A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

Jessamine "Jess" Bricker specializes in personalized proposals. When the book opens, she's orchestrating one involving a shark whale and scuba diving. While that's happening, she gets several phone calls. It seems a girl (now woman) she went to school with was just proposed to. According to Diana, the effort was underwhelming. Now her maybe-to-be fiance is putting out a lot of money to pay for Jess to help with a new proposal. He's also paying for a wedding planner, Aubrey. Right now, the ladies, along with Diana's cousin Kiki are at a week-long resort retreat to start planning for the wdding. But it's not running smoothly. Diana is entitled, Aubrey seems to hate Jess for no reason and Kiki... well, actually Kiki seems like a delight. Plus, there's this man on property that Jess immediately feels drawn towards. But she's not really at that stage in her life. 

That's all bad enough but one of the other resort members dies and Jess stumbles over the body. There are some unexpected visitors but then, there's another body. (Jess stumbles over that one too.)

I really liked the character development in this one A couple of the characters were a little shallow but we mainly follow Jess around and she's got a little bit of depth to her which sometimes surprise some of the other characters. I really didn't like the ending for a couple of spoiler-y reasons but the rest was a good Harper novel and I generally enjoyed the book.

Three and a half stars

This book came out April 8, 2025

ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Big Witch Energy Molly Harper with Amanda Ronconi (Narrator), Teddy Hamilton (Narrator)

The Wiltons can't leave Starfall Point or they will die. This has been true for generations. And it was true for Caroline Wilton's brother. Once he died, her family fell apart. Her father has been depressed since then, her mother took on most of the burden of the family bar (the Wilted Rose) and allowed her to take on the rest of it. Her other two brothers do the bare minimum. Or even less than. So it's mostly up to her. Thank goodness she has her two friends, Alice and Riley, her coven, to keep her sane. But could she also have someone from her past?

Benjamin Hoult has just moved back to town with his two teenagers. He's not expecting to see his old flame so quickly. So when he sees her, it's more awkward than he ever thought possible. It doesn't get better, especially when his daughter rides her moped into Caroline. But that opens up the door for his whole family to spend more time with her. And it's weird how they seem to fit. Which is good because the three witches will need the help of a new generation to take on a generations-old bad guy who is still trying to pull strings.

I really liked that both Mina and Josh were real characters; not just kids dropped into the story.

Four stars

This book came out

Starfall Point #2  

Follows Witches Get Stuff Done

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper

Riley Everett never even knew her mother had a sister and now she's going to a small island in Michigan to meet the woman. But she is unexpectedly sick on the trip over and has no luck being able to use the toilet as Edison Held is hogging it. When he finally comes out, they quarrel but then she pukes on his shoes.

Both regret the interaction and are willing to get to know each other a little better. Which is good because Riley is dealing with some big changes in her life. Her aunt actually died right before Riley got to the island so she's alone in the big house. Well, except for the ghosts. Because there are ghosts. But we really only get to see a couple. 

Soon Riley is getting to hang out with Edison, is learning more about her own powers, and is making friends who are also working with her.

There are a lot of parts missing in this story that I wish we had seen. More of Riley and Edison's growing relationship, more of Riley and her friends learning to use their powers, more time with Riley and her mom. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out September 5, 2023

Starfall Point #1

Followed by Big Witch Energy

ARC kindly provided by Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley

Opinions are my own