Author: Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
Publisher: Entangled Covet
Publication Date: July 20, 2012
My Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
From Goodreads:
Down-on-her-luck witch Storie Bell never thought the biggest threat to her future would be Reid Malone, the very man she’d run from years before. After striking it rich in Texas shale, he’s back in town, and he seems hell-bent on getting in the way of her bookstore’s grand opening. A witch trying to blend in in a small southern town is hard enough, but now he’s seriously testing her strict No Kissing Mortal Men policy. But even witches don’t have a spell for that.
Reid knows there’s much more to Storie than meets the eye. But right now he has only one mission: to infiltrate her shop so he can snatch the elusive secret ingredient to his father’s million-dollar moonshine recipe. Once he does, he can go back to the city and get out of his small hometown, a place in which he has no future.
But as the days go by, he can’t help falling for Storie in every way…and every encounter brings him closer to finding out what happens when you try to deceive a witch.
My Thoughts:
The main character's name is what hooked me with this book. Both of them actually. Storie Rae Bell and Reid Malone. If I ever have kids I might have to name the girl Storie. I love it that freaking much.
Anyways, back to the review. Our heroine, Storie, returns to the small town she had lived with her dad to open up a book store/cafe. She had left some years ago and the town folks had some suspicions about her being a witch. They didn't shun her, exactly, but they definitely were suspicious. And curious. Reid however, the man who ran the bar next door with his dad, wasn't suspicious. No, he just had the strong desire to get into her pants. Something he hadn't done during their last encounter years ago. But Reid has ulterior motives and though these are explained via a bit of back-story, I wish there had been "more" to it. We only got a few glimpses of Reid's dad (who for some reason I pictured like the really old guy on Moonshiners!) and I would have loved to see his interactions with Storie. Especially since it was alluded to that Jigg and Storie's dad had been friends. Or at least, spent lots of time together when her dad went to the bar.
The steam factor in the book was moderate and tastefully done. Reid and Storie had some serious sexual tension going on and I liked how the author was able to capitalize on that as the the book moved forward. The author also explored the tension that Reid felt, being attracted to Storie and yet, at the same time, trying to do "right" by hi father. The only downside I saw with this was that I would have liked to have seen a bit more of Jigg and his father-their interactions, dialogue, even his father's reaction to Storie and the eventual hooking up of her and his son.
Oh, something else that I thought was awesome? I didn't figure out what the "secret ingredient" was (the one Reid was looking for) and was pleasantly surprised by that. Sometimes I'm able to figure out the mystery too soon and it ruins the book for me. Of course, looking back I'm all "I sooooo should have seen that!". Not much catches me off guard anymore and I kinda like that feeling. :) I did however know who the woman in the beginning of the book was right off the bat. I don't think that was supposed to be a surprise though.
I was going to give this book three stars, meaning I liked it and will definitely be seeking out more from this author and series. But the final few twists in this book made me up the rating by half. The author does a great job setting up what I hope will be future books in this series. I already think I know who the couples will be, but obviously this is just my Nancy Drew like senses going all tingly. Or is that Spiderman? Whatever. Anyways, I think I have an idea and hope I am right!
Here are the purchase links:
Deceiving the Witch Next Door (Entangled Covet)
at AmazonDeceiving the Witch Next Door at BN
Deceiving the Witch Next Door at Goodreads
*I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*
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