| Title | : | Bobbles and Broomsticks (Vampire Knitting Club, #8) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1928145647 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781928145646 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 218 |
| Publication | : | First published October 16, 2019 |
When an ancient beam falls on one of the guests at Charlie and Alice’s wedding rehearsal, it looks like the work of the death watch beetle, an insect that eats old timbers. But fledgling witch Lucy and the vampire knitting club aren’t so sure. Could there be a murderer casting blame on the wood-chomping insects?
Meanwhile, the old broom that’s always stood in the corner of Cardinal Woolsey’s knitting and yarn shop seems to have a mind of its own, and Lucy’s cat is ready to hop aboard and take the broom for a spin. With or without Lucy.
Between learning a new knitting stitch and keeping her broom and cat earthbound, Lucy hasn’t got time to solve a murder—until it turns out the next victim is someone she loves.
Join Lucy and her eccentric band of amateur sleuths in Oxford as they attempt to unravel a twisted skein of clues and catch a killer without dropping a stitch.
Bobbles and Broomsticks (Vampire Knitting Club, #8) Reviews
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Not entirely sure why I love this series so much.
But 9 books in under a month and I still want more. -
2020 bk 76. A death at a wedding. A traditional British mystery with a few twists. Nancy Warren deftly handles the addition of the Vampire Knitting Club sleuths, a trio of witches, and a jealous woman in this mystery. I have to admit that this title, more than any others in the series, left me without my main suspect. I was totally out in left field and had no idea of who done it, almost until the murderer confessed. Great read!
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4.5
Book source ~ Kindle Lending Library
Lucy Swift is an American transplant in Oxford, running the wool shop she inherited from her dead grandma. And by dead I mean vampire. Lucy spends her days running the shop and solving the occasional murder. At night she hangs out with her vampire friends while they knit at tremendous speeds or learning to control the witchcraft she also inherited from her grandma. Hanging out with her vampire friends is much more fun. When her friends Alice and Charlie (Charlie owns the bookstore across the street and Alice is his assistant) get married she’s prepared to enjoy her friends’ lovely day. Until there’s a murder right in the church. What the hecka?!
Now, in between running her shop and taking broom flying lessons, Lucy and her amateur sleuthing vampire friends need to find out who the murderer is before someone else dies. It’s just another uneventful day in Oxford.
I love this series so much. Each book is easy to read and even with the sadness of a murder (or two) it’s a light and often humorous way to pass a few hours. There’s mystery, humor, paranormal elements, great characters, and even some romance sprinkled in. This is book 8 and I’m not even close to being tired of the Oxford shenanigans. Bring on book 9! -
I want to start this review by saying that I love this cover! Nyx flying on the broom in the upper left corner was a brilliant decision!
The story starts close to Alice and Charlie's wedding. They are friends of Lucy's and we've met them several books ago, and we saw how they got together in Purls and Potions. Most of my favorite characters made an appearance, even the not so favorite(Margaret of you I am talking about), and the mystery was a great one(I didn't guess who the murderer was).
Besides the mystery solving, we see Lucy advancing in her witchy education. Those were some of my favorite parts, her and Nyx flying and even surprising Margaret with her inborn skills. There were also some advances on the love-lives of Lucy and her cousin Violet, some unforeseen ones too :D
This was a great installment in the series and I can't wait to see how Lucy gets involved in more mysteries and need to use her problem-solving skills. I also want her to rally fall in love with Rafe, but I can have patience(a bit :D) -
Lucy is back in action as everyone gears up to celebrate Alice and Charlie's wedding, but someone definitely doesn't want it to go off without mayhem and a bit of murder! The characters in this series are so delightfully well fleshed out that you feel as if you actually know them rather than enjoy reading about them. I so look forward to each book as I get to visit with old friends while we go on the hunt for a villain! I absolutely can't wait to see what happens in the next book! The first 8 books are on audio so if you enjoy audio, this series needs to be on your must listen list! I can't wait for the next audio book to come out so I'm going to forage ahead in print, but I must say the narrator does a magnificent job of helping to flesh out the personalities of the characters that the author has developed so carefully and artfully!
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I continue to love Vampire Knitting Club, that is all. Just kidding, I have more to say than that. Like the previous book, this one has a good bit of set up before we get to the actual murder. We get to know an all knew cast of characters that have arrived in town where one of them, sadly, will meet their demise. Aside from the central mysteries in each book Warren does a pretty good job over the series balancing all of the little side elements–Lucy learning how to use her witch powers, Lucy’s love life, the vampires living under her shop, and knitting. Although, one thing I have noticed, is because the books are so short not all the elements are heavy in each book, that focus sort of moves around between books. This time there wasn’t quite as much knitting, romance, or hanging out with the vamps, but we did see Lucy make a huge step forward in her magical abilities. I admit that I missed Rafe a bit, definitely could have used more Rafe. I mean, he’s there, but not nearly enough in my opinion. 😀 This series is fun and light and what cozy mysteries should be. As long as they continue being fun, I’ll keep reading them. 4.5/5 stars.
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This was a really good read. Alice and Charlie are finally getting married. There is some reference to Lucy and Rafe's relationship but it doesn't progress much here. This book uses misdirection to keep you from figuring out the killer. Also maybe I'm just not very good at mysteries, but I'm not sure how anyone could have figured out this one before the end. I like that it's not predictable, but it should make it so that the best of us could figure it out. But honestly, for all I know it does lol.
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This one actually made me feel like I missed something. Talks of marriage come up and I honestly can’t remember more than a couple of kisses exchanged. Definitely some old school themes in this series I think.
I’m glad Charlie gets his happily ever after in this one as I’ve always liked his secondary character involvement in this series.
3.5 star listen I enjoy this narrator and these cozy mysteries. -
Completely unrelated to the mystery (which wasn't as captivating as I would've liked): I really wish Nyx could talk. She'd be so sarcastic.
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It's a nice and entertaining series, but sometimes the way Lucy assumes the dumbest things is rather laughable.
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This is my least favorite of the series to this point. Bobbles and Broomsticks is book 8 of the Vampire Knitting Club series. In this book, Alice and Charlie (we got to know them in book 5 when the love potion Lucy made for Alice went awry) get married. As they were heading back down the aisle after being wed, a beam fell, narrowly missing the bride and instead hitting a killing the father of one of the groom's friends. As it turned out, it wasn't a horrible accident. Someone made that beam fall. I really didn't like the themes of betrayal and jealousy in this book. I thought the scene where we find the "bad guy" was really overdone and contrived and I thought that the reasons were over the top.
One thing that I really had a problem with was that this is book 8 and Lucy has had plenty of time to get to know Rafe over the past 8 books and she should know him to be a good man and have some sort of loyalty to him as a friend, if nothing more. Instead, Lucy was being judgmental about Rafe's house manager, speaking on things she doesn’t even understand, and trying to convince him that Rafe is taking advantage of him because he pledged to serve Rafe for life and continue the tradition with his sons, just as he did with his father and grandfathers have all done. The man tried to explain that working for Rafe has been a wonderful thing for his family and Rafe has taken wonderful care of all of them but she keeps telling him he should leave.
I have been binging this series and haven’t been reviewing them in between each book. Some overall observations from the series so far (I have finished through book 8.5 and am partway through book 9) are that the stories are always cute and good for a short escape. I really enjoy the characters and have a vested interest in them. Something I have noticed, though, is that there isn’t continuity between books and the books really could have benefited from a proofreader. For example, in book 1, Lucy is 27 but in book 6, she has her 26th birthday. In one of the books, Rafe is at least 600 years old, but in the next book, he is only 500 years old. Occasionally there is an incorrect name used but I always know what was meant so it doesn’t confuse me or make it so that I can’t continue. Another thing that is missing, at least to the point I am at now, is any real information about the vampires. We don’t get to know anything about their abilities, only that they are vampires who feed via a blood bank. Even with the inconsistencies, I am hooked on the series and enjoy these easy-going, clean, cozy mysteries. It is a nice palette cleanser from the smutty stuff I typically enjoy.
The narrator is the same throughout the series and she does a great job. -
Lucy is coming off as a bit of a snob or know it all, or holier than thou, yet everyone seems so taken with her.
She keeps giving people advise, but never needs it for herself and it has become maddening. She tells Charlie he needs to talk to Alice, then she tells Sophie she must move on from her infatuation with Charlie as she is missing out on life. These are things Lucy must do for herself, but we keep being presented with her avoiding Rafe, being afraid of what it would be like to be in a relationship with him, as well as looking down on her witch self.
Also, she got down on Violet for wanting to rush into things with Alister, and took her own advise regarding Rae??? Uh, haven’t they been kissing since June around her bday and it’s now like November or something?
The author hasn’t corrected Lucy’s age in this book to 28 instead of 26. I did enjoy that we got more back story for Rafe, and that we learned that Lucy’s grandma lost most of her powers when turned into a vampire. And Rafe seemingly professed his love to her and it was like she was a deer caught in the headlights and seemed to ignore it! He’s being so understanding.
While I liked seeing Charlie and Alice get married the mystery was tied up too quickly and out of the blue. -
I really enjoyed this little mystery.
This series has been growing, both in characters and in the quality of it's puzzles. Up until now the "supernatural" elements, such as the main character being a novice witch (though it's all a bit of a surprise to her) and the undead knitting club in her back room, have been pretty much window dressing in most of the books. In this volume we get some real witching going on . We also have some quite dramatic scenes and get to see some beloved characters again
I think I've fallen in love with this cozy little series. -
I honestly don't know why I paused the audiobook when I had 2 hours left of this. This has got to be my favorite so far. Lucy is still my favorite, feels like a friend. I find myself cheering for her whenever she tries something new in the witch section.
This book in the series gave me a wedding and a murder. I for one, am not a very big fan of weddings, all the weddings I attended were too big, the music too loud. But this wedding was a delight, if you ignore the dead body.
I rarely find myself at a loss for words when it comes to books, but I find it hard to speak about this without ruining it a bit. I like to leave it a mystery for anyone willing to give the Vampire Knitting Club a go. The series is super fun and so fast paced you won't feel them breeze by. -
Huh, Lucy has some nerve talking about others not being able to accept criticism. A murder occurs right after Alice and Charles get married, and of course Lucy sticks her nose in it.
This book explores a little of Rafe’s background
The vampires and knitting are pretty non existent 😒😒
Overall, it was okay. -
A friend of mine persuaded me to read this series, and I am glad I listened to her. This is the type of cozy that I normally would turn my nose up at. But, its light, the characters are enjoyable, and it is great to listen to while I am driving around. Have gotten completely hooked in to it.
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Fun with Lucy and friends
It's Always fun reading a Lucy and friends adventure. We get Great characters, interesting mysteries, and Very Unique Solving Techniques! -
Before we get into anything else - the cover. Is Nyx the cat wearing a bat costume???
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Hmmm. This one was a bit of a miss for me, but it could have been a favorite.
As the reader, we're completely left out of being able to solve the mystery, even taking into account the one clue we were given. But that's fine, I don't read these for the murder. I did end up appreciating the misdirection. One of the things I actively disliked this time was how Lucy went about investigating, from suspecting Constance to pressuring the parish priest to reveal privileged information.
I absolutely loved the details about the wedding, and would have been delighted if the entire book had focused on that! There were essentially no vampires or knitting in this one. But there was a lot of witchy goodness, Nyx, and Rafe's butler (whom I adore omigosh).
Lucy and Rafe are moving closer to having a full on romance, which is fine I guess. It's not connecting with me emotionally, and the revelations in this one really should've had an impact. But Rafe, when he's not being controlling or earnestly interested in Lucy (and why is that again?)... Rafe is bland. Their conversations lack the authenticity, sparkle and vulnerability that make me root for a couple. Meh.
***
GR Personal Rating System:
★★★★★ 5 Stars ~ LOVED
★★★★☆ 4 Stars ~ ENJOYED
★★★☆☆ 3 Stars ~ LIKED
★★☆☆☆ 2 Stars ~ MEH
★☆☆☆☆ 1 Star ~ NOPE -
honestly these are SO short?? also there’s an unfortunate habit of hastily throwing together a motive and backstory in the final moments of the story, which feels cheap. I’ve also been missing the actual VAMPIRES in the last few books— the most we got here was basically a lunch with Rafe and two references TOPS to Gran and Sylvia… bring the knitters backkkk, tell me more about the doctor? or more about Silence and how the hell she spends her time? Anything. Descriptions of Rafe’s Tesla and Range Rover are getting old. these are basically just regular cozies now with sporadic appearances by a tall man with poor circulation.
but you know. bedtime listening, so like. already on the next one -
I'm loving that Lucy is finally getting off her lazy duff and practicing witchy stuff. With that said, 8 books in and she's still a novice. That's really unimpressive. I'm disappointed that Alice and Charlie's wedding was not the happy occasion it should've been but pleased that even though it was a crazy situation they were still happy that the ceremony itself happened. I still need more progress and romance between Lucy and Rafe. He pretty much declared his love and nothing happened between them after that. Quite frustrating.
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Loved it.
Bobbles and Broomsticks was a lot of fun. Wrexit for one had me giggling and Nyx is too brilliant for words. Seriously she needs her own novel/novella. All in all the Vampire Knitting Club series is absolutely marvellous! -
4.5 Stars
The Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren is another series that has been collecting dust on my TBR for a while now- but I have finally got my act together (well, somewhat lol) and gotten around to reading it. And I am soooo glad I did, as it turned out to be such an unexpectedly fun read.
One of the reasons I love being on Goodreads is seeing all the book reviews and recommendations that everyone does, and then hunting down the ones that catch my eye. This series would probably never have come to my attention if it hadn’t been for my Goodreads friend, Eliza- so thank you Eliza for your recommendation (in the form of your glowing reviews) which gave me the urge to dive in, even though I didn’t get to them right away- it was such a great series to binge. But one book has now turned into a bit of an addiction lol.
This is quite a long series, so I am going to save myself some time by doing one review for the entire series. So here we go…..
The Vampire Knitting Club is a wonderful paranormal cozy mystery series, with vampires, witches, adventure, action, crime & investigation, witty humour, family, friendship, a small-town setting, dramatic developments, magic, suspense, intrigue, fun, a dash of romance, knitting/knitting group, murder/murder mysteries, whodunnit vibes, danger, secrets, a cat familiar, tangled webs, the supernatural, and a slew of wonderfully quirky characters.
To condense things for the sake of this review, Lucy Swift ‘inherits’ her grandmother’s knitting shop when her grandmother dies…. only grandma is not dead, but is definitely undead. That’s not all she discovers…. so let the adventures begin…
“ …. I run a knitting shop and I can’t knit. I’m a beginning witch who can’t always control her cat, never mind her magic….. Oh, and for some reason, I keep getting involved in murder investigations. Good thing I have my vampire knitters to help sniff out clues.
I really recommend this book/series – especially for those who love a great paranormal cozy mystery.
The series contains…
-Tangles and Treason (Prequel)
-The Vampire Knitting Club (Book #1)
-Stitches and Witches (Book #2)
-Crotchet and Cauldrons (Book #3)
-Stockings and Spells (Book #4)
-Purls and Potions (Book #5)
-Fair Isle and Fortunes (Book #6)
-Lace and Lies (Book #7)
-Bobbles and Broomsticks (Book #8)
-Cats Paws and Curses (Book #8.5)
-Popcorn and Poltergeists (Book #9)
-Garters and Gargoyles (Book #10)
-Diamonds and Daggers (Book #11)
-Herringbones and Hexes (Book #12)
-Ribbing and Runes (Book #13)
-Mosaics and Magic (Book #14)
Can’t wait to explore some of Ms. Warren’s other series now.
Happy Reading…
Thank you, Nancy Warren! -
2.75
So, one of the disadvantages of listening to these back to back is that they're all starting to blend together. I've started listening to the next book only yesterday, but I'm already struggling to remember who the killer was in this one. I do remember that it was another one that seemed to come out of nowhere - a person who was never considered a suspect earlier in the story, and then all of a sudden Lucy gets her "a-ha" moments and figures it out, while leaving the reader in the dark until the big reveal. (As I'm writing this, the ending is coming back to me... )
For future reference,
The thing I remembered and enjoyed most about this one was the
Also, Lucy, girl...
1) You give halfway decent advice, even if you are constantly nosing into other people's business, but you gotta start taking it yourself. It's all well and good to tell Charlie and Alice they need to talk before the wedding to clear the air and all, but it wouldn't kill you to also talk. to. Rafe!
2) You gotta stop harping on poor William. Leave the man to live his own life. Damn.
***
Need. More. Vampires. -
Murderous marriage
Alice and Charlie's big day arrives along with his friends from college Alastair, Boris, Giles and Wellesley. Lucy invites Boris's sister Sophie, who he brought as his plus one, to join them on the hen night but Sophie sets out to upset Alice with stories about how she was previously engaged to Charlie and how a psychic told her that even though she may not be Charlie's first wife they would marry and be together forever.
With tension between the bride and groom as Charlie has never mentioned his previous engagement Lucy is determined to get the two talking and rectify the damage Sophie has done but when a beam falls as the bride and groom are leaving the church crushing Giles father the day goes horribly wrong.
Only moments before the beam fell Alice was standing in its path.. was she the intended victim? Where had Sophie and Boris disappeared to just before it happened? Or is there something else going on after all the vicar had been threatened before in his previous parish.. can Lucy work out what is going on in time to prevent another death? And will Charlie and Alice get their happy ever after?
Think this went slightly too far.. I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous, witches and vampires aside it just went a little too far.. -
I love this series! The characters are so much fun and the yarn is always a joy. I’ve given all the others so far five stars, but this one had an obvious (to me and many of my musician friends) flaw: the most intelligent character came up with an absolutely ludicrous proposal for how the murderer escaped. For the less musical out there *spoiler* - organ pipes literally hang. They rest in racks like pool cues and are very close together, much too close for a person to fit their legs around and not the least bit sturdy enough to slide down. They are not anchored individually to the wall, ceiling, or floor as a fireman’s pole is attached. If one actually tried to slide down them, the music of the organ wouldn’t cover the noise. In fact, the music would abruptly stop as the pipes came clattering down onto each other, cutting off the air flow.
Thankfully, an ingress can also be an egress and the organ pipes were saved from thousands of dollars of damage and the organ from months of repair. Excellent book overall, nonetheless! On to #9! -
Sweeping out the Rubbish and Rogues
The main story here is the much anticipated wedding of book shop owners and book lovers Alice and Charlie.
Rafe has opened up his home as a reception venue and William is catering for lots of Charlie's old Oxford pals.
A few of the friends are antagonistic and show their snobbery but the wedding takes place at an old church awaiting renovation, all going lovely until a beam falls onto a wedding attendee and gets Lucy investigating.
At the same time, Lucy has been warned of dark forces on the horizon and needs to up her witch powers and learn to fly a broom.
I loved this one in particular, because it deals with addiction, grief, love and also brings lots of humour. The changing of boundaries with the witches offers some laughs as does Nyx the familiar who's becoming much more fun and cute.
Plus the growing love story between Rafe and Lucy is fantastic.
