Hopelessly Teavoted

After the deaths of his parents, a witch returns to his spooky family manor and joins forces with his former crush when his parents’ spirits warn them of a sinister threat in this witty and lyrically unique rom-com in the vein of The Crescent Moon Tearoom andThe Ex Hex.

Azrael Ashmedai Hart must be cursed. He’s a witch twice named for the devil. He’s making his way back to his family manor in Hallowcross after a failed screenwriting career. He’s adopted a cat he’s allergic to, and if all of that is not enough, he’s also forced to come face-to-face with his childhood best friend and former crush.

Victoria Starnberger, the bubbly girl-next-door Az lost touch with after an awkward incident in college, has just been disowned by her parents for quitting business school and buying Azrael’s late parents’ Hopelessly Teavoted tea shop against their wishes. Being cut off financially is one thing. But, now Vickie also owes a lesser devil for the souls her parents promised him in exchange for her gift to summon the dead by touching something they treasured in life, destroying the object in the process.

When spirits all over town, including Az’s parents, keeping warning her about a sinister threat, Vickie and Az are forced to combine their powers to save the Hallowcross. But to do so, they must prevent her magic from immolating him after Vickie’s devil places a curse on them to keep them from touching until she repays her debt. As they race against the clock to find clever ways around their curse, they find it increasingly harder to deny that they’ve been hopelessly devoted to each other all along.

Audrey Goldberg Ruoff is a former high school English and journalism teacher who taught with the enthusiasm of Valerie Frizzle, but for secondary education. She lives in a suburb of Washington, DC, with her spouse, her kids, a scrappy but loyal little dog, and a witchy black cat. Hopelessly Teavoted is her debut novel.