Christmas Witch

By Willow Monroe

A gift that keeps on giving…or not.

Trinket Banks is enjoying her first Christmas in Jagged Grove, even with her reluctant husband Angelo along for the ride. They're still married, and he's promised to make it snow in Jagged Grove, just for her.

Trinket can't wait.

But thoughts of snow and shopping fall by the wayside when Bilda and Rain start handing out enchanted Christmas cookies. The cookies are supposed to bring luck for the coming New Year, but this batch turns everyone in Jagged Grove into a scrooge.

Now Trinket and Angelo have to figure out what happened and fix the goof before Christmas is ruined forever.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ButtonFly Books
• Release date: Nov 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519954343

Book preview

One

"WHO DESIGNS THESE THINGS? I ask, pointing to the red and green flyer on the window of the charm shop in downtown Jagged Grove. Christmas season is in full swing and the mall is crowded with last minute shoppers today. The flyer announces a pancake breakfast to help raise money for upgrades to Killswallow Park. In comic sans.

Angelo shrugs and grins. Nobody ever said that witches have better graphics skills than other people.

He’s right. I let the subject drop. What do we have left? I ask, motioning with my free hand to the list he’s carrying. My other hand is pinched with bags from the stores we’ve already hit in the brand new - if a little bit tiny - mall on the edge of town, complete with elf-dressed carolers in the center food court area. I look at them now, just as they start up with Jingle Bells again.

It is catchy.

Jagged Grove doesn’t technically exist, but then neither do the witches, werewolves, and other supernaturals that live here. We even have a vampire, but he’s harmless and charming.

I’m one of the more recent transplants from the U.S., along with my mother Bilda, and I can say for certain that this place definitely takes some getting used to. The new mall helps, though, making Jagged Grove feel a little more like home.

We need to pick up some feathers for Bilda, and Blakely asked me for a new set of wine glasses. He grins at my shudder, and I have to fight off the little twinge of desire that hits me when he does that.

Angelo and I were married sort of by accident, but it’s for a good cause - a few months ago we saved the island from an evil wizard who also happened to be my estranged father. Together, our powers were enough to defeat him, but I’m still a little shaken from the whole event and we haven’t really tried to figure out how to annul our magical vows yet.

Besides, as annoying as he is, he kind of grows on you after a while.

Why does Blakely need more wineglasses? I ask. He has an entire room full of them.

Angelo cocks an eyebrow at me, and I shudder. Blakely is the vampire I mentioned, and I suddenly realize what he’ll be drinking from his Christmas present. Eww. Can’t we just get him a nice scarf or something? Maybe a few of those monogrammed handkerchiefs he likes...

Angelo is shaking his head. No - he specifically asked for wineglasses. Crystal. I think they’re for a special occasion... His voice trails off, and suddenly he’s way too interested in a crystal ball in one of the store windows.

My eyes narrow. What is he talking about? Someone bumps me, so I tug him over to the side of the hall, out of the flow of foot traffic. What special occasion?

He looks away. It’s a secret.

For an island as small as Jagged Grove, there sure are a lot of secrets around here. ’Fess up.

Nope. Can’t. I swore on my life. He shifts from one foot to the other and rakes a hand through his hair, making it look like bedhead.

I push away the mental picture that springs to mind. You did not.

But I can see that he isn’t going to tell me. Fine. I’ll just check the engraving once they’re done.

Sometimes, if I just drop the subject, Angelo accidentally lets the information I want slip out later. So, Bilda asked me to pick up some spikenard.

His head snaps up. Why?

I shrug. I think she’s making cookies for the town.

Worry creases his forehead. And she needs spikenard for that?

That’s what she said - that it’s for a lucky year. Why? I thought it was a sweet gesture. And harmless.

His lips press together into a thin line. "It’s...odd. Do you