Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare, narrated by Holly Linneman & Andrew Eiden. Interesting take on magic, good narration, romance a bit of a mixed bag.
I haven’t read or listened to a Jessica Clare book in what feels like ages. When I saw Go Hex Yourself, read the blurb and also saw that Andrew Eiden was co-narrating, I decided to pick it up.
Regina (Reggie) Johnson answers an ad in the paper for a personal assistant/familiar for spellcraft. She mistakes it as being related to a card game “Spellcraft: The Magicking” (which I imagine to be something akin to Magic: The Gathering) and applies. She’s had trouble keeping jobs in the past because she’s very particular about being tidy and organised. Some people don’t like her rearranging their things just so whether she’s been asked to do it or not.
It quickly becomes clear that Reggie is wrong about the card game but it takes her a long while to admit the magic that her new employer (yes, she gets the job and it pays a simply RIDICULOUS – high that is – amount of money), Drucilla (Dru) Magnus tells her they both have.
In this world magic comes from the Roman Gods (in particular Jupiter) sexing up the local populace way back in the day. From there various bloodlines of magic began. Familiars are usually sought from the Society of Familiars. Reggie, as a complete outsider and one who doesn’t even know about magic let alone believe in it, is a “mongrel”. But Dru is a 2000+ year old witch and very much not inclined to do things the way she’s supposed to. No, Reggie is who she wants and Reggie is who she’ll have.
Familiars wear a cuff on their wrist which binds them to their witch or warlock who then use the power of the familiar to amplify spells. No Reggie, that tiredness you’re feeling is not just low blood sugar.
Dru’s 500-year-old great nephew, Ben Magnus, a powerful warlock in his own right, disapproves of Reggie’s lineage and wants Dru to fire Reggie as soon as possible. So Ben and Reggie don’t get off to a good start.
However, they do seem to be thrown together regularly and over time they become friends. Ben even learns to play Spellcraft: The Magicking so he can spend time with Reggie doing something she loves.
When Dru is cursed, Reggie and Ben work together to find out who’s done the cursing and to break the spell before Dru dies.
And along the way, they fall in love.
There’s more to it; Ben and Reggie both have complicated feelings about their mutually terrible parents (the only difference being that Reggie’s are alive); it appears that all of Dru’s familiars have been cursed in the past and it seems Reggie might be next, Reggie’s BFF, Nick, starts a new relationship with hot military guy, Diego – and sends Reggie too many NSFW pictures and texts about it, Reggie makes a new friend in Penny who has been waiting for years for her chance to finally be a familiar.
The witches and warlocks in this world are, for the most part, morally grey. Sure there are healing potions and good luck charms but, for example, most of Ben’s work is in the corporate arena where he curses the competitors so the stock prices of his clients’ business goes up. Many of the warlocks are old white guys who are set in their ways and misogynistic. Ben is not a misogynist fortunately and he’s also very progressive -which often sets him at odds with Aunt Dru and his fellow warlocks. He uses his smartphone for scrying; Aunt Dru still uses entrails and a crystal ball.
I enjoyed the magic and the way the author mixed the modern experience with eye of newt and ear of bat and the like. I liked Reggie and Ben very much. But the part when the pair slid from friendly to in love passed me by a little. I think it happened in the space of a couple of lines of text which mentioned “two months later”. Unfortunately I didn’t hear much about those crucial two months and that meant the romance felt sudden and undeveloped to me.
The next thing I knew, Ben and Reggie were kissing and then they were haring off to find a cure for the curse that suddenly befell Dru.
There were at least two good options I could see for the culprit and the author did keep me guessing until right near the end as to the identity of the curser.
The narration from both performers was very good. Although, I did have a mental disconnect hearing Andrew Eiden’s voice for a character who was supposed to be a bit stiff and starchy and who was 500 years old. I do not associate Mr. Eiden with “stiff and starchy”. No he’s more warm honey and smooth charm. Ben’s not really that – although he is a sweetie. As much as I decided to listen to this book partly because Mr. Eiden was narrating, I don’t think he was the best choice for the character. Someone like Shane East may have been a better choice. Still, leaving that aside, the rest of Andrew Eiden’s performance was very good.
Holly Linneman sounded familiar to my ears but I haven’t listened to her before. She put me in mind of Amy McFadden a little (but with fewer tics) so for those who have enjoyed Ms. McFadden’s work before, Ms. Linneman will be a good fit. I liked her cast differentiation. My biggest criticism of her performance is that Dru didn’t sound old and even in witch years she was very old indeed.
Go Hex Yourself was a different take on the witch romance subgenre which seems to be very in right now and overall was an enjoyable listen.
Grade: B-
