What if the words you wrote came true?Spellcraft isn’t exactly a respectable business, but it does pay the bills. At least, it should. Unfortunately, Dixon Penn failed his Spellcraft initiation. Instead of working in his family’s shop, he’s stuck delivering takeout orders in his uncle’s beat-up Buick.Winning a Valentine’s Day contest at the largest greeting card company in the tri-state area … company in the tri-state area would be just the thing to get his life back on track—but something at Precious Greetings just doesn’t add up. And despite numerous warnings to stop pestering them about his contest entry, he just can’t stop himself from coming back again and again.
It doesn’t hurt that the head of security is such a hottie. If Dixon had any common sense, he’d be scared of the big, mysterious, tattooed Russian.
To be fair, no one ever accused him of being too smart….
The ABCs of Spellcraft is a series filled with bad jokes and good magic, where MM Romance meets Paranormal Cozy. A perky hero, a brooding love interest, and delightfully twisty-turny stories that never end up quite where you’d expect.
Book 1, Quill Me Now, originally debuted in the Bad Valentine collection, along with Love Magic by Jesi Lea Ryan, Hidden Hearts by Clare London, and Temporary Dad by Dev Bentham.
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I always enjoy Jordan Castillo Price’s books! That said, these are the perfect summer reads. They’re well-crafted, lighthearted, and funny yet compelling enough to make you want the next book with this fun couple, and the next!
Loved this one! Dixson & Yuri are so cute together! A sweet, touching, funny, romantic & ORIGINAL twist on magic. Once again, I loved it.
4.5 stars. Super cute Valentine’s story. Dixon made me giggle with his ramblings when he got nervous. I liked Yuri and his attempts at protecting Dixon. Together these two undo a lot of wrongs and fit together just perfectly. I’m excited that the author intends to add more adventures for these two.
This short story is an interesting mix of magic, action, thriller, and romance.
It was funny and intriguing reading about the world of Spellcraft, Scriveners, and Seers, and the plot was very well developed for such a short story.
I love that Price hinted at further works for Dixon and Yuri, I’m very curious about Yuri’s meeting with the Penn family! Completely unusual Valentine story!
Audiobook: I really enjoyed the narrator
Ahhhh, Dixon Penn! Has there ever been a sweeter guy in the M/M genre? I’m totally sold out on people that are all goodness and light! They suffuse me with energy, unlike all others. Imagine my surprise to find a fictional character that lifts my spirits in a similar fashion. During the year 2020, I found myself needing the kind of wonderful optimism that the character Dixon embodies. In ‘Quill Me Now’, we find that Dixon is from a family of Spellcrafters but he’d failed his initiation. He’s not doing well financially as his uncle Fonzo, the Hand of his family–leader of their Spellcrafting clan, had taken off to parts unknown. Poor Dixon and his cousin Sabina are forced to live in the attic in order to rent out the lower portion of the family home. Dixon enters a Valentine’s Day contest at a greeting card company but all isn’t well there, even with the head of security–the hugely handsome Russian named Yuri that thrills Dixon to no end. Of course, I was on board with Dixon from the very beginning! I wanted every happiness for him! So I found my self yelling, moaning, cheering, crying throughout this entire book. That Dixon winds up with his Spellcrafting quill as well as the talented, intelligent, taciturn, and sexy Yuri was two very awesome outcomes of the story. By the time this book was over, I found that I had fallen completely in love with Yuri, too! Thanks for such a sweet read, Jordan Castillo Price!
I grabbed this one from a free Bookfunnel or Prolific Works promotion as it sounded fun. And then when I was looking for something fun to read I picked this one up. It was a pretty fun and quick read. It was a bit ridiculous/ funny at times, the world building didn’t make sense to me and the way things got build was quite confusion. But it had an interesting set-up and even with the things that bothered me I still had fun reading it.
Quill Me Now is told mostly from the point of view of Dixon. He is part of the Penn family in whose blood runs the power of being Scrivener’s. Scriveners can write and their words have powers. Oh but they also need a Seer to paint, else it doesn’t work. Dixon failed his initiation, which never happens, so now he delivers people their meals instead. Until one day he decides to take a chance at a greeting card content and gets entangles into something bigger.
This was quite the fun read, but at the same time it was just a bit weird. There were also some ridiculous parts. Behavior that didn’t make sense and seemed over the top at first. But it sort of makes sense later. There were a few things that didn’t fully get explained or made sense, but mostly I was able to enjoy the story even with that. The plot was interesting enough and I liked how things got resolved.
The romance literally goes from basically zero with some mutual attraction to hot. So fast that it was almost funny, but I think that was the point? It was kinda funny I guess and it made sense, but it was hard to really take things seriously or really feel the romance with the way it develop. But strangely enough it also kinda worked for the way this story set-up and developed.
The world building was just confusing. We get pieces spread throughout the book, but in such a way that I totally got the wrong impression of the world multiple times. Like these really big things for understanding how the world works get mentioned pretty late in the story. Until 70% of the story I thought the Handless (those without magic) weren’t aware magic existed and only toward the end we learn there actually is a legal department that covers the use of magic. I had to rework my whole image of the world multiple times and it was just confusing as I couldn’t get a good grasp on the world.
I did like the idea of the whole words have power thing, but at the same time the world that was build around it seemed way too normal. Why wasn’t this power feared more? And in which ways did this world develop differently with this magic? Also why did no one ever wonder why Dixon failed the test as it is established multiple times this should’ve been impossible? Why did no one look into this? And what is the role of free will when words can influence your behavior?
To summarize: This was a fun and quick read set in a world where words have power. Dixon comes from a scrivener family, but lacks the power himself. In this story he stumbles upon a greeting card contest and get entangled into a bigger conspiracy. The plot was interesting enough and I liked how things got resolved. There were some things that didn’t quite make sense, but overall I still had fun reading this one. The romance develops quite quickly and suddenly in a way that was almost funny. I think it was meant to be funny. It kinda worked here. The world building was quite confusing, I had trouble getting a good grasp on the world and had to make some bit revisions to my idea of the world multiple times when suddenly much later we learn a big important piece. Like how normal people know of magic wasn’t revealed until 70% in the story. All in all I still mostly enjoyed reading this even tough I had a lot of questions.
Really enjoyed this. It was in parts creepy, funny and cute (as much as JCP does cute). It’s also just the beginning for Dixon and Yuri (autocorrect keeps changing this to Tutu!), because more books are coming.
I was gifted my copy of all four part of the Bad Valentine collection, that I write a review was not required.
I read this one last, but it’s tagged as book 2 in the collection.
Dixon cannot Spellcraft like the rest of his family and it leaves him doing pizza delivery for a job. Winning $1000 in a Valentine’s card competition would be a dream come true. But something isn’t right at the Precious Greetings place, and Dixon keeps coming back. It’s not for the sexy security guard, really it’s not.
My least favourite of the bunch, but can’t put my finger on why and ya’ll know how much that frustrate me!
Both Dixon and Yuri get a say, in the first person. I wasn’t sure whether Yuri would, since Dixon has the majority voice, so I was happy when Yuri spoke.
I was *somewhat* confused by some things, so maybe that was whay I didn’t like this one quite so much.
It’s still a good little short, but up against the other three in the collection, for ME, it lacks something.
I’ve enjoyed these little shorts, so thank you to all four authors for my copies.
3 GOOD stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
What an awesome idea for a magical system! I loved that Dixon believed that he had no power, and yet still fully considered himself to be a part of spellcrafter society. He could, so easily, have chosen to think that he wasn’t bound by their rules, and been just as bad as Emery.
I may have to re-read this to figure out if Dixon’s uncle was protecting his nephew during his Quilling Ceremony, or if he was under Flint’s power and couldn’t help it, or something else entirely. Perhaps will learn more as future stories in this world come out…
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.
What a charming story! Jordan Castillo Price has crafted a short novella that’s action packed and surprisingly sweet. I couldn’t put it down. The worldbuilding is great and the story line is exciting.
Dixon is the kind of character that gets under your skin. He’s charming and funny and such a snappy dresser. No wonder a big, silent, dreamboat like Yuri falls for him. I really hope this becomes a series because I’d love to see these guys in action again.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book for an honest review
This book is part of a group of stories where the start is “Nothing good ever came of a Valentine.”
Imagine being part of a talented family. Imagine being the hope for the future of that family. Now imagine failing, publicly, epically. For Dixon Penn, this is his reality. From a family of magic spellcasters, Dixon has failed his test to join their ranks. He is now a meal delivery guy who finds an opportunity for a windfall in a greeting card company contest. Dixon entering this contest begins a series of events that are both hilarious and bring about revelations that will change his life forever. Family dynamics of the Penn family come into play as well. When Dixon meets the security guard at the card company, the brooding hulk Yuri, he has no clue that he will play a critical role in all that transpires.
This is not your typical Valentine’s Day sweetness. It is so quirky and fun. The ability to play with words required in spellcasting is obviously in the magic toolbox of the author as well. Price takes the reader along on a crazy adventure with her characters and makes it even better with an ending that alludes to more fun with Dixon and Yuri. I can’t wait!
Dixon’s world is a mishmashed shit show of disappointments, but he never loses his optimism. I love that he has all of these things happening to him and around him and manages to always, always think because words matter and words have power. And wow. The goofiness he endures is legion. I feel a little bit guilty for enjoying the absurdity because he is such a good guy.
I am so in love with this story and the universe. The writing is superb and the HFN is awesome. Apparently there may be more stories about Dixon and his Russian. **squeee** I had a blast reading this story and can’t wait for more!
* Advanced copy provided for an honest review.