Sophie H. Morgan

The last witch Emmaline Bluewater expects to see walk though the door of Toil and Trouble, the Chicago bar she part owns with her best friends, is Bastian Truenote. It’s been almost seven years since her fiancé, and best friend, abandoned her without so much of a word, and in his absence Emma’s made a life for herself among humans, far from the disapproval of Witch Society, and her mother.
Bastian literally can’t tell Emmaline why he left her seven years ago but, with his mother suffering from the ill effects of his and Emma’s expired cursed engagement contract, he needs her to marry him now. He’s grateful when Emma agrees, but surprised when she demands the marriage be in name only.

The Witch is Back is a second-chance romance by Sophie H. Morgan. I was hoping to be pleasantly distracted by a lighthearted, low stakes story laced with magic, and I was in part, but there were elements of this novel that I found disappointing.

To begin with I was baffled as to how Bastian could believe that Emma would welcome his return with open arms after no contact for seven years, and why Emma wouldn’t demand an explanation the moment she saw him again. I found it really hard to move past this introduction as it flatters neither character and it’s never really resolved.

I found it easier to forgive Emma, whose issues are clearly the fault of her horrifyingly abusive mother. With not a single redeeming feature, Clarissa puts the ‘b’ in witch and everything that has gone wrong between Emma and Bastian can be traced to her really.

However, though a hex may have prevented Bastian from justifying his reasons for leaving, to do so without some sort of excuse for Emma was cruel. It takes Bastian far too long to apologise when he should have been well aware of what the consequences of him absconding would be for her.

I was also puzzled as to how Emmaline didn’t recognise the signs of the silencing spell that prevents Bastian from telling Emma the secret he is keeping. I would have thought the violent coughing and choking would have been a clue. Emma’s secrets are both benign and not, but she at least is proactive about the more damning of the two, which again is not her fault but her mother’s.

If you can skate over all of that, the romantic tension between Emma and Bastian works, and the spice is gratifying. I enjoyed the scenes where Emma spends time with her besties, Tia and Leah. It’s not difficult to see that Morgan probably has plans for Leah and Emma’s brother, Kole, for a future book.

Morgan’s world building is interesting too, but the upper echelons of Witch Society are really not pleasant, Morgan describes a world largely of grasping, power hungry socialites. The type and strength of magic varies between individuals, Bastian for example is a Higher Born son, a strong magic wielder with a particular talent for mind magic such as telekinesis, while Emma’s abilities are not very powerful. I did like the magic involved in the Divining, a process that determines the compatibility and power of a betrothed couple, though the hierarchical judgement seems a bit harsh.

Hovering around the ‘OK’ rating for me, The Witch is Back wasn’t the spellbinding read I hoped for.… (altro)