Review by Kayleigh

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“Spit what out?”

“Whatever’s bothering you. That look on your face.” He gets to his feet, and as he unfolds, I’m reminded just how very tall and menacing Ben Magnus is. He’s wearing all black again today–I’m not sure if the man owns clothing in another color—and he crosses the kitchen to come and stand directly in front of me, as if that will somehow force me to answer. 

I school my features into a mask of neutrality. “What look on my face?” 

“Like something is bothering you deeply. Spit it out. I assure you, I am impossible to offend.” 

Somehow I doubt that. I nudge the packets again, forcing my gaze back to them instead of looking at my boss’s nephew, who’s much taller standing next to men than I remember, and who smells quite nice … for an ass who thinks he’s a wizard.

Jessica Clare has written a funny and fresh paranormal rom com. 

When Reggie Johnson answers a job ad in the paper, she’s astonished to find that she’s not applying to work at her favorite card game, Spellcraft: The Magicking. Instead, she’s applying to be an actual familiar for an actual witch. As in, real magic.

The new job has a few perks – great room and board, excellent pay, and she’s apprenticing to a powerful witch. Sure, the witch is a bit eccentric. And sure, there was that issue with the black cat Reggie would prefer to forget about. The biggest problem, however, is warlock Ben Magnus, her employer’s nephew and the most arrogant, insufferable, maddening man to ever cast a spell.

Reggie absolutely hates him. He’s handsome, but he’s also bossy and irritating and orders her around. Ben’s butt might look great in a crystal ball vision, but that’s as far as it goes. But when someone with a vendetta targets the household, she finds herself working with Ben to break a deadly curse. Apparently, when they’re not fighting like cats and dogs, things get downright…bewitching.

Ok, this was an absolutely delightful ride. Reggie and Ben are an entertaining couple who both carry some major baggage: Reggie has narcissistic and just bad parents who use her financially and emotionally, and Ben has a traumatic past that has left him protected and indebted to his great aunt, Reggie’s new employer. The baggage, however heavy it was, doesn’t impact Reggie and Ben from falling head over heels for each other and they learn through each other to set down some of that baggage and allow themselves to build new lives.

This paranormal romance has some laugh out loud moments, mainly thanks to the bumbling and naïve Reggie. I will admit that I was worried I wouldn’t like her: she is at first seemingly too desperate and too youthful to hold her own. But, as Jessica peels back Reggie’s layers she develops into this charming, little clumsy but strong-willed heroine who finds herself in insane situations and just rolls with it. My favourite scene was where she was turned into a cat. Trust me on this one, it’s so good. And Ben is tall, dark, broody and 500 years old, so he’s really just my type. I personally love the asshole guys who turnout out to be cinnamon buns when they finally meet their person and realize they can be kind and vulnerable to the world. It makes my heart swoon.

The magic system is something that needs to be mentioned because it’s so darn unique: it’s based on magic from the Roman times which leads to some very very long-lived witches. I’ve never read a book with this magic system, based on buried tablets that hold the spells, and I really enjoyed it. Because some of these witches are thousands of years old it was delightful to learn how they keep up with the changing times and technologies while also hiding their backgrounds. The curse that Ben and Reggie need to figure out how to solve is a useful way of learning about the magic system and leads Ben and Reggie on a delightful adventure romance trip. 

This was my first Jessica Clare book, but it won’t be my last. I highly recommend Go Hex Yourself if you want some laugh out loud moments, steamy sex scenes and a fascinating magic system. 

 Thank you to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.