What the Hex by Alexis Daria
Contemporary PNR
July 1, 2021, by Audible
Audio ARC

Review by Melinda

Another well-done Audible Original with a fantastic narrator, Jacqueline Grace Lopez. Basically audiobooks can live or die entirely on who narrates them, and Jacqueline added so much to this experience. It’s even more impressive that when I looked her up to see what else I could find that she narrated this was her debut! Her Spanish added a lot to the context of the book.

This is a paranormal rom-com that I actually felt like fit that classification pretty well! Catalina returns home for her sister’s wedding, which she’s dreading for a variety of reasons. A huge one being the best man, Diego Paz, who was her nemesis in high school will be there and she hasn’t seen him in years. But, clearly this is an enemies-to-lovers. The heat level was surprisingly on the page and spicier than I expected

The worldbuilding of the paranormal aspect was brief, but it was established enough that I wasn’t confused by anything, so honestly that felt like a plus for me. I loved Catalina’s family, they were all great – even while being possessed by demons, which seems like a true feat.

The reason this is only a mid B grade for me is my oh-so-basic complaint of too short! Even for a novella, it just felt too short to me. For a novella, in audiobook format, I prefer at least 5 hours long – so almost twice as long. I think novellas are so difficult to get right and this one was almost there for me. I enjoyed everything about this world but we touched on every aspect for such a short time I kept thinking oh this is interesting…and then we’d move on. So, I’d love to get more in this world and see the rest of her family’s stories, especially if this narrator tells their stories.

Grade: B

Amazon * Goodreads