A WITCH'S HANDBOOK OF KISSES AND CURSES BY MOLLY HARPER is
a fun, sexy, fast paced story about fulfilling a dying
grandmother's last request. The adventure and people that
Nola meets along the way is what makes this story so
wonderful. Nola Leary has lived in Kilcairy, Ireland since
she was a teenager. After the death of her father a Boston
doctor, and an absent mother, who only seemed to pop in
when she needed money. She was sent to live with her Nana
Fee, (her mother's mother), and numerous aunts, uncles and
cousins, all who live a quite life running the local clinic
and who are a family of witches. Nola's day to day life was
normal and predictable until Nana Fee passed away. On
Nana's death bed she shows Nola sketches of four amulets,
along with a journal that explains these items. She makes
Nola promise that she will travel to Half-Moon Hollow,
Kentucky USA to retrieve them to save the family's magic
and keep the Kerrigan family from stealing their magic.
After ignoring her Nana's wishes and being haunted by her
she makes the long trip from Ireland to Half-Moon Hollow.
After some sleep and a shower, she decides a nice cup of
tea would be nice. Except after getting out of the shower
she realizes that she left her suitcase by the front door
the night before and has no clothes upstairs with her.
Trudging downstairs in only a towel, she finds her tea in
her suitcase and heads to the kitchen. The only item that
she can find suitable to heat her water in is a ceramic
mug. Her magic has been wonky lately and she hopes she can
heat a cup of water without any incidents. She over heats
the water and breaks the mug. As she is heading back to the
kitchen one of the cabinets starts to bang. She opens it to
come face to face with a beady eyed possum. Running out the
backdoor and right for her shirtless, Adonis look alike
neighbor she climbs him like a tree and explains what has
her running out of her house wrapped only in a towel. Jed
Trudeau does not care what chased her out and into him arms
like this, he is just glad he was there to help. After Jed
got the marsupial out of her house and them finding the
mama and putting both together in the woods behind their
shared rental, Nola needs to get a few basic items for
her "furnished" rental. Nola gets help from Miranda
Puckett, assistant to Iris Scanlon of Beeline. By the end
of the day she has food, household basics, a car and knows
where Jane Jameson's book shop is.
When Nola finally gets her nerve up to go into the
bookstore this is when the real story and fun begin. Nola
starts to feel like something is tickling her brain, when
she realizes it is Jane she is a little upset. She does not
tell Jane and Andrea right away why she is there and who
she is. After a few days of looking in the shop for
something that might be one of the amulets she comes clean.
This of course sets off a whole different set of
complications she does no need. Like Dick Cheney taking an
overly active interest in her, that is creeping her out. I
really enjoyed A WITCH'S HANDBOOK OF KISSES AND CURSES, it
shows just how far a person would go to save their family
and to fulfill a dying grandmothers wishes. I recommend
this book to anyone who is a fan of MOLLY HARPER'S and
likes a well written, good story. You can read this story
as a stand alone, but to get the full Jane Jameson
experience I would go back and read the other books in her
Nice Girls series.
Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy,
Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix
of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed
omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent
her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her
family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her
supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her
grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.
Complication One: The artifacts are lost somewhere in
vampire Jane Jameson’s occult bookshop. Complication Two:
Her new neighbor Jed Trudeau keeps turning up half-naked at
the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn’t need. And
teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it
sounds, especially since Jed’s got the face of an angel and
the abs of a washboard. Can Nola complete her mission before
falling completely under his spell?