A review by booksbytheglass
Back in a Spell by Lana Harper

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is probably my least favorite of the thistle grove series so far, but this witchy romcom is such a guilty pleasure!! and boy does lana harper know how to write (so really they’re all so good) 🔮😮‍💨

this time, we switch over to the dark side of the blackmoore family (you know, the ones who try and ruin everything) and find out that not everyone is as cold as ice in the fam… basically, in the club, we are not all fam 🫨

when nina meets local normie morty, they immediately discover they’re each other’s worst enemies, and might be each other’s only hope 👀 this is a perfect enemies to lovers to soulmates book y’all 

and while the “mystery” of it all was a bit far fetched and borderline fantasy rather than magical realism, I did find it intriguing on how nina straddled the line of what was best for her rather than what was best for everyone in thistle grove!!

the representation of morty, however, was a bit disappointing to me. I love the inclusion of a main non-binary character and the conversation surrounding pronouns, but once morty shared their pronouns of he/they, the characters defaulted to he for the rest of the book and promptly didn’t bring it up again, even to the point of nina uses masculine descriptors for their body. I just wished it was brought up in conversation more than just used to be used? if that makes sense… and lana harper does fabulous LGBTQ+ representation in her other novels, so definitely would recommend regardless!!!!

rating: 4 stars
wine pairing: blanc de noirs champagne