A Witchly Influence by Stephanie Grey

 Carmen Devereaux is a witch. But that doesn’t mean she’s not susceptible to heartbreak. Divorcing her husband might not quite reach that level but it still sends her home to North Carolina. It may not be entirely where she grew up but it’s where her family is now. And Fate has decreed that Carmen will no longer be working granting permits. Instead, she will be an Influencer, helping to age sure that people get to where they should be in life. Her first two people are both in the town she’s moving to and one is her stepbrother. She struggles a little, even going through time to help them out.

This was just a nice book. Is the solution for the friend a little bit of a cheat? Yes. Are all the solutions she comes up with a little too pat? Yes. Is Carmen just a little bit of a Mary Sue? Yes. But this is just a nice story at a time that I needed to read something light and sweet.

Four stars
This book comes out October 1st
ARC kindly provided by BHC Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

Happily this Christmas by Susan Mallery

 Many a romance has started with the guy next door and this one is no different. Wynn Beauchene has a 14 year old son but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t admire Garrick McCabe, the cop who lives next to her. When he comes to her asking for help with a pregnant 21 year old, Wynn is taken aback, until she realizes the woman is his daughter. It seems that Garrick and Jolyn were close when she was younger but now their relationship is more strained, especially since Jolyn’s pregnancy has been difficult and that isn’t helped by the fact that her husband is currently deployed. 
As Wynn and Garrick spend more time together, attraction starts to grow. Both have been burned in the past though and the upcoming holiday season brings f

amily obligations and outside expectations that they might not be willing to bend to.
A typical Mallory romance: mostly closed doors for the romance; nice character development; an attempt to involve almost everyone from previous stories in the series; just a low-stakes, sugary, and fun read.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out September 29th
ARC kindly provided by HarperCollins and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

Three and a half stars

Professor Woos the Witch by Kristen Painter

 Nocturne Falls is a pretty amazing place to live if you’re a paranormal. That’s why Cole Van Zant’s daughter is stoked that they are moving there even if it is temporarily. See, her mother just told her that she’s a witch and she is ready to learn more. Cole is definitely not impressed with his ex-wife’s parenting skills. She’s more or less completely out of their daughter’s life and only shows up to tell her some hogwash about being a witch? Nonsense. It’s all nonsense.

But Pandora Williams doesn’t think it’s nonsense. In fact, she comes from a long line of witches. It’s just too bad that her power is broken. All of her spells go just a little bit awry. 

But she recognizes the power in Cole’s daughter and wants to help. The fact that Cole is pretty hot doesn’t hurt. And he’s in town to fix up and sell his great-uncle’s house? Even better. It’s just strange that her power actually seems to work when she’s around Cole. And that his great-uncle was very happily married to Avery powerful witch, who seems to still be hanging around deepens the mystery.

A fast, fun, and fluffy book. The “villain” is a little two-dimensional but it was an easy listen and Cole and Pandora were easy to relate to.

Three stars

Follows The Gargoyle Gets His Girl

Followed by The Witch’s Halloween Hero

This book came out October 8th, 2015

Borrowed from Audible Escape

Opinions are my own

Reaper’s Blood by Kel Carpenter

 

Hostess cupcakes might kill you but Salem didn’t expect it to be quite so immediate. After an animal with red eyes runs out in front of her car, she finds herself in a literal out of body experience. There, a strange girl Salem dubs “not Morticia” tells her that she has to go back. When Salem touches her body, she sets off a chain of events that start to tell her more about her family, including why her brother insisted on joining a fraternity and why he and Salem’s father died. 

Salem and her crush, Graves who is the one to find her, are new adults which is not my favorite genre to read but the book was short and I love the take Carpenter has on Grim Reapers and the supernatural world. Her characters range from quirky and fun (e.g. Ralph, the pot-smoking Reaper) to sometimes stereotypical (the other frat boys). I did really like Salem’s best friend, the succubus. She’s not ashamed of her sexuality and is willing to fight the patriarchy who are simultaneously trying to keep the succubi down but taking advantage of their sexuality. Some good discussion on consent.

Three stars

Followed by Reaping Havoc

This book came out June 13th, 2020

Borrowed as an audiobook

Opinions are my own

Her Scandalous Pursuit by Candace Camp

Thisbe Moreland is a scientist even if she is a woman in a time when women are not considered to be intelligent. HarrisoBut she still attends lectures. And that's where she meets Desmond Harrison.  Most duke's daughters wouldn't be interested in a shopkeeper's assistant, especially one who works for a scientist trying to prove that ghosts exist, but one of the Mad Morelands would definitely be willing to defy convention.
Thisbe hates the name but she can't deny that she is having odd dreams. Dreams that are connected to the artifact that Desmond is looking for, one that might prove the existence of ghosts. Something her grandmother, the feared Dowager of Broughton owns.
This book was written after the rest of the series, even though it is a prequel. It is a nice, quick story though sort of surface, even though it tops four hundred pages.

Three stars
This book came out January 8th, 2020
Hard copy I didn’t keep
Opinions are my own

Collards & Cauldrons by Bella Falls

 

In Charleston for a witch convention, Charli is surprised to learn that she is also going to learn more a about her biological family. But only if she can figure out why the people from Honeysuckle Hollow are causing some consternation among her fellow conference goers. And there’s also the little matter of the murder that some are blaming on her beloved grandmother...

Charli does get to learn a little bit more about her bio family as well but none of it seems good. Her cousin Abigail might be fine but her cousin Ethan is definitely set up to be a big bad later in the series.

I liked that Mason is maybe regaining his feelings for Charli if not all of his memories and that Dash was just a blip. Probably the best book in the series so far.

Three stars

Follows Barbecue & Brooms

Followed by Cornbread & Crossroad

This book came out May 21st, 2019

Opinions are my own

The Gargoyle Gets His Girl by Kristen Painter

 

This book just wasn't as good as others in the series. It was very much problem: resolve the problem: new problem: resolve the new problem. Other books in the series would  have been better as a novella.es create an overall story with oth

er  issu

es tackled as subproblems. At least three times, I opened the audible (escape) app and looked to see if the book was really done because it seemed like it should be... but it wasn't.  This is one of the very few stories that I think 

Willa Iscove is fae and a jeweler. Too bad her latest creation has created a stalker. And that's what it did. And she gets all het up because the customer is obsessed with her because of her own mistake. Which she acknowledges. But then she accidentally conscripts Nick Hardwin into protecting her. And he's not stoked. Because there's a long history of the fae enslaving gargoyles (which is what he is), he is skeptical that her motives are pure. But Willa actually left home at a young age which is a whole different story and didn't know what she was doing. They do solve that issue pretty quickly but really, the story could have ended there.

Three stars
Follows The Werewolf Meets His Match

Followed by The Professor Woos the Witch
This book came out August 1st, 2015
Borrowed from Audible Escape
Opinions are my own