Iris Collins comes from a family of vampires. Not the blood sucking variety, but the sort who feed off of humanGenre: contemporary paranormal romance
Iris Collins comes from a family of vampires. Not the blood sucking variety, but the sort who feed off of human emotions. Iris feels like a failure because she’s just normal. She’s a college dropout, behind on her rent, and her success is measured by the few hits she gets on her handmade jewelry site. Her windfall comes from a great aunt who passes away and leaves Iris her violet-colored Victorian house. Unsure of what else to do, Iris opts to fix up and rent out rooms, trying to make just enough money to stay above water.
She meets Eli Reece, who is so tongue tied he forgets to tell her that they met when they were in grade school and she saved him from a bully and that while he doesn’t need to rent a room he can more than afford it because he’s a very wealthy app developer. As the house begins to fill with quirky roommates, though, the neighbors take notice, and don’t approve…
The fourth book in the Fix-it Witches series, The Only Purple House pivots away from Danica and Clem’s coven, and towards the other supernatural beings who have started coming out of the woodwork as the news of the witches went public. It has a little bit of a first-in-series feel, as there are a lot of new characters and new ideas, but still while tied to the magic system Aguirre created in the first three.
I loved the expanding feel of the supernatural beings in this world. From vampires to shifters to witches and fae, it’s fun to see the variety, and not just a small town coven. The highlight of the book is the found family that Iris creates through renting rooms to her five roommates. Each roommate has their quirks, and some are supernatural while others are not. The house is a wonderfully safe place for all of them, and Iris works hard to protect that space from prying neighbors.
On the other hand, the romance was a little flat for me, and maybe a bit too straightforward. I know Aguirre can give me a more convincing romance, and here Eli and Iris as a couple felt a little more like background noise rather than central plot. This is still a romance novel with an HEA! But with the larger cast of characters, the emotional depth between Eli and Iris just wasn’t there for me.
You can easily pick this up not having read the first three Fix-it Witches books (and if you’re playing @book.club.bitches summer bingo, Iris is the name of a goddess of rainbows, which really fits her persona!)
Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for an eARC for review and @book.club.bitches and @whitneyloveshobbies for the buddy read! The Only Purple House in Town is out 7/11/23! ...more