This worked for Home for the Horrordays because the town is looking forward to the Flower Moon Festival to celebrate Beltane, May Day.

I read the first in the series, Payback's a Witch, and liked the fictional town of Thistle Grove where centuries ago, four witches came to America and founded the town. I wouldn't say it was absolutely necessary to read the first but you would get background on the family dynamics and how everything got flipped when a new witch takes over. We did meet Isidora and Rowan in the first and it was obvious that there was bad blood between them for some reason.

All told from Isidaora's pov we come into the story when she is trying to summon a demon to blow off steam. Her family has the magic of dead things, so ghosts, demons, and the like. Her summoning doesn't exactly go to plan but she gets things back under control and goes to attend a ceremony where the Thorn's, Rowan's family, are beginning the celebration for Beltane. Rowan's family has the magic of living things but when his cousin is trying to bring life to plants she gets cursed/attacked by some dark magic and it looks like it could come from someone in Isidora's family.

Head witch Emmy (female main character from book 1) picks Rowan to lead an investigation to find out who attacked the Thorns. Isidora's mom feels like it could be a witch hunt towards her family, so she appoints Isidora to head her own investigation. Giving us forced proximity as Isidora and Rowan have to work together.

Isidora and Rowan are pretty much together this whole book, which was nice to see our leads together but I ended up missing some of the magic of the setting (town, friends, family) that I got in the first. Towards the middle it's revealed why these two are starchy towards one another and it was kind of meh and felt a little childish but Isidora was eighteen at the time and Rowan would have been early twenties, but seven years of animosity felt a bit much. I can't say I ever felt too much chemistry between the two, they do get an open door scene but even though they spent so much time together, there just wasn't the depth of emotion I was looking for.

The ending delivers a reveal of who's behind the cursing and a we get some magical, ghost, demon, and witches little battle scene. Proper Halloweenie vibes for seasonal fun but I felt like the pace dragged for a lot of the book as I couldn't quite feel it between these two. ( )

Thistle Grove is still a fun place to be and this story expands that world and gives us more insights into the witch families that hold it together. The central romance is lovely and the central mystery kept me guessing. Look forward to the next one! ( )

Despite being extremely here for the spooky witch town vibe, I had the same issue with this novel as I did with the first in the series: everyone outside the main character—particularly, and most disappointingly, the love interest—was really underexplored and undercharacterized, like a cardboard cutout. ( )