Rating: 95% | A | ★★★★★
Synopsis (from NetGalley): In the sleepy college town of Zenobia, New York, the only supernatural trace on display is the name of Gwen Engel’s business—Abracadabra Odd Job Service. But Gwen’s family has some unusual abilities they’ve been keeping under wraps—until one little letter spells big trouble… Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting… Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with him at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research. Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes? Spoiler-Free Review: Quirky and adorable, A Letter to Three Witches is a cozy read that makes me long for autumn breezes and Halloween hijinks. The witch community Elizabeth Bass creates in Zenobia, New York reminds me of nostalgic childhood memories watching Halloweentown with my sister. The characters are suitably strange, devious, and downright hilarious, as is the world they live in. However, I wish the book had been longer overall; there was so much potential for a deeper development of the protagonist's character arc, a deeper dive into the protagonist's romantic relationships, and a deeper explanation of the low fantasy world in general. I found myself shocked about 20 pages from the end, not believing that Bass could neatly wrap the story up so quickly without plot holes. There were plot holes, but that being said, part of the book's charm is that the reader needs to jump into it with a good amount of suspension of disbelief. A Letter to Three Witches is out January 22, 2022. Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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