Witcha Gonna Do? was so-so for me. I love witchy stories in the fall, but this one felt too disjointed and didn’t give enough character background or depth to keep my interest.

This was fun! It was a bit cheesy at times but overall I enjoyed it. Sometimes the fourth wall breaks were a little unnecessary and I really didn’t like the use of “pics” instead of “pictures”—it felt very informal or almost unedited to me. I’m not sure if I’ll continue the series, but I do like the idea of the other books being from the perspective of Tilda’s sisters. I wasn’t a huge fan of the big time jump in the epilogue; felt like an easy way to make everything wrap up nicely without having to explain any of the big stuff yet. I think a cliffhanger probably would’ve been a better way to go for me personally. I was also confused about the mention of Tilda’s first born child, even though she had triplets. I know they’re not all born at once, but I wouldn’t think of any triplet as a “first born” compared to the rest. That’s just a minor thing in relation to the rest. Overall I enjoyed it, and the spice wasn’t super heavy if that’s a concern in any way.

The synopsis, the premise, and that cover--it all should have worked for me. It didn't. I can't get past how childish and whimsical the writing is and then how adult and sexual some interactions are. It's jarring and so disturbing to me. It felt both info dumpy and not at all fleshed out. I honestly am so upset I didn't love it.

Unfortunately, I did not jive with this one. The writing was trying to hard to be quirky and fun and that just didn’t grab my attention.

I fell in love with Cate Tiernan’s Sweep series as a young adult librarian about twenty years ago (I might or might not but definitely do still have a three-in-one compendium of the first volumes–ICYMI, the series is concerned with a magical teen who doesn’t know her heritage who gets caught up in a love triangle with two other powerful witches). I’m surprised I have not pursued more books in this vein: charming magical realism romance like The Charmed List, which I really enjoyed for its more complete, and better-paced world-building.

Witcha Gonna Do is a classic enemies to lovers romance. Tilda is an anomoly in her gifted family, and she keeps getting matched with hot, sauve Gil, who figures out pretty quickly she isn’t non-magickal, she is in fact, an amplifier. Powergrabs (and attempts to prevent them) ensue.

The voice –and language–are youthful and may not appeal to all romance readers.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #WitchaGonnaDo from #NetGalley

The start of this book was obnoxious. I recognize that the author was trying to do something different but it didn't work well. However, as I continued reading I found myself very much enjoying it.

Tilda was such a fun character. The story was fast paced and fun. Gil was HOT!

I would have preferred a little more backstory of this world building.

All together it was pretty good. That beginning really irked me though.

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy.

This book literally had the following sentence on the first page: “Hi. *Waves*. That’s me”. Yes, there was an honest to God action written as an online RPG and the main character introduced herself to the reader by saying hi. Like she was talking to us. Were it not an ARC I had to review, I would have closed the book and pretended I’d never started it. Unfortunately, I don’t DNF, especially when it comes to ARCs, so here we are.

I understand informal writing, I do, but some things are okay when you are writing Twitter threads with your headcanons, not when you are publishing an adult romance book. Traditionally, I might add. So this book passed multiple copy edits and several people tought it was greatly written. It’s one of the worst things I’ve ever read, as far as writing style is concerned, so I don’t understand how anyone could find this okay.

The author was trying too hard in so many ways I’ll just write this part as a bullet point list to make it easier for both me and you:
- She was trying too hard to be funny. She wasn’t, everything felt just so cringeworthy I actually wanted to scream and throw my Kindle at the wall;
- She was trying too hard to shove it in our faces how sex positive she and her main character are; it’s more than okay to be sex positive, but when you push it this much, you just make it feel like you want people to clap for you for being so progressive;
- She was trying too hard to make us care for the romance. The chemistry wasn’t there. Like, at all. I couldn’t care less for Tilda and Gil as individuals, let alone as a couple.
- She was trying too hard with the fantasy bits and failing spectacularly. The world building is not original, but I wouldn’t have cared if this was mainly a romance book. I have overlooked wobbly world buildings before, if the characters and the romance were good enough to hold everything alone. In this case, they weren’t.

Overall, the book felt extremely childish and unpolished. I don’t know if any major changes are going to be made before this hits shelves, but as I read it, it was truly awful. I am going to make another bullet point list to enumerate the horrors of this book:
- As I said, the writing style was atrocious. I don’t want to read anything written like this ever again. Please put a warning somewhere on books written this badly.
- The magic system and world building were basic and the two organisation Gil worked for were mentioned but never explained and at some point they just started to feel useless. It was like someone told the author she had to include some kind of uber villain and whatever to give this book a fantasy plot, when it would have been more than enough if it were a “basic” romance with a fantasy background.
- The characters had zero personality. The author clearly missed the first class of Writing 101 when they tought the “Show, don’t tell rule”. She probably missed all the following classes, because my God was this book bad on every account.
- The fantasy plot, as I said, was ridiculous and I don’t understand why she had to add it. The romance plot was equally ridiculous and the relationship was built on literally nothing at all. Which is maybe why they added the fantasy plot, now that I think about it. It is what it is, nothing about this plot was good.

I would prefer to stab myself than ever reading book two in the series and I don’t recommend this book at all. If you are looking for a cute witchy romance (why does this come out in December is another mystery), continue looking, this isn’t it.

There was too much description and honestly the plot doesn't sound interesting as it was described.
The story seemed too lame and the female lead was too stupid in my opinion.

While this book had some funny and cute moments there was too much inner dialogue especially at the beginning. And I’m not a fan of books where the main character is talking to the audience. I like the witchy aspect of it though but it’s just not for me.

All I want to read in September and October are books with magic in them. Give me all the witches, secret societies, and magical stories and I’m a happy girl. I love throwing in some lighter witchy reads though, especially a good witchy romance. Last year I loved The Ex Hex and Darynda Jones’ Betwixt and Between series. I was already let down by the sequel to The Ex Hex , The Kiss Curse, this year so I was really excited to get to Witcha Gonna Do?. I mean there is romance, a heist, and magic, what more could I want!

The answer is alot. There was so much I needed more of from this book and quite a bit I needed less of. For starters is this Witchingdom set in a Modern US? It sounds like it does, I mean there is a Superbowl, but at the same time it doesn’t. Where are all the ‘normal’ people? I have so many questions on the world itself. What exactly is this place that people can be banished to? More of a flushed-out world would have been nice. The magic system was not very well established either. We were basically just thrown into it without much information, I’m still not sure what Tilda’s actual talent is besides being ‘all powerful’. The physical descriptions felt inconsistent, the romance scenes were ‘meh’, I couldn’t keep The Committee/The Council straight, and the heist aspect felt rushed.

Finally, I really didn’t like the way this was written. Our main characters Tilda and Gil literally tell us allll of their thoughts. They had so many rambles that I honestly would lose track of the actual story. More dialogue and less telling would have at least taken this up a star. I don’t mind the occasional breaking of the fourth wall, but it did not work here.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and the idea behind it is good. But I just cannot recommend this one. I couldn’t get a good handle on this chaotic story and while I know this was a setup for a series, I was left with way more questions than answers. I won’t be picking up the second book and hope this one gets cleaned up a bit more before pub day.


Witcha Gonna Do? comes out December 6, 2022! Huge thank you to Berkley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof.books.

This was a fun read to start off October (aka: perfect fall fluffy read) (although not actually being published until December which is bummer timing).

Let's start with what I liked: The cover, obviously. It's amazing. The vibe. Magic, family, rom-com-i-ness.

There isn't much depth here - it's a lighthearted contemporary witchy rom-com. Not quite enemies-to-lovers (but tries to be?). There isn't much world building. Basically our world + some magicky stuff. But you know what? I was alright with that. I just want to sit and not think too hard sometimes and get lost in a book.

Look, I'm not going to lie to you, the writing style wasn't my favorite. It's a weird blend of first person POV (dual POV between the MMC and FMC) but also breaks the fourth wall sometimes, which is weird and no thank you. The dialogue didn't always flow and the steamy scenes were not for me (but also, I already don't really remember them). There was a lot going on - secret government entities, powerful families and their... powers, unknown magical abilities, side characters who I think were meant to be kinda inclusive but were sort of forgettable. This could have been written more tightly. THAT SAID, it was a fun read and I'm not disappointed I read it. I may or may not continue following the series as it sets it up for another book after this one.

I'd say 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the eARC - all opinions are my own.

I really love Avery Flynn but somehow I always end up missing her books when they show up on NetGalley. This was a fun departure from her usual contemporary romances because all the characters are witches. There was some good enemies to lovers stuff happening here, and I liked that it got unexpectedly tied into a semi-mystery plotline and a heist plotline as well. Tilda Sherwood is an outre, a non-powered witch from one of the most powerful witch families in Witchingdom. She also keeps getting set up on dates by her godmother/local matchmaker with Gil Connolly, her nemesis, who has been assigned by the shadowy and secretive "Council" to figure out how to exploit Tilda as the weak link and bring the family down. He's a double agent, just trying to get his parents out of exile in The Beyond, where they were sent because their powerful magic amplifies feelings of love and lust and is considered dangerous. I thought this was cute and fun and also good setup for a series about the Sherwood sisters, which is very much what I hope it will be starting!

2.5 stars

I was so darn excited to read this book. I mean, look at that COVER. It is just stunning. Beautiful. Gorgeous. And the synopsis sounded divine.

I will admit, I was turned off from the first page. There's breaking the fourth wall, and then smashing it with a sledgehammer. It did the latter, and it just didn't work for me. The other main issue I had was with the writing. I just didn't like it. I found the dialogue stilted at the best of times and just...juvenile. I wanted so much to like it, but if those two things hadn't turned me off, the rest of the romance and plot line did.

I did not buy the romance in this book. And I also didn't love the plotline. I found it was all over the place, and I just wasn't getting invested with the book. It was definitely a steamy book, and I think it could have been a quirky book, but it just sadly didn't work for me in the end.

“I want you. I can’t stop wanting you. And now it’s reached a point where the magic is taking over and I don’t even care because you are everything I want.”

Tilda and Gil. A non-magical witch teaming up with her nemesis to stop a family curse. Not only are they fighting against evil forces, but also the attraction building between them.

I’m so torn! I wanted to enjoy this book but it confused the heck outta me. There was SO MUCH happening: blind dates, secret agents, a curse, saving parents from being exiled. The writing style was so hard for me to focus on and understand. And there were lots of unnecessary informations that felt unimportant to the story. I also felt like the chemistry between Tilda and Gil was forced/rushed.

✨READ IF YOU LIKE✨:
- dual POV
- enemies to lovers
- tarot cards
- a witch with no powers
- slooow burn
- family matchmaker
- secret agents
- witches & shifters & curses
- mystical adventures
- fourth wall breaks
- muffins & elderberry tea

cw: cyberbullying, lying, blackmail

Thank you to @netgalley and @berkleyromance for the advanced copy! Witcha Gonna Do? is available on December 6, 2022!

I had to DNF around the 15% mark. It was a huge “it’s not you it’s me” type of deal. I couldn’t get behind the style of writing and the fourth wall breaks. I mean if executed well it could’ve been great but unfortunately it was lacking. Also there was a lot of telling instead of showing and it didn’t work in its favor.

Wow what a crazy trip this book is.....

Tilda is a witch without powers. She has grown up feeling less than adequate in all things magic.

Gil is a double agent and trying to save his parents from exile in the Shadow Lands. His new assignment has him dating the magicless witch Tilda.

When Gil discovers a secret that not even Tilda knows, he finds himself wanting to protect her in everyway. Can he save Tilda?

This book has a lot going on. It is full speed ahead and doesn't slow down one bit. I did have a hard time in some areas, holding my attention as the scene was sooo descriptive I would skip over it.

The story is told from both of the main characters POV. Some people don't care for that style writing, but I enjoy that. In this book however, the different POV's seemed to blend together in a confusing manner, where I could decipher between them.

This book has a lot of action in it and was very enjoyable. There is love, smut and danger. I went in reading this thinking it was a cozy read, only to find out it was full of hot dirtiness. Now I love smut just as much as the next person, but these parts are where the descriptions become longwinded and overkill.

Overall I loved the story and would read the next one in the series. It was well thought out and the plot was detailed and laid out well. The characters are interesting and quirky. I give it a 4 star rating due to some of the small issues I have outlined in my review, but would recommend it to others.

this book actually deeply angered me. it started off with “hi *waves*” and i almost immediately closed the book, very unserious behavior. this book talks you as the audience and i wasn’t aware i was 12 again. i think it was very cheesy and shouldn’t be in an adult romance book. everything about this book is just corny and doesn’t feel adult at all. this book felt like i was reading a ya book that wanted so badly to be an adult. as if the author is 17 and wrote what she thought adults interacts like. also just incase i don’t say this enough…the writing style is atrocious to say the least. the double agent plotline was literally useless being ass we never got to see who he was working for and in general i didn’t care for the romance, it was very bland.

I loved the premise of this and truly enjoy a witchy romance especially in the fall, however the writing left something to be desired for me. The overuse of curse words felt lazy (coming from me, the ultimate potty mouth, is saying something).

There were also a lot of inconsistencies in the character descriptions because they changed as the book went on so it needs some further edits.

I hope in future books that there will be more attention given to world building because the atmosphere could be SO cool.

Witchy fun with lots of atmosphere and a charming set up with a magic-less witch from a very renowned witchy family as she keeps getting set up on blind dates with her worst enemy.

Tilda Sherwood comes from a powerful magical family but has no magic herself, which makes her an undesirable partner. Determined to try dating anyway, she works with her family matchmaker -- and gets set up with four blind dates in a row, all with her nemesis, Gil Connolly. What Tilda doesn't realize is that Gil is on an undercover mission to study her null state on behalf of the secretive Council, and when magic accidentally sparks between them at the end of the fourth date, Gil realizes that Tilda isn't without magic: she's actually the most powerful witch he's ever met. And the connection between them activates his own magic -- and curses him to lust after her.

While the setup for the book held great appeal for me, I found myself less than enthused about the book the more I read. Tilda comes across as chaotic and rambly, and the first chapter almost put me off the book entirely with her repetitive grumblings about being without magic. Gil's chapters seem sedate in comparison, though he's regularly bristling with grumpiness or anger or lust. While there were some interesting side characters, most of the character development felt superficial and even stereotypical.

There was a whole lot going on in the book, including a heist that was planned altogether too quickly, and it felt rushed all the way through. Fun ideas, meh execution. Intriguing set-up for the next book, not sure I want to subject myself to this again. 2 stars.

Thank you, Berkley Romance and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.