Caffeinated Reviewer

Narrated by Samantha Desz, The Unexpected Mr. Hopkins is the last installment in Tammie Painter’s Cassie Black Trilogy. The book begins with Cassie in jail, and before it ends we she’ll battle, deal with obnoxious characters, and hopefully get her detective license.

The grande finale of the laugh-snort inducing, fantastical mystery-filled, and utterly mis-named Cassie Black Trilogy!

Morelli here. Cassie seems to find herself too busy eating pastries, breaking out of jail, and saving the Magic world (again) to bother with writing her own book description, so she's fobbed the chore off on me.

Some people, am I right?

Anyway, Black refuses to let me see a single page of the manuscript, but since I was there for most of the story, I can tell you this book is going to be full of . . .

Eager-for-battle ghosts, misbehaving tower ravens, on-call dragons, spell-crafting elves, rat-stomping trolls, a tiny bit of necromancy, and a very heroic (if I do say so myself) half-troll who just happens to like crochet and classic TV.

And even though this tale features a big old battle against evil, there's still plenty of Black's wry humor, fantastical mystery, and silly situations. (Because, okay, I did manage to sneak a peek at a draft of Black's manuscript . . . don't tell her).

Because of the overall story arc and developments, I recommend listening to the Cassie Black Trilogy in the order of its release. The Unexpected Mr. Hopkins picks up immediately after the events of the previous book. Cassie is in jail and not handling it well. Thankfully, her friends provide pastries. LOL. Meanwhile, Tobie still hasn’t passed his exam, Magics continue to go missing, and Cassie still hasn’t closed a case and gotten the signature she needs.

This was great fun as Painter wove together all the threads and delivered a nail-biting, action pack conclusion to the Cassie Black trilogy. Yes, I know it is six audiobooks. The first three deal with Cassie coming into her magic, stopping an evil villain and finding her parents. The second three deal with Cassie opening her own detective agency and getting the required license so she can remain in the magic world.

I loved the character growth as Cassie honed her skills, befriended the community and battled the villains to save the world. The story blends magic, suspense, mystery and loads of humor to create a memorable world and series.

I loved all the magics from trolls to dragons. The author did a lovely job of closing off threads and keeping me engaged throughout the audiobooks. Samantha Desz narrates them all and brought not only Cassie to life but the others too. I cheered them all on and was envious of the community Cassie has found. Sans the villains.

If you like snark, urban fantasy with a cozy magical vibe, then I recommend diving into the Cassie Black Trilogy.

Amazon | Audible | Libro.fm

About Tammie Painter

Author of humorous fantasy whodunits full of mythical misfits and magical mishaps When she's not creating worlds or killing off characters, she can be found gardening, planning her next travel adventure, concocting some sort of mess in the kitchen, or working as an unpaid servant to three cats and a guinea pig

Website

About Samantha Desz

Samantha Desz is a classically trained actor with extensive theater experience. She also is an experienced voice actor, working on a variety of long form voice-over projects. Samantha has a passion for learning about different cultures and lifestyles. She's lived around the US and in London, England, called New York City home for nearly twenty years, and is currently living in the Midwest.

Website

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2025 Audiobook Challenge

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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