This is a very interesting story’s there are many different layers to this story. I really like the way that the story embraces life with a great sense of realism and open mindedness. The characters are very interesting. I loved getting to know all of them along the way. Some of them took longer for me to appreciate than others. The plot was a fascinating one. I love the mixture of reality and the supernatural. What the characters had to go through had me on my seat and I both laughed and cried at times. I loved and hated the ending. Great story.

This one was a mixed bag for me. It was hard to tell at first whether this was truly a fantasy book or just a contemporary story with a few magical touches—it kind of drifted into fantasy eventually, but the transition felt uneven. Some of the characters’ behaviors seemed a little far-fetched, and most of them read more like caricatures than fully fleshed-out people. That kept the story from having depth.

There were some strong points. A couple of the reveals later in the book were well done, and by the time I reached the end, I was hanging on every word to see how things would wrap up. But it was a bit of a slog to get there. The pacing dragged in places, and I sometimes found the story’s “road maps” confusing—directions or settings didn’t always line up in a way that was easy to visualize.

In the end, this wasn’t really my cup of tea, and I very nearly DNF’d it. Still, for readers who enjoy YA fantasy romance, it probably does fine on that front. It also leaves the door open for a sequel, so fans may find more to look forward to. For me, though, it landed squarely in the “meh” category.

I want to love this, but I am 30% of the way thru and really just not connecting with it. It feels very similar to me as other witchy YA books I have read. I don't plan to completely DNF this book, but rather just stop reading for now and try again in October, when reading something kinda silly and basic for Halloween could be cute.

Every year without her dad, it gets easier to pretend Nova doesn’t believe in myth and magic. Easier to pretend she’s doing okay. Easier to pretend she doesn’t have a secret crush on the girl she fake-hates. Kiara is the luckiest girl in town and the thief of every crush Nova had her heart set on first. In theory, Nova should resent Kiara, but it’s getting harder for her to deny her feelings. When Nova lays an unintended hex on Kiara at the Fall Festival, and one misfortune after another swiftly follows, soon Kiara’s very survival is at stake. To reverse the bad luck, Kiara’s exes a quest for the miraculous wishing well. There’s only one person who can get them there which is Nova. But to save Kiara—and maybe find her dad, too—she’ll have to believe in something much stronger than magic. Will she find the wishing well?

The author has written a story about love, grief, family, magic, and believing in yourself. There are definitely issues that the characters have. This is a story with a lot of depth. With nastiness, and goodness, with lies and truths, and with difficult decisions that could change a life.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book is fun, and gives you the wam hug vibes! This is a book that you read in between darker books that is a cleanser for the mind. It is not serious but fun. this is perfect for fall and has a witchy mysterious vibe.
The characters are young and go on a paranormal adventure in the woods. There is magic, crushes and figuring out one's self.

Hit Me with Your Best Charm by Lillie Vale is a cozy, slightly spooky YA fantasy-romance set in the superstitious little town of Prior’s End. With its whimsical Fall Festival, the legend of a mysterious wishing well, and the lingering mystery of Nova Marwood’s missing father, the book blends folklore, romance, and self-discovery into a charming autumnal setting.

I really enjoyed the premise—the cursed romance, the small-town atmosphere thick with myths, and the way friendship and community played a big role. Vale writes with a warmth that makes Prior’s End feel alive, and Nova’s complicated feelings toward Kiara gave the romance a fresh spark. Their banter, tension, and eventual vulnerability felt authentic and sweet.

That said, the pacing sometimes dragged, and the plot leaned more on vibes and atmosphere than momentum. The magical elements, while fun, didn’t always feel fully fleshed out, and I occasionally found myself wishing for a deeper exploration of the wishing well’s lore or Nova’s family history. The balance between magic, romance, and mystery could have been tighter.

Overall, this was a cute, autumn-ready story with sapphic romance at its heart. While it didn’t completely enchant me, it had moments of charm and tenderness that will definitely appeal to readers who love small-town magic and slow-burn love stories.

Thank you NetGalley, The publisher and Lillie Vale for the opportunity to read an ARC copy of "Hit Me with Your Best Charm"!

I thought the story had a good premises, but unfortunately I did not enjoy it. I found it to slow, and really long with all the extra stories and way to much dialog.

The prologue of this didn't seem to make any sense. And the first chapter felt like an info dump. But not a well-explained one. There was a lot of information missing and not put in the right places. It felt like the author was trying to give too much too soon, while also trying to be vague about it. It was kind of a weird situation. Dnf at 10%

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

This book was okay, I definitely hyped it up more in my head before reading. It seems to drag on and nothing too exciting happens until you’re almost done with the book. I wish the plot had picked up more closer to the middle or even beginning of the book. I love the magical aspect of “is it magic or just superstition/coincidence”. Overall it was a fine premise for a book but I think it definitely could have done with picking up more quickly.

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

Book: Hit Me With Your Best Charm

Author: Lillie Vale

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 2/5

Diversity: Bisexual FMC, Queen characters, Queer Jewish Polish Indian Character

Recommended For...: Young Adult readers, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Magical Realism, Forest, Mountains, Appalachia

Publication Date: July 15, 2025

Genre: YA Fantasy

Age Relevance: 13+ (parent disappearance, language, romance, cancer)

Explanation of CWs: A parent disappearing for years is brought up a lot in the book and is a central plot point. There is some cursing. There is some romance. There is cancer mentioned.

If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Gold Rush

Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers

Pages: 416

Synopsis: Whimsical charm at the annual Fall Festival. The legend of the wishing well hidden in a forest bristling with secrets. And Nova Marwood’s missing hiker father. Every year without him, it gets easier to pretend Nova doesn’t believe in myth and magic. Easier to pretend she’s doing okay. Easier to pretend she doesn’t have a secret crush on the girl she fake-hates. Kiara Mistry is the luckiest girl in town and the thief of every crush Nova had her heart set on first. In theory, Nova should resent Kiara. But it’s getting harder to deny her feelings. When Nova lays an unintended hex on Kiara at the Fall Festival, and one misfortune after another swiftly follows, soon Kiara’s very survival at stake. To reverse the bad luck, Kiara’s exes turned BFFs commence a quest for the miraculous wishing well. There’s only one person who can get them there . . . Nova. But to save Kiara—and maybe find her dad, too—she’ll have to believe in something much stronger than magic. Nova will need to believe in herself.

Review: Overall, I thought that this book had some pretty good premise to it. I love books that are set within the mountains that I grew up in and stuff that has like a touch of magic to it. I thought the vibes of the book were pretty immaculate and if this is a book that you're feeling, I think you're going to be having a great time reading it.
Unfortunately, that was not me lol. I thought that the book was not cohesive at all and it was very disjointed. I was really confused about the area that it was set in because it kept mentioning the Blue Ridge mountains, which is great because I know where that is exactly. The Blue Ridge mountains are in the upper Georgia area and they go into North Carolina and then up north from there. However, at one point in the book they mentioned college girls from Murfreesboro and the line was that it was close enough to draw local attention? Murfreesboro is more towards in Middle Tennessee. I thought the World building and the character development were both severely lacking. I also think overall that this book could have just been a spooky short story. There wasn't a ton of plot to keep it going as much as it did and I was really bored with the book overall.

Verdict: It was good, just not for me

An accidental hex and a quest to undo it. The Fellowship of the Fling. Nova accidentally hexes Kiara with bad luck and the only way to save her and undo the curse is with a trek through the woods to make a wish in a mythical wishing well that hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years. All of Kiara’s exes join in the search and love blooms along the way. This was a fun quick paranormal read, a bit dark at times but that’s what Lillie Vale does best.

Thank you Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

1/5 stars - This book was SO boring and slow. The waste of time the author spends on pointless exposition and boring conversations was too much for me to find anything redeeming from the bits of witchy-ness and enemies-to-lovers plot tease. I skimmed after over halfway after I just couldn't be bothered to spend any more time with these people.

Dnf @ 20%: I was excited when I got approved for this witchy, sapphic book because the premise intrigued me - small town fall festival, looking for her missing father, a curse, the legend of the mysterious wishing well… however, it did not deliver for me. The writing felt like it was geared toward a younger audience than standard YA, even though the characters are supposedly in their upper teen years. There were too many different plot lines that made the story feel jumbled, but then there were also some redundant parts in my opinion (ie multiple descriptions of places she thought to hide her hiking gear so no one knew she was looking for her missing father, even though she’d then explain why that wasn’t a good place to hide it… just trivial info). This book may be for some people, but it sadly wasn’t for me!

Honestly I feel like I’m more of a 2.5 but I’m going to just keep this at a three star rating. While I did enjoy parts of the book and found some things to be completely unexpected, I just found the book to be overall boring. I just wanted to get through it as fast as I could so I didn’t have to read it anymore, which shouldn’t be how you read a book. Then again, this book felt more paranormal thriller ya than anything else and I didn’t love the thriller part. It was creepy and completely unexpected. I’m still not sure how to take that ending. Overall it had a good premise and I did enjoy parts of it, I just don’t think it was a book for me.

I have to say I enjoyed the puny title of this one more than I actually did the actual story. But it wasn't the book it was me as reader.

“𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤, 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐞’𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐖𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐧. 𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝.”

𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 7/15/25

𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘆: Nova lost her dad to the woods years ago and never forgave herself for the last words she said to him. Along with carrying her grief, she also has a nemesis who she inadvertently hexes. Nova needs to work through her past to save her future. Set in a small town humming with magical current.

𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:
🏕️ Magical Realism
🔮 Sapphic Romance
🏕️ Spooky Forest
🔮 Grief Journey

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀: I wasn’t expecting this story to be what it was, but I really enjoyed it! I expected a more Rom-Com type witchy read and this was more of a magical realism grief journey with a romance subplot. At times the story was a bit slow for my taste but the more I read the more I loved it. It gives spooky, magical, and sweet all swirled together. Truly delightful.

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 4.25/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

*Thank you @NetGalley and @PeguinTeen/Viking Books for Young Readers for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

#HitMeWithYourBestCharm

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc!

unfortunately dnf @27% — i can see that the entire plot of this book stems from our fmc nova being a brat, and i’m not interested in a bratty fmc.

i’m sure this sapphic witchy romcom will find its audience, but it’s not me.

What did I just read?! I am so confused. 🤣
The cover art and cute title did not prepare me for what I just read. This book is not a cute witchy rom com. It was much darker and more paranormal than expected.
While this is YA, the writing was clunky at times, and the middle felt long, but the ending…
It was SO SO rushed… AND
Something really big happens/is revealed (which I suspected), and then it’s just like, oh yeah, that. And then everyone just ignores it, and the reunions at the end are so … weird and rushed.
But then there’s the epilogue… and no one seems to be talking about it. Like I think I know who the first person is, but the second… I am so confused, and how is this an epilogue and I now just have so many more questions.
Basically, I guess there was enough mystery to keep me engaged, even if it wasn’t what I expected, but then the end felt so disjointed, and the epilogue felt unnecessary and confusing… 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thank you to NetGalley, Lillie Vale, and Penguin Group for the eARC. This beautifully magical and emotionally rich story swept me away. Filled with wonder, romance, and moments of heartbreak, it was an enchanting read that kept me captivated from start to finish. Highly recommend!

So, I was really excited about this book. The cover is GORGEOUS. It's about magic and hexes (perfect to get me in the mood for Halloween 🎃). It has a little romance. The problem that I had, though? I really didn't end up liking this book. Before I go any further with the review, I don't think Hit Me with Your Best Charm is a bad book. I think I just expected something a little... more than what it was. 

I'm going to start with the characters because I think a lot of what I didn't like starts with the characters. Nova specifically made me so unbelievably mad at times. Now, to preface, she is only 17, but sometimes she acted like she was 12. All of the problems and "occasional magic" was caused by her volatile emotions. She's mad at Aurora, a psychic, for convincing her mom to declare her father legally dead since he's been  missing for seven years. So, when she gets to Aurora's tent and she's not there, instead of LEAVING, she tells her arch-romance-nemesis, Kiara, that she will have misfortune, bad luck, and sacrifice in her future. Like, Nova, even if it wasn't a real hex (which she only meant to scare Kiara anyway), words have power and mean something. She should've learned that with her dad, but nope. 

I liked all the other characters, but you really don't get a lot of development with any of them besides what their specific personalities are. You don't know what they do at school. You don't know what they like/dislike. They're just there to fill some empty space. Even Kiara was basic and just a "pretty" girl without much depth to her. 

With the plot, I loved the beginning with the letter about Prior's End and its history. That felt like a really strong start, after that and chapter one, I feel like it all kind of went downhill for me after that. I wouldn't say I was bored exactly, but basically after they find out Kiara is hexed, the group of 6 ish teens travel into the Longing Woods to find the wishing well that will let them undo Kiara's bad luck. The Longing Woods was a really cool concept, and many weird things (otherworldly, you could say) happen out there. But, again, just like the characters, I felt like the woods lacked depth and it stopped me from being truly pulled into the story. Alsoooo, the epilogue? I was beyond confused and trying to figure out who the proverbial, not-mentioned-by-name characters were, but I couldn't figure it out. Y'all help me please and leave a comment if you knew what the epilogue was supposed to be about 🙈. 

Honestly, this was going to be a three star read for me, but something that happened at the end REALLY threw me off (along with the epilogue), so it bumped down to two stars. I'll mention it in the spoilers below.

Spoilers ahead.

Okay, Tayla being dead? It seriously felt like the author put that in the book as a last minute addition. It all felt rushed, like there was only one or two big clues that were dropped in, and, to be completely honest, felt like it was there for an "emotional" ending and shock factor. This really knocked it down for me because it not only felt odd, but it felt like it came out of nowhere, and not in a good way. 

Overall, while I really didn't enjoy this novel, it's definitely not the worst thing I've ever read. I think it lacks depth and character development, but a younger audience may enjoy it more than I did. Two out of five stars for me, but, again, I think many people will enjoy this book even if I didn't. It has magic, a little romance, and a lot of folklore. A huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to have an advanced reader copy of Hit Me with Your Best Charm. 

**Will be posted on my blog on July 22 at noon CST