Hex and the City

• Author: Kate Johnson
• Genre: Romance/Erotica
• Publication Date: September 3, 2023
• Publisher: One More Chapter

Thank you to NetGalley and One More Chapter for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: blood, gore, mention of bullying, eating disorder, gaslighting

Things you should know about Poppy:

1. She’s a witch

2. She has magical hair like Rapunzel from Tangled

3. She lives with Iris, the head of her coven, in a beautiful, ramshackle house next to Highgate cemetery

4. She works at Hubble Bubble, a magic shop in Covent Garden. Though none of it is real magic as that would be highly irresponsible. Until…

…Poppy accidentally sells gorgeous celebrity magician Axl Storm, all six-foot-four of him, a cursed pendant.

When all hell breaks loose can the guy with fake magic and the girl with real magic fix the chaos they’ve caused? Or will sparks fly both in and out of the cauldron?

I had read Hex Appeal by this author, a related story in this world. I remember it starting off slow and getting better, so I was curious to see what this one would be like. Turns out, it stayed the same in the best ways, but didn’t start off slow. This one started quick and grabbed my attention from the jump.

Poppy is basically a bisexual chaos demon with sentient Rapunzel hair, but she’s just so endearing it’s hard not to love her right away. And when it starts out, she’s facing the consequences of a drunken night after seeing a recent ex making out with someone else. Who hasn’t had to face consequences after a drunken night? Well, I have, but I’ve never cursed a pendant that released hell all over London. Which is exactly where the story starts.

Axl is a celebrity illusionist, and he happens to be performing in London. He sees Hubble Bubble open and decides to purchase a pendant as a gift. Of course its the cursed pendant, and hijinks ensue as Poppy attempts to get it back. Sparks fly initially between these two, but they quickly shift into an enemies to lovers dynamic.

I especially loved that both Poppy and Axl are dealing with their own internal issues, stemming from rather heavy problems. This is a fun and lighthearted paranormal romance, but it deals with heavier issues. And they work on those issues with the support of the people who care about them, so it paints a relatively realistic picture. 

Overall, this is a fun and witty book that made me chuckle more than once. I had a great time reading it and found myself flying through the story. The characters are great, and while you don’t need to read Hex Appeal to follow this story, a few characters do appear in the story. And it was wonderful to see them! I’m definitely hoping that there are more installments in this series, because I’d love to read more.