Paperback, 336 pages
Published Aug. 22, 2022 by Berkley.
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. …
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when peril comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for....
The writing is pretty great, the romance doesn't have a lot of time to shine but is passable nonetheless. The magic system is absolutely charming and so are the characters we meet in Nowhere house. I also appreciated that the main character is of Indian origin! The ending was a little rushed. 4.5?
My wife bought this book and because the title appealed to me, I picked it up as well. However, I expected some kind of urban fantasy, but what I really got was a charming romance novel with a PoC protagonist who just happened to be a witch as well. It was light and fluffy, the romance was enemies to lovers trope, and the spicy moments were not bad at all.
As romance is just not my favorite genre in the world, it's just a 3-star novel for me, it was nice, and that's it.
Content warning minor spoilers
listen, i love the found family trope as much as the next person, and this book delivered just that. but every time the story veered into the romance i found myself cringing a lot because the dialogue was too cheesy for my liking.
i also wish the book touched more on what it's like to be a transracial adoptee living in britain and not having a direct connection to their heritage and culture. it did mention the struggle of being a brown witch in a white-dominated society like britain, but it never went beyond surface level and i really think that's a missed opportunity.
This is one of the few books I've read that makes me long so powerfully to live in its world (let's be honest, to be the main character.)
The story is warm and loving, the writing lively and interesting. I already miss reading this book, and I wish I could have never left.
