3.5 stars for me. I really liked a lot of things about this book - there’s a bit of Stars Hollow, CT (a la Gilmore Girls) but make it secretly magic with witches. I love a small town setting, and I really liked the very strong friend group/found family vibe in this.

My quibbles are - this seems to be a magic witch town with only white straight people, which is an odd move. Also, the amnesia plot is tricky; without spoiling, I just feel like there were some choices of convenience without realistic consequences taken by the author, which took me out of the story a little.

If you like a real-life contemporary setting but make it magic, this is a cute paranormal with a dash of romance (extremely off the page, 0% spicy if that matters to you). It is clearly set up for the next book - in fact, the ending is very “we’ve won this battle, but here comes more conflict right this second” - not a cliffhanger, but still definitely mid-action.

This would have a wide appeal to patrons in any public library setting.

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.