Mismatch, Lovematch

Harper Valley Witch #1

by Megan Derr

Match is a hedge witch, part of a group of Guards that protect their town and the surrounding area from supernatural danger. He is not fierce and glamorous like his teammates, the paladins who do most of the fighting, a werewolf who does most of their hunting and tracking, or their sleek, crafty hacker who fights from a modern angle.

No, his life is plants, herbs, and potions—and being hopelessly in love with Ronan, the dark paladin of their group, who comes from one of the oldest families in the supernatural community. Far from a poor hedge witch living on the wrong side of town, even if they have been teammates and friends for years.

Then, in the aftermath of a fight with a bog witch, Ronan agrees to a date and it seems like for once, everything is going Match's way…

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, M M Romance, Romance, Short Stories, Novella, Christmas

48 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2023

About the author

Megan is a long time resident of queer romance and keeps herself busy reading and writing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she’s not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her wife and cats, or watch movies. She loves to hear from readers and can be found all over the internet.

meganderr.com
patreon.com/meganderr
meganderr.blogspot.com
facebook.com/meganaprilderr
meganaderr@gmail.com
@meganaderr

Reviews

[Drusilla]

It was kind of difficult to get into. It felt somewhat cryptically written, but that could just be my overtired brain. Fortunately, it's a trilogy, so I have more time to really find my way into it. In the end, I was very invested and am very excited to see how the relationship develops, which is only just beginning tentatively here...
I love Match, he's a quirky, interesting character.

His dream had always been to have an entire sunroom or porch or something converted to a pixie house, or to build a giant one in his backyard. But sunrooms and backyards required having an actual house, and there was no way he'd ever have that kind of money. 🧚🤩🧚

And Ronan, he's barely tangible in this story, but then he conjures up such nice words, ooooh, I melt away at the end after all.

„You don't know how hard it is to be borderline obsessed with a smart, pretty witch who always seems ten steps ahead of the rest of us in everything. What do I have? I'm a professional ass kicker living off the money of my rich asshole parents. Also, I could never in good conscious inflict my family on anyone. Your parents foster kittens and throw monthly ice cream parties for orphans and foster kids. My parents think orphans should work in mines and factories so they're not a drain on society." 😳

I hope the second book has a little more to offer than just one tiny kiss, even if that one was wonderful.

[Drache.... (Angelika)]

Reread 01/2025.
I wanted to read the sequel but had forgotten all about Match and Ronan, so I had to reread this one obviously first.
I had felt lukewarm about this story the first time, but was pleasantly surprised how lovely I found it this time around!

3,75 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
--------------------
Read 05/2024.
3,25 stars.
Overall enjoyable short story.
Not my favorite by the author, though.

[Ben Howard]

Mismatch, Lovematch is a really cute and cosy fantasy. I can't wait get more of Match and co in the sequel Frostbite, Lovebite. And it's out 7th of Jan, so not a long wait at all! :D

[Shawna]

I genuinely enjoyed this fast paced fantasy novella, but really wish it had been longer to explore the really rich and intriguing magic system. The tattoo lore is very sad, but fascinating, and I would have loved more information about how that shapes this world and the witches within it. The relationships, stakes and emotions are all there, but it happens at such a rapid fire pace and wraps up a touch too soon for my liking. But, it was just about satisfactory, so I'll rate it a four but wish there were more.

[Gaby]

But seriously, what happened with his salary? Also, Match has very shitty friends

[Achim]

3.5
There are not many authors who do cosy fantasy short stories as good as Megan Derr; great friendship, cute pinning, the usual misunderstanding and a unique world but something's missing or maybe the story is too short for their mission and its circumstances to be solved as satisfyingly as the romance situation. Nevertheless I round the 3.5 up and hope the next one will show more about that world and their group interaction.

[Rozarka]

Exactly that kind of romance I love, with loveable characters and interesting worldbuilding (the tattoos!).

[Terri]

2025 re-read--and it was just as great this time. Now I can read book 2!

2024:
Short and funny and entertainingly odd, and sweet. Worth that dollar I spent on it. :)

[Tamara]

A perfect romantic short story!

[Kassu]

3.5⭐

It was a nice short story of contemporary magic. And interesting main character here but a bit too short and fast to feel more than "nice".

[eesha]

this needed more angst the tension + blowup we got was so good but it wrapped up too easily for my miserable heart

[Ami]

It's been a while since I read Megan Derr and I think this is one of her newest stories (rather than ones being republished). Derr excels in short stories, and this one is no exception. With under 100 pages, Derr writes crushes, and secret pining, and misunderstanding really well.

By the way, I liked the friendship of the team but I LOVED it when Match called out his friends for not seeing that he wasn't seen in the same class as they were. You go, Match!

[RestlessPages]

He'd been carrying a torch for Ronan since the first day he'd strolled into Match's sophomore homeroom. All these years later, he was still the most beautiful person Match had ever seen, and the only thing he loved more was that deep voice, like smoky whiskey on a cold night, or the low thrumming bass of a sultry song.

I really liked it. This author's writing is simply beautiful.
It's a short story about a lonely witch Match who has pining for his teammate, a dark paladin Ronan, for years. Cozy fantasy with a little bit of angst.

°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*⁀°•*
*General Notes*
-lonely MC (Match), POC LI (Ronan), witch x dark paladin, teammates, pining...
-cozy fantasy
-Match is 26 years old; not sure about Ronan's age.

*Intimacy Notes*
-Top/bottom/verse: no smut
-Kinks/sex notes: no smut
-Other:
・Match has a quirk habit of sticking a burnt match in his mouth after using it.
・Match has pixies and I found it really endearing how he still cared and worried about them even during moments when he himself was sad and crying.

[Tim]

Megan Derr is an author who does amazing world building, particularly in her short stories. This one is more conventional though. In a modern world with cars, tablets, etc there are also werewolves, witches, magic, etc.

In this story, we meet 26 year old John "Match" Willow, who'x not just a badass plant daddy or pixie collector, but he's a powerful witch. He's secured a job for Harper Valley city with a team defending against magical threats. His best friend since grade school, Benny, is the sword-fighter leader of the team, there's a werewolf, a half-goblin hacker, and generational dark paladin, Ronan. Match has been crushing on Ronan for years, everyone knows it, but every time Match asks Ronan out, he gets rebuffed. Then one night after a rough battle against a bogwitch, Ronan agrees to go out with Match. But are things really what they seem or is something else going on?

This was short and sweet. Would have liked a bit more interaction between Match and Ronan, and a slightly longer story. [Just noticed there's a book 2!]

3 Stars.

[Kevin]

Paranormal MM romance short story. A male witch nicknamed Match who's part of a group of guards protecting the area from supernatural danger has a crush on another team member, Ronan, a warrior. Ronan keeps on turning Match down when he's asked out, so Match has given up.
Match also has to make do with a tiny apartment, due to his lower salary compared to the rest of the team. He dreams of a house of his own, with plenty of room for his magic equipment and also his pet pixies.
A curse causes everyone on the team to lose their inhibitions, which leads to a date between the two of them.
Typos: Missing and extra words, sentence fragment after a question (His mother said), "you're" spelled "your" in the VERY SAME sentence in which "you're" is spelled correctly the first time it's used, wrong verb tense.
I'm excited to see that there will soon be a sequel.

[Kimber]

Awesome as always

I have been enjoying Megan Derr's work for years and years! This little treat is no exception. I loved seeing what happens with modern day paladins and witches, etc in a world that has cars and motorcycles and such while also having magic. The world building here is simple-ish, but well done and frames the story well, as usual. I don't want to give spoilers, but it was a nice little romance and made a perfect little bedtime story for me.
I highly recommend it. If you haven't tried Derr's writing before, this is a nice introduction; although, I also highly recommend reading more of her work. You won't be sorry.

[Katherine]

A really lovely little short story! Match is the hedge witch in his group which unfortunately means that while he is vital he isn't exactly paid as though he is. Regardless, he loves his job and he loves his team. He loves one particular member of his team a little more, but every time he's tried to make their relationship into something else he has been rebuffed so Match is giving up. But then after a job everyone starts acting a little bit differently and it might just have the chance to change absolutely everything. A sweet and short story with a world that could totally be explored more but a well contained story regardless.

[Lisa]

This is a cute, low-angst short story of unrequited attraction that could possibly become reciprocated. Match is a hedge witch who works with a team of his friends to guard the town and surrounding area. Match specializes in working with herbs, dried berries, plants, potions, and spells to fight evil. He loves to keep and protect pixies and he is an expert translator of ancient languages. He's also low-paid and pining for his paladin teammate, Ronan. Will the breakthrough come where Ronan can feel the same way about him? This HFN story has magical creatures, good friends, life's challenges, and the beginning of a loving future. I look forward to the next story in the series.

[Eve]

I bought this book on a whim. I didn't even really look at the blurb, I just loved the cover (first edition). And once I got to reading it, I love the book just as much. This was my first Megan Derr book. Since reading it I have read several other titels by her and she has quickly become one of my favorite authors.

Considering the book is only 48 pages long, I'm going to keep this short. There is a surprising amount of world building in this short sotry. It made me want read more about the setting and the characters. If you like romance, urban fantasy and enjoy a cozy story, I fully recommend this book and the rest of the series (book 3 is my favorite so far).

[Dustin]

This was a big no for me. The worldbuilding felt lazy and done too quickly. The story jumped from one thing to the next. There’s wasn’t enough fluff in between. The writing was even bad, with odd grammar and incomplete sentences.
I think I could like the story if it was set in a longer novel, but it didn’t work well as a short story. It felt rushed. There were also some logic errors which didn’t make things any better.

[...]

I knew this was a short story going in, but it was a whole lot of buildup for a few meager paragraphs at th3me end sort of "fixing" everything with an implied HFN, and it was just... not impactful enough to be satisfying, unfortunately 😐 If this had been full-length, it definitely had the potential to be a great read. As-is though, I'd call it 2.5☆ rounded up at best.

[W.A. Ashes]

I went into this book expecting a cozy paranormal romance...what I found was much more. This went beyond that. Though it does have paranormal romance elements, this is an urban fantasy story with a high fantasy base. The author has had experience in multiple fantasy genres, including RPGs. I'm hoping she writes more books like this, because if so I'm about to become severely addicted.

[Laurie Takao]

The characters and world have great promise, but so many details were not fleshed out and the entire story arc was rushed. I was tantalized by the characters, but felt starved for further details. I would call this a good short story. I would love a read a novel expanding upon this world and characters.

[Monika]

Super sweet little fantasy. I loved Match and Ronan and can't wait to start the next in the series.

• Fantasy/Paranormal
• Witches/Magic
• Holiday/Christmas
• Fast easy enjoyable read
• Feel good
• Made me smile
• Fun Characters
• No on page sex
• Loved the MCs
• Satisfying enough HEA (more to come)
• Short less than 100 pages

[Shelba]

Cute, but lacking ‘oomph’. The plot was fine, but the emotions were a bit… shallow? Bland? *shrugs*

I honestly thought the magic tattoo blood thingy was very neat and would like to see some expansion of that concept in the future. *wink wink, nudge nudge* So much Sad Boy TM potential in that.

[Nathan]

dark side meets dork side

Intense magic nerd finally gets noticed by his coworkers.

Short but sweet romance with a whole lot of neat high urban fantasy ideas tossed in (witches as second class citizens, paladins as old money, magic as sacrifice).

[M'rella]

A backfired curse brings out suppressed desires and emotions in a small troop of the Guardians, who defend their town against evil creatures.
A small gem from MD. As with most short stories, I wish it were longer.

4 stars.

[Audra Rytter]

Very nice short story

I just love it when an author makes me feel something and to do it in a short story is exceptional. I wanted to give Match a hug and kick everyone else in the bum. I want more about these people and this world, please.

[Amy K.]

What a sweet, delightfully fluffy little romance—low heat but with really cool world building and, as always with Derr, interesting characters. Also, outstanding found family vibe and great queer representation.

[E Maqua]

MOAR PLZ

Oh man, I need so much more! This was SUCH a great short story that I can see how this world could bloom into so many more stories! That's always a risk with Megan Derr short stories, but this one especially had me hooked!!