Payback's a Witch

Payback's a Witch is a fantasy romance by the American writer Lana Harper, published in 2021.

Thistle Grove is run by founding families, and Emmy's own responsibility during the tournament is ceremonial, which is exactly the position she left to avoid: her magic is weak, her family's standing depends on duties she performs rather than powers she has, and she has built a life in Chicago that has nothing to do with any of it. What brings her back into the town's politics is Gareth Blackmoore, whose casual cruelties have now been aimed at more than one woman, and the campaign that Emmy and Talia agree on is less a piece of revenge plotting than an excuse for both of them to stop being careful. The scheme they settle on is a tournament of its own, conducted according to the rules of a town where everybody knows what every family has done for a century and where the ceremonial duties turn out to be the real prize. The novel keeps the romance and the magic at the same temperature, and the competition gives the plot its deadline. It was a New York Times bestseller and began a series set in the same town.