Having read and reviewed April Asher’s Not Your Crush’s Cauldron, the third book in her Supernatural Singles series, I went back and read book two, Not Your Ex’s Hexes, which stars another of the three witchy Maxwell sisters, Rose. Rose had trained to be the Prima (the head witch) on the Supernatural Council to succeed her grandmother, but fate had other plans and she finds herself at a bit of a loss as to what to do with her now uncertain future.

When Rose passes by a ranch with some maltreated horses, she mistakenly thinks they are being mistreated in their current location and gets in trouble for trying to ‘rescue’ them, not realizing they had already been rescued. She’s sentenced to community service at the very same animal sanctuary under the direction of Damian Adams, a half demon-half human veterinarian. He also happens to be someone she had a one night-stand with some time earlier. Oops!

Rose and Damian understandably have some conflicted feelings towards each other, Damian in particular for the trouble Rose caused him, though he’d often thought of their one time together. He has another problem – a former witch ex-girlfriend hexed him such that he if he falls in love, he’ll lose his human side and become fully demon. Rose and Damian’s attraction to one another surfaces again quickly and a no strings, friends-with-benefits relationship seems like just the thing to scratch their mutual itch without going beyond the bounds of the curse he’s under. But when his feelings start to deepen, will that spell the end of their fledgling romance?

I enjoyed this story equally as much as the previous book I read (reading the series out of order doesn’t affect my enjoyment or cause any major plot points to be spoiled). Not only does Rose discover that working with animals gives her joy, she also discovers a heretofore unknown talent – she can capture misbehaving demons with her magic. As this was a job Damian used to do and had given up because of how his demon side would try to take over, it’s a challenge for him to see Rose do what is clearly a new and exciting job for her while wanting to keep her safe.

The worldbuilding is fun and creative with well explained supernatural beings (witches, vampires, demons, shifters are all par for the course here) and how they fit together with humans in a shared world. Family relationships, especially Rose with her sisters, mother and grandmother and Damian with his mostly estranged brother play a key role in the story. There are also some great friendships, with the Maxwell sisters’ best friend Harper, a succubus, and Damian’s friends Linc, a werewolf and hero of book one, and Adrian, also a shifter, who has his eye on Harper. Not Your Ex’s Hexes is a fun and sexy fantasy/paranormal romance with a mostly lighthearted feel to it, making it a great reading escape. I’m looking forward to reading Adrian and Harper’s book when it releases!