1.15.2025 | Wednesday

Frosting and Fairies

category: Book Reviews
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Frosting and Fairiestitle: Frosting and Fairies
author: Danielle Garrett
series: Sugar Shack Witch Mysteries #4
published: 1.2.2025
publisher: Roots & Wings Press
genre(s): cozy mystery, paranormal
pages: 240
source: Kindle Unlimited
format: eBook
buy/shelve it: Amazon | BookBub | StoryGraph | Goodreads

rating: four-half-stars | series rating: four-stars

the blurb

Small-town journalism isn’t exactly a thrill ride. Between PTA meetings and bake sale bulletins, I was drowning in monotony. But when I begged my editor for a juicier assignment, I should’ve been careful what I wished for.

Enter the Summer Lovin’ Book Festival. BOGO deals on paperbacks with a side of beefcake, as five hunky models vie to become the next Captain Riker Bones, the shirtless swashbuckler adorning Grandma Rose’s favorite bodice-rippers.

Sure, a little eye candy never hurt anyone, but ten minutes of watching grown women cry over washboard abs has me wishing I’d volunteered to write up the waste management ordinances instead.

But when one of our would-be pirates turns up dead in his hotel room, my puff piece transforms into a full-blown murder mystery. And the plot thickens faster than my family’s famous buttercream when a poison-laced cupcake from Sugar Shack is found at the scene.

Now I’m racing against time to catch a killer, clear my family’s name, and keep Grandma Rose from sailing into the sunset with one of the wannabe pirates. Someone pass the rum.


  • a few notes
  • my review
  • the good & the bad

POV: 1st person
setting: WA
keywords/phrases: magic, murder, fairies, betrayal
tropes: the MacGuffin, hero’s journey, side quest, magical creatures, high stakes
spice: 0🔥
language: 0🤬

read this if… you like paranormal cozies with magical creatures and quirky, smart characters.

the good

  • I love the town of Winterspell, where magic is out in the open but protected from the outside world.
  • There is a great blend between the magic world and our own world.
  • There is a diverse cast of magic humans and creatures, with some very quirky characters.

the bad

  • Rosella has a long history of discord with the town sheriff, which has been present in the majority of the stories. There were so many missed opportunities for that history to continue in this book. Their conflict has become such a thing that it felt odd to be absent but for a mention or two.

I’ve really enjoyed this series. Rosella is a great FMC, smart and kind, yet sassy and fierce when she needs to be. Orion is the perfect counterpart for her, smart and not at all intimidated by her magic, as so many others are. I love that their relationship feels so balanced.

And the setting just can’t be beat, a town where magic doesn’t have to be hidden, where all kinds of magical creatures coexist in the same community. It’s the perfect place for a book festival… and a murder.

The author has created a wonderful world in these books. Great settings, great characters, great mystery!


About Danielle Garrett

From a young age, Danielle Garrett was obsessed with fantastic places and the stories set in them. As a lifelong bookworm, she’s gone on hundreds of adventures through the eyes of wizards, princesses, elves, and some rather wonderful everyday people as well.

Danielle lives in Oregon, and while she travels as often as possible, she wouldn’t call anywhere else home. She shares her life with her husband and their house full of animals, and when not writing, spends her time being a dedicated servant for three extremely spoiled cats.

Rating Report
plot
four-stars
characters
four-half-stars
writing
four-half-stars
pacing
three-half-stars
Overall: four-stars

reading challenges:

  • 2025 52 Books Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge: Author Edition
  • 2025 Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Beyond the Bookends Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Craving for Cozies Library Card Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Craving For Cozies Reading Challenge
  • 2025 Linz the Bookworm & Logophile Reading Challenge
::spread the love::

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