Girls Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky (Review by Kiwigirlreads)

Premise:

Good girl librarian, Jane Madison, has a few problems  - she has been passed over for a raise she deserved and is generally unlucky in love. That is until she finds a hidden room filled with ancient spell books. Soon she's got a feline familiar and is irresistible to men. On the other hand she is also under investigation for misuse of magic.

But Jane's having too much fun to stop. After all, no one ever said being a witch was easy…

Review (Cross-posted on Goodreads)

I got this free from the Book View Cafe Instafreebie Giveaway. They have a few books that are being offered for free by the authors and I went there to get a specific book and then this one caught my eye.

I thought it sounded interesting, I like my noir Urban Fantasy but I also like a little happy fluff sometimes too. I started reading it as soon as I downloaded it and was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it and it's one of the few free books that I can say that about. It was well written, engaging and the plot, although low key, was compelling enough for me to want to see where it went.

The MC could be annoying at times, a little on the shallow side and sometimes I did not get her reactions, she seemed to freak out more that she splashed soup on herself than when she found a strange guy in her basement. There were also situations which were a little drawn out for my tastes like the whole making dinner and her deciding what food to order but it fit with the overall aesthetic of the book. I thought it may have been better if the characters had interests other than finding a boyfriend, there is a lot of focus on that, and while I expect it I just think that it could have been nice to see more about what made them tick individually. There are other books in the series so I will have to read them to see if there is more development in the later books.

The story is fun and light-hearted; it's not one that is driven by action with the heroine furiously running from disaster to melee and back again. There were no major bad guys or apocalyptic plan that only she could figure out and diffuse. I actually found this book a refreshing change of pace and I was not disappointed at all. It was a nice light and fluffy weekend read and if I wanted to read an action packed story then there are many of those sort to choose from. This was more of a quite tale about an awkward girl who discovers something magical about herself and learns to be more confident in her own skin.

I give this four stars because I think it was solid writing, a good story and something a bit different. I will certainly be looking to buy the next ones in the series and although this one was free I will not mind paying for the next ones. I look forward to hearing more about how Jane explores her magic, Neko's adventures in the modern world and finding out if Melissa ever has a good first date.