Review: First Time’s a Charm by Laura Greenwood

First Time’s a Charm (Grimalkin Academy #1)
by Laura Greenwood

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Paranormal Academy Romance
Age Category: Young Adult
Type of romance: Polamory/ Reverse Harem

Blurb:
What happens when a witch creates a magical kitten every time she attempts magic?

Things might be easier if I could stop conjuring kittens every time I attempt a spell.

I used to be good at magic. That’s how I got into Grimalkin Academy in the first place. Then I was dared by my friends to try a spell way above my abilities. Now, the end of year exams are coming up, and I need to find a way to stop my magic going haywire all the time or I’m going to fail.

At least matters of my heart are easy enough…for now.
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First Time’s A Charm is book one of Grimalkin Academy, an urban fantasy academy series featuring two best friends, lots of kittens, and a low-heat poly romantic subplot.

If you enjoy paranormal academy, cute familiars, light-hearted romance, witches, and friendship, you should start the Grimalkin Academy series today.

My Review

I was in the mood for an academy themed Laura Greenwood book and remembered I bought this series a while ago and decided to start it. First Time’s a Charm follows Mona, she just started Grimalkin Academy and struggles with her magic suddenly no longer working. And there is a slow burn romance polyamory romance with 3 guys. I had already read Daphne’s books set in this world and was excited to get Mona’s story now.

This one started rather suddenly and I had to double check I started with the correct book as it felt like there should’ve been something before it. Turns out it was the first book indeed and after a chapter or two I felt more settled in the book. Mona is struggling with her magic since she arrived at the academy and now is conjuring kittens every time she does magic. There’s a teacher’s assistance who wants to help her, a new hot guy she’s getting to know and a crush she has on her best friend’s brother. So there’s a lot going on plot wise and romance wise, but I think it all worked here.

I liked reading about Mona. I thought it made sense how she still wanted to use magic, or had to and sometimes got goaded into using magic even when she knows it isn’t working, although sometimes I wnated her to be more careful. Then she starts looking into what is causing her magic not to work with Thomas and there’s an interesting reveal at the end of the book already. I like seeing her connection with each of the three guys develop a bit. There’s a bit of drama with Caspian already, which I wasn’t a fan of, but hopefully that gets resolved soon. I would’ve liked a bit more of Ryan as I feel he got the least of page time in this book. And I am eager to see how this all turns out romance wise.

The kittens were cute and fun to read about and it just seemed like such a unique set up with her conjuring kittens when she does magic. I liked learning a bit about the magic and the academy and had a fun time reading this one.

To summarize: This was a fun start to this series. It starts rather abruptly and I struggled a bit to get into, but after a chapter or two I felt like I had a better grip on what’s going on. I liked reading about Mona, her magic doesn’t work anymore since she started at the academy and she’s trying to figure out what’s wrong with the help of Thomas. There is also a crush on her best friend’s brother and a new hot guy who joined the school. I had fun reading this one and seeing a bit of the academy and learning about the magic. The kittens are cute and a fun touch with her conjuring them when she uses magic. And I look forward to continuing the series.

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

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.