Tea & Trouble (A Bookstore Cozy Mystery Book # 3) by Lucinda Race

Bookstore owner Lily Michaels still doesn’t know which kind of witch she’s going to be. She’s planning to read fortunes at her parents’ tea booth at the Fall Festival in the small town of Pembroke Cove, Maine. Is that her gift? Her snarky familiar, Milo, isn’t a lot of help. Lily’s mother warned her that reading the leaves would change someone’s life. Lily’s ready to make some changes of her own. Her relationship with Detective Gage Erikson—a.k.a. Detective Cutie— seems to be stuck in the perpetual friend zone. Maybe it’s time she went on a real date with someone else, like the new guy in town, Dax Peters.

Gage would like nothing more than to go on a real date with Lily, but romance will have to take the back burner when he’s is called to investigate another murder. Someone cut short the life of successful rose grower, Dean Hartley. Since when does horticulture lead to homicide?

Gage would be thrilled if Lily stuck to reading tea leaves and stayed out of trouble, but that’s just not in her puzzle-loving personality. Why were all the garden club members arguing with Dean at the festival? When Lily teams up with Gage once again in the race to resolve the rose-grower’s murder, can she continue to keep both her feelings and her magic a secret from Gage? Or will roses finally lead to romance for them?  (Summary via Goodreads)

I fell in love with Lily and Gage in the first book in the Bookstore Cozy Mystery series, Books & Bribes written by Lucinda Race and couldn't wait to see what trouble Lily would get into in Catnaps & Crime, the second book.  And now I have just finished Tea & Trouble, the third book and the trouble continues to boil over !!

In Tea & Trouble we get right into ... Lily recently found out she was a witch , her cat is her familiar and talks, and there are more witches living in Pembroke Cove, Maine then she realized .... including her aunt and her best friend, oh and her dad !!!  But I am getting away from the point.  So Lily is working a booth at the Fall Festival, they are selling her mom's homemade tea blends and Lily is reading customer's tea leaves, for fun. (not a lot of people know who are witches and that they have special "powers") 

After observing a commotion at anothet booth, Lily decides to intervene and suggests to Dean, who has a flower booth there, to come have a cup of tea and she would read his tea leaves.  Neither of them had any idea how spot on Lily's reading would be when she saw a broken sword and he shows up dead later that dad from a pair of pruning shears to the chest !!!

Even though Lily has been successful in helping her best friend Detective Gage Erikson in the past, he continues to lecture her to stay away from his crime scenes and investigations.  This time she has a loophole, she insists that she will not go alone to the scene .... and she doesn't, she gets her other best friend Nikki to tag along.

Readers will love this series and everything within.  You will love Lily as the main focus as she tries to come to terms with being a witch as well as learning who else is a witch in her town,  To learn that your cat can talk ... yes please !!!  Also you will love Gage and the way he handles Lily.  You cannot help but also love their relationship and seeing it unfold !!  And having chapters dedicated to each of their viewpoints is genius !!  It really allows readers to see the story from both of them.