If the Broom Fits

By: Sara Bourgeois

2/5 Black Cats

Brighton has no home, no kids, no husband, and no job. Just when she thinks she's lost everything, she remembers that her mad Aunt Maude left her a house in Coventry. With her ex-husband and his new wife expecting a child after three months together, Brighton decides it's best to get out of town and clear her head. She packs up a U-Haul and drives across the country to her new home in Coventry.

Hangman's House clearly hasn't been used since Maude died years ago. Though she feels slightly guilty, Brighton justifies her delays with the fact that other things were going on. Unfortunately, the delay means the house is slightly unlivable for the night, so Brighton travels to the closest hotel. There she meets Professor Harkin, a professor in the paranormal, and a totally insufferable human being. When Brighton finds him dead a few days later, the list of suspects is long to say the least. Along with being a suspect, Brighton is also discovering new things about her family... and thinking that either Mad Maude wasn't Mad or Brighton sure is. Can Brighton solve the mystery before she is put in the same danger as those before her?

I really wanted to like this book, but... it took me four days to finish and it's less than 200 pages with a largish print. At some point, I realized it was taking so long because I wasn't enjoying it. It took me a while to realize why I wasn't enjoying it, however, because the story itself was fairly interesting. Unfortunately, you can tell this book is self-published. The dialogue is clunky and unnatural (or maybe too natural, which makes it seem odd for a book). There are quite a few grammatical errors and typos throughout the book, as well. Also, I LOVE simple books, but the language in this book was too colloquial. It needed more of a pizzaz quality to really hit the spot.

While the plot was very interesting, I think the author was too ambitious for the small amount of pages. I understand she's making a series of the characters and storyline; however, even books in series should be able to stand alone in a certain sense. This book addressed too many secrets and mysteries to fit into 180 pages, and as someone who isn't a series person, I was a little bummed that a lot wasn't addressed.

It's no secret that I love cheesy books (hello, Southern Ghost Hunters), but this one is a pass for me. As much as I want to support independent authors and self-published authors, I also don't want to compromise my definition of a good book. I would say skip this one.