Morgan has had a giant crush on Rory fucking Sandler for … well, forever. Rory is one of the most talented witches ever, a spell casting champion, beautiful, intimidating, cool, and just so much more. And ever since Rory’s come to Harborage and taken work as a bartender, Morgan can’t seem to get away from her. First, she works at the best bar in town, the one Morgan and her friends regularly go to. She’s also become friends with Morgan’s friends, which means Morgan sees Rory almost every day, and every day she struggles to have the courage to say something witty, clever ,or brilliant to catch Rory’s attention.

Why is it her drunken, not-brilliant idea of being Rory’s fake girlfriend for the festival is the one that Morgan finally comes up with? Rory has retired from spell casting, but her family can’t seem to understand that. They want Rory to get back to work, and have brought Archer, a ‘sorcerer’ — a male witch who self-identifies with a fancy title — to encourage her. Rory finds the idea of having Morgan as a buffer a good one, and soon it’s the two of them setting up rules, coming to agreements, and Morgan being introduced to Rory’s family.

Everything is wonderful, magical even. Until Morgan makes a horrifying realization. She has inadvertently given Rory a love potion rather than a potion to help with Rory’s stress. Now, Morgan is analyzing every touch of hands, every laugh, every moment of happiness. She has to find some way to break this spell without, hopefully, breaking her growing friendship with Rory.

Morgan is a witch with self-confidence issues. Her last girlfriend left her because she had no real ambitions beyond working in her family shop, where they sell magical body and bath products, and staying in Harborage. That, and Morgan’s ability to overthink herself into a knot given a half-moment alone with her thoughts and her tendency to spiral into self-doubt and insecurity. Morgan makes potions, working more through inspiration and instinct than calculated measurements, and getting lost in her feelings comes easy to her.

Rory comes from a successful, influential family of witches. From an early age, she was trained and trained hard to succeed in spell craft, to enter competitions, and to win. She came up with brilliant tricks that other witches struggled — and still struggle — to duplicate, and her fans and sponsors are still eagerly waiting for her to come back. It’s a lot of pressure, a lot of stress, and a lot of attention. Rory isn’t brittle or jaded or even broken, she’s just … tired. The pressure, the weight of other people’s expectations, and her own need to please pushed her harder and harder until she realized that she wasn’t happy, so she stepped aside.

The two women have such very different approaches to the world. Rory is a plotter, a planner. Someone who takes time to think and reason and make lists. Morgan’s “do first, think later” approach to life, open to every opportunity, comes as a bit of a surprise to Rory. Seeing the other woman get right in Archer’s face to get him to back off of Rory, or to smack down another male witch trying to explain magic to Rory is .. flattering. Morgan, when she’s with Rory, is nothing like the quiet, distant woman at their friend group meet ups. While playing fake girlfriends, the two of them are quickly become real friends.

The world building here is excellent. The author has put a great deal of thought into the whys and why nots of magic. Yes, scrying works … but so does google; and often faster. We learn about the relationships between non-magical people and witches, and how this affects romances and children. Also, the status of men in the community, as male witches are a minority in an already small group of women, is kind of hilarious. They’re both seen as prizes for their rarity, and given praise for the smallest things … as well as not expected to be all that great because they’re just men. The purpose of covens, the way society shapes itself around magic and witches, and even how and why Rory’s magic is as powerful as it is… there’s just so much attention to detail and I loved every bit of it.

The love potion aspect of the plot is well handled — all of the issues with consent and bodily autonomy — and leads into my most hated part of a romance book, the third act breakup. However, everything is so well put together, so carefully arranged that it never feels forced, and everything flows well with the characters and the established rules of the world. Morgan’s horror, her confusion, every action she takes after discovering what she has done are so very Morgan. Nothing in this book feels as if it’s done just for plot purposes, nothing feels contrived or calculated.

This book is sweet and charming and just … fun. I was in a bit of a mood when I started reading this book, but I soon found myself actually smiling as I read it, especially any time Morgan and Rory were on page together. It’s also beautifully romantic. It’s easy to see Morgan falling for Rory, as the book is from her point of view, but — looking at the actions and reactions from Rory, which Morgan misses as often as she catches, too caught up in her own nerves — it’s clear Rory is falling, and falling hard for Morgan, too. The glitter fight was wonderful; Lilith, Rory’s familiar, is appropriately adorable; and even Rory’s family are fun.

This book should be an auto buy for anyone who loves witches, romances, and happily ever afters. This appears to be the author’s debut work, and it’s a great one. The writing is strong, the world is wonderful, and the pace is perfect. So are the characters. I really, really hope you give this book a chance.

I am so here for all the witchy reads, and this was a perfect choice for #SapphicSeptember featuring Morgan, a potion maker who has a crush on bartender and magical legend Rory. This was such a cute story and I loved the magical small town world. I loved both characters, but this was a single POV of Morgan and I loved Rory so much that I really wished this was a Multiple POV story with Rory’s POV.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-slow burn
-sapphic romance
-witchy romance
-fake dating
-single POV
-miscommunication

🎧I both read the physical copy and listened to the audiobook and thought the narration was so good!

*many thanks to Berkley Romance, PRH Audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

This was a fun sapphic witchy read. Morgan is very relatable with her being shy around her crush and making mistakes.
Blurting out that she could be her crush's fake girlfriend to get her parents off her back was tequila induced but got her closer.
I'm def a “shy around my crush” person.
Loved the shop she worked at making potions and the big festival. The scavenger hunt, the sweet fake to real dating. But the ever present mistake Morgan made. The magical competition and familial pressure and stress.

Rory, her crush, was well known for her magical abilities and she competed before being at a professional level so she is dealing with stress from taking a step back and just anxiety of being in front of large crowds. Don’t we all have that except a small percentage of people.
Liked how the big conflict was resolved pretty smoothly and didn’t drag on. It could’ve been solved by a conversation but she was terrified it would push her away so she was trying to fix it. This is single POV so we couldn’t tell Rory’s thoughts and feelings only what she was saying. I think miscommunication bothers people more in dual pov cause they know the other person is fine with it. But with a single pov idk what's going to happen lol. I also think it's realistic in a new relationship to be scared to bare all so this trope however big or small doesn't bother me.

Read if you like:
✨Fake Dating
🧹Sapphic romance
✨Witchy reads
🍲Magic competitions (light)

Thank you berkleyromance for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

Tori Anne Martin’s debut novel This Spells Disaster is a queer witchy romcom that takes place over the course of a spellcasting festival. Not only does it feature fantastic worldbuilding and lovable characters who are easy to root for, but it also features one of my favorite romance tropes, fake dating.

The story follows Morgan Greenwood, a potion witch who considered herself to be a hot mess. Morgan has had a crush on Rory Sanders, a badass elemental witch, but is too intimidated by Rory to even approach her. Instead, Morgan has admired her from afar for ages, that is, until fate puts Rory in her path one night at a bar. Rory is complaining about the unreasonable expectations her family always puts on her and that she is dreading spending time with them at the biennial New England Witches’ festival. A drunken Morgan volunteers to fake date Rory and act as a buffer between her and her family. Morgan can’t believe she did that, but even more unbelievable to her is that Rory decides to take her up on her offer.

I adored both Morgan and Rory. Morgan is just the most adorable protagonist. She’s incredibly loyal to those she cares about. Her heart is always in the right place, but she can definitely be a bit chaotic and impulsive at times. Rory is equally fabulous but in a much more reserved way than Morgan. She can be standoffish at first, but once you get to know her, Rory is a sweetheart. She’s also a brilliant spellcaster and both she and Morgan have a competitive streak that makes for some of the most entertaining banter. I just loved watching the two of them get to know each other.

My favorite part of the fake dating trope is when those fake feelings start to become real, and in This Spells Disaster, the author has added a unique complication to this trope. Morgan crafts a relaxation spell for Rory and after Rory starts taking it, she starts behaving as if she has romantic feelings toward Morgan. Morgan can’t believe that Rory could ever feel that way about her and is soon horrified to realize that her feelings for Rory may have slipped into the potion, accidentally turning it into a love potion. Love potions are illegal in the witching community because they take away a person’s right to give or refuse consent. I felt so bad for Morgan since it’s clear she didn’t intend for this to happen, but at the same time, it made the story all the more compelling for me, waiting to see how this would all play out, especially once Rory realizes the truth. I was rooting for them to work things out so hard because fake relationship or not, they were perfect for each other.

I don’t want to give anything else away, so I’ll just say this is a delightfully witchy romance. If you’re a fan of witchy romcoms, adorable characters, and fake dating, This Spells Disaster needs to go on your fall TBR.

This is a sweet and charming witchy romance with terrific world building.

This book was so fun! I adored entering this brand new world and was enthralled by the magic system and the witches. This Spells Disaster is a world I can’t wait to dip into again and again. It had the joy and fun of magic like the Wizarding World with the tropes of my favourite romance books – I’m a slave to the fake dating trope! This is an excellent read to add to the witchy rom com books on your shelf. This book is set in modern day USA, but has a magical world in it. Witches live alongside humans, or mundanes as they are called here, and for the most part get along. Magic is an accepted, if not fully understood, part of life. Mundanes aren’t completely accepting of it, like humans are with so many differences, but witches don’t have to hide their magic in fear. I personally love these kind of magic stories in contemporary settings, and Tori has developed such a delightful setting and premise. Magic is a big part of the book, but it doesn’t overshadow the plot – this romance, at its core, is still about two people falling for each other and working through internal and external conflicts to end up together. It would make a terrific movie – there’s so much visual delight in this story and I could really picture the vivid images of magic and delight from spell casting magic lotions to an ice cream cone that keeps changing its shape and colour with every lick.

Morgan and Rory are two fun main characters. The book is told from Morgan’s perspective. Morgan is fun loving and kind, but kind of anxious and chaotic, and determined to make her mark on the world after people have left her feeling less than worthy. Rory is the mysterious newcomer to Morgan’s town. She’s super powerful, but makes her living owning a bar. And she has some secrets she’s keeping about being the US’s best spellcaster and then disappearing from the circuit. And you can see where this is going. I absolutely adored watching the two of them fumble into a fake dating situationship. Which, of course, couldn’t stay simple. I think my only complaint is that sometimes the relationship developed and then the emotions caught up after. Both Morgan and Rory have a lot of depth and I wanted to see it on the page more. They are such fabulous characters and I’d love to spend more time with them. Watching them fall in love and learn to trust each other? So hot. The book is pretty PG for most of it, with a couple scorching scenes that really showed the depth of their feeling.

Besides the adorable Morgan and Rory is a solid cast of characters – Morgan has a strong friend and family group including her coven and we get to meet them all as Morgan and Rory start their pretend dating shenanigans. Rory has a powerful and stern family that she’s trying to prove to that she’s happy in her new life including a new love to get them off her back about leaving her professional spellcasting life. It would have been easy for Rory’s family to come off as one-dimensional in this story, but instead Tori gave them such delightful and complex depth that I really enjoyed spending time with them.

Morgan and Rory’s fake dating romance is the perfect autumnal read for romance and fantasy readers alike.

I thought this book started out so strong and I was really impressed by the communication between the characters. However, at the halfway mark, the communication that had been so strong sort of went off the rails and I felt like we really could have resolved it a lot easier and then focused more on the plot with Rory's family and spellcasting. It was a fun romp, and I'd recommend it for someone looking for a witchy romance, but I felt a little let down by the communication aspect.

✨ Book Review ✨

Happy pub day to This Spells Disaster by Tori Anne Martin! 🎉 Thanks to {partner} @berkleyromance for the free book #berkleypartner #berkleyig

✔️ Fake Dating
✔️ Opposites Attract
✔️ One Bed

Morgan, a potions which who sees herself as ordinary, offers to fake date her crush Rory in order to provide some cover for her unsupportive family. Fake feelings soon become real for both... or are they? Morgan had been thinking swoony thoughts while at work and got distracted, and fears she may have made Rory a love potion instead of a relaxation one. How can she fake date with real feelings while trying to break Rory's love-by-potion feelings without hurting them both in the process?

This book felt like a mix of Bewitched and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (the Melissa Joan Hart one). I loved the idea of a little witchy tourist trap town where the protagonists live. My favorite parts of the book were the little details - the descriptions of Rory's magical cocktails, the witchy farmer's market where Morgan's family has a presence, etc.

I also appreciated the focus on consent, as a love potion would take choice away from anyone who would have ingested it. It made me think of all the content where love spells and potions are used for comedic effect, like in A Midsummer Night's Dream , or to teach the potion-giver a lesson like "you're good enough to love" or "don't mess with emotions because too much emotion makes people crazy" like in Teen Witch or The Craft.

As for the romance, I liked Morgan and Rory together and enjoyed their courtship. I do enjoy an opposites-attract where both characters have a lot more in common than not. It's lovely when two people understand each other like no other person in their lives.

Steam 🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕

✨ Read this if you enjoy: ✨
witches / paranormal aspects
fake dating

Thank you to Netgalley, Berkley and Tori Anne Martin for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is a book I wanted to love and it sounded really promising. However, the miscommunication really made this book drag for me. I don’t mind miscommunication and sometimes it works well with the plot, but in this case it was a miss for me. The writing was also rather choppy which made it really hard for me to connect to the characters and the world. I’ll definitely still try another book from this author in the future.

2.5 Stars

Sapphic romance, magical world, and fake dating trope – sign me up.

This book had so much to recommend it. The world itself has so much going for it. A world just like ours but with magic, rules for those who practice it, and witches who do all sorts of magic. From potions for beauty to competitive spell casters, I loved this idea. This book has that slice-of-life quality with a bit of fantasy that you could easily sink into, and I tried. So desperately tried.

This was a slow read for me, mainly because of the main character, Morgan. Chaotic, messy witch that she is, that wasn’t my hang-up. Her inability to stop degrading herself every half page or from blowing situations out of proportion. Maybe this was because Morgan’s character hits a little close to home, and if I’m living in a world of magic realism, I wanted to see Morgan be more than all her constant internalized fear and self-doubt.

The other characters, including love interest Rory, are nice enough, but we only live in Morgan’s head, and everything is a calamity there. I would have loved to get some of this story from Rory’s POV. And TBH, Rory is a Saint for sticking through all the over-dramatic drama. All the conflict is manufactured by the worst-case scenarios the MC comes up with, and for me, that wasn’t enough to sustain a higher rating. Ironically, even this conflict falls into a-simple-conversation-would-have-solved-all-these-problems territory.

One other aspect that was a challenge for me is that over the course of a long weekend Morgan and Rory fall for each other, with Morgan doing her best to stay away from Rory and the interactions being a bit stilted from Morgan’s side of things. It was hard to buy, but I could overlook that if Morgan’s actions had been a bit different.

Overall, if there is a second book, I’m going to check it out because I love the world, but I would say this one had all the buildup without good follow-through. Hoping this is just a fluke for me where I couldn’t fall for the characters and that subsequent characters will grab me a bit more.

For readers who enjoy Lana Harper’s Witches of Thistle Grove series.

~ Landra

This book was a fun Sapphic Rom-Com!
I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The world building was fantastic.
Characters were fun and full or witty banter. And i loved the fake dating trope.
I loved watching Morgan and Rory develop as characters, friends, and then more.
This had a small town feel with perfectly mastered rom com wittiness.
It was lighthearted but still touched on some pretty important topics(check trigger warnings)

It was the perfect book to get me feeling my spooky witch vibes.

Thank you Netgalley and Berkley Romance for this ARC.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.

An unrequited crush, a coven, a newt festival, a fake dating situation, a love potion…

Wait.

Recently I posted about tropes I’m weird about & one of them is love potion—a plot point in This Spells Disaster.

With that being said author Tori Anne Martin addresses the lack of consent with those in the author’s note & one FMC’s awareness of it prevents her from moving physically forward with the other lead so it worked a-okay for me.

This sapphic witchy romance is ca—ute! (Is that how you spell it if you say it like that?) The book is set in a cozy town in Maine (never been but it makes such a great romance backdrop!), there’s queer rep, that aforementioned consideration of consent & love potions, a fun newt festival (can I go?).

Morgan is a potions-witch at her family shop; Rory is a very well-known witch who abruptly left the spotlight to become a bartender at Morgan’s small town. When Rory’s parents try to pressure Rory to return to the spotlight, she & Morgan begin a fake dating situation that gets complicated by their real feelings & also the love potion Morgan accidentally made that she thinks Rory has ingested.

On one hand I grew a bit frustrated with how lead Morgan was trying to “How to lose a guy in 10 days” Rory because of the accidental love potion she made & gave to Rory, but on the other the conflict kind of made sense given how everything was set up for & about the characters earlier in the book.

Witchy reads are the bomb.com & this is a fun one.

4 ⭐️. Out now!

Please read a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.

[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a garden of zinnias. Trees & a yard are on the right side of the image.]

I thought this book was decent. I tend to love fake dating so that was an automatic yea for me. I’ll never say no to a sapphic witchy romance either. The storyline wasn’t anything too special but I was still entertained.

If you’re craving a sapphic witchy read go snag this one now!

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for this eARC. This rambling review is totally my own.

Things to love—
•PNR/Witchy Romance
•Fake Dating
•Sapphic —both main characters are bisexual so we love the representation

They might be witches, but you’re going to relate to Rory and Morgan. Morgan struggles with self deprecation and feelings of unworthiness that are going to hit a lot of us right in the feels. If you’ve ever felt the mounting pressure of expectations—your own or others, then Rory is going to resonate with you here. I really enjoyed the premise of this, enjoyed their two personalities together, but I did struggle with the amount of miscommunication. I think Martin handled the topics of consent, familial pressure, and emotional trauma well.

This is a fun sapphic, fake dating, witchy story. Morgan is a potion making witch who’s had a crush on Rory for a while. Rory works as a bartender, but she’s also a powerful elemental witch who has competed in, and won, contests. Her parents are annoyed with her bed she’s no longer competing.
The Harvest Festival is coming up and Morgan suggests that she and Rory fake date to distract her parents. Unfortunately, Morgan is convinced she accidentally gave Rory a love potion, so when the fake starts to be real doesn’t believe it.
I liked the characters and the world building but the miscommunication trope didn’t work for me. Morgan spends so much time worrying about the potion and she never asks Rory if she took it. Some of the character’s actions were a little immature. 3.5 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

This witchy book was just what I needed and came just in time for fall. THIS SPELLS DISASTER was funny, sexy, heartwarming, and just plain fun. I love love love Rory, and the relationship between Rory and Morgan felt real. I'll read anything Tori Anne Martin writes after this one.

Thank you to Tori and Berkley for an advance copy.

This is a single POV novel (Morgan’s) which makes it very one-sided. Morgan herself was so immature and insecure I struggled to believe the HEA she finds with Rory. The issues Martin addresses with autonomy were interesting, but Morgan’s unwillingness to have a simple conversation watered down the overall message. Miscommunication trope overrides fun fake dating trope. The cover is brilliant, but sadly the interior isn’t quite at the same level.

This was a cute Sapphic witchy romance and I can see the reasons for the comparisons in the elevator pitch. I do feel that Morgan was a bit too dramatic at some point but I also acknowledge that a lot of that had to do with her internal issues and anxiety and everything else she was grappling with. I found the ending to be hilarious in how simplistic the confusion was but it was also very believable. The slow burn aspect was nice and it was very low steam although it had to be considering the 'love potion' aspect behind the main storyline. All in all an enjoyable read and I would read more books set in this world and from this author.

This was a fun fake dating, opposites attract Sapphic paranormal romance debut that sees two witches falling in love over the course of a Spellcasting festival as fake feelings turn real with a bit of help from a rogue love potion. Unique, witty and full of heart. This was good on audio and perfect for fans of Lana Harper or Rachel Harrison. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review. Top marks for a gorgeous purple witchy cover too!!

Read This Book If…you’re looking for a standalone witchy romance to kick off spooky season!

Please note: this was an ARC provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: queer romance
Spice Level: 3/5🌶, 1-2 explicit scenes
Setting: coastal tourist town in Maine
POV: single, 3rd person, past tense
Tropes: fake dating, small town, miscommunication

What I Thought: I think this story would make a super cute rom-com for spooky season! I really enjoyed that witches are public with their magic and celebrities in their own right. This book did a great job talking about consent, especially in the context of love potions. I found it to be a little predictable and wished the main characters spent more time together, but overall this was a very enjoyable read!

Memorable Quote: “Rory had bewitched her every bit as much as she had accidentally bewitched Rory.”

Another rom-com featuring magical powers and messy witches! This is perfect for fans of Lana Harper's Thistle Grove series, it has some of the same quirks. This was sweet but the lack of communication between these two irked and frustrated me at times. I did love how it all came together at the end! Maybe I just wish the miscommunication could've been cut in maybe half and we had gotten them to spend more time together afterward.