By: Cait Marie
Blurb
Danica Waterhouse is a fully modern witch—daughter, granddaughter, cousin, and co-owner of the Fix-It Witches, a magical tech repair shop. After a messy breakup that included way too much family “feedback,” Danica made a pact with her cousin: they’ll keep their hearts protected and have fun, without involving any of the overly opinionated Waterhouse matriarchs. Danica is more than a little exhausted navigating a long-standing family feud where Gram thinks the only good mundane is a dead one and Danica’s mother weaves floral crowns for anyone who crosses her path.
Three blocks down from the Fix-It Witches, Titus Winnaker, owner of Sugar Daddy’s bakery, has family trouble of his own. After a tragic loss, all he’s got left is his sister, the bakery, and a lifetime of terrible luck in love. Sure, business is sweet, but he can’t seem to shake the romantic curse that’s left him past thirty and still a virgin. He’s decided he’s doomed to be forever alone.
Until he meets Danica Waterhouse. The sparks are instant, their attraction irresistible. For him, she’s the one. To her, he’s a firebomb thrown in the middle of a family war. Can a modern witch find love with an old-fashioned mundane who refuses to settle for anything less than forever?
Review
This book had been on my TBR for a while, and I was so excited to finally jump in… but I have mixed feelings about it.
Overall, I really liked the world building and the characters. The story was fun and interesting. It was primarily the pacing that felt off to me, as well as the development of everything.
When Danica and Titus first meet, I wondered how they didn’t know each other despite living in the same small town for so long, especially when they both seem to know everyone. But I could get past that. It was the insta-love that I wasn’t fond of. I’m all for love at first sight or hooking up because of mutual attraction, but this was different. This was like honest insta-love and they suddenly knew each other so well. Yet, we didn’t really get to see them grow close or learn about each other.
That’s one of my least favorite tropes, so it kind of threw me off from the start, but I was willing to push past it because I kept hearing people recommend this book. It just didn’t really keep my attention though. Part of this is because it reads like a cozy story, which is not my usual choice. The other part was because it was around when my reading slump hit.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t that memorable. It took me forever to read. I didn’t DNF because it wasn’t bad. I was enjoying it, just not enough to get really sucked in.
There was a lot of jumping around, and there was simultaneously plenty of backstory for the characters while somehow also feeling underdeveloped. For example, there was a lot of history and drama going on with Danica’s grandma, mom, and aunt, but the details were sprinkled in randomly, so it was difficult to get the whole story. Then, there was Titus’s family situation, which gave him more depth, but it still didn’t feel fleshed out enough to relate to the current timeline. It’s hard to explain.
It also left a lot of things unanswered, especially in regards to Titus’s supposed curse. I kept waiting for there to be some sort of reveal about him having magic to explain his connection to Danica and such, but that never happened…
Now, I don’t know if this is addressed in the second book or not. I kind of assumed that since the sequel is focused on Danica’s cousin, Danica and Titus’s story was mainly over. I’m sure they’ll make appearances and be involved, but I don’t know how much.
To be clear, this was NOT a bad book. I liked it enough to keep reading, and I do want to continue the series. Like I said, the world building was great, as was the bigger story. I’m just not used to reading cozy books, so it felt slow to me, and I think things could’ve been fleshed out a bit more to help the flow and pacing. If you like cozy paranormal or fantasy, I definitely recommend this one. It was fun and steamy!
Functionally Fictional 
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