Playing with Magic

4/5

So. I didn't know it was the THIRD BOOK IN THE SERIES when I started to read it. Admittedly, I didn't read the whole description, but Goodreads didn't tell me that either. And then I saw some hints about Rich, a guy she was supposedly dating but not really, and some allusions to what happened previously and I was 20% in but decided to look it up. And wouldn't you know, there are more books about Phoebe.

I just wish Goodreads included this bit of information before I started reading this book lmao.

So yes, I had to read “Something Wicked” and “Spell Bound” first. Ugh. Okay. Onto this book!

After reading the previous two books, I actually appreciate the characters more.

It was fun to see Phoebe being invited to be a part of investigation since everyone knew she would just try to solve it on her own. And her partnering with Rich was amazing because it gave them more opportunity to spend time together. But I wish it was ore focused on romance, you know? The plot was all and good but I was hoping for more Rich/Phoebe content. At least their first official date. And we didn't get it.

But they FINALLY kissed??? And it was amazing. Too bad nothing else happened haha.

Overall, the book is well written but the plot of the murder mystery was confusing and over the top. And I think the author forgot a few things from her previous books - for example, Rich already knew that Phoebe was a witch, because he told her that Eudora asked him to keep an eye on her. But in this book Phoebe suddenly didn't know about that? And was shosked when she found out? She already learned about it in the previous book! A little consistency, please.

Also, there are some stylistic choices I would have done differently. For example text messages I would have preferred them to be in cursive, or even in quotation marks to differentiate them from the narration. And put them in separate paragraphs. There's nothing like this here, which makes it hard for the reader to figure out that they're part of the dialogue.

But the book was good although I wa disappointed in the lack of romance. And the fact that NetGalley didn't advertise this book as the third one in the series. It can't really be read as a standalone imo, and the marketing should have reflected it.