Hello Readers, welcome back to my blog.

This is another ARC from Netgalley. I have been seeing this book everywhere on instagram and I am so glad I was approved to get the advanced reader copy.

SUMMARY

Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting…

Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with him at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research.

Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes?…

Publication date: 25 January 2022

Rating: 3/5 stars

Category: Romance, Women’s fiction, Sci-fi fantasy

Publisher: Kensington Books

Source: Netgalley

Trigger: None

Gwen and her cousins grew up together with stories that they are witches but because of a mistake made by an ancestor, their line has been forbidden the practice of magic for a century plus by the witch council. Their aunt’s punishment serves as an example for those in their family who do not follow the witch council’s edict. Gwen and her cousins have been following this edict until they receive a letter from their rebellious cousin Tannith.

Tannith has always been the most reckless and rebellious among the cousins. So, when she sends a letter to all her cousins including Gwen, stating that she is moving to New York with one of the cousins’ partner, they all panic to figure out which cousins’ partner has been bewitched by Tannith. Amidst this search they discover their powers, as well as the true story behind their aunt’s punishment.

There are several misshapen with magic, like Aunt Esme being turned into a rabbit and Trudy’s husband as well is turned into a rabbit, then a toad. The cousins’ relationships with their partners are questioned in the course of finding out which one will be hexed by Tannith. The cousins also have to be careful of watchers who could report them to the council of witches for practicing magic when they shouldn’t be.

I liked the story and the writing style. My favourite character was Griz the cat; I really enjoyed his POV. It was such a good idea to have the 2 POVs of the story from Gwen and Griz. All the things that could go wrong and did go wrong in the race to turn the animals back to humans were hilarious at times and annoying at other times because it showed that the cousins were not experienced at subterfuge. This only made the story more interesting because I found myself talking to the characters and suggesting ways for them to get out of sticky situations.

I gave the story 3 out of 5 stars. Although it was interesting to see the angst the cousins felt trying to right their accidental hexes and looking for which partner would be hexed by Tannith, I felt that there could be more angst. Overall, it was a funny story filled with drama.

If you like this review and are interested in reading this book, you can pre-order it using the links below:

Waterstones (UK) – https://tidd.ly/3Dom13i

Book depository (Free shipping worldwide) – https://tidd.ly/2WojKnS

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