Bargains with Benefits by Jillian Witt

Tracy’s Rating: 2.5/3 of 5 stars

Series: Fae by the Bay, #1

Release Date: June 3, 2025

Half-fae Luna Pierce is living her dream of running the Cliff House Inn, an inn that is owned by her estranged Fae father. But when her father threatens to sell the inn, Luna convinces him to give her time to prove that the inn can be profitable, too bad she doesn’t possess fae magic herself, oh and the fact that she threw a drink in the face of Vincent Andiveron, the recommendations columnist for the Bayside.

But lucky for them, all is not lost, since Vincent also has a dream, and it isn’t writing the recommendation column, he wants to write investigative pieces and has the best idea for a story but lacks a source. That is until he meets Luna, and they strike a bargain – he will help her make her inn the “must-visit” destination and she will help him crack his story about her father. What could go wrong??

I will be blunt – this could have been a great story, but I had issues – first and foremost it is written in First Person Narrative and if that wasn’t bad enough – it is a dual POV FPN – I seriously dislike FPN, but I hate dual POV FPN – I just can’t. Secondly, it was kind of predictable and a bit cliché, and finally the romance was blah (and clearly my idea of “spicy” is not the same as the author’s). The story does have some bright points; I did like both Luna and Vincent and I thought the family issues were handled well. But for me this story was a miss, it felt more like a YA fantasy than an adult cozy fantasy, and I didn’t read the previous series, but I don’t think that would have made difference.

*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that I requested and was provided to me by the publisher/author. All opinions in this review are my own. *