Review: Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches by Kayla Cottingham

Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches
by Kayla Cottingham

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: m/m

Blurb:
After accidentally cursing his ex-boyfriend, a reluctant hero must complete a dangerous quest to undo his spell . . . all while falling for a brooding new crewmate with dark secrets.

Kieran has never had much luck in love or magic. Other than being freed from a family curse that would have killed him and doomed his twin sister, life isn’t going his way.

So, after getting put on notice by his boyfriend and accidentally writing a poem so bad (and magically hazardous) that it makes him invisible to the guy, of course Kieran returns home to find the Witches Council sitting in his living room, demanding he complete his magical training. Panicked, he blurts out that his Calling—a kind of magical thesis—will be to find a magical cure-all that can break any curse . . . an enormous task that he absolutely doesn’t have the power to pull off.

Nevertheless, Kieran sets off on this dangerous journey, accompanied by his sister Briar, her girlfriend Delilah, and a swoony new crewmate, Sebastian. If he survives, he may just learn how to turn his luck around and figure out what kind of witch, person, and boyfriend he wants to be.

My Review

I really enjoyed Practical Rules for Cursed Witches and when I saw Kieran would get his own book I pre-order this one in audio. Kieran was an important side character in the first book and this book has him as the main character. After his boyfriend Ash tells him he wants a break Kieran is devastated and writes a poem to process his feelings which accidentally curses Ash. Kieran then makes creating a magical curse breaker his Calling, a magical test he has to complete to keep his magic, but Elias wants to use the same spring to create a curse breaker and will do anything he can to stop Kieran from completing his calling.

Extraordinary Quests for Amateur Witches has a similar vibe from the first book with it being full of adventure, romance and a bit of danger. This one has a magical quest with three parts a magical scepter they have to find, so Kieran can create the curse breaker. I liked the cozy vibes, although there are more serious and heavier moments as well.

Kieran has had a tough childhood, being cursed and doomed to die young and his parents didn’t treat him well. He starts the book with low confidence, constantly comparing himself to others and feeling like he comes up short. Over the course of this book he slowly changes and finds his own sense of self and grows confident in who he is. I really liked seeing this change and it felt amazing seeing how he developed over the course of the book. I also liked seeing him grow closer to his twin and seeing his friendship with Delilah.

I also liked the romance in this one. While Kieran has to process his feelings about his past relationship with Ash, his bond with Sebastian slowly starts deepening the more time they spend together. I liked how encouraging and supportive Sebastian is of Kieran from the start. There also were some interesting bits about Sebastian and why he was helping Elias who was trying to make a curse breaker as well and who is trying to stop Kieran from completing his calling. And there is some information about Sebastian’s past that slowly comes to light. I liked seeing Kieran and Sebastian together and thought they made for a great couple.

I did have some trouble getting into this book at first as the narrator is a different one from the first book, which was quite confusing. It does make sense with this being a m/m romance while book was a f/f romance, but I still thought switching narrators was confusing. All the characters sound different and it just felt odd, especially as Delilah and Briar are important side characters here and Kieran was an important side character in book 1, they aren’t just minor side characters making an appearance. I slowly got used to the narrator and was able to enjoy the book more once I got used to all the new voices. I liked the narrator’s voice for Kieran and thought he did some of the side character’s voices well too, but a lot of the female voices I didn’t like as much. And Delilah and Briar’s voices just kept sounding off to me.

I liked how Delilah and Briar, the couple from the first book, join Kieran on his quest. And Ariel and Santiago are there as well. Which was fun, but I also struggled a bit with it. Delilah and Briar felt less capable than in the first book as they had to step aside and let Kieran be the lead now, which just felt a bit off. And there wasn’t as much of Ariel and Santiago, they were just mostly there to pilot the ship and add some fun dialogue in some scenes. I did like the addition of Seaweed who becomes Kieran’s familiar.

I also want to state I think this book is best read after Practical Rules for Cursed Witches, while you can probably read this one first I think there will be a lot of backstory you’re missing. And despite this book not being listed as book 2 in the series anywhere, it really feels like one to me.

To summarize: I had a great time listening to this book. I had a bit of trouble getting into the book at first due to the different narrator than the first book, but once I got used to this narrator I was able to enjoy the book. I liked reading about Kieran and especially his character development arc throughout the book was very satisfying to watch. I liked seeing him grow into himself and become more confident in himself and who he wants to be. I liked his romance wish Sebastian and how supportive Sebastien is of Kieran. Sebastian has some interesting backstory and things going on as well. I liked how Delilah, Briar, Ariel and Santiago are part of this story as well, although I did feel Delilah and Briar felt a bit less capable in this one and Ariel and Santiago stayed very much in the background. I liked the narrator’s voice for Kieran, but never fully liked the voices for Delilah and Briar as they kept sounding wrong to me due to the narrator being a different one than book 1. All in all this is a fun cozy fantasy adventure story with a great character development plot line.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.