Time for another audiobook review, Stitches And Witches is the second book in The Vampire Knitting Club Series by Nancy Warren. I love this series and I will do all the books, but we must go in order! All the books in this series are technically able to stand alone. However I really do suggest reading them in order since you’ll understand character development and inside jokes better.

Here’s the first books review if you’re interested: Audio Book Review: The Vampire Knitting Club

I recommend reading that review to see if you’re interested in the series, as this book/review does have some spoilers for the first book.

Alright, got your yarn? Let’s find out about your next audiobook then.

Genre

This would be considered a paranormal cozy mystery.

The Vampire Knitting Club series as a whole would be considered paranormal cozy mystery.

“cozies”, If you aren’t familiar with the term, it is a sub-genre of crime novels that usually feature an amateur sleuth, placed in a small town or close knit community pardon the pun, and all of the violence or intimate situations happen off page. They generally focus on puzzle solving more than suspense.

Agatha Christie is pretty much the queen of written cozy mysteries. One of my favorite authors.

This book is on the short side, the audio book is 5 hours long. So it’s probably considered a novella.

Book summary

Elderflower Tea Shop is next door to Cardinal Woolsey’s, the yarn shop Lucy runs. The tea shop owners are a pair of octogenarian spinsters and old family friends. So imagine Lucy’s surprise when and older man comes inquiring about Miss Florance Watt claiming to be an old flame.

Flash forward a few days and Lucy’s curiosity over how the old lovers reunion faired is peaked. She invites Rafe for tea so it doesn’t look like she’s snooping… And possibly so he can fix her knitting before the vampire knitting club meeting.

Not quite as planned..

They get more then Lucy bargained for, when an older gentleman dies during his scones and tea at the Elderflower Tea Shop in Oxford as victim of poison. Lucy and Rafe witness it all, but because of a far from proficient waitress there aren’t just more suspects… It’s possible he wasn’t even the target.

Afraid that her neighbors livelihood is in danger when the tea shop is closed pending the police investigation; Lucy and her undead friends are sleuthing again.

Lots to do

Lucy definitely has her hands full, in between figuring out who, might have poisoned the unpleasant Colonel Montague, that’s a long list of suspects. Trying to brush up on her magic before the Wiccan potluck dinner her, literal, witch of a cousin insists she come to. And a second murder that just might tear the Miss Watt sisters apart, she’s got a lot going on.

Meanwhile, Lucy is still working on the whole being a witch thing. Ever since she botched a spell and blew up her kitchen, literately, she’s taking her magic slowly. Her knitting isn’t doing much better. Her hand-knit scarf looks like it was attacked by giant moths, and boy are there days Lucy thinks she’ll give up and move back to Boston. But, then she’d miss her beloved undead grandmother, and her new friends.. especially the hot, lord knows how old, vampire, Rafe and the cute Detective Inspector Ian.

Reader

Sarah Zimmerman is the vocalist for this audio book and the rest of the books in the series. It took me a couple of chapters to get used to her ironic/sarcastic tone in the first book, but I love her now.

The main character is quite sarcastic, so she chose that tone for the first person narration. Her various voices and accents make it clear that she is a wonderful voice actress.

Each character has a different voice and speech pattern that is quite enjoyable. You can easily tell the difference between them as well which is always something I look for in an audio book.

Stitches And Witches Review

Love, betrayal, vampires, and yarn! Who could ask for anything more?

In Stitches And Witches, you can see Lucy is becoming used to the idea that she is a witch, magic is real, and so are vampires. She’s even getting used to being an entrepreneur of a yarn shop and living in Oxford, England.

However, something she’s not getting used to anytime soon in knitting or casting spells…especially after one literately blew up in her face.

Lucy’s Relationships

Romantically, she’s torn between the Ian and Rafe. I think she actually favors Rafe, but is put off by the idea that he will never age or die and she will… Unless she also becomes a vampire, which at the moment she is definitely not willing to do.

Friendship wise, I’m hoping that Violet will become closer to her. Right now she seems like a bit of a bother to Lucy, because she’s always pushing her to embrace being a witch. Lucy is definitely resistant to her Witchy heritage more than anything else. It will be interesting to see when she decides to embrace it more.

I’m not giving anything away on the murders, you’ll have to read it to find out more about those.

Bottom line, this is an awesome book two to an addictive cozy mystery series with an urban fantasy flair. My only critic is that I wish they were longer, I’m currently on book 8 and I absolutely love it!

Where to get Stitches and witches

Here’s the audiobook I got on audible: Stitches and Witches

And here is the book on Amazon: Stitches and Witches

You might be able to find it at your local library or request it. Just go to the circulation or check out desk and ask for a book request form. (That’s how my library works with requests any way) Bear in mind that you’ll probably be waiting a while if you do a request form.

Want more audiobook reviews?

Try one of these out!

• Audio Book Review: The Vampire Knitting Club
• Audio Book Review: Mystery Stories Of Violet Strange by Anna K. Green.
• Audio Book Review: Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce Book 1
• Audio Book Review: Wolf Speaker By Tamora Pierce Book 2

I hope you liked this review of Stitches And Witches and found it helpful! If it was, please show your support by liking this post and following my blog, so you’re alerted when ever I make a new one. You can also sign up for The Crocheting Owl Monthly Newsletter for free patterns, updates, yarny bonuses and more!

You have your book, do you have a project? Try this 5th Day Of Halloween: Spooky Crochet Striped Scarf Pattern, spooky is never out of style as far as I’m concerned.