Publishers Weekly
02/07/2022
Aguirre’s charming second Fix-It Witches romance (after Witch Please) bubbles with spice, sass, and sisterhood. Clementine “Clem” Waterhouse and her cousin, Danica, are both technomancers and proud members of a strong, diverse coven of women in a small Midwestern town. Their lives are going well until a magic spike attracts the attention of Gavin Rhys, a British witch hunter and history professor. But Rhys’s troubled familial relationship—combined with his pesky conscience—make him reluctant to actually hunt the witches he’s been sent to find. Clem’s default mode is to fix everything around her, so she decides to take one for the team and distract the gorgeous hunter until he gets bored and leaves—or until her sister witches find a way to make him leave. But Clem never expected that she’d actually end up sleeping with the enemy. Clem’s initial seduction tactics feel heavy-handed and ludicrous, but the book finds its footing once the raunchy early chapters give way to more emotional beats. Some swoonworthy dates make the romance sing, while the supportive coven provides the story’s backbone. It’s a fun, frothy fantasy romance featuring a cast readers will want to have a cup of tea with. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"Charming...a fun, frothy fantasy romance featuring a cast readers will want to have a cup of tea with." —Publishers Weekly
"Balancing humor with heart, Aguirre's latest feel-good witch romance is a winner." — Booklist
Library Journal
03/01/2022
Engaging, banter-filled writing and likable primary and secondary characters make this steamy supernatural romance unputdownable. Clem and her cousin Danica run Fix-It Witches, a repair shop in the small town of St. Claire. While all of their clients praise the cousins' ability to fix just about anything, only a few know that their appliances are repaired using magic. Lately, Danica has been distracted and flighty, leaving Clem to shoulder most of their workload. Clem bottles up her frustration and gets on with it, but there are also reports of a witch hunter in town. Gavin hates being a witch hunter, but his father, who leads the hunters, never gave him a choice. Gavin is sent to St. Claire when a spike of witchy energy is detected, but before he can track it down, he meets Clem. Soon Clem and Gavin are falling into bed—and in love—creating a conundrum with a solution that will rock the magical world. With a major festival on the horizon and Danica in danger of being discovered, Clem realizes she'll have to handle this situation alone. Aguirre uses dual points of view to reveal aspects of the characters' personalities. Witch Please, the first "Fix-It Witches" novel, provides much of the backstory and dysfunctional family dynamics that are resolved here. The novels are on the same timeline, so those who've read the first book will enjoy seeing Danica's story from Clem's perspective. VERDICT Recommended for general purchase.—Heather Miller Cover
Kirkus Reviews
2022-03-16
In Aguirre's second book about the Midwestern coven of St. Claire, Clementine Odette Waterhouse is part owner of Fix-It Witches, the shop where magic powers repair small appliances.
Clementine carries the world on her shoulders. When her family is in trouble, they come to Clem. Her mother was abused and deserted by her husband and cries on Clem’s shoulder. Her father, now on his fourth wife, won’t stop calling Clem even though she’s blocked him on her smartphone. (Apparently witches still have to block.) And her cousin Danica, her partner at Fix-It Witches, who’s in out-of-control love with a mundane (witch-speak for Muggles), has carelessly allowed her powers to spike, and a witch hunter has picked up the vibe and traveled to St. Claire on his vintage Ducati motorcycle. After an emergency coven meeting, Clem announces: “No worries. I'll handle him.” As all romance readers know, handling the tall, dark, rugged British stranger with the beard-stubbled face is a losing proposition. Gavin Rhys was bred to hunt witches by a cruel dad who caned and starved him. He would like to stop hunting, but the “order” won't allow it. He longs for a place to call home and an ongoing relationship and is pretty much an easy mark for Clem, the foxy, funny, sex-talking young woman he meets at a town bar. They start to date: She takes him to a petting farm; he makes her lunch. Aguirre is always healthfully correct: Gavin makes sure to tell Clem the lunch isn’t gluten- or nut-free, and before sex, they both get tested for STDs and show each other the test results. Clem is softening by the minute and gives Gavin a mouse he names Benson and carries with him everywhere. Great sex and growing affection do not diminish the fact that a hunter is endangering her coven. He's a real threat. When a gang of violent witch “enforcers” arrive, the coven unites to cast a spell to get rid of them. Aguirre shows how strong these women are together and details the shapes and colors of their intricate spells. Meanwhile, Gavin makes contact with the grandfather he hasn’t seen for 20 years, who gives him some surprising information that helps him pursue a relationship with Clem.
Aguirre enlarges the usual romance world to include respecting and honoring those who are different from us.
