I am on a roll with some truly excellent reads and listens. Lia Amador’s Witch You Would is a fun contemporary fantasy romance.
Lia Amador has created a world in which magic is something anyone can do, like cooking or math. Some people are better at it than others and so of course there are reality shows in which people compete for best spell caster. The venerable reality show, Cast Judgement, is filming its next season in Miami and Penelope will be a contestant. The prize for the season winner is a check and a year long residency to work on the project of their choice. Penelope wants to translate and organize the spell book her abuela brought from Cuba. She also wants a way out of her dead end job as a sales clerk at a spell shop. She does achieve that goal when her unreasonable boss fires her for not cancelling the two week “vacation” that had previously been approved.
On this season of Cast Judgement, the producers want to increase viewership by partnering the contestants with ‘spellebrities.’ Penelope is hoping to be paired with someone who can help her career, but no, she gets paired with Miami local, Leandro Presto, a bumbling himbo whose videos of magical accidents have gone viral. Penelope thinks he’s a dangerous fool who will hinder her chances at a win. Leandro is actually Gil, a struggling adjunct professor already in love with Penelope and trying to keep his famous persona separate from his real life. It takes the two some time to build trust, but even before Penelope finds out Leandro and Gil are the same person, they have the foundation of a partnership.
Lia Amador’s Miami is vibrant and queer normative. I really enjoyed the dual pov as Penelope and Gil tried to figure out how to navigate the situation they were in. Obviously, I’m not a witch, but the process of developing spells was reminiscent of cooking and baking. The process of building a spell and thinking through how ingredients react to each other, the problem solving and fixing mishaps was so familiar to me. As I am writing this review, I am pausing to do stretch and folds on my sourdough during it’s multi hour bulk ferment. If turning flour, water, and salt into bread isn’t magic, I don’t know what is.
After I read the book, I got an advance listener copy and then listened to the book. The narration by Stacey Gonzales and Gary Tiedemann was great. Tiedemann, in particular did a great job with Gil’s Leandro persona. Both narrators kept me engaged. I love listening to a book after I’ve read it with my eyes, because I find things I hadn’t previously picked up on. Stacey Gonzales’s narration gave voice to Penelope’s growing self confidence.
I enjoyed this a lot and I can’t wait to see the next book, which I hope will resolve Penelope’s sister’s story. I also remembered that Lia Amador is a pen name for Valerie Valdes, and I am currently listening to her delightful space adventure, Chilling Effect. It’s so nice to listen to a scifi book where Latine culture is front and center.
I received this as an advance reader and listener copy from Avon Books, Harper Audio, and NetGalley. My opinions are my own, freely and honestly given.