THE KISS CURSE

Two witchy rivals unite against a common enemy when a new coven comes to their small Georgia town.

Something that happened 13 years ago at Graves Glen's Penhaven College forged the beginning of Gwynevere Jones and Llewellyn “Wells” Penhallow's prickly relationship. Thankfully, Wells moved back to Wales after one semester. He didn't even return to Graves Glen to attend his own brother's wedding to Gwyn's cousin Vivi. Simon Penhallow, the family patriarch, believes the infernal Jones women and their kitschy magic shops are tarnishing the town's deep, magical history, and he decides his favorite son's magical talents would be better served back in the U.S. Gwyn immediately bristles at Wells' surprising return, but that irritation heightens to a full rolling boil when he opens a witchcraft shop right across the street from her own. What seems at first to be the beginning of a rivals-to-lovers romance during the lead-up to Halloween quickly dissipates into a slapdash story involving strange newcomers and a villain who doesn't appear until the book is nearly over. The book never seems to figure out its focus. While Graves Glen feels like a picturesque Southern version of Salem, Massachusetts, the twee Main Street vibe carries the weak romance only so far. The fact that Gywn is holding on to one seemingly innocuous event from her college years as a reason to dislike Wells makes her seem juvenile. Wells is a man who loves to feel useful, which puts him in a rather unhealthy relationship with his cold father, leading him to uproot his life not just once, but twice for the sake of the Penhallow magical lineage.

The magic fades quickly.