Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an eARC of Hexy Beast in exchange for my honest review!
I’ve been reading some books with heavy material lately, including that which belongs in the realm of horror, which is why it’s an enjoyable change of pace to follow Effie and Darius’s romance in Hexy Beast by Avery Flynn. This lays out the road for us to follow an engagement-of-convenience and fated-mate tale that plants them right in the good old category of forced proximity. Ohhhh, how the lustful tension builds up between the witch and the werewolf! There truly is so much desire thrumming away beneath the surface of their dynamic, though this is an element that makes me question why the book has been promoted as an enemies-to-lovers rom-com. Yes, there’s a bit of hostility rising up between Effie and Darius at the start, but it’s definitely not downright enmity. There’s so much more of a playful and curious foundation to the relationship that’s already present between them, and it steers them away from territory that sincerely lands as enemies-to-lovers. Granted, that’s all more of a nitpick than a real critique, and I’m aiming this point at the marketing, not the actual content of the book itself.
Speaking of which, I vibe with how breezy this becomes and how much cute chemistry it stirs up between the MCs. Shout-out to her calling him Wolfman and him replying by attaching the nickname Broom Babe to her. I’ll also give kudos to the decision to consistently portray Effie as a curvy woman, because there are too many rom-coms these days that think only thin MCs are the ones who deserve to have the spotlight of love shining down on them. Let’s bring in more weight inclusivity please! Now, in regard to the tropes that this book is using and how it executes them, I get that it’s not standing out as doing anything too new. I’m very familiar with all these cliches. But that’s okay, and I’m not requiring every rom-com to break boundaries. I can click quite decently with tales that stick with a reliable formula and still dish out a good-sized amount of charisma. That’s what we get here as a comfy paranormal mood wraps itself around the MCs, and that comfiness even manages to stick around while the suspense grows a little because of the pack politics that come into play. I could have done with this being more fleshed-out, but it remains a neat element to go through in the worldbuilding. I do especially enjoy the aspect of a “wolf” being inside of these werewolf shifters, including Darius—as in, a spiritual sort of wolf that lives on inside of them and acts as a separate entity from them. It gets me chuckling to see Darius contend with this primal side of his soul and repeatedly go, “No, no, wolf, I’m keeping you on a leash!”
I’ll admit, I know there are two other books that came out ahead of this entry in the Sherwood Witches series, Witcha Gonna Do? and Head Witch in Charge, but I haven’t dived into them. I’d be interested to do that, though. I like getting to know the Sherwood family through this third novel, and I’d be down for spending more time with their magical selves. For Hexy Beast specifically, what we’ve got here is getting a thumbs-up. I’m charmed by the ride that I took with this paranormal romance, and if it sounds like it’s up your alley, then you could give it a shot as well.
My final score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
2 Cents Critic 