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Review: Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo

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Cursed Ever After by Andy C. Naranjo

Cursed Ever After
Andy C. Naranjo
Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Published June 30, 2026

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About Cursed Ever After

Cursed Ever After is a dazzling romantic fantasy debut brimming with snark, humor, and banter-filled romance perfect for fans of The Princess Bride and Once Upon a Broken Heart.

Love is not for cursed girls. Risa is better off without it.

Risa Porto is a Bad Thing born on a Bad Day and cursed with Bad Luck. After years of taking the blame for every calamity, mishap, and minor inconvenience that befalls the townspeople of Barrow, she longs for escape. And on her seventeenth birthday, her wish is granted.

Sort of.

Risa owes a (very annoying) witch a favor, and it comes in the form of a quest: escort Prince Javi―the youngest, handsomest, and least significant prince―through the dark (and deadly) Bosque to his wedding. This measly errand quickly spirals into a struggle against greedy assassins, a murderous cult, a vicious tyrant―and Risa’s own curse.

Most unfortunate of all…

She is not immune to Javi’s charms and has a highly irritating urge to kiss the prince. Though, surviving the darkest corners of the Bosque is only the beginning. If Risa is to hold up her end of a witch’s bargain, she’ll need a lot more than luck on her side to untangle the web of lies threatening the kingdom. Is Risa willing to pay the price of happily ever after? What if the only person she’s meant to save is herself?

Don’t miss this action-packed, Latinx subverted fairytale!

My Review

I had so much fun reading this book. While it might be a stretch to compare the story to The Princess Bride, I absolutely see the comparison to Once Upon a Broken Heart. It’s got more humor and lightness than Once Upon a Broken Heart, but the characters carry the same sense of approaching doom throughout the story.

While some of the revelations in the story didn’t come as a surprise to me, I had a great time reading the story start to finish. The narrative is a bit playful, gently poking fun at fairytale tropes. Risa and Javi banter back and forth almost constantly, which never got old to me. I loved her pragmatic personality and his starry-eyed dreaminess.

If you’re looking for a lighthearted, engaging romp through a fantasy story world, definitely grab this book. I suspect this one will be on my list of favorites for the year.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 13 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic and cast or undo curses.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Attempted kidnapping. One scene shows guards murdered by assassins.

Drug Content
One character is given an intoxicating substance.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Hollow Magic by Mars Lauderbaugh

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Hollow Magic
Mars Lauderbaugh
Feiwel & Friends
Published August 11, 2026

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About Hollow Magic

Seventeen-year-old Rosefinch has been traveling along the weather-beaten coast for two years on a quest to find a witch strong enough to help her control her magic. Her magic is volatile, hard to wield, and Rosefinch is tired of the pain of magical backlash. When she’s directed to the sea-side village of Harp, she discovers the ancient castle of a long-lost Witch Queen with the inhabitants long gone; the only remaining soul is a knight encased in solid ice guarding the door.

When she attempts to lift the curse, she frees Thierry, a human with no memory of who they are, wrapped in cursed magic so strong that they cannot leave the castle. Thierry is soft spoken, strong, and in possession of a fey sword that should be impossible for them to have. But they have secrets of their own, as do other members of the Harp family still hidden within the walls.

Harp castle was left in ruins for a reason, and Rosefinch must find a way to cure the curse or lose Thierry—and the chance to learn the truth about the Witch Queen—forever.

My Review

I’m really enjoying the fantasy graphic novels that I’ve read this year. Hollow Magic is another great example of a story that creates really interesting fantasy landscapes for its characters. The illustrations are really immersive.

I loved the mystery of the curse that Rosefinch tries to break to free Thierry. Following that thread led to many situations and revealed connections I hadn’t expected. I devoured the second half of the book. I really wanted to find out what happened.

The story reminds me a little bit of graphic novels by K. O’Neill. The style is a little bit different (and doesn’t have as many cute fantasy animals), but something about the pacing and the way the characters interacted reminded me of A Song for You and I by K. O’Neill.

I can definitely see fans of O’Neill or maybe Hari Conner enjoying this one. If you like stories about the Fae and a quest to break a magical curse, put this one on your reading list!

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing.

Spiritual Content
Some characters can perform magic. The story includes some lore about moonbeams becoming fae and other creatures.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. References to curses.

Drug Content
Rosefinch drinks a powerful potion and eats herbs to enhance her magic.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin

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Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire
Don Martin
Page Street Press
Published August 5, 2025

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About Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire

Witch apprentice Verity Vox has never encountered a problem magic can’t solve. So when a cryptic note invites her to Foxfire, she goes.

With her apprenticeship limiting her services to a year, Foxfire will be her biggest challenge yet. The town has already lost its only bridge, and many loved ones have disappeared in dealings with a shady magic peddler named Earl—leaving the whole town wary of magic.

Even as Verity wins the townsfolk over, she realizes she may not be able to save them. Going after Earl only returns Tacita, the missing girl who summoned Verity, but no one else. And the fight costs Verity the ability to fly and draws her to the old dark magic beneath the mountain.

As Verity hones her powers and grows to care for Tacita, she must learn that not everything can be solved with strength alone.

My Review

One of the really cool things about this book is the personal connection to the author’s life and real U.S. history the story contains. In an author’s note, Martin reveals that the fictional town of Foxfire, where the novel takes place, is inspired by a real town that was cut off from outside contact when a bridge failed. As an Appalachian native himself, Martin pulled the character names from his heritage. I love knowing the personal connection an author has to their work, and in this case, I think it adds a special spark to the story, too.

The tone of the writing is very whimsical, which is fun. This is a book that begs to be read aloud. It also feels like the kind of story that you’d imagine someone sitting by the fire on a long winter evening and sharing with their family.

I love the main characters, especially Verity’s familiar, Jack, or Jack-Be-Nimble, if you’re being formal. What is it about a cat who is not a cat in a fantasy novel? I love them all. Jack reminds me a little bit of Max, the cat-who-is-not-a-cat from the Ravenfall series by Kalyn Josephson, so if you’re a fan of that series, and Max specifically, definitely add this book to your reading list.

The story is stepped in magic with a sinister villain. Verity has to figure out what’s driving the dealmaker holding Foxfire in his grasp and how to use her magic to protect them. This is a perfect book for readers to graduate into after reading the Witchlings series by Claribel A. Ortega or the Ravenfall series by Kalyn Josephson.

Conclusion

If you like fairytale-esque stories, there’s a lot to love about Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire. It definitely has that fairytale feel, but it offers a fresh story. Except for a battle scene toward the end and a couple of brief descriptions that teeter on body horror, it’s a very accessible story.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Mild profanity used super infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. Characters attend a wedding.

Spiritual Content
Verity is a witch in training who can perform magic. A magician named Earl uses magic to bind people to deals. References to gods and powerful magical beings of old.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Brief descriptions of body horror in a few scenes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Whispering Night by Susan Dennard

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The Whispering Night (The Luminaries #3)
Susan Dennard
Tor Teen
Published November 19, 2024

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About The Whispering Night

The forest is more dangerous than ever in this highly-anticipated, pulse-pounding, and swoon-worthy conclusion to the bestselling Luminaries trilogy.

Winnie Wednesday’s future is looking bright. Hemlock Falls is no longer hunting the werewolf, she and Erica Thursday are tentative friends, and Winnie finally knows exactly where she stands with Jay Friday.

With everything finally on track, Winnie is looking forward to the Nightmare Masquerade, a week-long celebration of all things Luminary. But as Luminaries from across the world flock to the small town, uninvited guests also arrive. Winnie is confronted by a masked Diana and charged with an impossible task—one that threatens everything and everyone Winnie loves.

As Winnie fights to stop new enemies before time runs out, old mysteries won’t stop intruding. Her missing father is somehow entangled with her search for hidden witches, and as Winnie digs deeper into the long-standing war between the Luminaries and the Dianas, she discovers rifts within her own family she never could have imagined.

What does loyalty mean when family and enemies look the same?

My Review

I’ve followed this series from the beginning, and wow, has it been a wild ride. I love Winnie Wednesday so much. She’s smart and artistic and deeply loves her family. The tension between her and Jay– so fun.

I wasn’t really sure at the end of the second book how the author was going to pull all the loose threads of the series together in this last book, but I think everything came together nicely. Through the whole series, there has been this fear of and undercurrent of a Diana plot, but I don’t think we really get to see that explode across the page until this final installment.

I was so ready. Or, at least, I thought I was. I had ideas about where the story would go, and I was right about a few things. But there were a lot of elements that surprised me, too. I like the way that Winnie’s community connections, even those she has felt distanced from, matter in the way that things play out. Her town feels like a small, close-knit community with rivalries, agendas, and politics. Those tensions feel very real. The loyalty beneath those tensions feels real, too.

I’m glad I stuck with this series all the way to the end. It was a lot of fun. Though the story is pretty high-stakes and serious, there’s a lot of humor between the lines or in the ways the characters relate to one another. I love that.

This is a great series for people who like a fantasy story that’s anchored in the real world with the addition of magic and monsters. Think, The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare (but minus the are-they-or-arent-they-related component).

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are white. Winnie has a diverse group of friends.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Infrequent use of swearing, including a few F-bombs.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl.

Spiritual Content
Some characters have the ability to perform magic. Magical monsters spawn at night in the mist of the forest near where Winnie lives. Someone transforms into a werewolf. Someone casts a curse on Winnie, so she can’t speak about certain topics.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Battles with monsters.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Night of the Witch by Sara Raasch and Beth Revis

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Night of the Witch
Sara Raasch and Beth Revis
Sourcebooks Fire
Published October 3, 2023

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About Night of the Witch

A witch and a hunter. Vengeance is their mission. Love is their destiny.

Fritzi is a witch. A survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she’s determined to find her only surviving family member and bring the hexenjägers—zealot witch hunters—to justice for the lives they ended. To do this, she will need to take down their leader—Kommandant Dieter Kirch.

Otto is a hexenjäger and a captain, the second in command to Dieter Kirch—but that’s just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and since then, he has been planning a move against the witch hunters that tore his family apart. And now, the time has come for them to pay for what they’ve done.

When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other despite their common enemy. But all they have is one another, and they both crave revenge. As truths come to light and trust shifts, Fritzi and Otto uncover a far more horrifying plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks . . . but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

My Review

The story alternates points of view between Fritzi and Otto. Fritzi is the daughter of a powerful witch, but she doubts her own power because of a mysterious voice in her head she’s been taught not to trust. Otto also doubts the authorities in his life. First, because his father was cruel and then because he doesn’t even believe witches exist. He is sure the people the soldiers burn are innocent. And he’s determined to save as many as he can.

I really enjoyed the way the story is anchored both in history and folklore. It felt very immersive. I also liked that Otto separated his trust in the church from his own personal faith. It allowed the story to explore ideas about faith as something separate from an institution. I really liked how the narrative explored that theme with both Fritzi and Otto.

Something about the story reminded me a lot of the duology that starts with GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE by Beth Revis. Plotwise, the two have very little in common. The fact that both stories contain a strong, magic-oriented heroine alongside a politically strong/savvy hero might be why I kept making that connection.

The story is also a bit dark– delving pretty unflinchingly into the history of the witch trials in Europe. It’s got a pretty fiery romance in it, too, so it’s not all grim.

In any case, I think fans of that duology or of European history in the late 1500s will find this an engrossing story. I am really glad I read it, and I think if there’s a follow-up book, I’ll be sure to read that, too.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Major characters are German.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. Kissing between two girls. In one scene, two characters have sex in a bathing pool.

Spiritual Content
Fritzi hears a voice telling her to sever her connection with the Well, which she has always been taught represents good magic, and draw from wild magic, which she’s been taught is evil. Fritzi and her coven worship three goddesses: the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone. Otto is part of a witch-hunting unit of soldiers under the Catholic church.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Witches and suspected witches are burned at the stake. Most scenes reference this without describing it, but there are brief, graphic descriptions in a couple of places. Graphic descriptions of torture. One scene describes a boy torturing and killing a kitten. Battle scenes.

Drug Content
Characters drink beer as a part of their meals.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of NIGHT OF THE WITCH in exchange for my honest review.

Review: Witchlings by Claribel A. Ortega

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Witchlings (Witchlings #1)
Claribel A. Ortega
Scholastic Press
Published April 5, 2022

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About Witchlings

A magical adventure for fans of AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS and NEVERMOOR, about three witchlings who must work together to do the impossible if they have any hope of earning their full powers.

Every year, in the magical town of Ravenskill, Witchlings who participate in the Black Moon Ceremony are placed into covens and come into their powers as full-fledged witches.

And twelve-year-old Seven Salazar can’t wait to be placed in the most powerful coven with her best friend! But on the night of the ceremony, in front of the entire town, Seven isn’t placed in one of the five covens. She’s a Spare!

Spare covens have fewer witches, are less powerful, and are looked down on by everyone. Even worse, when Seven and the other two Spares perform the magic circle to seal their coven and cement themselves as sisters, it doesn’t work! They’re stuck as Witchlings—and will never be able to perform powerful magic.

Seven invokes her only option: the impossible task. The three Spares will be assigned an impossible task: If they work together and succeed at it, their coven will be sealed and they’ll gain their full powers. If they fail… Well, the last coven to make the attempt ended up being turned into toads. Forever.

But maybe friendship can be the most powerful magic of all…

With action-packed adventure, a coven of quirky witchlings, Claribel A. Ortega’s signature humor and girl-power vibes, this middle grade Latine witch story is truly a modern classic.

My Review

It’s funny to me that this book is compared to AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS– the comparison makes perfect sense, it’s just that I read them both at the same time. I definitely see the connection, though they aren’t the same story at all.

WITCHLINGS has been on my reading list for a while. In fact, I have a hard copy of GHOST SQUAD that I still haven’t read yet. I’ve heard so many great things about Claribel A. Ortega’s books that I have really wanted to catch up. When I saw that Rockstar Book Tours had open spots on their tour for THE GOLDEN FROG GAMES (Witchlings #2), I jumped at the chance to participate… which meant I needed to read this book first!

I loved so many things about this book. It’s got a perfect ramp-up of stakes. It’s got a really fun and intriguing story world. I loved the way that familiar words were just a bit different. For instance, instead of Bingo, characters say, Flingo. There are a lot of things about toads, including a really imaginative and silly toad race. In the midst of all that, Seven and her friends are on a quest to subdue a dangerous monster called a Nightbeast. I felt like the story added new information and increased tension at exactly the right places.

I’m super excited to read the second book in the series. I think fans of AMARI AND THE NIGHT BROTHERS by B. B. Alston and SHADOW MAGIC by Joshua Khan will like this series.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Representation
Seven is Latine.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
Most characters are witches, with magical power. There are magical beasts as well.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Some brief battle scenes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of WITCHLINGS in exchange for my honest review.