Christi Craft is the name and being witchy is my game!
I own a little shop in rural Salem, filled with all manner of fun things; priceless heirlooms, cursed artifacts, bath bombs, Spills (magically spelled pills, if you get my drift). You know, harmless things.
However, Milo James, a sexy AF Warlock Warden, disagrees. He's always giving me citations and fines for selling my cursed artifacts to humans who don't know any better. I’ve known him most of my life, and he sees me as a little sister – at least, that’s how he treats me. Dang it…
If that's not enough, Orrin, my Incubus lover, suddenly wants more from me than just an occasional roll in the sheets. On top of that, I have to deal with this poltergeist I unknowingly acquired with a recent purchase. He's demanding I solve his murder. What he doesn't seem to grasp is that I suck at being a witch.
But things aren't what they seem when it comes to this spirit, and I'm not sure I can help him on my own. With or without my power.
**This is a REVERSE HAREM romance filled with laughs, lust, and a whole lot of foul language. You’ve been warned.**
I think it is difficult for me to be on the side of a woman who refers to herself as toxic and a bitch. Even if it is in jest, would you really want to be identified that way?
The heroine was interesting at the beginning: sexually experienced and has frequent sex that she enjoys! There are two potential love interests that she's attracted to, but she doesn't do any chasing and actually leaves one of them when he wants "more". She's never had much power even though she comes from strong witch lines, but her snark and realness are refreshing.
However, that snark gets real old because an annoying ghost latches onto her and forces her to help him discover how he died. This ghost was so rude and intrusive, I really didn't care if he ever got peace.
What I truly disliked about this book was the whole everyone-knows-something-the heroine-doesn't plot. The incubus that loves her doesn't tell her he knows something about why her powers are so weak. The sex-addict mother keeps the biggest secret from her and then appears solemn when she mentions it to the incubus at the end. That cliffhanger did not humor me. There's a big baddie who may be after our heroine but they've done nothing to prepare her, other than giving annoying af cryptic clues.
Most of my complaints are about the plot, but it was also not funny. It TRIED to be funny with the obscene skull that hurls insults at strangers, the meddling gay best friend that laughs at her shortfalls, and the hateful banter between ghost and witch, but it missed the target by a long shot.
This was a great story. Christi is a stubborn, funny, witty witch. Christi's biggest flaw is that she refuses to let herself have a relationship or fall in love. Christi's parents aren't together, when her dad left her mom, her mom took it really badly and started having relations with multiple partners, multiple partners at the same time! Christi is going to keep her solitary life with her cat, her cursed, insult shouting skull, and her gay best friend who is a pixie....and a no strings attached one night stand when available of course. This book will have you laughing in no time. There are so many things to like about this story. The cursed skull is funny and original. I am rooting for Orrin to melt the ice around her heart and I can't wait to find out what Christi's mom is hiding. Plus the mystery with Button's parents. This book has so much happening, but the pages just fly by! I need book 2!
4.5 This book had me laughing from beginning to end. Not only are Christi's actions and reactions downright hysterical, her interactions with the guys that surround her (hot Incubus and even hotter Warlock.. not to mention a gay as gay can be Pixie) are slap happy humorous. And don't even get me started on her mother!
The entire novel is aimed at building the idea that Christi is far more than she seems and far more powerful than she knows. You, as the reader, know it, the characters know it - but Christi doesn't. In her little witchy mind, she is as hamstrung by a lack of power as the most powerless witch out there, and considering her heritage - that is a pretty brutal magical sentence to throw down.
This was a great introduction to a new series, hitting all the right notes and carefully sidestepping the 'first in series' curse by explaining the world, yet avoiding the deluge such info dumps can invoke. I am eagerly awaiting Book 2!
Perspective
First Person, Multiple POV
Ending Type
Cliffhanger
Pros:
Funny! Well written. Well edited. Good Character development. Use of Foreshadowing that doesn't overwhelm. Well crafted world. The characters!!!
Cons:
Christi is smart as a whip, yet somehow a bit slow on the uptake here...
Favorite Lines:
Even though pixies tend to not gravitate towards just one gender when it comes to love and lust, he’s strictly dickly. (6%)
Verdict
A well written story that begs for Book 2 to be released NOW! I recommend this.
Christi Craft. Witch. Well, not a good one but a witch all the same. Owner of Allure: Objects, Bath, and Brews, a cute little magical shop in Salem with the best bath bombs around. Owner of the world's biggest scaredy-cat, Toast. Best friend to Turk, a fabulous Pixie. Lover to a sexy tatted, pierced incubus, Orrin. Hostess to a confused fae poltergeist, Beauregard Arlington. And crushing on a local warden, her childhood friend Milo. Christi thought that she liked her quiet, isolated life but in just a few days everything seemed to spin out of control. New men, new demands, new dangers.
Jinxed: Toxic Bitchcraft Book One. The title alone drew me in. I expected a heroine with bite; snarky, unpredictable, sassy, unique. I expected a story with some quirkiness, a bit of heat, and a few surprises. I was not disappointed. It exceeded my hopes. I devoured this book page by page. It's definitely a one-sitting read. I could not put it down. I love Christy; Chris, Crafty, little witch by any name/every name. I loved her oops moments, her friendships/relationships, her fondness for Toast, her amusement over Shakes, her childhood memories, her love of black, her ferocity in the bedroom, her little antics. I loved every small detail about her. Turk was equally awesome and her lovers were so yummy.
This is such a short read but packs a surprising punch. It's so well done. There are so many precious tidbits thrown into each scene causing constant amusement and enjoyment. It's an absolute delight. With the hints of what is to come, I can't wait for more.
Christi Craft, daughter of super famous, super powerful Emma Craft, should also be a very powerful witch. So what happened? Instead, she runs a small magic inspired shop in Salem. She can barely work enough magic to keep her Spills stocked. Normally the only trouble she has is when hot as hell Milo comes to punish her for selling magical items to humans. Of course it's not really punishment when it's Milo coming to visit. All of that changes when Button pops into her life. Now she has to help him figure out what happened so he will leave her alone. Can she help him with what little power she does have? What secrets will get uncovered along the way?
You know how you read all of these angsty, indepth, heartwrenching books that we all love and sometimes you just need to read something that's light and fluffy to clear all that out? Well this is that book for you. K.B. will have you rolling in laughter at the antics these crazy characters get up to. Between the super sassy best friend Turk, the two hot as hell love interests, and the ghost who is causing chaos left and right to get what he wants, there is never a dull moment. Throw in the talking skull with the mouth of a sailor and you've got giggles for days.
However, we still get some good meat to the story too. It's not just fluff. We have a real story with some mystery thrown in. Something is up and Orrin seems to have an idea of what it is. And Button, he may just be my favorite of all. I can't wait to see what comes of his story.
Absolutely 100% think everyone needs to read this book. Unless you are offended by bad language and snarky attitudes. If you are then you should run far far away from this book.
Lots of typos, a bit slow going and too much description. I still enjoyed it but I don’t think enough to continue with the series. Christi is a sassy character, but her over description of things I don’t care about took away from what was happening. I also feel like on the other POV we get, declarations of love are too soon, but I guess we did come in the middle of an established...partnering.
The romance though was nice with the Warden. I think I like both the men so far, but I wish her mother would explain why she did what she did. I guess we get a hint and apparently Christi can’t know. A lot is inferred and not outright said, which made some things confusing.
Okay, this is one seriously good book, I was hooked from the beginning and I need book two urgently. It has everything you could possibly want (in my opinion) in a book! A great storyline that is interesting with some very nice twists, it has Romance of the sweet and the steamy variety, fabulous characters that you cannot help but fall in love with, excitement and a very large dash of humour
Words really cannot express how much I enjoyed this book and I am thinking book two is gonna be awesome! Imma have to highly recommend this read, it ticks all the boxes and is s great piece of writing
This book was not what I expected which was great. I think the characters are interesting and I like the Crafts. Witches, Wardens, pixies and more. I can't wait to see what the author comes up with next. Great start to a news series!
DNF I've put it back down it feels like a hundred times since starting it. It's just not holding my attention. I'll give it another try some other time, right now it's just not working for me.
Jinxed: Toxic Bitchcraft Book One by K.B. Ladnier Shut up!! This book is to freaking funny!!! I don’t know what I loved more? The ghost haunting her, her cussing skeleton head, or her two hot men lusting over her. I guess her pixie sidekick was a great read too. If any of the past 2 sentences intrigued you, then buy this book people. I laugh so much when I read her books. They are so hilariously funny and yet so true to life. Christi is a Craft Witch!! Yikes run and hide right!! I mean we all know how powerful they are ….well they all are except for this little witch. She is a hot mess and can’t seem to cast a simple levitation spell correct. On top of her lack of witchcraft abilities, she is now dealing with a pouty demon who is all “Can’t you just love me” to her when she is all about the booty calls. Poor girl right!! Now the next part of her life drama happens when her hottie warlock shows up. She has crushed on him since they were little kids are her mom dated his dad. Mom likes to hit it and quit it, but Christi and Milo have stayed friends. When Christi notices her inappropriate feelings for her friend and wonders if he has them for her, she freaks. I think the worst part of Christi’s life is when the ghost AKA Buttons shows up in her life. This drama forced her to go and see Mommy Dearest who decided to “help Christi” embrace the witch she truly is…by cursing her to have sex!! LOL I loved the story and can’t wait for more. The ending chapters we see there will be some men fighting over our girl plus the death of Buttons seems to be anything but accidental!!
As soon as I starting reading this book I was sucked into the cooky and interesting world of Christi and everyone around her! Christi is such an interesting MC, she has severe commitment issues from her mum’s way of life but at the same time has a couple of guys just waiting for her to give them more! And wow how different are these guys...Orrin is sexy and mysterious, Milo is sweet and a life time friend and finally Button, the ghost who sings annoying songs and makes Christi laugh!! They are all so different but just fit the group! I can’t wait to see how these relationships develop in the next book. There are two mysteries in this book and we only get a small glimpse of them both in this book, wonder what will happen in book two?? This is a highly recommended new series by a very talented author that is full of laugh out loud moments, witchcraft, sexiness and suspense!!
Christi Craft is descended from a long line of powerful witches. In fact, there's a saying about her family: Never cross a Craft witch. But... something went wrong with Christi because she "sucks at being a witch". Everything she does has horrible results, except potions and bath products.
This book introduces you to most of the players and the issues they are dealing with. The mother that jaded Christi's view of herself and relationships, best friend and pixie Turk, brooding warden Milo from her childhood, sexy Incubus demon Orrin, Button the ghost and Shakes the cursed skull with the most offensive insults ever (he made me laugh so hard)!
I can't wait for book 2 because now we know all the players and what's going on and I believe it's going to be hilarious watching them fix it all.
This book is AMAZING and is probably my favorite book from K.B so far. I love Christi's character and the fact that she sucks at being a witch despite her Craft bloodline and her mother being one of the most powerful witches. This book sucked me in and had me hooked from the very 1st page it has everything from a little love (and some sexy times), to mystery and a lot of humor (seriously I laughed so hard I cried a few times). I can't wait to see what happens next with Christi and her guys not to mention what the mystery is about her less than reliable powers (also with Turk and Shakes). The story line for this book is great and I love how it is not an insta-love kind of book😊 I have a feeling the next book is going to be even better, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!!
I INHALED this book, like couldn't put it down or stop giggling for hours straight (my kids think I'm even weirder now)... Seriously just when I think KB could not possibly top her other work I also devoured she somehow raises the bar even higher. Her MCs are literally always hilarious and my favorite people, like I want them all in real life to hang with. As always she does not disappoint, this is a great start to a series with a lot of fresh and unique aspects which is a feat in itself. I love Button, Shakes, Turk, and even poor Toast and so will you. Oh and I can't forget to mention some yummy man candies you don't want to miss out on either, I call dibs on Orrin!
Christi is a witch.. not a very good witch, but a witch nonetheless. She's a spunky girl, with a hilarious, scared spitless of everything car named Toast. If that doesn't tell you much about our girl Christi I don't know what will.
Her mother is a well known, and powerful witch and they don't exactly see eye to eye in their ways of life. They're complete opposites. Christi runs a little spell and bathbomb shop with her bestie Turk, a very fabulous Fairy. As if things weren't weird enough, with her lover Orrin, and her long time crush Milo, now she has a ghost who needs her help. If only her magic was better!
A short, but amazing read. Ready for the next book!
Seriously amazing series. KB Ladnier awed me with this book. It's probably my new favorite written by her. I loved it, it had me laughing out loud. It's got a great storyline, amazing steam level and some twist and turns. I can't wait for book 2 to release!
This was just okay. Jinxed is a shorter read, and I was surprised at how quickly I flew through it. I suppose I should be more vigilant in looking up page length before reading a book, because I often can't stand shorter books as they're often too underdeveloped for my tastes.
I feel that this would have been a way better read if the story had been expanded, and while I did enjoy it there were also issues: the pacing was so fast it seemed to randomly flit from thing to thing, character behaviors were spotty because we don't get to see substantial development, half of the time the relationships honestly didn't make sense as the flow was way off, the guys were cute but I had no real pull to any of them, the erotic scenes were...so...short?? what??, the supposed-to-be-quirky-but-was-actually-annoying best friend didn't work out for me, aaaaand the book ended rather abruptly that it didn't feel like a natural close. I also wasn't a fan of the scene where Christi is FORCED TO HAVE SEX or she'd die (because she was hexed by the most powerful witch in modern history) - that was just an all-around cringey encounter for a multitude of reasons and I didn't dig it. Christi was also not a very interesting MC for me, she lacks backbone in various areas of her life and does behave in toxic ways towards those around her due to her personal issues.
So, I'm a bit confused because with RH we usually either have focus solely on the erotic scenes, or if it's written really well there's focus on both the erotic scenes and the story which is ahh-mazing, but I felt like this one focused on neither. Perhaps the erotic scenes were just too boring for me, who knows.
I did like Shakes, the little cursed skull she keeps in her storefront that hurls random insults at people. I really liked the idea of lil' Shakes, it had a Monty Python sort of vibe going on, but with that said the execution didn't quite hit the mark. Still wonderful though, give me a rude cursed skull any day. I also loved seeing his little embellishment at the beginning of each chapter.
There's intrigue to find out more about Christi's powers, and why she was cursed, and who you-know-who-number-two is...but, I'm really not invested because like I mentioned, it feels like it could have been developed a bit more and seeing as how the second book is even shorter than this one and will be compressed as all hell, I'll have to take a pass. Overall a pretty great thought, but too short and could probably use a little tweaking (for me personally).
What a fun short read Jinxed is. I know it is a little cliche, a witch owning her own store, but there’s just something about that combination that works so well - I’m assuming that is why it is used so often in books. Everly has created a store that I wouldn’t mind having a poke around in.
Christi Craft may be lacking in the magic department but she makes up for that with her personality. Someone who knows what she wants (even if it’s not always what she really wants), Christi is full of life and not is afraid to utter a curse or two. The guys are a good mix, and, even though things may already be steamy between Christi and a couple of them, the relationships feel natural. Still I’m looking forward to seeing how things develop in the next book, especially between Christi and the incubus.
Everly has this talent of keeping the reader hooked with all the action while not actually rushing anything. As it states at the end of the blurb, there’s some cussin’ - actually a lot - so if you’re easily offended then please don’t read the book and then leave a bad review about the bad words (you know who you are). No slow burn here with the action between the sheets kicking off pretty early on, however I get the feeling the harem is going to be a bit more of a slow build and as such there’s not heaps of steamy scenes. Jinxed is definitely building up for the next book in the series, which I’m looking forward to reading.
Love how versatile K.B. is getting with her different series ❤️
Really appreciated how funny and steamy this book was by K.B. Ladnier! It was a refreshing change and helped clear up my previous book hangover! I did make the mistake of reading some of this at work during lunch and tried to laugh while drinking water and made a fool of myself haha. Don't worry, this book is not just pee yourself funny/all about the awkward moments and cursing skulls haha, there is a good storyline and the beginnings of great character development and relationships. You will want to devour more after reading, hopefully Book 2 isn't too far away 😊
You will be surprised how light it feels despite the topics. Shows the sign of a great author. Can't wait for more. You should definitely pick this book up, you will love it as much as I did!
I love the concept here and most of the side characters. The magic and the world the author crafted is unique and well done. This book was hilarious and a quick read. The only reason it's not 5 stars is I just really didn't like Christi's personality. There was just something about the fact that she seemed to think she knew everything and she wasn't willing to give any of the romantic leads a real chance that irritated me. Hopefully her personality will grow in the next book. Also I would totally love a side story with her mother. We only meet her twice but she was so much more interesting both of those times than a lot of the other characters, just couldn't help but love her.
I love this book. We have a witch who barely can manage to do anything right or complete certain spells even though her mother is one of the most feared and powerful witches of all time. she is absolutely hilarious and even has a gay best friend/protector who is all up in her business the whole way through the book and will make you laugh like crazy. Throw in a cat that’s pretty much scared of its own shadow. A very hot warden who tries to protect her as much as he can that she has the hots for, and a very yummy incubus that she has a FWB deal with and a grouchy ghost and you have a hilarious book. It ended way too fast for me and I can’t wait to read more
Christi Craft is a witch, maybe not the best one out there, but a witch just the same. She runs a small magic shop in Salem. She tries to keep it low key, only getting into trouble when Milo comes to punish her for selling magical items to humans. When her life goes from quite to new men, and new dangers, her life is anything but.
I really enjoyed Jinxed, and as always with a KB book you are freaking entertained with a witty, strong, sassy, and just plain fun to read main female lead. The secondary characters are just as fun and entertaining. I am very much looking forward to this series, and cannot wait to read more from this world.
What a great, fun read! I loved all of the characters, Christi is a fun MC with a great range of swear words but not a great range in power but she owns it which I like. Her relationship with Turk (the gay BFF pixie) is such good fun; just the right level of snark, meddling and support to make it believable. The boys are hot and smouldering, her mom's a bit crazy, her cats afraid of EVERYTHING and as for Shakes...Can I keep him???
The book is quick, smart and sassy and gets straight to the point and is a great FOS, I'm definitely looking forward to the next!
Christi is witch...a fairly bad one, but she makes due. She was pretty annoying to me honestly. I didn't care for her attitude so it was difficult to get into the story. The part that annoyed me the most that at a certain point she successfully completed one spell and then all of a sudden acted like she hasn't been a crappy witch her whole life. I also hate the trope of everyone lying to the main character, and this particular instance was worse than normal because her mother was terrible.
great start to a new series!! in this story Christy is a craft witch who is descended from a line of powerful witches, however Christy for some reason can barely do basic spells, she is a wonderful, sarcastic, funny MC. lots of laughs and a little bit of steam in this book. it's a bit of a slow burn RH as the MC and her harem are just starting you really get a good feel from all of the characters in this book as we get to know them. can't wait to read the next book!!