Witch You Would by Lia Amador

Oct 22

Great premise, poor execution: a magical romance that never quite takes flight

The premise of Witch You Would sounded quirky and fun at first: Penelope Delmar has been exchanging emails with Gil Contheras, a customer from her store, and their feelings grow despite never meeting in person. Then Penelope gets fired and lands on a reality TV competition to showcase her magic skills—only to find out her goofy, clumsy partner Leandro Presto, a viral TikTok star, is actually Gil in disguise. The catch? Gil has always kept his personal and online lives separate, so he can’t reveal the truth to Penelope. It promised to be a goofy, heartfelt story, but unfortunately, it didn’t deliver.

The biggest issue for me was the inconsistent and immature character development. Gil’s behavior didn’t fit someone pursuing a university tenure track, with dialogue that felt more teenage than academic. Meanwhile, Penelope’s character came off as insufferably immature—despite being an adult with a job and her own apartment, she often acted like a teenager, which was hard to reconcile.

The writing itself left much to be desired. The author’s overuse of similes felt like a crutch, distracting rather than enhancing the story. I listened to the audiobook version, hoping the narration might elevate the experience, but it fell flat for me. The character voices were grating, and some pronunciation choices—like repeatedly butchering “Tzatziki”—felt especially off, considering my own familiarity with Latinx culture.

Ultimately, Witch You Would had potential, but poor execution on many fronts left me disappointed. I can’t help but feel this story might have worked much better if handled by a different author.