This little witchy romance mystery was everything I wanted for my weekend escape. The Beldam House and witches that live there are so unique, interesting, and FUN! I loved the quirky, mysterious backstories of all the characters and their diverse gifts. I wanted to learn ALL about them and was totally invested in their stories right from the start. Every scene had me smiling, and every few pages had me literally laughing out loud. Plus, Josh’s character is so damn likable; I couldn’t help but root for the budding romance between him and Essie. It’s a feel-good read with a nod to history and a lovely blend of witch lore old and new. If this grew into a series, I’d happily keep reading!

Big thanks to #NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was such a delightful read. The story was warm and cozy, and the characters were funny and adorable. I would have appreciated a little more angst and mystery. Perfect for fans of Hocus Pocus!

This book just wasn’t for me. I was looking for a fun, whitchy rom-com, but injustice couldn’t get into this one. The beginning of this book had a lot going on with a lot of different character to try to keep straight. This book just didn’t hold my attention like I was hoping it would. I would like to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback.

The Hex Appeal started off strong but like a hex may sometimes go, quickly lost momentum.

Josh, Good Winter’s new landlord, has a mystery up his sleeve: why has the Bedlam House not paid rent for centuries upon centuries. Needing the money to fix up his own cottage, he sets out to discover the occupants of the house and get down to business.

Essie Winterscale is a witch living with a few others in her coven at Bedlam House, Wanting to just live a normal life, she’s tried dating and becoming who she thought she was meant to be. And what she wasn’t meant to be? Discovered and remembered by Josh.

The Hex Appeal had a strong premise and a quirky cast of characters. I wanted to love this story but easily got distracted reading and couldn’t connect to the story/plot line. It was far too drug out and with much of the action happening in the middle, I found little need to continue on.

Thank you One More Chapter and Netgalley for my earc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own,

This book was so charming and just the right amount of spooky without being scary. Essie lives in a house that people forget. In fact, people forget Essie too. One day, Josh moves to town and seems to forget her a little bit less than expected.

I so appreciated that the conflict was a literal devil rather than some sort of dumb misunderstanding. I also enjoyed the way the witches were both modern yet seemingly ancient at the same time. I hope we get to see matches for the other witches in future books!

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for sharing an digital ARC with me in exchange for an honest review.

It has been quite a while since I have settled down with a good rom-com, and fortunately for me Hex Appeal did not disappoint.

The story itself was well executed, whimsical, wonderfully witchy, and vibrantly detailed. It has been awhile since I have found the setting itself be so thoroughly charming as I did Beldam House, with its roaming goats, ever changing rooms, and an atrium filled with monstrous plants and flying glass parrots.

The characters were fleshed out enough to care about them, but also made you wish for a sequel to dive into the histories of some of the home’s other residents next. (Especially Avery, the non-binary manifester of one’s dreams, and occasional medicine maker)

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Harpers Collins UK, One More Chapter for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for an honest review!

2.5 stars

From the plot I had very high expectations but they were not very satisfied. For the first 20% of the book I loved everything but then it was a continuous flop. The story gradually got lost and what the plot promised vanished in the middle of reading. I initially liked the characters but they slowly became boring. The writing, on the other hand, seemed to me quite good and fluent even if it often failed to capture me in the story. Definitely a perfect read for autumn, full of witches, spells and autumn vibes but it didn't satisfy me and I don't feel like recommending it.

I received this book from NetGalley and One More Chapter Publishing in exchange for my free and honest review. Josh has just assumed ownership of his family property in Essex. Unfortunately it turns out the estate is a money pit, with tenants who have contracts to only pay a pittance. But.. one property he can't find.... one with rent that hasn't been paid since the 1700's. The property happens to be the home of Essie, and her coven of witches. Essie's particular power is to bring winter, and well may occasionally freeze other things.


Personally one of my biggest issues with this book is until we got some revelations that happen fairly late in the book, I couldn't connect with Josh. He's prickly and standoffish but obsessed with Essie. After the reveals, well I still don't love him but I was more okay with why he was the way he was. I personally liked Essie way more. She felt more developed to me and we got more time with her actually explaining her hang-ups and issues instead of dancing around them like with Josh.

I loved the little town of Good Winter, and I'd love a more detailed explanation of the game that they played in the pub.

One of my favorite characters is Avery. They are a nonbinary individual that shifts their appearance to however they are feeling on a particular day. They are also the cook of the coven and can dish-up exactly what you need. There is also Blessing, the midwife, Maude who knits the future and Prudence who stuck around after being hung in the 18th century. I'd love to get to know more about the other coven members, potentially in future books.

I really loved the time travel elements and the people who ended up being from/ going to different time periods. The way it was handled was perfect and just the right type of soft magic for my tastes.

This is a cute witchy romance perfect for spooky season. It just released at the beginning of the month and is definitely worth checking out.

I love a good witchy romance and with the gorgeous cover, I couldn’t not request this book.

Essie is a witch living in Essex in a place called Beldam House, a magical disappearing house that everyone forgets about. Enter Josh, an American who has recently inherited property in Essex and is now the landlord of Beldam… if only he could locate it. Throw in a centuries old supernatural threat, time travel, and a quirky coven of witches and this book was a fun time.

While I enjoyed this book, I found myself more invested in the supernatural conflict than the romance between Essie and Josh. This book was heavy on the magical/fantasy elements and less on the romance which I was not expecting. Had the relationship between the couple been more fleshed out and not so back and forth (keep in mind the book takes place over a few weeks), I probably would’ve been more invested.

Overall, this was an interesting, spooky, and fast-paced read but the romance itself missed the mark for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and One More Chapter for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3 stars

I was looking for a book with a fall feel and this one did the trick! If you are looking for Hocus Pocus meets cutesy vibes, this is the book for you.

I loved both of the main characters. Josh and Essie had such a fun vibe with their flirty back and forth.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this!

Essie Winterscale lives in Good Winters in Beldearn house with a wide variety of other witches who vary greatly in ages that spam over centurys. You find a bit about each witch as the novel progresses, and their various powers. There is great characterisation in this book which helps sets up the seem from the very beginning.

Josh Henderson is from Searle but has ended up in Good Winters because his father left him a number of properties here. The only problem is here can't find one of them and they'd not paid rent in over 300 years! Additionally His sister Siena, turns up on his doorstop and we soon learn more about Josh and how his sister has inherited all the familys all the money.

Josh and Essie's lust for one another starts very early on in this book, Josh stating how Essie 'has curves in all the right places' and Essie characters resiprocates this by daring to say 'He filled out those jeans rather nicely, and with his warm brown eyes and open smile he was pretty darn easy on the eye'. This is definitely not your typical rom-com book, with both descriptive scenes such as this and the fairy elements, I don't know who the target audience is.

This book does have negative points, a lot of the ideas seem to be copied from other authors, such as the moving staircase seems to be taken right out of the Harry Potter books as well as how the portraits move around. Also the powers Essie has to freeze things appears to be very much like you see in Disney 's Frozen film. Is there no other shop in witches novels to come up with new ideas?

Nevertheless I found this to be a refreshing quick sand easy read even going adults, especially if your looking for a witch element is is the book for you.

Many thanks  to NetGalley and the publishers as I recieved a digital complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Overall, I wasn’t a huge fan of this book.
Parts were confusing and there was one huge theme that I actually didn’t feel was necessary, but I guess it added an edge to the story.
In the end, it was a witchy rom-com with a LOT of external details.

2.5/5 stars- This book was okay. It was a bit silly, a bit witchy, a bit romantic-comedy, and a bit boring. I like the house shifts and wished for a bit more focus on the *cool stuff*. I don't know that a huge Big Bad was necessary to cram in for the kind of book it was, but it added an urgency I suppose. The doorway to time felt a bit "Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis, which I enjoyed - could have probably been an entire book on its own! I think a lot of this book could've been fleshed out to fill more depth, but overall a fun sort of witchy tale.

Sadly, I just couldn't get into this one. I've read a lot of witchy romance this past month and this one just wasn't holding my attention like others have. The beginning almost confused me- too much was happening, too many names thrown around and I wasn't following. Some may love this one, but it's just wasn't for me!

Delightful! This was the perfect read for fall. Generation of witches. A magical house. A swoon worthy suitor. Lastly, a wonderful heroine.

I didn’t like this line “Essie was - he tried to think of a polite way to put it - a substantially built woman”

It really angered me. There’s nothing wrong with being fat or plus sized and this was rude

Hex Appeal was such an excellent book. If you like smart stories about witches with some romance thrown in, this is the book for you. It is about a woman, Essie, who is a witch, and what happens when her new landlord turns out to be so much more. There is a lot to love about this one, from the awesome house that provides what you need and has a time travel door, to the coolest bunch of witches I have come across in a long time. The romance part starts up kind of fast for two people who don't like dating, but really is solid and you find yourself rooting for them both. I really hated for this one to end, I wanted to stay among Essie, Josh, Avery, and Blessing for a little longer. I look forward to reading more by this author and really hope she writes more about this fantastic cast of characters.

This was… so boring. I’m sorry. Thanks as always to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC!

There were promising themes, but there was just way too much happening. It prevented me from really engaging with any of them. And, because of that, I barely felt any chemistry between the leads. I think Josh actually notices Blessing’s beauty first?

I think this might work for cozy fantasy readers, but I’m not even really sure because the magic plot was secondary to the romance (I think?) and fragmented.

The world building was cool - mixing Essex with magic and the past. Also, the author kept writing twentieth century… but they had iPhones, so I’m pretty sure it’s the twenty-first century.

Huge thank you to One More Chapter for this ARC. Hex Appeal is a very sweet, funny romance and Essie and Josh are perfect. I really hope there’s more in this series, I just wish there was slightly higher stakes in the storyline. But, overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.

What a fun enjoyable read about Essie, Bedlam House and the town of Good Winter and Josh who is new to withches.
Love the cat and dog and all the characters and magic.
Just a fun magical witchy romance.
Would be a good series
Voluntarily reviewed.