Deceiving the Witch Next Door

by Melissa Bourbon

[Angie]

I thought Deceiving the Witch Next Door sounded really fun! Secrets! Illegal activities! Witchcraft! Romance! Well, it's actually kind of boring and the plot was dull and incomplete. Storie has just returned to her hometown after her father died and left her his gas station. Along with a friend, Storie plans to turn it into a bookstore and cafe. Then Reid who owns the bar next door comes snooping about. His father needs Reid to find the secret ingredient for his moonshine, so he can sell the recipe for a ridiculous amount of money, and of course that missing ingredient would be hidden at Storie's new business. Why not?

My main problem with Deceiving the Witch Next Door was that none of the components really fit together. Individually they're great, which is why I was excited to read it, but together, they were just kind of random. Witchcraft plays a very small role in the overall story, so little in fact that it didn't really make sense for Storie to be a witch. There was a larger focus on the magical world at the end, but that part really didn't make sense, and wasn't even developed at all. Reid's hunt for the missing ingredient was just plain stupid. Instead of trying to get close to Storie so he could sneak around her apartment, couldn't he just ask her about it? He would have found it faster (if he had even been able to find it on his own at all, which he didn't), wouldn't have had to lie to her, and she could have gotten in on the profits, since Reid and his father are millionaires already.

Deceiving the Witch Next Door was okay. It had a lot of great ideas, but none of them meshed well. The romance was a kind of enemies to lovers and second chance romance, which I kind of liked. Storie was aware that Reid was up to something, but that didn't stop her from acting on their attraction, which I find much more believable than in stories where the characters can't seem to separate sex from rivalry. I do wish the magical aspect had been more integral, and that the moonshine plot had been done in a way that actually made sense.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.