I really liked the premise of the story! It was fun, lighthearted, and I felt like it flowed really well. I also enjoyed the magic system and the inner workings of the covens, and other supernatural parties, as well as how they connected with other non-magic folk.

I do think the characters fell a little flat for me. I just wish they had been fleshed out a little more, and that there was just a tad bit more angst between everyone (lol).

I’d recommend to someone looking for a fun and light read!

This is a lighthearted and fun "witchy" read. I enjoyed the world building, especially learning about the town of Foxford. The characters are quirky and lovable. I really enjoyed the slow burn between Lucy and Benedict. They have witty banter with my favorites tropes -enemies to lovers/slow burn-and some good laughs in between!

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Looking for a spellbinding romance ? Well this certainly ticks the box as the couple find themselves under a spell that definitely goes awry ! The couple are kind of forced into an arranged marriage but our heroines family want to"help" and that's the kicker dear reader because their magic gets mixed up and the race is on to correct it before their coven or the dreaded Order find out !
This was a fun and actually sweet story. The couple have never got along and have for years played pranks on each other and very quickly the reader knows that Benedict is really rather smitten by his rival Lucy. I enjoyed the small town vibes and the supporting characters added to the fun. Plus Lucy works in a library so what more could this old bibliophile ask for ?
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I very much enjoyed this book. I’m giving it a 4.5 stars. I did wish there was a little more conflict in the novel. Maybe not such a simple fix to there major issue as well. But I enjoyed the characters and how they developed. It was a unique way of putting the three major fantasy characters together. Making a sanctuary town was really a great take for a book. I couldn’t give a five star just because I personally think a little more conflict would have been fun and there was a few typos. Not a lot of them so it does pull away from the story but there was a handful or two spread throughout the book. All in all a really good book and I enjoyed it!

This is for the girlies that start decorating for Halloween right after the Fourth of July 🔮🧙🏻‍♀️
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This book was SO. FUN. Omg. I’m not typically a contemporary romance reader, most of what I read skews to the darker side. However, the Halloween setting and witchy vibes drew me in and I’m so happy I requested this one.

Lucinda and Benedict are both witches living in the magical town of Foxford. Since they were little, they’ve been at each others throats, constantly competing and pranking one another. However, when they’re suddenly forced to bind themselves to one another or risk being cast out of town, their creative methods of getting out of it ultimately lead them even closer.

This story has something for everyone. Enemies to friends to lovers, a Halloween setting, paranormal romance, and a magical small town. The world building and magical elements are well done and easy to follow. The romance builds gradually and you really see their relationship come together in a believable, heartfelt way. Overall, I’m very excited to see what comes next in the Village of Foxford!

I loved every second of this book and I cannot wait for its official release later this month!

Thank you to @netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the eARC!

#potionsandproposals #arcreview

Potions and Proposals was my first Kate Callaghan read and I can officially say that I am a big fan of her writing!

I felt so immersed in the world she has created and built strong connections to all of the characters. Even the characters that don't play much of a role in the story itself, which is something that many authors fail to do.

I rated Potions and Proposals 3.5 Stars, as it was the perfect cosy fantasy read. Those of you that enjoy tension will love this book as it really draws out the inevitable love between the two main characters Benedict and Lucinda. There is the perfect amount of emotional and physical connection between the two of them that builds over the course of the story. It really makes you feel invested in them both as individuals and as a couple.

When I reached the end of the book I found myself wishing that a bit more would've happen. At stages it felt like it was building up for other things to happen but then they just weren't mentioned again. Maybe that was done as a way to set up some of the plot for the next book? I guess I'll have to wait and see, as I will most definitely be continuing on with the series!

Overall, it was well worth the read! I most definitely recommend it!

I just....I am obsessed with this book. It will live rent free in my thoughts forever👌🏻

🔮 Magical small town
🔥💧 Elemental magic
💖 Paranormal romance
⚔️ Enemies to lovers
✨ Spell gone wrong

I want to crawl into this book and live in Foxford with Benedict and Lucy (and Chaos😼) forever🥰 It was cozy, sweet, and ignited all the perfect warm-and-fuzzies. And the 🌶️SPICE🌶️ - *swoon*. I cannot recommend this book enough to everyone, especially witchy-book lovers🧙🏻‍♀️!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you @netgalley for the chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, wow, wow. I read a paranormal romance once about three months ago and have been looking for something paranormal and witchy that would give me the same feeling. I needn't look any further.

This was honestly so cleverly done. The writing was phenomenal and kept me interested all the way through. I loved the cheesy elements to this as well as the incredibly well-thought-out magic system. The characters had such amazing backstories, with their childhood and teen years having a direct impact on the slightly flawed and entirely human adults they became.

There is nothing I love more than a book with dual POV and this served that and some. Benedict's point of view was so full of pining, obviously, despite the fact that he was desperately trying not to. I loved seeing Lucinda from his point of view, especially as he slowly revealed that he never hated her to begin with. Lucinda was hilarious - I really enjoyed seeing her pretend not to be falling in love with Benedict. Her pranks were absolutely amazing and really so clever! Seeing her handle her own issues as well as the expectations of the town, her mother and those around her was really refreshing to see in a romance book. It was really interesting to me that Kate chose to make Lucinda the more troubled of the two characters despite Benedict's background being the difficult one. I loved the light and dark magic elements. I really would have liked to see more of Benedict's family background - we only get glimpses of it throughout the book. I also desperately need a book about Emmet and Rosie because seriously, how do you go from being terrified of a woman to moving in with her!? I want to see everything that happened between them behind the scenes and when Emmet was helping Rosie in the library.

I also, on an entirely separate note, need a book about Peter. I loved that he was a reaper and could go back and forth and still see his family. Kate handled the familial death and grief aspect really well, making it a part of a typically light-hearted genre without taking away from the relationships within the book.

I loved this book so much. I can't wait for it to come out in paperback so I can add it to my shelf!

Easy 5 stars <3

Potions & Proposals is a cozy romance set in a world filled with magic. Benedict & Lucinda are lifelong rivals with a prank filled past. When the coven decides it has gone too far, they insist that one of them must leave the village or both be married & lead together.

Will the marriage go ahead? Will they kill each other with their opposing elemental powers? Will they actually fall in love? I mean it’s a romance so you can probably guess whether they fall in love… but the journey is both sweet and intriguing.

I’m looking forward to the next book in this series, maybe it involves a certain werewolf or possibly a grim reaper? I can’t wait to find out & while away another few cosy hours in the village of Foxford.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice:🌶️
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers
Arranged Marriage
Small Town Romance

Potions & Proposals had the perfect wholesome not quite enemies to lovers witchy cosy vibes! I can never resist a small town witchy romance and this didn’t disappoint! I loved the characters of Lucy and Benedict and seeing their relationship evolve and I thought that the author Kate did a great job of referencing their past experiences so you felt like you understood their relationship on a deeper level.

This was a slow burn but I thought that the story itself was fast paced enough that I didn’t mind! I did think we were going to get some big reveal or twist at the end but again I didn’t mind that we didn’t! Thank god no third act breakup for the sake of it!!!!

Thank you net galley for the arc of Potions and Proposals!

I throughly enjoyed this read, I felt like the relationship dynamic was well executed! Having characters who "hate" each other to accepting that the other has cared about them this whole time can be difficult but Kate pulled it off well. I also loved that there was no third act break up since it is annoying when an author adds a breakup or miscommunication for the sake of conflict. Low spice but the characters still made this a great read for the upcoming spooky season!

4⭐️

Thank you to the publisher, the author and Netgalley for the ARC of Potions & Proposals in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute, cozy fantasy romance book. Benedict and Lucinda’s relationship was sweet and fun to read. I loved the side characters we were introduced to and the Village of Foxford where they live.

This is a perfect book for autumn and Halloween as well!

Potions and Proposals was a sweet book! I adore Foxford and the world-building was fantastic. I love that quirky town and its residents. I thought the storyline was great and I love Benedict and Lucinda together. I did feel like there were some plot holes, however. Benedict and Lucy go from hate to love rather quickly, without much buildup. I also thought there were some wonky timelines (Hughes shows up a couple of days after a spell, but Grams says it’s the next day at one point). This book also could’ve been helped by writing in the first person. There were a few points where I wasn’t sure who was saying what; there were multiple sentences of “she said” but no telling which person.

Overall, a very sweet book. The spice really wasn’t there at all. There’s one open-door, almost fade-to-black bedroom scene, and lots of kissing, but that’s it.

I received a copy of Potions and Propsals from NetGalley. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

A fun fast read about a magical filled town. Benedict and Lucinda have been enemies since early childhood but are now forced into an arranged marriage. The story is filled with memories of the things they did to each other over the years. Of course love overcomes the feelings of dislike and all is good. Thanks #Netgalley and #BooksGoSocial for the eARC in exchange for a honest review. All opinions are mine.

Potions and Proposals is a light hearted and fun romantic story set in a small magical town. It is a good read inbetween some heavier reads.

We meet Benedict, the owner of the town's inn, when a prank pulled on him reflects badly on the inn. The prank puller is the future high priestess Lucinda. When the coven calls both of them in they get a scolding. Their pranking is getting out of hand. Not only do they question Lucinda's abbility to become high priestess, they think they should be magically bound to one another. Become magically bound or one of them has to leave town. Lucinda's grandma and mother engineer a spell to help get Lucinda out of the bounding. Of course that backfires.

The start of the story was a little wonky to me. The jump from the pranks to an arrianged marriage was a big leap. Huge leap. It doesn't quite make sense. Luckily that is kind of answered at the end of the book.

Both Lucinda and Benedict were a lot of fun to follow. I don't feel like their relationship was truly an enemies to lovers. Mostly Lucinda was easily annoyed with Benedict. But I felt you could see from the start that Benedict had a soft spot for Lucinda. So I don't think this was a truly enemies to lovers. Their pranks seemed to be something they both enjoyed. Though Lucinda seemed to be the one who took it further and went outisde of personal pranks as she pranked the inn and not Benedict personally the last time. Which is why I didn't really feel bad for her when they questions whether or not she should become the next high priestess of the coven. She clearly wasn't making good decisions.

Their romance did fizzle on the page. It was there each time they were together. I especially liked Benedict though. His family and he have had a troubled past. Both he and his mother are trying everything to prove to the town that they won't set a toe out of line. Even though the choices his father and brother made were from good intentions and grief.

I mostly liked seeing the small magical town coming together to organize the festival and the bounding of Benedict and Lucinda. The library and spell books are also a big part of the story. I see potential to explore the town and the forest near them. I also see two potential couples that might become a focus in next books. Even though that hasn't been announced I feel like that was being set-up already a bit in this book.

Favorite Quotes
"Love is one of the most powerful forces - you can't truck or entice it."

"Curiosity. You've always had your nose in a book. Walking to school, coffee shops, in the park by the town fountain - the world could crumble around you when you're reading, and you wouldn't even notice" he admitted.

Review
This is the story of Benedict and Lucinda, rival enemies since childhood and about to be forced together in an arranged marriage. It is like magical Gilmore Girls mixed with a little Halloweentown in the small town of Foxford where everyone knows each other and grew up together. The banter between the two main characters is on fire 🔥, like when he calls her pumpkin, and she calls him Benny. This story does have a little bit of spice and is told from a dual point of view between Lucinda and Benedict. I like how you get to see each point of view and them both together at the same time. Now this is an adult book that contains some mild language and open-door spice so it is not meant for younger readers. This book gives you everything you could want in an enemies to lover story with all the feels of Autumn and Halloween.

You will love this book if you love:
🎃 Enemies to lovers
🎃 Slow burn romance 🍑
🎃 Magical small town
🎃 Arranged marriage
🎃 Open door spice 🌶️

#netgalley #netgalleyreview #katecallaghan #potionsandproposals

Thank you Net Galley and Kate Callaghan for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was such a cozy read! I loved the rivals to lovers plot line and how everyone in town seemed to meddle to make things happen for the FMC and MMC!

Tropes & Themes:
Open Door Spice
Spooky Season Vibes
Arranged Marriage
Enemies To Lovers
Coven Ruled Small Town
NO Third Act Break Up (THANK YOU!!)

First impressions 💭
This was my first “low stakes” cozy fantasy and so it did take a minute to settle into a different style than what I am used to! But I really enjoyed that it was easy to read and all round wholesome!

What I Loved ❤️
- finding out over the course of the book, all of the little things that both Lucy and Benedict did for eachother over the years that actually proved their feelings were always beneath the surface
- that element of “fate” and that their love was meant to be. Also that their families both seemed to know that deep down there was something there, especially Grams.
- The elemental magic! I almost wish that it dived a little deeper into the family magic and shown more of what they could do with it!
- the friendship between Lucy and Rosie 🥰

What I didnt love 👎🏻
- I didn’t love the pop culture references, but that is just a personal preference not a fault in any way! I just prefer my fantasy to be seperate from the “real world” as I enjoy the escape it brings!
- I did feel like the “dislike eachother” and denial phase could have been drawn out a little bit longer so that once they started really questioning their true feelings it would have more impact!
- Benedict’s feelings felt a little bit inconsistent and contradictory at times. Eg. in some moments it seemed like he knew he always had feelings for Lucy, but in other moments it seemed as if he was only just realising his feelings.

Favourite Quote 📝
“You bewitched me, body and soul, long before any spell or potion”

Final verdict ⭐️
I really enjoyed reading Lucy and Benedict’s love story! The cozy vibes were perfect and even though I think it could have been slower, I loved how their relationship developed. There were a few “loose ends” that weren’t explained and I’m not sure if that was intended for book two. But I’m definitely looking forward to it!

I LOVED this! The idea of swapping powers, lovers to enemies, forced proximity, it was all beautifully done! I enjoyed all of the detail in world building and even in the side characters. I feel like they were written well enough that I would find myself curious about the side characters and what's next for them. The chemistry between the MCs was wonderful and I was so happy when they FINALLY admitted their feelings to one another. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy to read and review.

I enjoyed this book. I always love a book with magic and HEA. Plus, no 3rd act break up!

It was nice seeing the relationship between Lucy and Benedict. Loved that they played all those pranks and how it was used to force the binding on them.

I also loved how the mom and grams wanted to help, but ended up making things worse.

This book took walking a mile in each other's shoes to a new level.

I'm looking forward to reading more about the characters in Foxford!

This ARC was given to me for my honest review.