4 Magical Reads to Add to Your TBR List

by MK French

Add a little magic to your summer reading with these four books. They aren't all pure fantasy, in case that's not your thing, but magic plays a role in each of the plots.  

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The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

July 2025;  Del Rey; 978-0593874325
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); historical fantasy

Minerva had always been entranced by her great-grandmother's tales, and is now researching author Beatrice Tremblay as her graduate thesis. As she researches, it seems that Tremblay's last novel was inspired by the disappearance of her roommate. The malign force that stalked Tremblay and the missing girl might still walk the halls of the campus. These disturbing events also echo the stories Nana Alba told about her girlhood in 1900s Mexico, where she had a terrifying encounter with a witch. Minerva now suspects that the same shadow is threatening her in 1990s Massachusetts.

In a dual timeline, 90 years apart, we get Minerva and Alba telling their stories. Once Minerva gets access to Beatrice's novel, we have a third timeline full of creepiness. Minerva likes the weird stories from Lovecraft's time and circles, of which Beatrice Tremblay was a part. Her last novel reminds Minerva of Alba's stories, and sets the tone from the start that we're in for a supernatural tale. A student had already left campus by the time she got access to the novel, and she began digging into the past. Soon, similar things happen to her, and stories she heard from her great-grandmother Alba make more sense, and might help keep her alive.

Alba's introductory chapter shows us the girl raised on a farm, hoping that she'll live the life of a cultured lady instead. Her uncle is only a few years older than her, and goes out of his way to flirt with her, push for life in Mexico City, put down folk remedies and superstitions, and aggravate her brother. The farm starts to suffer more, and whispers begin of the family being cursed. Alba's search for the truth doesn't go where she thinks it will.

Splitting the novel into three stories means it feels slower to start up, but the different threads start picking up tension a few chapters into each thread. Beatrice didn't know what she was dealing with at the time, so she couldn't help Ginny in the weeks prior to her disappearance. Alba's and Minerva's stories mirror each other, and both threads come to a thrilling and tense conclusion. Magic is real here, not in flashy ways, but in manipulating threads of power. This is a fantastic look at folk magic and the power of belief and bloodlines.

Buy The Bewitching at Amazon

Roll For Romance by Lenora Woods

July 2025; Dell; 978-0593975411
audio, ebook, print (368 pages); romantic comedy 

When Sadie Brooks loses her job, she finally takes up her friend's offer to join him in Texas and play in his Dungeons and Dragons campaign. There, she can play Jaylie, the powerful human cleric of the Goddess of Luck, and plan for her future. During the game, she meets bartender Noah Walker. He plays the elven bard Loren, and the two share the same tendency to wander and move from place to place. Sadie is drawn to Noah, much like Jaylie is falling for Loren. When a new job opportunity opens up in New York, she faces a choice: return to New York or stay in Texas.

Magic here is that of the characters in Dungeons and Dragons. If you've never played before, that's fine! Neither has Sadie, so you can learn along with her. Though no, there isn't a tradition where someone has to gift you your first set of dice. That Tarot superstition isn't true there, either, by the way. She uses magic to heal and fight in the game, hoping to eventually heal her bad luck. We get to see not only her story as she navigates life after getting laid off, but the game and lots of fun nerdy references. Sadie pulls out of the depression of losing her job, reconnects with her art, and makes friends through the game. She's happier, outgoing, and looks to the future as much as it scares her. We learn why she left New York, as well as why Noah keeps moving around. Because it's a romance novel, we know it will work out for the two of them, and they have some soul searching to do for it all to work out. It's a cute ending and fits this gaming group. 

Buy Roll For Romance at Amazon

Hit Me With Your Best Charm by Lillie Vale

July 2025; Viking Books; 978-0593623916
audio, ebook, print (416 pages); YA paranormal romance

Prior’s End is famous for its Fall Festival, the wishing well hidden in a forest bristling with secrets, and Nova Marwood’s missing hiker father. She spends her time pretending she doesn't believe in magic, and that she doesn't have a crush on Kiara Mistry, who stole every other crush Nova ever had. When Nova lays an unintended hex on Kiara at the Fall Festival, Kiara’s survival is soon at stake. To reverse the bad luck, Kiara’s exes turned BFFs, plan to look for the wishing well, and the only one who can lead them there is Nova.

Magic is built into the reputation of the town and nearby forest, and Nova's intended prank to wish bad luck on perfect Kiara Mistry at the town's festival seems to come true. Kiara is still close friends with all of her exes, who band around her and suggest searching for the wishing well to save Kiara's life. Nova goes along out of guilt; while one of the exes is a relative and knows a little about the forest, Nova is the one who regularly hikes in it and whose father had run tours before he disappeared seven years before. Nova is snarky and often sarcastic, so even other characters don't know when she's joking. It's her idea to call their journey "The Fellowship of the Fling," which had me laughing out loud. Of course, she winds up learning more about the others during the hiking trip, and even about herself.

The finale of the book was heartbreaking in its own way. There are hard truths that everyone has had to face regarding the forest and the people hiking in it, and about those who got lost in the woods over the years. Magic isn't necessarily flashy here, but it's about intention and power, and the forest is very deep, very old, and very protective of its secrets. We really need the build-up for the ending to make sense, and I think it would work better without the epilogue. The story is done, and the epilogue tries to be mysterious and creepy, but ultimately lost some of the drama for me.

Buy Hit Me With Your Best Charm at Amazon

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

July 2025; Berkley; 978-0593439371
audio, ebook, print (352 pages); paranormal romance

Sera Swan was the most powerful witch in Britain when she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her Guild. Sera is left helping Jasmine run an enchanted inn in Lancashire, living a cozy but hectic life with limited magic. When she finds out about an old spell that could hold the key to restoring her power, she wants to seize it without the Guild knowing. Luke Larden is a handsome, magical historian who may be able to unlock the spell's secrets. He has no interest in the zany shenanigans of the inn or in Sera, but agrees to help with her spell. He might be getting attached, and Sera might be learning that she doesn't have to do everything alone.

We open with the events leading to her expulsion from the Guild, a group of old-fashioned wizards protecting magic from "normal" people as well as those deemed unworthy. Those are largely immigrants, and Sera's parents emigrated to England from Iceland for her mother and India for her father. Neither parent was excited to actually be a parent, so great-aunt Jasmine came to England from India to raise Sera. Therefore, as difficult as it later was to burn out most of her magic, she couldn't regret resurrecting her as a teen. Fast forward fifteen years, and Sera is keeping up the inn and the motley crew that calls it home. 

We have Jasmine, who is disabled and worries about Sera, Clemmie, whose curse rebounded on her and left her a talking fox, Nicholas the Ren Faire knight who always wore armor and spoke like a knight, Sera's nephew Theo from Iceland, and Matilda, who grows vegetables and lovingly bickers with the local farmer who deliver what she can't grow. And Roo-Roo, the rooster skeleton that got animated along with Jasmine. Add to this chaos is Luke, a stiff researcher, and his younger autistic sister Posy, who doesn't know she must hide her magic, and we have lots of silly shenanigans at the inn. In addition to fun games between the children, garden disasters, and the search for components to a spell that would help Sera regain her magic, there are loving moments of connection between them all. Each carries wounds and prickly emotions, but in time, it's obvious that they all bring out the best in each other. We don't see all of the others' stories, just the pieces that touch on Sera's life and how she sees herself; while she sees the best in others, it's harder for her to do the same for herself. This book has its romance and its charm, with a fitting ending that puts the characters right where they need to be. 

Buy A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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