The Accidental Alchemist

How fun was this book? Love Dorian the gargoyle. Of course he's French, what could be more appropriate?Looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

An engaging premise, and potentially interesting characters--a perpetually youthful alchemist and an animate gargoyle who has clearly read too many Hercule Poirot mysteries. (For me, two would have been too many. Miss Marple is another story.) As a mystery, it seems to rely more on suspects eliminating themselves than on evidence and reason, but this is not uncommon.But I think the editor let our author down a little on this one. As noted by others, eliminating about two-thirds of all the references to the wonders of a vegan diet and herbal teas would have been a good start. The repetition and stridency had me longing for beef and Diet Coke--frequently. And there is persistent difficulty with the information feed. Backstory needs to be as much as the reader needs to know when the reader needs to know it. Too much impedes the plot, and the plot was a bit thin and malnourished anyway. It's nothing the author--or a good editor--can't fix, but it does need to be fixed. I've purchased the novella, but I'll move cautiously on the series.

Zoe having just moved to Portland to hide in plain sight. As she was unpacking she found she picked up a stow away, a gargoyle, Dorian, who also was a French food master. Dorian is slowly turning to stone full time and needs Zoe’s help but things get a bit odd when some of her books get stolen one of which is the one they need to help Dorian. Thing get really interesting when people start getting poisoned, but who is doing it.This was such a fun audio wonderfully narrated by Julia Motyka. I really like this book and hope I can listen to more because I can not wait to see what Zoe and Dorian get up to next.

The Accidental Alchemist was an imaginative read. There are quite a few reviews so I will write what I liked about the book. I liked the bonding or friendship between Zoe(300 year old alchemist), Dorian(a gargoyle who has come to life) and Brixton ( a 14 year old neighbor who is left on his own probably too much).Zoe has been on the move for over 300 years . She survived the Salem witch trials and fled to France. She fell in love with Portland Oregon and has decided to try to put down roots. Dorian is French, a gourmet and a superb chef. I am smiling when I write about him as he is my favorite character. He searched out Zoe to help him with a life threatening problem. Next is Brixton who breaks into Zoe's house out of curiosity, sees Dorian and wants to share that information with the outside world.They are all outsiders and form a close family type unit.(not a typical unit) I did find some humor in the story mainly from Dorian and Brixton. A murder occurs right away when Zoe moves into her run down house with a history in the neighborhood. Items are stolen from her house. One item is a book which she needs to save Dorian's life.I enjoyed reading about alchemy which I knew very little about. Also, some information was given on the history of the tunnels beneath the city of Portland.However, Dorian stole the show and was quite endearing and likeable.

The idea was exceptional, and there must be a lot of people who enjoy this series considering how many volumes there are, but it could not hold my interest. My mind kept drifting until I finally gave up and DNF'd it.I must face it - I'm just not fond of a lot of books with female leads. The heroines come across the same - undeniably STUPID on the most basic things.Not for me.

I thought this book was well done, especially for the first in the series. I read this book on a recommendation from author Juliet Blackwell and I was not disappointed. Yes, Zoe is a vegan and that was mentioned a lot, but it wasn’t off-putting to me, especially within the context of the story as far as Dorian’s cooking abilities and Zoe’s health concerns. I’m not a vegan or even a vegetarian, but I didn’t have any issues with this in the book. In fact, I’m planning to try some of the recipes. I thought the alchemy storyline is an interesting take, and I enjoyed the characters and the setting. I plan to read more in the series to see how Ms. Pandian continues to build this world.

This is a. Amazing book with manic humor and love. The characters are so enjoyable. I can’t wait to read more in the series

I fell in love with the main character and a gargoyle at the same time, I am looking forward to the rest of To go Pandians books as I am now hooked.

Really enjoyable fantasy cosy mystery.I loved the characters, story, historical references, alchemy, old books, herbs and food (vegan).Just the perfect read for a holiday, commute or relaxing evening :)I also like this author's Jaya Jones series - and it's great both series have distinct characters and storylines while sharing a real warmth of writing.

I just could not put it down I even had to buy the book. And the reader. Her accents were awesome.

Great audiobook, I found it very entertaining.

A pleasant mixture of historical magic with a modern day mystery to solve, set in sleepy community of characters in today's America. Great and enjoyable read.

Picked this up on a whim (daily deal) and was pleasantly surprised with the way this book unfurled. It has a slow pace that putters along with just enough dramatic scenes sprinkled throughout that it doesn’t become boring. The mystery, or rather, mysteries, were all very thoughtful in how they interconnected. I enjoyed watching it all play out, and I was surprised to find that my initial suspect back in the beginning, was actually the culprit.As for the characters, Dorian was a delight, Brixton was impulsive and headstrong, and it was amazing that Zoe didn’t wash her hands of him after the video incident. There is also a growing tension between the newest resident and one of Portland’s finest, and you just know that Zoe and Max will eventually get together. Speaking of Max though, he is hiding something. He has a weird reaction to Zoe a few times when she mention the alchemical books. Does he know about the paranormal side of life? Perhaps I’ll find out when I pick up book two 🤷🏻‍♀️. Anyway a great first introduction to this series. Highly recommend.