I was happily surprised by this book. I loved the authors ICe series but going through her back catalog usually disappoints me. I was skeptical because this had come out so long ago bit liked that it had been updated. The relationship between the two was really fun to watch develop but the mystery of Leona wasn't really necessary I felt, especially since it was so treated so light-hearted at the end

This was a really cute fun romance it was really well written and had great characters.Sybil and Nicholas were complete opposites but the attraction between them was really strong but neither was prepared to act on it.This is perfect for a lazy afternoon

I found Bewitching Hour by Anne Stuart to be a light and enjoyable quick read. The characters, Sybil (mediocre psychic) and Nick (Harvard skeptic) are quirky and likeable. This book was perfect for a snowy New England day.

I used to read Anne Stuart years ago, I think my first was Glass Houses, so reading this book was like going back in time. I really enjoyed the style of writing and the characters. A joy to read. Highly recommend

This was a cute romance with a little bit of mystery. More whimsical and less edgy that what I usually associate with this author, but sometimes just need something on the lighter side.

This was a fun read that had me loving all the characters. Sybil and Nicholas were opposites but I loved how they ended up. The story was well written and I will be searching out more books by this author.

This was an interesting tale. I would have thought someone with above normal perceptions would have seen thru the ruse. However love conquered all

The character of Sybil Richardson was a darling. Truly. I feel like we could be BFF.s The hero, tho, NIck, not so much. He seemed a little anachronistic for today's male hero. Overbearing, condescending. But Sybil loves him so he must have some redeeming values.
The story has a little bit of mystery attached to it, where elderly women are being hoodwinked and robbed of their savings. NIck knows who the conperson is but Sybil is such a good-hearted being, she can't imagine it's anyone she knows.
The chemistry between the hero/heroine was good, but again, I felt that Sybil lost a little of herself along the way to her HEA. But that's just my interpretation.

Anne Stuart brings us a book about magic and romance at Christmas. Her story takes place in the small town of Danbury, Vermont. There we get to meet some interesting characters and watch a romance develop.
Sybil Richardson is the secretary for the Society of Water Witches and also runs the occult bookstore in the small town. She has some talent for dowsing and is working on building her other psychic powers. She knows that her way of life isn’t for everyone. After all, her family certainly doesn’t approve of what she does, but it makes her happy. Sybil loves her home and the six dogs that share it with her. She is not looking forward to the skeptic that will soon invade her space.
Nicholas Wyndham Fitzsimmons is a professor. He has also written a number of books about psychic phenomenon and its ridiculousness. He is coming to Danbury to research dowsing before heading to England on a teaching assignment. Nicholas hopes that he can find enough information before he leaves to write his next book.
Nicholas and Sybil get along like oil and water and yet, there is an underlying attraction that is obvious to the reader from the beginning. Watching them snipe at each other and find excuses to be together makes this book highly entertaining. As if that isn’t enough to keep readers going, Ms. Stuart throws in a little mystery.
The elderly women in the town are finding themselves losing their savings on risky investment schemes. Nicholas suspects Leona Coleman, who is friends with Sybil. He vows to prove her guilty while Sybil vows to prove her innocent lending another layer of disagreement to this already contentious relationship.
Ms. Stuart does a remarkable job of juggling all of these disparate elements of magic, romance and suspense. The book doesn’t feel forced or convoluted, but flows nicely from the first page to the last. It makes nice holiday book.

There's a reason Anne Stuart has been a successful romance novelist for decades. Bewitching Hour was a delight to read. Ms. Stuart has a way of creating such real and flawed characters that the reader can't help but fall in love with. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and Christmas romances are some of my favorite reads. This one was no different. Even though this was a re-release of a book written a long time ago, it was a perfect read for Christmas 2017.
Sybil Richardson is the odd woman out in her family. With successful, beautiful, career-driven parents and siblings, the divorced new age shopkeeper who, in her opinion, is just "average" in everything, is an anomoly in the Richardson family. With a failed marriage under her belt and no real career moves to make, Sybil retreats to her family's Vermont homestead where she immerses herself in small town life where she can embrace her new age beliefs.
Her calm, boring life is disrupted with the arrival of professor Nick Fitzsimmons. Nick is the successful author of numerous books which "de-bunk" the whole new age traditions. Nick plans to stay in Danbury only long enough to complete his research before heading to Cambridge. Unfortunately what he imagined would be a peaceful, boring stay turns into chaos when he encounters all that is Sybil Richardson.
It was obvious that Sybil and Nick shared an intense dislike for each other, as well as an insane, uncontrollable attraction for each other. While they had nothing in common on the outside, they both were unintentionally searching for a connection that they found in each other.
I loved their witty banter and silly arguments, and I adored Nick for not letting Sybil get away with pulling away from him. He was charming and sexy in all his grumpy professor-ness, and he saw through Sybil's starchy exterior to the warm, loving woman within.

***ARC received for an honest review***

When a 1980s romance popped up on Netgalley I couldn't resist. With good reason.

Sybil gave up her yuppie lifestyle to run an occult bookstore in the wilds of Vermont. Nick, a Harvard professor, comes to town to do some research for a book. The pair is instantly at odds.

<b>"Nicholas Fitzsimmons mocked everything she held dear; she was damned if she was going to welcome him into her world just because he was the best-looking man she'd ever seen in her life."</b>

These two proceed to bicker through an entire book. Nick has it bad for Sybil - but she's afraid and constantly creating obstacles and arguments. The man is a saint - and also kind of a dick.

There's a plot-line involving a swindler that keeps the book skipping along.

All-in-all a nice old-school read.

<b>"'No,' he said. 'You're not the kind of woman I want. But since you happen to be the woman I want, I guess I'll have to make do.'"

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I have never read one of Anne Stuart's books, so to be honest, I requested a copy through NetGalley due to the beautiful, eye-catching cover. The book turned out to be a pleasant read, with a skeptic coming to visit and research a society of water witches in Vermont at Christmas. There is a mystery, but not much of one, and conflict between the skeptic and one of the witches; coupled with an irresistible attraction between the two. I was surprised to find that Bewitching Hour was initially published in 1986. Someone did a fine job of updating the text so that it did not seem at all "80s."Bewitching Hour is a good complete escape read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bell Bridge for a digital copy. The opinions are my own.

I normally love Ms. Stuarts books but this one kind of lacked her usual flair. It was a cute romance with a touch of mystery. It's not a long book but was a pleasant read and a break from what I normally read. Good overall writing.

Sybil Richardson has escaped from her perfect family to the wilds of Danbury, Vermont where she won’t have to try not to disappoint everyone. She helps to run the Society of Water Witches whilst selling psychic and dowsing paraphernalia. She is dreading the arrival of Nick Fitzsimmons the college professor who ridicules everything she believes in. He’s not the ancient academic she’s expecting and she finds it difficult to resist his dangerously magnetic charms. I loved this strangely quirky story and was wishing Sybil would make the right choices throughout the story. Quite gripping towards the end.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to read in exchange for a fair review. I was perusing the lists of available books on the NetGalley website when the beautiful cover for this book caught my eye and then the name of the author Anne Stuart. I’d read and very much enjoyed a number of historicals by Anne Stuart most specifically the House of Rohan and the House of Russell series. I wondered if this was the same author as I didn’t realize she also wrote modern romances, so I looked her up and joy and bliss it was the same author. Bewitching Hour was originally published by Harlequin in 1986. Sybil (Saralee) Richardson has always felt out of place in her family of tall, beautiful, thin over achievers and after her marriage failed has retreated to a family cottage in rural Vermont where she is the proprietor of an Occult Book/gift shop and the Secretary of the local branch of the Society of Water Witches SOWW. Nicholas Wyndham a Harvard professor Fitzsimmons arrives in town to do some research on a book he is writing about water dowsing. He is everything that Sybil thinks she doesn’t want in a man tall, incredibly good looking, wealthy and very sceptical of the occult. So if you are looking for a very steamy holiday story with a bit of magic, a mystery, a nasty villain, a white witch, sparking dialogue, killer springer spaniels and lots of snow this would be your book. I raced through this book and will be keeping my eye out for more of her modern books as this one was so much fun to read. Publishing Date November 24, 2017 #BewitchingHour. #NetGalley

This story put a smile on my face and was just what I wanted to read as I relaxed in the busy holidays! Very enjoyable.

This is a cute romance. There is a bit of a mystery, but not enough to really warrant even calling it a mystery. Sybil Richardson is secretary of the Society of Water Witches in Danbury, VT, though her psychic abilities are not very strong. Still, after a failed marriage, Sybil took refuge in a town where she was warmly embraced and befriended by the locals and where she landed this job as secretary. From the moment Nicholas Fitzsimmons, a professor who has strong negative reactions to anything occult or paranormal, enters her bookstore, hoping to spend some time in Danbury doing research, however, Sybil cannot explain her reactions to this hunky man—not exactly the person she had imagined Nicholas to be before his arrival. Nicholas likewise has strong feelings for Sybil, though she is the opposite of everything he is or believes. In addition to the research Nicholas is doing while in Danbury, he is checking the town and its witches and/or dowsers out. Almost immediately, Nicholas becomes concerned that someone is stealing money from the town’s widows, leaving them just enough to live on. Sybil refuses to believe his theory when he points out the presumed guilty party, spending a lot of time defending her and chastising Nicholas for thinking this person is guilty of such a nefarious crime. Nicholas and Sybil also end up dancing around their growing attraction for each other for most of the book, though it is plain from the outset they will only do this for so long.

This is not a long book. The two main characters, Sybil and Nicholas, are interesting opposites, who regularly work to p--- each other off, knowing full well that this can only continue for a certain amount of time. I found Sybil to be a bit off-putting through most of the book, as well as not being the smartest person or best judge of character. Nicholas comes across as the big city slicker who comes into town, ready to research some things he does not believe in and ready to try to” set things right”, whether the town wants this or not. The story was interesting, though not very deep. This is an older book, and not like any of the author’s other books I have ever read. Still, it is entertaining, providing a sweet, short, light read. There is not much paranormal in the book, but enough to keep a reader interested. The story is set around Christmas, but there is little of the holiday in it. It could easily have occurred at any time of the year. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.

This book was o.k. I found it basically enjoyable and somewhat entertaining. I found the overall premise of the book awkward and the woo woo aspects a little too far out. I'm pretty open minded and I have had friends who believe strongly in the occult and wicca so it didn't seem strange, it just seemed like something was off in the book.

My biggest issue with the book, I think, is that out heroine Sybil is box of rocks dumb. I mean she is blonde in a horror movie, decides to go outside by herself to investigate a strange growling noise, dumb. I could honestly see why her family thought she made stupid life choices, because she totally did. I liked the hero Nick for the most part. He was not a bad guy and honestly, if he could get past how big of a dumbass Sybil was they might as well make a life together.