“No good day had ever started without breakfast. And no bearable one had ever started without a cup of tea” – Not Quite a Witch.

The highest compliment I can pay Not Quite a Witch was that it felt like a wonderful trip into Disney’s Haunted Mansion Ride. It’s giddy, well-written and wonderfully witty. I loved the romance, the worldbuilding and the characters here – it’s one of the best spooky season reads I’ve encountered so far this year.

Yorkshire citizen and recent widow Agnes Brus, Baroness of Skelton, has been accused of being a witch, but the only magic she possesses is the ability to help others through her herbal medicines. Her much-older late husband Richard, Lord Skelton, was lovely and supportive but they did not have a passionate union. Following his death, she plans on working as an apothecary with the faithful assistance of her cat, Bram, serving only the working class. Enter Harold “Harry” Evans, who once worked for Angnes’ husband and has a huge crush on her.

Harry is an accountant who loves moths, and now that Agnes is single he’s raring to offer his hand to her – but he wants to build his own fortune first. He also considers it his duty to make sure Agnes gets her due from her husband’s will — and that might be complicated, because Agnes has been accused of killing her husband via poison. As a result, Richard’s cousin, the new Lord Skelton, only wishes to give her the key to the dower house and an expense account — not at all what Agnes was expecting. Agnes and Harry team up together to find documents that prove Richard’s true intent regarding the estate, with some supernatural help and a little bit of magical interference.

I really, really loved this romance and the way these two communicate. I loved the central mystery as Harry and Agnes hunted for the proof of her inheritance; it’s genuinely twisty and it’s laced with apparitions that may or may not be fake – and dangers that may or may not be real. I especially loved the awkward but sweet romance, which comes about in fits and starts due to Agnes’ personality and Harry’s fear that he’s going to besmirch his best friend’s memory. But neither of them have ever been in real, true love before, and the book captures very well all of the awkward thrilling highs and lows of that chase.

I love Agnes: intensely introverted, intensely devoted to her plants, and strong and smart willed and determined to help others. Harry has his own geeky devotion to his bugs; he’s incredibly awkward in his own way, but also loyal, loving, and sensual when he finally gives in and kisses Agnes.

Sometimes they are their own obstacles, such as when Harry fails to say what he really means thanks to his own awkwardness. He swallows his own foot a lot, and Agnes comes to understand what it is to love a different man who’s not like her reserved first husband. The way they bond over their mutual interests and the discovery that they can really talk about them to each other is such a refreshing change from other romancelandia couples They bond over their mutual interests and the discovery that they can truly discuss said interests together. The novel captures the simple intricacy of getting to know someone who vibrates on a similar frequency: they like each other casually, and then intensely, and THEN passion intervenes to change proper Henry and insular Agnes into heavy-breathing lovers.

I cannot rave enough about the mystery here, which I won’t go into detail about to avoid spoilers. I couldn’t guess who the culprit was, nor whether or not Agnes and Harry had finally encountered the supernatural. Every single element of this book cranks on all cylinders and kept me smiling the whole time. What a perfectly fallish treat, with a wonderful romance. Not Quite a Witch is such a fantastic romance, one that’s tender, unpredictable and fun. This is such a charming novel from a talented first-time author.

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This guest review comes from Lisa! A longtime romance aficionado and frequent commenter to SBTB, Lisa is a queer Latine critic with a sharp tongue and lots of opinions. She frequently reviewed at All About Romance and Women Write About Comics, where she’s on staff, and you can catch her at @‌thatbouviergirl on Twitter. There, she shares good reviews, bracing industry opinions and thoughtful commentary when she’s not on her grind looking for the next good freelance job.