This book was everything to me. I fell so in love with this band of characters and I just wanted to spend so much more time with them. all the stars, would read again and again.

I never listened to it because my NetGalley app wasn't working properly. So I had to uninstall it and then all but two of my audio books were gone.

This is a review of the audiobook.

This was a nice read but it was not what I was expecting. I was anticipating a rom-com with some mystically elements. Although there is a slight romance, I would not organize it with other romance books.

I read this book as a standalone and just found out that there were 3 others. I guess I know assumed but did not know for sure.

This has a wonderful found family element and her actual family can go jump off a cliff. The new family/friends came together in a natural ways and each contributed to the eclectic group.

Some of the behaviors of the two main characters were not my favorite and there were some other plot holes but I still enjoyed reading the book.


Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for the honest review.

‘Iris Collins is the messy one in her family. The "chaos bunny." Her sisters are all wildly successful, while she can't balance her budget for a single month. It's no wonder she's in debt to her roommates. When she unexpectedly inherits a house from her great aunt, her plan to turn it into a B&B fails—as most of her plans do. She winds up renting rooms like a Victorian spinster, collecting other lost souls...and not all of them are "human."

Eli Reese grew up as the nerdy outcast in school, but he got rich designing apps. Now he's successful by any standards. But he's never had the same luck in finding a real community or people who understand him. Over the years, he's never forgotten his first crush, so when he spots her at a café, he takes it as a sign. Except then he gets sucked into the Iris-verse and somehow ends up renting one of her B&B rooms. As the days pass, Eli grows enchanted by the misfit boarders staying in the house...and even more so by Iris. Could Eli have finally found a person and a place to call "home"?’
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2.5 stars, rounded down to 2 stars.

The Only Purple House in Town is this fourth book in Ann Aguirre’s Fix-It Witches series and is a contemporary paranormal romance.

I did not enjoy this story very much and I was very glad that it was the audio version as I believe it would have been DNF for me had I been reading the print version. It still took me forever to finish the audio. But I want to point out that I did not realize that this was the fourth book in the series going into it. I don’t think that you really need to read the other books in the series before reading this book, but there could have been something from the other books that I was missing that could have altered my feelings toward this book in some way.

This book’s biggest problem is that it tried to do too way much and so did absolutely none of it well.This author’s plotlines were all over the place, introduced at random points, screeching the breaks on certain plot progressions to focus something arbitrary and completely unimportant going on with a background characters. The story could have benefitted from some much needed focus and some liberal trimming of the fat. The writing just felt lazy…there were a lot of tropes and cheesy extremes. I would feel far better if this were a debut author. I will not be reading more from this series or author,

The narrator however, did a lovely job.
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I would like to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for sharing an advance audio with me. This is my honest review.

This book had a great idea going for it but it was a little bit all over the place for me. I was not a big fan of the beginning and the excusing of stalking so I was a bit thrown off. I liked the magical element though!

I think this was a cute, feel good found family story, but the romance was just not as prevalent. I also really don’t get the major hate everyone gave for making Elizabeth a “stalker” because that’s an exaggeration for sure imo. I thought his thoughts of Iris were cute.

I was very confused that this was part of the Fix It Witches series and it took me a looong time to realize the connection to the original three books. That confusion just had me not as invested to the story and it took me a while to be commuted which I think impacted my rating as well.

Overall this book was cute. Would I have possibly liked it more if I didn’t hope for more romance, and had read it closer to the other books of the series? I think so. But again, I enjoyed it but it definitely wasn’t my favorite in the series.

Final rating: 3.75⭐️, 1🌶️

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest and unpaid review!

First, I want my own Purple House! This book has a found family, some unrequited love and some “nice” stalker vibes. Iris collected some misfits to live in her purple house and this book has great representation (gender, race, sexuality).
The resolution came about a little swift, but I still loved this story.
This book is fourth in a series but can be read as a standalone.

For the audiobook, the narration was fantastic. Such a joy to listen to!

Thanks to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca and DreamScape Media for this purple-tastic ARC.

After months of starting and stopping this book, I have chosen to not formally review it as I have not finished it. I really wanted to like this book, but I was so utterly bored and uninterested in the characters. I might try again in the future, with the hopes that this was just not the right book for me at this time but maybe it will be later. Thanks for the opportunity, and I wish the author all the best!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so cute! I loved Iris! She was an amazing character and I could not help rooting for her. The stalking that Eli did started out as a little creepy, but I think in the end it made sense why he was so infatuated with Iris as he was such a lonely person that he latched onto her act of kindness when they were children and he could not let it go. The inclusion of supernatural characters was great as it was not overwhelming and fit really well into the book. I now want to read the other books in this series because it was such a cozy book.

Sadly, this was a case of beautiful cover, disappointing story. The narrative style was more suited to YA than adult and there were too many cliches peppered into the story to make it feel truly original. The found family felt forced, like the author had decided from the get-go that she wanted to write a novel about a found family, and planned everything else around it (at the expense of realism and character development). When one of the characters directly said the words "found family" in a conversation, I couldn't help it, I cringed.

The plot felt unplanned and a bit cobbled together too; at the beginning we're given cosy small-town witch vibes, but then towards the end, the main character, Iris, suddenly finds out she's fae and a whole host of other lore and world-building are haphazardly thrown in. I also didn't like the love interest - his interest in Iris is supposed to come across as sweet and endearing, but his obsession with her actually seems unhealthy. He's basically stalked her since she was 11? Not cool.

It's also worth noting that this is the fourth book in a series, though it can be read as a standalone.

I love to go in with books without knowing much of the synopsis, but based on the beautiful cover, I was excited for this Romance Fantasy story.

I had a hard time connecting to the characters and story unfortunately, even as I read and listened to both the physical and audio formats.

*many thanks to sourcebooks and Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the gifted copy.

DNF @ 15%

There are a lot of questionable things (“fantasy racism” as an example) in this to start and I only got 15% in before I couldn’t take it. Doesn’t help that I checked reviews and not a single one said it got better so….

I will be writing a full review later on this book, but I really loved it! It was a fun relationship, with its ups and downs, and the magic was so much fun. I was not at all expecting the twist towards the end, and I'm so excited about the purple house. Great messages across the board included as well. From family, to found family, to LGBTQ+/Racism, to learning that you don't have to speak to your "family" because they hold that title.

I really loved it!

DNF @ 56%

I made it 56% of the way through the audiobook. I struggled to connect with the characters, magic system, and the romance. Overall, the cozy fantasy vibes just didn't do it for me.

I'm sorry to say that this book did not work for me.

Things I did like: The narrator of the audio did a great job. I like the found family trope and appreciate the attempt at "diversity" and queerness even if it felt a bit surface level.

But ultimately I found this book quite boring, transparently earnest and deeply unsubtle. So much telling rather than showing and such weirdly mundane details about EVERYTHING.

⭐️⭐️

Favorite thing: the setting
Least favorite things: Eli the Stalker, inconsistent cover art

The first thing I want to address is Eli, the problematic love interest. He gave off some weirdo creepy stalker vibes (like stalking her online since elementary school? Renting a room when he has his own place? “I’m not like other people?” 🚩 Idk not the type of character traits that should be idealized/romanticized imo) and overall I just didn’t like how his character was written or planned. Big ick.

I liked the house though—the setting was charming! The whole renovation aspect of the story was my favorite part to follow, and I had a great time getting sucked into the nostalgic-historic-house element of the story.

Unfortunately, I thought the fantasy/magic system left some holes, but I will hold off my judgement until I read the first books (hoping/giving benefit of the doubt that the magic is more detailed in books 1-3). I’ve seen other reviewers point out that the (lack of) magic system represents an allegory for marginalized people, but I would have preferred the MC to have more powers, more agency, and be more developed. I can appreciate that the author wanted/tried to be inclusive with queer and BIPOC diversity rep, but at times just felt forced, boarder-line rude(possibly clueless?inconsiderate?), and the delivery was just off.

When I added this to my TBR and requested the ALC I did not realize this was book 4 of the series, but now I want to go back and read the first 3 books because I want to know what I’m missing!? This 4th book can easily be read standalone, but it felt like something was lacking, and maybe that’s why I couldn’t fully support the love story arc or didn’t get sucked into the universe. I would like to give it a chance, and maybe reading the earlier books will be more redeeming.

Also, I am 100% annoyed by the inconsistency across the covers…TOPHIT has an absolutely stunning cover (which is what actually drew me in), and the first 3 books aren’t as pretty to me, nor do they match AT ALL with this newest release. I’m glad this was given as an ALC because if I had it sitting on my shelf with the first 3 books I would constantly get irked by looking at them as a “set”.

Overall, this book gets 2 stars and a “meh” from me.

I went into this blind, just based off spooky season vibes and having heard good things about Aguirre’s last series. I wasn’t disappointed, this sucks you in super fast (vampire pun fully intended) and gets you in on all the jokes and hijinks right away.

The premise is intriguing and layed out right off the bat. The Main Characters are truly a pair of odd ducks, sometimes that’s wonderful and sometimes it’s just… odd. Still the quirky cast definitely grows on you and the plot is absolutely heartwarming once everything really gets going. Found family and cozy with a fun hodgepodge of magical beings

Absolutely hits the spot for spooky supernatural autumn reads.

Audio 4/5 - Perfect easy listening. The narration was energetic and the voice actor really pleasant to listen to. The only miss in my books was not having the dual POV done with split narration or even much of a way to clarify whose POV you’re entering into each section.

Ok so I started this audio book months ago and was almost immediately put off by the unintentional stalker vibes in the beginning. I don’t mind a stalker dark romance but that’s obviously not the vibe for this book and it felt so mismatched. I stopped at 20% but finally picked it back up two months later and finished it. I enjoyed the rest of the story and ended up liking Eli after some distance from the beginning.

Things I liked:
Found family
Dual pov
Inclusivity
Paranormal
Pretty cover
Good narrator voice

Things I didn’t like:
Stalker vibes in the beginning
the romance felt rushed
The family reveal felt like a weird twist

I enjoyed the fix it witches series by this author so was super excited to see there was a 4th book, but this one is more of a stand alone with cameos. It was cute to see them pop up though even if it was brief.

Thank you NetGalley for the audio ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

im not sure how to feel. I did finish this one but it was a little lack luster. I don't think I would recommend as there are so many books that give just a little more.

2 stars

I had so many issues with this one I'm so upset.
First, I thought this was a standalone but no. It turns out it's book 4 from a series but with a completely different cover and that's odd.
Second, I'm so tired of the Hero being an stalker/creep trope and this was not an exception. It was so unsettling and not at all appealing that our Hero was a total creep with our heroine. Also when the actual romance started there was no real chemistry between our MCs and for a romance book I need that.
Overall besides the fantasy cozy vibes, there wasn't much i enjoyed from this.
The narrators did gave the book some ambiance and the vibes but since I didn't really enjoyed the plot it wasn't a great experience for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.