I DNF this super early into the book, around 5%, I just could not get into it. I was finding it boring sadly and could not find it in myself to care about the characters as I was looking forward to reading this one but never mind!

This was a great cozy romance with some fun magical elements, however I do wish that we could have seen more of the FMC's kitchen magic throughout the story. This book had a surprising amount of spice, which sometimes felt a little forced but were still pretty enjoyable. I also really like that the story didn't feel like it only centred on the MC's but that the FMC's dynamic with her friends was really well developed.

This book was cute, cozy and surprisingly spicy!

I really enjoyed this one, Dina is a kitchen witch who sprinkles just a little bit of of magic in her baking and I loved the way that baking was woven throughout the book, Dina is pretty content or has accepted a single life she's got her friends and her beloved cat but she's also hiding a secret that she is Hexed- destined to stay single because anyone she falls in love with will get hurt, so she stays single. Then she meets Scott a dashing museum curator and Dina is sold- but what about the hex????

This was such an easy feelgood read, it was a lot of fun and as I said earlier surprisingly spicy, I blushed hard! The characters are diverse and I really enjoyed the witchy elements, I especially love the witchy women in Dina's life and at the centre of her world. The romance was cute but a little insta love for me I am definitely more a fan of the slow burn.

Really excited to see what's coming next from Nadia El-Fassi and would absolutely recommend this book.

I received a copy of the book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Best Hex Ever is a cosy fantasy, but it contains some really “spicy” scenes. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so graphic, especially with how the cover looks. I was expecting more of a fantasy plot about a cafe and I feel like the cover is a bit misleading.

The book is set in the UK and it follows a kitchen witch who runs her own cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe is only featured at the beginning, and so is the kitchen magic. 😦 Most of the book takes place at someone else’s wedding and we don’t get to see much kitchen magic.

Apart from this, I found the book was enjoyable and easy to read. I liked the characters, although I couldn’t quite connect to Dina somehow. Scott’s chapters were better, and Dina’s were just ok. I was a bit disappointed with the plot, and it seemed like an afterthought to the romance. Now I know cosy fantasy isn’t about plot, but when there is a plot, it should move along and wrap up in a way that makes sense and doesn’t wrap-up suddenly, or by some convenient plot mechanic. I felt like the plot bit of Best Hex Ever was wrapped up too quickly and it hadn’t been set up properly. SPOILER It was just like, “Oh it’s actually because of XXX.” And that resolves the whole issue. END SPOILER.

I also think this book is technically romantasy, sort of, and not cosy fantasy. Except it’s maybe paranormal instead of romantasy? When a book is labelled “cosy fantasy” I’m expecting lots of like making cakes with magic in a world that’s fairly safe or something, and I just didn’t get that with Best Hex Ever,

I did enjoy the book though. The romance was cute, and I definitely shipped the two main characters together, but I was badly misled by the cover.

3 out of 5 stars

Loved this book, so cosy and cute. Perfect to curl up with on a winter night.

The FMC and her friends were so amazing and I loved their dynamic and the romance was so cute. I loved the magic but also loved that it wasn't flashy and always the main point of the plot. Truly a book about loving yourself - amazing!

Dina is a witch whose power is mostly based around making nice cakes which is handy as she owns a cafe in London. One day Scott visits the cafe and they both think the other one is very good looking. It turns out they are both involved in a wedding of their best friends so they spend the weekend together having a lot of very cringey sex (serious the dirty talk made me shudder) and being madly in love after 15 minutes. Although Dina is living under a hex, one that she has spent years avoiding telling her mum (a more experienced witch) about and then when she finally does it’s sorted immediately. The overall story is fluff, the characters are alright, the internal conflict is manufactured and nonsensical, and again the spice scenes are awkward at best.

(Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review)

This book was pure vibes—cosy, warm, and comforting, like curling up with a hot drink on a chilly day. Nadia El-Fassi creates such a charming atmosphere, and I was completely obsessed with how she wove food and baking metaphors into her writing. I can see how this might not be everyone’s cup of tea (ee what i did there hehe), but for me, it fits the tone of the book perfectly. Since one of the main characters is a baker, it makes total sense that she’d see the world through the lens of food, and it added such a personal touch to her perspective.

That said, I did struggle a little with the writing style. There was a lot of “telling” rather than “showing,” which made the prose feel a bit static at times. It didn’t flow as naturally as I would’ve liked, and this occasionally pulled me out of the story.

The magic elements, however, were delightful! I loved how the main character entwined her spells with her baking and her café, blending the two in such creative ways. It gave the story a unique flair and added an extra layer of charm to the setting. The friendships in the book were another highlight for me. The little trio of women at the centre of the story had such fun banter, and their open, honest conversations felt so real and refreshing. Honestly, I think I enjoyed the friendships more than the romance.

Speaking of the romance, it was cute but very much in the insta-love category—which isn’t my favourite trope. Dina and Scott go from 0 to 100 in just a few chapters, which felt a little extreme and made it harder for me to fully buy into their connection. The third-act conflict was also pretty predictable, which wasn’t a huge deal since that’s often the case with romance books, but it didn’t do much to surprise me either.

The plot overall was fine—nothing particularly groundbreaking—and it did drag in places. It’s clear that the main focus was the romance, so if you’re someone who loves swoony, fast-paced love stories, you’ll probably enjoy this a lot more than I did. Personally, the friendships and cosy magical vibes were what stood out to me, even if the romance didn’t quite land.

Cute and just a little spooky! I love witches and I love a good romance so this book was perfect! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Bet Hex Ever is a witchy rom-com with People of Colour in the starring roles, and a cast of diverse characters — I’d love to see more of this in books in future! This was a sweet but spicy read with a comfort café and delicious treats. Some of the spice is a bit overdone for me, and there’s a word I heavily dislike that has been used, but other than that it was a fun, quick read, perfect for autumn.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Random House UK, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Dina runs a cosy little cafe in London and meets museum curator Scott there one day during a shift. Dina is a witch and has been hexed, causing anyone she falls for to suffer harm. So she decides to try and ignore this handsome stranger, but they meet again when it turns out he is best man at one of Dina’s best friend’s weddings. Can she stay just friends or will the hex get to Scott?

This was an easy read and there were elements of it I liked - Dina’s parents’ house being like a magical tardis, the magic from around the world, both in Dina’s family and the artefacts Scott curates. But the rest of it didn’t really work for me. Clearly aiming for “spicy cosy fantasy”, parts of it felt a little forced, like a few too many mentions of “cosy” tropes had been thrown in to make it fit. You’ve got tea, cinnamon, baking….. I think further exploration of Dina’s family’s magical roots would have been more unique and interesting.

I’m sorry to say that this isn’t a book I’ll be recommending but might be enjoyed by people looking for an easy cosy fantasy book.

I really wanted to like this book. The kitchen-witch premise with the main character running a bakery where she uses her magic to bake good feelings into her cakes was really cute.

Unfortunately that was pretty much the only part I liked. I wouldn’t normally comment on editing and typos in an arc but it was so poor in this that it really impacted my enjoyment. The FMC thinks about the MMC’s “happy trail” on a couple of occasions and on one of the occasions refers to it as a snail trail instead. That’s an extremely unfortunate mistake!

The whole premise around the main character having a hex on her love life and being unable to tell her mother who is a powerful witch in order to get help, but won’t because it would reveal that she is bisexual and she fears her parents reaction is just a convenient way to give the main couple something keeping them apart. The FMC’s parents are incredibly loving and supportive and would clearly never react badly. Also, she could easily have told her mum about the hex without revealing she was bi.

I also wasn’t keen on the insta love between the main characters. There was no build up at all, and the relationship didn’t have any weight for me because of it. I wasn’t keen on the sex scenes either. I like a spicy book but this just didn’t work, the style of the sex scenes didn’t suit the characters at all.

One last thing, there’s a part where the story of Greyfriar’s Bobby is retold and at the risk of sounding dramatic, it felt a bit appropriated! Why not just tell the real story?! I’m a Scot so maybe I’m taking that a bit too personally, but I found it annoying!

I powered through because I was on holiday and it was a quick read but under other circumstances it would have been a DNF for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for granting me access to an E-ARC for this book.

In this book we follow Dina and Scott who fall in love at first sight.

Literally. They meet once and then they are obsessed.

It's supposed to be a cute romance with a touch of spice. And honestly the spice wasn't needed and sometimes cane off as creepy.
Like the dude starts going feral over the sound of her groaning after she was injured.

Really think it would have been better as a closed dooresque or more wholesome book as the spice felt out of place and took away from the romance

Dina believe her ex-girlfriend put a hex on her that causes hurt to anybody knew she dates and falls in love with. She can’t tell her Mum about the hex because she would have to explain she’s bisexual so instead has resolved to be single and live happily with her magic-infused pastries. However, when she meets Scott and it turns out he’s best man at her best friend’s wedding she decides that maybe she can risk a quick fling.

This book was fine. It was a fun romantic holiday read however I had a few criticisms. Firstly, the wedding took up too much of the book and the rest of the ‘home’ scenes felt a bit like bookends. Secondly, I like a spicy book, but the amount of oral sex in this was unnecessary in my opinion. I don’t know, I just didn’t buy it and although I enjoyed the book I wasn’t excited to pick it up and read it.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for sending this for me for an honest review.

Dina is a kitchen witch who sprinkles a bit of magic into the food she cooks in her super cute cafe, Dina lives a pretty content life with her friends and her cat Hebbie however Dina has a hex on her which means anyone who falls in love with her will get hurt which has caused Dina to reject any sort of relationship, along comes Scott who works at the museum and comes bustling into her cafe knocking down her magic protection and Dina and Scott's romance begins......but what about the hex?

I recently read another witchy book and it just didn't do it for me so I went into this knowing that however I really loved this. I really enjoyed Dina being a kitchen witch and baking magic into her food at her cafe, I really liked Scott and loved their love story. This book was very steamy and didn't promote safe sex which took the book down a little bit for me, all it took was for Soctt to say I'm clean and Dina to say ok, I mean you've just met the guy and you're taking his word for it hmmm, also the book was a little bit insta lovey but I was here for it as I love the love at first sight book.

Overall I would highly recommend this magical romantic book.

A cute witchy read that brings some much needed diversity to the trend of witchy romances that has cropped up the last few years. With a main character of Moroccan descent who is also bisexual, this book was really refreshing to read. While I can think of a least one other book with a main character of colour, this is the first witchy read I’ve come across with a non-straight main character so that was exciting.

I felt this book had a bit too much sex, so if you like your book with a bit more spice than I do, it might be more up your street than mine. I also found that the hex plot was a bit threadbare through most of the novel. A lot of time was spent establishing Dina and Scott’s relationship with the Hex only really coming into play in the last part of the book. As someone who’s more into plot than romance, this put me off a bit.

I loved the cast of characters though. I feel in this books the side characters really bring the whole thing to life and while Scott’s friend was a bit dull, I found Dina’s two best friends to be really interesting to read about.

On the whole too much sex and not enough plot for me to really love it, but I really enjoyed the bisexual representation.

I had a good feeling about this book before I even started it, like it sounded exactly like my kind of vibe and I wasn’t wrong! It’s cosy, it’s witchy and it’s SPICY yet also somehow wholesome too!? And the WHIMSY!!

I’m sorry but Dina has a MAGICAL house! I want a magical house and a room that makes it seem like it’s raining so I can have the perfect cosy reading day vibes at ALL times! It packs for you too and knows what you need and I’m lowkey jealous, okay.

ANYWAY!! As I’m sure you can tell, I really enjoyed this one! Like I said, it’s warm and cosy but also pretty spicy too and I really loved the message at the end! It was almost like it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, kind of thing? In a way, and I feel like there’s a positive message behind it that encourages you to be a bit kinder and gentler with yourself that I think we could all do with!

Not only did this book make me hungry af with the mouthwatering descriptions of food and baking (+100 cosy points for this alone!) but it was so magical and whimsical! Magical house aside, I loved the magic laced cakes and drinks etc so you’d be reminded of a particular feeling when you eat or drink them and the MOONLIGHT scene!? *chef’s kiss*

I really loved the magic of the book, okay! It was creative and fun and steeped in Dina’s Moroccan heritage like this book was SATURATED in magic! It popped up in so many different ways and it felt so natural and organic to the book’s world (or at least Dina’s!) which made it a lot easier for me to swallow the insta-love. I’m not going to lie, I don’t always vibe with insta-love, it depends entirely on how it’s written and I feel like it really worked in a book as magical as this!

I really loved Dina, I found her easy to empathise with especially towards the end when handling the hex and how it came about, plus why she concealed it from her mother. I also really empathised with Scott, even if I WAS insanely jealous of his job! The tension between them was IMMACULATE and the communication was on point too!

I also loved the supporting characters, I thought Immy and Rosemary were so much fun and I’m BEGGING for a Rosemary book with the hot actor! PLEASE!

While it was a little insta-lusty and I kind of felt it was rushed a little towards the end with the hex resolved pretty quickly (although I get that Dina building it up in her mind was part of the problem) ultimately, this was a really lighthearted, fun and witchy read that was saturated in magic and cosy vibes at every turn! There’s even a fun scavenger hunt and plenty of spice!

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

COZY, AUTUMNUL, SPICY read and of course full of MAGIC

I loved this book so much! The comfortable setting of London and a cozy cafe the Serendipity cafe which by the way I wish was real. Dinas drinks and foods sounds amazing!!!

If you want an Autumnal read which takes you from Haloween into Winter then this is the book for you.
It has the fun and mischief that 3 friends can get up too. And friends you wish you could have.

A very handsome man 🤭 and Dina the very best of kitchen witches. Who has a family that loves her so much.

As this story also has that element of self discovery and above all self love. Which by the end I can't deny tears almost fell from my eyes.

Can't forget about the spice 😈🥵🤭 however I think you need to discover that for yourself.

I highly recommended book! And a wonderfully done debut from an author I cannot wait to see more from!!!

A cute cosy witchy read. Perfect for autumn & winter months. I loved the magic elements especially the magic house! I wasn’t keen on the spicy parts of the book, they didn’t really sit right with the cosy magical feel that the rest of story had.

Unfortunately I DNFed this book at 30% in, I was finding it difficult to connect to the characters and I found the 1st person writing to be quite distracting.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this arc and would definitely pick it up and give it another go, as it may have been the mood I was in at the time.

I loved this so much!
-Really good mix of cosy and ehart left and smutty and wicked!
-The MMC is an absolute dream and my perfect idea of a man which helps
-Loved the friendships in this and the FMC with her family
-Lovely message about loving and accepting yourself and knowing that you are worthy of love
-I could read multiple books from these characters!