Midlife Magic & Magnolias

At forty-four, Alex is facing more than an ordinary midlife crisis. Her marriage has ended, her professional life has fallen apart, and the future she once imagined seems to have disappeared. But her greatest worry isn’t unemployment or divorce. It’s the troubling possibility that she has less than a year left to live.

For generations, the women in Alex’s family have died around their forty-fifth birthdays. What others might dismiss as an extraordinary coincidence has become an increasingly frightening reality for Alex, especially as she considers the future of her two daughters.

With nowhere else to turn, she moves in with Eleanor, an eccentric family friend whose colorful personality and unconventional circle of acquaintances provide plenty of distractions from Alex’s troubles. Between their irreverent humor, unsolicited advice, and chaotic adventures, maintaining a sense of dignity becomes nearly impossible.

Then Alex’s closest friend, Nikki, uncovers evidence suggesting that her family’s disturbing history could be connected to a mysterious estate with roots stretching back centuries. The discovery offers an unexpected opportunity to investigate the pattern of deaths and determine whether something beyond ordinary circumstances has influenced her family’s fate.

What begins as an effort to uncover genealogical answers gradually draws Alex toward a world of strange possibilities, unexplained events, and secrets that challenge everything she believes about her ancestry.

As her next birthday approaches, Alex must decide how far she’s prepared to go to protect herself and her daughters. With loyal friends, an unpredictable household, and a growing collection of mysteries surrounding her, the search for answers promises to be anything but ordinary.

Midlife Magic & Magnolias introduces the Magic at Midnight series with a humorous blend of paranormal mystery, Southern charm, friendship, and a woman determined to take control of her future.

Meredith Carlisle is a fantasy and paranormal fiction author whose stories feature resourceful women confronting extraordinary dangers, personal uncertainty, and supernatural mysteries.

Her writing combines imaginative creatures, adventurous storylines, and distinctive Southern settings. Elements of folklore, history, and steampunk-inspired aesthetics frequently influence the worlds she creates, while humor and resilient female protagonists remain central to her storytelling.

Carlisle lives with her family in southeastern Tennessee, where the surrounding mountains, Tennessee River, and regional history provide a rich backdrop for her imagination. An enthusiastic reader as well as a writer, she enjoys exploring fictional worlds both through the stories she creates and the books she reads.

Known to her friends as Mere, Carlisle also maintains a playful fascination with haunted places and the supernatural.