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A review by emeliestegbornblixt
Black Witch Magic by Mila Nicks
3.0
Arc recieved in exchange for an honest review via the authors website
So this is a kind of mix between a paranormal romance and a cozy mystery, I would say. Our female lead is a librarian witch who lives alone with a dog, which presumably is all you'd want from a romance (at least if you're me - there are way too few librarian witches living with dogs in the romance genre, if we're talking about percentages).
I liked our main characters, especially in the beginning of the story. Their first meeting was enjoyable enough that I was rooting for them. I enjoyed all the snarkiness and sarcasm. While I - unlike Aiden - do enjoy christmas, the overambitious version of christmas cheer in this story would have given me anxiety had I been forced to live through it and I spent pretty much the entire book fucking hating the orchestrator of said christmas cheer, Priscilla. In short, I very much empathized with both our main characters and was rooting for them the entire time.
However, there were problems. The thing is, I don't know how to put into words exactly what those problems were, but I feel like the craft of this story was a bit lacking. A bit into the story it felt to me like the story was dragging, which is primarily a problem because this is a story that is based in plot. I think this is supposed to feel like a fast-paced action packed (though cozy) whirlwind of twists and turns, but it didn't feel like that as I was reading - I felt like, "why am I reading this same dialogue about how Priscilla Myers is incapable of seeing Aiden as anything but a puppet in her own personal christmas show AGAIN?" I don't know, this isn't my problem per se, but it's a concrete example of how that played out. I do think this is a question of skill rather than talent, though. Meaning, I think Nicks has the potential to put together a sharper narrative in the future - this could have been a sharper narrative with one or two more rounds of editing.
Another thing, which is more of a personal preference, is that I would have liked this story to have a bit more sexual tension. As it was I wasn't really feeling it, and I was expecting there to be more of it. I get why there wasn't really any actual fucking for most of the story - the plot needed the fucking to not work out. But you don't have to have full-on sex scenes for your story to be sexually engaging. I can see a version of this story where at the end you're like "will you nerds just bang already?!" but because the tension was lacking I just wanted it to be over with when we got to that part.
Ugh, I sound really negative in this review. I don't dislike it as much as it sounds. It's just easier to pinpoint what I wanted to be better (or different) than what I liked. It was a fine romance, and predictable in the ways that are enjoyable in this genre (and I'm including the mystery about the curse here). That part would have been super fun if the writing and crafting of the story had been a bit tighter. As it was it was... fine. But if the premise interests you, check it out! If it does, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. That's usually how it goes with these kinds of romances. And as I said, the main characters are quite enjoyable, and that is arguably the most important thing in this genre.
So this is a kind of mix between a paranormal romance and a cozy mystery, I would say. Our female lead is a librarian witch who lives alone with a dog, which presumably is all you'd want from a romance (at least if you're me - there are way too few librarian witches living with dogs in the romance genre, if we're talking about percentages).
I liked our main characters, especially in the beginning of the story. Their first meeting was enjoyable enough that I was rooting for them. I enjoyed all the snarkiness and sarcasm. While I - unlike Aiden - do enjoy christmas, the overambitious version of christmas cheer in this story would have given me anxiety had I been forced to live through it and I spent pretty much the entire book fucking hating the orchestrator of said christmas cheer, Priscilla. In short, I very much empathized with both our main characters and was rooting for them the entire time.
However, there were problems. The thing is, I don't know how to put into words exactly what those problems were, but I feel like the craft of this story was a bit lacking. A bit into the story it felt to me like the story was dragging, which is primarily a problem because this is a story that is based in plot. I think this is supposed to feel like a fast-paced action packed (though cozy) whirlwind of twists and turns, but it didn't feel like that as I was reading - I felt like, "why am I reading this same dialogue about how Priscilla Myers is incapable of seeing Aiden as anything but a puppet in her own personal christmas show AGAIN?" I don't know, this isn't my problem per se, but it's a concrete example of how that played out. I do think this is a question of skill rather than talent, though. Meaning, I think Nicks has the potential to put together a sharper narrative in the future - this could have been a sharper narrative with one or two more rounds of editing.
Another thing, which is more of a personal preference, is that I would have liked this story to have a bit more sexual tension. As it was I wasn't really feeling it, and I was expecting there to be more of it. I get why there wasn't really any actual fucking for most of the story - the plot needed the fucking to not work out. But you don't have to have full-on sex scenes for your story to be sexually engaging. I can see a version of this story where at the end you're like "will you nerds just bang already?!" but because the tension was lacking I just wanted it to be over with when we got to that part.
Ugh, I sound really negative in this review. I don't dislike it as much as it sounds. It's just easier to pinpoint what I wanted to be better (or different) than what I liked. It was a fine romance, and predictable in the ways that are enjoyable in this genre (and I'm including the mystery about the curse here). That part would have been super fun if the writing and crafting of the story had been a bit tighter. As it was it was... fine. But if the premise interests you, check it out! If it does, you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. That's usually how it goes with these kinds of romances. And as I said, the main characters are quite enjoyable, and that is arguably the most important thing in this genre.