A Bewitching Season is an anthology comprising of the following:

The Bewitched Baron by Lynn Collum

The Bewitching of Lord Dalford by Debbie Raleigh

The Reluctant Witch or The Love Potion by Jeanne Savery
 

The Bewitched Baron by Lynn Collum is the first instalment in the Bewitching Season anthology.

Naomi Clayton is from a family of witches but does not know it.  At least not until the death of her vicar father.  Now an orphan Naomi travels to Wiltshire to live with her maiden aunts, the sisters of her mother.  They waste no time in telling her about her heritage and after a little proof Naomi finds herself becoming immersed in a world of magic and spells. 

Still getting the hang of things Naomi receives an invitation to travel to London as a companion to an old friend Lady Marion, a shy young woman who is about to make her debut at the London Season.

Accompanied by a talking dog, a wizard cursed into that form for 100 years, Naomi travels to London in search of a wizard to spend her life with whilst helping her friend through the Season.

Wyndom Long, Baron Newlyn, has little interest in seeing his sister about London, devoting his time to his plants and work.  With plans to marry the daughter of his deceased friend, a fellow botanist, he is not prepared to find himself falling for the now grown up Naomi.  But his duty is not easily put aside and things do not run smoothly for them.

Keeping her magical life a secret Naomi is forbidden to do spells until she returns home. But when her shy friend is constantly frightened in society Naomi is forced to consider a spell and casts one to give her courage.  But a mishap makes it backfire and things go from bad to worse when she realises that spells are not always the best way to solve problems.

But the biggest problem she has to solve is whether she can have a life with Wyndom who she has fallen in love with.  But after her own parents mixed marriage (magic and non-magic) she does not believe that they can find happiness together.

With an interesting assortment of secondary characters this is an enchanting tale that would be worthy of a sequel, perhaps centred around the dashing and engaging wizard Nathaniel Esmond.

The Bewitching of Lord Dalford by Debbie Raleigh is the story of Annie Winsome, a witch who about to make her debut at the London Season.  Her close friend is going to be in town too and although she is fond of Lord Dalford she is conscious of the fact that he is clumsy and careless and always says the wrong thing.  A bit of a joke in their small community she is very nervous about his going into society in London, and also about the damage it could do to her own reputation.

So she decides that a little potion will do the trick and make Lord Doltford a more polished member of society.

What Annie doesn't know is that Dalford is a powerful wizard who is looking for a witch to wed who is not after him for his power and fortune.  Annie is just such a witch, having lived her life apart from the world of witches.  Needless to say Dalford is instantly aware of her potion and knows it will not work on him, mainly because the bumbling Lord is an act he uses and not his true demeanour at all.

Arriving in London Annie discovers that her potion has worked wonderfully, the only problem is that now he is so popular Lord Dalford has no time for her and she finds herself jealous of the attention he is receiving from the other women in society.  What had started out as a simple potion to help her friend has become a disaster as she realises that the man she loves would appear to be out of her reach forever.

Fun and amusing this is a delightful story of witches and magic gone awry.

The Reluctant Witch by Jeanne Savery is the final instalment in this anthology and my least favourite of the three novels.

Lady Samantha Forsythe is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and a witch by birth.  But what she wants more than anything else is to make her debut in the ton the same as every other young girl with no magic or spells.

Unfortunately her friend Mary, who knows her secret, wants Sam's help in capturing the man she has set her sights on.  Their arrogant neighbour Lord Dalreach. 

Reluctant at first the headstrong Sam tries to dissuade her friend from her course, trying to convince her that she would not be happy with a man who is only with her because of a spell.  But her friend is heedless to her advice.

Lord Dalreach meanwhile is persuaded to escort the two ladies about town by Sam's father who believes that as a member of society he should do his duty to his neighbours and make the girls feel welcome.    Not that he is too reluctant to help out...after all he had decided long ago that Lady Samantha was the girl he would one day marry some years previously.  Now all he had to do was convince her.

I loved the main characters of Rath Dalreach and Samantha in this book.  They were a delight and well written.  However what spoilt this story for me was the character of Mary.  It is rare that a character makes me want to scream but this one really came close.  A more selfish girl is hard to come across.  Not only has she no scruples about forcing her friend to use magic to get a man she is blind to the right man for her, lets Sam's secret slip out and does not confess to it when the time arises, and is completely and totally oblivious to the fact that her closest friend is falling for Dalreach and he is equally smitten with her. 

Other than that it is an amusing little tale with engaging characters.  Not sure which title is correct though.  The back of the book says The Reluctant Witch but the inside of the book says The Love Potion.  That is why there are two titles in case anyone is wondering.

OVERALL RATING : 
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Also by Debbie Raleigh - The Immortal Rogues Trilogy

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