witchbuns

Adrienne Thurman, 2026. 4.25 Stars.

Yes, absolutely yes. The heat between the two characters is really compelling, and we see Kaia in an absolute gutter of a life event, trying to find purpose and grit to figure out a job, city, and space within her family. A love life? She’s saying no, adamantly, every time, but Ro almost crashes into her life and she just can’t brush him away. 

It’s an interesting first meet up – Kaia is parked illegally while her pregnant sister is inside a store getting munchies, and Ro tries to help her understand she needs to move. She tells him off, brushes him away, only to be caught by a traffic cop. This is the theme of the book because Kaia thinks serving her family is sufficient, but she’s parking herself in the wrong spot and Ro is offering himself to hold her hand, follow her lead, and get her into the right space. 

This book has so much patience for Kaia pushing people away, for her people calling her out, and for her to start listening to them. I love the family, the sister Zo, and the mother who makes mistakes (or does she?) and tries her best to raise these two vibrant women. 

The romance is fabulous, and Ro is a dreamboat of a character that serves an ally to Kaia. He has been crafted beautifully as a man of the arts who is dutiful to his parents, who also do everything with the pages they are given in the story.

I couldn’t wait to keep picking this book up, because Kaia was stubborn and felt very real in her heartache and waffling on finding her path. This is confident writing from Adrienne Thurman, an absolute classic of a debut. 

Thank you to Adrienne Thurman and Penguin Random House for this ARC to review early.