This book isn’t quite as fun as the prior in the same series, but I’m glad to see how far Sterling can stretch the premise of her little universe.
Here, we follow the cousin of Vivienne of The Ex Hex fame (now happily wifed up with Rhys Penhallow) (or maybe not wifed, but definitely partnered). Gwyn is happy running her quirky witchy store in Graves Glen, the former seat of power of the Penhallow family. Who shows up but another Welsh brother, and since this is Romanlandia, they only make them tall and handsome overseas. After years of running a pub in Wales at the behest of his father, Llewellyn (these names) has decided to come to Graves Glen to open a tasteful magicky shop. There’s lots of unresolved tension in the air…and then some other witches show up and things start to go really haywire.
Honestly, I’m most disappointed that Gwyn’s story is another heterosexual love story when she’s an openly bisexual character and there was an opportunity to diversify the world of Graves Glen a bit. It’s cool that there were so many secondary characters of color, I suppose, and I know I’m being picky that main characters are white het feminist witches, but it’s my review and I get to complain about what I want to complain about!
Otherwise, I think I find insta-attraction type romance novels a bit harder to get into, so I preferred the “we used to date ages ago” set up of the prior iteration. Nonetheless, a fun candy corn book to read ahead of Halloween!