Back of Book:

I wish I could escape my past. But when it catches up to me, I don’t get to make the wishes—I have to grant them.

Becoming a widow on my fortieth birthday was not what I had planned.

Even worse? It’s forced me and my teenage daughter back to Whispering Willows and the life of magic I left behind.

I tell myself it’ll be a short trip to sell my mother’s shop of wishes. Until I kind of, sort of bind myself to the shop.

With bills piling up fast, I gotta do something I swore I never would: open shop and start granting wishes, just until I can figure out how to undo this pesky binding spell.

It doesn’t help that the handsome mayor keeps tempting me with those kissable lips. Or that I have to hide from my daughter that magic is real.

I wish I could leave my past behind, but in this line of work, I’ve learned one very important rule: be careful what you wish for. 

Book Number: One 

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Romance 

Review: 🌟🌟 

A slice of life fantasy featuring an estranged witch that reluctantly returns to her magic-filled hometown. 

Clara is a forty-year-old widowed woman whose debt is finally catching up with her. After she is fired from her job, Clara has no choice but to go back home to Whispering Willows. Unfortunately, her daughter Remy has no idea that magic is real, and Clara intends to keep it that way. Desperate to get out of her hometown as fast as possible, Clara begins to desperately search for the binding spell that connects her to her family's shop in the hope that she can undo the spell and leave magic behind her forever. Unfortunately, Clara's paranoid ancestor isn't making it easy for Clara to achieve her mission. And no matter how hard Clara tries to keep magic a secret, magic is in Remy's blood, and she is bound to sniff out Clara's biggest secret if they linger in town for too long. Time is ticking and Clara doesn't seem to be winning this race. 

Let me start out this review by saying that Tee Harlowe is a talented writer. I absolutely adored her book "Potions & Prejudice," but this book just didn't hook me in any way whatsoever. I didn't find myself relating to Clara or Remy as characters, which made it hard for me to follow the everyday, slice of life nature of this story. 

One thing that really bothered me about this one is how stubborn Clara is about keeping magic a secret from Remy. Yes, Clara has a ton of trauma surrounding her mother's magical abilities, but it seems rather ill planned to bring one's daughter (who is brimming with witch's blood) into a magical town and not expect her to figure out that magic is real. Much of the conflict and tension in this book centers around Clara and Remy's petty disputes, and I just found that most of this could have been resolved if Clara would have just confided in her daughter. 

I did really appreciate the discussion of generational trauma in this one. Clara's mother was a witch who granted wishes, and the power went to her head. Rather than help those in need, she preyed on those who were vulnerable and took pieces of their souls for herself. The idea that giving up too much of one's soul led to one becoming a demon was also an interesting concept, especially when it is paired with the idea of wish granting. Clara is still haunted by her mother's nefarious ways and fears that she may be heading down the same slippery slope. She takes out much of her feelings on her daughter, Remy, which isn't fair, but often how generational trauma is dealt with. 

I can't even say that this book tells a bad story, it just did very little to hold my interest. I found myself taking this one out to read not because I wanted to, but because it was the audiobook I was in the middle of, and I felt obligated to finish it before embarking on another one. 

Overall, "Be Careful What You Witch For" is a paranormal, witchy slice of life story that follows a midlife woman and her rambunctious teenage daughter. The discussions of generational trauma are well done and the book had some unique magic concepts, but in the long run it just really didn't hold my interest. This is a series that I don't see myself continuing, as there is quite a few more books and I wasn't highly invested in this one. 

Audiobook Note: Avery May is the narrator of this one and I found her performance to be just okay. I thought that some of her character voices were a tad inconsistent and I feel she played Remy a little younger than she actually is at the beginning of the novel, but maybe that was just user error on my part. I also found her voice to be a tad annoying, which didn't make this one the most pleasant reading experience, but it definitely could have been worse. This is one I definitely recommend listening to on 1.5x speed. I listened to the first segment of this one normally and it just drug on. Speeding it up helped a bit, but I still found myself bored by the mundane narration of this one. 

Back of Book: 

Whispering Willows is a place where wishes come true, but at what cost?

I didn’t expect to be a widow at forty years old. I didn’t expect to be a single mother. I didn’t expect to inherit a mountain of debt. And I definitely didn’t expect to return to Whispering Willows—or my life as a witch.

But here I am: I’ve reopened my mother’s wish shop, started granting wishes, and am teaching my daughter magic.

Life is perfect... Almost.

There’s my ex, who’s aged unfairly well and who also happens to be my daughter’s teacher. My high school BFF, who has turned into a major bully. And then there’s the golden lamp.

After I find it in the basement, strange things start happening: the random rain showers in my shop, the ruined wishes, the seagull who can suddenly sing (off-key) showtunes. Just when I think it can’t get any weirder, I throw the lamp in the ocean, and it appears back in my shop the next day.

Something is trying to escape that lamp, and if I don’t figure out what, our new beginning might be over before it’s even started. 

Book Number: Two

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Romance 

Review: ? 

Back of Book: 

Witch, humbug.

Forty and fabulous is my motto. It’s been twenty years since I escaped Whispering Willows and my humble beginnings.

Now I live in LA, working my dream job as head witch at a growing corporation, getting paid the big bucks to cast spells some might find morally questionable.

Life is perfect.

Until the night my boyfriend surprises me with a “romantic” getaway in the middle of nowhere, and I find a shovel and rope in his trunk. Romance is truly dead.

Worse, I somehow cast a curse upon myself. Now some stalker ghosts want to force me into my past, present, and future.

I have to return home, the only place I can get the answers I need.

All while dealing with a mother who hasn’t forgiven me for leaving and a childhood best friend who’s aged into a sexy werewolf.

Forget head witch, I’m going to be a dead witch unless I find a way to stop these ghosts from taking my soul, and any chance of redemption I may have along with it. 

Book Number: 2.5 (Companion) 

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Romance 

Review: ? 

Back of Book: 

Clara is ready to unleash the mysteries of the past, but doing so might just unravel her future.

It’s been five months since Clara moved back home to Whispering Willows and started practicing magic again. Now, she’s taking up her heritage and granting wishes, teaching her daughter magic, and dating her sexy ex from high school. She feels settled, like she’s finally found her way.

Until her dad arrives. The dad her mother told her was a one-night stand. The dad who was supposedly a deadbeat. The dad she thought had died.

He’s very much alive, and he wants to get to know Clara. But she’s not ready to let him into her life, not when it means he might unleash secrets about her mother and herself, secrets that were never meant to be told. 

Book Number: Three

Genre: Adult | Fantasy | Romance 

Review: ?