The Vibes: cozy autumn, a bit of celebrity, Groundhog Day

Heat Index: 5/10

The Basics:

Former celebrity chef Sirena (with magic) makes a wish for a "fix my life" do-over. Waking up, she finds that she's gotten it—and it gives her a chance to really get to know Gus, a reality star (with magic) who harbors feelings for her. The question is, will they be able to get it right this time?

The Review:

Okay, first off I want to say that if you love COZY and you love AUTUMN and light witchiness (this has been compared to The Ex Hex, and I can see why), this will probably be for you. I love autumn, and I enjoy light witchiness. Where it kinda lost me was the cozy. Obviously, I expected some cozy based on the premise. This? Is a lot of cozy.

The good news: This is very on trend and again, a lot of y'all will love it.

Celestine Martin has a real way with words, and I loved the descriptions here. Literally felt like fall leaves in a cup (or a book, I guess). The atmosphere is fabulous, the food descriptions are great, it's FALL FALL FALL.

Where I feel her writing could use some tweaking is in the dialogue. You spend a lot of time in the characters' heads, which felt like a space she approached confidently. It's not that the dialogue was bad. It just wasn't as good as the rest of the prose, and it did read a little young for the characters' ages and experience. (In general, I felt like Gus was a little too cautious about sharing his feelings with Sirena for, again, his age and experience. They're not babes in the woods, and I like that! I'd love to see it reflected more in the writing.)

And... I think where the book inched further away from four stars was in the pacing. If you enjoy a slow burn? You'll probably like this, again. I don't jump for a slow burn, but I can definitely enjoy it if done well. A slow burn does not inherently mean bad pacing. (And a slow-paced book can also be great!)

This is very slowly paced. It felt like, after a certain point, I was reading pure vibes. Which! Again! Will work for a lot of people. Ultimately, I felt like this could've used some chopping in the editing. We don't need all of this. In some ways, this may have worked better as a novella?

The Sex:

I found the descriptions of sex in this book... interesting. Again, this was a slow burn, and I personally didn't feel a ton of sexual tension beforehand (though there was emotional tension). Interesting doesn't mean bad here. But the descriptions are some of the more flowery ones I've read in a book set in a more contemporary world. It read a bit like what I would've seen in older contemporaries, or even older historicals. Again, not bad. Just unexpected, I suppose?

This will be someone's perfect fall novel, and I do love that it's a Black romance with some magic. God knows we need more of that representation in paranormal romance. But, it wasn't quite for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.