Rating: ☆☆☆1/2
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Erin Sterling
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: September 28th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads
BOOK SUMMARY:
New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.
PERFECT FOR THE SEASON.
If you’re looking for something that’ll give you spooky vibes, but not be overwhelming + a cute rom-com, this would be a good pick. It’s a short, quick read that gives a sweet HEA.
I liked the set-up and the withy/paranormal aspects. The hexing of the ex made me laugh (and think of that one episode of Friends..). A second-chance romance nine years later? Here for it. The characters were all good and fine, but I felt they were very shallow. I remember thinking the side characters didn’t have any layers and even with the main characters not so much. I’m sitting here now trying to think of nuanced personalities and coming up mostly blank.
There’s quite a bit more spice than I expected, which wasn’t for me (I know others love this though so take note!!). Things get heating pretty quickly and there’s a lot of innuendo throughout. That was the bigger focus rather than the more of everything I needed. More background, more build-up, etc.
The banter was fantastic and I liked the larger plot of fixing the ley lines and the moving curse. It’s a light-hearted story with perfect witchy goodness and I love how it fit the autumn season well.
Overall audience notes:
- Paranormal Contemporary Romance
- Language: strong throughout
- Romance: multiple open door
- Violence: car accident (no one w/life threatening injuries), death of a parent recounted
Instagram || Goodreads
GoodeyReads 