Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck (ARC Review)

Title: Small Town, Big Magic
Author: Hazel Beck
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal
Publisher: Graydon House
Date published: August 23, 2022

This post is sponsored. A complimentary physical copy of this book was kindly provided by HarperCollins Canada in exchange for an honest review.

Witches aren’t real. Right?

No one has civic pride quite like Emerson Wilde. As a local indie bookstore owner and youngest-ever Chamber of Commerce president, she’d do anything for her hometown of St. Cyprian, Missouri. After all, Midwest is best! She may be descended from a witch who was hanged in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials, but there’s no sorcery in doing your best for the town you love.
Or is there?

As she preps Main Street for an annual festival, Emerson notices strange things happening around St. Cyprian. Strange things that culminate in a showdown with her lifelong arch-rival, Mayor Skip Simon. He seems to have sent impossible, paranormal creatures after her. Creatures that Emerson dispatches with ease, though she has no idea how she’s done it. Is Skip Simon…a witch? Is Emerson?

It turns out witches are real, and Emerson is one of them. She failed a coming-of-age test at age eighteen—the only test she’s ever failed!—and now, as an adult, her powers have come roaring back.

But she has little time to explore those powers, or her blossoming relationship with her childhood friend, cranky-yet-gorgeous local farmer Jacob North: an ancient evil has awakened in St. Cyprian, and it’s up to Emerson and her friends—maybe even Emerson herself—to save everything she loves.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck was one of my most-anticipated reads of last year’s Spooky Season. After reading it, however, I was left feeling somewhat disappointed. I think that the expectations I set definitely played a part in this, but there were also a few other things…

The writing style in Small Town, Big Magic was difficult for me to get into, and I found it hard to connect with the protagonist, Emerson. The side characters weren’t particularly likeable for me either, and I’m unsure if this was due to the author’s writing style or the things the characters said and did.

The paranormal elements of the book were present, though not quite as I expected…which is okay! It might have been what kept me engaged though, since nothing else really was (except the romance part of the plot, somewhat). I continued reading in the hopes that I would get into the romance more hopefully find my way to a happy ending.

I’m disappointed because I really expected to love this book. While Small Town, Big Magic wasn’t a good fit for me, however, I’m sure there are readers who will absolutely love it. I’m curious to see what the sequel has in store, however, I’m not sure if I will be continuing with the story.

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Hazel Beck is the magical partnership of a river witch and an earth witch. Together they have collected two husbands, three familiars, two children, five degrees, and written around 200 books. As one, their books will delight with breathtaking magic, emotional romance, and stories of witches you won’t soon forget.