Back in a Spell (The Witches of Thistle Grove)

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Even if this wasn't ideal for me, it's one of those series where the next book could be - and overall I still love this magical town. Their family laundry is laid bare, the toxicity evident and so clearly laid out I almost couldn’t understand why Nina wouldn’t just run away. Nina is hesitant to commit to this online dating experience, but with a little help from her best friend Nina decides to give Morty Gutierrez, the non-binary, spunky co-owner of the Shamrock Cauldron a shot.

But nonbinary and/or genderfluid folks who use pronoun sets like ‘she/they’, ‘he/they’, or ‘she/he/they’ often cite their struggle with everyone defaulting to the binary ones. But then there are all the many times Morty is referred to as "guy", "dude", or described as having a "boyish smile". For anything else, they require permission from their father or husband or another male responsible for them. But you cannot tell me that a woman that steeped in geek culture cannot recognize that if Thistle Grove were Star Wars, her family would be the Empire. With the brisk pace, readers can feel the angst of the two main characters as they try to make sense of the circumstances they find themselves in, with perplexing clues and surprising feelings.It's a little more heavy on the romance, this one, and while I still liked it very much it didn't have the same oomph of loving it that the first one gave me. Back in a Spell is the third in the Witches of Thistle Grove series, and it’s a bit different from the first two. As readers, we are used to he/him pronouns so I would have been able to ignore how he is solely referred to with he/him pronouns throughout the book and that there isn't even a single instance when the heroine uses "they" while talking about Morty.

Unlike the first two books that feature all witch main characters, this one includes a non-witch in Morty. She can’t deny that her enhanced abilities make her feel amazing, but when she learns the truth about what is really going on, Nina will have to decide if she should claim the power for her family alone, or if she must put the needs of the town before herself.But when Morty begins developing magical powers-something that usually only happens to committed romantic partners once they officially join a founding family-at the same time as Nina’s own magic surges beyond her control, Nina must manage Morty’s rude awakening to the hidden magical world, uncover its cause, and face the intensity of their own burgeoning connection. When she’s caught she uses all of her growth (there wasn’t any) to harm an innocent witch to coverup her and her family’s misdeeds and only comes clean when she is literally forced to and because Morty is (rightly) disgusted by her. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed in this series is the world building and this story focuses on a different aspect than the first two in terms of this mysterious new power Nina gains. Nina’s brother, Gareth, is the antagonist of Payback’s a Witch and while Nina isn’t as hated as him, the family is all painted with a pretty negative brush throughout the series thus far. What was potentially just an awkward, terrible online date turns into something worse when Morty discovers what family Nina comes from (the same ones trying to take Morty’s business from his family).