I really enjoyed being back in this world! The forced proximity and banter was top notch! I enjoyed this relationship much more than book one which usually isn’t the case! I loved the character growth and realizing it’s okay to be yourself because there is someone out there who will love you for you!

I had not previously read anything by Jessica Clare and really enjoyed our introduction! There was no need to have read the prior book in this romance series. I was really fascinated by the world and society so I will be returning.
The romance in this book had me kicking my feet and giggling! I adored many of Penny and Willem's moment's. A quality grumpy x sunshine with fake dating to brighten your grumpy days!

I'm a huge fan of this author and I loved reading this book! It was funny, mysterious, and spicy all in one. Combining the tropes of enemies-to-lovers with grumpy/sunshine is a perfect combination. I love the witchiness of the book, but its lighthearted and relatable (I wish I was familiar). Penny is the cutest character (can I steal her style please? And the confidence to wear it) and I love a brooding male main character with a heart of gold underneath it all. I hope there are many more of these to come!

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: What The Hex

Author: Jessica Clare

Book Series: Hex Book 2

Rating: 5/5

Spice: 5/5

Recommended For...: adult, romance, paranormal, fantasy, magic, witches, contemporary

Publication Date: April 4, 2023

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age Relevance: 18+ (sexual content, romance, murder, violence, child abuse, animal death, animal sacrifice, death, cancer, pregnancy)

Explanation of Above: There is a lot more sexual content and romance in this book than the previous one. Pregnancy is mentioned and shown in the book. There are scenes with murder and violence mentioned and shown. Death is mentioned. Child abuse is mentioned. Animal death and sacrifice of a pig is mentioned. Cancer is mentioned.

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 336

Synopsis: Penny Roundtree wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. She’s been a member of the Society of Familiars ever since she was old enough to join the Fam. There’s just a small problem—no one’s hiring. Witches and warlocks are so long-lived that there are far more familiars available than witches to train them. So when an unorthodox arrangement to apprentice under the table to a forbidden warlock presents itself, she takes it.

Willem Sauer is banned from having a familiar due to past transgressions, thereby limiting his magic-casting abilities. Unfortunately for the surly, Prussian warlock, he has no choice but to work with enthusiastic Penny as a familiar. They immediately clash like dried roan horsehair and honeycomb gathered by moonlight (it’s a terrible spell combination, ask anyone).

Casting spells has delightful perks Penny never could have dreamed of, but also greater dangers. Someone is targeting Penny. Willem and Penny must work together to catch their enemy, and if their ploy requires a little kissing on the side, who is to question the rules of magic?

Review: This was such a good read! Back in the world of Go Hex Yourself, this book takes place almost immediately after the first left off with two new protagonists. Both come to get together for an arrangement, Penny would be the familiar and get her hands into the familiar world while William would get a familiar and be able to cast real spells again. The arrangement turns into a fake dating scenario, then a fake pregnancy trope scenario as they are slowly found out in their lies and deceits… unless it’s not all a lie after all. The book was so much fun to read and I loved the chemistry between the leads. The book also had an intriguing mystery and it kept my interest from beginning to end. The world building continues to be fantastic and I loved the character development.

The only issue I had with the book is that in places the pacing was a bit too slow.

Verdict: I loved it so much!

Jessica Clare does it again! This read was magical and fun. I absolutely adored their relationship and the characters were lovable. I absolutely love this series and I will recommend to every reader.

This was so well written. I was engrossed from the first page and it ticked all the boxes of my expectations. The character development was excellent. I would definitely recommend to others, a must read!

What the Hex is definitely out of my comfort zone of reading. I don't ready a lot of romance or anything considered "spicy," but I had a lot of fun reading this fake dating romcom. The banter between the main characters and their inevitable blossoming romance had me hooked. I also can't forget the drama, this book was filled with it, and it had me glued to each page. If you're looking for a fun romcom that is a little witchy, but mainly fun, then check this out.

Okay this was such a fun read!!! Absolutely loved the grumpy sunshine vibes! Perfectly steamy with a great story. I cant ask for much more. I read this so fast and just couldn't put it down!! Definitely recommend.

Thank you netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a fun book to listen to. The narrators did an amazing job bringing the amazing characters to life. The story had the perfect combination of humor, suspense and steamy romance. I found myself pretty much immediately addicted to the storyline and wanted the story to just keep going so I could spend just a little more time with the characters. I highly recommend this book to all readers, especially fans of paranormal romances.

The cartoon covers trick me every time. I started reading this one on a plane thinking "oh a cute witchy romcom, that'll be good to read on my flight..." Well it was a cute witchy romcom, but by chapter 5, I was angling my screen towards the window because I was not expecting it to be as spicy as it was. (This is not a complaint at all.)
I enjoyed everything about this book, especially the spice, but mayyybe I wouldn't recommend reading on a plane haha

This was such a fun addition to this series. I was really hoping to see more of Penny and Willem after their appearances in the first book. I love the fake dating trope and add in some magic and this was such a treat. I look forward to the next book in the series!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

We knew from the first book in this series that Penny was anxious to be a familiar. So anxious that she might be willing to go to some unusual measures, like working with a wizard who is definitely NOT supposed to have a familiar.
Willem isn't sure about Penny. She's definitely a sunshine to his grumpy. But she's beginning to grow on him. Even her quirky pet is becoming more cute and less annoying.
Good freaking lord. Why is WTF spelled out? And it's used so many times. So. Many. Times. I also wish that the love hadn't been quite so insta, that we had seem more of a relationship develop. And I didn't like the ending. Penny has been wishing for one thing her whole life and now she's being prevented from doing it.

Three stars
This book came out April 19, 2022
Follows Go Hex Yourself
ARC kindly provided by Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

I read this book free as an E-arc from NetGalley. I really liked What the Hex, but do not read if you don't like sex scenes. Penny Rooundtree belongs to the Society of Familiars where she is the Secretary and optimist of the group. She wants to be a familiar to a witch like her parents who have not much contact with her. Enter her friends Ben and Reggie who tell her of their grumpy wich friend who isn't allowed a familiar as ge is not allowed to cast. She takes the job as Will is trying to irritate and figure out what Stoker wants. The dialog between them is sparky. He is a grump and control freak and she is a color coordinated optimist. The book was enjoyable and I read it in about a day. I highly recommend it

3.5 stars!

I love a witchy romance, and What The Hex is the second book in the Hex series that follows Penny Roundtree, the heroine in our story, who is forced to team up with grumpy warlock Willem while also pretending to be dating.

*many thanks to Berkley romance and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙃𝙚𝙭
✍🏻Jessica Clare
🗓️4.4.23
💕Contemporary Romance

𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨:
🪄 fake dating
🪄forced proximity
🪄grumpy/sunshine
🪄enemies-to-lovers
🪄witch/familiar

Livro com capa colorida e sobre bruxas? What The Hex é um livro que com certeza faz meu estilo de leitura.





Penny vem de uma família tradicional por ser de familiares, seus pais ajudam bruxas a conjurar feitiços, assim como sua avó. Mas ela infelizmente ainda não foi recrutada para trabalhar com um bruxo ou bruxa. Para ocupar seu tempo ela trabalha na Sociedade dos Familiares e na loja de itens para feitiços. Ela trabalha duro e é conhecida por ser uma otimista. Até que Ben e Reggie, sua familiar, a convidam para jantar e apresentam uma proposta. Acontece que existe um bruxo que está condenado a passar décadas sem ter um familiar, mas que precisa de um com urgência. Willem não é muito querido entre a comunidade bruxa, principalmente por ser um grumpy arrogante. E é ele que precisa dos serviços de Penny, que sem perspectiva de se tornar uma familiar acaba aceitando. Porém, quando Will conjura coisas estranhamente deliciosas acontecem com o corpo de Penny e quando as coisas começam a ficar estranhas e um antigo inimigo de Will começa a persegui-los a relação dos dois parece ficar mais forte.





Esse livro é um clichê de grumpyxsunshine com magia que vai te fazer sorrir e principalmente torcer por Will e Penny. A autora conseguiu construir uma mudança em Will que ficou consistente com a evolução da relação deles e quando você vê ele toma atitudes com ela que jamais tomaria com qualquer outra pessoa.





Penny tem a personalidade ensolarada e traz muita alegria para Will. Minha única ressalva é que as vezes eu achei que ela se anulava demais em favor dos pais, amigos e até mesmo da sociedade e Will faz ela ver isso de um modo muito bonito. E eu acho que faltou a autora explorar isso um pouco mais.





Will, por sua vez, foi quem teve a melhor evolução. Você vê ele derretendo nas mãos da Penny e do jeito como ele começa a tratar todos ao redor.



Claro que o livro tem cenas mais picantes entre os dois e algumas até acontecem em lugares bastante inusitados, o que eu adorei.





Enfim, é um ótimo romance com alguns clichês que eu amo e que vai te fazer se apaixonar

First, a huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this title in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Jessica Clare gives fans of Contemporary Romance another fun edition to the Witchy RomCom subgenre that they love in What the Hex. Main character Penny is desperate to become a witch's familiar by any means necessary, even if it means attaching herself to a warlock who is specifically banned from having one. Filled with all of the tropes that make paranormal romances like this shine, including grumpy/sunshine and fake dating, this book was a fun, if not a little predictable, addition to the subgenre.

What the Hex by Jessica Clare is the follow up to Go Hex Yourself. It can be read as part of the series, but stands up as a stand alone as well. Penny Roundtree wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. She’s been a member of the Society of Familiars ever since she was old enough to join the Fam. There’s just a small problem—no one’s hiring. Witches and warlocks are so long-lived that there are far more familiars available than witches to train them. So when an unorthodox arrangement to apprentice under the table to a forbidden warlock presents itself, she takes it. Willem Sauer is banned from having a familiar due to past transgressions, thereby limiting his magic-casting abilities. Unfortunately for the surly, Prussian warlock, he has no choice but to work with enthusiastic Penny as a familiar. They immediately clash like dried roan horsehair and honeycomb gathered by moonlight (it’s a terrible spell combination, ask anyone). Casting spells has delightful perks Penny never could have dreamed of, but also greater dangers. Someone is targeting Penny. Willem and Penny must work together to catch their enemy, and if their ploy requires a little kissing on the side, who is to question the rules of magic?

What the Hex is a romance with a nice balance of mystery and magic in the mix. While readers that read the first book in the series will have a head start in knowing the characters and set up of the witch/familiar details in this world, I think new comers to the author will be able to catch on quickly, and be interested enough to go back and read what they already missed. I listened to the first book, so it took me a bit to get into the groove of the story after switching format, but I still really enjoyed the read. I thought the character development was well done, and I really got into the mystery and suspense elements. I thought the story did a good job of moving a larger plot line ahead along with the romance, and I look forward to seeing how the witch and familiar society changes and who finds their happy ever after next.

What the Hex is a solid romance and a good continuation of the series. I look forward to the next installment.

If you're looking for a fun, witchy rom-com with enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, and fake dating, you'll definitely want to check out What The Hex!

It's basically about a grumpy, old-fashioned warlock banned from having a familiar, a quirky, sunshiney human desperate to become a familiar, and a secret arrangement that allows them to work together to fight greater threats.

It was such a fun, refreshing, and (unexpectedly!) spicy read and for being in a slight reading slump, I found myself not wanting to put it down! The writing is super digestible, the story-telling is light-hearted, and overall, it's just one of those feel-good books!

If you haven't already read her first book in the Hex series, Go Hex Yourself, I highly recommend it! While they can be read as standalones, there are lots of tie-ins with the characters from the first book that will make this story that much more enjoyable.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for my early e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was spicier that I imagined but I liked the mystery aspect to it. The level of spice was above the level I normally read at and it was more of a focus than I would like it to be.

3.5 stars = I liked it (but with nits) We met Penny in Go Hex Yourself and now it’s her turn in the spotlight. I thought that Penny was great, she's sunny and forthright and best thing that could've happened to the Wizard Willem - she brings light to his grumpy solitary life as well as bringing magic back into it. I did have an issue with the story though. Author Clare writes on the spicier side - I knew that coming in - but the fact that Penny, acting as Will's familiar) climaxes every time she helps Will with a spell was just a bit too much for me - I thought it was silly instead of adding to the spice. But I loved Penny enough to soldier through and she doesn't disappoint, she's the one who saves the day when an old enemy seeks revenge on Will. It was also fun to see the past pair one more time.

ARC courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley- release date 4/4/23