In Charm’s Way by Lana Harper
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
In Charm’s Way is the 4th-installment of The Witches of Thistle Grove series by Lana Harper. This is an Adult Romance series with a witchy-twist.
For those unfamiliar with the series, the books are companion novels. They take place in the small, magical town of Thistle Grove, following the same timeline, but each book focuses on different main characters.
In this story, we follow Delilah Harlow, who we’ve met before in previous books, and Catriona Quinn, a new character from out of town.
As the story kicks off, Delilah is struggling in the aftermath of an event that caused a serious disruption in her memory. It’s worse that just her memory though, it’s her brain in general. It’s not functioning at the level it once did. It’s highly frustrating for the once uber-independent Delilah.
She’s had to rely more on family and friends to make her way through every day responsibilities. At wit’s end, Delilah, in desperation, attempts a mysterious blood spell said to harness healing capabilities.
It’s crazy dangerous, Delilah isn’t even sure of the true origins of the spell, nonetheless she gives it a try. At this point, she is willing to do anything to get her life back.
While the spell does seem to work for the most part, it has an unexpected side effect. It basically turns Delilah into a magnet for certain types of supernatural creatures that previously hadn’t frequented Thistle Grove.
For example, the malevolent Succubus that attacks her one night. Luckily, a gorgeous and mysterious stranger, Cat, arrives in the nick of time and frees Delilah from the Succubus embrace.
Delilah is intrigued by Cat from the start. Cat, half-human, half-fae, is sultry and intriguing. That initial interaction is all it takes to draw the two of them together. What follows could not have been predicted.
I enjoyed this. I was happy to be returning to Thistle Grove and to be reunited with some characters I have previously enjoyed. This series is one of those that, even though none of them have knocked my socks off, I still have fun picking up and will continue to do so for as long as they are published.
I can’t help but compare the books in the series to each other as I am coming up with my rating. For me, this romance wasn’t very compelling for me and additionally, I found some of the plot points to be a little muddled.
My favorite part of this was learning more about the history of Thistle Grove. We learned a bit about the origins of the town and how the magic came to be there.
I did also enjoy Delilah’s journey. She had a rough road, but I think she learned a lot and I did see growth for her character. Maybe a little bit of peace as well. Her recovery from the brain injury has been tough and I appreciated the examination of that topic.
I think for me the only issue was Cat. I didn’t care for her and didn’t understand, besides her undeniable hotness, why Delilah would be so interested. Personal opinion on Cat aside though, I think it does make sense in the context of the story Harper created.
We all know fae are a little above and beyond and that they tend to wreck a little havoc wherever they go. We also know they’re irresistible…
With this being said, Cat grated on my nerves and I’d be happy if I never read another scene with her in it again. Harsh? Maybe a little, but that’s me.
One thing Cat did bring though, that I wouldn’t turn away in a further installment, was the heat. Maybe I am imagining it, but this felt like the steamiest of the books thus far. I may have even blushed for a moment.
At the end of the day, I am glad that I picked this up. I find this series to be comforting and easy. I also always enjoy discovering which characters we are going to follow and what romance tropes are going to pop up.
I would recommend The Witches of Thistle Grove series to anyone who enjoys whimsical, low-stakes romance stories with solid witchy-vibes.
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I hope there are going to be more books in this series. I need more Thistle Grove romance!