witchbuns

B.C. Dolce, 2026. 4.25 stars.

Betty Corrello is in my top five authors, so I was extremely jazzed for her to go into the monster f**king genre, and this gives me the big strokes that she really excels at crafting: A female main character who is fearless but lonely (with exceptional hair), and a male love interest who broods in hopeless darkness. The world she builds has a total loser demon bad guy (like eurotrash, everywhere, it’s glorious) and there’s blood kink and forces of evil from gods and goddesses. It’s absolutely fun, it’s short, sweet and twisted, and I think she’s got a lot more in her to build out for this series. 

Diantha is a grad student in a spooky Pennsylvania University with a mission to get into the catacombs for her witchy dead mother, and Orfeo is a lost soul who sits next to her in class. We quickly learn that Diantha has powers she doesn’t quite understand, and that Orfeo is a hot vampire that may be the puzzle piece she’s seeking. Just kidding, Diantha has to figure it out for herself, and become even more self-reliant to live in her destiny. The side characters are strong, funny and supportive, and we get locked into a mystery about good vs evil and fighting bad guys as an immortal team.

I loved that Orfeo smashes with Diantha throughout the book, it’s not a really slow burn that you’re waiting for – he’s sexy and she’s free with her feelings and sexuality. The chemistry is hot and we’re not wasting time because good and evil are fighting and we have other things to do. I loved each of Orfeo’s friends for how they fit into the world, plus the greasy professor who is kind of pathetic but really super helpful so we shrug, and I loved how Diantha kept moving forward. When she got scared, she went into research (my gal!) and had sexy dreams. Also, Leo is a super swoony character that we need to revisit in a later book.

What I wanted more of was the friendship between Diantha and her boss/bf, just a few more scenes of their relationship because it wasn’t as clear to me about their dynamic, so I was surprised when it’s discussed as a deeper relationship at the end of the book and Diantha trusts her implicitly. A scene with Diantha’s mother at the end (did I miss it?) would also give me more closure on the world building. I also needed a little more weight on Orfeo’s side when he does the big ask for Diantha at the club, where she learns about his motivation and the central plot unfolds. He’s asking her for a lot and it would have been helpful for Diantha to have seen more of the widespread carnage and terror of the loser boss (more girls in danger, sadly) so she understands why this ask is on her shoulders and she feels more empathy for why this has been set up. These are just areas where I wanted a little more scenes to live in Diantha’s world and push this to five stars.

Overall – I recommend it and the epilogue was an interesting next step. I’m in.

Thank you to Betty Corrello for the ARC to dig in early.