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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
This book grabbed my attention since I’ve recently started reading light paranormal romance. The idea of a Black witch librarian sounded interesting!
Selene Blackstone is a witch stuck in her hometown of Brimrock, Massachusetts, because of a curse put on her grandmother Luna over 40 years ago. She is self-taught in the realm of lunar magic because her mother didn’t want to talk about it and didn’t pass along any witchy wisdom at all before she died. Luna disappeared all those years ago, so Selene is all alone, except for her best friend Noelle and Noelle’s aunt Bibi. She’s scorned in the town due to her vaguely ominous family history. She is described as a woman with brown skin, dark curly hair and fleshy thighs, but her Blackness doesn’t seem to play a role other than her physical description.
Aiden and Eddie are best friends and paranormal investigators who co-host an online video show. They come to Brimrock for the holidays, to spend two weeks with Eddie’s family who live there. They’re also going to do research on Luna Blackstone, whom the townsfolk claim was an evil witch who continues to haunt the area and cause mysterious, unexplained events. There’s a lot of rumor and blame placed on the Blackstones, but I found it frustrating that nobody, including Selene, really knows much about her grandmother or mother, both of whom are gone.
Aiden and Selene cross paths, hit it off, and then find out who the other really is. There’s some angst, but not a ton. I was never super-invested in their ups and downs, but I did enjoy their sarcastic senses of humor and banter. There is some fairly steamy sex in the book, but not a lot of it. You can easily skip those few scenes if they’re not your thing.
Adventures and investigations ensue. This isn’t a hard-hitting mystery, if that’s what you’re looking for. It is light and fun and a bit snarky, which I liked.
Many times, the language and descriptions seemed awkward to me and took me out of the flow of the story. Like a paper was described as off-white, the color of “rotten eggnog.” What? Who has seen rotten eggnog to know what color that is? Aiden and Eddie’s van is quite frequently described as a 1976 Dodge Caravan. I didn’t think minivans were a thing until the 1980s and it was oddly mentioned so often that I googled it and found that Caravans didn’t come out until 1984. At one point, characters debate whether they should wait 30 minutes for a ride or walk 3 blocks. How long are those blocks?! Aiden’s basil allergy is integral to the story, yet he happily eats pesto chicken. Um, if that pesto was made with basil like most pesto is, he’s in trouble! And Selene is CONSTANTLY pushing her glasses up her nose, which after a while seemed like awkward filler. There were enough of those things that bugged me and brought me out of being immersed in the story. That said, it wasn’t enough to make me quit the story, and overall, I did enjoy it. This is a maybe recommendation for me. If you read a ton and have a few hours to spend on a light, kind of steamy, witchy, kind of mysterious story, then go for it.
I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Selene Blackstone is a witch stuck in her hometown of Brimrock, Massachusetts, because of a curse put on her grandmother Luna over 40 years ago. She is self-taught in the realm of lunar magic because her mother didn’t want to talk about it and didn’t pass along any witchy wisdom at all before she died. Luna disappeared all those years ago, so Selene is all alone, except for her best friend Noelle and Noelle’s aunt Bibi. She’s scorned in the town due to her vaguely ominous family history. She is described as a woman with brown skin, dark curly hair and fleshy thighs, but her Blackness doesn’t seem to play a role other than her physical description.
Aiden and Eddie are best friends and paranormal investigators who co-host an online video show. They come to Brimrock for the holidays, to spend two weeks with Eddie’s family who live there. They’re also going to do research on Luna Blackstone, whom the townsfolk claim was an evil witch who continues to haunt the area and cause mysterious, unexplained events. There’s a lot of rumor and blame placed on the Blackstones, but I found it frustrating that nobody, including Selene, really knows much about her grandmother or mother, both of whom are gone.
Aiden and Selene cross paths, hit it off, and then find out who the other really is. There’s some angst, but not a ton. I was never super-invested in their ups and downs, but I did enjoy their sarcastic senses of humor and banter. There is some fairly steamy sex in the book, but not a lot of it. You can easily skip those few scenes if they’re not your thing.
Adventures and investigations ensue. This isn’t a hard-hitting mystery, if that’s what you’re looking for. It is light and fun and a bit snarky, which I liked.
Many times, the language and descriptions seemed awkward to me and took me out of the flow of the story. Like a paper was described as off-white, the color of “rotten eggnog.” What? Who has seen rotten eggnog to know what color that is? Aiden and Eddie’s van is quite frequently described as a 1976 Dodge Caravan. I didn’t think minivans were a thing until the 1980s and it was oddly mentioned so often that I googled it and found that Caravans didn’t come out until 1984. At one point, characters debate whether they should wait 30 minutes for a ride or walk 3 blocks. How long are those blocks?! Aiden’s basil allergy is integral to the story, yet he happily eats pesto chicken. Um, if that pesto was made with basil like most pesto is, he’s in trouble! And Selene is CONSTANTLY pushing her glasses up her nose, which after a while seemed like awkward filler. There were enough of those things that bugged me and brought me out of being immersed in the story. That said, it wasn’t enough to make me quit the story, and overall, I did enjoy it. This is a maybe recommendation for me. If you read a ton and have a few hours to spend on a light, kind of steamy, witchy, kind of mysterious story, then go for it.
I received a free digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
A family curse, witches, bookish romance .. what more can you ask for? This book was very fluffy but also spooky. It was a light read perfect for Halloween and a great transition into Christmas (yes, I’m skipping right over thanksgiving). I thought the premise was very interesting and there was a plot twist I was not expecting. The romance between Aiden & Selene is such a slow burn ... and honestly I didn’t get enough of it. They had cute moments together but there was more focus on the threat looming over their town. There was a little bit of steam but 1/5
funny
medium-paced
adventurous
lighthearted
*Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC*
This book was adorable! We have a cursed librarian witch, a paranormal hunter, Christmas in a smalltown, and mystical magical things. Selene was a lovely character, when the story was from her viewpoint you could tell how sweet and kind she is as a person. You could see her struggles of being a witch and not being liked by the town. Aiden comes to town with his best friend for the holiday and he does not expect to fall in love, but he is pleasantly surprised by it. Aiden understood his comfort levels for socialization and it was amazing to see a character be firm in what they wanted to do. The secondary characters we developed and were nice interactions for the main characters.
I liked how this was a romance and mystery type novel, where at the end of the book we have the romance developed and the main mystery is solved. The ending finishes the story of this book but leaves it open to continue the series in the next one.
The writing style was easy to understand. I enjoyed the magic world-building and hope that the rest of the series will continue to give more information on the magic system.
This book received 4 stars because the story was enjoyable, but not perfect. I had a feeling that something was missing from the book while I was reading. I thought the romance was on-point and have no complaints about the relationship. I wish we had more information on the magic system with more details and knowing how it works. The mystery portion of the book was good and I did not guess it, but I felt like it was resolved way too quickly. Overall, this book was enjoyable!
This book was adorable! We have a cursed librarian witch, a paranormal hunter, Christmas in a smalltown, and mystical magical things. Selene was a lovely character, when the story was from her viewpoint you could tell how sweet and kind she is as a person. You could see her struggles of being a witch and not being liked by the town. Aiden comes to town with his best friend for the holiday and he does not expect to fall in love, but he is pleasantly surprised by it. Aiden understood his comfort levels for socialization and it was amazing to see a character be firm in what they wanted to do. The secondary characters we developed and were nice interactions for the main characters.
I liked how this was a romance and mystery type novel, where at the end of the book we have the romance developed and the main mystery is solved. The ending finishes the story of this book but leaves it open to continue the series in the next one.
The writing style was easy to understand. I enjoyed the magic world-building and hope that the rest of the series will continue to give more information on the magic system.
This book received 4 stars because the story was enjoyable, but not perfect. I had a feeling that something was missing from the book while I was reading. I thought the romance was on-point and have no complaints about the relationship. I wish we had more information on the magic system with more details and knowing how it works. The mystery portion of the book was good and I did not guess it, but I felt like it was resolved way too quickly. Overall, this book was enjoyable!