Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher

Published: February 13, 2024
St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Witch Romance
Pages: 331
KKECReads Rating: 4/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

This series only gets better with each installment. I love these characters, their quirks, and their storylines.

This was funny and relatable for anyone who is a bit awkward. The situations these characters find themselves in are delightfully charming.

Chemistry and tension were leaping from the pages, and I liked the slow but intense build-up. I was drawn into the side storylines, and I still think this series has some of the best side characters.

This is a fun read with humor, sass, steam, and a hunky biker. While this book could be read as a standalone, I highly recommend diving into the series. It is well-written and will give much insight into characters and situations.

This was the third book in the Supernatural Singles series. I loved the first two books in the series and was so excited to see that the third book was coming out. I enjoyed the book, but I didn’t love it quite as much as the first two.

By far, my favorite part of this book was Bax. I loved that he was a bad boy guardian angel. He is probably my favorite amongst all of the MMCs in this series. He had a lot of his own drama, but he always put Olive first. They had swoon worthy chemistry.

I definitely recommend checking this series out! Especially if you love fun witchy books with some spice.

i'm a mush,but what I missed, was the actual magic. There were a few instances that we got some of her magic bits, but nothing to speak of and nothing memorable in that area. We did see Bax using his magical talents.

Overall, Not Your Crush’s Cauldron is a sweet, mushy story that is light and enjoyable. Funny and warm.

An enormous thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and of course April Asher for providing me with an eARC of this novel. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

This was adorable. I honestly loved watching Olive try to break out of her comfort zone and help push her students to do the same. I loved the characters and honestly cannot wait to read the others in this series.

I loved watching Olive and Bax’s story play out and loved the character growth on both ends that came from it. This was a fun read with supernatural undertones and I was so here for it.

“Easy-peasy cauldron-breezy.” I loved this whole series!!

- Rom-Com
- Paranormal Romance
- Friends to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Found Family
- Plus Size Rep
- Forbidden Relationship
- Tatted MCs
- Pierced 🍆
- Spice (3/5 🌶️)

Olive is the “youngest” Witch triplet in the trio the series follows is a follow the rules, stay in her comfort zone, book worm.. BUT she’s decided to issues an assignment to her students to do the opposite and in turn has to go against what she knows and do the same. As he develops her “bucket list” (as I’ll call it) she learns more about herself and what truly matters.

Bax the guardian angel in the group, has always been a close friend to Olive and her sisters, but when compilations in Olives living situation arise, he invites her to live with him. The path that action starts was unexpected, to say the least. When her file lands in his lap as his new assignment, he knows he shouldn’t take it, but also can’t trust anyone else to protect her correctly. As he takes on her bucket list with her, their relationship grows into something beautiful.

I loved the way this story played out and as much as I hope we get a certain sucubas Bestfriend’s story, if this is the end of the series, it ended on such a good note.

Hey, just finished Not Your Crush's Caldron and wow, what a ride! It's got everything—romance, witchy things, laughs, and plenty of feels. Seriously, couldn't put it down! Definitely adding April Asher to my must-read list. Can't wait for more!

The Supernatural Singles series, of which this is the third installment, has been consistently inconsistent, but for some reason, I keep reading these books! Not Your Crush's Cauldron is kind of emblematic of the series as a whole: a fun premise, an intriguing world, decent writing, but a frustrating story and iffy moments that bring the whole thing down.

Olive, the youngest of the Maxwell triplets, is content staying within her comfort zone, until some comments from a coworker and a project for her students gives her a nudge in the direction of pushing her boundaries. Meanwhile, her crush/roommate Bax is miserable at his job as a Guardian Angel... until he's assigned to be Olive's guardian. Not that she's aware of this. And he can't tell her, even as they grow closer, and eventually romantically intertwined.

The setup of this story - Olive making a list of new experiences to try and then trying them - was solid, and it was fun to see her drag Bax along. But some of the experiences felt so incredibly random (the dance competition?) that I struggled to see how they added anything to the story. Meanwhile, Bax frustrated the hell out of me. He toggles from considerate to a downright jealous asshole, and Olive just seems to be fine with his behavior. I just wasn't on board with him as a romantic hero after his display at the speed dating event, even though Olive quickly forgave him. From that point forward, I was only half invested in their love story, which is a shame, because the longtime crush/friends-to-lovers dynamic had such potential!

While this book was fun at times, it was extremely frustrating at others, and in the end, my experience reading it was middling at best.

3.25/5

Lets be real. RomCom is not my first choice genre. But I do now and then pick one up. While this was an enjoyable read I wish I had known this was book 3 in a "standalone series". There were many easter egg drops from the previous novels that I would have enjoyed more than I did. It felt like I was missing some pieces of information even if it was not important to the current story.

What I did love, the grumpy/sunshine trope. The plot itself was entertaining and I found myself laughing and rooting for the miscommunication to pass. And the Spice, loved it all.

All in all. I highly recommend reading the series in order, even though its said you can read it as a standalone it could end up being more enjoyable.

⭐ Overall Rating: 4 / 5 stars | 🌶️ Spicy Rating: 2 / 5

📚 Tropes: friends to lovers, roommates, forbidden love, woman in peril

📖 Format: eBook

___________

👱🏻‍♀️FMC: Olive is a classic “cute bookworm” character. She is cute, introverted, wears glasses, and prefers to read over going out. It was fun to watch her learn about herself while branching out and trying new things. However, I liked that the author kept Olive the same person, even after the new experiences. Introversion isn’t something that needs to be “fixed,” so I appreciated Olive staying true to herself.

👨🏻MMC: I’ve never read a book with a guardian angel as a main character, so I was excited to learn more about Bax. I love that he had the appearance of Olive’s foil on the outside, but was actually super compatible with her on the inside. Bax is covered in tattoos and rides a motorcycle, but he has the heart of a private artist. Plus, I can always get behind a MMC with strategic piercings. 😉

⚡CHEMISTRY: The chemistry between Olive and Bax has been lightly simmering in the background of the first two books of the series, so the heat was turned on with these two from page one. They had a wonderful balance of sweet affection, friendship, bickering, and spice.

🏘️ATMOSPHERE: I enjoyed getting to see Violet, Lincoln, Rose, Damien, Harper, and Adrian in the background. Plus, it was fun getting to see Violet finally become Prima! Is it weird to say I’m proud of a fictional character? Probably.

📺PLOT: The plot of this book was a touch disappointing when compared to the plot of the first two books. I still enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite draw me in as much as the first two books of the series. I think it could have benefited from a little more friction. The conflict just didn’t have enough oomph, in my opinion.

👍🏻OVERALL: I didn’t love this one quite as much as I loved the first two books of the series, but this was still a wonderful book! I thoroughly enjoy the paranormal world April Asher created, and I have my fingers crossed for an enemies-to-lovers book between Adrian and Harper!

I hope April has another book in her for this series because I really don't want it to end!!! I love the third installment of this series and the sisters and everyone in it, it's always sexy, funny, cute and just a nice story from beginning to end. I read it very quickly, in like 2 days I think, and I could just NOT put it down it was so good!!
If you start with this book, you can still follow the plot along, but you'd miss some funny and cute moments by not reading the other 2, so if this is the book you started with, just go back and read the previous 2 and you won't regret it!
The grandma Edie plot was a bit weird, and I don't really think it added much to the storyline so found it a bit unnecessary and it was lacking a bit of information/details, but overall I really liked this book.

Note: Thanks NetGalley and publishers for providing an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I love this series. I really loved Olive and seeing her come into her own self. I enjoyed that some of her list was really simple things, that were challenging for her, as sometimes our silly little personal limits are the hardest to fight. The parts where I struggled were more the some of the humor that was aiming for campy landing really awkwardly and not funny.

This was an overall fun and light read but I'd have to say that it was my least favorite in the series.

I liked Olive - she was that brainy, homebody, comfortable in what she knows and it was fun to see her break out of her comfort zones. I also liked that Bax was a black sheep of the angel world and Olive's opposite. They really did balance each other in their personalities.

However, there felt like there was a lack of magic in the plot. Most of the supernatural-ness came from Bax but there was a distinct lack of magic use which felt weird in a witchy rom-com. Also, the plot itself felt a bit flat and I didn't feel super invested in Olive and Bax changing from friends to lovers and they seemed to breeze by that tension as well which didn't feel real to me.

I still would recommend if anyone's looking for a fun witchy romance, but it didn't live up to the first two in the series for me.

3.5/5

Olive assigns a project to her students to get them to step out of their comfort zones. They need to create a list of 10 things out side their comfort zone and complete the items on the list. Olive who literally never steps outside her own comfort zone feels she should do the project along with them.
Bax her guardian angel friend and roommate is on his last wings as guardian due to a few mishaps, and his new assignment is going to test his limits. Is this what he really wants to do? Or can he step away from his family's expectations and do what he really wants as an extremely talented artist.
Bax decides to help Olive with her list, but will it bring them closer together, or will it cost them their friendship? And what is more important, stepping outside your comfort zone, or the person/people you do it with?
I really enjoyed this third book in the supernatural singles collection. It can be read as a standalone. Heads up, it's spicy! 🌶️
4.5 stars

Thank you to Netgally, the publishers, and April Asher

When I requested this book I was unaware that it was apart of a series, one that requires you to read the previous books for this one to make sense. I am unable to read all the previous books along with this one before the publish date. Therefore, I will rate this a fair 3/5 stars and will adjust the rating and review when I am able to read all the books in the series along with this one.

The curvy, bookish, witch, Olive, might be one of my favorite main characters from a romance novel in a long, long time. Thanks you April Asher for writing such a spunky independent character.

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron is book 3 of the Supernatural Singles series, but can definitely be read as a stand alone or out of order (like I’m doing..heh).

I loved this book and the plus size representation in it! I am not usually a paranormal genre reader, but I did enjoy this one! I will look for other books by this author! I will definitely recommend this book.

This was an absolute delight to read!
The world that has been so beautifully built through this series continues perfectly here with Olive and Bax's story.
Their journey is all about stepping out of comfort zones and pushing boundaries, and it had me hooked from the beginning, with some literal laugh out loud moments, too!
I might would have liked a little more drama/deeper conflict in this one, but still a very entertaining read!

When I started this series, I was always wanting to know more about Olive and Baxter and I finally got their story!

Olive is the “ scholarly triplet” of the Maxwell Sisters and although she was more quiet in the other books, she finally got her time to shine. I always had gotten the vibe that her and Baxter “ Bax” had a thing for each other but with him never really being at the group gatherings, you couldn’t tell 100%. But with Olive moving in with Bax, you knew sparks were gonna fly and they did.

I loved the idea of Olive’s Docket Do List and how it not only got her out of her comfort zone but also brought Bax into the fold. As her *duh duh duh* guardian angel and one of the many rules is not to fall in love with your assignment. 😏


So many swoon worthy moments, from the scene in Central Park to the Tattooing Convention. Olive and Bax, or should I say Professor and Wingman, became my favorite couple in the series so far.

I was happy that both Bax and Olive were able to figure out what they really wanted, which for Bax was buying the tatto shop and Olive evolving the SupeEx program into a mentorship program. Definitely suits them both and will make them happier in the end.

I loved the bond the sisters and Harper have supporting each other in their endeavors and being there for each other. The comedic moments in the book ( loved the speed dating scene) made me laugh and honestly I wanna see a book where Harper is the main female character. I hope it happens!

The Maxwell Sisters have been so fun to follow throughout this series and Olive was no different. I could relate to Olive and loved the idea of her doing activities out of her comfort zone. She and Bax were absolutely adorable and they made me giggle out loud with their banter. I was excited to see the continuation of Rose's and Violet's individual stories. The sisters and the friends represent such a great support system and it is so great to read throughout! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher released last week and I’m so happy this cute, steamy, witchy romcom is out in the world! This one checked all the boxes for me and I highly recommend any romance readers out there get this on their tbr!

I’ve adored all 3 books in this series and I really can’t decide on a favorite witch or favorite couple after finishing the last book. They’re all great and the FMC in each new book became my instant #bookbestie every time. Really wish I could find an IRL trio of witchy sisters to hang out with!

I was most unsure about if I’d like sweet, steadfast Olive’s story in the final book but I can now say I loved it! There was something so relatable about Olive’s mission to step outside her comfort zone and experience new things. I really like that we also got to be inside Bax’s brain. I love a dual POV in a romance!

I’m sad to see the Supernatural Singles series come to an end (UNLESS a certain best friend is also getting their own story/novella/anything?!) and I’ll be looking forward to what April writes next as April Asher!