Gwyn had no doubt that whoever he was, his ancestors had absolutely once stared down the business end of a guillotine. You didn’t get cheekbones like that without oppressing some peasants.
― Erin Sterling, The Kiss Curse
CBR17 Bingo: Purple
This story takes place one year after The Ex Hex.
Gwynn is bored. Her shop, Something Wicked, is barely breaking even, she hasn’t had a relationship in over a year, and her cousin and best friend Vivi is disgustingly in love and unavailable for witchy shenanigans or even a reality tv marathon and a box of wine. With her mother on a trip and Vivi about to leave on her honeymoon, Gwynn is left to hold down the shop in their absence. She is a naturally gifted witch, but inventorying plastic pumpkins is far from the clever spells she used to practice while a student at Penhaven College. Aside from mentoring a trio of magical undergraduate witches, Gwynn is more focused on paperwork and planning for the upcoming Halloween events that bring tourists to the town.
Llewellyn (Wells) Penhaven is in a similar slump. Ever the dutiful eldest son, he’s run the pub in his Welsh hometown at the insistence of his father. His hometown is dying, and hardly anyone comes to the pub. Trying to please his overbearing father, the patriarch of the Penhaven coven, has made Llewellyn hard and has deepened his antisocial tendencies. When his father laments how the Jones women have taken over the magical legacy of Graves Glen, Wells sees an opportunity. With his father’s blessing, Wells skips off to Georgia to investigate how pervasive the Jones power is and to reestablish the Penhaven name.
What he finds when he arrives is not the respectable village his ancestor founded, but instead a string of shops selling light-up ghost decorations and endless bat and pumpkin displays. He is disgusted by the silliness and decides to open a store that only sells classic magical objects. However, he leases the empty shop directly across from Something Wicked.
Gwynn does not take this well and a rivalry is born. However, despite how much they infuriate one another, they both suspect a nefarious love spell was cast on them as they cannot stop thinking about one another.
I liked this book more than the first one. This is probably because I find the enemies-to-lovers trope endlessly entertaining. There is less magical lore and more shenanigans involving love spells, family feuds, and Gwynn’s fat black cat, Sir Purrcival.