They are wary competitors but, alas, they kiss, perhaps under the magic spell of “sex dust,” perhaps not. Why has he returned from Wales? Does he mean to contest the Joneses for supernatural dominance? In any case he opens up a competitive witchcraft shop across the street from Gwyn’s, selling borderline forbidden crystals, etc. Into this calm village comes Llewellyn Penhallow. In fact, there is a kind of, pardon the expression, “magical realism” in “The Kiss Curse.” The really odd is accepted as everyday behavior.

A kind of Hogwarts, Penhaven functions in a perfectly normal way-not in some parallel dimension. There are rules about what, when and where to perform.

The local school of higher ed, Penhaven College, has a department of witchcraft which is understood to teach only white magic-nothing evil. Gwyn runs a witchcraft shop, catering mainly to tourists. It’s set in Graves Glen, “a quaint little pocket of serenity tucked into the gentle blue mountains of Georgia, with an old-fashioned main street running through its downtown.” The dominant local witch family used to be the Penhallows, but now the Joneses, Gwynnevere and her mother and cousin, have the most powerful coven. It is, however, a novel in which witchcraft is an acknowledged part of the social fabric. There are complicated characters and a plot. “The Kiss Curse” is a real novel-no question about that. In this category there were two-'The Ex Hex” and “The Kiss Curse.” Although, or perhaps because this is not my usual fictional territory, I decided to have a look. In 2022 I enjoyed “Reckless Girls,” a thriller set on a remote Pacific Island and inspired by Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None.” Almost by chance I learned that Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, was the author of a dozen other novels, including some concerning witchcraft. In 2021 I enjoyed reading Rachel Hawkins’ “The Wife Upstairs,” a clever novel based on “Jane Eyre” but set in Mountain Brook.

Erin sterling the kiss curse