Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Carousels and Characters: Magical Mystery Book Club by Elizabeth Pantley. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more!
Carousels and Characters: Magical Mystery Book Club
by Elizabeth Pantley
Carousels and Characters: Magical Mystery Book Club
Paranormal Cozy Mystery
9th in Series
Better Beginnings, Inc. (February 5, 2025)
Print length : 249 pages
This book club is whooshed right into the pages of a cozy mystery. The quirky group of brave members must solve the mystery and reach The End to get out of the book.
In each book of the series, they travel to a different world and meet paranormal characters. It could be shifters, fairies, genies, ghosts, or anything else! It’s so much fun, you’ll wish for a book club like this!
In this book journey, they travel to an enchanted amusement theme park. It’s a magical, wonderful place, but something is disturbing the park. Robberies are occurring from every ride. It began with little things, like props or costumes, but now the stakes are rising.
The book club has entered this story so that they can find out who is behind the thefts and stop the problem. Hopefully, they can do it before chaos strikes the entire theme park and closes it down, leaving hundreds of workers jobless and thousands of park visitors disappointed.
Author Guest Post
Why You Should Try a New Genre
By Elizabeth Pantley
Author of Magical Mystery Book Club series
We all have our favorite kinds of books to read. Our favorite places to read, and our favorite times to read. Those things make us happy. They feel comfortable. They don’t require any real effort on our part. But sometimes, it’s fun, exciting, and even exhilarating to step out of your box and try something new, especially if you’re in a reading slump and nothing sounds good. That’s the perfect time to step out of your comfort zone.
A New Genre
It’s easy to get into a pattern of picking books that fit your favorite themes and styles. Often, we just automatically go to the themes we enjoy most. I like magical cozy mysteries, and there are so many of them to choose from. I could read one a day and never run out of books!
One day, I got an offer from a friend to read her new cozy mystery – no magic involved. The story featured …. a cooking competition, no paranormals included! The characters were funny and fresh. The story took me in a different direction than my usual reads. And I had a really great time! Now I’ve learned that I can have more than one favorite kind of story as a go-to when choosing my next read. I still tend toward my favorite genre … but it’s nice to stop outside once in a while!
A New Reading Place
I read while curled up on my sofa with a cup of tea, and then every night when I get into bed propped up on pillows. Of course, I’ll always read in those two places, because I love them! Ever since I downloaded books onto my phone, I’ve found a million new places to read! Okay, not a million, but plenty! If I’m in a long line at the grocery store, I open my book and sneak in a chapter. Waiting room at the doctor’s office? Read! At a football game? Haha. Yeah. Read! Bored with dinner conversation in a large group – Read! (Okay, don’t tell anybody that one, since the book was hiding on my lap…)
I’ve also learned that listening to audiobooks opens a whole new world of loving books. Now, when I’m cooking, I can listen to a story. When I’m taking a long drive, I can be entertained instead of annoyed. I even listened to an audiobook during minor foot surgery! It took my attention away from the doctor and into a fantasy world of fun.
Opening your mind to new kinds of books and new places and ways to read can revitalize your reading life in a very pleasant way.
My review
Carousels and Characters by Elizabeth Pantley is the ninth book in the completely delightful Magical Mystery Book Club series. Even if you’ve never read a book in this series, you can enjoy this one as the author makes it easy to catch on to the heart of it. This series is unique in that the book club members solve mysteries within a cozy mystery book. Yes, they actually go into the book and become part of the story!
In Carousels and Characters, much to Moonbeam’s happiness, the club doesn’t have a murder to solve but rather a theft. And the theft is really strange! As I’ve said, this series is unique; furthermore, this book is unique to the series! Instead of going to a town, island, etc. they go to an amusement park! The amusement park is unlike any other in the “real” world. I’m not going to explain how it’s different since it would spoil your joy of finding it out yourself! The theft includes many different items, and items often end up in places they shouldn’t be. It’s very puzzling to the book club. How and why is this happening?!
I enjoy the characters in this series so much! The book club is made up of some “normal” characters and some quirky ones. There’s also Frank, the talking cat. This club loves to eat, and that’s putting it mildly! Thankfully the food that they consume while in the books doesn’t have any lasting effect! Book calories don’t count! It’s especially a good thing in Carousels and Characters since they eat an enormous amount of fair food. I’m jealous. Even Moonbeam, the extremely health-conscious member, throws caution to the wind and eats her fair share of junk food.
Since many of you may have read the prior books and not this one yet, I won’t tell you something that happens to some character(s) because it would absolutely spoil something unexpected! I really liked this plot point and hope it continues throughout the remainder of the series.
Carousels and Characters has a slower pace than most of the books in the series; however, it will have you turning the pages! I “sort of” figured out who the culprit was, but in the end I was surprised that it wasn’t quite whom I was expecting.
I highly recommend Carousels and Characters (as well as the entire series) for its very unique plot, eclectic mix of characters both old and new, and its entertaining setting! 5 stars!
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All views expressed are only my honest opinion.
About Elizabeth Pantley
Elizabeth writes well-loved cozy mysteries in two series: The Destiny Falls Mystery & Magic book series and the Magical Mystery Book Club series.
Elizabeth lives in the Pacific Northwest and Arizona, two very different places. Both are rich, gorgeous, natural places, and inspire the settings in many of her books.
Author Links
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DestinyFallsMysteryandMagic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/destinyfallsmystery/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/345907-magical-mystery-book-club
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-pantley
GoodReads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/series/345907-magical-mystery-book-club
Purchase Link: Amazon
Enter the Giveaway
Carousels and Characters TOUR PARTICIPANTS
February 10 – Angel’s Book Nook – SPOTLIGHT
February 11 – Jody’s Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT
February 11 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 12 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 13 – Review Thick And Thin – REVIEW
February 14 – Frugal Freelancer – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 15 – Boys’ Mom Reads! – REVIEW
February 16 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
February 17 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT
February 18 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
February 19 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, AUTHOR GUEST POST
February 20 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR GUEST POST
February 21 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
February 22 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
February 23 – Wine Cellar Library – CHARACTER GUEST POST
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Sounds like a fun read.
looks like a fun one
Thank you for the fantastic spotlight and the awesome review! So glad you enjoy the book club’s journeys. Another one is in the works!
You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to it!