Member Reviews
Not as enchanting as I had wished for, not as perfect as I had expected; but definitely as entertaining as a supernatural rom-com with effortless banter and sitcom-like humour sounds like. Gwen’s family has been banned from practising witchcraft after her great-great-grandfather accidentally set some unfortunate events into motion, due to which magic is now hidden. When a life-changing letter arrives, Gwen and her two cousins, all busy uncovering a mystery in New York, slowly start to notice their supernatural abilities make a presence. Both amusing and charming, this lighthearted novel features talking animals, love spells, quirky blunders, magic mishaps, and a wicked witch. While cliche, it manages to deliver exactly what it’s meant to—an eccentric potion of magic, love, and humour.
{Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the gift of an eARC in exchange for an honest review.}
Cousins Gwen, Trudy, and Milo receive a letter from their other cousin Tannith that she will be leaving town with one of their partners at the end of the week. As if this weren’t stressful enough, Trudy has begun accidentally enchanting the cupcakes she makes for a local café. This wouldn’t be so bad if their family had not been forbidden to practice magic by the Grand Council of witches because of a catastrophe caused by one of their ancestors. If any of the cousins is caught using magic by a Watcher sent by the Council, the consequences could be dire. With Trudy’s husband possibly missing, and his intense grad student behaving like he may be a Watcher, Gwen struggles to keep everything from spinning out of control as she worries that Tannith has her claws in her boyfriend.
▪ This book is a pure delight. I loved everything about it, from the mysteries to the various catastrophes, family secrets, and a big dose of romance. It’s light enough to be pure escapism, but there is enough mystery to be fully engaged, and so much heart I wanted to spend much longer with these characters.
▪ Delightfully cranky familiar. One of the narrators os a black cat familiar who is besotted by Tannith and loathes Gwen. It is every bit as adorable as you can imagine.
▪ Reminds me of old episodes of Charmed (the original version), in the best ways. The cousins are dealing with mundane things (Gwen and Milo think their respective boyfriend may be cheating on them) but keep being interrupted by improbably magical catastrophes. It is so much fun!
I wholeheartedly recommend you read this book. I was hoping it was the start of a series, but Goodreads sadly seems to indicate it is a standalone.
Gwen receives an ominous letter from her adopted sister. Other people in the family got their own letter. I'm not sure I would consider this a romantic comedy as I thought it was geared way more towards the family versus romance. It was a pretty good book. Some parts were quite slow while others seemed a little rushed. The ending didn't really wrap the book up enough for me. Still I enjoyed the book. It had a little cute witchy family vibe like Practical Magic.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the ARC!
Thank you to Kensington, Dreamscape and NetGalley for the ARC/early listen.
Solid 4 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️.
This book just may cast a spell on you. teehee or is that cackle? Loved all the whimsical little renames (for the witchy people) of popular social media platforms. What a fun, witchy and whimsical read/listen. A perfect little escape. The narrators did a great job telling the story. Brought the characters to life made them feel real.
Loved all the characters and will be interesting to see how the next book will be if there will be a next book.. It just may change the whole scope of this story. I say no more.
A wonderfully weird story about magic, family and witches. A curse, over the top characters, spells gone wrong and a misunderstood cat. If you are looking for a break from reality then you should definitely try this lighthearted hilarious magical read.
I got this arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book is so incredibly fun that I'm kind of mad I finished it because I would have loved to spend more time with Gwen and her family.
Gwen comes from a family of witches that are forbidden from practicing magic due to an ancestor of theirs causing the Dust Bowl. She and her cousins don't really care about it until Gwen's adoptive sister, Tannith, threatens to run away with one of their partners by the end of the week and a series of magical mishaps turn into a madcap set of events that is incredibly entertaining to read.
Everyone from Gwen to her family to Tannith's cat Griz is charming and brings a different element to the story. The crazy situations that take place kept me turning pages in awe of what could possibly happen next and Bass delivers chapter after chapter.
I'm going to rave about this one for a good, long while.
Extremely happy thanks to Kensington Books for the great read!
This was a little underwhelming and kind of boring. It just wasn’t for me. I’m kind of disappointed. Overall pretty mehhh.
Such a cute romantic comedy with a supernatural twist! Lighthearted and heartwarming. I loved the storyline, the character development! Very well-written and looking forward to reading more from this author.
I'm a dog person....not a cat person so I was taken off guard when I felt for Griz the cat who opens this book and closes the book. I read this book in 2.5 days, I stayed up reading most nights, I couldn't believe it sucked me in! I had to know what happened with Laird and how they were going to deal with him Bass is very good at what she does, I was hoping this was a series, but I think it's just stand alone.
The cupcake controversy was epic! I don't know about Jeremy though. It feels like Bass just plunked him into the story out of nowhere, and why was he always lurking in bushes? I get that she wanted the readers to think he was someone else, but it was just weird.
After reading this book I was highly entertained and it also makes me want to get a cat. But I'm highly allergic so I'll pass. I'll have to start reading witchy books from now on.
The characters didn’t sit well with me. Especially our main character, Gwen. I just found her tiresome, not a trait you want in your main protagonist. The character interactions were fine, but everyone’s immediate distrust in their partners says a lot about them, and I didn’t enjoy that part.
I was initially intrigued by the synopsis, but when it came time to read about the actual letter, I was a little disappointed. I expected it to have a little more oomph to it, but it felt like the author couldn’t quite find our antagonist’s voice.
I didn’t make it far enough into the book to really speak about the world-building or the pacing, so I won’t.
At the end of the day, I DNF’d it about 25% of the way through the book. 1 star.
Though not my typical genre I adored this book. Full of many laugh out loud moments along with a small mystery made for a delightful read. I would love if there was a follow up to this book.
This is a funny-quick read that's perfect to get you into the mood for the spooky season. Would recommend to anyone who's a fan of Charmed or Practical Magic!
If you are looking for a fun, rom-com with a touch of hocus pocus mystery adventure, please look no further! A Letter to Three Witches is just that!
After receiving the letter from Tannith, it is discovered that Trudy has accidentally turned her husband into a bunny and they can't tell anyone, because it's forbidden to practice magic. Gwen, Trudy, and Milo have to figure out how to turn the bunny back to Trudy's husband, but don't know how since they have never really practiced magic. They really can't ask for help, because it's, again, forbidden. Plus, the Grand Council has people watching their family to make sure they don't practice magic.
You can only imagine the circus act of events that takes place on this trio trying to turn Trudy's husband back into a man. It's a real rom-com!
Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was truly a fast-paced, fun read. There’s always something going on and not much downtime, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. The plot was entertaining, but there wasn’t much room for character growth. There isn’t a lot - if any - internal dialogue as we go through problem after problem with Gwen. I’d say we receive more internal dialogue from the cat, Griz. There’s a lot going on in this story, and not seeing Gwen’s internalization of it makes her an even flatter character than she already is. The lack of depth in characters in this genre seems to be pretty common and its beginning to be pretty disappointing. I love the plot and how fun books in the contemporary/rom-com genre are, but character depth is also vital to have in a story in order to enjoy and remember it. I am writing this review a little less than 2 weeks after finishing it and I have to go off notes mainly because it wasn’t very memorable.
All that being said, I really enjoyed the few chapters written from Griz’s point of view. Griz is the cat familiar of the story’s main villain, Tannith. Because Griz is a cat, we get more interanal dialogue as mentioned in the last paragraph, but we also grow to dislike Tannith through him like we’re supposed to. Gwen and her cousins are so busy with the problems that they create that we don’t actually focus much on the main villain. I didn’t feel like Tannith was a real threat. A bitch sure, but not a threat. But through Griz, we get to see firsthand how terrible of a person she really is. As a side note, I believe if we had gotten chapters from all the cousins’ point of views (especially Milo), this book would have been slightly better.
For this being marketed as a Rom-Com, this doesn’t have like any Rom. Only one of the cousins has a functioning relationship with their partner, and guess what? It wasn’t our main character. Gwen barely gives her boyfriend a second (or first) thought the whole story which is a blaringly obvious sign that she shouldn’t be with him. This small “affair” she has with Jeremy is also only one-sided (and again not Gwen’s side), so I don’t quite understand why this is marketed as a Rom-Com. Sure, it had it’s funny moments, but it didn’t have any romantic ones. Honestly, if Bass had downright abandoned Gwen as her main character in favor of either of the other cousins, this book would be so much better.
The final blow to this story - and the particular genre it belongs to - is the anti-climatic ending. Tannith wasn’t much of a villain to begin with, and the way the ending with her went was just… ridiculous. I don’t really have a better word for it. I have noticed this genre is also terrible at these anti-climatic endings that leave me unsatisfied, so maybe I need to rethink my dabbling in this genre moving forward. I really did think the plot was fun and entertaining which is why it got a 2.5 instead of a 2, but even the plot had it’s issue at the end.
The blurb for this book says it’s a romcom, but the romance doesn’t come in until near the end. However, it is a funny family story that I really enjoyed. The characters are quirky and funny.
A family of witches - Gwen, her parents and her cousins Trudy and Milo, are forbidden to practice witchcraft due to the irresponsible actions of an ancestor. If they do, they’ll be caught and poof! disappear like their uncle did. The Council planted “watchers” to report back. This doesn’t stop them from practicing in secret.
Gwen’s family adopted a young girl named Tannith and treated her as family. The book starts with Tannith sending a letter to each family member saying she’s moving and taking one of their significant others with her.
Gwen’s boyfriend is out of town studying beetles, but the others are at risk. Their magic starts to go haywire from the stress. Trudy enchants some cupcakes by accident and sends the bakery into a frenzy.
The three of them decide it’s time to turn the tables, and for that they need their eccentric aunt Esme.
I liked this book despite the plot holes because it was silly and fun to read. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
This hit me at the right time. Light-hearted and fun, something that could whisk me away from my everyday life while still giving me emotional depth. This is the first I've read from the author, and now I will definitely be looking forward to what the author writes next.
As a witch myself, this cute and quirky rom-com immediately caught my attention. Who doesn't love a comedy of errors mixed with a healthy dose of sparkle?
Told from dual perspectives (one being a cat!), A Letter to Three Witches is a seriously cute mixture of mystery, comedy and romance. Cousins Gwen, Trudy and Milo all receive a letter from Gwen's adopted sister, Tannis. Tannis teases that one of their partners has been bewitched to run away with her to New York, leaving one of the cousins in the dust. In the stress of it all, Trudy inadvertently enchants her cupcakes to have magical properties, while Gwen and Milo rush to investigate the issue and find a solution.
This is a quick read at 288 pages, but I do feel that some of the writing was slightly off and a found myself reading some lines again to understand the meaning between punctuation and word usage. Other than that, as I got used to the author's writing style, it became easier to digest the story.
It definitely had Hallmark vibes - and I think this would translate really well to screen. There is an ample dose of comedy, as you watch the characters run around in circles trying to make sense of the events. Misdirection, accidental bewitchment, and relationship tensions add to some of the mystery points, leaving the reader guessing which spouse has been magicked away.
As a dabbler in magic, I did appreciate nods towards the magickal community and some of the secrecy and practices presented in the book. Some aspects were close to my own practice, while others were purposely expanded into the paranormal, but aptly so. The story had the same feeling as Bewitched, Sabrina and any other witchy mainstream TV shows without going into the dark side of things (revamped Sabrina, I'm looking at you).
That being said, I didn't find any of the revelations in the book particularly shocking and it toed the line of predictable. Regardless, this was a fun and quick read, with clean romance and comedy, that would be great for readers of all ages.
3.5/5 stars!
The group of cousins featured in this book comes from a long line of witches. However, their ancestor caused a major catastrophe that banned his descendants from practicing witchcraft for a set number of years. The cousins were content in their lives until a letter was sent to them. Thus ensues a chaotic time in which their paranormal and romantic lives are forever changed.
This is an enjoyable Elizabeth Bass book. The book has a group of entertaining characters with the focus on the viewpoints from one cousin and a feline character. The story flowed smoothly and has a satisfying ending. As per my preference it would have been nice for more details in certain parts of the book and the romances featured were not shown equally within the story. Overall, still an enjoyable Elizabeth Bass read.
**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own.**
At first I had my doubts about this book but after the first chapter I was hooked. It was written beautifully in different points of view which I have found that I like.
It is about three cousins and an adopted cousin. All are descents of whichever but the family has been banned from ever practicing magic. The story starts with the cousins all receiving a letter from the adopted cousin who none really got along with, stating that she is leaving for New York and stealing one of their significant other.
Of course trouble ensues in this cute story. I loved how the cousins all end up working together to figure out what Tannith, the adopted cousin is up too and discover some family secrets. Well worth the read!
Trudy, Gwen and Milo, three witches banned from using magic, receive an intriguing and concerning letter from their cousin, Tannith. She states that she plans to run away with one of their significant others by Friday. Without confidence in the security of their relationships, the cousins start to worry and stress, causing hijinks and shenanigans that lead to a break in, spelled cupcakes, a man turned into a toad and an eventual arrest.
A Letter to Three Witches is a fun cozy paranormal mystery written with humor and suspense. Rich developed characters, along with descriptive and detailed scenery led to an enjoyable storyline. This would be a perfect Halloween read!