbringing (I’ll let you find out for yourself), and yet she has these seeds of compassion and maturity. I’ve loved watching those develop as I read through this book and this series. I enjoy all the snark, as well as her first dragging-her-feet, tentative forays into a life of strength and compassion. (Oh, and love! Of many kinds)I don’t really have strong feelings either way about ‘language’ or sexy passages. In Robyn’s books, these parts seem to define the small changes in relationships and attitudes.I find the ongoing infatuation with ‘hot’ designer items fun in a look from afar kind of way. This interest shows up in some of her other series as well. It just adds to the interesting details that fill out the story and make it feel more real for me.I recommend these books and this author if you like funny heroines who keep going and growing while they snark their way through incredible, imaginative adventures.And if you enjoy Zelda, Mac, and Sassy, know that you will also find great crossover books from authors that Robyn has invited into her Magic and Mayhem universe. So much fun! (I just finished rereading the Ida May Chronicles by Deanna Chase)Oh, and the cats. They’re not cut little kittens by any stretch of the imagination. But they are funny, so silly funny. And yes, they grow too. A little. I mean, they’re cats.

First off if "language" in a book offends then move on right by this one. Our heroine, Zelda, has what might be termed a potty mouth and unleashes it frequently. So, if this is a problem for you then steer clear. Personally, it really doesn't bother me (I could go in to a long diatribe about it all but I promise to refrain) and, in actual fact, the author does manage to squeeze some rather creative sweariness in there - just needed a couple of portmanteaued cusses and it would have reached the zenith of foul mouthed fun.There's the thing it is FUN, from start to finish there is a lot of humour in this short tale. Yes a lot of it is a little broad and has a tendency to club your over the head rather than tap you on the shoulder but it's all good. Subtle this book isn't but then, Zelda isn't exactly a proponent of subtle herself. The thing that did annoy me was the constant and ever changing nicknames Zelda gave to Baba Yaga, the first couple of times it was blah by the end of the book I was ready to either strangle the character or punch her full in the face every time it happened.There are also a surprising number of, ahem, erotic encounters, in the book. Now, these are what usually puts me off a book - constant cursing no problemo, getting down and dirty makes me cringe. Fortunately for this reader although there is a fair bit of horizontal action it is not graphic details more of an overview of the shared character experience and it did seem to actually make sense within the context of the story and not just pushed in to titillate.The plot whizzes by, barely giving the reader time to draw breath. In summary - Zelda is released from magical pokey after running over her familiar, the Witches Council (headed by Baba Yaga) give until Halloween to complete their challenge or she will lose her powers. Finding out she had an Aunt Hildy who died, violently, and left Zelda her house she sets off to claim her inheritance and hopefully keep her powers. Things start to really get strange when she arrives at an almost ghost town with rotting vegetables in the local grocery and strange cages in her Aunt Hildy's basement. Throw in a reanimated familiar (still has 6 lives left) with a nice line in credit card fraud, some decidedly un-Snow White wild animals who camp out on Zelda's porch and mix with a healthy dose of pop culture and you more or less have Switching Hour.Rude, obnoxious, self-absorbed and very funny; this book is the personality of it's heroine through and through. Almost despite myself I found myself really enjoying the read and I am now toying with getting the next in the series.

This book opens with two witches - one of whom is our central character - in a magical prison. Our heroine, Zelda, is materialistic, selfish, slightly unhinged and has both mommy issues and the absolute worst potty mouth I've ever read in a book. If that's a problem for you, then I recommend you look elsewhere. However if you don't mind the language this is a great read, which I keep going back to instead of reading new stuff (and that's a marker of how much I enjoy it), and the sequel, "Witch Glitch', is even more of a treat. Robyn's writing is solid, though I'd like to see more character development for some of the secondary characters - perhaps this will come with the later books in the Magic & Mayhem universe, which I'm not currently in a position to read - and her story development is sound. Basic plot is as follows: Zelda is freed from prison and sent to the little town in West Virginia where her aunt lived, with instructions to find out how her aunt died by Hallowe'en -- or turn into a mortal. She reluctantly accepts, glad to be away from her equally nutty, building-demolishing cellmate Sassy (whom we haven't seen the last of). Turns out she and her aunt have quite a lot in common, including their taste in expensive outfits and some really handy powers. I won't give anything else away; if you can handle the language, you can find out for yourself.Recommended, but not for younger readers or those of a disposition to object to profanity.

.. a self obsessed witch who's about to be released from witch jail after serving her sentence for killing her own familiar.She's sent to Assjacket, West Virginia by Baba Yaga to inherit her Aunt Hildy's estate, stop putting herself above everyone else, and, with limited access to her magic, complete a mission she doesn't understand.. she's confused from the start as she's unaware she even has an Aunt Hildy and when it appears that Fabio is far from dead, is still her familiar and happily prepared to supply her with the designer duds she craves but cannot acquire herself she's even more so.But when she arrives in Assjacket there's a bigger mystery to solve and a whole bunch of injured shifters to fix up. Can Zelda set aside her selfish ways, solve Aunt Hildy's murder case and discover her true mission before Baba Yaga returns and takes away her magic forever?

Switching Hour (Magic and Mayhem Book one) is a paranormal romance.Zelda is a selfish witch; she often conjures herself top fashion clothing and exotic holidays, but the witch council threw her into jail when she killed her talking cat. After her release she had to pass a task or face being turned into a mortal.Sent to a remote part of West Virginia, Zelda’s magic is soon needed by injured wildlife. However, not everything is as innocent as it first appears as the animals reveal that they are shifters and that Zelda is to be their Shifter Whisperer.This was a fun, light, fast-paced tale that uses mockery and humour to drive the story forward. This book reminded me, in parts, of Sabrina The Teenage Witch, because Sabrina had an Aunt Zelda and a talkative cat. I believe this story would suit those looking for a quick read and who enjoy this particular genre.

On probation, Witch Zelda and her annoying once-Dead cat Fábio, end up in a strange town full of shifters, where her job is to find out who killed her aunt Hildy. And resist the cuteness of baby racoons and a gorge or wolf shifter Mac.This book is brilliant- I loved Zelda, how uncouth and contrary she is, whilst trying to deny she has feelings for the group of crazy she’s dyers she has to look after.Mack her potential mate is incredibly sexy and also annoying.The primary plot rattles all big nicely whilst the sub-plots open up and we find out interesting tidbits. The erotic elements are just right, but it’s mostly the sense of humour and comedy in this book that I loved.