Author: Jessica Clare
Series: Hex series book #2
Category: Paranormal Romance
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
"'Are you interested in the job? Even knowing that you'll be working with me? I'm sure Magnus filled your head with how vile I am.'
Penny's chin lifts and she gives me a resolute look. 'It doesn't matter how bad you are if you can teach me how to use magic. I'm tired of waiting for a chance. I want to learn.'"
I was so excited when this book came out, having read and reviewed the first in the series "Go Hex Yourself" a couple of months ago. Jessica Clare has created a unique world of magic and I love her writing style and the characters we have gotten to know so far.
Penny was everything I wanted and more for a cheery, bright woman who wasn’t afraid to be true to herself and speak her mind. She was over the top at times but kick ass in her own sweet way. When she wants something, she goes for it with determination and a hint of sparkle that no one can resist. Even though her life isn't all rainbows, Penny keeps a can-do attitude and always seems to find her way.
"'You're terrifying, you know that? Under that bubblegum-and-glitter exterior is the calculating heart of a true tyrant,'" - Willem
Willem was exactly what I thought he would be. Gruff with a superiority complex but is a softy underneath who is defensive because he has to be. Willem needed someone who believed in him and Penny was the best one for the job. She slowly chipped away at his hard shell and showed him how to care about something more than himself.
"In short, he's thorny on the outside and an absolute mush inside. Anyone that knew him for longer than five minutes would realize this." - Penny
Penny and Willem made an odd couple at first glance, but they were really good for each other. Penny taught Willem to open up and Willem was the person in Penny's life to put her first and made her a priority.
"Penny is all enthusiasm and color and happiness. She talks loud. She uses abbreviations instead of actual words. She's all things I hate. And I don't hate her. Not even in the slightest. " - Willem
It was satisfying to see the evolution of their relationship and sickly sweet how into each other they were. The spice was A+, with a ton of sexual tension while the fake dating trope played out. It gave Penny and Willem the perfect excuse to straddle the line with each other and simmer in their chemistry until they were ready to act on how they felt. Penny was very sexual and she constantly kept Willem, and his old-fashioned sensibilities, on his toes.
"I have to bite back a moan, but a noise slips out of me anyhow. My neck is incredibly sensitive, and him holding me against him as he grips my throat? It's far, far too sexy and oh so slightly controlling." - Penny
The more we learn about this world of familiars, witches, and warlocks the less I like about the whole thing. The Hex series outlines a severe power imbalance with how the magic world operates and I hope we continue to meet power couples who shake up the game in future books to come. Unlike the first book, there wasn’t a teaser at the end of What The Hex to give us a hint as to who will get their own book, so I guess we will just have to wait and see!
Tropes and Themes: Magic, Witches, Grumpy x Sunshine, Mystery, Fake Dating.
Blurb
Enemies-to-lovers has never been more enchanting in this witchy romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling author of Go Hex Yourself .
Penny Roundtree wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. She’s been a member of the Society of Familiars ever since she was old enough to join the Fam. There’s just a small problem—no one’s hiring. Witches and warlocks are so long-lived that there are far more familiars available than witches to train them. So when an unorthodox arrangement to apprentice under the table to a forbidden warlock presents itself, she takes it.
Willem Sauer is banned from having a familiar due to past transgressions, thereby limiting his magic-casting abilities. Unfortunately for the surly, Prussian warlock, he has no choice but to work with enthusiastic Penny as a familiar. They immediately clash like dried roan horsehair and honeycomb gathered by moonlight (it’s a terrible spell combination, ask anyone).
Casting spells has delightful perks Penny never could have dreamed of, but also greater dangers. Someone is targeting Penny. Willem and Penny must work together to catch their enemy, and if their ploy requires a little kissing on the side, who is to question the rules of magic?
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