this is the PERFECT book for halloween!!

this was such an enjoyable read! the sapphic romance was absolutely adorable and the witchy vibes were so fun. also this book was so funny omg.

the writing in this was also beautiful, the descriptions were always so vivid. this felt like autumn in book form, it was amazing. the setting was definitely one of my favorite aspects.

also, the ending was so satisfying and cute!! it was a pleasure to read about such lovable and relatable characters.

i highly recommend this book and all of its halloween vibes!! funny, cute, and exciting, definitely check this one out! 4.5 stars :)

I really enjoyed this book, I feel like it's perfect for the spooky Halloween season, thanks to all of the witchy vibes. Set in Thistle Grove, a town governated by witches, this book follows the story of Emmy Harlow and her old and new friends. If you like the competition trope in your reads, you're going to enjoy this one! Oh, and it's also an LGBTQ+ book - with a great relationship between ouyr main character, Emmy, and the gorgeous Talia Avramov.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC which I received in exchange for an honest review!

Okay! So as soon as I heard about this book, I knew it was for me. LGBTQ+ witches in a wizarding tournament setting? I was sold! I am happy to say this book did not disappoint at me at all. I loved the characters, the slow magical town setting, and all of the family history that was a major part of the story.

This is a perfect for the fall and witchy season or for all of us individuals that love witch books year round.

The plot of this book is very straight-forward. The story centers around the competition between the witch families and Emmy, Linden and Talia’s plot to get payback against the man who’s burned all of them. While there are plot twists, I liked the fact that those plot twists didn’t change the narrative from the cozy, relaxed atmosphere the author had created from the beginning of the book. The story didn’t change from a tale of somewhat serious, somewhat petty revenge to something a lot more drastic which was perfect. This allowed the story to keep feeling fun to read and didn’t make me feel bad for hoping Gareth gets served some humble pie. In terms of the plot twists, I felt like they were executed very well and had a good amount of foreshadowing without the author revealing her hand too soon.

The magic system in this book is pretty basic, and by basic, I just mean that it’s simple and easy to understand. There are four witch families, and while there are some spells that all the families can do, certain families have a greater affinity for certain spells. It gave enough variety to the characters in terms of power levels without making the magic system too confusing to remember or follow. I thought it was an interesting addition that, in universe, anyone who marries a witch becomes a witch themselves. It was a nice detail that I hadn’t seen before.

The world-building around the town was fine, but not great in my opinion. The story gives some detail about the town founders, the four witch families, but not much beyond that. I felt like I didn’t really have a sense of what the town looked like or how things in the town were effected by magic. There is a spell that prevents outsiders from noticing the magic being performed, but there wasn’t much of an explanation about why the magic needed to be hidden. As a whole, the author doesn’t go into very much detail about the town or its history beyond the founders, though perhaps that is being saved for future novels in the series.

The writing was pretty good overall. The author did an excellent job making the scenes with the three challenges for the tournament feel tense and exciting. She also did a very good job of relaying all of the backstory information the reader needed to know very quickly within the story, without making it feel like heavy exposition. The writing flowed very easily, and while the world-building itself is a little weak, it’s told in an interesting way. At the same time, some parts of the story were overly descriptive, which took me out of the story. In describing the town and its spooky atmosphere in detail, I felt like I wasn’t able to connect as well with the characters beyond a surface level and some small depth into Emmy and Talia. The overly descriptive nature also made the pacing of the book feel off. The first challenge happens and then there is a lull in the story until the second challenge, followed by another, shorter lull and then the last challenge. My issue with the lulls was that it felt in parts like the tournament wasn’t that important to the story, even though it’s the major thing driving the plot. The excitement and momentum wore off between challenges. The pacing felt off, but it could also be a side effect of the author trying to introduce the world and tell the story in fewer pages than she really needed.

The lulls between challenges is used to expand on the world, but it mainly serves the purpose of giving the reader the slow-burn romance between Emmy and Talia. The romance in this book was one that I liked, and I normally am not a fan of romances in my urban fantasy. Emmy and Talia had a lot of chemistry and they fit together really well as characters. I liked seeing the two of them together and growing closer. While the romance feels significant to Emmy, it didn’t hit me very hard. Then again, this is probably the result of the author trying to balance the romance with the plot and an introduction to the world. The romance was significant to the plot, and especially the climax of the story. As an aside, it’s clear from the blurb that this is an LGBT romance, but I appreciated that the author didn’t make it feel like a “big deal” in the story. None of the characters saw the developing relationship as odd and I liked that because it normalizes LGBT relationships in books that don’t center around LGBT relationships.

Payback’s A Witch was a pleasant surprise to read. I enjoyed the plot and the cozy setting, as well as the fun magic system. Harper created a very atmospheric setting and told a compelling story with a great slow-burn romance. At the same time, the world-building wasn’t incredibly deep and the writing struggled in a few areas. The novel was a great introduction to the town of Thistle Grove, but I feel like the author was trying to do too many things with too few pages which caused some things to not quite work. It’s a good first look at the world, and I’m interested to see where Lana Harper decides to take the story in future books. I enjoyed the story overall and would recommend it to paranormal fans, especially with Halloween right around the corner.

This is a witchy sort of John Tucker Must Die. It started off very promising with a triwizard kind of competition between the four founding families. Emmy is back home after being gone for a heartbreak straight out of high school. I thought it was a little insane she never came back to visit because of a boy when she was 18 but to each their own. She's finally back and has an instant connection to Talia, their resident friendly dark witch. Talia, Emmy, and Lin all bond to together to take down Gareth, the one who all broke their hearts at some point. I wish they would have spent more time on the actual competition but it drifted into an introspective journey on Emmy exploring her new relationship with Talia and her strained relationship with her family. It was a nice witchy read for the season but I expected more action.

Everything about this book worked so well. The magic and world (or town)-building was well though-out and felt real. It felt like a real town, one I would very much like to visit. The revenge plot was delightful and both petty and not at all. It was so wonderful to see three woman who had been spurned by the same man not take it out on each other but support and champion each other. The relationship between all the characters - in particularly Talia and Emmy - felt honest and complicated and like they had a past. The spark between Emmy and Talia was almost palpable and the development of their relationship had the pull of something that had been simmering beneath the surface for year and was finally allowed to come to the surface. And Emmy's personal journey - going back to a town she never wanted to return to, reckoning with how she felt about it truly, why she'd left, and how she had treated the people she loved and loved her - it all felt very familiar and real. I loved this book!

This is a cute lgbtq+ witchy romance about the power of friendship, family, and going home, set in an idyllic magical town. The beginning of the story reminded me of John Tucker Must Die, with three witches uniting to publicly humiliate the man who wronged them all in Thistle Grove’s upcoming magical Gauntlet that will determine the town’s new leader.

However, this book couldn’t decide if it wanted to be more of a romance or a fantasy adventure, and as a result both aspects fell a bit flat. Emmy and Talia had amazing instant chemistry, but their relationship had an unnecessarily slow build as it kept getting pushed to the side for Gauntlet research. The Gauntlet contests themselves were a bit underwhelming.

I wasn’t a fan of Emmy’s internal conflict throughout the book, and the ending was definitely cliche, but this was a fun spooky book with sweet friendships and spicy romance, and it definitely put me in the mood for fall.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC!

It is an LBTQ romance about three scorned witches who aim to break down the warlock that broke their hearts at different times but instead find love together and the true meaning of roots. The tagline for this book is a comparison to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and a romance. I could not watch all of that show as it eventually went far off the rails from what I enjoyed in that show and much prefer the other milder version of Sabrina. This book took the best part of that show and wove a story about family competitions, magic roots calling you home, and friendship, and of course, a very well thought out sweet romance. I appreciated that I knew ahead of time that this would have a romantic vibe, but it did not feel overwhelming or took away from the story's point. The competition between the four ruling families was well thought out and, for once, not predictable in the twist. Lana Harper has a good start with this series, and the sequel coming up in 2022, I am sure, will not disappoint.

The Spooky season has officially BEGUN with this one!!

It took me a chapters to really get into it, because admittedly I just wasn’t feeling the witchy, fall vibes, but once it hooked me, it didn’t let go. Emmy, Talia, and Linden are so powerful and hilarious I wish I could hang out with them and plot revenge against anyone who’s ever done me wrong. And MAN do I wish Thistle Grove was a real place.

Thistle Grove (the setting but also its own character to some extent) gives me Stars Hollow vibes, but like…make it spooky. It’s charming and autumnal, but there’s also a dark side (e.g. the very creepy and literally haunted woods), and I had no trouble seeing why Emmy felt such a pull to the town. If I could move there, I would.

Talia and Emmy’s chemistry is excellent, Emmy’s relationships with Linden and her family are all nuanced and heartwarming, and the energy of women teaming up to ruin a man who truly deserves it is just immaculate. And the Gauntlet! The challenges! I love a good tournament plotline, and this one is so much fun. I did predict a couple major twists towards the end fairly early on, but it didn’t lessen the gratification I felt one bit.

Also, it would be remiss of me to not mention how funny this book is. Like, laugh out loud funny. Harper’s (or I suppose Emmy’s, since it’s written in first person) narrative voice is one of the most consistently entertaining I’ve read in a while, dry and modern without going overboard on millennial humor. There are even humorous chapter titles, my kryptonite!

A queer, witchy, adventurous story of self-acceptance and letting yourself grow into the person you were always meant to be, it’s kiiiind of the perfect addition to a fall tbr.

This book was everything I want in an autumn read - sapphic romance, witchcraft, and vengeance. There’s not nearly enough sapphic relationships represented in fiction overall, but especially not in New Adult, and this book filled that void. Emmy and Talia’s relationship was incredibly sweet, and I loved the friendship between Emmy and Linden! I will be rereading this book a lot, I think, and I’ve already recommended it to several people to preorder!

'Payback's a Witch': 4⭐

Okay, so this was so much fun! Total Hocus Pocus vibes with a hinge of romantic comedy! Loved the sisterhood vibes and all the bisexual representation!

Loved the friendship between the main characters and loved all the witchy vibes! I knew Talia, Lin and Emmy were powerful but a vengeance pact only made them even more amazing! I'm so happy for having read this book, absolutely incredible!

Also, hands down, f*ck Gareth, that absolute big trash can!

Payback's a witch gives you everything you could want in a witchy autumnal romance. The writing beautifully conveys the magic of Thistle Grove, a town I deeply wish I could visit in real life.

Payback's a Witch has just the right of internal introspection, magical action, and romance. It's a story that feels well rounded as Emmy struggles to figure out who she wants to be. That we can get so caught up in running that we forget to wonder why. To confront whether we are running from a place or ourselves. At the same time, there's a fabulous story line of questioning the way things have always been. Of wondering if there's room for the status quo to be disrupted and how we can.

When I think of fall from now on, I’m going to be thinking pumpkin spice, apple picking, and this book! This is the most atmospheric book and is just the epitome of fall and magic. Payback’s a Witch is a wonderful mix of Sabrina meets John Tucker Must Die meets Harry Potter’s Triwizard Tournament. It follows Emmy as she returns to Thistle Grove after leaving five years earlier after getting her heartbroken. And that same man who broke her heart has since broken her best friend’s heart, as well as fellow witch Talia’s, and these girls want revenge. I absolutely love the sweeping magic of this and the competition of these four magical families in town. I loved that these four families all have such distinctive magic they excel in, and the magical competition was just so interesting and creative! Plus Emmy and Talia have such scorching chemistry!! They’re both such complex characters. Talia is such a badass, but I love she’s a closeted romantic too! Emmy too is such a great narrator. Her relationships with her family and her best friend Linden are so wonderful and genuine! In addition to a chemistry-filled romance, this is so much about finding home and a place where you feel home. Emmy’s journey in re-falling in love with Thistle Grove and her inner conflict about her life there and in Chicago is just so heartwarming! I just want to live in this book, there are so many amazing bits! Magic, banter, girl power, and revenge plots with charming characters… it’s a perfect fall read!

Emmy Harlow has carefully excised the town of Thistle Grove from her life until a pesky familial obligation forces her to come back and arbitrate the town's traditional magical competition. However, when Emmy teams up with her best friend Lin Thorn and gorgeous witch Talia Avramov to get revenge on her awful ex-boyfriend Gareth Blackmoore, she gets more than she bargained for.

The romance in this was hot, the magical town was really interesting, and I really liked the treasure hunt/magical competition. I wish the relationships between characters had been better developed and given more depth, particularly the best friendship and the main romance, but in general every relationship, like Emmy's relationships with her family, could have used more detail. We get a lot about what she feels about magic, but what about all these human beings? I also wish the town, the witch society, and magic system had more development (but that could just be because I'm a huge nerd). I'd read the sequel to see if there's more detail to things there.

Payback’s a Witch is the absolute perfect book to read in the fall! It has an atmospheric setting and it’s full of witchy goodness. It just screams October. I couldn’t get enough of this story. It was everything that I wanted it to be!

After a long time gone, Emmy Harlow is back home in Thistle Grove for the traditional magical tournament. Her first night back doesn’t go as planned when she runs into Gareth, the man who is responsible for why she left town years ago. Emmy learns that Gareth is still breaking hearts. So now she is teaming up with her best friend Linden and Talia to get a little vengeance.

I really enjoyed following the main character Emmy. This book was all about her figuring out who she wants to be, which was super relatable. There was a slow burn sapphic romance and it was so cute! The chemistry between the two was there from the beginning!

I loved the setting of Thistle Grove. It gave me major Halloweentown vibes. I enjoyed learning about the history of the town along with each founding family’s magic.

The tournament is held between the founding family scions. The winner’s family will be in charge of the magic in town. I loved this part of the book. Not only were the challenges fun to read but the behind the scenes secret game play was so interesting. I was fully invested and I couldn’t wait to find out how things would play out!

The ending was a total surprise to me and I was living for it. I am looking forward to seeing what happens in future books!

A very solid New Adult book from Lana Harper. Great LGBTQ representation throughout the book, and none of the typical bigotry that usually comes with a book featuring a queer romance. This book is perfect for new adults, early-to-mid twenty somethings who can easily relate to some of the struggles that Emmy has to contend- staying at home versus leaving, when to return home and whether or not you're returning for the right reasons, what it means to build a place, etc. Talia was a fantastic character and by far the most interesting of all of them. This was a quick, fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed, perfect time for Halloween. As much as I detest split narrative books, this book may have benefited from a split narrative between the town's original founders and the Emmy/Talia plotline. I think the more interesting element of the story was the town's founding, to be honest.

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for access to the eARC of this book!

This was a wonderful book! I confess, something about the way the description is written, I fully expected this to be a young adult novel. On re-reading it, there's nothing in the description to lead me to think so, so maybe it's just the amount YA I read, but regardless, that's where I was when I started reading, so I was caught off guard when it comes out a few pages in that Emmy, our protag, was 26.

I will also state that I had trouble seeing the appeal of Gareth Blackmoore that drew in these three amazing women (particularly Talia) to the point that they needed to form their revenge pact. He just came across in the text as attractive but skeezy, and with the exception of Emmy (because high school dating, right?), I can't picture why Linden and Talia touched him with a ten-foot pole. I thought the book needed a bit more evidence of his supposed charm, but it didn't have that, or at least I didn't pick up on it.

That said, this could be because Gareth isn't even really a character in the book. He doesn't really have dialogue after the gala a third of the way in, apart from cursing when he's not getting his way. He's more of a MacGuffin to get these women together, to help Emmy and Linden refresh their friendship, and to help Emmy and Talia to spend time together, and get close, and develop their feelings for one another.

As others have said, this is definitely a romcom, but the romance is not the central theme of the plot. Don't get me wrong, it's a big part. When Emmy's not around Talia, she's often thinking about her. And when they ARE together, the chemistry is usually super cute (or downright hot)! I love the peeling back of Talia's layers, until we see the sensitive, romantic soul underneath her swaggering exterior.

The book is also ostensibly about the magical tournament, but I don't think it's really central, either. The book goes big swaths of pages where it doesn't even come up. The first challenge happens early, and then it's quite a while until the second.

The book is really about identity, and belonging. Do we make ourselves, or are we made by where we come from, what happens to us. This is Emmy's journey, from where she thinks she needs/wants to be, to what really matters, and how does she become 'someone'.

The supporting cast was mostly excellent. Some are more shades, just impressions of people that I suspect we'll get more indepth with as Lana gives us more stories of the Thistle Grove Witches, and others are very distinct and fun.

All in all, wonderful book, and I can't wait to read more in this series as they come out. 4.5 stars.

Despite my clear interest in this book, I'm not exactly sure if it was my complete cup of tea. I did enjoy it for what it was, but there was something off about it that I can't put my finger on. It felt more like YA than anything else, and while the plot was interesting I found myself straying to other reads than finishing this one.