I have a confession to make.
I would sacrifice fall for it to be summer forever.
There, I said it.
I love the coziness that fall brings, but I am a summer girl at heart--being born on the summer solstice does that to a person. Even knowing how much I love the heat, the sunshine, and the lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer, I'm forcing myself to be more accepting of fall. This past weekend, I put out all my fall decor, and to really get into the mood, I picked up my ARC of The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling.
The Kiss Curse is the sequel to The Ex Hex and was one of my highly anticipated reads for this year, so receiving this ARC was thrilling! It takes us back to Graves Glen, Georgia, which I really wish was a real town because I would visit it constantly. We finally get more about Gwyn Jones, Vivi's cousin, as she is forced to play nice with Wells Penhallow, Rhys Penhallow's brother. You've got a cartoon cover style romance, a little spice, spooky season, and an enemies to lovers? Sign. Me. Up.
I really enjoyed that this was a cozy, low stakes read. Sure, there was drama, but this book honestly gave me the warm and fuzzy fall vibes I needed to accept that the weather will be changing soon. Erin has a particular talent for setting the scene--I could picture every detail of the Raven and Crown in Wales, Gwyn's quirky store Something Wicked and Wells' magical apothecary. I felt like a resident of Graves Glen, watching the characters as if they were my neighbors. Wells had me swooning--but then again, I love all of the Penhallow brothers, and I'm really hoping we get a third book about Bowen. The plot got predictable at times and it seemed like Gwyn and Wells flipped from enemies to ...interested super quickly, but overall I enjoyed it. This was a very quick read and well worth the wait!
Oh, and Sir Purrcival the talking cat was EVERYTHING, as always.
The Kiss Curse is out September 20, so mark your calendars!
Love and free tea at Penhallows,
Mandy
