Meghan Mazzaferro
Content warning: child abuse, emotional abuse, sexism, stalking, death of a parent
In Jessica Clare’s Go Hex Yourself, Reggie Johnson’s controlling nature makes it a little hard to keep a job. But when she answers an ad in the newspaper that she thinks is for a position at her favourite card game, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to impress her new boss. Unfortunately for Reggie, she ends up getting hired as a real witch’s familiar, and impressing her new boss means learning spells, acting as a conduit for her kooky witch’s magic, and believing that magic is real. Plus, she’s stuck dealing with her boss’s nephew. Angry, brooding Ben Magnus goes out of his way to show Reggie she doesn’t belong there, but when dark spells start targeting the house, Ben and Reggie need to work together to keep each other safe and find the culprit.
Go Hex Yourself is perfect for fall; it’s a fun, witchy rom-com with an enemies-to-lovers romance, witty banter, a fun plot, and a touch of magic. I had a lot of fun reading it and once I got started, I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed our main characters and the way their romance progressed, I had fun with the plot, and it had me invested and excited to see what was coming.
This book is, at its heart, a romance. Enemies-to-lovers is a difficult thing to pull off in a way that leads to a healthy relationship, but I feel like this book did a really good job. Reggie is an interesting and complex character, and Ben complemented and challenged her so well. Both sides of the romance were developed and explored, and each of our main characters' psyches and histories were explored in a way that highlighted how they would work well together. The book balances the immediate attraction between the two characters with a slower development of feelings really well. Even during the “enemies” phase of their romance, each person’s behaviour is explained and makes sense. And they communicate! That sounds like a silly thing to praise, but I love a couple who talk through their differences in a healthy and constructive way.
I also really enjoyed the side characters, particularly Dru, Reggie’s boss and Ben’s aunt. She is really funny and fun to read about, and her character helped me get invested in the overall stakes and plot of the book. The book does a good job of developing the side characters and their relationships with the main couple in a way that makes each of our main characters feel more real and grounded, and which in turn helps deepen the romance by making the characters feel three dimensional.
I do feel like the pacing of the book is a bit off, and a decent chunk of the beginning is spent developing the relationship between Dru and Ben and Dru and Reggie rather than between the main couple. While I appreciate them taking that time, I do feel like the second half of the book suffers a bit because of how slowly things move in the beginning. Likewise, I found that the mystery regarding who is attacking the family was definitely rushed, and the conclusion of that mystery was slightly disappointing to me. It made sense and was well explained, I was just hoping for a bit more. However, the relationship and bond between the characters is developed so well that I was satisfied with how they reacted to the mystery’s resolution, even if I didn’t love the resolution itself.
Overall, I had a lot of fun with this book. Yes, I have some critiques, but it did everything I needed it to do. It was fun, magical, spicy, and had a memorable cast of characters that I really liked spending time with. I think it really succeeded as an enemies-to-lovers romance and has excellent fall vibes. If you’re looking for witchy rom-coms to read this fall, I would definitely check this one out.
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.