Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie Rene: Book Review

I was first drawn to this book because of its beautiful cover — the lovely colors, the dude with the glasses, sign me up! And it promised a different kind of fantasy romance that I was really excited to give it a try.

Verdict: I’m not mad about reading it, and I did, in fact, have fun. However, the story begins to drag around halfway through, and gets a little boring. The romance happens too quickly for my taste, though I can see how stretching it out more wouldn’t have made sense. Overall, I’m happy with some of the directions it took, unhappy with others, but it’s a fun, low-stakes paranormal romance and you should read it if you like academic settings, office rivals, solving magical mysteries, and more!

What is this book about?

Maggie shares a magical kiss with a masked stranger at Beltane. But when she gets back to her real life, and her job as a professor at her school of magic, things are not so charmed. A professor she really dislikes, a man named Arthur, sets off a dangerous spell during class and it makes his whole castle wing unlivable. So, he has to move into her office. Maggie is determined to ignore him, but then she realizes, the sooner the spell is cleared, the sooner he’ll leave, so she decides to help him. However, the more time she spends with Arthur, the more familiar he seems.

Spoiler-Free Review

Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment started off great. We have your typical academic rivals, and what I would call likely faithful depictions of academia and academic life, just transported into a different world. We have a dangerous magic our heroes need to stop. And we have the close-quarters setting which brings the tension to its boiling point. It’s cozy while not being aimless, and the sometimes darker plot is underlined with cozy, soft moments, which worked really well.

The beginning is incredibly fun. Maggie and Arthur are forced to share an office and they make each other miserable. It made me want to read it well into the night (though I didn’t because you know, kids and obligations). The chemistry between them was fun and I really liked that Maggie wasn’t a pushover, but rather the main instigator of Arthur’s misery in her small office. She wasn’t without compassion, though, and I loved her friendship with Dahlia (finally, a good, sort of realistic friendship!). 

Arthur also isn’t exactly what he seems. He may look like a broody professor on the surface, but it’s not all he is, and you come to know him more as you get into his POV. This was great because one does tire of sad grumpy men. 

I was having a blast until about midway through, at which point the story started to drag quite a bit. If you know me, you know I love a slow burn, and this was not quite it.

The romance was cute, though! There’s some angst, but not too much, and not too much drama either (though both of these characters are internally dramatic about their issues). It all flows sort of smoothly and without too many bumps. 

If you’re worried about too much magic and world building, don’t be! This book would — at least in my opinion — sit comfortably on the contemporary romance shelf alongside Ali Hazelwood. Yes, there are some long descriptions of how magic works, but no more than STEM-romance writers describe the science, which is to say, it’s entirely manageable.

The world feels like our own in many ways, while not being entirely that. They have cars and phones and TVs, just moved to an imaginary small town.

All that said, this book felt confused about what it wanted to be. Some pieces of it felt akin to Sarah Hawley’s books and similar in the sense that the world is, as I mentioned, almost entirely like our own and the fantasy aspects aren’t the focus of the book. But then some pieces felt like the author wanted to build something bigger, a true fantasy world. We have explanations of how the magic works, mentions of towns and systems beyond the school, etc. 

In the end, both parts felt lacking. I believe this book would have been a stronger, more memorable read if it picked a lane and stuck with it. This is not to say that authors can’t blend genres, obviously, but more that if they decide to do that, it has to be done better and more… seamlessly. 

Spoilery Thoughts

I really liked the Beltane scene at the beginning and its prose. Everything was so lushly, magically described that I was looking forward to reading the rest. I’m sorry to report though, that this type of prose sort of melts away almost immediately. Not to say that the prose is bad because it really isn’t, it’s just that it’s not quite as unique as the intro promises. 

The big thing that annoyed me about the romance is that Arthur already likes Maggie. From the beginning (even without knowing he kissed her at Beltane), he’s smitten by her, thinks she’s beautiful, has no issues with her. The entire time, he’s so confused by Maggie’s animosity and her behavior, especially once he figures out that it was her he kissed (yeah, he figures it out first). 

Maggie, on the other hand, is angry at him, rude to him, and all that jazz.

And I’m not saying that I dislike it when one love interest hates the other, while the other is a smitten dummy (I actually love this), but I find it works better if we don’t have a dual POV. But if you do have a dual POV, it just feels like bullying. 

Like, Maggie will make no concessions in the office space for Arthur, and then you read his POV and he’s so sad about it, so uncomfortable and confused on why she’s acting like this. It just doesn’t work. 

If you’re worried about the whole masked-thing, don’t be! They figure it out pretty quickly and there’s no big fight about one tricking the other or anything. They don’t even kiss again without both knowing what happened. But it is fun watching Arthur try to make Maggie remember him and suffering in silence (especially once she’s nicer to him). 

But the whole tension of the book sort of fizzles out around 50% when they kiss and start sleeping together. 

First of all, the spicy scenes were not to my taste at all. They use language that I don’t personally like, and while I’m all for hot nerds being very well-versed in bed, Arthur’s shift into this “good girl” dude just didn’t work. I wish authors would move away from this thing they have for soft-doms. It doesn’t work for every character, and it definitely doesn’t work for Arthur. 

But then there’s also the fact that the most fun element of the book disappears. The tension is gone. They’re together, and though Maggie insists it’s just until the end of the summer, you know it isn’t and you know they’re going to be together forever, so you just kind of… lose the reason for reading this. I loved it when they were circling each other. But as soon as they sleep together, they just sort of… keep doing it, and yeah, I just lose interest. 

Bottom Line

Overall, this is not a bad book, especially for a debut. I’d be happy to read about more characters in this world (Dahlia, Arthur’s brother, Rodrigo, etc.). I think the academic setting works, and the romance was so cute and fun, even if it moved a bit too quickly for my tastes. You should give it a go if you want some cozy fantasy, and especially if you’re looking for a good autumnal read. 

Have you read Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment? What did you think? Drop a comment below and let’s chat!

If you liked Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment try…

• A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire by Sarah Hawley (less world-building, more cute romance with some really sweet characters)
• Bride by Ali Hazelwood (spicier, but more funny, and very charming and light-hearted)
• The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones by Lex Croucher (darker academic setting, childhood friends turned enemies, magical school!)
• The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum (cozy ghost story, a friendly possession, wholesome friendship and small town vibes, YA)
• A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (cozy inn, fun characters, magic, such a nice, soft romance that gets some spicy moments, sort of academic, even if not at a school)
• The Folklore of Forever by Sarah Hogle (a blend of contemporary and paranormal, magical elements in our world, cozy family vibes, a very swoony romance that develops slowly).