2022 fantasy-romance, first of a series. Essie Winterscale lives at
the unreliable Beldam House with several other witches (only some of
them dead), and her job is to bring the winter in. Josh Henderson,
fleeing from a life and relationship crisis, has inherited a house
nearby…
This is marketed as a frothy magical romance in the style of
Witch You Weren't Here. But there's rather more to it than that;
yes, on the one hand there are wacky hijinks as Josh fumbles around
the spells that prevent other people from finding or remembering the
witches' house, but at the same time the witches' forecasting of the
future is looking very worrisome, and action will definitely be
needed.
So while the typical fantasy romance that I've read is mostly a
romance with occasional fantasy, this straddles the genres more
effectively; the witches' magic is not just there to be quirkily
appealing, and it's never safe. (Also Johnson has done her
research about the witch-panic of the Civil War, and particularly
Matthew Hopkins. No nonsense about burning at the stake here.)
Pacing is a little odd, in that there's something like a conclusion
about two-thirds of the way through, and then tension has to be built
up again after that. It works, though.
Altogether something of an unexpected gem: I was looking for a light
romance, and I got it, but there's a solid magical story going on too.
Recommended.