When I read Paranormal Payback a couple weeks ago, it included a story set in Arcadia Falls by Isla Jewell (Delilah S. Dawson). I enjoyed “A Midsummer Night’s Scheming”, and didn’t even realize at the time that I had Books & Bewitchment at home from the library. That’s the title of Jewell’s first book in her Arcadia Falls series, a romantasy set in a charming Georgia town where witches are part of the business community and Chamber of Commerce.

Rhea Wolfe and her two younger sisters had promised their mother they would have nothing to do with their grandmother or the town where she lived, Arcadia Falls, Georgia. However, Rhea’s parents are dead, and she’s the responsible one in the family. When she turns down a proposal from her boyfriend, gets a ticket, and is fired all in the same day, it seems like fate when she receives a letter from a lawyer. Her grandmother, Maggie Kirkwood, died in a car accident. As Maggie’s closest living relative, Rhea inherits everything, an apartment, four businesses, and all her assets. What could it hurt to go to Arcadia Falls, and find out if she has assets to sell to support herself and her sisters?

Before she can inherit, Maggie has an unusual request. Rhea has to scatter her grandmother’s ashes behind the falls. No one tells Rhea the water from the falls will bring her to her powers as a witch. However, the water also puts her grandmother’s spirit into Rhea’s pet cockatoo, Doris. Now, an angry Maggie meets her granddaughter for the first time and has some interesting stories to tell, or to hide. For instance, why do some of the witches in town hate Maggie? Why would that handsome carpenter, Hunter Blakely, be the grandson of Maggie’s sworn enemy?

Books & Bewitchment combines the best elements of a cozy mystery with witchcraft and a romance. There’s a charming small town, an enemies to lovers storyline, and a woman in her mid-twenties who had no idea she was a witch or how to do magic. And, for those of us who love bookstores, when Rhea discovers her magical power, her knack, it has to do with books. Jewell’s book shows a responsible, but lost woman who finds her place and her purpose in the world. Arcadia Falls is a charming town. It appears that Books & Bewitchment will kick off a new series set there. It’s just a guess, but I’m betting Rhea’s younger sisters will find their lives, loves, and purposes in future books. I can’t wait.

Isla Jewell’s website is https://www.islajewell.com/

Books & Bewitchment by Isla Jewell. Del Rey, 2026, 368p.

FTC Full Disclosure – Library book