This book starts out a little slow but when Iris starts to come into her own and collects other quirky fun additions as roommates. Also, the beginning of a found family. The book becomes a big warm cozy hug. A cozy paranormal LGBTQia friendly book. This is the 4th book in the series but my first and definitely not my last. I'll definitely be going back and reading more about St. Claire.
I 💜 Violet Gables.

A cute, fluffy magical romance. I would love to read more about some of the other characters living in Iris's boarding house.

This book was very cute! It gave fantasy HGTV vibes, and the characters were believable and fun to read about. There were quite a few moments where the storyline felt quite rushed (which is why it gets a 4 out of 5) but overall I really enjoyed the book!

Iris Collins' family is shit. They've blamed her for everything her whole life. They make it difficult to ask for help and as she struggles to start a new business and find her footing. When her aunt dies and leaves her a house as an inheritance she starts to build a found family. I really enjoyed Eli as a character, but his past with Iris and him keeping it from her was weird and left me feeling a little icky.

I loved seeing Iris fall in love with her house and her confidence and her family. I loved seeing these people choose each other and help out and grow together, but some of the main conflict was just money which is toally a legitimate barrier it just felt out of place as a major roadblock in this world with magic.

I really liked the idea of this story, but it felt like a bit of a slog for me to get to a place where I cared about these people and felt like we'd met all the crucial important characters. I wanted more magic in this book, but it didn't hit the mark for me.

This was a cute slow burn romance but it left me wanting so much more… more fantasy, more character depth, more zest.. it just fell very flat

I have to say, the cover art got me on this one. A dreamy purple house is all I had to see, and I was in. I was also excited to try out a different type of book, a cozy fantasy. From the beginning, the cozy vibes were STRONG with this one, which I’m not mad about. The atmosphere and the found family are top-notch, and by far my favorite aspects of this read. I mean, as I said earlier, the story takes place in a Victorian PURPLE house with a cast of both magical and non-magical misfits. The plot was pretty thin, and frankly a little boring at times, but the likable characters kept me reading. If you’re looking for a feel-good, cozy fantasy read with strong found family vibes, this is a good one to look for when it releases in July.

As a fellow 'chaos bunny' Iris is my spirit animal! I felt completely attached to the only purple house in town, can I stay?! The story is well told, the characters just perfection and I could not put this down.

This is one of the coziest and most wholesome found family books I've ever read. In the world of "The Only Purple House in Town", it's a modern setting with the fantastical elements of species like vampires, shapeshifters, and witches. Iris believes herself to be a psychic vampire, like the rest of her family, but her powers haven't been 'awakened' yet. Because of this, she doesn't get along with her family except for her eldest sister, and is pretty much on her own when it comes to finances/debt/everything else. She's drowning in debt and backrent until she suddenly inherits her great-aunts house, the only purple house in town if you can believe it (lmao). Iris decides to rent out the extra rooms in the house to people around town, and over time she creates her own little family that are willing to stick together and help each other out through everything (especially the world's worst neighbor)!
Eli is a hawk shapeshifter that has lowkey been stalking Iris on social media since high school because of an action she took when they were kids that impacted Eli a lot. Now, he's a bit famous, but sh, Iris doesn't know that, and through a bit of awkwardness and confusion, Eli finds himself a tenant in the purple house, unsure how long he can or should keep his real motives a secret.
Each character is given their own time to shine, and I love how all of their personalities clash, mesh, and come to form the perfect little family! Usually, when books have a lot of characters, I have a hard time keeping names straight, but I really didn't have that issue here. Each character felt so wholly different from the others that I rarely got confused! The representation in this book was also phenomenal because it felt so incredibly natural.
I don't think I recommend this book enough, it was an amazing read!

CW: family disputes, prejudice, hate groups, mention of dead parents and bullying

The Only Purple House in Town is the fourth book in the "Fix-It Witches"-series, although I didn't know that diving in. So, let my review be a testimony to the fact that you can read this novel without having read the previous books. You might miss some cameos from former (lead) characters (which there are quite a few) or take some getting used to the world the characters inhabit. It didn't take me too long to find my bearings, but without prior knowledge on the magic and in-world developments, I found the synopsis for the book to be a bit misleading.

In the realm of The Only Purple House in Town, we can exhibit a world quite similar to ours. This isn't high fantasy after all. However, witches have decided to out themselves and they aren't the only supernatural beings - shape shifters, vampires, fae and the like all exist as well. I wasn't fully prepared for that kind of mayhem, if I'm being completely honest. I did love that it lead to a beautiful found family trope, which was my favorite part of the story.

Although the tale is mostly told from Iris and Eli's perspectives, it was their housemates and the side characters that made the story come to life. I also enjoyed the wide variety of queer representation that just felt very naturally ingrained in it all. Seeing those people be in a bind and find a place they not only feel welcome and safe in, but actually at home at was great and heart-warming.

Speaking of matters of the heart, that's what I had some quarrels with - the love story between Iris and Eli! I just can't get over the fact that Eli had basically stalked Iris since he was 11 years old, because she did something nice for him once. I get that it was a big deal for him and most of his actions throughout the novel are well intentioned, but that doesn't change the facts. And fact is, Eli dedicated a lot of his free time thinking about Iris, looking her up on social media, deceiving her and moving in with her, all the while she had no idea they had even met prior to their roommate interview. It's not a good look and I don't really get how fast Iris did a 180 and just brushed it off as "well, I'm not perfect either". Let's not make stalking okay, just because the guy is nice in the end, alright?

Over all, The Only Purple House in Town was an easy, fast and (for the most part) sweet read. A lot of the relationships are fairly cut and dry and there could have been a bit more nuance for the villains (they really were just mean/evil). Again, I much preferred the friendships to the romance, but that's just because of Eli's actions.

Fazit: 3/5 stars! Found family will always hit the sweet spot for me.

This is the fourth book in a series apparently, something I was not aware of before reading it. However, I still fell in love with the characters taking up residence in the B&B in town. Having no previous knowledge of the world created by Ann Aguirre, readers can still fall headfirst in love with the town and keep up, although I'm sure certain exchanges make more sense having read the other books. Overall, I will 1000% be renting a room in this universe, just like the book will be renting a space in my bookshelf.

Three and a half simply because the romance was a little too sweet for me. Eli knew Iris as a child and she was a heroic figure to him but sadly many years later she just doesn’t remember him. Not a problem exactly but when Iris inherits a relatives house to make ends meet she takes in lodgers and somehow Eli ends up as one of them all whilst trying not to come off as a stalker !
Hmm if in the mood for a story about diverse characters all trying to muddle along and form their own type of family then this happily fits the bill. The romance didn’t wow me but this was an enjoyable read with humour , a touch of magic and a satisfying ending so definitely this will be appreciated by many readers .
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

This is a heart-warming story of a woman, Iris Collins, who feels as if she doesn't belong. She is in debt and can't find her groove. After she inherits a house, she tries to make it into a bed and breakfast, but as is her luck, things turn out very different for Iris. At first, she's worried that this will be another failure, but she turns things around as she meets neighbors and makes friends.

I love that this book has a little romance, friendships, finding oneself, and a lot of magic! Ann Aguirre does not disappoint with the "all the feels" book of finding belonging. Even though there is fantasy and other-realm beings, the book is successful in sending the message that everyone belongs somewhere and it's important to be yourself.

A fun and heartwarming romcom that focuses on found family. Iris is the black sheep of her family and inherits a house from her great Aunt, she opens her house up to roommates to help pay the bills. Various misfits from the small town come to call the house home and help Iris discover that family is chosen.

If you have read the first three Fix It Witch series, you will not be disappointed with book four! I loved the sister and found such a fun and sincere connection with them! I couldn’t put this book down I was having so much fun!

I'm divided over this book. There's a lot here that charming, but the author's need to make all of her characters full on Mary Sue types gets tedious. In a sense it's a feel good book, but mostly it's annoying, as reading this I really wanted to like the characters, but the constant Mary Sue-ing made them unbelievable, two dimensional, and saccharine.

There are also some really unbelievable plot points regarding introducing new family to old, and a groups adoption of and attachment to newcomers happens awfully quickly.

Tension is what makes a reader continue, and this book has none. The primary tension comes from a subplot with a neighbor, that is so over the top that it just doesn't work.

I was pleased to see the diversity at first, then, as every single character showed up with a diversity marker, and there was total acceptance by all without a single hitch, it began to feel false. Eventually, it turned into tokenism, as the majority of the diverse markers had nothing to do with the story or character, but were literally there for the purpose of showing how enlightened the other characters were to accept this kind of person too. I actually started to feel offended at how the author glossed over the very real issues that many of us face.

I didn't hate the book, but I never felt engrossed by it. It feels like a draft that is in need of several more revision passes to get to the real story. Sensitivity readers who engage with the text to make representation meaningful, rather than token-based would also help.

"The Only Purple House in Town" is a heartwarming book that follows a group of eclectic characters as they work to put together a house and form a new family. The book features a diverse cast of characters, including a grouchy carpenter, a shy techie mogul,a quirky vampire who doesn’t have magic, bi-curious chipper grandma and many more cohabiting the same space dubbed as Violet Gables.

Despite their differences, the characters work together to create a cozy home and build strong relationships with one another. The book does sound like a cozy show straight out of HGTV and is sure to leave readers with a warm and fuzzy feeling.

Thanks to the publisher for the free DRC of the book in exchange for an honest review!

this one was so different from anything i have ever read before. i honestly had no idea this was a series but i am obsessed with this universe. like i want to move to st. claire. rn. like. yesterday.

iris and eli are 💖💖💞🩷💖💞 perf little babies

i loved how magical the universe is and aguirre makes you FEEL the magic.

i am. obsessed.

4/5

I really wanted to like The Only Purple House in Town, but unfortunately ended up DNFing pretty early out the gate with this one.

The one that had me teary eyed over an old man

✨The only purple house in town by Ann Aguirre✨

Tropes: Found family, He loves her first, Paranormal Romance, Lgbtq+ representing,

This house, this story and the people in it were cozyness in its pure form. So comfy. The vibes were similar to Howls moving castle and the world of Dianne Wynne Jones and i loved it.

I did not like the trope "He knows her and does not tell her", no matter how sweet and considerate he is, which he was. And i understood his thought process and yet that is a trope i feel like must be handled with caution and its important how the other person responds and its not being glossed over.

I love how this plays in a magical parallel universe to earth, how diverse the species are in more than one way and that there are some very conservative characters that the people of the house stand up against. There are vampires feeding off of emotions (amazing right?). I loved how those species specific traits also informed some of the characterization in the undertone of the characters.

What irritaded me was the "I like you, do you too?" talk because they jumped directly to we are a couple, felt a bit rushed. Especially for how both are more on the shy side.

All in all i loved the world and people Ann Aguirre created and how her out her books play in the same town or world.

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DNF at 10%. Sorry, but I got to the detail about Eli social media-stalking Iris and I lost immediate interest in their romance.