I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

Fun, cute and witchy. What's a girl not to love. If your looking for a relaxing read this is the book for you.

Love a new series. Love a cozy. Love a unique take on any mystery. This checks all my boxes. I look forward to more from Susanna Shore.

Hexing the Ex (House of Magic 1) by Susanna Shore
Publisher: Crimson House Books
Genre: Humor | Mystery & Thrillers | Sci Fi & Fantasy
Publication Date: June 6, 2021

Hexing the Ex is the first book in the new House of Magic series by Susanna Shore. This is the first book I've read by the author and I know it won't be the last.

This was a cute book. It has a paranormal cozy mystery feel without being a cozy. The characters are fascinating and likable. The story was great and kept me engaged & interested throughout the whole book.

I look forward to reading the future books in the series!

I'm so grateful to Susanna Shore, Crimson House Books, and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this ARC ebook in exchange for my honest review.

A very pleasant but not terribly memorable story, a candyfloss read that is sweet on the tongue but soon gone. It was nice, gentle, hints of funny, a bit of mystery, nice touches of world building but it never really engaged me and definitely didn't wow me. The authors voice was very pleasant, reading the book never felt onerous, but on reflection I think my issues are because this is more of a plot driven read. This meant I didn't feel that connection to the main character that truly draws me into a story.


Even in a light, somewhat funny cosy-mystery I still want to experience a depth or range of emotion, and that was where the book lost me. Secondary characters lacked the necessary nuance of personality that can be used to add richness and texture to the story. I would love to see the author give more background to her characters, create a life history for them, along with personality traits and quirks.


If you're looking for a paranormal cosy mystery then it is still well worth picking up this easy to read and entertaining book.

I loved all of the magical creatures in the book and that it's a paranormal cozy mystery and such a fun quick read! I hope there will be more books in the series!

Way cute little read about a girl getting accidentally cursed by her boss's ex-wife and the shenanigans of that. Witty writing and fun new characters and a house of magic make it an enchanting novel and I'm excited to read the sequel!

This is a great story filled with quirky characters, mages, a shifter and a vampire who work together to undo a curse over a regular girl.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crimson House Books for providing me with a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

After her crappy roommate floods the apartment, Phoebe needs to find somewhere to live and fast - which is easier said than done in London. However, she quickly stumbles on a room for rent in a “magic shop” which turns out to actually be magic…and that’s a stroke of luck when she winds up accidentally cursed. Will she figure out why someone is trying to curse her boss? Will she get uncursed? And what is up with her flatmates??

This was a super cute paranormal cozy mystery. I love the idea behind it, and I liked how it quickly set the situation up and then got straight into the action. It was also nice to read a book set in an area I know! I liked the different characters, and how they interact with each other, and I thought Ashley was a nice touch as a non-stereotypical character type (without giving too much away!). I thought it was really well paced, and my pet hate in cozy mysteries - main characters interfering heavily in official investigations- was completely absent so there were no frowns here. My only wish is I wanted it to be longer as I was kinda sad when I finished it! I’m really looking forward to book 2 already.

Phoebe has quite the introduction to the world of magic and things that go bump in the night when shes accidentally cursed by a statue meant for her boss! A thrilling ride from start to finish!

I enjoyed this book and thought that it wasn't a bad read but it felt overly convoluted at times and others it was just a bit too fast to really enjoy.

I would definitely pick up the next book as I liked the characters and thought it was an interesting world that the author had built.

The setup for this book was fantastic. The plot was original with a quirky batch of characters but sadly the execution was sub par. There ways a lot of tell and not show. The writing felt forced and stilted.

I believe with practice this author will become a must read but for now her writing skills have a long way to go to catch up to her imaginative ideas.

I received an arc of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I loved this book it's a cute and easy read. Plenty of little twists and turns. I cannot wait for the second book to come out! For more magical twists and turns. You get to see Phoebe's confusion as she learns of all the magical things around her she never knew existed. I love all the main characters as a whole and cannot wait to see their growth in the next book.

Who doesn't love a good mystery, a bit of humor a touch of paranormal. I really love to get into a book that can make me forget where I am. This story was fun and almost perfect.

4.5 stars

This is the first book in the House of Magic series by Susanna Shore.

I thought this was a really interesting story. A non-magical person stumbles upon a room for let in a magical business. Now her life is completely different. She discovers her boss at the antiques dealer shop is really a super magical guy and he may have killed someone right in front of her.

I am really digging this house of magic world. I am waiting for book two in order to see if Phoebe finds a new man to lust over. It seems she has been pretty lacking in the decent man department. Her boyfriend cheats on her and then when the woman he dropped her for drops him, he wants Phoebe back. Typical, right? Phoebe keeps herself buys chasing after witches, running away from hellhounds and trying not to wish her friends into unforeseen circumstances. Did I mention the first thing that happens to her is that she gets cursed by a statue so when she wishes anything, it curses the person and her as well. They spend most of the book trying to break this curse and it is indeed a fun ride.

Highly recommended. If you love a good cozy mystery, definitely check this one out!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions are completely my own.

This is the first in a new series which is a paranormal chick lit cozy mystery sort of mashup - it reminds me very much of Shanna Swendson’s Enchanted, Inc. series, which is a high compliment from me as that is one of my all time favourite series. Protagonist Phoebe is entirely unmagical, but a series of unfortunate events lead to her discovering that not only has she been living in a magical world all along, her new landladies are a pair of actual witches, her roommates are a vampire and a werewolf, and her boss is one of the most powerful mages in London. Oh, and Phoebe is now under a magical curse that was meant for her boss, and has accidentally cursed her philandering ex to live in interesting times.. It’s been a bit of a week…

I’m utterly charmed by this. Unlike most cozy mysteries, it doesn’t start with a body - nobody dies at all apart from a hellhound, actually - but Phoebe getting stuck with a curse definitely leaves her with a crime to investigate, and she can hardly be left out of it while the magical folks around her do all the heavy lifting. In the end Phoebe is actually able to twist the curse to her own advantage, using her brains when the magic of her friends fails, and get the better of her opponent.

There’s some very interesting setup here for future books in the series, with at least three antagonists all with shadowy motives running around on the loose. While there’s no hint of romance for Phoebe yet, I think it’s pretty obvious who her love interest is going to be, and the events of this book basically had to happen to clear the path for that to begin.

Delightful, and I’m looking forward to more in the series!

A light and entertaining urban fantasy that I enjoyed as it made me smile and and had fun.
Good characters and world building, a well plotted story.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I started reading this book expecting not to like it. Just my mood, I’m afraid, and the fact I’ve read a number of witchy books that disappointed. The more I read, the better my mood became.

Phoebe Thorpe returns to her London apartment from a vacation meant to heal her soul after a breakup. She finds her idiot roommate—haven’t we all had one of those—has managed to flood not only the apartment they share but the one below as well. And, just like that, she’s homeless and looking for an affordable place in a respectable neighborhood. Good luck with that!

When she sees the Room for Rent sign on a storefront she’s never noticed before, she doesn’t hesitate to inquire within. And thereby hangs the tale for this shop isn’t just any shop. It’s a witchy shop run for a discerning clientele. Not everyone is who they seem to be and some surprises are in store for Phoebe. But it’s charming and available and Phoebe feels like her luck is changing.

Then she goes back to work at the antique dealers, activates a dangerous curse, and finds out her conservative and sort of dull boss is anything but what she thinks he is. She’s threatened by witches and warlocks and hellhounds as she searches for the origins of the mysterious curse and a way to get rid of it.

Susanna Shore’s House of Magic series, of which Hexing the Ex is the first, promises to be fun and filled with hexes, curses, spells, and magical beings. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Strengths:
Pretty good writing. Only a few times did I question the author’s choice of words or structure. Dialogue is good. I thought it got a little hasty toward the end, but that could just be the nit-picker in me who is always finding something to gripe about.

Characters: pretty good. Really on the strong side of pretty good. Nicely diverse and clearly defined—with a couple of exceptions.

Resolution: not too predictable, but not so far afield as to be unreasonable. And that’s all I can say about that.

Room for Improvement
I thought the motive a little weak and the villain not well defined. Granted, this is the first in a series and at the end we do meet someone who may grow on me. But I’d like to feel a bit more of a sinister intent on the part of the perpetrator. A good villain is even more important than a well-drawn hero, in my opinion, and it’s not just because I have a soft spot for villains. Which I do.

I felt like we rushed a bit at the end. The dialogue and the plot seemed a little—not klunky, but maybe could have used one more editing pass. It's not bad--just not perfect.

All in all, this is a fun read with more to come from this author. I’m looking forward to reading more about Phoebe, her interesting employer, and the House of Magic where she lives.

Hexing the ex is a brilliant first in a new series of books about magic and all it entails, throw in a werewolf and a vampire and a lovely set of characters and bingo, absolutely loved this book and really hope I get to read the rest of the series loved the little preview of the second instalment and can not wait to read more

I am really loving paranormal cozy mysteries, so I was excited to see this first book in a series, and I jumped on it. I loved the slow build up to Phoebe learning that magic is real, and one of the things I really loved about this book was the great cast of friends she makes throughout the book. Add to that, the writing is great, the mystery fun, and I loved every minute of reading this. I can’t wait to read more in this world with this great cast of characters, and I think everyone who loves cozies will love this one, too. Highly recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

This story follows Pheobe Thorpe, who has been recently evicted and is looking for a place to live in. She finds a magic shop which has the sign “Room to let. Inquire Inside.”. A series of surprising events lead her to discover that Mages, Warlocks, Werewolves and Vampires are real, and she has been accidently cursed. Naturally the first person she curses is her ex-boyfriend.

The thing I liked the most about this book was that it was pretty fast paced and the story kept me hooked. The plot of the book is simple, and it is a perfect light read that keeps you guessing.

All the characters are really delightful, I just wished I could get to know them a little better.

I really love reading stories which have mythical creatures so I enjoyed this book a lot.

I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series!