Witcha Gonna Do? by Avery Flynn

Could it possibly get any worse than having absolutely no magical abilities when you’re a member of the most powerful family of witches ever? It used to be that I’d say no, but then I keep getting set up on dates with Gil Connolly whose hotness is only matched by his ego. Seriously. I can’t stand him. Even if I also can’t stop thinking about him (specifically kissing him) but we’re going to pretend I never told you that part.

 

So yeah, my life isn’t the greatest right now, but then it goes straight to the absolute worst hell when I accidentally make my sister’s spell glitch and curse my whole family. And the only person who can help non-magical me break the spell? You guessed it. Gil the super hot jerk.

 

Now we have to work together to save my family and outmaneuver some evil-minded nefarious forces bent on world domination. Oh yeah, and we have to do all that while fighting against the attraction building between us because I may not be magical, but what’s happening between Gil and I sure feels like it.

 Series: Witchingdom #1 | Publisher: Berkley  |Genre: Magical Realism/Paranormal Romance  | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 4

It’s been a minute since I’ve read Avery Flynn and I don’t know why because I always have such a good time with her books. I was a more than intrigued when I discovered that she was releasing a witchy series and I was not disappointed.

Tilda’s having it a little rough. Not only is she the only magicless member of her family (which happens to be the most power family in Witchingdom) and daily social media fodder, she keeps getting setup on dates with Gil, the one guy she can’t stand (even if she does like to look at him). When she accidentally freezes her family, she has no choice but to ask Gil for help, which causes some rather interesting developments.

This was such a cute, fun, little romance that I could not put down. If you’ve read anything from Flynn you’ll know she’s known for snarky banter and this book was overflowing with it, which I loved.

I liked Tilda and Gil; she’s a little spunky and gets into all sorts of trouble and he’s a little stern and focused until you really get to know him. From the start, it’s obvious that there’s some issue between Tilda and Gil. He’s not her favorite person although we don’t really get to see the backstory for that, which I would have liked, but they are definitely in the frenemies category and it made for some interesting interactions.

The romance went from insta-lust to insta-love, and while I’m not a massive fan of that, this worked a bit better since it falls under that magical realism category. There’s also a bit of questioning going on since Gil’s not sure if his magic caused their attraction. Even though it is insta-love, there’s still some trust issues they have to work out.

Avery Flynn’s world building in this was spot on. The little details about how family magic differs, the different types of witches, and the people and magical creatures that live in this world really brought this world to life. It gave it a nice, cozy feel.

I was so close to giving this a 5, so close, but the epilogue, which takes place 5 years later revealed way too much about what’s coming in the series. There’s a thing going on with Leona (Tilda’s sister) and Erik (a guy from a rival witch family) and the epilogue gives it away. Why do authors feel the need to do this? I would have preferred that a novella been released at the end of the series with a catch up rather than revealing it all in the epilogue of the first book.

Overall, this was a fun, cozy read and the perfect type of book to start a new year of reading. It’s snarky, witty, and full of zany characters that made me laugh.

If you do pick this up, I would suggest not reading the epilogue until after the next book (which I’m assuming is Leona’s story) comes out.