Publication Date: August 23. 2022
Publisher: Graydon House
Pages: 416
Genre: Romance; Paranormal
Rating: 4/5
Small Town, Big Magic is a fun and cozy romance set in the small town of St. Cyprian, Missouri that is secretly the home to a plethora of witches. Our protagonist, Emerson, is a type A go getter who is the head of many committees and runs the bookstore in town. Unbeknownst to her, she also (shockingly) failed her witch coming of age test and her punishment was that she be banned from knowing anything about witches and was magicked into forgetting all that she knows. When she unexpectedly begins to get her powers back she is shocked to realize that not only are witches real but those closest to her are too.
I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy romance. Emerson and her love interest, Jacob, are part of a larger group of friends that I fell in love with. I love the community and relationship they all have with each other since they have been friends for such a long time. There were clues within the group of future romances and I am already looking forward to getting my hands on them.
Another aspect of this book that I liked was the back and forth between Emerson and her rival, Skip and his mother. The drama between the three of them was engaging and it was hard to put this book down because I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. The backstory that Emerson has with both Skip and his mom was interesting and sometimes humorous.
My only critique of this story is that while Jacob and Emerson have a long history together, I did think that the romantic relationship between them was very fast paced. There was no real angst and I would have preferred more push and pull between them. Jacob also seems to have a bigger role in the witch community that we only got glimpses of and I hope that is something we see more of in future books.
October may be over but I think Small Town, Big Magic is a great year round read if you are in the mood for a small town romance with a little something extra thrown in. The sequel to this book promises to substantially build on the story that we just got and I’m looking forward to learning more about certain characters.
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