Never Been Witched (Starfall Point 3) by Molly Harper-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 12, 2025

Shy, sunshiney small-town antiques expert and full-time witch-slash-ghost wrangler catches feelings for the charming, perfectly polished customer in an expensive suit as they work together to renovate his family’s historic (and definitely haunted) hotel.

Alice Seastairs is in a precarious position for a witch—isolated from her coven and regretting a lot of her choices. Keeping herself from her sisters is the only way she can protect them from a threat only she knows is coming. While Alice should be searching for the final missing Welling locks and protecting the ghostly residents of Shaddow House, she distracts herself with a job offer from Collin Bancroft. Handsome, surprisingly sweet and filthy rich, Collin needs her expertise to restore his historic Duchess Hotel from the previous owner’s ghastly citrus-toned taste. Little does he know, Alice is also the perfect consultant for what to do when you discover a ghost running nightly through the hotel hallways. Spoiler alert: The solution is almost always late night snacking and smooching.

The weight of Alice’s secrets only gets worse when her manipulative grandparents threaten to ruin her relationship with Collin. And because her life isn’t complicated enough, Collin’s delusional ex walks back into his life like she never left. And then there’s the minor problem of an ancient magical family trying to take over Shaddow House, using the ghosts within for who-knows-what to further their nefarious agenda. Alice can only avoid her coven for so long before they come looking for her… She could really use a friend—or a house full of family, both living and dead.

Will Alice break from generational toxic patterns and claim the joy that she deserves? A witch doesn’t kiss and spell…

•••••

REVIEW: NEVER BEEN WITCHED is the third instalment in Molly Harper’s contemporary, adult STARFALL POINT paranormal, mystery series. This is thirty-five year old, witch Alice Seastairs, and hotelier Collin Bancroft’s story line. NEVER BEEN WITCHED can be read as a stand alone but for backstory and cohesion, I recommend reading the series in order as there is an ongoing premise throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: Months earlier, witch Riley Everett inherited a haunted mansion known as Shaddow House, on Starfall Point, in the Upper Peninsula of Northern Michigan, where she will meet a coven of witches, each with different powers. Each successive generation of witches is tasked with housing/collecting and locking down an assortment of items attached or possessed by its’ late user, eventually housing the antiquities at Shaddow House, where the ghosts of the past will ‘live’ out their ghosthood until it is time to move on.

Told from dual omniscient third person perspectives (Alice and Collin) NEVER BEEN WITCHED follows in the wake of the return and arrival of Collin Bancroft to resume control of the historic Duchess Hotel, previously owned by his late ancestors but Collin never expected to come face to face with Alice Seastairs, in his search for historical oddities and antiquities for Starfall Point island hotel. Alice Seastairs works at her grandparents’ island shop but her life is about to implode with their arrival , and the arrival of several more ghosts. Collin and Alice’s families have a tempestuous history, and in this, our heroine finds herself on the outside looking in as the reality of the supernatural becomes dangerous and dark. Lives are threatened, secrets are revealed, and old loves, desperate to be reunited, reveal a chilling tale of murder and greed.

The world building is detailed and complex as the number of ghosts grows as the coven begins to unearth the truth. Hidden locks and magical powers combine to reveal hundreds of years of madness and death.

The relationship between Alice and Collin begins as a business arrangement turned friendship and more. Collin finds himself pulled between what was and what may be, and in this, Alice is once again, on the outside looking in until Collin comes to terms with his past, betrayal and greed. There are no $ex scenes, everything is implied.

The colorful and supernatural secondary and supporting characters include the return of Alice’s coven: Riley (Edison), Caroline (Ben); ghost mentor and house butler Bert Plover; fountain ghost Eloise; bureau ghost Arthur; attorney Clark Graves; an assortment of ghosts both good and evil, as well as Ben’s children Mina and Josh, handyman Cole, and the introduction of Collin’s hotel assistant Julie, his insufferable ex fiancée Paige, and grieving ghosts Victoria and Samuel. The appearance of Alice’s questionable grandparents Franklin and Marilyn Proctor push Alice towards a different future, and into the arms of our story line hero.

NEVER BEEN WITCHED is a story of magic and murder, power and control, betrayal and vengeance, friendships and family. The character driven premise is entertaining and captivating; the romance is limited , the palpable sexual attraction is missing. The characters are magical and determined.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Witches Get Stuff Done
Big Witch Energy

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy