Full Disclosure: This book was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on September 2, 2025 in exchange for a potential review. I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.
Witch You Would is the first fantasy romance - or Magical Rom-Com as the marketing material calls it - by Lia Amador (aka humorous Sci-Fi author Valerie Valdes). The novel features a world where magic is as ubiquitous as cooking - indeed, they work in very clear similar ways - to the point where a reality show has sprung up around it: Cast Judgment, in which spellcasters compete to prove they're the best and are worthy of both a cash prize and a year residency at a super fanciful magical arts center. Into this world we have our romantic duo: Penelope, a spell technician obsessed due to trauma with making sure every spell component is exactly right and who wants the residency so she can finally decipher the spells in her late Abuela's spellbook - and Gil, an adjunct professor of magical theory who's secretly the popular joke influencer Leandro Presto, who posts on the magical version of tik tok videos of him messing up spells and getting into trouble. And with Penelope and Gil have serious pen pal crushes with each other....but Penelope also hates the screwing up of Leandro, so when she gets paired up with Leandro on Cast Judgment.....boom, magical romance.
And it's a romance that's a lot of fun to read, with excellent romantic main characters, a solid enjoyable setting and a pace that tantalizes and eventually delivers as much as I hope for in a romance. The reality show setting is clearly modeled after cooking shows - which I enjoy, so no complaints there - and the comedic tones of the characters, setting, and dialogue work pretty damn well. And most importantly, the romantic sparks between Gil and Penelope are very real, with some very believable and enjoyable sex scenes and romantic ups and downs, and it all winds up being a very cute enjoyable package. Definitely will read this one's sequel.
More specifics after the jump:
Plot Summary:
Penelope works as spell technician for a small magical spell supply shop, dealing with grumbling customers who complain about misfortunes caused by their own ignorance and a boss who belittles her and doesn't appreciate her work. It's not what she wants to do - what she would want to do is to translate and test the spells in her late Abuela's spellbook, the last thing of her abuela that Penelope has...but alas, she can't afford the ingredients or the casting space. Meanwhile fools like Leandro Presto, an online influencer who makes videos of him screwing up spells that Penelope would never, get to have all the ingredients or casting space they seemingly want. The only saving grace for Penelope is her pen pal relationship with Gil, a former customer who blogs about proper spell design and who Penelope has been flirting with over email for ages (of course she's too chicken to actually ask him out). But when Penelope applies and is accepted onto Cast Judgment, the spellcasting competition reality show, she knows this is her big chance: either she wins the competition and has the money and resources to fulfill her dream or she impresses one of the celebrity contestants and gets a job from them.
On the surface, Gil is an adjunct professor of magical theory with a blog called "Doctor Witch", which he uses to help people with spell problems and to share spell recipes that actually work. But secretly he's also fallen into being Leandro Presto, joke influencer, who uses that same spell knowledge to slightly mess up spells in increasingly entertaining ways. It's a role that has sort of gotten away from him and is way more popular than he expected, but he hopes that he can use that role to increase attention for his beloved grandpa's charity: Alan Kazam's Schools Are Magic, which taught magic to kids in elementary school. The one thing that helps keep him sane are his pen pal relationship with Penelope, whose flirting banter and intelligence he really loves...if only he wasn't too chicken to ask her out (and of course there's that secret identity thing). Still, Gil has a big chance to help his grandpa's charity: he's been selected as one of the celebrities (err Spellebrities) on Cast Judgment, set to be paired with one of the more amateur contestants all for the chance to win money for his charity of choice. Of course that selection is solely in his role as Leandro Presto and he'll have to be in character the whole time...
But when Penelope and Leandro Presto wind up paired up and having to work together on Cast Judgment, both Penelope and Gil will find sparks are beginning to fly...and not just the ones created from their magical spells.....
Witch You Would takes a concept that in some ways drives me crazy: Penelope and Gil are thrown together, both with obvious feelings for each other, except Gil is in character and Penelope doesn't know it's him for most of the book - I hate the cringe that type of setup can result in. But the book does this really well, because both characters and their chemistry together, even while Gil is in character as Leandro, are just really well done. It helps of course that both characters are really corny and like throwing around puns, such that Valerie Valdes/Lia Amador's trademark humor can shine through. It also helps that the magical setting is really well done, with the magic and the reality show setting being noticeably similar to the world of cooking, only with more explicit and clear magic of course.
But what mostly helps is a pair of excellent main characters. Penelope, for one, is a girl who is really smart and gifted as a spell technician, but who has a habit of subsuming herself in meekness when confronted with bossy others. Some of this comes from trauma in her past - a spell accident that is hinted at early and is further revealed as the story goes on - that has made her extra cautious about how she triple checks every part of a spell, but other parts of it come from the fact that she has seemingly never been able to take charge of her life, always subject to the whims of others - even if those others like her boss really don't deserve to have power over her. But over the course of this plot, Penelope learns to gain confidence, especially as she begins to fall for Gil in his Leandro persona as well, and the character growth she undergoes is really lovely and makes her super easy to root for.
Gil meanwhile undergoes similar character growth, and it works just as well. He's a guy who wants to instruct more than anything - with him insisting upon keeping little seen instructional videos as part of his Leandro package because it means something to him - and his devotion to his grandfather's vision of teaching kids with fun magic comes off as super genuine. Meanwhile, he too struggles from past bad experiences - failing to get a job as an adjunct and a stalker incident that made him extremely weary about getting close to any fans, and has made him devote himself to the six or seven rules his grandfather has taught him. But of course, as he gets close to Penelope, the girl he's secretly fallen for as a pen pal all these past few months, he struggles at first with those rules and his desire to be seen not just as Leandro or Gil, but as all of whom he is, and he eventually finds a place he wants to be.
None of this can work if the romantic chemistry and romantic plot arc of these two didn't work, and it does here really quite well. The banter and dialogue between Gil and Penelope makes it clear how much they're on the same wavelength, and the book does a good if frustrating job with exploring how Gil secretly being Leandro takes a toll on both of them - Gil because he doesn't want to lie to Penelope and wishes she would see all of him, Penelope because she's falling for Leandro despite her feelings for Gil and despite the dislike she has over putting forth videos that she thinks promote things going wrong. The reality show competition context really allows for this to simmer and burst over at generally the right times, and the story eventually features a couple of really nice sex and near sex scenes to further the romance. And of course when the Gil is Leandro reveal occurs, the story makes it work pretty well (with a callback joke right thereafter that amused me quite a bit)...although the book did lean near the end on the whole "Misunderstanding causes an almost breakup" plot twist near the end that I understand as classic in a romance arc but still kinda hate. Still, it works really well and carries this book - if you're here for romance (and you should be, this is a romance novel) you won't be disappointed.
Not all of the rest of the book works necessarily - there's a mystery plot about who might be sabotaging the competition that most readers will figure out pretty much immediately and most of the rest of the competition characters I could barely tell apart (there are the main two rivals, and then 6 other characters whose names were all I really knew about them). But really, this book does exactly what I wanted for a fantasy romance - it told a magical story of two characters I grew to care about growing to care for each other and coming off better for it...and winding up happy. So this is a definite recommend for romance fans, and I'll be back for book 2.
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