The characters as well as the plot were well developed. Surprisingly I enjoyed the story. i recommend 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books.

The Laws of Magic started off slowly. The characters and their dynamics were developed thoroughly and in detail, with a particular focus on the romance between Isla and Lu. Isla’s apothecary is introduced as the perfect, cozy safe space for her coven, even when the first problems start showing up.

Moving forward, the pace changes drastically and there’s so much action in so many subplots that keeps the reader hooked, but sadly isn’t very well constructed. Isla’s past, Isla’s uncle’s views and Lu’s reasoning for taking her job as well as changing her mind are all glossed over and pushed to the back in favour of the fast-paced action plot.

In conclusion, I feel like the book had lots of potential but the execution deteriorated over the course of the plot.

2.75/5 stars.

"Always trust your intuwitchin". - Isla
I was so excited to read this one! A contemporary, sapphic romance with witches! Especially an apothecary witch! I really loved three of the characters - Isla, Daria and Christopher. I thought that they were well developed and I really understood them. I especially loved that our MC's are not 18, but grown women!!! I rate the spice at a 2 - not fade to black but it was not detailed or long after beautiful, slow burn tension. What marked this one down for me was the plot. The ideas behind the plot were great and the ending was interesting with great plot twists. But one of the plot lines seemed rushed when a lot of the book had been slow build up. I also felt like some of the solutions could have been explained a little more and would love a book 2 to go into these a little more.

A small town romance involving a witch, a security guard, and a bunch of cool side characters? Sign me up.
This novel has a great premise and starts out really cute. It didn’t end up going where I thought it was heading but overall it was still a good read. I think it could’ve been helped by being a little longer, with some more character development as opposed to dialogue.
The relationship is a slow burn despite having a strong start, but it’s got a lot of sweet moments between the characters.

I was really excited for this paranormal read for spooky season and really thankful to have received an ARC through NetGalley - but this really missed the mark for me. I DNFed at around 40% because I lost interest and felt like the plot was lacking. A lot of details I found important as a reader felt under developed and then the details that weren't important to the plot were developed. I will say the beginning really kept my attention, but it fizzled quickly.

I still would like to read more of the authors work because I like the creative mind this story came from.

The Laws of Magic is a small town, cozy romantic fantasy novel.. Isle is a powerful witch that owns a small town apothecary shop that serves humans and inhumans. Lu is a security guard who monitors the strip mall that Isle’s shop is in. When suspicious things keep helping to the shop and it’s people, the two must get past reveled secrets and their respective past and bind together to beat the evil force. I though this book was fun, romantic and cozy. I loved the twists and turns their relation ship took and the twists that happened in the story. I also really liked all the side characters, and Lu’s furry friend Samuel. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick and easy fantasy book that will put you in the spooky season mood. (less)

All the ingredients are there, but somehow this book just didn’t bake into a good cake. The paranormal aspect is good and I like the idea of a witch helping her fellows with an apothecary shop. A security guard with another agenda as a romantic partner works well, especially as there is a cute niece and a snarky sister. But sadly, the story just isn’t interesting and even the fabulous have been rendered mundane. This is such a shame, as given the premise I really wanted to like it more.

The premise of this story is sweet- a sapphic urban fantasy romance, wherein witch meets alleged rent-a-cop. However, a more honest way to describe it would be "urban witch has abandonment issues and terrible taste in women, but very good business sense, so at least she has one thing going for her." I'm going to leave this review spoiler-free, but I think it's important to know that the main internal conflict between the protagonists involves willful deception that is then plastered over in a way that feels artificial. This could be due to the fact that the characters themselves are underdeveloped, or because there simply isn't enough time given to make the hasty conclusion feel authentic. It felt like 90% of the book was dialogue, which might work for some readers, but I feel that some of the mundane conversation could have been avoided, or replaced entirely with deeper character and plot development. There are ways to write morally grey characters (as I believe Lou is) that are nuanced and understandable- but that certainly does not happen here, which was a disappointment, considering the ample opportunity. I also think the denouement had some plot holes, but to avoid spoilers I won't give examples. If you want an easy sapphic romance and don't expect anything too meaningful, this could be for you. It was not for me, unfortunately.

3/5 ⭐️
2/5 🌶️

Sapphic friends to lovers between a femme witch and an ex-military butch with biceps? Sign me up. Multiple adorable and relatable MCs. It started off super cute changing lanes from my expectations about 1/3 through. Even though it didn’t end up what I thought it was gonna be, it was a really cute adventure of love, friendship, and family with the happily ever after you crave from the beginning.

•non-binary rep
•pan rep
•slow burn
•mystery novel vibes
•happily ever after

Out October 11th!

Thank you to @netgalley @boldstrokesbooks for the ARC in exchange for my review!

A lovely story!

Isla, a successful business owner, healer, and witch, has always stayed clear of falling in love. Lu, the new security person for the local mall nearby Isla’s shop is quite taken with her and struggles to fight her attraction to Isla. When powerful forces threaten Isla’s community, she relies on Lu but Lu hadn’t really realised, when taking her new job, just what she was letting herself in for.

Magical, a little spooky, and lots of fun. I really enjoyed getting to know Isla and Lu, then being a part of things when they started learning more about one another and had that element of hesitation at fear of the unknown. In some ways they were so similar, trying to fight their feelings and not get to close to one another for very different reasons and yet they were naturally drawn to one another and had a great chemistry.

The story was very clever in its set up and I couldn’t have predicted all that actually did happen. It was all woven in a way where every moment was uncertain and just when you thought you knew a character you questioned if you did or not. There were so many cute moments to balance the drama that surrounded Isla and Lu’s budding try at romance. It’s difficult to share too much without giving away too much of the plot, but I had so much fun reading it and loved how it all seemed so innocent to start until the truth started surfacing.
There was also a fantastic cast of characters, providing all sorts of magic mischief and complications to the mix. Then there were those more in Lu’s world that added depth to the scheming and worry that surrounded the situation Isla and Lu found themselves caught up in. Each of them brought a little something extra to helping Isla and Lu along in their relationship and finally finding happiness.

A great romance between two quirky, loveable, and complete unique characters that were a force to be reckoned with then they started working together. No doubt they have a fun and fabulous future ahead, so here’s hoping for more stories for Lu and Isla to come.

This book was very nearly amazing for me. I thought the setup of the characters (Isla and Lu) and the plot was genius! However, the follow-through had some gaps for me. The storyline felt very very slow with the first connection of romance halfway through the book, and then it somehow slowed down from there. I powered through to the end and I am glad I did because the story of the book unfolded in the last quarter! If the book were written with that pacing it easily would have made my top favorite fiction novels! Magic and LGBTQIA+ romance is the golden ticket! And there were a few surprises and plot twists I enjoyed but it all happened at the end. The ending was great though!

I feel like this book went kinda fast and there were some parts of the plot that could have/should have been more detailed. But as a whole I enjoyed the mystical/reality balance and would read this author again.
Thank you @NetGalley for this ARC.

Bender, Massachusetts has its fair share of “inhumans”, witches, warlocks, and werewolves to name but a few. This is exactly why Isla opened her store of potions and ointments while offering her witchery healing talent to all in need.

Lu’s new job is as a security guard for the strip mall which houses Isla’s store. It is the most boring job in the world except for the fact that she gets to see Isla everyday. Until the day Isla really needs Lu’s help.

The novel caught my attention at the beginning with a myriad of quirky characters. As the story unraveled, I found it tried to be too many things at once. A fable about the island and moon, a slow burn romance between Isla and Lu while attempting to create tension and action with an unknown aggressor attacking Isla and Lu’s job being complicated. With so much going on I lost my attachment to the main characters. There is also a major plot twist near the end concerning Isla and Henry which down played the ramifications while turning me off Isla’s character completely.

The writing style reads easily. I did finish the novel and found it entertaining at times. Others may thoroughly enjoy the novel but it just was not for me.

I received a free advance review copy from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This cover and plot are pretty good. Although not an entirely novel concept, I liked the plot twists and how things came out.

Now one of the issues is the pacing. There were times when we would linger on. something that didn't move the plot forward at all. Other times we sped past things that were really interesting.

Now my biggest issue was with the characters. They all acted like teenagers but the reader is told they are in their 30s. The conversations were odd and stunted.

An okay read. I felt I couldn’t connect with the characters for a large portion of the book. This may be due to the slow character development and slightly misaligned plot times. I felt the romance element started very early, and there were huge chunks of that prior to any of the actual plotline. The characters themselves seemed untrustworthy and therefore I couldn’t enjoy the plot romance, especially as I didn’t really agree with Lu’s motivations. The plot, as previously stated took forever to start ‘going’ and just felt undeveloped, as if it had been added in later to a romance novel and that is wasn’t the basis for the story. I also feel a book entitled the Laws of Magic should have more about the magic system and more world building in general, but we never really understood the full capabilities of the witches’ power. It’s not a bad book, and an easy read with an enjoyable concept, I just felt I wanted more than I got so it missed the mark for me.

The Laws of Magic was a very different book. The Author did a great job of having good diversity and I loved that it was a romance novel with a touch of magic.

I did have a hard time getting into the book at first. It’s a little slow moving during the character development. If you go into the book thinking it’s just a romance novel it would help. I kept waiting for the magic part to take play which it doesn’t until much later in the book.

I really loved the characters and if the author added a little more action and developed the plot around the magic and characters more I could see a second book being exciting.

One and a half stars. I'm sorry to say that this was a DNF for me at about 45%. I don't like not finishing, and I really try to avoid it with ARCs. But after a several-day-streak of burning through books, I got to The Laws of Magic and lost interest in reading for a few days. I love M. Ullrich's work; there's one of hers that holds a very dear place in my heart. But her great writing couldn't save this.

The premise wasn't all bad. The problem for me was that the paranormal plotline took a backseat to the romance, but not in a way that had them co-existing: I suspect that part of the story doesn't really get underway until about the point where I stopped reading. Meanwhile, the romance had a 45% headstart. The misalignment means I can't see them ending cohesively.

I didn't care for the characters. Neither struck me as particularly lively, and I was content to let my eyes skim through what was happening instead of being drawn in enough that I could imagine it for myself. I set down the book when I realized that nothing either of them did was going to make me care about them or their relationship.

So I surrender. The Laws of Magic wasn't for me. I just hope that in stopping where I did instead of powering through, I can maintain my appreciation for the author and continue to enjoy her other works.

The Laws of Magic has a wonderful concept and some thoroughly enjoyable characters, but the plot fell somewhat short for me. Even so, I'd love to see these characters in action again under new circumstances after the ending of the book.

This was an enjoyable, quick and easy read that had a good level of writing, a decent amount of character development and a story that was engaging. The [acing felt a bit slow for me at times I would have just liked a bit more from this book in general.
3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this story, the characters were interesting and vivacious. Even though it was about magic it felt real and that is when I know it is a good book!