Oh emm gee, what a bummer!

This was dopey and ditzy and such a dud after the fun of the first book! Penny was such an annoying character to read. The spelled out acronyms were driving me crazy. Also had a bit of an insta-love situation without much chemistry.

Second in a series - would not read as a standalone (....would not read at all).

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

This was such a super cute enemies to lovers romance read. I loved the twists on witchcraft, apprenticeships and the nice amount of spice that was in this book.

This book was SO CUTE, I absolutely loved it! It was very sweet and fun, I thought the dynamic between Willem and Penny was one of the best enemies to lovers transitions I've seen in awhile. I hope Jessica writes more in this series, I'm having so much fun with it. Thank you for the early read!

I adored Go Hex Yourself. I've re-read it several times since it came out. I was very excited to get a new story set in the same universe. This time we get the story of Willem and Penny, two characters present in the Go Hex Yourself.

I have to say, I never really liked Penny. Maybe it was the spelling out acronyms, or the fact she was a complete doormat for her absentee parents. I don't know.

This whole novel just seemed messy. I was left with several questions at the end, and I really don't like the way the book ended.

Penny having orgasms during casting is never really explained. Penny had one unexplained incident where it seems like she is being targeted by a curse, but that's the only time that happens. Her being cursed is never really discussed that much. So was she cursed, or a victim of poor building codes? That is never resolved. And who put the fertility charm in Willem's house? Another point never explained.

The last chapter well and truly irked me.

Penny was raised by two familiars who were too involved in their work to take care of themselves, much less their daughter. Penny talked about her aspirations to be a familiar for a while before becoming a witch herself. And at the end, she's pregnant and had to relinquish her familiar duties to someone else. So either she abandons magic to be an awesome mother, or she pursues magic and puts her child in a similar situation to what she endured. Am I the only one bothered by that? As Ben said in the first novel, "The Gods love an unexpected pregnancy." Why wasn't Willem aware of this? This just hits wrong in an age where politicians have taken away a woman's right to reproductive freedom.

I loved this book so much. When I think the author couldn’t outdone herself she just comes through and proves me wrong. I loved the whole set up, the main characters and gahh especially Penny. She was so relatable and fun to read about. Another thing, I liked the was the pacing that kept me so hooked on to it that I finished it in a single sitting.

In this follow-up to Go Hex Yourself, arrogant and standoffish Willem Sauer, warlock without a familiar due to a decades-long punishment, finds himself fending off more harassment spells from his old master Stoker and decides to break the rules and take on a familiar so he can fight back. He expects he can find a familiar who will just show up, provide the magical energy he needs, and then carry on. What he doesn't expect is the familiar he gets: Penny Roundtree.

Penny has been a hopeful familiar wannabe for years, watching her parents serve witches while she keeps their home life together as well as works to fulfill witch and warlock commissions at a local shop. She knows from her activity with the Society of Familiars that it could be decades before she has a shot at becoming a familiar, so when her friend Reggie and Reggie's warlock boyfriend Ben offer to connect her to a warlock, she decides to take a chance.

When Willem's stuffy superiority and love of a monochromatic environment clash with Penny's bubbly nature, whimsically vibrant and girly attire, and pet squirrel, he's sure their partnership won't work out -- even if Penny does have an impressively deep well of magic within. Penny's determined to stand up for herself, though, and to be the best familiar ever. And since no one can know that Willem has taken on a familiar, Penny proposes that they pretend to be dating in order to avoid suspicion.

I wasn't a big fan of Go Hex Yourself, but given the set-up there for this pairing, I decided to give the series another try -- and was delighted by the bold and bumpy development of Penny and Willem's relationship. Penny's sunshiny facade makes her easy to underestimate: she has a strong sense of self (though she is a little too understanding of her always-too-busy parents) and immediately goes toe-to-toe with Willem when he tries to tell her what to do. Her chaotic good nature utterly baffles Willem at the start but gradually gives him space to reveal more about himself than the arrogant jerk he presents to everyone.

The plot moves swiftly, from the intense magical connection they make right away to the cat-and-mouse element of Stoker's harassment, and the eventual resolution of the latter is enormously satisfying.

3.75 stars rounded up

Read this if you love: grumpy/sunshine, mutual dislike turning to love, fake dating, that magical connection, when the "princess" saves him right back, a hero who knows cookies and milk is always the answer, pet squirrels

Thank you, Berkley Romance and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

What the Hex is the second book in the series, and is available April 2023. Yes, I read and am reviewing a book this early! I loved the first book so much, I had to jump right into book two! We meet Penny Roundtree in the first book, and she wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. When Ben and Reggie present an unorthodox arrangement to apprentice under the table to a forbidden warlock, she takes it. Willem is a bit of a misunderstood bad boy. Which works really with proper, rule following Penny. This book had a ton of chemistry and quite a bit of spice!! I could not put it down! I love how much these two clashed in the beginning, but that clashing drew them to each other.

This was overall a cute book but I think lacked the well rounded love story of the first book. It felt like insta-love and I wish it was a bit more slow burned. I also was not a huge fan of how infantilized the female lead was. It didn’t come off as a adorable, but rather immature and a tad bit cringe with her spelling out OMG constantly.

Full review posted to links after embargo date.

Aw man. This book was just… not good.

I had a fair time reading the first book, although I was supremely uncomfortable with the language that Clare used to describe people of mixed magical and non-magical parentage. Because that was one of my biggest issues, I was really hopeful that this book was going to work much better for me. I was incorrect.

I know this author comes to us, in part, from fanfiction, and WHAT THE HEX truly feels like the worst of what fanfic has to offer. Our characters are not characters but caricatures - Penny is a 30 year old woman who speaks exclusively in internet acronyms that no one has used unironically since 2013, and it is painful. The plot is weird and meandering and we could have lost some asides for a clearer narrative: Willam is forbidden from taking a familiar, but obviously does, and somehow their fake dating excuse explodes into “he wants a baby so I’m going to have one for him”????? So weird.

There’s just a lot of super bizarre one-liners that really reinforce to me that the author has very little political awareness. Breasts are identified as “girl bits,” Willam is very bizarrely anti-lube, and even though Penny says she’s really not ready to have a child with Will, the epilogue ends with her very pregnant just months after the bulk of the plot.

I love a witchy book, and I was eager to give this author another try. I think her writing is just not for me, and I’m hesitant to recommend her without a lot of caveats or forewarnings.

I love this; this was a fun enemy to lovers. I could feel the tension between Penny and Willem. I enjoyed the mystery of it. I love the magic element. I did not read the first one; I don’t feel you need to read the first one to read this one, and at no time did I feel like I was missing anything. I got through this so quickly and enjoyed it so much that I immediately bought the first one after finishing this.

A lovely take on the classic enemies to lovers trope. In a world of witches and warlocks and their fantastical Familiars, there's Penny Roundtree. Penny, who has never wanted to be anything else, has worked her whole life to be a Familiar. Now, just because Warlocks are so long lived her only option might be Mr. Gruff, grumpy & gorgeous: Willem.
Can Penny manage being stuck with the warlock who isn't even technically allowed a familiar? or will sparks of various natures fly?

The two butt-heads until the cows come home but eventually work together to get to the bottom of who's targeting Penny.( Maybe this magic isn't so bad when you have to kiss a hunky warlock to do it.)

I loved this follow up in the Hex series, a good enemies to lovers will always reel me in, and this one kept me. The characters are dynamic and I would definitely recommend it!

Whatever you do, do not start reading this book if you can't finish in one sitting because it has a fun and fast pace that will make you want to keep reading and too bad if you have work in the morning. It is the second book in this series. You don't have to read the first one, but I think I makes the book better if you do because this author is great a world-building (but without being boring) and the events of the first book over lap a little bit with the second. Like in the first book, the hero and heroine have damage, but make each other better and there is a lot of tension before they give in and get it together. Oh, and then there is the mystery aspect with all those witches. This was a great book and I would love to read more books that take place in this world.