Potion maker and self-proclaimed “messy witch” Morgan Greenwood is sure she was hexed at birth. Not only did she drunkenly offer to fake date the woman of her dreams during the biennial New England Witches’ festival, but Rory Sandler, spellcasting champion and brilliant elemental witch—for reasons known only to the Goddess—accepted. It’s like every good luck spell Morgan ever cast came through at once, and it doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict this charade will end with a broken heart.
Or is the magic between them real? As Morgan and Rory prepare to fool everyone at the festival, their relationship starts to feel a whole lot less fake—right until Morgan realizes she might have screwed up the common relaxation potion she made for Rory and given her a love potion instead, breaking one of the most sacred Witch Council Laws.
To fulfill her promise to Rory, Morgan must somehow keep playing pretend while under the watchful eyes of Rory’s family and legion of fans. But to break the love potion, she’ll also have to prove how incompatible she and Rory really are. For a screwup like her, ruining their relationship should be easy—except every day, Morgan is becoming more bewitched by Rory herself.
Release Date: Sep 12, 2023
Heat Level: Sensual
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley
Price: $10.99
Sapphic romance, magical world, and fake dating trope – sign me up.
This book had so much to recommend it. The world itself has so much going for it. A world just like ours but with magic, rules for those who practice it, and witches who do all sorts of magic. From potions for beauty to competitive spell casters, I loved this idea. This book has that slice-of-life quality with a bit of fantasy that you could easily sink into, and I tried. So desperately tried.
This was a slow read for me, mainly because of the main character, Morgan. Chaotic, messy witch that she is, that wasn’t my hang-up. Her inability to stop degrading herself every half page or from blowing situations out of proportion. Maybe this was because Morgan’s character hits a little close to home, and if I’m living in a world of magic realism, I wanted to see Morgan be more than all her constant internalized fear and self-doubt.
The other characters, including love interest Rory, are nice enough, but we only live in Morgan’s head, and everything is a calamity there. I would have loved to get some of this story from Rory’s POV. And TBH, Rory is a Saint for sticking through all the over-dramatic drama. All the conflict is manufactured by the worst-case scenarios the MC comes up with, and for me, that wasn’t enough to sustain a higher rating. Ironically, even this conflict falls into a-simple-conversation-would-have-solved-all-these-problems territory.
One other aspect that was a challenge for me is that over the course of a long weekend Morgan and Rory fall for each other, with Morgan doing her best to stay away from Rory and the interactions being a bit stilted from Morgan’s side of things. It was hard to buy, but I could overlook that if Morgan’s actions had been a bit different.
Overall, if there is a second book, I’m going to check it out because I love the world, but I would say this one had all the buildup without good follow-through. Hoping this is just a fluke for me where I couldn’t fall for the characters and that subsequent characters will grab me a bit more.
For readers who enjoy Lana Harper’s Witches of Thistle Grove series.
~ Landra
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