This is a favorite author of mine. The writing is great and the premise is interesting, however it did not suck me in. Resulting in a DNF. It’s no fault of the book. I really like the idea behind it, however I struggled.

I put off reviewing over and over because I wanted to finish first but unfortunately I don’t know that I will finish it at this point. I will give it a second go once the next book is available.

Thank you NetGalley and Lavabrook Publishing, LLC for the eARC. It is always appreciated.

I love everything Laura writes. I think she's one of my favourite writing styles. I loved Bargainer and The Four Horsemen, however I did struggle at the begging of this book as it is too slow pace and I felt I was reading and nothing was happening.

Didn't like our fmc that much either. But that's because I'm in the mood for badass independent fmc.

Liked the plot idea and I hope it gets more development in the next book.

For the MMC, he's the typical hot possessive man with "touch her and you die" vibes.

Curious about the next book, but this wasn't my favourite from Laura

I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. This made me feel a lot of things. It is not often I read books where magic comes at a cost like this one. I could not imagine using one's abilities and the cost is the user's memories. I like the character Selene and her struggles. Even after finishing the book I am not sure how I feel about Memnon. I guess I will have to wait for the other novels and novellas to make the choice.

This was a fun read overall! Laura Thalassa has such a distinctive style of storytelling, and this fell right in line with the vibe of other fantasy romance books she's written. If you liked the Four Horsemen series, chances are good you will enjoy this new one, as well.

The book centers around Selene, a witch with mysterious magic and a unique problem: her magic consumes her memories. As a result, she moves through life in a very Memento-esque way, relying on pictures, detailed notes and descriptive reminders to keep her on track in life. No one exactly knows why this has happened to Selene, but she has a positive attitude about it and an abundance of coping mechanisms. All she wants is entry into Henbane Coven, a prestigious academy for witches, but her entrance exam requires her to embark on a quest. Selene books travel to South America in order to fulfill this requirement, and through a series of unfortunate and/or uncanny events, she unwittingly wakes the evil Memnon the Cursed. And wouldn't you know it, Selene looks just like the wife who cursed him! As you might imagine, he has all sorts of big feelings about this.

When Selene returns home, she successfully joins Henbane Academy and settles in, happy she's finally found a place for herself. Unfortunately, a series of murders seems to follow her, as does the now-free Memnon, who is as powerful as he is obsessive. Laura Thalassa really likes to lean into the villainy of her love interests, and Memnon is certainly no different. I spent a lot of my reading time wondering to myself, "Am I attracted to this? No. Am I...?"

This book really kept me wondering where the story was going, and I suppose that would be my chief complaint. By the end of the book, I didn't feel like the story had made enough headway or produced enough answers for me to feel truly satisfied with the journey. It was definitely a great setup for a lengthier series, however. I'm interested to see where the story will go, and how Selene and Memnon's relationship will play out! At this point, the possibilities are boundless.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the DRC!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book for an honest review.

This is my first Laura Thalassa book, at some point I like her writing, but i'm not sure if it's the formatting of the book or what, I was struggling to get through this book...

Nonetheless, I enjoyed the storyline and I would continue to try her books out!

I enjoyed this book and I could not put it down. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing was really well done. It made you want to keep reading.

I wasn't sure what to expect here. This was my first book by Laura, and it certainly won't be my last. Lots of witchy goodness! Selene's magic has a cost. Each time she uses it, she loses a memory. She keeps journals to remind her of what's going on in her life and important things. But then she ends up setting Memnon free and her life goes haywire. Some serious hate to love romance keeps you wondering throughout the entire book whether they're actually mated or total enemies. Can't wait to see where the story goes from here!

Lets start what really stood out for me in this book which was the magic and the world. The world building wasn't hard to follow and the magic system was interesting. It was cool to see there were almost consequences to using magic and that everything comes at a price. Our main character Selene would lose her memory every time she would use her magic and how much she lost was dependent on how much magic she used. I liked following Selene with her journey on trying to get into a coven and exploring her magic. The rest of the book kind of dragged for me though including the supposed love interest Memnon. He didn't have many good qualities and annoyed me half the time. I preferred Kane as a love interest but maybe thats just me. Seeing as this is a fantasy romance, I need to be invested in the romance and I just wasn't with this one. I will say I enjoyed Selene and her familiar and I will read the next book cause the ending got me hooked.

“You thought you could curse me? I will make you pay for what you have done for the rest of our days.” ✨🖤

Selene Bowers has a very unique cost to using her magic. Whenever she uses it pieces of her memories are devoured. She’s managed to get by just fine by writing meticulous notes for herself. She’s dreamed of being accepted to the Henbane Coven and it’s that end she sets off on a magical quest as part of the entry requirements. However, after a brush with dark magic causes her plane to crash land, she finds herself drawn to some strange ruins. There she unknowingly opens the sarcophagus holding Memnon the Cursed. Now freed, he will do whatever it takes to exact his revenge on the one who put him there, his wife Roxilana, who he believes to be Selene.

I read this book in a day. It had me hooked from the start and I just could not put it down. I love Laura Thalassa and her style of writing. This book had a very intriguing plot with mysterious murders, a wrathful (yet sexy) ancient sorcerer and a witch who cannot remember all of her past. The plot was paced so well and the story was just extremely gripping!

Selene is such a great character. She’s kind, hardworking and has truly made the most of her magical disability. She has devised a clever system to help ensure her memories stay with her in some capacity and she works hard to achieve her goals. She may get a bit doe eyed at Memnon during certain scenes but I think we can give her a pass. Memnon for his part is complex and an ass. He’s the epitome of ‘oh no he’s hot’. He’s extremely powerful and is very much in love with Selene (who he believes to be Roxilana). His love is obsessive which doesn’t mesh well with Selene, though.

The tension between these two is off the charts. And I won’t lie, I was waffling on whether I wanted them to be lovers or not. I’m still conflicted! This book was amazing with the will they/won’t they trope!!

I could wax rhapsodic (see what I did there) about this book for hours but let me just leave it at this - this book was amazing. Highly recommend!!

(Also, it has some Reylo vibes to it so if anyone out there likes a good Reylo dynamic then you’ll likely enjoy this book!)

Reading this felt like coming back to something familiar, it just felt so right to be reading a new Laura Thalassa book! Selene honestly is so relatable, she’s a girl after my own heart! I think the way her magic works is so interesting and something I hadn’t seen before. She’s also the funniest, some of the things she says had me laughing so hard and made me just love her even more. This book had me so intrigued with every page and I could not stop reading it and the ending left me screaming! Make sure you check Bewitched out because it’s definitely one you don’t want to miss, you also need to read more of Laura Thalassa’s books if you haven’t already! I’m so completely enchanted by this story and I cannot wait for book two!

Oh, my goodness... an absolute thumbs up! Let me just express how much I adore Laura Thalassa – anything penned by her is an auto buy! I have an insatiable craving for genuinely wicked characters, those irredeemably steeped in darkness, and Laura absolutely delivers on this craving. Selene and Memnon have captured my heart instantly! The sparks, the loathing, the fury... it's all so perfectly executed. The anticipation for the upcoming book is practically unbearable!

Rating: 3,5 stars.

I have to start this review with what I loved the most: the world-building and the magic! Selene suffers memory loss every time she uses her magic. The amount of memories she loses depends on how strong the magic she uses is. This means that every time she wants to use her magic, she has to consider whether it will be worth losing some of her memories. This made for a very interesting twist on a story about a witch trying to get into a coven where she might study magic. I have also always enjoyed reading about witches and other supernatural creatures, which means that I enjoyed this a whole lot, what with there being werewolves around the school area as well!

I also really loved the plot of the story. The suspense around witches at campus suddenly dying and this perhaps ancient evil Selene has awoken made for a fast-paced story! There’s also other intriguing things to learn as we read, but I won’t mention any spoilers. The cast of characters could have been a little wider in my opinion, but Selene’s best friend almost makes up for it by being such a wonderful side character to have!

The thing that dragged this book down a bit for me was the anti-hero himself: Memnon. At first I loved him and the mystery surrounding him. But as the story progressed he kept doing horrible things, which I can excuse up to a point because I love villains and anti-heroes. Sadly he crossed the line in my mind and did something unforgivable, to the extent that I now hate the fact that there’s a romantic subplot between him and Selene. Which doesn’t bode too well for a fantasy romance. I don’t know yet if I’ll continue with the series. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. But, I have seen lots of other reviews where people love Memnon and where they don’t think he crossed any lines, so it’s definitely up to interpretation! You might not hit the same wall as me.

If you love fantasy romances, witchy stories, ancient evils, and anti-heroes, I’d definitely recommend checking this one out!

Oh, my goodness... an absolute thumbs up! Let me just express how much I adore Laura Thalassa – anything penned by her is an auto buy! I have an insatiable craving for genuinely wicked characters, those irredeemably steeped in darkness, and Laura absolutely delivers on this craving. Selene and Memnon have captured my heart instantly! The sparks, the loathing, the fury... it's all so perfectly executed. The anticipation for the upcoming book is practically unbearable!

I am a huge fan of Laura Thalassa so I was so excited to receive a review copy of Bewitched! My thanks to Netgalley and Bloom Books for the opportunity.

This book SUCKED ME IN and I read it in one sitting. Set in the same world as Thalassa's Bargainer series, Bewitched centers around main character and witch Selene Bowers trying to get membership into a coven, which feels kind of like a sorority house in college. While on a magical quest (a requirement for coven membership), Selene is magically led to a tomb deep in the Peruvian jungle where she awakens a cursed (and very, very hot) ancient sorcerer named Memnon. Who, by the by, is convinced that Selene is his long lost wife and the woman responsible for trapping him in a sarcophagus for 2000 years. Chaos ensues.

I loved the magic system in this book, and the magical university setting. There was murder, werewolves, soulmate bonds, memory loss and sexual tension for daaaays.

But what I really love about Laura Thalassa is her ability and commitment to crafting male leads who's only redeeming quality (at least initially) is their undying devotion to their lady loves. Don't get me wrong, Memnon is sexy and powerful and a great character, but this man is not morally grey, he's morally charcoal/onyx. It becomes clear that Memnon *definitely* deserved to be trapped for thousands of years. But $10 says we're all in love with him anyways by the end of the series (if we aren't already). I also trust that Laura's female leads won't be kowtowed to their alpha dominant partners. They are always equally as kickass and make sure the men meet their high standards.

Suffice to say, I am impatiently waiting for the next book in the series.

SUCH AN AMAZING START TO A NEW WORLD.
I am a new Laura Thalassa fan but now I am a die hard fan! I need ALL THE BOOKS.

WOW... just wow. All I can say is I LOVE Laura Thalassa and anything this women writes will be consumed by me immediately! I go feral for a truly bad characters, Not one that is redeemed but is evil to his core and Laura does not disappoint on that front. I'm in love with Selene and Memnon instantly!!! The chemistry the hate the anger and rage... chef kiss. Can not wait for the next book!

I loved this book. It immediately sucks you in and you want to know what’s going on. The spice is great. Can’t wait until the next book in this series comes out!

I have always loved Laura Thalassa's books and this book was definitely a fun and interesting storyline that I enjoyed reading. I absolutely loved the world building that she did in this book, the the whole concept was really cool! The relationship between the FMC and MMC did feel a little forced at some points which was unexpected. I knew this book was going to end on a cliffhanger but the whole last 20% of the book felt a little rushed to me to make that cliffhanger happen. Other than that, I did enjoy this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Laura Thalassa for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Was drawn to it bythe blurb of this book so I requested it. Loved it alot. Couldn't put it down at all. 5 star book. Highly recommend this book

Laura Thalassa has done it again! She is one of my favorite authors and this book does not disappoint.

Somehow she made me love the bad guy which never happens. I can’t wait for the next one.