Charms of Attraction by Julia Clarke

Charms of Attraction is a delightful story of a woman with the power to control minds. Kati loathes her powers and wishes more than anything they didn’t exist. She wants people to WANT to be around her, not wondering if they are only there because she has compelled them. When we first meet Kati, her life is kind of going downhill. She is about to lose her apartment and she has no job. She has a fortuitous run in with a college friend that changes her circumstances.

Clarke creates a world in which a reverse harem is the norm and she even gives a cause for the rise of this practice. Most RH books don’t bother so I thought that was interesting. I liked her 3 guys (Adrian, Declan, and Elias) but I felt their story isn’t done. With this being a short novella for an anthology, character development was a bit sparse for the guys. The story is told entirely from Kati’s POV so I felt that she was fairly well developed, even given the brevity of the story.

If you are looking for a story to ‘test the waters’ of this RH trend, Charms of Attraction is perfect! Its contemporary and even though the heroine has magic powers, the story doesn’t have a PNR vibe (I love PNR but I know many people are not big fans!). Also, the story isn’t about group sex! Not all RH is about one girl having group sex with mutliple guys. Declan, Adrian, and Elias are NOT attracted to each other and there is no group sex. She has individual dates with them and they spend time together as a group, but when it comes to intimacy, its 1:1. I think this is a really important distinction because some people assume RH is always group sex. Its not! Also, this book has NO sex! I thought that was perfect-the characters are dating, getting to know each other, and learning how to navigate a relationship. Its all very normal. I hope this is the beginning of a series because I would love more of these characters!