Book Review: A Spirited Blend

A Spirited Blend

A Spirited Blend is a suspenseful paranormal cozy mystery set during the Spooky Season.

• Series: Crystals & CuriosiTEAS Mystery (Book 3)

• Written by: Lauren Elliott

• Publication date: March 25, 2025

• Mystery type: Paranormal cozy mystery

In A Spirited Blend, charmed tea shop owner Shay Myers is brewing witchy teas, seeing potential doom in the tea leaves, and preparing for the upcoming Halloween festival in Bray Harbor, California.

Shay is a gemologist who recently learned that she has magical abilities. Her biological mother was a powerful seer who passed her abilities onto Shay.

As the Spooky Season approaches, Shay sees gloom and doom in the tea leaves when trying to read the future of a local who is obsessed with learning more about her ancestors and the magic she thinks she possesses.

Shay also feels gloomy about her crush on Liam, the cute pub owner down the street who seems to want to date every woman out there EXCEPT Shay. She doesn’t want to admit how mad she is that Liam has not asked her to the town’s upcoming Monster Mash dance.

But it’s not all dark in Bray Harbor. Shay has high hopes for the upcoming festivities and just knows she can come up with something that will take first place in the Halloween Booth decorating contest and put the Crystals & CuriosiTEAS back on the Bray Harbor proverbial map.

I really enjoyed reading Shay’s adventures in A Spirited Blend. Author Lauren Elliott does a nice job of hooking the reader right from the start by showing a hint of danger and the trouble to come. The mystery is well done and has an interesting end.

The characters in this series are fun to spend time with. Shay is a compelling sleuth who has lots of ups and downs and family drama to sort through. Spirit, Shay’s unique, knowing, pure white German Shepherd, steals every scene he is in. Gran, who is both wise and mischievous, is also a delight on the page.

The coastal setting of Bray Harbor is cute, cozy town with lots of unique shops and a boardwalk that makes you wish you could visit (despite the murders).

I also enjoyed the Halloween theme and think this will make a fun, thematic read for the Spooky Season. I highly recommend this series for cozy mystery readers who like a touch of the paranormal.

Disclosures: This page contains affiliate links. Cozy Crime Reads may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Cozy Crime Reads received an advanced reader copy of A Spirited Blend from Net Galley and Kensington Cozies.