I love a witchy romance! Avery Flynn has written a book that is perfect for my reading style and I enjoyed this one so much! My only complaint is that it was a little too "wordy" for me. Would I still recommend it? yes!

Witch’s gonna do? Avery Flynn releasing December 2022. This is a very light magical romance. When a witch with no powers curses her witch family. She must work with her hot nemesis to save her family. And not only that but the world from domination. This does not come out til December. But it would be perfect read after the campy Halloween movies.

Fabulous cover...but that's about it. There's hardly any room for romance or chemistry with all the contrived world building. The societal structure hardly makes sense, the family and community dynamics don't add up, and the plot is just a little too convenient. I really had to push myself to finish this one, and while it certainly seems like the goal was to set up for a series, I definitely won't be reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

I have read some of Flynn's previous work. What she does well is banter, sex scenes, and tension. What is maybe newer to her and needs improving- world building.

In this book, we are immediately thrust into a magical world. It's hard to figure out if this is grounded in our world, a whole different world, or a combo? I didn't know where we were and why. I wish there would have been some grounding in the beginning of the world we were in.

Also, lots of breaking the fourth wall. Parenthesis that explain stuff to the reader, etc. It's weird

A fabulous series opener that drew me in from the first page! This is an enemies-to-lovers book featuring magical outcasts Gil and Tilda and a hilarious cast of supporting characters.

I didn’t find this book to be anything special or interesting to be honest. I thought the summary made it sound interesting but I couldn’t do more than skim this book from chapter five onwards.
Pros:
The magical universe Flynn created was intriguing when you first read it. The concept was cool and I haven’t seen any other paranormal romances that has such variety with the types of creatures/shifters.

Cons:
The writing style was very confusing. At multiple points the characters are talking to the audience/reader as though they are aware that they have an audience and that they are characters in a book. However, this wasn’t consistent so when it happened it was so random.
There were a lot of cheesy lines and playing into tropes in a way that wasn’t very pleasant to read and instead just felt like things that make people criticize romance books.
There were inconsistencies in the descriptions of Gilda’s physical appearance. If a female character is plus size then stick to it. Don’t make it inconsistent in a way that reads as though a decision couldn’t be made over whether to have a plus size character or not.

I’ve read some of Flynn’s other books and found them enjoyable enough and I hate doing negative reviews but I simply wasn’t impressed with this book. I gave it three stars because it was simply average for me. What I found interesting was good enough to keep this from knocking off another star. I think this is the type of book that’s worth trying because it will either be a hit or miss and it’s worth seeing if you will enjoy it or not.

I love Avery Flynn and I love witches, so this book was perfect. It was a quick read with a super fun premise. I love all the supporting characters and am so looking forward to the rest of this series!

Tilda comes from a long line of witches but she doesn’t seem to have any power herself. When she messes up big time the only person who can help her is Gil, her nemesis and secret crush.

There are, of course, lots of quirky characters- a grumpy unicorn who eats Lucky Charms, for instance- magic gone awry, and a very old, very magical book to be stolen. There’s also a lot of sizzle between Tilda and Gil to be enjoyed.

However, there were a few things that didn’t quite work for me. In some ways it read like a YA novel but with incongruous steamy sex scenes that don’t fit the YA model. It is told from the POV of Tilda and Gil but sometimes Tilda’s comments to the reader are overdone.

But if you like witchy romance novels with some enemies to lovers trope action going on this is probably a good read. I’ll definitely give the next book in the series a try but I can’t rate this one above a 3.

Tilda was a fun character, and this was a light witchy romance with no dire consequences. I would recommend it to anyone wanting something easy and cute with some spice, magic, and fluff!

I've been really into witchy romance books lately and this one did tickle my fancy but it was definitely missing something. First of all, the voice of Tilda threw me off at first. It is that kind of voice that narrates the story in a way of "Yep, that's me. I bet you are wondering how I got into this mess". Not the worst but also not unique. Tilda is a likable clumsy character that thought throughout her whole life she had no magic until this hot witch comes along to tell her otherwise.

The plot has something to be desired. I liked the premise but it was missing a villain. The villain was "The Council" but you never saw anyone from the council come after her. It was just people doing the biding for them. The problems felt too easily resolved and the characters didn't have many hardships. I mean Tilda wasn't even mad that Gil hid this big secret from her. It felt too unrealistic.

It was a cute read though and it was fast to consume. The love interests were likable characters and not very annoying. I am interested to continue this series once it releases... I am sure the next book is about her sister.

This funny romance offers a great plot and steamy sex. The story was interesting and I loved the friends and family relationships. While the attraction between the couple was clear, I thought the author overdid the comments a little. After a while, it was like I get it, he gets her motor running, enough already.

Thank you NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Avery Flynn for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! The cover of this book is GORGEOUS and the summary seemed really fun! However, I sadly didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped to. I think that this book just didn’t work for me, but I think some people would really enjoy it! I never connected to the writing style and it also felt really busy. It seems like one of those books that “tries to hard” and it doesn’t work for me here. It’s a fun read, but there are better readers suited to it.

I loved the cover and blurb, but I didn't love the book. It was busy because there was so much to know about the world, and yet it was boring. I had a hard time caring about the characters, which made it hard to care about the plot. It felt like an early draft, not a fully developed story.

Did I read this in one sitting? Yes, I did. It has magic and a witch version of Instagram and a HEIST! But seriously how many witchy rom-coms have an Ocean's 11 vibe? One, that's how many. And now you want to read this, don't you? The only thing I would caution about is that it is written in a sort of "confession to the reader" style. Normally this would irritate me, but somehow I found it charming. I am very interested to read the other books in this series to see how the family is able to defeat the shadowy villains.

This cover is so alluring! I loved the previous works of Avery Flynn. When I heard she tried another genre, plotting a YA fantasy romance, I was so curious to devour it!

But unfortunately, this story, the entire world building, the characters didn’t work with me. I tried to get into the main plot but I’m overwhelmed with too much extra information. The Council, The Resistance, The Misfits, the double agents, goblins, trolls etc. Instead of giving us a well described world building, the author directly pushes us into the universe and filling our brains with too much details as if she has to finish this book as fast as she can do for starting another one!

Even though there’s so many information, the book is not long enough for us to absorb all of them.

The main characters are victims of enemies to lovers trope who have blind dates for three times which end with disastrous consequences.

Tilda Sherwood is member of powerful family of witches with no magical ability. She’s outre, outsider of her community, getting used to pitying looks of everyone.

Gil Connolly is super jerk, know it all archenemy who is forced to date with Tilda for his secret agenda. He is double agent working for both Resistance and Council. The Council has his family as captives and he’s reluctantly working with him to save them. He’s secretly scrutinizing her to give reports to the spies. Both of sides want him find some information about Tilda to dethrone the Sherwood family.

And he realizes Tilda is not a simple outre without any magical power. Because she’s more than that. And her family keeps her powers secret to protect her.

Now Tilda accidentally glitches her sister’s spell and curses her whole family. Only one can help her to break the curse is her nemeses/ crush Gill. They have to work together to save them families and they try to resist the attraction they feel for each other.

Overall: it’s still fast reading. I hope there would be more elaborated world building. I didn’t like the characters either. So I’m giving my solid three stars! It was still easy to read and enjoyable but I was expecting a little more!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

This was a hard one. Based on the synopsis and the cover and the over all vibe I should have loved it, but I found it boring and predictable. The two character’s POV we see aren’t super distinct - they read in the same voice. I also just didn’t connect with either of the main characters which always makes a book hard for me.
Overall: it’s good for a quick, light afternoon read, it just wasn’t for me.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My main piece of advice for this one is to download the kindle sample on pub day and see if the style is for you! It didn’t quite work for me because it’s not me preferred style, but it may be yours!

Fourth wall breaks, quippy asides in parentheses, and so many rhetorical questions dominated the prose. I would’ve appreciated more dialogue and less details.

✨

This book didn’t quite seem to know what it wanted to be. It was all at once a contemporary witch romance, dystopian romance, and heist plot. The world-building was lackluster and very confusing. I can’t help but get caught up on things like that. It was very confusing to know how much of the modern world (as we know it) existed and how much paranormal/fantasy/dystopian vibes regular humans got on the daily. People were literally exiled and tortured??? But the Super Bowl is still a thing? Also I couldn’t even begin to tell you why they were enemies?

✨

There were some incongruities, however, that could maybe be revised. Her boobs were like ten different sizes, the first sex scene was damn near impossible, and Gil kept saying “I got you” but “I’ve got you” just reads better. He sounded like he was trying to be a hip grandpa. He got you what??? Also a lot of words and phrases were continuously repeated (top of mind is ever-loving hell).

I was especially sad about the boobs bc most curvy* characters have chests way bigger than me, so I felt seen! And then a few chapters later they were full and outlining her sweatshirt and it just seemed like a different message.

*The book uses curvy so that’s what I’m going with here! I knows there’s discussion about the word compared to the representation on the page, so we got thick, dimpled thighs and a soft stomach.

✨

I did really like the sex scenes, as they were explicit and a little dirty. They were also creative, except that may be a detriment for poor Tilda because sweet Jesus the strength she must’ve exerted to piston herself up and down, both feet on the wall, while HE was pressed up against it????

✨

Overall, I’m just not the audience for this book. Not a lot about it really worked for me, but I can see the bones of a story that would. If this were a movie, I’d totally jump its bones. The concept for book 2 sounds very fun, I love a good Vegas moment.

There’s a hard balance to strike between romance and paranormal in order to make a successful book that is both romance and magic. I think the author has definitely tried their best, but there was a LOT to take in. Perhaps if this is part of a series then the info dump will pay off, but ultimately the system behind the magic needs to be more accessible to the reader. I did think the book was decent and would recommend it, but it didn’t give me a WOW factor.

I was so excited for this based on the cover alone, and while it didn’t disappoint, it definitely didn’t live up to any expectations I had for it.

I think my biggest issue with this book is that there’s just too much going on. This is clearly a world the author has fully fleshed out in their head, but there’s still some missing pieces on the page. The different ways to be magic (produce magic?) and their hierarchy are underdeveloped, there’s a secret cabal kind of thing whose raison d’etre I was kind of lost on, there’s some banishments… there’s just a lot. Additionally, I really hate a plot that hinges on “we didn’t tell you, our family member, this giant secret that is important to you for reeeeeasons.” Everyone’s an adult! Give them the information necessary to make their own choices for their future and safety.

I was way more interested in Tilda’s group of like magical outcasts than I was in her relationship with Gil or the actual plot of the book, which I guess doesn’t bode well for me liking the rest of the series. I’ll give the next one a try, though!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While I was fascinated with the premise for this book and I did enjoy it well enough, there were many aspects about this book that I struggled with. Firstly, I just didn't love the voice it was told in. It may work for other people, but I just couldn't get into it. Secondly, the pacing was super wonky. And thirdly, there was just way too much information presented! While I do firmly believe that witchy romances should have plenty of magic, this book really just jumped into this magical world and presented lots of terms without much in the way of explanation. I just couldn't really get a handle on this world. I may still give the next book a try though, just to see if things pull together a little bit better.