Smut Magic?: “Wicked Hot Magic” by Riley London (Book Review)

Thursday, June 23rd was “Stuff Your Kindle Day” according to book influencers across the internet, and stuff my kindle, I certainly did. This day is designed to promote free Kindle books, specifically romance books of different subgenres, to get readers to download and enjoy the stories within. With over 600 titles to choose from, you’re bound to find something that piques your interest.

For my friends Tammy, Brittney, and I, we scrolled through the page together while sending each other screenshots of the most interesting ones we could find in our WhatsApp group chat (if you’d like to visit it yourself or bookmark it for future reference, it is https://romancebookworms.com). Their next "Stuff Your Kindle Day" event is scheduled for September 21, 2022.

The lovely people at Romance Bookworms give you a brief synopsis of the book, give you keywords and tropes that can help you find something you might like or avoid something that you would rather not read, and give you a link to the page to commence the download.They do such a great job at it that I, myself downloaded about 50 of the options offered after scrolling through and reading every single one of them.

You may be thinking, I came to learn about smut magic, where is this revolutionary knowledge? And my response to that, my spicy loving bookworm, is I’m getting there, I promise.

Smut Magic. This was a term used in one of these synopses and Tammy, Brittney, and I were racking our brains to figure out what this meant. We went as far as searching the gold mine that is Urban Dictionary and our trusty search engine, Google to NO AVAIL. I turned my sights to my trusty and lovely Twitter community and got a couple of responses that took me seriously and a ton more that were as confused as we were.

My solution to this, *insert ‘Fine, I’ll do it myself’ sound from TikTok* and do it myself, I did. I took it upon myself to read this book and discover what Romance Bookworms could possibly mean in choosing that terminology for their synopsis.

The book itself is titled Wicked Hot Magic by Riley London and I don’t know what exactly I was expecting, but I was greeted with much more than that, so let me set the scene for us:

Maximiliana Pale-Rivers, a.k.a. Max, is a twenty-one year old Demon Hunter who was adopted by renowned exorcist Father Gabriel when she was a young child. The story starts off with the two in the middle of an exorcist mission that goes completely wrong. In the midst of it, Father Gabriel is trapped and dragged down to hell, leaving Max frantic and on a mission to retrieve him ASAP.

Max is hotheaded, she’s full of herself, and she is eager to get the only family she has back, BUT she doesn’t quite have the skills to do so just yet, so as a part of a contingency plan in the case he is unable to complete/fulfill her training, Father Gabriel sets her up to be sent to Salem Academy, a base in Salem, Massachusetts that helps people hone their skills and prepare for difficult supernatural missions they may go on.

It is here, at Salem Academy, where we learn about the existence of witches, warlocks, and Fae who all have their own magical capabilities that are essential if you want to journey to hell and make it back in mostly one piece. Here, Max discovers that her lineage includes some type of magical wielding abilities and most people at this academy know more about her family history than she does. So, in an attempt to have her reach her fullest potential possible, she is paired up with instructors who have different specialties to help her tap into her abilities as best, and quickly, as possible.

Her instructors all have their own particular charms to them, and all of them are incredibly attractive in different ways, but one thing I can personally say that I absolutely loved about them is that they are all respectful and clear consent kings. (Not kings in the literal sense, but they all respect Max’s boundaries and are truly looking out for her safety and well being.) The men:

• Erik, the super hot military-type muscle bro

• Tristan, the well-dressed, polite, and sophisticated Fae

• Noah Brewster-Crane, the asshole warlock who’s actually pretty soft once you spend some time with him.

These three men are the love interests, yes plural, this is a reverse harem.

I won’t lie though, when I say that while the love interests and the attraction that they and Max have for each other is there, it doesn’t take a forefront to the overarching plot, which is Max’s inevitable journey to hell and the discovery of the family history that everyone seems to know something about, but won’t quite give her that information just yet.

This book from start to finish was an enjoyable ride and I am begging Riley London to please release Wicked Dark Magic, the next book in this series, soon. It’ll be hard to wait with the notes we were left on. I need to know the aftermath to everything that was set up in this one.

While I started this book for the “smut magic,” I really, truly stayed in it for the story that was unfolding.

Now, I know I’ve rambled enough about what the book is about and how much I enjoyed reading it, but NOW, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the findings in my research on smut magic:

• In the story, Tristan (sexy, dark haired, sophisticated, and radiant fae…can you tell he’s my favorite?), teaches Max about the Fae and their magic. Leading up to this point, he has been assessing and discerning Max’s aptitude for Fae magic, as she has a mysterious lineage and she is making these discoveries at Salem Academy, so the quick and easy way to test for this is, wait for it…a kiss, but in order to do such, he needs her consent and he’s VERY adamant about getting it. So here we have the different magics that Tristan believes Max has an affinity for:

“First, I think you have a basic ability to use both offensive and defensive magic…Second, you have a strong natural affinity for influencing classes of magic.” (Kindle Page 75, about 33% into the novel).

• Within this subset of influence classes of magic, there are three different ways that it can be used:

  • Enchantments

  • Influencing People’s Actions

  • Seduction Magic

That’s it friends, SEDUCTION MAGIC = SMUT MAGIC

Now here is where we learn a little bit more about it too, because Max is like “uhhh are you using this on me right now?” And Tristan, the reigning king of consent in this novel, responds with the most informative piece of dialogue to support my deduction, here’s an excerpt with the exchange:

“Max, I promise you that, for my part, I would never use seduction magic against you or on you without your express consent.”

That brings me up short.

“Why the fuck would you need seduction magic if I gave you consent?”

With that, his eyes darken, a little wicked with a twinkle of amusement that makes me shiver. “Oh, Max, trust me. Those are the most enticing times of all to use a little seduction magic.”

I think I might have actually screamed or flailed while reading this part. Like, Tristan, please, we need a more thorough lesson here.

And this, lovely readers, is where the research in this novel concludes. I had hoped we would get to see the smut magic in action, but there was just too much shit going on (I mean, we take a trip to hell for one…), that I understand why there wasn't a need for the smut magic to come forth. Do not fret though, there is a pretty rewarding smutty scene after all the craziness goes down, but I can’t deny it and say I wasn’t frustrated. If you follow me on Twitter, then you probably saw me screaming on the TL for my reading of the final ten percent of the book.

I have no doubts that when the time is right, Riley London WILL deliver on that seduction magic and I so desperately want to see that in action. We get a little taste of it near the end, so I know it’s brewing.

Final thoughts: Wicked Hot Magic is a fun and quick read. I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish and can’t wait to learn more about Max, her family history, and all of the other characters in the story. There’s just a lot that I still have lingering questions about, for good reason and I believe the answers will come.

Would I recommend it? Yes. I will say, though, you all should know that the smut scene doesn’t happen until the end of the story. It’s story driven, and the character development and buildup in relationships are there throughout that lead you to the moment, it’s a bit of a slow burn, but I personally don’t mind that. Slow burn build ups make the moments when characters get together more worth it to me.

What’s my rating? 4 / 5 stars - I had fun reading it, that’s my basis for rating. Did I enjoy it? Hell yeah. I really enjoyed the characters, the interactions, and the story that was happening. It’s not groundbreaking, but (and I’ve said this already) it’s FUN. If you want something that’s fun, easy to follow, has a ton of fantasy and paranormal elements, and hot guys, this is your book.