However, Thistle Grove, and more specifically, Emmy's parents have lured her back to be the Arbiter of The Gauntlet, a championship spectacle that takes place once a generation where the scions of the town's four magical families participate, with the winner getting a magical boon. Traditionally, the Harlow scions always act as Arbiter with the scions of the Avramov, Thorn, and Blackmoore families competing against each other for the prize. But this year promises to be something very different.
For starters, when Emmy finds herself in the local watering hole for a drink on her first night, Gareth stumbles in with his pack of frat boy cronies and hits on her, not even recognizing the girl who was his lover all summer after their senior year. Then, Emmy meets up with Talia Avramov, a girl she knew of from high school, but one she considered well above her league, as Talia is strikingly beautiful, her family practices dark magic, and she pretty much hooked up with every willing girl in high school. There's an immediate spark between the two, but Emmy is quite shocked to discover that Talia also belongs to the "Gareth collateral damage club," sort of. Talia recently had a fling with him, while he was simultaneously sleeping with Emmy's best friend since childhood, Linden Thorn, much to Talia's shock. And while Talia was very whatever about the matter, he actually broke Linden's heart pretty badly, as Emmy would soon discover.
It takes a bit for Emmy and Linden to truly reconnect and repair their relationship, because after all, Emmy left Thistle Grove, and her dearest friend, with barely any contact over the last ten years. But now she is back, at least for the next month while The Gauntlet plays out, and the pair mend their relationship. While Emmy is hurt that Linden took up with Gareth, Linden was certain Emmy wasn't going to return, and was honestly pretty surprised that Gareth treated her so badly as she was convinced they were in love.
Once Talia, Linden, and Emmy put their heads together about Gareth, they decide to work together to make sure he doesn't win The Gauntlet this time. After all, the Blackmoores have slowly been gaining power in Thistle Grove and they've turned their massive estate into a tourist attraction, undermining all of the local shops run by the other magical families and nearly driving them out of business. It's time for payback.
Now, there's a lot more that happens, but I've kind of distilled it down to the basics, so the reader can discover the story for themselves. There's a blossoming romance between Emmy and Talia, which spells trouble based on Emmy's reluctance to admit or realize how much she loves Thistle Grove, but there's also something strange happening with Emmy's magic ever since she got back to town. There's also the fact that Thorn magic is based around animals and plants, pretty much interconnected with life and everything about it, while Avramov magic is the opposite, all creepy ghosts and death and dark magic. The two working together, no problem! Ummm.... hopefully.
Payback's a Witch is a fun read from start to finish. There's romance, action, and subterfuge, all wrapped into one. Lana Harper typically writes YA books and this is her first foray into adult books. Her writing style has a very modern, dare I say, Gen Z feel to it. The characters are tech savvy 20 somethings and as such, they describe the town's magic vibe as "extra" and their drink preferences as "precious" and the like. It reads like it was written by a young woman for young women, but that's not a bad thing. That said, if you don't like stories with girl/girl romance and witches, this probably isn't the book for you. I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun read.
