Chanterelle Solace | Best Hex Ever
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Best Hex Ever
Nadia El-Fassi
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100% of affiliate revenue supports Chanterelle Solace
When it comes to love, sometimes the recipe needs a little magic.
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“A cottagecore romcom of magical proportions.”
Lana Ferguson, The Nanny
“Pure magic”
Jenna Levine, My Roommate is a Vampire
“A fabulous, very sexy novel.”
Kate Johnson, Hex and the City
“Truly a must-read and an author to watch.”
Mae Bennett, Barely Even Friends
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Dina is a skilled kitchen witch and café owner, serving magic-infused pastries to her loyal customers. But it’s hard not to feel something is missing when you’re cursed to hurt anyone who falls for you.
Scott is a museum curator, recently back in London after a brutal breakup 2 years ago, and looking to make up for all the time he missed. He’s determined to be perfect best man at his best friend’s upcoming wedding, but his plans take an expected turn when he meets the bewitching maid of honour.
After a weekend in the countryside full of peculiar hedge mazes, palm readings by candlelight, and a midnight Halloween ritual, there’s no denying the chemistry between them. But there’s just one problem: the hex still holds, and Dina knows that Scott is in danger.
Can Dina break the spell before it breaks both their hearts? Perfect for fans of Talia Hibbert and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Best Hex Ever is a cosy, and spicy spellbinding fantasy romance from an exciting new debut voice.
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“With its big heart and message of self-acceptance, this book is like curling up under a quilt on a chilly day.”
Olivia Dade, bestselling author of At First Spite
“Full of my favourite ingredients with just the right amount of sugar and spice. It's heartfelt, funny, and romantic – the perfect fall read!”
Lyla Sage, bestselling author of Done and Dusted
“Like a perfect cup of tea or a joke told by a friend; this book is an absolute treat.”
Sarah Rees Brennan, author of In Other Lands
“The chemistry between Dina and Scott leaps off the page . . . If you love a good fall read with all the spooky but cozy vibes, then you can't miss this one!”
Nisha J. Tuli, bestselling author of Trial of the Sun Queen
“Like a good chocolate croissant or honeyed briouat, Best Hex Ever is a sweet and deliciously layered treat.”
Julie Leong, author of The Teller of Small Fortunes
“The ultimate cup of hot chocolate; super sweet and extra steamy. Stir in some perfectly cosy witchy vibes (and a grumpy, cheese-obsessed cat) for quite literally the Best Hex Ever.”
Lucy Jane Wood, author of Rewitched
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Posts about this title from Chanterelle Solace
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jun 5
12 Cozy Fantasy books about Belonging & Finding your place in the world 🤎
What are some of your favourite books that centre found family and finding your place in a community?
While this is a theme that you can find in so many different type of genres/sub-genres, I feel that Cozy Fantasy is the perfect place to explore themes of being othered, not fitting in and finding a place where you do!
A quote that I love from one of the books in here (The Moonsingers by Robyn J Pritzker) that focuses on this theme says: “In fact, what she most wanted, and could never before articulate, was to find the place where she made sense and help others do the same.” and I think every single book in here helps you see how the MCs find their place in their own community and feel accepted🥺🤎
Here’s to the people who accept us just the way we are and become a part of our community just as much as we are a part of theirs 🤎🤎
12 books
1
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jun 1
17 books that make me feel seen because ...
Is there any book(s) that you feel makes you seen? 👀
Books that make me feel seen belong to a lot of categories, including those that focus on found family, cozy fantasy and retellings. A lot of the themes that tie this books together are finding a place where you belong, having our stories told with the beauty and fairness they deserve and being accepted wholly for who you are 🤎
Each of this piles carry books that are in different genres, including Cozy Fantasy, Romance, Retellings and Anthologies to name a few but I saw myself in each of them! Sometimes it was the representation like Aicha, being a Moroccan Retelling as someone who is from there or a Muslim Romance in The Mis-Arrangement of Sanaa Saeed! I also saw alot of my struggles as a disabled/CI in Its all in your Head and there’s a piece of my in all of these books🥺
And the STEM field Related books will always have a special place in my heart because of how relatable it is as someone who works in the field!
And here is a list of all the books mentioned in this post: 🍄 It’s all in your head by Sabina Nordqvist 🍄 The Mis-Arrangement of Sana Saeed by Noreen Mughees 🍄 The Between-Worlds B&B by Amy Mae Baxter 🍄 The Ex-Perimento by Maria J. Morillo 🍄 The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow 🍄 Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett 🍄 Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi 🍄 House of Frank by Kay Synclaire 🍄 Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal-Mohtar 🍄 A Witch’s Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Quershi 🍄 The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru by Olesya Salnikova Gimore 🍄 The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean 🍄 Aicha by Soraya Bouazzaoui 🍄 Weavingshaw by Heba Al-Wasity 🍄 One Yellow Eye by Leigh Radford 🍄 Love and Other Brain Experiments by Hannah Brohm 🍄 Next Level Love by Shameez Patel
17 books
2
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Dec 19 2025
Get a Rec from me & What my Taste in books look like
What are some books that represent your taste overall and do we have any in common? 👀
Before we dive into this, Bindery now has an option to request recs and you can go to the 🔗 in my bio and click “Get a Rec” and ask for details of what you’d like from the books I’ve read! I’m also making lists of 2026 releases in fantasy, romance and horror so far so happy to share some of these early on with you guys (these will be recs of what I’m looking forward to rather than what I’ve read) so GO GO GO 🤎
As for my taste in books, I’m never going to be the type that picks only 5 top books for the year guys and I’ve learned to accept it because honestly, what do you mean my top 5 books in one year? I would have to host a meeting with myself for a whole month to decide that 😭 So instead, you guys get my taste in books throughout various sub-genres that I yap about all the time!
Here is a list of the books (if you prefer to read through it or for accessibility needs)🤎: Cottagecore: 🍄 Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries 🍄 After the Forest by Kell Woods 🍄 A Witch’s Guide to Love and Poison by Aamna Qureshi 🍄 The Geographer’s Map to Romance by India Holton 🍄 The River has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar 🍄 An Arrow to the Heart by K.R. Bacher
Cozy Fantasy: 🍄 The Baby Dragon Cafe by Aamna Qureshi 🍄 Legend & Lattes by Travis 🍄 The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong 🍄 The Nameless Restaurant by Tao Wong 🍄 Watermoon by Samantha Sotto Yambao 🍄 The Spellshop by Sangu Mandanna
Witchycore: 🍄 The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright 🍄 House of Frank by Kay Synclaire 🍄 The Lone Wolf Cafe by Sydney Wilder 🍄 The Witch and the Tsar by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore 🍄 A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna 🍄 Best Hex Ever by Nadia El-Fassi
Retellings, Fairy Tale & Historical Fantasy: 🍄A Sorceress comes to Call by T.Kingfisher 🍄 What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez 🍄 Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross 🍄 We Shall be Monsters by Tara Sim 🍄 The Briar Book of the Dead by A.G Slatter
The rest is in my pinned comment!
#fantasybooks #topbooksof2025 #favoritebooks
74 books
1
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jul 29 2025
[Poll:\ \ Do you enjoy Cozy Fantasy and/or Cozy Romantasy?\ \
"There was something different about Serendipity Cafe, a certain spark in the air that no one could quite put their finger on. It was a place where good things happened."\ \ \ \ GENRE: Cozy Paranormal Romance\ \ RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5\ \ FORMAT: eBook eArc\ \ Would I recommend to others?: YES, YES and YES! This book was so good, you literally go on an adventure with Dina and Scott and like honestly, every single page was better than the last one so I'd recommend this to everyone. It can pass as Cozy Romantasy but definitely look at the list of sensitive topics before heading into it\ \ Long Review:\ \ Best Hex Ever is a lovely book that explores multiple topics: grief, heartbreak, losing oneself due to external factors and self-confidence or believing in yourself. We go on a whole journey with Dina and Scott, we see their downs and their ups, the good and the bad. And the result of it? A beautiful relationship that is built based on reality while still being wholesome and cozy. There is a softness to the magic in Best Hex Ever:\ \ "When she'd been fashioning the spell for the first time, it had occurred to Dina that one day your parents put you down and they never picked you up again, and so she'd made the honey cake to recreate that feeling of childhood comfort."\ \ Dina is a Chef/Baker who owns her own cafe in London and she is half Moroccan (there is a lot of Darija mentions related to food in the book like Zaalouk and Louiza and ahhh my half moroccan heart filled with love reading these things). Dina is proud to be a witch and infuses her pastries with harmless magic that makes her customer's life a little bit better without it being so noticeable.\ \ Dina, however, has a problem. She believes she is cursed and is doomed to be single forever as anyone she loves is guaranteed to have bad luck the minute she loves them. Using this curse, El-Fassi explores self-confidence, loving oneself and how certain experience break us more than we can ever know. Dina talks about wanting to find a love like her parents, the softness of it and finding someone who gets you inside out:\ \ "Dina wanted a love like her parents had: unflappable, unscathed by time."\ \ ANDD the second MC? That is Scott, who is recovering from a break-up that shred his heart and caused him to leave London. He is now back and about to attend a wedding as his best friend's best man and guess who is the maid of honour? Dina! Scott is the type of MC that is so wholesome, feels everything to a whole other degree and wants only the best for everyone around him.\ \ Not only that, he is also a museum curator and believes that every item belongs to where it originated from. He believes every little item he curates is important and has a little magic in it and when he meets Dina? That belief in him gets confirmed:\ \ "He'd always wanted to believe in magic, to believe that the world was bigger than what he saw around him. He'd tried so hard to believe. In a way, he'd dedicated his work to it. But Scott didn't have to try anymore. Dina was the manifestation of everything he'd so desperately wanted to believe in."\ \ Sparks start to fly as they get together and can no longer deny the chemistry between them. Dina tries hard to deny it as she wants to protect Scott from the curse that she believes is following her. Scott is recovering from a breakup and can't believe that he has found someone like Dina (okay, this is like the best kind of MC, one who knows they are lucky to have their loved one):\ \ “He'd forgotten how it felt, being with someone like this - the giddy feeling in his chest. He couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to spend more mornings with Dina, waking up in their bed, eating breakfast together in a sunny kitchen before he pulled her onto his lap. Imagining a future was a dangerous thing, but for a short time, Scott let himself revel in the idea of it."\ \ "He couldn't even begin to compare Alice and Dina. With Dina everything felt so ... easy. Liking her was easy, and he suspected that loving her would be even easier. It would feel as natural as breathing. Perhaps it already did."\ \ "Home; he felt at home with Dina. Had he ever felt like this with Alice? Scott racked his brains but couldn't summon any memory with such clarity."\ \ On the other hand, Dina was having strong feelings for Scott and loved him but the curse was haunting her. The loveliest thing about the Best Hex Ever is that we have a mother-daughter duo in here and we get to see the beauty in their relationship, get to see them come together and love each other more and more:\ \ "Dina watched her mother's face, a mirror image of what Dina would look like in thirty years. Laugh lines crinkled around her brown eyes, age spots beginning to dot the top of her cheeks. Nour had the ability to remove these of course, if she wished. But Dina's mother had always been one to age gracefully. She'd even kept the white hairs that now blossomed at her temples, saying they made her look distinguished and elegant."\ \ Despite their strong relationship, Dina hides the curse from her mother and internalises the fact that she is not good enough for anyone. She hides the fact that she struggles with self confidence and fully accepting herself. Because of this, she cannot fully confide in her mother and ends up almost losing Scott because of it (not really, but that is what Dina believes):\ \ "She stared at him blearily through her tears. What if she'd lost him, this man who she'd come to care about so deeply? This man who made her happier than anyone ever had, who knew every inch of her body and loved it so well."\ \ Best Hex ever ends in a lovely, satisfying HEA as a romance book but it takes you on a whole adventure. You will have to read it to discover who cursed Dina, how she deals with her internal struggle and how Scott finds his soul mate.\ \ Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eArc in exchange for my honest opinion.\ \
1 book
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Posts about this book from across Bindery
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jun 5
12 Cozy Fantasy books about Belonging & Finding your place in the world 🤎
What are some of your favourite books that centre found family and finding your place in a community?
Here’s to the people who accept us just the way we are and become a part of our community just as much as we are a part of theirs 🤎🤎
12 books
1
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jun 1
17 books that make me feel seen because ...
Is there any book(s) that you feel makes you seen? 👀
And the STEM field Related books will always have a special place in my heart because of how relatable it is as someone who works in the field!
17 books
2
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Dec 19 2025
Get a Rec from me & What my Taste in books look like
What are some books that represent your taste overall and do we have any in common? 👀
The rest is in my pinned comment!
#fantasybooks #topbooksof2025 #favoritebooks
74 books
1
Chanterelle Solace\ \ Sabie\ \ • Jul 29 2025
1 book
1