3.5⭐️ thank you netgalley Harper Collins and Carly Bloom for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

What I liked -
-Grandma Maddie stole the show ! I loved the female bonds between all of Delia's family.
-Nikki was utterly fabulous
-I liked the change up from other witchy reads with Max being a male witch.
-I don't know why, but I'm feeling something between Luc x Amy.

What I DISLIKED
- this took so long to get to the punchline. I was waiting Delia to just break the Curse in such a dramatic way, and she would be this badass witch. But no. I didn't get this. You have to wait until 60% of the way through for it to happen.

- Very little spice, no spicy action until around 80%

This is seperate from review - but Netgalley needs to fix formatting on some of the arcs. It made somethings confusing.

T R O P E S

✨️strangers to lovers
✨️close proximity
✨️slow burn
✨️grumpy x Sunshine
✨️found family
✨️he falls first

‘Hot Hex Boyfriend’ by Carly Bloom is a really fun romance set in the somewhat magical town of Willow Root that explores family loyalty, love vs. logic and friendship. Adorable main character Delia is part of a family of women who all believe that they are witches whose power was cursed away generations ago, but as she approaches 30, she finds them mildly embarrassing (despite loving them to pieces). When powerful witch Max arrives to prepare the grand house he inherited from his estranged uncle for sale and is given a mission to stop a certain Cordelia Merriweather from lifting a hex she doesn’t really believe in, it seems like the easiest job in the world… but will his his heart start to rule his head?

I really enjoyed:
- Max’s inherited familiar Nikki - who took on his impish form and shared sage advice
- Delia’s warm and hilarious family and friends who brought so much joy to every page
- The character development for Max’s brother Luc and his parents
- The well thought-out and intriguing magical lore which really drove the last third of the plot
- Themes of the beauty community and the power of collaboration

The pacing of this book was a little uneven in my opinion - with the first half of the novel feeling quite slow, and the culmination coming very swiftly, but that did mean I deeply cared about the characters and was incredibly gripped by the end!

This gets 4.5 stars from me - I really enjoyed the world-building and fell in love with both Max and Delia. This is the perfect spooky-season read and I’m eager to explore more from this author (who has also released a cowboy romance series).

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Headline Books via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

*2.5 stars

I really wanted to love this, but it needed some tweaks.

There are 3 things I really loved about this book:
1. The cosy, small town, Sabrina the Teenage Witch vibes
2. Delia's best friend
3. The cat

But unfortunately that's about all that I liked.

I started out really enjoying it, but I feel like it went on forever! I think the problem is that the plot from the synopsis doesn't actually start until about 50/60% of the way through the book. So obviously by that point I'd completely lost interest. I also feel like the characters were quite immature and there wasn't actually any chemistry between Delia and Max.

Because of the pacing issues, I didn't end up enjoying this that much, but I did have a great time at the start!

First, a big thank you to NetGalley, Headline Eternal, and Carly Bloom for providing me with an advanced copy of Hot Hex Boyfriend in exchange for an honest review.

Hot Hex Boyfriend follows Delia Merriweather, a 29-year-old woman born to a family of "witches" who are powerless due to a supposed centuries-long hex placed upon their family. Due to the circumstances of Delia's birth, she is theorised to be the witch who can break the hex placed on the Merriweathers. What she doesn't know is that her new next-door neighbour, Max Halifax, is not only packing up his late uncle's estate but has also been tasked with making sure Delia does not break the hex before her thirtieth birthday - and if she does, it's up to Max to re-hex them.

I definitely recommend Hot Hex Boyfriend to anyone looking for a cute, witchy romance book as we move into autumn. This book had all the makings of a great rom-com; it was full of sweet and charming characters, interesting lore, and a few steamy scenes. I thought the pacing was great and I was hooked after about fifty or so pages. I thought the supporting characters helped bring the small -town to life so it felt lived-in and realistic.

I also enjoyed the fact that you can think you know where this story was headed but then as you read on, so much more is uncovered. I think Bloom has done an amazing job of creating a fleshed-out world with a rich history, an interesting magic system, and political intrigue.

Hot Hex Boyfriend releases on September 3rd 2024, so I would encourage you to keep an eye out for it if it's sounds like something you would enjoy!

This was such an enjoyable and easy to read/understand book about a family of witches who navigate breaking a curse and suddenly having their magic back after generations of faking it.
It was just complex and engaging enough to be interesting and not confusing. It's also very lighthearted, almost a comedy romance with plenty of moments that had me laughing and happy for the characters. Most of the characters also seemed really unique and weird in their own ways which made for some interesting scenes and funny dialogue. It really helped to brake up some of the more boring or intense parts of the plot.

The pacing was a little bit slow to start off with. There was loads of time taken at the start explaining things that could otherwise have been left unsaid, as i'm sure the reader would have been able to jump to their own conclusions/figure out what was happening.
It felt a bit lacking too that it took so long plot wise to get anywhere, which is why this wasn't a 5 star read for me.
I was fully expecting dramatic things to happen at the start, or for things to get moving at the 20% mark, not to wait until we were roughly half way through. I really think this is going to impact how some people view the story, or rather how many people will actually stick around to read it all...

I also really enjoyed the contrast between Delia and Max. They were almost total opposites and even though so many things went wrong for them they were still able to make it work, and didn't really let anything get in their way at the end after admitting their feelings!

I would definitely say it falls into the realm of a cosy autumn/Halloween read, or even a palette cleaner book to be read in between really high fantasy books.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me a chance to read an arc of this book <3

Imagine coming from a family where for generations the women are claiming to be hexed witches, where the focus is getting the magic back even when there’s obviously no magic.
Fast approaching 30, Delia is trying to set up yet another business whilst coming to terms with numerous failures behind her, being terminally single and supposedly being her families chance at recovering their magic.
This was really good, the magic system worked perfectly, the romance was magical and I loved the characters, especially Nikki.
Definitely recommend reading.

Hot Hex Boyfriend was an enjoyable read. There were funny parts that made laugh out loud, a mix of wonderfully weird and eccentric characters all set in a world of secrecy, magic, hexes and romance. Delia and Max were very cute together and I liked that the author took time to build that connection. I did think that the first half of the book was a bit slow and there was maybe too much world building and periphery characters introduced who were not particularly integral to the plot. I got to about 50% and the main crux of the story had not even happened yet!! However the story did pick up and the plot moved along much quicker after that. Would not mind reading more set in this world (Luc, Amy and Nikki need books of their own!). 3.5 🌟

4.25/5

For a book that's marketed as that "a witch breaks a hex and gains magic", I'm disappointed that there was no breaking hex until 48% of the book, and gaining magic until 60% of the book. I mean seriously, half of the book was mostly just exposition. I was expecting something else whatsoever, but tbh, I liked this book anyway.

It was cute and nice and I vibed with it. It's a cozy read for Halloween and I recommend this book.

Delia was quirky and fun, and Max was broody and stoic - until he wasn't. I loved how much he liked Delia from the start, despite the fact that he shouldn't, but when he accepted it, he didn't let anything stand in their way. I understand Delia's freak out about accidentally bewitching him, and I'm somehow glad that she wasn't angry about the role he played in everything since the beginning.

The background characters were fun too. I love how Luc embraced life in the village, and how Amy wanted more, and the Merryweather witches who were so excited to find out the truth. But my favourite one was Nikki. He was amazing, fun, well-written, mysterious and just great. I loved him.

The ending was a surprise but an interesting one! It kept me on my toes and I did shed a tear. The book was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it. hope that the author will continue to write books in this universe - I would love to read stories about Amy, Luc, and Nikki. And to revisit Delia and Max, of course.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the digital ARC of this book in exchange fir my honest opinion.

A less dark, more sweet cousin of Practical Magic. This is my fave kind of POV, so it was a really easy read, though there was a little too much time spent on set up. Great leads with great, tense chemistry, and brilliant secondary characters, and just all round great vibes!!

Delia is from a family who very openly tell people that they're witches, despite not having any magic. All that changes though when Delia accidentally breaks the Hex that was - it turns out - responsible for them being magicless. Mayhem ensues!

Overall I quite enjoyed this book, but I think maybe it needed more of the family (who were brilliant) and less of the MMC, who was kind of dull. The pacing was a bit off, and it did feel like the book was going on a bit long, which is a shame as the last quarter is where it really came into its own.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I love a good Halloween/autumn cosy read and despite not usually being in to fantasy I’m a sucker for a witchy Rom com!

This would be the perfect read to get you in the Halloween spirit with a cosy blanket and a pumpkin spice anything.

If you’re a fan of the Erin Sterling or Kate Johnson you will love this too