Books & Bewitchment by Isla Jewell

Release date February 3rd
Witchy romcom

Rhea’s grandmother Maggie, who she’s never met, dies and leaves her real estate on Main Street in Arcadia Falls, Georgia. (She decides to turn the video store into a bookstore). While scattering her ashes Rhea’s cockatoo Doris is possessed by the spirit of her grandmother. She finds out she comes from a family of witches and the hot guy she just met is the grandson of Maggie’s arch enemy.

I enjoyed the romance between Rhea and Hunter. I also liked the residents of the small town. Very well-written and thought out.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Del Rey, and Random House for my arc.

Books and Bewitchment is a delightful cozy fantasy romance that feels like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket—with just enough magic and mystery to keep things interesting. Set in the quaint town of Arcadia Falls, the story follows Rhea Wolfe as she inherits a dusty video store (and a magical legacy) and tries to turn it into the bookshop of her dreams. Add in a swoony handyman with a forbidden connection and a town full of secrets, and you’ve got the recipe for a feel-good escape.

The small-town charm really shines through here, making the world feel welcoming and whimsical. I loved the cozy, witchy atmosphere, and Rhea’s journey of self-discovery was lovely to follow. While the plot had some great twists and magical elements, there were a few points where the momentum dipped and things felt a little flat. Still, it always managed to pull me back in.

Overall, it was a sweet, easy read—perfect for fans of light fantasy and slow-burn romance with a sprinkle of magic. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something heartwarming and a little enchanting.

4 pesky poltergeists out of 5.

This was a super cozy, fantasy-adjacent read, with a slight hint of mystery on the side to make things more fun. Arcadia Falls is a delightful little setting with entertaining character and plenty of small town charm. The witchy-ness was a fun fantastical addition to the mostly normal word and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to learn about the ways in which the magic of this town worked. I also loved Rhea, the FMC–she’s a book obsessed girl who just needed a bit of a break from the demands and responsibilities of other people, and I very much so relate to that. Add in the heaps of book references and the general book-lover vibes that are pretty much overflowing from this book and you get the perfect cozy read for a quiet day. It’s the fun side of fantasy without all of the angst that can sometimes get exhausting, even if we love it. Plus you get a very bookish boyfriend who more or less singlehandedly makes this book not YA. Thank you for that Hunter. You are the best.

Isla Jewell has written just that- a jewel. This book is bursting with adventure, passion, lovable characters, and a romance that is almost as sweet as chocolate. Perfect for fall- and someone who's looking for true love.

This book is like a steaming mug of cinnamon chai on a rainy afternoon, comforting, a little spicy, and surprisingly addictive!

Books & Bewitchment ticked all my cozy fantasy boxes, wrapped in a slow-burning romcom with just the right amount of magical mystery to keep things bubbling.

Our FMC, Rhea Wolfe, is a classic small-town introvert: responsible to a fault, stuck in a go-nowhere job, and basically carrying her family’s emotional baggage in a tote bag big enough to fit her talkative pet parrot.

When her estranged (and apparently magical) grandmother dies and leaves her a crumbling video store in the quirky town of Arcadia Falls, Rhea’s life is flipped on its head in the best possible way.
Cue the “grumpy girl inherits whimsical town full of secrets” plot line, and you know I’m already invested.


Turning a run-down VHS graveyard into a bookshop? Literal witch goals. I loved watching Rhea come into her own creatively, making the shop her own while embracing her (reluctantly inherited) magical lineage.


There’s nothing flashy or high fantasy here, it’s soft magic, rooted in emotion, intuition, and old feuds. And that made it feel realer somehow. Like, of course there’s a cursed garden gnome and a protective parrot familiar and an ancestral grudge that spans generations. What else would you expect in a town like Arcadia Falls?


If there’s one thing I adore, it’s when the hot, emotionally intelligent guy wears flannel and fixes things. Bonus points for being the grandson of the enemy, because what’s a cozy witchy romcom without some family-fuelled forbidden attraction? Rhea and Hunter’s chemistry felt easy and natural slow to simmer, but satisfying when it did.



Isla Jewell gives us a swoony, slow-burn romance wrapped in witchy small-town vibes with just enough conflict to keep things spicy.

This is the kind of book you read with a cozy blanket and a cat on your lap, rooting for love, legacy, and the power of a well-stocked bookshelf.

Rhea’s magical awakening is satisfying and grounded, and I definitely want more from Arcadia Falls, maybe a sequel featuring her sisters? 👀

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Charming, Magical, and Full of Heart

This book is an absolute delight! Rhea Wolfe is the perfect underdog heroine—practical, no-nonsense, and just a little bit world-weary—until a mysterious inheritance turns her life upside down and sends her straight into a small-town magical mystery.

Arcadia Falls is the kind of cozy, witchy setting that wraps around you like a warm blanket, complete with eccentric townsfolk, simmering old feuds, and just the right dash of spooky happenings. Watching Rhea uncover her magical heritage while grappling with family secrets, emotional baggage, and a VERY handsome handyman with complicated ties? Utterly addictive.

The slow-burn romance with Hunter Blakely was swoony in all the right ways, full of tension and tenderness. But what really makes this story shine is Rhea’s journey—stepping out of her quiet, structured life and learning to claim her power, both magical and personal.

If you love Practical Magic vibes, small-town fantasy with a Southern twist, and heroines who find strength in the unexpected, you will fall head-over-heels for this enchanting read. I didn’t want it to end—and I need more stories set in Arcadia Falls!

⭐️2.5⭐️

Unfortunately, not my favourite story, but I can see how people will love this.

The writing is pretty good, and I did love the witchy vibes. However, I wasn't really invested in the story until around 60% in because that's when it felt like the story really started.

This book kind of reminds me of the Dream Harbour series, except this story focuses more on the town and the fmc's life while the romance is more of a subplot.

This book will be great for those who like stories about complex families, witches, and a town that feels like it is a character of its own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for the digital copy.

Such a cute witchy romance. Funny, believable flirting and spicy tension while remaining closed-door. I loved the side characters and the descriptions of Arcadia Falls. I can't wait to see what this magical town is up to in the next installment.

I had high hopes for this book and was expecting a cute and spooky read. However, I felt that the pace was slow, and a lot of the plotlines either ended abrubtly or felt unresolved. I think the book had a lot of potential but it didnt' feel finished to me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This is the best small town witchy romance that I’ve read in a while! It was so hard to put down and so easy to enjoy. I found it to be the right mix of cozy, found family, and magic. 🪄

Our main character Rhea loses her dead end job, finally ends her toxic relationship with her on again off again high school sweetheart, and receives a letter informing her that her grandmother passed and left her an inheritance - all in the same day! Her finances are not great, her sisters heavily depend on her, and her only friend is her pet cockatoo. Needless to say the decision to head to Arcadia Falls to collect her inheritance and start over is an easy decision to make. Throughout the story Rhea juggles being a new witch, learning family secrets, and gains the community, friendship, and romance that she’s been craving!

The town is wonderful, it’s giving hallmark vibes with a really strong sense of community. The side characters/ residents are so well written and likable even the family that’s supposed to be enemies with our main character. I also love the bookstore that Rhea and Hunter creates📚🏘️🪄

Hopefully we get more books, maybe her sisters will have their own stories and we can get more time with this cozy community💕 If small town witchy books with closed door romances are your thing then definitely check this one out!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🖤Thank you NetGalley for this eARC!

2.5 stars
This witchy rom-com sounded like it would be right up my alley. A young woman turning the video store she inherited from her estranged grandmother into a small-town bookstore, discovering her witchy heritage, and finding romance along the way... it all sounded like exactly what I was in the mood for. Unfortunately, in the end I didn't like this as much as I wanted to. It wasn't bad, the writing style was very readable, and I flew through the book very fast. Once I actually found the time to sit down and read, I finished it in a day. But it wasn't very memorable to me.

There weren't as many witchy parts as I hoped there would be, and all the magic elements were very low-stakes. Also what magical plot elements there were, it seemed like nothing was done with them until the resolution was crammed into the last few chapters. As for the rom-com elements: The comedy parts were reduced to some pet parrot antics, and the main characters flirting by slinging bad puns at each other. (I generally love a pun that's so bad it's actually good. But here none of them really landed right or made me laugh even once.) And I also didn't feel the romance, mainly because I didn't feel like I learned enough about the characters and their personalities to really believe them, as individual people or as a couple. All I knew about Rhea was that she likes books as much as I do - that can add to how connected I feel to a fictional character, but it can't be the only thing carrying that connection for me. And all I knew about Hunter, her love interest, was that she thinks he's attractive and that he's more mature and attentive than her on-again-off-again-since-highschool ex-boyfriend ever was. (She spends so much of her time comparing him to her ex in her head - even during intimate moments - it was so uncomfortable to read. Like who Hunter was didn't even matter and she could've felt the same about any other reasonably good-looking guy who wasn't an immature idiot like her ex. What exactly made him so appealing to her - or what made her so appealing to him for that matter - other than that they were both there in the same place? I have no idea.)

If you're looking for a diverting witchy rom-com with a cozy, low-stakes plot to entertain you for an afternoon you might enjoy this much more than I did, as long as you're fine with characters that leave you a lot of space to project whatever personalities you want onto them. I was just hoping for a little more character depth.

Thank you to Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey, Random House Worlds, Inklore
for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Books & Bewitchment is the cozy light fantasy novel readers dream of. There’s a good bit of romance, plenty of magic, and a mystery that is weaved through the story so naturally that the book is hard to put down.

Rhea loses her dead end job while also coming to terms that her toxic relationship has no future and that she ultimately doesn’t see a great future for herself and the sisters that should be taking care of themselves in Alabama. When she’s altered that her estranged grandmother, who she never met, has passed in Arcadia Falls, GA and she is her benefactor, she’s willing to ignore her mother’s warnings from her childhood to never go to the town and see if a new future can be enabled by her inheritance. Arcadia Falls is chock full of its own charming characters and mystery, with little help explaining the latter by Rhea’s grandmother Maggie - now living in Doris, her parrot’s body. But turning Maggie’s video store and boiled peanut palace into her dream bookshop and figuring out why the magic is largely gone from Arcadia Falls - allegedly at Maggie’s hands, not to mention a poltergeist and an excellently done romance, are plenty to keep eyes on the pages.

I really hope this becomes a series because I’m not done with the charming world in this book!

A magically sweet cozy fantasy with a touch of romance that really helps make this story feel full of life. I would happily spend more time in Arcadia Falls!!

This is truly one of my favorite stories I have read. It was just so fun. It was silly in the best way, but it still made me feel a lot. I related to Rhea having to be the responsible one in the family. Even from Chapter 1, I knew that this book would be perfect for me.

Arcadia Falls seemed initially like your normal small town frequently shown in novels, but the magic twist kept me hooked. I really enjoyed the side characters and am so excited to learn more about them, especially Rhea’s sisters. Hunter was perfection. What a man!

I truly loved this book and I am so happy that Rhea found her place in the world. Thank you so much to Del Rey and NetGalley for the ARC!

I absolutely fell in love with this small town cozy witchy rom-com. Every character was enjoyable. The dialogue and banter is so good. There is a slow burn, closed door romance which I really appreciated.

This story shows that starting from scratch is scary but rewarding. It had the perfect small town vibe with a strong sense of community.

I’m really hoping there will be more books. Perhaps telling Rhea’s sister’s stories and we can learn more about the town and its inhabitants.

DNFed 100 pages in and it was honestly a push to read that far.
The first few chapters were super rushed. The FMC wasn’t very likeable and I found her inner monologue annoying. This book tried way too hard to be funny and while I giggled a couple times, for the most part it majorly failed. The dialogue felt very unnatural and cringy. There wasn’t a lot of detail given to important things like locations or general surroundings but there were lots of pointless details like the FMC lifting with her legs and not her back.
The prose felt stiff and didn’t really flow.
Very disappointed as the blurb made this sound like a really fun book and the cover is cute.

Thank you to Netgalley and Del Rey for sending me an eArc to review.

Oh, if I could step into a book, this would be one of them! The setting was extremely charming and whimsical. The characters were well thought out and portrayed for the amount of pages this book contained. Now, this is a closed door/fade to black romance, so don't go in expecting steam. I will even say that there was very little tension. But this is a fluffy, Hallmark-esque, happily ever after type of read.
I will say, I ended the book with some questions not answered, but this may be due to a plan for more books following different characters. If so, I will gladly read them in between heavy world building fantasy and darker themed books. Perfect quick read for feel good times.

The book could do with maybe one more round from the editor in it's current state, as there were a few typos.
Huge thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and to Del Rey for the ARC of Books & Bewitchment by Lisa Jewell.

This is a super cute, cozy, witchy romcom.

Books & Bewitchment follows Rhea Wolfe, a woman in her later twenties just trying to survive in her small Alabama hometown. Her parents have both passed, her two sisters have moved out but still rely on her for financial assistance, and Rhea works a dead end job while entertaining an on-again-off-again relationship with her high school sweetheart (who totally sucks). When she receives news that her estranged grandmother she has never met has passed and has left her an inheritance, Rhea sees nothing holding her back from moving to Arcadia Falls to see what she might gain.

From here the book is more about Rhea meeting her new small-town neighbors, becoming the owner of multiple storefronts with an included apartment, making renovations for her own bookstore, and romancing the cute contractor in town all while discovering that Arcadia Falls is full of witches and elements of magic, including her own. Only it seems that about 20 years ago there was a fallout among the witches that directly ties to Rhea's family, and she must find a way to solve this town division to truly call Arcadia Falls home.

Again, it's very cozy and cute. I enjoyed reading it and I liked the vibe of Arcadia Falls, and the locals reliance on an old video store and the unsafe safe. It had great puns/banter between Rhea and Hunter, and a fun mix of characters established around the town.

I do wish Jewell had spent a bit more time on Rhea's actual growth as a character. Rhea does a lot in this book to establish herself in Arcadia Falls, but considering she's a carer and has been giving her all to her sisters and ex and boss for years, she still doesn't ever really assert herself in her new life - she just grows a similar one with nicer people in a different place. She doesn't change, her location does. I wish she actually committed to setting boundaries with her sisters or standing up for herself instead of just being a peacekeeper who finally has the capital to start the store of her dreams.

With the glimpses we have of Rhea's sisters, I'm not really thrilled if the next books in the series are about them because of how they treat Rhea. It made me feel like when I read ACOTAR and dared Sarah J. Maas to make me like Nesta and Elain after their behavior -- right now I don't know how Jewell redeems their selfishness/carelessness to make me want to root for them and I think if that had been dug into more here I'd feel more prepared for the rest of the series if it goes that directions. If the next books are about other members of Arcadia Falls and dive more into how magic continues to grow among the other characters, I think that would also work as a series continuance after the introduction we have to everyone in Arcadia Falls from Books & Bewitchment.

This is witchy little rom-com that takes place in a small town (Practical Magic vibes in that department, of course), specifically in the little local bookstore of this small town.

There's a discovery of previously hidden and unknown magic, magical inheritance, an attractive handyman, and a forbidden love situation with said handyman (rival families and all that jazz).

This was definitely a cute and easy read, but it felt a bit lackluster for me. I also didn't love the writing style. I could totally see what it was trying to be, but it didn't hit the mark. It was trying to be very vivid and descriptive, but it read as if every sentence was a run-on or something. (I don't actually think that every sentence was a run-on, but some definitely were. It just read as very wordy and in an unnecessary way.) I think that aspect of this book definitely needed another round of edits.

I can see plenty of people loving this book, especially fans of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and The Ex Hex.

Personally, I wanted more depth to the characters. And a little more action or higher stakes in the overall arc of the story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Loved reading the mesmerizing and spellbinding story. When Rhea finds out she has an inheritance from a grandmother she never knew, she goes to Arcadia Falls hoping it will solve her and her two sisters problems, and before she can inherit the four dilapidated buildings, she has to go under the waterfall with her grandmother's ashes. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written, and a must read riveting romance story.