Book Review: Love Spells for the End of the World
I received this galley in exchange for an honest review.
Author: Alys Murray
Genre: Romance
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services, LLC
Published: September 16, 2019
Pages: 165
Format: eBook
★★★★☆
This book is perfect for those that like: enemies to lovers, magical characters, and witches who learn to be bad-ass.
You might not like this book if you aren’t into: magic, stories surrounding magic, and characters that are magical.
Purchase: Amazon
A series of events leads a Witch, Jezebel, to accidentally, maybe, open a Hellmouth, which may or may not end the world as she knows it. The only way out of this mess? To fight it with her Human neighbor from across the street, Elijah Thorne. There’s only one hiccup in this plan– he’s been trying to kill her for years.
Growing up in Texas I only had two seasons: summer and football, with a couple of weeks of our version of winter thrown in from time to time. It wasn't until I moved to New England that I truly learned to appreciate Fall and everything that comes with it-- changing leaves, sweaters, hot chocolate, pumpkin picking, and of course, Halloween.
Now that it's September, all I want to do is to dive into anything Fall related. Which is why I was so eager to read Alys Murray's latest book, Love Spells For the End of the World. It's set during Halloween and has everything you would want to get you into the mood for the Spooky Season-- witches, magic, a swoony, but nerdy book boyfriend, and TWO of my most favorite romantic tropes EVER, enemies to lovers, and well, I can’t tell you the other trope because that would give too much away. Let’s just say that there’s a reveal moment where I legit gasped out loud.
Set in the fictional town of Leyton, Jezebel “Bel” Marilyn Hallow is prepping for the annual Halloween festivities, when she discovers that a Hellmouth has opened up in her house. Not ideal, since well, she’s kind of bad a being a witch. She can only do the most basic of spells and hexes, all of which prove ineffective in fighting the Hellmouth. Sure, she could ask her powerful Aunts to help her out, but that would mean admitting that a) she let an evil entity into Leyton and b) her own witch-y shortcomings. Her only solution is to team up with her human neighbor from across the barrier, Elijah Thorne (who has one of the best book boyfriend names ever), aka the Witch Hunter who has been trying to kill her for a decade. The story takes us along their journey to not only save the town but to settle their old feud once and for all. And maybe fall in love along with way.
Y’all. This book is so fun. It’s a quick read-- perfect for a weekend under the covers with fuzzy socks and delicious coffee. Reminiscent of movies like Halloweentown and R.L. Stine's Monsterville: Cabinet of Souls, Love Spells for the End of the World is a delightful trip through a magical town filled with quirky characters. It’s a love story, yes, but it’s also a story of finding and loving yourself.