One Sentence Summary: Olivia is a mixed race Chinese American young woman who has recently taken over her family’s Chinese zodiac-based matchmaking business, but it’s threatened when a new dating app based on the Chinese zodiac pops up and Olivia decides to bring it down no matter how attractive and charming it’s developer is. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read. I really liked the story and the bond between Nina and Morty, but I do agree with other readers about the non-binary representation.

They were all so interesting, and I liked that they fell on either side of the line, some supporting the women and others supporting the patriarchy, whether male or female. What was potentially just an awkward, terrible online date turns into something worse when Morty discovers what family Nina comes from (the same ones trying to take Morty’s business from his family). My favorite Thistle Grove novel yet, and only partly because I relate to Nina's need for control and structure in her chaotic emotional life. I almost wanted to knock Olivia over the head and get her to see sense, but she’s quite a stubborn character almost right up to the end. We are told that the nonbinary love interest in this book uses he/they (meaning that both he/him and they/them can be used).We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. But we know—because we are in her head—that what they did know was that they had more power than everyone else and they wanted to use it to their advantage. An awkward first date leads to a sparkling romance between one of the most powerful witches in town and a magical newbie in this rom-com by Lana Harper, New York Times bestselling author of Payback's a Witch. Overall, this engaging novel unleashes wit, suspense, action, and romance that make it entertaining. Dealing with difficult family dynamics and embracing the person you are supposed to be can be scary.

But what happens when that connection is tied to Ninas power surge, a power shes finding nearly as addictive as Mortys presence in her life?

Even if they tend to default to he, it's incredibly disrespectful to just throw away a whole section of their identity. Along with connecting with the characters, I liked how the plot included a family dynamic; it made me more interested in how the book would end.

And then bring in Morty, a normie we already learned to love in the other books, and I fell in love with his humor and true admiration for all things magic.She is convinced by her best friend to go on a low-stakes date to get back into the groove, and bar owner Morty Gutierrez, pansexual like Nina and fluid with his gender expression, fits the bill. As readers, we are used to he/him pronouns so I would have been able to ignore how he is solely referred to with he/him pronouns throughout the book and that there isn't even a single instance when the heroine uses "they" while talking about Morty.

Nina’s individual character arc of her strange and mysterious connection with an unknown entity was compelling. During the first sex scene, Nina intuits that Morty feels a “distinctly male undercurrent” of pride in the fact that he’s well-endowed, which pulls a double whammy of misgendering Morty and disregarding trans men who may or may not even have the same genitals at all. Instead, they might be the first person to help her move on from the pressure of being a Blackmoore witch. This book really speaks to women fighting for what they deserve, and I liked how it managed to sweep me up in that fervor while also offering a balancing viewpoint.A year after Sydney broke up with her Nina is still broken-hearted and no longer has a positive, upbeat attitude. I do like the pan rep of both Morty and Nina though, and their chemistry together was legitimately great.