Thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Publishing for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: Available Now
330 Pages
Synopsis: After a relationship gone bad in California, Kylie Strange moves to rural Maine for a fresh start. But she gets more than she bargained for when she finds a supernatural book bricked into the wall of her new tea shop, Strange Herbs and Teas. As soon as she opens the Booke of the Hidden, the quiet town of Moody Bog suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.
First the mysterious and handsome Erasmus Dark shows up unannounced, claiming to be a demon and warning Kylie of untold destruction. She waves him off, until a museum proprietor turns up dead, and the sheriff targets Kylie as a suspect. With the help of Erasmus and a ragtag group of local Wiccans, Kylie unravels the Booke’s secrets, and they begin to believe the culprit is someone—or something—much more sinister than a run-of-the-mill human murderer.
Award-winning author Jeri Westerson crafts a tale of magic, murder, and romance, drawing us into the mystical world that surrounds Strange Herbs and Teas.
Booke of the Hidden is the first book in a new urban fantasy series, and while I found the romance to be a little “meh”, I still really enjoyed it.
I loved Kylie who’s spunky and sassy and all those other things you like to see in a heroine. Erasmus, the demonic romantic lead is tall, dark and dangerous, and literally smolders. That’s why I was surprised there didn’t seem to be more sparks between the two of them. There’s also the beginning of a love triangle between Kylie, Erasmus and Ed, the sheriff of Moody Bog, but you can already tell that this series is most likely going to focus on the forbidden romance between Kylie and Erasmus.
The secondary characters, namely the small coven who become Kylie’s friends and support team are fantastic and just as interesting as the main characters. The dialogue between everyone in this story made me laugh out loud more than once, in a good way of course!
At the beginning I had a difficult time visualizing a quaint little town in Maine being an epicenter for paranormal activity, but the author does a fantastic job detailing the town and it’s history. The action is pretty fast paced and the ending perfectly sets things up for the next book.
The Booke of the Hidden is a fun urban fantasy with tones of a cozy, that kept me thoroughly entertained from beginning to end. I’m hoping the romance between Kylie and Erasmus is developed more in the sequel, but otherwise I highly recommend this to fans of these genres.
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