As with this first two books in this series, I really enjoyed this book! I loved that Olive and Bax were able to show each other another side of themselves to each other. Their story might be my favorite so far. I can’t wait to see what April Asher writes next!

Book 3 of the Maxwell sisters. It's always a fun time til escape back to the world of supernatural
Friends and love. Bax was aloof in previous books and we have seen some serious character development and o love that Olive was given the spotlight after being overshadowed by her sisters. Like the previous books it's cheesy and spicy. It's just so fun. I'm glad I was entrusted with this book. It definitely made me a happy lil clam

Olivia Maxwell is a straight laced witch, a college professor that would rather see her students have fun than do it herself. But when she decides to start living on the wild side, her long time crush ends up becoming her guardian angel, and things get interesting. A witty, fun novel of supernatural love, I devoured this one. It was a great palette cleanser from all the horror and thrillers I have been reading. I loved the characters, the supernatural world, and just the fun of it all!

Thank you to NetGalley and Griffin for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

The first two books in this series were pretty average to me. I think I have them both 3 stars. I wanted to read the third book in the series because I felt like I knew the characters well enough and cared to see the outcome. I'm so glad that I did because this was the best one yet.

April Asher writes a great plot! I enjoy that her stories have both characters point of views so you're never left guessing how they feel about each other. Her concepts are unique and this one is no exception. A guardian angel on probation getting assigned to his roommate that he also already loves? First I've ever seen of it.

If you've stomached and leaned into the interesting immature quirkiness of the characters in the first two books, then you'll have no trouble with this one. I can't understand how a smutty book can also have fake swears and "make it stop" when she sees people kiss. Whatever.

It was so nice to see updates on Violet and Rose, the sisters of the first two books focus.

Overall this is another good witchy read that I enjoyed even in the spring months. I think this is the best in the series and I found myself wondering how they would get their happily ever after until about 75% of the way through and I really enjoyed how April decided it! These are standalone books in a series, but I would absolutely recommend reading them in order.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF.

I couldn't get into this one - I couldn't get oriented into the world and the characters. The cover is adorable and I had high hopes but ultimately I was having too hard a time picking it up and couldn't finish. Might try others by this author though.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, Dreamscape Media for the eARC & ALC of this beautiful book.



Available Now—released February 13th.



Not Your Crush’s Cauldron

by April Asher



Narrated by Zura Johnson



Story Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.5/5

Narration: 🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧 (0-5)

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ 4.75/5

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥 (0-5)



What I’m Starry-Eyed Over:

🤩 Friends (and secret crush) to roommates to lovers.

🤩 3rd person dual POV works with one narrator, but I like that we still get both MCs thoughts and feelings. Her voice is so entertaining and beautiful.

🤩 Beautiful (double) secret pining, fantastic flirting and forced proximity.

🤩 Baxter Donovan is the Guardian Angel with full-sleeve tattoos, a messy man-bun, piercings, and a motorcycle!

🤩 Olive is a college professor in Supernatural Studies, and she has a list she needs help with, her Dare I Docket.

🤩 These two are hot and the guardian angel plot is fun.

🤩 When Bax walks in on Olive opening (and trying to control) the special housewarming gift from her sister—Tentacle Teaser 2000. Laugh-out-loud funny!

🤩 How Bax calls Olive angel even though he’s the angel.

🤩 How Olive calls Bax wingman.

🤩 The cloaking spell, in her office! 🙌🏻



What I’m Wishing/Dizzy About:

💫 I definitely need to go back and read the first two stories in the Supernatural Singles series.

💫 I wonder if Harper’s getting a story? Or will it stay a series of three with the witch triplets?

💫 The ending and HEA are sweet, but I wish there was some steam after their time apart.

Curvy witch romance? GIMMIE! Not as much depth into the magic aspect of things, but still a good read. I understand this was about Olive finding herself and embracing risks in her life, but it felt more like a woman empowering novel with romance as a sideline.

I had to put this on to the side so many times. I really liked these characters, Bax and Olive. They were a cute witchy rom com moments. But what I always got held up on is the writing style. Maybe Asher just isn’t for me. But the flow seemed to be missing the mark a bit for me. It was a cute romance, and that is what kept me going, but I don’t think I would add it to my “you have to read this” list.

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