For nine lives, Nneka has tried to break the curse. Now it’s her last chance. If she doesn’t find her soulmate soon, then she’ll lose everything. Not only all her magic, but also her life, and all the magic of all the witches that call Kamalu Lane. Too bad the only man she’s interested in is a human, meaning he couldn’t possibly be her soulmate, could he? Find out just how much wahala when love and magic mix in Christine Cowan’s Love, Witches, and Wahala, coming November 10th, 2026.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Orbit for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of Love, Witches, and Wahala contains some spoilers!]
A forbidden love, a terrible curse
Before Nneka was born, her mother did something unthinkable: she fell in love with a mortal. Then she went and had a baby with him. The witch elders were so angry with her that they cursed her daughter (I never could follow that logic). If the baby couldn’t find her soulmate within ten lives, all the magic of Kamalu Lane would be gone forever (also, I can’t find the logic in punishing all the witches). Nneka is that baby, but now she’s a grown woman. She’s tried and tried to find her soulmate, and a few times she even thought she had. But it always ends the same: betrayal and death. She’s failed nine times; this is her last chance. A lot is riding on her finding love, but she’s too afraid to even try after the failures she’s endured. Luckily for her, she has two best friends who are more than happy to help, even if it means brewing a forbidden love potion to try to attract her man.
Dakoru has been away from home for a long time. But his father is gone now, and someone needs to take care of his mother. As her only child, that’s his job. So he returns home to care for his mom and continue his father’s work. The project he decides to finish as his father’s legacy is modernizing Kamalu Lane. No one bothered to ask the residents of Kamalu Lane if they wanted modernization because, of course, they want it. Except they don’t, and they’re fighting Dakoru every step of the way. His business partner and friend suggests he get to know the residents and give them the respect they deserve before Dakoru ends up in trouble. Doesn’t he know who those people are? Dakoru heard all the stories about the witches of Kamalu Lane when he was a kid, but they were just stories; he didn’t believe them.
Still, he takes his friend’s advice and visits Kamalu Lane, where he meets Nneka and instantly feels himself falling for her, not that he’s going to admit such feelings. Yet he keeps finding himself drawn back to Nneka and her little shop, Ezenwanyi Pastries. Maybe there’s something to those stories after all because Dakoru certainly feels bewitched by Nneka.
For her part, Nneka feels just as drawn to Dakoru, but she has to ignore him and keep looking for her soulmate. After all, Dakoru is human, and a witch falling in love with a human is what started this whole mess in the first place. There’s no way her soulmate could be a human. So even if she yearns for Dakoru with every bit of her soul, she has to ignore him before it’s too late. What a bunch of wahala!
A fluffy romance that doesn’t make sense on closer inspection
Love, Witches, and Wahala is a cute romance on the surface. A witch and a mortal are obviously attracted to each other but keep trying to deny it as the tension mounts. If you don’t think too hard about it, then you’ll enjoy it just fine. But I had a few problems with the underlying logic. Even if there was a good reason for witches and mortals not to be together (there wasn’t really, just prejudice), and even if it was breaking the rules for Nneka’s mother to be with Nneka’s father (okay, it was, but it was a stupid rule), what was the logic in cursing the baby instead of just punishing the parents? I think the story would have been far more interesting if it was Nneka’s mother trying to find her soulmate throughout different lives.
My second problem with the punishment: why would all the witches (including the elders themselves) lose their magic if Nneka failed? What is the logic in punishing yourself just to get back at someone else (who doesn’t even get punished because she’s long dead by the time Nneka’s 10th life comes around)? So that made it all really confusing to me.
Then there’s the whole other situation that the elders are aware of around Dakoru that makes their objections to him just a pointless obstacle in the story. Knowing what they know about him, they should have been pushing the two together, not working to keep them apart. Overall, the logic of the story just didn’t work for me at all. It left me too confused to enjoy the silly trouble created by two people attempting to resist falling in love for no good reason.
Spicy fun if you don’t think too hard
If you remove Nneka and Dakoru’s courtship from Nneka’s soulmate story, then Love, Witches, and Wahala is a fun little romance that will get your blood pumping. Just don’t think too hard about the witches, revenge, and curse parts of the story, and you’ll be fine. If you like romances about opposites attracting, check out Love, Witches, and Wahala on November 10th. But if you like to think about what you read, I’d skip it.
Rating: 6/10
Love, Witches, and Wahala by Christine Cowan is for preorder!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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