While I enjoyed This Spells Disaster I found it to be quite similar to a book that I recently read. Only difference is, this one has LGBTQ themes (which is great BTW). I think if I had read this one at a different time I may have enjoyed it more.

Fucking fantastic. A trope filled cheesey witchy romcom that i could not stop once I'd started. I adored Morgan and teared up with her several times. As someone else who has a terrible ex named Nicole she hit a little too close to home sometimes. I loved that even though knew where it was going, the how it got there had me wondering how in gods name she'd get herself out of it. I loved the casual magic setting and how easily it felt like it could have just been reality. A fantastic romcom for the spooky queers to eat up.

This book is a lot of fun. It doesn’t take itself seriously and so even the part of fake dating that I normally hate (miscommunication) wasn’t unbearable. I was really rooting for Morgan and Rory.

I don’t think there was anything particularly remarkable about the book. In six months will I remember which witch romance book this is? Maybe, maybe not. But if you want a beach read? This is it.

Berkley, as always I am thankful for an opportunity to have an ARC!

Unfortunately, i have to DNF this. It's a little too cheesy for me.

Very fun. It's a little more cheesy than I typically like a romance to be, but given that we're in a world full of witches and love spells, it feels appropriate.

This book was such an unexpected delight. I loved how the book centred conversations around consent but did not cross any boundaries. I loved both Rory and Morgan, their chemistry, the goofiness, and the small town vibes. I thoroughly enjoyed the magic system of this world as well. Morgan’s growth to self love was adorable and encouraging to read as well. Amazing amazing amazing.

This is a sweet and swoony queer contemporary romance. Watching the relationship between Morgan and Rory develop was charming, both of them so fiercely invested in the other’s happiness. The magical parts were fun and well-developed, especially the idea of competitive spellcasting.

I loved Morgan’s strong support - her mom, grandmother, and friends - all willing to back her no matter what.

The mental health rep was relatable as Rory talked about the stress and anxiety of competing and how hard choosing the healthy option was - especially with so many people, including her family, pressuring her to start competing again.

-Small town setting in Maine with most of the story happening at a witch festival.
-Opposites attract with one sunny, neurodivergent chaos demon pining for a painfully organized, reserved grump.
-Pining and crushing
-Fake dating and practice kissing
-Love potions and magically orgasmic chocolate
-Witchy vibes

I really struggled with this book. The characters are great, but it felt like it took a long time to get going.

<i>Thank you to Berkley & Netgalley for this eARC</i>

This book should have been a no brainer. A sapphic, fake-dating rom-com in a magical world between two witches? I should love this! Instead, this book was very frustrating to me. Clearly based on the reviews, others didn't find this to be the case. And good, my mileage is not, nor should it, going to be the same as others.

But let's not start off on that foot. Let's start off positive. I love the author's note regarding consent at the start, it was fantastic.

Like many others, I seem to have a crush on Rory fucking Sandler. She was awesome! Funny and affectionate and sweet and badass and imperfectly perfect. I 100% get the Rory stans!

The world Tori's created is also phenomenal! Lush, and rich, and different. A world where magic co-exists with the mundane in a way that feel fairly original yet also plausible, that they play up the fantastical and playful nature of magic for the mundane crowd while hiding the more dangerous side. It makes complete sense that powerful witches can be celebrities in the same way as actors or professional athletes can be! And as much as I don't want it to be the case, it also seems plausible other aspects, like the seeming praise male witches seemingly get for just existing. If this book was more about this magical world itself rather than being a rom-com set within it I think the author could write many books set in this world!

But because this is a rom-com, let's focus on that. The fake dating side of things is well done, and Morgan and Rory's chemistry together is awesome. Super sweet and wonderful and everything I would want it to be. Even after Morgan's revelation at the mid point, there was wonderful, sweet stuff. The concert, the scavenger hunt, the private chat on the field. It was all sooo good...but it was marred by Morgan herself!

Morgan was an infuriating protagonist to be spending all our time with, in the thoughts of! She manages to be both simultaneously the most self absorbed and self deprecating person I think I've ever encountered, in fiction or real life! Like, I thought I was good at dismissing my own worth, but I've got NOTHING on Morgan Greenwood! She manages to constantly dismiss her power, as a witch, as a potion maker, yet she has no problem thinking she managed to <i>accidentally</i> create the most powerful love potion of all time. We're constantly told how loud she supposedly is, how often Morgan speaks without thinking, and yet all she seems to do it think, and then overthink and then doesn't talk, and doesn't talk some more. Yes, miscommunication happens, yes, nerves and anxiety make things tough. Maybe Morgan is meant to be neurodiverse as well, I don't know. All I do know is after a certain point, it becomes less about a natural characterization and more about 'well, I decided this is the plot twist I'm going with in this book, and I'm gonna stick with it against all sense and reason'. As much as Morgan thinks she cares for Rory, is falling for her, she displays an immense disrespect for her, and kind of infantilizes her by making these decisions for her. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely appreciate her concerns about potentially violating Rory's consent when they kissed, in fact I applaud her for it. But Morgan realizes she mixed up the potion she gave Rory at the midway point of the book, almost exactly, and we have to deal with that for nearly the entire 2nd half of the book, and the frustration nearly overshadows everything else, like Rory's exhibition. Our communal love, Rory fucking Sandler, deserved better.

By comparison, my only other major complaint is with Hazel. Not with her characterization, even, she was a fantastic best friend trying to get Morgan to see reason. No, it was this weird decision to at multiple points talk about how she was introduced to a friend of Rory's, and how they seem to hit it off...but that's all we know about them. "Rory's friend". No name, no gender, no description, just Rory's friend, and as such, this person feels more like a forced reason why Hazel wasn't in Morgan's face trying to get her to come to her senses and be honest rather than anything else. It was weird, and I wonder what into that in the editing process.

I wanted to rate this book so much higher. There's so much good here, but a frustrating protagonist, and no other POV's to balance her out, drags down the score. 3.5 stars because what's there to love is SO worthy of that love.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

This was a fun, light, queer, low angst, low steam read. Morgan's crush on Rory was so sweet, she was awkward around her and just trying to keep her cool as she fake dated her and finally got to see her crush in real life.

this was a beautifully done romantic comedy novel, I enjoyed the supernatural elements going on. The romance aspect worked overall with this type of book. I was engaged in the story and enjoyed the way the characters were written. I'm excited to read more from Tori Anne Martin, as I enjoyed this.

This Spells Disaster is a charming, if predictable, fake dating/ miscommunication rom-com. The writing let it down a bit, giving what it needed to but not much more, leaving this book firmly in the category of fun to read but not particularly memorable. Additionally, for a book that is so heavy handed on the topic of informed, enthusiastic consent (as it should), some of the main character’s choices felt very antithetical to that theme. Obviously characters are not required to make good “moral” choices all the time for a story to have that moral, but using the main character believing she has violated her love interest’s consent as the miscommunication-as-comedy on which the narrative hinged was not it, in my opinion. Honestly, I wanted a lot more from this book but I had fun anyway. I do think I’ll recommend it anyway, because it was overall a fun time. While I did find this very easy to guess - just a note - there is no actual sexual assault in this book, and the love interest is not actually dosed with love potion.

Morgan is a self-proclaimed “messy witch”. She swears she was hexed at birth. When she offers to fake date her crush, she wonders what she is doing. Rory is the spellcasting champion and a brilliant elemental witch. When the two get together, they can’t decipher if their feelings are real, or just part of the plan. Things are going to plan for them both until Morgan realizes she may have messed up and given Rory a love potion instead of a relaxation potion. Can Morgan figure out the mess she caused before things go too sideways? Or is the love of her life gone forever?

This book is a light and fun read, but it was slightly lacking in some ways for me. The miscommunication trope on this one was strong, but the fake dating trope was on point. So much of this book could have been solved by actually talking to each other. I find miscommunication is a hard trope for me because I strongly value communication and it grates on me when people just don’t talk. However, this book did a really good job with consent. I immensely appreciated the author’s note at the beginning about this topic. It helped explain the reasoning within the pages. The love story was enjoyable, and it was heartwarming how it all worked out.

This was worth the read and I am glad I read it. It is a nice light read just be prepared for the miscommunication.

If you’re looking for a magical sapphic romance then I hope you check this one out September 12th.

Thank you to the publisher Berkley Publishing, @berkleypub, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was (dare I say it?) MAGICAL. From the first sentence, I was completely charmed. The world that Tori Anne Martin has created here is so enchanting. Okay, I'll stop with the puns, but honestly it's the only way to describe this book, with every word infused with some kind of magic. This is a special type of reading experience, because we get, for the moments we're in these pages, to live with all the witches (especially Morgan). I need another, please, RIGHT NOW.

Witch Morgan Greenwood has a major crush on bartender and national spellcasting champion Rory Sandler, but despite her normally loud and outgoing personality, she tends to freeze up whenever Rory's around. That is, until one night when Morgan's had one too many margaritas. Rory tells Morgan and her friends that her parents have been pressuring her to compete in spellcasting again (something she'd stopped doing two years previously) in the upcoming NEWT (New England Witch Trust) Festival -- AND that they've lined up a fellow sorcerer to persuade her and maybe match with her. A tipsy Morgan suggest that Rory find a fake date and offers herself as tribute, which Rory gently laughs off. But when Rory tracks her down the next day and says Morgan's idea is worth a try, Morgan is both hesitant and excited -- but mostly excited.

This witchy fake-dating romance is mostly a light, fun read, though it deals with more serious topics such as anxiety and self-doubt and consent (a magical love potion might be involved). Morgan is kind of a hot mess of a character, but when it comes to defending her loved ones, she stands up strong. (Would that she did that for herself more!) It's easy to see why she has such a crush on Rory, but I appreciated how they took time to get to know one another before really giving in to their attraction. Conflict abounds (including, yes, the dread miscommunication), but by the end the antagonists are given a more human edge and the communication is cleared up very directly, so all works out. An enjoyable read.

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

This book was so incredibly cute and heartwarming! The romance was perfect, the witchiness was on point, and the plot and characters were done really well. I also really appreciated the little caveat at the start of the book that addresses trigger warnings/consent issues because that really was just super thoughtful.