Perfect for spooky season but can be enjoyed anytime! Hit Me with Your Best Charm explored family, grief, magic and finding the ability to believe in yourself. A ya sapphic romance with The Ex Hex vibes.
Loved the small town and the authors take on witches. Definitely reads for a younger audience but can see this being a popular read this fall!

This book was such an easy read. To be honest, I didn’t realize it was YA until I started, but that didn’t even deter me from reading it. I started one night thinking I’d read a few chapters before bed, then ended up devouring it in like 2 sittings. Full of charm *hehe* and heartache, would definitely recommend.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

This was just ok for me. I felt like the book was trying to do too much at once so the reader cannot grasp onto the story.

As someone who recently lost a family member I wasn’t even sure I was going to be able to finish this book after the first chapter. It’s a beautiful book about grief, family, love, and magic. I enjoyed Nova’s journey. I however wasn’t a fan of Kiara she seems like a brat. I did enjoy the book though.

houghts: This is a story about love, grief, family, magic, and believing in yourself. There are definitely issues that the characters have that work well for the age of them (17). I will say that Nova seemed like a brat more often than not, but I understood her issues. She lost her father when she was ten to the forest. He went into the magical forest to search for his friend and never came out again. This story takes place on the 7th anniversary of his disappearance as Nova’s mother, on the advice of her psychic friend, is about to declare him dead. In addition to that problem, Nova has feelings (that she denies) for the perfect Kiara. When Nova pretends to be the psychic one evening, she hexes Kiara to have problems.

Words have power, as Nova finds out. Could she also be responsible for the disappearance of her father?

The only way to undo the hex is to find the mysterious well deep in the forest and wish her hex undone. But which hex should she undo? The one for Kiara? Or for her father? Because you only get one wish.

This is a story with a lot of depth. With nastiness, and goodness, with lies and truths, and with difficult decisions that could change a life.

Recommended.

Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book from Netgalley and Viking with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

I thought the premise was interesting, but sadly I didn’t enjoy this book 😢

Seven years ago, Nova’s father went into the woods and didn’t come back.
After accidentally hexing her crush with bad luck, Nova embarks on a camping trip in the company of Kiara, the girl she likes, and all of Kiara's exes-turned-best-friends. Nova is hoping to find her town's fabled wishing well in order to undo the hex, and secretly hoping to find her father too.

What I liked: Nova and Kiara's relationship was cute, it was frustratingly endearing that Nova never picked up the signals that Kiara was sending her, and her self doubt and guilt prevented her from admitting to have a crush on the other girl.
I also enjoyed the fact that through most of the book we're left wondering if there’s actually a magic element or if everything is superstition, and maybe the characters only want to believe in the supernatural.

Apart from that, there were too many plot lines for my taste and I felt the story was all over the place. The book felt unnecessary lengthy, filled with extra dialogue and scenes that didn’t add anything to the story.
When the plot starts to pick up and make sense, we're already at the 75% mark.
Maybe readers who like lengthy dialogue and banter might enjoy this one more than me.

This was a breath of fresh air- a mixture of suspense, YA, romance and some craftiness! The characters were well developed and the ending was perfect! I hope there's going to be a sequel!

Nova Marwood's mother and friends would be FURIOUS if they knew she was edging her way through the forest of Prior's End. After all, searching for the wishing well of legend is what led to so many disappearances. Including her father's. And with the Fall Festival's arrival and the anniversary of her dad being gone, tensions are so high for Nova that she accidentally hexes her secret crush/nemesis Kiara. Now Kiara's friends must find the wishing well to save her, and Nova is the only person who can lead them there.

This was a cute book! Definitely intended for reader younger than me (maybe 13-16?), but it is a very interesting story! I struggled with the writing style a bit, there is a lot of exposition and the first person threw me off a bit. Nova and Kiara's relationship is entertaining, and the concept of a wishing well that takes away your regrets is what really sold me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Young Readers, and Viking Books for the eARC. Projected publishing date: July 15th, 2025

Super cute magical YA book. I enjoyed the characters and relationships they built with each other. I'm also a sucker for dad drama and this was written so beautifully.

this book is such a good time

equal parts cozy, heartbreaking, suspenseful and hilarious with characters that are so relatable and messy set in such a charming town.

this book kept me reading all night, I was so engaged and invested 🤌🏻

Fall into the world of Nova Marwood, a 17 year-old whose father one day 7 years ago, traveled deep into the towns' Longing Woods searching for his missing best friend and never returned. Struggling with the guilt of the last words she spoke to her father, Nova finds herself accidentally hexing her crush— the gorgeous, popular and lucky Kiara Mistry.

Follow along as Nova soon finds herself on a quest with an unlikely group of exes-turned-friends, as they set out to find the wishing well that's rumored to be deep within the woods of Prior's End; said to undo any regret.

When I tell you the town of Prior's End had me so charmed! The descriptors given to this ever-superstitious town really had me feeling like I was dropped into the heart of Salem, MA in the middle of October. The writing Lillie Vale uses to portray her town conjures up a very crisp, autumnal feeling that really helps set the tone of the magic and mystery of Prior's End.

And that ending... I REALLY did not expect that ending, and love that we're properly set up for more should there be a sequel. I believe young adult readers who love both paranormal and mysterious ambiance will enjoy this book, as well as adult readers who want to take a step back and read something akin to a cozy autumnal read!

In the end, I agree with others in that this book definitely could have been shorter as I feel there were quite a few moments that rambled on a bit too long, or even seemed a bit repetitive.

👤 YA
💖 Sapphic Romance
🤠 Set in Tennessee
🏳‍🌈 LGBTQIA+ rep!
🔮 Magical
🔍 Mysterious
❤️‍🩹 Enemies-to-friends
👻 Supernatural
🫂 Forgiveness

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Viking Books for Young Readers & Lillie Vale for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I could not put this down! Read deep into the night, I had to see how it ended. Charming town and well-developed cast of characters -- I felt like I knew them. I absolutely wanted to climb inside this book and live there. The ending was perfect, and left the door open a tiny crack for another book- YES PLEASE!

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. The storyline was very enjoyable and the characters were just as enjoyable, Teenage love, crushes, angst, and quests are fun and cozy reads, however, I felt this could have been shortened in length just a bit . There seemed to be areas that just dragged on for no reason other than to add page count.

Hit Me With Your Best Charm is the perfect mix of humor, heartache, and suspense, with a touch of Lovecraftian creepiness. The characters feel so real and messy, and you can’t help but connect with them, even when they mess up. The themes of grief and letting go hit HARD. I couldn’t put it down!

This book is pure autumnal magic, brimming with whimsy, longing, and just the right touch of chaos. Prior’s End is the kind of town that feels like a dream you don’t want to wake up from, steeped in superstition and secrets, and Nova’s journey is as heartfelt as it is spellbinding. The romance is achingly tender, the tension between Nova and Kiara crackling with years of complicated feelings, and the found-family dynamics bring warmth to every page. It’s a love story wrapped in mystery, magic, and the kind of yearning that makes your heart ache in the best way.

Thank you to NetGalley, Viking Books for Young Readers, and Lillie Vale for the free e-ARC. My thoughts and review are my own.

I gave this YA sapphic teen romance, which includes elements of fantasy and mystery, a rating of 4 out of 5 stars. The story begins with our main character, Nova, grappling with guilt over her final words to her father, who disappeared seven years earlier in a forest that holds a deep, mysterious significance for their small town.

Nova faces the challenges of high school relationships and crushes while her father's disappearance casts a long shadow over her connection with her mother. As her mother prepares to declare her father legally dead on the advice of a friend, Nova decides to stir up some trouble. In the process, she inadvertently places a bad luck curse on her high school crush, Kiara, who has always been incredibly lucky.

The rest of the story follows Nova's quest to fix the unintended consequences of her actions, the romantic tension between her and Kiara, and the unfolding mystery related to the forest and the town's history, which involves Kiara's friend group made up of all her exes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, finishing it in just a couple of hours. I appreciated how the story wrapped up, though I felt it could have been a bit shorter while still conveying the same message, which is why I rated it four stars.

This just wasn’t a favorite for me. I felt it dragged on and the story confused me because it seemed a little here and there and everywhere. It wasn’t awful, and I see other great reviews. Maybe just not for me.

This story wasn’t really my cup of tea, but there’s no denying that it’s has creative elements to the characters and the story!

This is a magical young adult story about Nova, a young woman who has lost her father and Kiara, a girl with all the luck. Nova unintentionally puts a hex on Kiara and hate book follows as the story develops for these characters. This is definitely a novel aimed for a young adult audience and I found the characters to be presented a bit more immaturely than other YA books, which made it difficult for me to read.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.