Sarah: It’s very nearly Spoooooky Season, if it’s not already. What’s the line, anyway?
Appearance of Halloween candy at Costco (Uh, check, I think)?
The arrival of Pumpkin Spice Everything? Check!
The first time I make pumpkin bread? Check!
Decor and accessories? Oh, yeeeaaaah.
My local Joann’s had this guy hanging out ready to deliver some snacks the last time I went, and that was last week, still in August:
Amanda and I both noticed, as a special 2021 addition to Spooky Season A TOTAL METRIC CRAP TON OF WITCH ROMANCES and WITCHY FICTION!
Amanda: I adore witchy fiction, especially when there’s smooching. Most of the ones coming out feel very paranormal romance or women’s fiction with magic, which I’m totally okay with. However, I’d love to see more fantasy romance in the mix with original worlds and high stakes adventures!
Sarah: We are both very excited about this. I’ve said many, many times that I love witch stories, and this is more new releases than I expected to see in one year. Amanda and I started naming books and, well, we had enough for this post.
Not all of them are romances, but we are curious about allll of them.
Behold! Bitches Love Witches!
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Witches Get Stitches
Author: Juliette Cross
Released: July 20, 2021
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Series: Stay a Spell #3Violet Savoie has a plan. A dream, rather. To open her own tattoo shop, which caters to supernaturals in need of permanent charms. As a powerful Seer, she has the potent magic to cast every kind of spell. Except the kind to give werewolves control over their beastly side. And her business partner Nico needs help in the worst kind of way.
Nico Cruz has a secret. A motive, rather. To subtly stalk and seduce Violet until she finally recognizes they are fated to be together. Ever since their heated encounter in Austin on New Year’s Eve two years earlier, he’s been dying to get his hands—and his tongue—back on her body. He knows a woman like Violet can’t be courted in the usual way. Luckily, Nico has no scruples about misbehaving to get what he wants.
But when his former pack roams into town, and an old friend is far too interested in Violet, his focus shifts to the threat venturing into his territory. Nico may come across as the quiet, broody one, but the intruders are about to regret stepping foot in New Orleans. And when Violet goes missing, no charm or spell can keep Nico’s wolf at bay.
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Big Witch Energy
Author: Kelly Jamieson
Released: August 3, 2021 by Kelly Jamieson
Genre: Paranormal, RomanceLife’s a witch, and then you fly…
Romy Larson
The tequila made me do it—throw caution to the wind to take a DNA test. Now I know why “who’s your daddy” is a dangerous question. Dad’s a witch, with a whole magical family I knew nothing about.
Discovering I have magic isn’t the only shock (though it explains a lot). There’s a familiar face among the noisy, joyful Candler clan. A fostered son named Trace—the only other time in my play-it-safe life I did something crazy. A night of madcap fun and sizzling kisses.
Trace Holcomb
For years, I’ve been trying in vain to find a spell to bring my family back after they died. I’ve given up on magic. What good is it if I can’t do the one thing I want so much?
I mistook Romy for my blind date, and it was the best mistake I ever made. Or maybe it’s the worst. When the other shoe—more like the hammer—drops, I learn she’s part of the Candler family, who opened their big hearts to me when my family died.
Now it’s up to me to run Romy through a crash course in remedial magic before she loses it forever. That’s the last thing I want to do. As the smoke clears from her first disastrous spells, something else becomes clearer. Our attraction wasn’t a fluke. And she could be the key to making my impossible dream come true…
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Witch Please
Author: Ann Aguirre
Released: September 7, 2021 by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: LGBTQIA, Paranormal, Romance
Series: Fix-It Witches #1Practical Magic meets Gilmore Girls in this adorable witchy rom-com with:
• A bisexual virgin baker with a curse
• A witch looking to avoid romantic entanglements
• And a chemistry between them that causes literal sparksDanica Waterhouse is a fully modern witch—daughter, granddaughter, cousin, and co-owner of the Fix-It Witches, a magical tech repair shop. After a messy breakup that included way too much family “feedback,” Danica made a pact with her cousin: they’ll keep their hearts protected and have fun, without involving any of the overly opinionated Waterhouse matriarchs. Danica is more than a little exhausted navigating a long-standing family feud where Gram thinks the only good mundane is a dead one and Danica’s mother weaves floral crowns for anyone who crosses her path.
Three blocks down from the Fix-It Witches, Titus Winnaker, owner of Sugar Daddy’s bakery, has family trouble of his own. After a tragic loss, all he’s got left is his sister, the bakery, and a lifetime of terrible luck in love. Sure, business is sweet, but he can’t seem to shake the romantic curse that’s left him past thirty and still a virgin. He’s decided he’s doomed to be forever alone.
Until he meets Danica Waterhouse. The sparks are instant, their attraction irresistible. For him, she’s the one. To her, he’s a firebomb thrown in the middle of a family war. Can a modern witch find love with an old-fashioned mundane who refuses to settle for anything less than forever?
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The Ex Hex
Author: Erin Sterling
Released: October 5, 2021 by William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Series: Ex Hex #1New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.
Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.
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Cackle
Author: Rachel Harrison
Released: October 5, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction/FantasyA darkly funny, frightening novel about a young woman learning how to take what she wants from a witch who may be too good to be true, from the author of The Return.
All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation.
Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend. More importantly, she wants Annie to stop apologizing and start living for herself. That’s how Sophie lives. Annie can’t help but gravitate toward the self-possessed Sophie, wanting to spend more and more time with her, despite the fact that the rest of the townsfolk seem…a little afraid of her. And like, okay. There are some things. Sophie’s appearance is uncanny and ageless, her mansion in the middle of the woods feels a little unearthly, and she does seem to wield a certain power…but she couldn’t be…could she?
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Payback’s a Witch
Author: Lana Harper
Released: October 5, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: LGBTQIA, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: The Witches of Thistle Grove #1Chilling Adventures of Sabrina meets The L Word in this fresh, sizzling rom-com by Lana Harper.
Emmy Harlow is a witch but not a very powerful one—in part because she hasn’t been home to the magical town of Thistle Grove in years. Her self-imposed exile has a lot to do with a complicated family history and a desire to forge her own way in the world, and only the very tiniest bit to do with Gareth Blackmoore, heir to the most powerful magical family in town and casual breaker of hearts and destroyer of dreams.
But when a spellcasting tournament that her family serves as arbiters for approaches, it turns out the pull of tradition (or the truly impressive parental guilt trip that comes with it) is strong enough to bring Emmy back. She’s determined to do her familial duty; spend some quality time with her best friend, Linden Thorn; and get back to her real life in Chicago.
On her first night home, Emmy runs into Talia Avramov—an all-around badass adept in the darker magical arts—who is fresh off a bad breakup . . . with Gareth Blackmoore. Talia had let herself be charmed, only to discover that Gareth was also seeing Linden—unbeknownst to either of them. And now she and Linden want revenge. Only one question stands: Is Emmy in?
But most concerning of all: Why can’t she stop thinking about the terrifyingly competent, devastatingly gorgeous, wickedly charming Talia Avramov?
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Diablo Lake: Awakened
Author: Lauren Dane
Released: October 26, 2021 by Carina Press
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Series: Diablo Lake #3New York Times bestselling author Lauren Dane welcomes you back to Diablo Lake, Tennessee: a town founded by witches, governed by werewolves and brimming full of secrets
It’s autumn in Diablo Lake and the town is buzzing with preparations for Halloween, Samhain, Collins Hill Days, and the wedding of the newly elected mayor and her wolf shifter fiancé.
Ruby Thorne can’t think of a better time of year to come back for good and open the health clinic she’s been planning for the last six years. Her connection to the town and its veins of magic have snapped back into place, flooding her with a power eager to jump to her call.
She has a sense of rightness. This witch is exactly where she’s supposed to be. So it’s not much of a surprise that he comes back into her path just like he was meant to…
Damon Dooley has spent the last few years learning how to run the pack at his older brother’s right hand. There’s been upheaval. Outrage. Violence. Old rules have created a silence so crushing it’s collapsed the fabric of not just the wolf shifters, but the town as a whole.
And yet, Ruby has returned. Man and wolf agree she needs to be in their life regularly, and before long, things move from serious to something magically deeper.
Bound to one another heart and soul, both committed to what’s best for Diablo Lake, Ruby backs Damon as he pushes for much-needed change. But when something falls into Ruby’s lap and she learns the whole, terrible truth, secrets need to be spilled. How—and by whom—becomes the only question.
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And They Lived Happily Ever After
Author: Therese Beharrie
Released: November 30, 2021 by Zebra Books
Genre: Paranormal, RomanceFrom acclaimed South African author Therese Beharrie, this #OwnVoices rom-com about a romance novelist with a touch of magic is loaded with heart, heat, and smart, sexy banter, while also addressing timely, weighty issues around the foster care system, mental health, and the power of creativity.
In this sparkling new novel, acclaimed author Therese Beharrie delivers a delightfully magical romantic comedy about a woman literally living her dreams—and conjuring a real-life hero . . .
One unexpected kiss . . .
Successful romance author Gaia Anders has a secret: anything she dreams at night is magically written into her bestselling novels. After a lonely childhood in foster care, her dream life is the only one she trusts. Gaia’s waking life just can’t compare—until she gets caught in one utterly surprising, crazy-passionate, real-life kiss . . .One near-perfect guy . . .
Workaholic businessman Jacob Scott has had a crush on his brother’s best friend, Gaia, since forever—but he never expected to literally share her dreams. Living out their magical nighttime fantasies is explosive, but it’s their waking desire turning his single-minded ways upside down. It’s making him want a future he didn’t think was possible . . .One dream that could come true . . .
But Gaia has secrets from her past she won’t reveal. And Jacob’s attempts to keep the peace in his own fractured family puts him up against her deepest fears. Soon, they’re facing hard truths about who they are and what they’re running from. And the only way to break this curse is realizing true love’s real-life power . . .Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
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A Letter to Three Witches
Author: Elizabeth Bass
Released: January 25, 2022 by Kensington Books
Genre: Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction/FantasyFrom acclaimed author Elizabeth Bass, an bubbly, quirky paranormal rom-com set in the sleepy college town of college town of Zenobia, New York, a place where witches have been banned from practicing their magic…until romance problems among the great-granddaughters of the witch whose destructive spells invoked the edict cause their long-suppressed inner witches to go berserk…
In the sleepy college town of Zenobia, New York, the only supernatural trace on display is the name of Gwen Engel’s business—Abracadabra Odd Job Service. But Gwen’s family has some unusual abilities they’ve been keeping under wraps—until one little letter spells big trouble…
Nearly a century ago, Gwen Engel’s great-great-grandfather cast a spell with catastrophic side-effects. As a result, the Grand Council of Witches forbade his descendants from practicing witchcraft. The Council even planted anonymous snitches called Watchers in the community to report any errant spellcasting…
Yet magic may still be alive and not so well in Zenobia. Gwen and her cousins, Trudy and Milo, receive a letter from Gwen’s adopted sister, Tannith, informing them that she’s bewitched one of their partners and will run away with him at the end of the week. While Gwen frets about whether to trust her scientist boyfriend, currently out of town on a beetle-studying trip, she’s worried that local grad student Jeremy is secretly a Watcher doing his own research.
Cousin Trudy is so stressed that she accidentally enchants her cupcakes, creating havoc among her bakery customers—and in her marriage. Perhaps it’s time the family took back control and figured out how to harness their powers. How else can Gwen decide whether her growing feelings for Jeremy are real—or the result of too many of Trudy’s cupcakes?
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Not the Witch You Wed
Author: April Asher
Released: February 8, 2022 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Paranormal, RomanceA fake relationship between a magic-less witch and a wolf shifter turns to more in the start of a bewitching new paranormal rom-com series.
Magic-less witch Violet Maxwell wants nothing to do with alpha wolf shifter Lincoln Thorne—the man who broke her fragile, teenage heart. But when the two of them are forced by arcane Supernatural Laws to find mates, Violet and Lincoln agree to fake-date their way to a fake-mating in order to conjure themselves some time.
The joke’s on them. When old feelings make a reappearance—along with Violet’s magic—they both realize there’s nothing fake about their feelings. But there are old secrets and looming threats that could snatch away their happily ever after, again. One thing’s for sure: magic doesn’t make dating and love any easier.
In Not the Witch You Wed, April Asher brings all the hilarity and sweet, sexy moments you love in a romantic-comedy—plus a fun dose of magic—to this spell-binding new series about being sexy, single, and supernatural in New York City.
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I love a good witchy romance, particularly rom coms, so thanks for this list. The Juliette Cross books are great!
Ooh, I’m so glad to be getting a third Diablo Lake book!
This is not a genre I typically get into, but since it’s the season, I wanted to mention Nancy Warren’s Vampire Knitting Club series. I admit the stories are more mystery than romance; the characters are fun, the way the real/vampire worlds cross is very creative, and the knitting shop/club setting is really adorable. I guess you can tell I don’t like being creeped out by my reading!
Finally! My goddaughter has gotten married had a baby, now 6mo, while I’ve waiting for the third Diablo Lake book.
These sound cute and I may check some of them out, but my ideal spooky season read is something less sweet/funny/rom-com. Not true horror or with graphic violence, mind you, but with a foreboding and menacing atmosphere. I’m still looking for that book/series that tics all the boxes and hits my sweet spot the way Amanda Stevens’s Graveyard Queen series did.
It will be 100 degrees here today again so not feeling the fall vibes yet even though my Safeway put out Halloween candy as soon as the 4th of July stuff was cleaned up.
@Karen Lauterwasser, second the Vampire Knitting Club. I read some when I still shared a Kindle account with my mom and enjoyed them a lot. Barbara Bretton’s Sugar Maple series also features witches and knitting.
Not romance, but I really liked the Ophelia & Abby cozy mysteries by Shirley Damsgaard featuring a witchy librarian.
This post makes me think of the movie “You Cast a Spell on Me,” which is a cheesy holiday rom-com set at Halloween instead of Christmas. The hero is a warlock. It’s pretty cute! Currently available to stream for free on Amazon Prime.