Thank You NetGalley, SourceBooks,and Laura for allowing me to to read the ebook ARC!

OMG! This book has me shook! Laura does it again! I could not put this down. Im so excited to see where this series takes us in the future!

5☆ ● 3🌶
●Slow-Burn
●Mystery
●Unique Magic
●Protective/Pocessive Love
●Soul Mates

I’ve previously read and really enjoyed Laura Thalassa’s Bargainer series, so I was excited to check out her newest work.

I love an unreliable narrator, and having our protagonist suffer memory loss as the cost of her magic was a really interesting concept. The cliffhanger ending had me wondering what would happen in the next book.

That said, most of Bewitched didn’t really grab me. The world felt underdeveloped; there was a contemporary setting, but I didn’t understand the boundaries of the magical world within that setting. I didn’t find the romance believable. We were repeatedly told that one character felt a great deal of inner turmoil and conflict in their feelings toward another character, but I didn’t see it. It merely took a touch or a glimpse of skin to break down their resolve.

As I said before, I’ve enjoyed Laura Thalassa’s other work, so I’ll still look for her future releases. This just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the 1st book of Bewitched series, I always love Laura Thalassa writing style and this book is sooo good!!! Selene try to get into Henbane Coven because of her memory lost she got reject from previous attempt. This time she insist to get acceptance and then The coven get her two quest. If Selena finish this quest she will get accept into Henbane Coven. This quest bringing Selena discover Memnon and uncover the problem of her memory lost also another secret who she is really.

Beginning of the book, i already feel live among the witch. The detail!! I wonder why Selene insist to get into Henbane maybe the coven have answer about Memnon? Cure or anything? I really jealous of the love between Memnon and Selene, the bond between them so strong and they able to comunicate through mind.

"...Whatever you want, you shall have. I am yours forever."

Give me next book!!! OMG!!!

Thank you to NetGalley for provide this book, it is pleasure to review this book.

#Bewitched #LauraThalassa #Sourcebooks #BloomBooks #NetGalley #ARC

I am very thankful to have been given an eARC copy and my review will be 100% honest

I seriously couldn’t put this book down, reading practically start to finish in one day. Her price for magic being her memories was unique and well done, it did get a bit hectic towards the end, but so was her magic use.

The positives. I LOVE SELENE! I resonate with her so much, the way she thinks is so similar to mine it’s crazy. I highlighted so many quotes of things that I say in real life. The “Wham, bam, thank you ma’am” and the whole “high-five drunk Selene…but also, what the fuck, drunk Selene” This is one of the most realistic characters I’ve read in recent modern fantasy, and I will always keep her in my heart as a character that I relate with so much.

I also would loooove to see how Nero would react to catnip, idk if it works on big cats but I feel like it would be very funny. I feel like the binding they tried to do to Cara (i hope thats right) and Kasey being like lowkey evil af was brushed off, just kinda like "Oh yeah I have not seen her in days, it would be awkward to run into her" like why didn't you go to the magic police? Maybe since she was scared of being suspected even more, but that was not brought up

I was not a fan of the ending, I think having Memnon be the bad guy is just kinda obvious in a not fun way, would have loved for there to be a better enemy then him. I think her plan for revenge to be like “I’m gonna dress up hot and dance with some guys to get back at him for burning all my memories” was so shallow, I felt like the burning of the journals didn’t affect her emotionally as much as they should have.

Some nitpicky things I didn't enjoy was the tiktok lingo. “It’s my toxic trait not to give up” and “I'll manifest the shit out of this” will date this book. If anyone reads this book a year after publication, it’ll make the book feel older and some might find it cringe. Pop culture is usually a risk to have in books due to this. Also, he uses “what game are you playing” SO MUCH, it’s a bit repetitive. And where did he even get $5000 from?? Hes been asleep for centuries, how does he know how to use a bank app to transfer money??

Also, the use of the figurative language “I go through them like potato chips” in reference to her memory journals is a little weird to me. Like what does that even mean? Does she like potato chips and constantly consumes her journals? Also the magic is colors, and it states that “no two hues are exactly alike” which is difficult to imagine because with how many people have magic, its hard to believe that each color is unique enough to not look like others. Two hues can be different but look alike.

I rated this 4.5 stars :)

This was a really good book! I've been loving books about witches lately, so I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this, but I didn't think I would like it this much. I wasn't a fan of Rhapsodic, one of Laura Thalassa's other books, so I was a liiiiittle bit wary about this, so I was definitely pleasantly surprised!

To start off, I thought the fact that the characters have a very extensive backstory together was a really interesting idea for a story. I haven't read a ton of books like this, and I really liked it! Selene was a pretty good protagonist, and I liked the casual narrator voice (it felt a lot like talking to someone when we were in her head, rather than reading a book). Selene's magic (and memory) were interesting as well, and I thought that the magic system and the rhymes for spells were really well done (rhyming is definitely a talent I don't have, so I had a great time reading all of those little. spells lol). On to Memnon - he was definitely there. I can't say I loooooved him (in fact he was a bit of an AH for like, half of the book), but he wasn't the worst. Overall, he was mid, but I'm sure after THAT ending things will get so much better in the next book (and considering where we are right now, the next one is set up to be fabulous, I can't wait for it)!

The plot was super fast-paced, which was great as well! The action picked up right at the beginning of the book (within the first two-three chapters) and it didn't stop after that - I couldn't put it down! Overall, I would definitely recommend this book, even if you didn't like Rhapsodic! If you liked Laura Thalassa's other books, then you'll probably like this one as well :)

Laura Thalassa creates worlds that are so easy to fall in to!

Immediately we meet Selene, a witch who can't use her magic because it eats her memories. Imagine being a witch and not being able to practice as much as you want because it makes you forget things! Selene gets super drunk one night and buys a plane ticket to the Galapagos Islands. She crash lands and follows her magic to not only find her familiar, but a man in a sarcophagus! Obviously she wakes him and then absolute chaos ensues.

Laura edged us through this entire book and we were not mad about it. Memnon might be bad but he is hot bad, that's for sure! We can't wait for this release and the follow up to see what comes next!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing us with an ARC in exchange for honest review.

3.5 stars. I love reincarnation stories but the execution usually falls flat in books. Bewitched took me by surprise, it’s the best execution of the reincarnation trope I’ve seen so far! The key to it was probably Selene losing her memories every time she used her magic and Memnon saying from the very start that he thinks she’s his wife who cursed him. Instead of the usual confusion of mixing past and present memories, the confusion in this was Selene couldn’t hold any memories, it hit that sweet spot of knowing as a reader you’re missing memories but instead of it hindering the story it makes you want to know more. I absolutely loved reading how Selene organized herself so that she could keep living her life with her memory loss. She’s a very easy to love character.

An issue I had with this book was Selene basically has meaningful interactions with Memnon and Nero, however her memory loss compensated for that since she could have been having other interactions, her memory just didn’t retain them. However, this issue will be harder to explain away as the series goes on so I hope her relationship with other people in her life get fleshed out. I love her relationship with Nero, it really gave me life. He was such a protective familiar and a drama queen. Memnon was absolutely unhinged, but we got just enough context that it didn’t off put me. It just made him more intriguing.

Bewitched is definitely an introduction book and the rest of the series has a lot of ground to cover but I’m excited to see where it goes!

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books and Netgalley for the eARC.

While I was thrilled to be starting a new series by Laura Thalassa, there are a few things that don't ring true in this first installment for me. But let's start with the positive!

Memon the cursed. Yes, this hero has many of the staple aspects of this author's heroes that I love. Possessive, bossy, powerful, yet he can't help but be drawn to Selene. I liked him right from the beginning, even if he does almost take down a whole plane of innocent people! Who cares, right?

Also, Nero.. I won't say who he is, but I did a little happy dance when this epic character was introduced. He made my heart very happy. He did seem to disappear and reappear whenever it was convenient and I'm not sure how he completely lives up to his job description, but I digress. He was awesome.

The cost of magic. This one kind of sits on both sides of the line, but I am a huge believer that magic should have a cost and the way this world seems to account for that seems pretty cool!

Okay, now some things that irked me...

I believe this is supposed to be a trilogy and this first installment suffers greatly for it, in my opinion. Revelations and information that we receive are so painfully drawn as to be super obvious by the time we get to it. Case in point, one of the main reveals at the end... I guessed as soon as the aspect was introduced and it was hinted at so HARD throughout the story as to be a a giant red flag waving in our faces by the time our character acknowledges it. (I'm not saying I'm a genius, I'm saying it's that obvious.)

Also, the repetitive nature of the arguments between Memnon and Selene were... frustrating. I don't know if this has to do with Selene's magic "cost" which causes her to forget certain things but... these two have the same argument no less than 7 times.. I was counting by the end. I was pulling my damn hair out.

So... yeah, that's enough rambling.. there were cool aspects: familiar's, magic school, curses... but it was also unfortunate that we found out SO little about what's going on and we have 2 more books to go. I just don't think the pacing did the story a service.

But to wrap this up, I will still continue and I hope the revelations about Memnon and what Selene discovers will be impressive enough to win me over by the end. I am desperate to love some more books by this author.

3.5 stars (rounded up to a 4)
1.5 on the spice scale

Thank you to Bloom Books for a gift of this book. All opinions are my own.

Book Name: Bewitched
Author: Laura Thalassa

ARC

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Bloom Books, ****and NetGalley for the ARC of Bewitched the first book in a new series by Laura Thalassa

Stars: 5
Spice 3

First Book in New Series
Set in The Bargainer World

Cliffhanger:
Fast Paced
Plot Centric
Single FMC POV
Urban Fantasy Romance with High Fantasy Elements
Equal parts the Mummy + Practice Magic add Te Darkling from the Grisha series by Leigh Bardugo and Bagheera from the Jungle book

- Topics
- Memories & Legacy
- Identity
- Love Loss & Revenge
- To be loved by the villan
- Tropes
- Over Protective
- Fated Mates
- Lost Love
- Secrets
- Who Hurt You
- Alpha/Primal MMC
- Thoughts.
- SOOO GOOD
- Best modern low (ish) fantasy world written
- So many twists
- Toxic love and fated mates with a villain was so good.
- Can’t wait for book 2
BEST BOOK OF 2023

I was absolutely not ready for that book to be over! What a unique and captivating adventure! My heart ached for Selene and my raced for finding out the truth. This book is full of action, mystery, adventure and heart pounding moments. The mixture of past, present and fleeting memories makes for a entrancing text and I cannot wait to find out what is next!

*** A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance copy for a fair and honest review ***

This was so good I highly enjoyed it and it kept me extremely entertained. I think that this was a great book!
I just reviewed Bewitched by Laura Thalassa. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for the eARC of Bewitched in exchange for my honest review!

This felt a little like The Mummy, Underworld, and Memento wrapped into one book. I found the entire premise to be extremely intriguing. A young witch, Selene, has great magic but it comes with the price of her memories each time she uses it. She awakens a powerful sorcerer who claims to be her husband and it goes off the rails (in the best way) from there.

This book is dark, steamy, and has a really intriguing mystery set up. I found myself continuing on in hopes of understanding everything that was going on, but since it is the first in a series, I will have to deal with the MASSIVE cliffhanger at the end. I’m really excited to see where things go next from here!

I’m definitely going to dive into Thalassa’s backlog now.

When I started this book I was a little leery for the first chapter or so. I was beginning to worry this would be a "high school/ magic school romance" style book. But I kept going and I'm glad I did. the pace picked up and suddenly we have our memory defective witch struggling against a rather bad man set on vengeance who she feels very attracted too for no rhyme or reason to her. He also is attracted to her. And to cause even more problems someone is taking out witches around her covenstead. Of course she keeps getting blamed because she can't remember what sandwich she had yesterday much less wandering into a crime scene. I feel for her because I have an "invisible" disability too and deal with disbelief all the time. Frankly this was a very fun book, great banter, spicy romantic situations and fun. If you like the enemies to lovers style romance with your urban fantasy then this will be your cup of tea. I received a free copy thanks to netgalley and the author and publisher.

I really really really wanted to love this and it started off good, but it slowly went into the ridiculous. I’m so bummed bc I usually love Laura Thalassa’s books

Between 2015 and 2016 Laura Thalassa published a trilogy called Fallen World (The Queen of all that Dies, The Queen of Traitors, The Queen of all that Lives) which I bought and read. It was very well written as she is a very good writer and I enjoyed it. When I started reading Bewitched I was surprised to find that, even though the characters lived in a different world and had different names, the MMC and the FMC were basically the same people as in the previous trilogy. The same character traits, the same type of interaction between them. It was basically the same story recycled into a different time frame and world.
I'm disappointed to see that such a talented writer is not creating new characters and just recycling the same ones over again. I won't bother reading the rest of this series as I feel I already read the basic outline of where it goes.

I am heartbroken that this story won’t be finished until the next volume(s) in the series are published. Thalassa has created a compelling and engaging world for her witch. The opening chapters were amazing and lock you into the story quickly. After the roaring start, the story moves more slowly, but by the end there are some mysteries set up for the remaining book(s). I hope it’s one, but fear I’ll be waiting for more than one book. Selene is an interesting character with a ton of depth and Memnon is an instant Thalassa classic—she writes great bad boys.

I won’t spoil the story by giving much plot, because readers deserve to experience a Thalassa story fresh and spoiler free. Don’t go looking for spoilers, just read. Basically, this book is the story of a young witch. She has a unique situation, which is a major part of the story, and she is looking for a spot in a witches’ university of sorts. This book covers her quest to get into the school and the start of her time there.

Trigger alert (because I know this triggers some readers)— this book ends on a cliffhanger and is the start of a new series. I couldn’t be disciplined enough to hold out on a new Thalassa book just because the series isn’t finished, but maybe you are. If you’re like me, though, you’ve been counting the days until this book come out. You’ll be counting after you read this too, waiting for the next book.

This book contains violent and sexual situations. It is not clean or “nice” so please don’t read it if that’s your preference. If you’ve read other Thalassa books, this one won’t disappoint.

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Bloom Books for the ARC.

Well, The Bargainer is one of my favorite fantasy romance and I absolutely love everything Laura Thalassa writes, so when she announced a new book and I had the opportunity to read it I was beyond excited to start!

In Bewitched we follow the journey of Selene, a 20-year-old witch who is trying to be accepted into Henbane Coven, an academy for witches.
But then she awakes Memnon, an ancient sorcerer, and guess what? He thinks Selena is Roxi, his wife and the one who cursed him... and now he wants revenge.

To be honest, witches have never been my jam. I've always liked other creatures, like faes. But this book has a premise that intrigued me: Selena is indeed a witch with powers, but they come with a punishment, every time she uses her power, a piece of her memory is erased. I mean… HOW SAD IS THAT?

But my girl Selena is a strong character, she doesn't lower her head and does not accept no as an answer. I really liked her and found myself rooting for her on every page.

And then we have Memnon. I was already looking forward to meeting him since the prologue, but by the time he actually came on the scene, I was already completely hooked. He's not your typical hero, he's more like an anti-hero or anti-villain. He's powerful and seems to have a dark past and slowly we get to see some of his several layers.
But what attracted me to him was the fact that Memnon wants revenge for the curse his wife cast on him, but at the same time, he is completely in love with her and lives a battle with his own feelings.
I loved hating him. And then I hated to love him. But he was def growing in me.

And my poor girl Selene has to put up with him chasing her and not accepting the fact that she's just a 20-year-old witch and not his treacherous wife from millennia ago.

I have to say, I read Bewitched in one day, I couldn't stop turning the pages. I wanted to find out what Memnon hid, why he thought Selena was his wife, and if she really was Roxi, how did she get into the future? And what did Memnon do to get cursed?

And then I got to the last chapter... THAT ENDING.

In Bewitched you’ll find:
♡ same universe as Bargainer
♡ enemies to lovers
♡ possessive anti-hero
♡ “who did that to you?”
♡ steamy scenes
♡ and here's an honorable mention to Nero: the most grumpy and cute pet you'll ever know


I need book two right now! I need to know what happens between Memnon and Selene!!!

Thank you to Bloom Books, Laura Thalassa and NetGalley to providing me with an E-ARC of "Bewitched" in exchange for an honest review.
This review is for Laura Thalassa’s newest book Bewitched. Bewitched gives us the beginning of the story between Selene and Memnon the Cursed. Selene is a witch whose use of magic eats her memories. She embarks on a magic quest, which will allow her entry into the witch school she desperately wants to attend. The story begins with a plane crash and Selene freeing Memnon from the tomb that cages him. Memnon is positive Selene is his long-lost wife, Roxilana, whom he both loves and wants to wreak revenge on. The book started off strong for me and then about a third of the way in became a tough read. The writing seemed directed at a young teenage audience and the heroine became a victim. Not an appealing theme for me. I found myself skimming to get to the end. I believe some will enjoy this book. It wasn’t for me.

Magic is your life. So what do you do if the cost of using it is your memories? You become the best post-it planner and do all you can to join a coven. This until you release a barbarian king from slumber that calls you his queen 😯

~ NA or adult paranormal dark academia 😏 with witches, changelings and barbarians! (I'm a barbarian girl, what can I do?)

~ The tension and the promise this barbarian gives! Damn!

~ In this book we learn who Selene truly is. This when facing hardships, betrayal and life threatening situations. You will see, not be told. Her humor and endurance will make you laugh or worried 😟
Selene's familiar is basically my favorite wild animal and his temper! 🥰
Our barbarian, Memnon, is a war king and a powerful sorcerer resolute to get revenge on his queen. Is he a villain or a morally-gray? This is Laura Thalassa, so be prepared for both 😏

~ Not doing magic is out of the question. So, Selene does everything she can to get accepted into Henbane coven, to belong and to feel its protection. This because the use of magic comes with a heavy cost: her memories.

~ Welcome back to the Bargainer world!

I'd like to thank Netgalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for a honest review!

This book stayed true to its title because I, too, was bewitched by it! I used it rave about The Bargainer series - which, by the way, is amazing so please go read it -, so I was super excited to read this one as well!

The story is written in true Laura Thalassa style, it's enchanting, dark and intriguing. The female lead is Selene, a 20 year old girl desperately wanting to join her dream coven, however one aspect of her magic makes it harder for her to enroll. She unfortunately loses some of her memories whenever she uses it.

I loved the magic system in this story and immediately took note of her memory loss - it's a Laura Thalassa book I'm not about to overlook a single detail 😅 -, and how Selene doesn't let the memory loss stop her from trying. She's resilient, stand up for herself, and doesn't easily give up, although let's be honest her being all Indiana Jones opening a sarcophagus doesn't scream "self preservation at its finest" but a girl's gotta learn from her mistakes. Well... Really, though, was it a mistake?

Memnon my guy, the manwhore you are (affectionate). Memnon is problematic 😂 I'll be the first one to admit that, but there's more to him for sure - I've learned things from The Bargainer, see? - and you just can't help but be intrigued.

The story goes down the route of soulmates and possessiveness, all dark romance, but Thalassa is one of those authors who can just do it *right*.