Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross

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The 2nd book I picked up for my binge of May 24th new releases was Always Practice Safe Hex by Juliette Cross. This is the fourth book in her amazing Stay a Spell series. I was able to use this for the prompts Willow (witchy character) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge. work rivals for the Ripped Bodice Summer Bingo and enemies to lovers romance for Summer of Swoon.

Livvy and Gareth are tasked both work together and compete with a third person to work on a PR campaign for a good cause. After the campaign is over, one will be awarded a cash prize. As Livvy and Gareth work together, their attraction and chemistry starts to explode. Livvy is cautious, but Gareth even more so. His idea that's chosen for the campaign is about awareness for orphaned supernatural kids that get put into the human foster care system. He himself was in the foster system and has pretty big trust issues. As they get closer, Gareth finds it hard to believe that Livvy is on board and willing to be with him. Being a grim, only other grims know what kind of powers they have, and Gareth is one of the most powerful, a Grimlock. When Livvy gets targeted by a predator, Gareth finds it hard to contain his inner monster.

Wow, wow, wow. Once again Juliette Cross blows me away. One thing I love about this series is while they all feel in the same world and similar, there's also a vibe difference between the books so far. I really enjoyed learning about Grims as a whole, but also more specifically what Gareth's powers are. We also get quite a few hints about Henry and Clara (which will be the pairing for the last book). I loved getting back to the Savoie sisters and learning more about Livvy since she isn't a big side character in the previous books. It was cool to learn more about her and her style of magic as well.

Now, this is probably Juliette's steamiest book (objectively). There was a lot of chemistry between Gareth and Livvy and they certainly caught fire. However, for me this type is steam isn't as titlating. Gareth likes to tie up his partner and be more dominating. For me, that's not a kink I enjoy in real life, so it doesn't titilate really while reading. It made sense for Gareth and I loved how open Livvy was, it's just not my style. It was really well done though. All that means is Gareth is not my book-boyfriend of the series. Even though that's not my jam, I still really enjoyed this book and all the hints leading to the final two books were a lot of fun. I also loved that we got see Isadora and Devraj got engaged as well as Evie and Mateo eloping and being pregnant (and giving birth) to their triplets!

Another great entry to the series and Juliette's backlist! I cannot wait for what Juliette writes next, both in this series and in general. She's one of my favorite authors and if you haven't read her before, definitely give her a try! Stay a Spell is a great place to start!

Have you read Always Practice Safe Hex?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Always Practice Safe Hex, Juliette Cross, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 379 pages, published in 2022, indie published