thecandlelightlibrary's Reviews (1.25k)

I adore Eason's writing style, but cult plots aren't my favorite thing to read.

Thank you to Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Witchy romances are quickly becoming my thing. Since 2021 I’ve enjoyed and stayed caught up on The Witches of Thistle Grove series by Lana Harper and the Supernatural Singles series by April Asher. I’d even add the Dangerous Damsels series by India Holton into this category, since it has the same lighthearted and humorous tone and there ARE witches in them. 

 

While I haven’t seen the film Mr. & Mrs. Smith which inspired this book (as mentioned by the author here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4947889009?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1) - and therefore can’t attest to how similar Mr. & Mrs. Witch is - this book was so much fun to read and I finished it in pretty much one sitting. The cast of characters were engaging, the dialogue excellent, the plot entertaining, and the overall mood lighthearted and sweet. At first I wasn’t excited about the dual timelines (one for the present and one for how Savvy and Griffin got to the present), but I’m glad I got to read how their relationship developed. There were a few plot choices that weren’t my favorite, but nothing major enough to detract from my overall reading experience. 

 

I think the author really hit her stride with this one: this was a great introduction to the world and now that we’ve met a whole host of other characters I hope to see this turn into a series. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC. 

I really enjoyed the world-building and the concept of magic in this story (plus the incredible artwork), but for me it was let down by the pacing and the lack of on-page character development.

Thank you to Macmillan/St. Martin’s Press for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

A Mystery of Mysteries is an obviously well-researched book that could have been really fascinating for me to read, but was never quite cohesive enough to fully engage me. My primary issue was with how the events were presented: the book is split into two timelines, which normally I enjoy but just didn’t work for me here. The first timeline details the 5 months preceding Poe’s death and the second timeline deals with the rest of Poe’s life up to those 5 months. Neither timeline was distinctive enough for me to keep people and events in order and I often had to backtrack to figure out what was going on. 

 

Often Poe’s works and the influential people in his life were mentioned in one timeline (but actually appearing late in Poe’s life) but then wouldn’t be fully introduced until the other timeline (earlier in Poe’s life). I would have preferred a full introduction the first time things appeared, and if the entire book had been organized chronologically I don’t think this would have been an issue. It’s almost as if the manuscript was written chronologically and then broken up into this format without cohesively integrating each section. Perhaps this book would have benefited from a 1-page timeline and a list of people and their various names (such as nicknames and married names) to help keep track of everything. 

 

I did really enjoy the short sections that focused on Poe’s importance to the literary world - especially the dive into Poe’s influence on the detective mystery genre - although those weren’t the primary focus of the book. Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC. 

Thank you to Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin for sending me an ARC of this title. I received this copy for free and this review contains my honest opinions. 

 

Not Your Ex’s Hexes is the second installment in Asher’s paranormal romance series and even more humorous and lighthearted than the first book. While I enjoyed the paranormal society aspects in the first book, I definitely preferred the focus on the characters and their relationships in this one. I had a great time with these characters and was glad to see the banter I enjoyed so much before carried into this next story. 

 

If you haven’t picked up this series yet, I would recommend starting with the first book. Although most of the plot in this book can be read as a standalone, Rose had some major life changes in the first book that give a deeper understanding to her character. While Rose wasn’t a character I was particularly interested in learning more about after Not The Witch You Wed, this book did her justice and I’m so glad to have prioritized it. 

 

I’m also looking forward to the next book and (hopefully) multiple other installments. This series is set up well for many more stories: Olive’s story is hinted at near the end (which I can’t wait to read) and there are a lot of interesting supporting characters who could shoulder their own story (Harper is still my favorite character and I’d love to see her get more page space). Thank you again to the publisher for sending me a free ARC.