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julie johnson

Book Review: At Last Sight (Witch City #2)

Rating: 4 stars

At Last Sight, book two in the Witch City series, follows Imogen, a reluctant clairvoyant on the run from her past, and Cade, the stubborn detective determined to give her a future…

Imogen Warner has spent ten years running scared.

After a childhood in the spotlight, the clairvoyant left home at fifteen without looking back. In the decade since, she’s moved from place to place like a ghost, keeping her head down, her powers hidden, and her name out of the newspapers. But anonymity is no longer an option when she finds herself in Salem, Massachusetts.

Despite Imogen’s initial determination to hold everyone at arm’s length, she’s quickly caught up in the unique magic of the town — and its eccentric residents. She feels at home for the first time in… forever. At least, until an annoyingly persistent — and annoyingly handsome — local detective demands she use her unique abilities to help solve his latest case.

Cade Hightower never runs from a fight.

The decorated detective thrives on a challenge, whether it’s with the case files on his desk or the women in his bed. He’s instantly captivated by the beautiful new arrival in his town — the one with the witchy eyes and the mysterious past. The more he interacts with Imogen, the more he wants to peel back her layers one by one. (And, while he’s at it, peel off her clothes piece by piece.)

Too bad he’s got no time for either. Cade’s top priority is tracking down the young trick-or-treater who vanished seemingly into thin air on Halloween night. And he’s willing to use any tactic — even Imogen’s unconventional ones — to bring the child home before it’s too late.

Tensions — and tempers — run hot in this opposites-attract romance set in the infamously witchy city of Salem. At Last Sight is a total standalone romance of 140,000 words, balancing a fair bit of suspense with spicy scenes, spooky moments, and lots of laughs. (Note: while the story is a total standalone, it does contain some crossover characters and settings from book one, Bad Luck Charm.)

Like I enjoyed reading Bad Luck Charm last year, I enjoyed At Last Sight just as much. This second book in this series reminded me why I enjoyed reading these books so much, from the witty back-and-forth banter between Imogen and Cade to Imogen’s interactions with the residents in Salem. What made this book stand out from its predecessor was that as a reader, we could see the story told from the perspective of someone freshly arriving in Salem, Massachusetts. So when Imogen was explaining what this place was like, we were able to see the quirkiness and charm of this place vividly.

I also enjoyed Imogen as a character. Yes, she has quite the baggage which results in a lot of trauma that her character hasn’t fully healed from due to her always being on the run. But as the book goes on, you see the immense character development of her character as she starts to realize that Salem is where she wants to be, and she learns to trust the people of Salem when she usually struggles to trust anyone. I also found her to have quite a bit of personality through her interactions with Cade. When seeing these two characters together, I already knew there was something there as it was very apparent from the moment Cade came up to her car and offered his help. So I was excited to see how things would unfold between Imogen and Cade as I continued reading their story.

What I also enjoyed about reading At Last Sight was getting to see the same characters from Bad Luck Charm play a role in Imogen’s story. Which makes sense since Imogen got a job at Gwen’s shop. But it was still nice getting to see Gwen, Florence, Desmond, Sally, Agatha, and Graham again even though Imogen’s story seems to take place shortly after the events in the first book in this series. I enjoyed this too though as it feels like this book picks up where its predecessor left off but with different characters as main characters. I also loved how these characters welcomed Imogen into their lives even with her initially hesitating in opening up about her past. It was nice because it was obvious how much Imogen was struggling with wanting to make friends in Salem since she was initially planning to leave as soon as she could.

I especially loved the romance between Imogen and Cade and the other story that’s happening while their romance takes off. Like I said earlier, from the moment Cade helped Imogen with her car, I felt like I could see the connection between the two of them. As the story goes on, I find myself loving their relationship more and more because you can see how much they care about each other. I also loved the story here with regards to the missing boy that was happening while you get to see Imogen and Cade’s relationship develop. I enjoyed this aspect of the story because you get to see Imogen’s character develop as the characters in the story want her to use her gift and trust that she’ll be able to help save him. I feel like this helps Imogen realize she has a home in Salem, and she doesn’t have to run from her past anymore because she’s gained some friends in her life that will support her.

If there was anything with At Last Sight I didn’t particularly enjoy it would have to be how easily the conflicts in this book were resolved. The best example that comes to mind for me is Imogen’s past with her ex-boyfriend Adrian and her uncle. I felt like the aspects of Imogen’s past that she was running away from were just easily resolved in this book. A lot faster than I was expecting whenever Imogen starts talking about her past with the friends she’s made in Salem and Cade. It almost made it feel like her story was far from being told or like the trauma she was running away from was something that could be resolved with only a few words. This bothered me only because I felt like these aspects of her story should’ve been fleshed out a little more than they were.

As a whole though, At Last Sight was a wonderful read and I enjoyed it immensely. It was nice to see all of these characters again and to see Cade have his happy-ever-after with Imogen. Can’t wait to read the next book in the Witch City series, Worst Laid Plains whenever it comes out as I know I will enjoy it.   

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Book Review: Bad Luck Charm (Witch City #1)

Rating: 4 stars

Gwendolyn Goode lives a charmed life.

As owner of an occult shop in downtown Salem, Massachusetts she’s accustomed to all things odd and otherworldly. But when a bloody animal sacrifice is left as a warning outside her place of business, the police seem to think Gwen might be the target of some truly evil-doers. Suddenly, her sunny existence is riddled with danger in the form of crazed pagans, rogue employees, and nefarious henchmen. And there’s only one man who can protect her until the storm passes…

Graham Graves has no time for witchy nonsense.

Not in his love life, and definitely not in his line of work. Despite the ever-present oddities of his hometown, the private investigator and acclaimed police consultant prides himself on staying objective in every case that comes across his desk. That all changes when Gwendolyn — a woman who gets under his skin like no other — finds herself in the crosshairs of dangerous criminals. Graham is determined to make her safe, even if her presence tests his steely resolve. But as their mutual dislike sizzles into unexpected attraction… he becomes even more determined to make her something else: his.

Bad Luck Charm is a total standalone romance of 450+ pages, featuring cameos from a fortune-telling parrot, a modern day pirate, and a coven of well-meaning octogenarians. With characters that leap off the page and plenty of spooky twists and turns to keep you guessing, fans of Johnson’s previous Boston Love Story series in particular will adore this blend of heat, humor, and suspense.

From beginning to end, Bad Luck Charm was a good first read for 2024 for me. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next as Gwen and Graham’s relationship continued to build up and Gwen found herself at the center of otherworldly trouble. I both enjoyed seeing the dynamic of her relationship with Graham and finding out what was going to happen next with the magical evil doers. I also felt like it was an easy-going cozy read, which made me continue to delve into it to see what would happen next.

What I enjoyed about Gwen’s relationship with Graham was learning more about how she first met him during her childhood and how her feelings for him developed into what they became in this book. I also loved seeing her develop as their story went on. When I first started reading this book, I was initially annoyed with how Gwen handled relationships. How she kept anyone who tried to get close to her (minus her closest friend in Bad Luck Charm, Florence) at arm’s length or would run away when it came to relationships with men becoming serious. It wasn’t until her character reveals more of her background regarding her upbringing with a mother who didn’t care too much about her that why her character was this way made sense. Yes, there were times when I found it extremely annoying as I felt like she let any argument she and Graham had ruin any good moments they had together. But once she finally let him into her life, I saw some progression from her, which I was glad for.   

What I also enjoyed about Bad Luck Charm was the magical elements to it that were there. From Gwen owning an occult store to all the spooky mysteries that start surrounding her life once the sacrificed animal is found outside her store, I found myself hooked and wanting to find out what would happen next. I also found it interesting what Gwen found out about her aunt with regards to these happenings and was disappointed that she didn’t do anymore digging into the information she learned. I enjoyed it because Gwen was the type of protagonist who looked into things when her life started taking off instead of leaving everything alone or for Graham to handle. While I didn’t particularly care for all the decisions she made, I understood what she was looking to do.

What I also liked about Bad Luck Charm was that it wasn’t just a book about magic. There was also some romance too, which I actually enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting. I don’t know if its because I liked seeing Gwen continue to develop or enjoyed seeing the chemistry between her and Graham, but I felt like it was what I needed. And it made me continue to read to find out what would happen next.        

I also enjoyed the other characters in the story aside from Gwen and Graham as well. I enjoyed seeing Gwen and Florence’s friendship as you could see how much Gwen really trusted her best friend. I also enjoyed Agatha, Sally, Desmond and Cade as well as characters because I enjoyed learning more about them and seeing their individual relationship with Gwen. With everything that happened, it was interesting having a variety of characters in this book that weren’t the main protagonists but that had a role in her life during the events in this book.   

What I didn’t enjoy about Bad Luck Charm was how predictable it could be at times. In particular, I found a lot of the overall plot in the story surrounding the happenings of Gwen’s life to be predictable. I wasn’t too surprised when it was revealed who was responsible for the animal sacrifices as I felt like it was hinted at during the story when Gwen was brought into questioning by Detective Cade Hightower for the second time. And I actually found myself sad about it because the person responsible for all of the bad things that were happening in Gwen’s life was someone in this book that I enjoyed as a character. So much that I was hoping someone else would end up being responsible even though I knew the chances of that were pretty slim.  

Overall though, this book was quite an enjoyable read for me and was sad when it ended. Good news though is that the author of Bad Luck Charm has another book that will be coming out this month that also takes place in the same world as this one called At Last Sight that follows the story of Detective Cade Hightower and a character that was introduced in the epilogue. So I’m hoping with this new book that even though it will no longer be following Gwen and Graham’s story, we’ll get to see how they’re doing through the characters this book will be focusing on as I enjoyed this book so much that I can’t wait to read this new story too.      

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