I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Selene developed throughout the story and had an effective system for coping with her memory loss. I enjoyed all of the magical and witchy elements and storylines. Memnon’s vengefulness and pettiness made me thoroughly dislike him, but I think that was the point lol. The way he has no issue screwing her over to get what he wants and making everything about him. I would’ve loved to get to see more of Selene’s background and maybe some more flashbacks to her life shortly before applying to Henbane. Looking forward to hopefully getting a sequel!

Rating: 4/5⭐
Spice Level: 2.75/5

Tropes: Slow-Burn, Second Chance-ish, Memory Loss, Soul Mates, Betrayal, Touch Her &D1e

Holy Dysfunctional Relationship Batman! What a rollercoaster of a book! Please note, my rating will probably change depending on how the second book goes, of which I'm chomping at the bit to read.

This book was well-paced and easy to devour. It's set in modern time with a dark academia vibe, which I'm a sucker for.

FMC Selene is a likeable, strong character despite her issues (memory loss when using her magic). Some of her decisions are questionable, but considering her lack of memories and the influences at play, they are understandable/forgivable. I really found the memory loss an interesting dynamic and the whole thing was utilized really well. I found myself on the edge of my seat when she would use magic, just to see what she was going to forget next.

MMC Memnon... not as likeable, but somehow I don't completely hate him. He's a really intriguing, intense character, if very dark. Some readers might be put off by some of his actions, myself included, but I can't help but wonder what's going to happen to their relationship in the next book.

Definitely some explicit scenes throughout, well-written and they didn't overwhelm the plot.

I recommend this to fans of FBAA & Zodiac Academy, and can't wait to jump into the next one to see the repercussions of that explosive ending!

Special thanks to NetGalley & Bloom Books for the ARC!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

<blockquote>There may be someone on the other side of these spells that's in true peril. And while I'm in no position to be some knight in shining armor, I am the only one who's here, so I can at least try to be brave.</blockquote>

Actual Rating = 2.75, rounded up to 3

I'm going to do something odd with this review and start by describing my reading experience. For some context, I enjoyed LT's Four Horseman series, but that's the only work of hers I know. This is relevant because the Four Horseman novels are pretty light on plot and heavy on the vibes. Bewitched, on the other hand, is very plot-driven and it frustrated the heck out of me. The amount of disbelief you have to spend to get from one chapter to the next is ridiculously high. Sometimes an after-the-fact explanation is added to absurd events (like bringing a wild jaguar from the Amazon to the bay area as the world's weirdest souvenir) but that doesn't undo the jarring sensation of reading something that makes no sense and being told to accept it. At about 30% of the way in I was so frustrated that I decided to start skimming. THEN what I was skimming caught my attention so I went back and re-read. Ultimately I did end up mostly liking the book and will read the second one, but Jesus Christ was this an odd and frustrating reading experience.

The summary does a pretty good job explaining the concept of the book and, since I'm having a hard time corraling my thoughts on this one, I'm going to provide some random thoughts below.

- This is fully a pet peeve but I hate Prologues. This one is short and adds some small value to the story so I'll let it go, but yeah.
- Bewitched is an urban fantasy romance and I think it takes place in the same world as LT's Bargainer series, but I could be wrong.
- Our MC, Selene, is desperate to get into Henbane Coven because of...reasons. We're never really told why, though the coven functions as kind of a magical school/sorority combo, so I think we're meant to assume she's looking for the community and opportunities.
- The made-up swears were cringe. "Hells spells," really? "Great Goddess' left tit" was another eye-roll-inducing one.
- There are some absurd things that happen - like Selene buying a ticket to the Galapagos even though it's really hard to go there if you aren't a scientist - that don't end up mattering at all. In this case, it's because her plane crash lands in the Amazon, but similar tidbits are thrown out and dismissed throughout the text.
- Related to the last point, there are some big time and place jumps between chapters that can be quite disorienting.
- Selene is a likable enough heroine. She mostly makes common sense decisions and, when she doesn't, there's usually a reason. She's funny and practical without being unbelievably quirky. Her personality has definitely been shaped by her memory loss, which I appreciated from a character development viewpoint.
- The chapters are pretty short and the pacing is decent. The story moves right along and can be read in a few sittings.
- The foreshadowing is a bit heavy-handed, which I wouldn't have expected from a practiced author.
- The reader gets shown things that Selene ultimately forgets, which creates some dramatic irony, which I enjoyed.
- I thought the inclusion of a Sarmatian character and references to that culture was super cool and not something we see often in fantasy.
- The plot was relatively predictable but, again, this is an urban fantasy romance. I wasn't expecting to be surprised.
- I wouldn't say this story suffers from a miscommunication trope, but there are several situations that would be much easier if Selene and Memnon were straight up with each other.
- We definitely see the trope of "schoolwork mirroring the plot."
- I liked Memnon, though I wish his personality had been a bit more developed. (This is the first book in a series, so I hope everyone's character development improves.) He's definitely your classic "over-protective Alpha" type but it sort of makes sense since 1) he believes Selene is his wife and 2) he's literally an ancient warlord. I wouldn't expect him to be submissive or progressive.
- There were definitely some steamy scenes, though the first three all featured the same act, which got pretty repetitive. I also found the dialogue in these scenes a bit cheesy, though that's almost entirely down to personal taste.
- Yes, my favorite character is Nero the Jaguar and no, I will not apologize.
- This is another pet peeve but it drives me nuts when characters use each other's names in every other sentence. That is not how humans speak.
- There were some typos and awkward paragraph breaks, but such is the nature of the ARC.
- There is a "mental conversation" aspect to this story that was giving Rhys and Feyre.
- A lot of questions were left unanswered. I'm hoping this is just because Bewitched is opening a series, so... fingers crossed.
- I understood Memnon's motivations way more than Selene's, which is odd since it's her POV. It's not that her feelings and motivations didn't make sense so much as I didn't understand where they were coming from. I get that she'd develop feelings (positive and/or negative) about Memnon as they get to know each other, but a lot of her motivations were unclear to me even if they weren't unreasonable within the plot. With Memnon, he thinks Selene is the beloved wife he's been apart from for 2,000 years, so his desperation to get her back makes sense. BUUUUTTT his beloved wife was also the one who seemingly imprisoned him in a magic coffin for 2,000 years. He's understandably pissy about this. It was just a very odd reading experience to understand a character whose POV you don't get better than the literal 1st-person MC; it smacked of a plot device.

TL;DR - If you can get past the absurdity this is a fun read, and I will be picking up book two.

3.25 stars

I loved the Rhapsodic series and saw this was in the same world so I had to give it a read. There was some things I loved and some that just missed in the mark in my opinion.
First of all the world building was very lackluster and didn’t really tell you much. If a big event happened that needed more detail a tiny bit of info would be sprinkled in but not enough to actually get what’s happening in that world. I also felt like a lot of the plot was choppy. I think it was supposed to be for the memory loss but I hated how it was written.
The characters were probably my favorite part, but again the ending was predictable and went in a direction I didn’t care for so I’m a little disappointed.
I’ll still be reading the second one because I’m hoping we get more out of the sequel.

This arthur is a must read for me and I've been so looking forward to reading this and was so excited when I got approved for the arc. This book was amazing a five star read such a fun easy read. I love her writing style so much will definitely recommend and be purchasing a copy on release!

What would you do if every time you used magic you lost some of your memories? Such is the conundrum Selene Bowers faces in Laura Thalassa's new paranormal romance series, Bewitched.

All Selene wants to do is get admitted into Henbane Coven to study, but to do so she must find a familiar or go on a magical adventure. Her attempt at going on a magical adventure takes a turn when she finds and awakens the millennia-old, slumbering Memnon, who just so happens to believe Selene is his long lost queen who betrayed him. How far will Memnon go to get his empress back? How will Selene reconcile what she feels for him versus the logical parts of her brain?

Laura Thalassa is one of my all-time favorite authors and I was so excited to be provided the opportunity to arc review Bewitched. I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced novel. Selene is a strong female character who fights for what she wants, while Memnon is the epitome of a morally grey hero. The romance was spicy but not the spiciest I've read. Bewitched features a trope I am not sure I've ever read before or seen a term for, so I'll call it "vendetta+love". Definitely has a touch of "touch her and d*e" mixed in.

Thank you to the publisher (Sourcebooks/Bloom Books) and Netgalley for allowing me to review Bewitched. I cannot wait to read the next book in the series.. 4 out of 5 stars. I would recommend this novel to paranormal romance lovers who enjoyed Laura's Bargainer and Four Horsemen series.

Holy amazingness. Wow. Just wow. That was an incredible first book and I am oozing with excitement of what is to come.

The love/hate relationship between Selene and Memnon is just *chefs kiss*. They have chemistry to spare. I could not get enough.

Memnon is that morally grey villainy character you absolutely love. Like damn.

Selene oh man. She has a lot of things going on and to deal with. She’s pretty bad ass though and gets more and more through the book. I can just tell her growth in the series is going to be outstanding.

Everything that happens, all the characters, (especially Nero), it’s everything I want in a paranormal fantasy romance. The twists, the tie ins, the leaving me wanting answers! I am in awe. I want to reread it all over again, plus I want the next book now! It’s just all so so so good! I want more!

Selene is a witch who pays the ultimate price every time she uses her magic....her memories are devoured! She is desperate to be accepted into the Henbane Coven and after being rejected a number of times, she learns that to gain access to the coven she has to complete a Magical Quest and find herself a familiar. Struggling with debt, Selene still books herself a ticket to Galapagos to undertake her quest. But when her plane crashes in South America after a magical attack, Selene accidentally wakes an ancient evil...Memnon the Cursed believes Selene is his long-dead wife who betrayed him. After escaping Selene returns to The Coven but when Memnon turns up and witches are murdered, Selene is caught up in the mess.

I am a huge fan of a witchy enemies to lovers story and Bewitched by Laura Thalassa ticks those boxes for me. It is a fast paced read, set on a campus and features Witches, Lycanthropes and a Panther familiar with a bit of personality. The ending will leave you on the edge of your seat and craving the next book in the series.

I struggled a bit with the deterioration of Selene's memory. It is a massive part of the book and does set her up as an unreliable narrator. But I felt that at times she remembered things that I would expect her to have forgotten and forgotten things that she should have recalled. With Selene's system for reminding herself, there can be a bit of rehashing of things which can be beneficial to remind you of the earlier events of the story.

As for Memnon, he is unhinged, threatens to murder a lot and irresistible for Selene. There is a lot of tension around their interactions, which will leave you both wanting more scenes of them together but also yelling at Selene to get the heck away!

I am really looking forward to the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloom Books for gifting me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

So disappointed for this to be over! Loved this!! Gobbled this up in 2 days and it left me wanting more. This apparently is the first in a series which I hadn’t realized until closing in on the end. Can’t wait for the next book to continue to learn more about the main character’s past. This isn’t something I would normally gravitate towards but am so glad I took a chance. Thank you @Netgalley & @sourcebooksbloombooks for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Selene Bowers desires to be a member of the Henbane Cover. One of the biggest challenges that she must overcome is the loss of her memories every time she uses her magic. The coven challenges Selene, requesting that she go on a magic quest and obtain a familiar before admittance to the school. On her way to the Galapagos Islands her plane crashes and she is strangely drawn to an ancient tomb where she releases a mage named Memnon who has been asleep for over two thousand years. Memnon claims he and Selene have a bond that crosses over past lives. Can Memnon help Selene be the witch of her true potential or is he with her for personal nefarious reasons?

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Bewitched is more than a paranormal fantasy story. It has an element of thriller and mystery. Memnon is the irresistible, hot, bad boy. He confuses me, I feel I shouldn't be so attracted to him, I know I should probably hate him, at times he can be lovable. I can't quite figure him out. I am interested to see what happens with Selene in the next installment and hopefully will better understand if Memnon is worth all the chaos.

Posted to the following sites:

Book Blog: https://heathersreadingnook.blogspot.com/2023/04/bewitched-bewitched-1-laura-thalassa.html

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5484016772

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/reviews/2175482723?source=link_share

Storygraph: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/ca482588-4c1b-4b63-a35e-0015da2798d4

I don’t know how Laura Thalassa does it, but wow, Bewitched is another stellar novel and amazing beginning to a new series. From the jungles to a magical college to a murder mystery and an ultimate ‘bad’ guy that may be more than he appears. . .this book is packed with shenanigans that enthrall and spellbind the reader.

When Selene finds out that her chances of joining the coven are two-fold, get a familiar and go on a magical quest, she drinks her way into a non-refundable ticket to the Galápagos Islands and a plane crash in the middle of the jungle. From then on this book is packed with magic, her familiar is one of my absolute favorite animal characters and familiars I’ve ever seen penned and what she finds at the end of the magical tether that rips her plane out of the air is a man who is so complicated, I was right along with Selene trying to figure out whether Memnon was friend or foe. . .I’m a sucker for the bad guy though, so his evil villain vibes are right up my alley.

Bewitched is stellar, the writing is as always on point, the spice is perfection, the vibes and tone of the novel is super fun and imaginative and my god, the mystery of it all. Why was Memnon buried alive? Why did his wife betray him? Why does Memnon think Selene is said wife? Just all the questions and some answers. . .it’s stellar magic. A perfect first outing in a new series, with so many questions and just enough answers to suck me in and make me hope that the next book comes out fast, because that ending is cliffhanger hell, but the burn is oh, so perfect. Highly recommend.

Warning, if you read this book, you will watch Selene’s life unravel with each page. Some choices she made, and some are done to her, which is all compounded by her vulnerable memory loss. Memnon crashes into the mix and adds heat, confusion, and an extensive backstory. Memnon and Selene’s relationship takes complicated to the next level.

It is a very spicy book, and if you are sensitive to bedroom scenes, you may want to pass (or know that you may need to gloss over some scenes).

I am rather picky about my endings, and this one made me sigh with some disappointment. Yet, even still, it is a worthy read, and I give it a 4-star rating.

Bewitched follows Selene, a young witch who loses memories when she uses her magic. She desperately wants to join a coven, but they keep denying her based on the memory implications. She is told that she needs a magical journey and to find her familiar to be accepted. She ends up getting both and then some after encountering Memnon the Cursed.

An actual morally grey MMC! Sometimes, we throw that phrase around, and it doesn't fully fit, but it definitely describes Memnon. He laser-focused on what he wants and will do anything to get it.

Wow, just wow. I thought I knew how this book would go and then was shocked at the twists! I can't wait for the next book in the series. I have so many questions and need answers!

Thanks to NetGalley and BloomBooks for the ARC of this book for an honest review.

What I liked
-Leading lady suffers from memory loss and is shown using practical adaptive behavior for her condition
-Magic is a big part of the plot but never presented as a fix all for any given situation
-Pacing was wonderfully done
What Didn't work as well for me
-I Didn't realize this was going to have a sequel going in and must now wait on the edge of my seat for more
-I have so many mixed feelings regarding the love interest
Who I would recommend this Book for
Bewitched by Laura Thalassa is an excellent read for fans of witchcraft and high tension in fantasy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

This was so fun, I really liked Selene as the main character and how she adapted to her memory loss and found her own strength despite her disability due to her magic. Her personality was super fun and I loved the her witty inner voice.

I am SO CONFUSED as to whether I’m supposed to LOVE Memnon or hate him—is he the LOVE INTEREST OR ANTAGONIST—or both?!? I have so many feelings. In the beginning of the book I felt so bad for him having all the memories and aching for Selene to remember their past, but then the actions he takes at the end of the book I’m like—oh shit and I supposed to hate him!? And I think Selene feels the same—she’s super conflicted about how she should feel and that SO intriguing.

I cannot wait for the next book, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!

Another hit from Laura Thalassa!

I was and am a big fan of her prior series (all of them!) so I was so excited to see she had another one coming! Without spoiling too much, let’s just says that I love the witchy scene, the idea of curses and the magic world she has built… and of course, the head over heels handsome husband chasing her around.

This read literally bewitched me and that I was able to read thanks to netgalley!
.
🔮From the very first pages I found myself immersed in a dark, sexy, sarcastic and action-packed story that managed to make me devour 400 pages in a couple of days!
🔮Talking about characters-I loved Selene! She is a strong,combative and confident character. But what I appreciated most was not seeing her give up and continue to pursue her dreams despite the constant challenge presented by her own powers: in fact every time they are used a memory of Selene will disappear.
Memnon, on the other hand, is more morally black than gray; he is the love interest of the story but he is also its villain. He is manipulative and possessive ,loves Selene,supports her and values her ... at the same time, however, he hates her and wants to carry out revenge against her. Not for nothing throughout the book I went from loving him to hating him every couple of pages!
🔮 The best thing though was the relationship between Memnon and Selene: there was tension and anger but also moments of extreme sweetness that made me melt.
✨What I really liked about this reading the fact that starting from the magic system ,going through the places, characters and familiars it all turned out to be very real. Also I found the author's writing prosaic but at the same time modern and extremely engaging. Basically, I can confirm that it was good first chapter and look forward to reading the sequel!

Well. I finished it! I don’t know why it took me so long to get to the end. I did enjoy this read. But I found myself taking breaks and going to other books.

What I vibed with..
I love that Selene has memory loss issues , cause honestly, same. I also loved she found her panther familiar in the jungle, cause I as well found my mini panther in my own jungle. (aka my woods)
I loved Memnon.. most of the time. I liked the warring conflicting emotions of hate to love. Revenge to passion.
I loved the spicy banter.

Things I did not vibe with..
This seems like a very long first book. It’s the start of a series and I feel like it could have been shorter.
I didn’t like how in the dark I felt about everything. I get that Selene is an unreliable narrator with her memory loss, but as the reader I felt like I should have been clued in more to the plot.
The ending. 🙈 What was that? I felt like we were climbing a mountain and then we hit a plateau near the top, and we just set up camp there.. Instead of reaching the peak! We were so close!
I felt like we should have learned more.

I will definitely be continuing the series as I enjoyed the story.

4 ⭐️
1 🌶️

Thanks to Netgalley and Publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am not new to Laura Thalassa's books. I love the four horsemen series and the Rhapsodic series. So when I saw I got approved for this one you know I was beyond excited.

I had a similar experience with Bewitched as I did with Rhapsodic where I was really interested but not super invested till the 40% mark. Not a bad thing, just a feeling like oh this book might end up like an average read for me but once I was really invested it flew by. I liked this world where magic was pretty well widely known, the requirements to get into a coven at the college. This had strong college vibes with the setting but make it witches and without the classes.

I think Selene was an interesting character to read because her magic ate her memories every time she used it. Also Selenes familiar is a freaking panther how awesome is that. I liked this mysterious dark immortal Memnon but I didn't get enough of him, gonna have to wait for book 2 for that but I will read it. Their dynamic is electric and I really can't wait to read more.

My only real issue, and this is purely just personal tastes, but I'm kind of over the whole soul mate being reincarnated trope. Since FBAA (I'm not saying they invented the trope) I'm just seeing it more and more in my romantasy reads and it's starting to feel overdone. Yes I knew going into this with the synopsis that it was going to be in here but I was kind of hoping there was gonna be a more unique take on it.

I did really enjoy this. That last 30% went by so fast and the cliffhanger? Whew, all I gotta say is the next book is on tbr for sure!

When I saw this on Netgalley, I decided to request it for two reasons: a) I recognised the author probably from the 300 screenshots I have from Tiktok book recommendations, and b) the plot sounded like a fun time and I never say no to some spice.

The smut is probably one of, if not the only, reason I got some enjoyment out of reading this. Even though they never got very far, the tension was exceptional. I didn't care about their romance though (if we exclude the smut). I felt like they were making some progress but then Memnon decided to undo all of it. Also, I hate when characters call each other mate as a pet name. The whole time, I read it in an Australian accent and just couldn't take it seriously.

Selene's whole character is based on her not remembering anything, which annoyed me at times since it felt convenient to not have to explain things because "she forgot". She's gullible and (this time on purpose) forgets about things Memnon has done because he's hot.

As for Memnon. I kind of hate his name but that's beside the point. He was a little nonexistent, character-wise. I've read some pretty dark romances, where male characters did abhorrent stuff, so a lot of what Memnon did was pretty basic (that sounds absolutely horrifying), as in it didn't particularly shock me. However, when he almost killed someone because he's possessive, and not in a good way...a little too extra in my opinion.

Apart from that, the ending was kind of annoying, all cliffhangers are, but this one was right in the middle of a climactic scene.

Was this worth the read? Not necessarily. But the spice was exceptional so I don't entirely regret reading this. Would I continue reading this series? I have too much to read, so probably not.