Description

Auckland, present day. E Magazine is the publication that took the world by storm, and behind it sits Whitney Madigan, an editor-in-chief so feared her own staff call her Madam Witch. Black vintage dresses, thick-rimmed glasses, a drawer full of confiscated men’s ties, and a reputation for going through subordinates like flies. Into her orbit walks Darcy, broke, freshly arrived from Wellington, selling his clothes online to make rent, and convinced that his looks and charm can tame any woman alive.

The job offer arrives, and with it the catch. The blond interviewer he had his eye on is not his new boss. His new boss is the gothic woman with the claw-like nails who terrorised him across the interview table. Six months later Darcy is napping at his desk, dodging warning texts from his friend Macy, and being made to wear a red polka dot tie as public punishment. Then one wrong knock on an office door leaves him face to face with a half-dressed Whitney, and the hatred he has been nursing turns into something far more inconvenient. Pride says he answers to nobody. His racing pulse says otherwise.

What makes the novella work is its double vision. Praks writes both heads at once, so the reader watches Whitney build her witch persona out of old betrayals while Darcy mistakes her armour for cruelty. Released free by the author as a bridge into the series’ fourth book, it asks one question and refuses to answer it here: when the master meets the mouse, who is actually holding the leash?

Sharp, silly, and self-aware. For romcom readers who like their office wars fought with wrinkled ties.