Slouch Witch
Author: Helen Harper
Series: The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Magic #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Romance, Witches
Publisher: Createspace Publishing Platform
Pub date: June 8th, 2017
Let’s get one thing straight – Ivy Wilde is not a heroine. In fact, she’s probably the last witch in the world who you’d call if you needed a magical helping hand, regardless of her actual abilities. If it were down to Ivy, she’d spend all day every day on her sofa where she could watch TV, munch junk food and talk to her feline familiar to her heart’s content.
However, when a bureaucratic disaster ends up with Ivy as the victim of a case of mistaken identity, she’s yanked very unwillingly into Arcane Branch, the investigative department of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Her problems are quadrupled when a valuable object is stolen right from under the Order’s noses. It doesn’t exactly help that she’s been magically bound to Adeptus Exemptus Raphael Winter. He might have piercing sapphire eyes and a body which a cover model would be proud of but, as far as Ivy’s concerned, he’s a walking advertisement for the joyless perils of too much witch-work.
And if he makes her go to the gym again, she’s definitely going to turn him into a frog.
my review
Helen Harper is one of my favorite indie-authors for several reasons: her hilarious and entertaining to read narration that literally make the most average indie story-line absolutely a bliss to read, the swoon-worthy romances she happens to pull off 8/10 times, some very popcorn-worthy action scenes, and really good pace when it comes to a series’ story arc development.
The thing is though, this book is not different at all from other indie books, especially urban, magic, and fantasy YA indie books when regarding story, development, and characters. But to me, this is not a problem. A good indie book (like this one) can really, really give you a fun read without too much stress or (bad) surprises because these books are quite expectable, and I love that. I read this book to just…enjoy. I’m not trying to grow as a reader or anything when I’m reading this book, I’m just indulging myself with sassy-heroines and swoon-worthy romances.
Okay, so that part wasn’t really about the book (or its review). But the reason I wrote that is that I don’t’ even know what to write with reviews on books like this anymore. These books are enjoyable, yes, but I don’t know what to write about them. These are indulgences.
What I’m trying to say is that if you’re at that time in your life, and you’re suddenly just craving these kinds of expectable, safe, yet at the same time extremely fun and entertaining (swoon-worthy too) stories, buy this book. This book wouldn’t disappoint you (seriously, just buy it. Helen Harper is one of the most reliable indie authors out there when it comes to indie book quality).
You’ll definitely enjoy this book if you enjoy:
– Urban paranormal
– Magic/fantasy
– Witches
– Really, really, hilarious narrative
– A very action packed-book
– The girl is super witty and sassy, while the guy is kind of cold but eventually will get melted by the heroine (another form of hate-love relationship). Not the best, but definitely not too bad (not bad enough or me to regard buying this book or anything)
My rating:
4.5/5
about the author
After teaching English literature in the UK, Japan and Malaysia, Helen Harper left behind the world of education following the worldwide success of her Blood Destiny series of books. She is a professional member of the Alliance of Independent Authors and writes full time although she still fits in creative writing workshops with schools along with volunteering to teach reading to a group of young Myanmar refugees. That’s not to mention the procession of stray cats which seem to find their way to her door!
Helen has always been a book lover, devouring science fiction and fantasy tales when she was a child growing up in Scotland.
The growth of urban fantasy fascinated her – the mix of reality and fantasy along with strong heroic female characters appealed from the very beginning, and inspired her to write her own. No-one is more astonished or thrilled than her that her characters have found an audience and that her books have achieved average reviews of 4 to 5 stars on Amazon and GoodReads.
Helen currently lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with far too many cats – not to mention the dragons, fairies, demons, wizards and vampires that seem to keep appearing from nowhere!