The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling
We're back in Graves Glen for the sequel to The Ex Hex and this time around we hear all about Vivi's cousin Gwyn, who was quite a prevalent character in the first book. Something I really liked about the way that this book was written is that Vivi and Rhys are still pretty prevalent characters entwined into Gwyn's story. Rhys's brother Wells shows up to take over the family vampire den otherwise known as the Penhallow house in Graves Glen. Obliging his father, Wells is on a mission to "re-stamp" their family name on Graves Glen since the Jones family is now powering the town's magic. Of course, he's decided that the way to do that is to open a magic shop across the street from Gwyn's magic shop. This makes for a nice little rivalry story between the Jones and Penhallow family with Vivi and Rhys attempting to mediate. Vivi and Rhys depart on a honeymoon of sorts to Wales, leaving Gwyn and Wells to hold down the fort. All of a sudden some previous college classmates of Gwyn roll into town and it seems as if something sinister is afoot when Gwyn's magic begins fading. Wells and Gwyn team up to sort things out and wouldn't you know, they end up spending lots of time together. And gosh, I wish I could give you the ending but you'll just have to read it!
Some of my own thoughts on the book, I really enjoyed both of the main characters of this book. I LOVED that Gwyn's cat still talks, and we get to know Rhys's family much better than we did in the previous book. There's some sinister blood magic in this book that was pretty interesting. I also liked that we're back in town during the Halloween season in this book. Erin Sterling is 2/2 on the Halloween vibes. The addition of some student witches that Gwyn is mentoring is cute and one of them familiar from the first book. I found myself enjoying this book just as much as the first, if not a little more? I hear we're slated for #3 soon.
If you're anything like me and you like to fully get into the vibe of your book, this link contains some perfect spooky season instrumental background music to play while you read.
It's not my Youtube page but I just love to fully immerse myself, check it out if you're likeminded.
Happy witchy reading!