In Charm's Way

The Witches of Thistle Grove, Book 4

By: Lana Harper

Narrated by: Yu-Li Alice Shen

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

A witch struggling to regain what she has lost casts a forbidden spell—only to discover much more than she expected, in this enchanting new rom-com by New York Times bestselling author Lana Harper.

Six months after having been hit by a power surge that nearly obliterated her memory, Delilah Harlow is still picking up the pieces. Her once diamond-sharp mind has become shaky and unreliable, and bristly, self-sufficient Delilah is forced to rely on friends, family, and her raven familiar for help. In an effort to reclaim her wits and former independence, she casts a dangerous blood spell meant to harness power with healing capacities.

While the spell does restore clarity, it also unexpectedly turns Delilah into an irresistible beacon for the kind of malevolent supernatural creatures that have never before ventured into Thistle Grove. One night—just as things are about to go terribly sideways with a rogue succubus—a mysterious stranger appears in the nick of time to save Delilah’s soul.

Gorgeous, sultry, and as dangerous as the knives she carries, Catriona Quinn is a hunter of monsters—and half-human, half-fae herself, she is the kind of sly and morally gray creature Delilah would normally find horrifying. Though Delilah balks at the idea of a partnership, she has no choice but to roll the dice on their collaboration. As the two delve deeper into the power that underlies Thistle Grove, they uncover not only the town’s hidden history but also a risky attraction that could upend Delilah’s entire life.

©2023 Lana Harper (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“Harper’s powerful, sapphic fourth Witches of Thistle Grove paranormal romance explores the lasting effects of trauma and rage…This addition to the series successfully unearths more mystery and intrigue beneath the surface of Harper’s paranormal world and adds layers to the ensemble of characters readers have grown to love.”—Publishers Weekly

"Harper continues to bewitch readers with exciting plot twists, expanded magical worldbuilding, and steamy hot romance."—Library Journal

“Like the prior books in the series, this story delivers magical charm, evocative prose, and sexy relationship development…This emotions-driven series continues to captivate.”—Kirkus Reviews

Love the series, but this book isn't as strong

This was a highly anticipated book for me because I loved the previous three so much, but I struggled to identify with Delilah. The romance portion of the story also felt forced, like the writer wasn't really feeling it. On top of that, the narration wasn't fantastic. The narrator pronounced all the words correctly and she wasn't awful, she just didn't hit the spot.

overall, it felt like the story could have been more developed, with more interaction with the other families. A more detailed account of the evolution of the blossoming relationship between the two main characters would also be nice. As it stands, we barely feel the burgeoning attraction between them. There's no irresistible pull, no whirlwind romance. So much so that when Delilah confesses her feelings or possible feelings, my immediate reaction was to say but why and where did this come from?

Weird narration.

I struggled to finish because of the narrator. It sounded like how an elementary school teacher would read a story to her class. Overly dramatic and kind of an odd reading rhythm. I've never heard anything quite like it. She does have a great voice and i like how she does the main character's dialogue. But the rest is hard to listen to.

Extremely creative

Lana never disappoints!
The only thing I liked a little better in the other books is the reader. But other than that, I thought this was an excellent book, and I'm excited for the next one!

ITS SO GOOD

10000000/10 Lana harper has written some of my favorite books and this one fits right in to the witches of thistle grove series as writers grow listening/reading you can notice their writing style change and grow over time and that's definitely the case she goes into a lot more detail about delilah and leaves it on a cliff hanger, So with that being said I will definitely be waiting patiently for book 5 to come out!!!!


P.S. Also I scream this to all my friends but, AHHHHHHHHHHH THE LADY'S LAKE SCENE IS JUST AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE I SO MUCH

Wonderful!

Love this series! Quick read and a great story! Lana Harper writes a lovely and scary tale. Yu-Li Alice Shen does a fantastic job bringing it to life! Well done!

Disappointing...

After the set up from the previous book, I was interested to see Delilah get her own romance. It was heartbreaking to read about her struggles with memory throughout the beginning of the book and I could understand why she felt the need to try a forbidden blood magic healing spell. She was just so full of rage and bitterness. And I could understand that in her position, especially because she's forced to work with the person who did this to her on practically a daily basis. I did, however, expect her anger to progressively lessen over the course of the story and it doesn't really do that. Delilah is angry throughout the entirety of the book, practically all the way up to the end and then she suddenly isn't anymore. I wish that Delilah had forgiven Nina by choice and not been practically forced to fix everything at the end. I think it would have shown more character growth. I get that, yes, she still did choose to forgive her rather than leave things broken but it doesn't hit the same way for me.


The highlight of this book is the setting as always. I love Thistle Grove as a setting, and I love all the magic it contains. Lady's Lake just seems so magical. I will say that it does kind of feel that Lana Harper is just adding things onto the lore of Thistle Grove just for the heck of it. The addition in this book doesn't seem to have anything to do with the actual plot of this book, just as a cut scene to make Delilah relate more to her uncle. It was unnecessary.

Another unnecessary thing was the third act "break-up." (Can we call it a break-up if they weren't really officially dating?) As I have said in many other reviews, I don't like deception in my romances and this had tons of that. I hated that Cat used an attraction spell to make Delilah like and trust her more at the beginning. It took away Delilah's own agency to make a choice to trust her. And then there was the whole scheming plot to both sell her into magical slavery and steal a forbidden book. Not a great start to a relationship.

As for the romance, I didn't really connect with it. There wasn't a ton of relationship building in my opinion. I was getting the lust, not so much the love between Cat and Delilah. After Cat's betrayal and her leaving, I didn't want her to come back. Of course, she does, but then she reveals that even in her leaving, she was still lying to Delilah. I don't see how it's possible to build a trusting relationship with someone who has admitted to lying to you their entire relationship. It was hard and kind of infuriating to read about how Delilah pushed everyone in her life, except for Cat away. Especially knowing that Cat is lying to her the entire time. It would have been nice, maybe not from a romance standpoint, but to have Delilah by herself at the end.
  
Overall, this wasn't my favorite of Lana Harper's. The romance didn't work for me and while the witchy spell working and magical books were fun to read about, I just didn't connect with the story enough.

Not as good as the first three

This story lacked some of the heart that I liked in the first three. The characters fell flat for me. The performance was good.

Continue to LOVE this entire series…

While occasionally a slight bit predictable, it is a lovely mix of witchy and cozy, but not the cheesy, G rated TOTALLY predictable and unimaginative. Can’t wait for more!!!

Least favorite of the series

I was so excited for this book and flew through it, but unfortunately it was my least favorite of the series. Just didn’t feel like there was much to it. And the ending….kinda sucked. It felt rushed.

A great continuation

All of the books in the series flow well with one another, and I’ve read them all. I was surprised by the ending, and I enjoyed how this book portrays the characters. This is a book to be read in order because it makes many references to previous books, whereas some of the other books feel like they could stand alone.