Reviews

Love and Other Wicked Things by Philline Harms

emodustbunny's review

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funny mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

bre_sizzle's review against another edition

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DNF I just cannot handle the cringey dialogue and every time someone introduces themselves they say their pronouns I can’t

anniekslibrary's review

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4.0

This was one of my first autumn-themed books I've read this fall, and it has the perfect autumn vibes. Sapphic witches, autumn and Halloween traditions, family, friendship and romance, what more could you want? This was such an enjoyable, cosy read, full of queer characters, and I thought the romance was so sweet. Highly recommend putting this on your fall TBR!

sydnee_reads's review against another edition

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

nerolireads's review

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emotional lighthearted mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Sapphic witches? ✅️
Cozy, queer-normative world? ✅️
Excellent fall vibes? ✅️

I just wish the representation if the Black and Chinese characters was done better. 

You don't find out until several pages in that the first FMC we meet is Black, and only because it's mentioned that her sister has box braids. 

The Chinese American is only identifiable as Asian because of their last name. 

It's a small town with a Black family of witches, with one of them having pink hair and a Chinese American non-binary side character with blue hair. Yet the authors mentions only the white character standing out. 


emikateb's review

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5.0

Thank you so much for letting me read the ARC of this great book! I really enjoyed reading this, I thought the writing was very vivid and I was able to picture everything like the characters and the setting perfectly in my mind which made this book really enjoyable to read and super easy to get into. I also loved the characters and how the two main character's relationship progressed from hate to love, which was so pure and tender. I also loved how it wasn't always sunshine and rainbows and how the two main characters developed themselves both outside of and within their relationship. Also, the book in general had such good fall/spooky vibes so I would really recommend reading this during the fall season to fully immerse yourself in the story and the atmosphere! Overall really loved the book and would love to read more by this author! 5 stars from me!

kaleerusnak's review

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adventurous lighthearted slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

tseyi's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i_readsandbujos's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

tofugal's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Such a cute sapphic witchy fall romance! Reminiscent of the These Witches Don’t Burn series and Payback’s a Witch (only YA). Rhia and Valerie were both lovable, well-rounded characters, and their romance was very sweet (a dash of enemies to lovers with a touch of forbidden romance). Ultimately though, it was Quinn, Valerie’s non-binary roommate, who stole my heart. I would love to see a novel or novella devoted to them because they’re the best. 
 
Overall I really loved the magical system, especially the earth magic (I really enjoy seeing witches utilize plants a la Poison Ivy or Flowridia from The Fallen Gods series). I do wish there’d been a little more clarity about the secrecy from non-magical people. It’s never explained why non-magical Tristan is allowed to know about magic or why throwing a festival for non-magical folk that includes a fortune teller is okay, but doing tarot reading for those same non-magical folk is forbidden. 
 
While there was one point where I was yelling at a character not to do the thing they were explicitly told not to do, which often irks me as a reader, at least it seemed true to character in this case. 
 
I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.