Audiobook Review: Boss Witch (Fix-It Witches #2) (ARC)

Author: Ann Aguirre

Narrator: Ava Lucas

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 14 minutes

The second in an adorable witchy rom-com series by New York Times bestselling author Ann Aguirre, perfect for fans of:

Ride-or-die female friendships
A bisexual heroine who stubbornly refuses to accept help
A hero with an incredibly pesky moral conscience
A mouse named Benson who may or may not have all the answers to life, magic, and love (Spoiler: he does!)

Clementine Waterhouse is a perfectly logical witch. She doesn’t tumble headlong into love. Rather she weighs the pros and cons and decides if a relationship is worth pursuing. At least that’s always been her modus operandi before. Clem prefers being the one in charge, always the first to walk away when the time is right. Attraction has never struck her like lightning.

Until the witch hunter comes to town.

Gavin Rhys hates being a witch hunter, but his family honor is on the line, and he needs to prove he’s nothing like his grandfather, a traitor who let everyone down. But things in St. Claire aren’t what they seem, and Gavin is distracted from the job immediately by a bewitching brunette with a sexy smile and haunting secrets in her eyes.

Can the bossiest witch in town find a happy ending with the last person she should ever love?

Boss Witch is the second novel in the Fix-It Witches series. In the first story, the readers are introduced to Danica and Clementine Waterhouse who are cousins and witches living in the small town of St. Claire located near Chicago. That novel followed Danica and her love interest Titus Winnaker and Clementine were in the background having her own story. In this novel, the reader gets to “see” Clementine’s story with the witch-hunter Gavin Rhys as the stories take place at the same time and both of them are referenced in the other book. This is a fun set-up to a series that I usually don’t see as typically many series with different couples follow in a linear timeline with one after the other rather than the stories happening at the same time. With this idea in mind, it is best to read the first before beginning this one as the reader gains additional background for the characters and town.

When witch hunter Gavin Rhys arrives in St. Claire on assignment from his order, Clementine decides to distract him from hunting any of the local witches, including herself and Danica. The two begin flirting and eventually start going on dates with each other. As their chemistry builds, they each realize that they may be developing feelings that do not work well when they each have secrets from each other. As the story occurs with Danica getting closer to Titus, the reader gets to see Clem’s reactions to this building relationship. For me, I was disappointed that she was not more supportive just because Danica is approaching romance differently than her.  While I did not agree with her thoughts on this subject, I enjoyed Clem as a character. Not only is she protective of her coven, but she also has a complex relationship with them and her family along with trying to live her own life. Gavin has internal struggles in this novel as he does not wish to follow in his father’s footsteps and questions himself as a witch hunter. It was nice to see these two characters have insta-lust, but slowly develop a relationship over the course of the story.

Since this story dives right into the action, I think it would be not as enjoyable for someone reading this as a standalone. The world-building happens a lot in the first novel compared to this one, which means readers could initially be confused. It is not difficult to “catch up,” but I think some reiteration of the world/setting from the first novel would have been beneficial to add to this story. As characters, I connected a lot more to Clementine and Gavin compared to Danica and Titus. Each was likable in their own way, but I felt Clem and Gavin were a little more complex and I found myself more invested in their story. Both stories, though, were great reads and, as I listened to audiobooks for both I definitely love this format as it adds a new layer of enjoyment. I am very curious how the third novel featuring Leanne and Trevor will fit into this series as there was a little teaser in this story, so I will definitely give it a try when it is available!

**I want to give a special thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Sourcecbooks Casablanca, and Dreamscape Media, for a review copy of this enjoyable novel. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.**