Books and Bewitchment

As a born cynic, I am always on the lookout for the angle in life and in fiction, but sometimes something is what it seems on the surface; wholesome. Not all books need to challenge the reader and leave them exhausted. Novels can be an escape, an entertainment, full of love and magic. Books and Bewitchment by Isla Jewell is the book to scratch that itch.

Rhea Wolfe lives in a small town, works in a dead-end job, and has an on-off boyfriend that does not understand when things are over. One person’s tragedy is another’s opportunity when news comes through that Rhea’s Grandmother, Margaret, has died leaving various run-down properties in the picturesque town of Arcadia Falls. Properties and another legacy, one of magics than run deep through the family tree, and the other families in the town.

I have a soft spot for Romantic Comedies, and Books is the closest I have read to a novel version of one. I have also read plenty in recent years of what may be considered Romantasy, but often with plenty of antasy over the romance. In this case, although there is magical realism, it leans more into the romance as Rhea soon meets the young suitor, Hunter, the grandson of her Grandma’s arch enemy.

After meeting Hunter I immediately went into mistrust mode, could this handsome and sensitive man, who works wonders with wood, be too good to be true? The answer is, take off your usual suspicion hat and enjoy the ride. The stakes are high, but not deadly. This is a book about a young woman finding her place in life and like for many of us, that happens to be a bookstore.

Books is joyous, full of light moments and minor peril. Rhea is thrown into a fish out of water scenario as she suddenly discovers her own latent powers. In keeping with the softer feel of the novel, the powers in this book are not creating hurricanes or throwing fireballs, but small talents such as baking, or in Rhea’s case the ability to use books to gain advise. The story revolves around the town losing its magic over time and Rhea discovering it again, whilst also discovery Hunter’s talents.

As a romance novel, it does have some adult scenes, but they are on the mild side, more titillation than full imagery. It is a story of the heart, although there is a little of the story of the parts as well. I found that the romance drifted into what I consider twee and a touch cliché, but as a genre I find light-hearted romances can lean into this. It is nice to feel comfort in a book where not everything has to go wrong, and some things may just end happily ever after.