A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses by Molly Harper

Paranormal Romance

From Goodreads:

"Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.
Complication One: Her grandfather was Mr. Wainwright and the artifacts are lost somewhere in what is now Jane Jameson's book shop.
Complication Two: her new neighbor, Jed Trudeau, who keeps turning up half naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn't need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially when he’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard—can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?"

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses is the first book in a new series.  It is also the first time I have read a Molly Harper book.

It is set in Half-Moon Hollow and is a spin-off of a previous series.  That caused me some problems as I started to read A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses. Much of the world building apparently was done in the previous series, as I did not see much world building for Half-Moon Hollow in the Witch’s Handbook.  .  Instead I was just dropped into the Half-Moon Hollow world and had to find my way through.  It made reading the first part of the book a challenge because the setting and the secondary characters play an important part in the story and I often felt like I was missing something but did not know what. On the plus side the story was powerful enough to overcome that problem.

A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses has a great story line and wonderful characters.  It is also infused with many surprising twists and turns in the plot.  Nola does not think of herself as a strong person.  Jed is sure he is cursed.  It is fun to watch the changes in both as the story progresses. The tension and character building in the story build as solving problems just lead to more tension and additional problems.  The characters add to the surprises, as not all are what they seem.  A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses and Curses is a well-written fun paranormal romance with a great plot.  Pick a copy up and see for yourself.

Pocket Books published A Witch’s Handbook of Kisses andCurses by Molly Harper in 2013.