Cackle by Rachel Harrison

Available Now

Reader Friends, this book is delightful. Now, if like my husband, you think spiders are murderous little monsters intent on eliminating all humankind, you may not find this as delightful as there are A LOT of spiders in this book. But I loved it and flew through it the other night.

Annie has been dumped by her long time boyfriend Sam and is now on her own for the first time in nearly a decade. Breaking up with Sam also means leaving New York City for a new town, new job, and new apartment. Devastated by the break-up, Annie spends her time obsessed with reading old text exchanges from Sam and scrolling through old photos while wine drunk on her couch. As if that wasn’t enough, her new job is plagued with clique-y coworkers, unruly students, and a nosy boss. It’s an all-around crap-tastic situation.

But then Annie meets Sophie. A beautiful, interesting, intriguing woman who lives alone in a mansion in the woods. The more time they spend together, the more Annie realizes that the people in the small village of Rowan seem genuinely afraid of Sophie. She rarely pays for anything in the stores and diners and the townspeople seem very nervous around her. But Annie is enthralled by Sophie’s grace and independent lifestyle. As the two become closer, little things start to make Annie uneasy about their budding friendship. The more Sophie pushes Annie to stop apologizing and live her life as she please, the more Annie realizes that there is a cost to that kind of living.

This was so good! Harrison did such a great job building the tension between Sophie and the people of Rowan. So many of the interactions felt just that littlest bit off from normal so it was easy to brush it all off as people just not liking her, or the complete opposite, like they had such respect for her that they couldn’t possibly do anything that would insult her. Also, Annie isn’t used to small town living and can’t tell if it’s just how the villagers are with each other or if there is something bigger going on. Annie’s break up with Sam runs really close to the line of obsession and threatens to become all consuming which definitely clouds her judgement when it comes to Sophie. There were quite a few times that I was definitely on Team Sophie and wanted to Annie to just get over him and move on but I also understand how hard it was for her to completely sever that tie. Cackle also shows how hard it is to make new friends as an adult and the struggles that come along with moving to a new town where you don’t know a single person.

Not going to lie, I would move into Sophie’s woodland mansion in a heartbeat. I loved how Annie had to travel through the woods, past a run-down, abandoned hut, and a graveyard to get there. Knowing there was no direct route to Sophie’s made it feel very eerie, but also quite magical. And this house was magical. Enormous, with a grand ballroom and many guest rooms, Sophie’s mansion was as run-down as it was expansive. I loved how it was covered in dust and cobwebs but still full of crystal chandeliers and an indoor swimming pool. How do you pass up an indoor swimming pool?

And possibly full of ghosts? Possibly.

This was a delightfully spooky and eerie tale that was full of surprises. It’s definitely on the lighter side if you’ve spent the past month immersed in all things horror, this may be a great book to lighten things up a bit. This would be a great choice for those that love watching characters grown and change throughout a story. Annie’s life and attitude changes dramatically in really interesting and compelling ways.

If you would love to add this charming and chilling book to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

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Witch Please by Anne Aguirre

Available now

If you, like me, have overloaded your October reading list with tons of chilling horror, it might be time for a spooky tale that is on the lighter side. In Witch Please, Aguirre give us a laugh-out-loud rom-com full of delicious baked goods.

Danica Waterhouse is just a modern witch, running a small repair shop, and fending off her grandmother’s attempts at matchmaking when she gets called to the Sugar Daddy bakery to fix an oven. Not only is Sugar Daddy known for it’s delicious baked goods, it’s also known for it’s handsome owner and lead baker Titus Winnaker. When the two set off literal sparks around each other, Danica gives into her desires and breaks all the magical rules to date a lowly “mundane". But Titus is all in. He’s completely smitten with Danica and is willing to realign the stars to keep them together.

This is such a fun book! I loved the dynamics between Danica and her roommate/cousin/coworker and the way the coven used a book club as a cover. The rules about witches not dating “mundanes” wasn’t anything new or original and I think it was better that way. This made the characters really work for their relationship and focus on family and friends more than the magic. Plus, it made when Danica’s grandmother kept sending her witchy dating profiles even funnier.

The banter between Danica and Titus was fun and really well done. They had really great chemistry together and it was such a joy to watch them fall in love with each other. I really liked how Danica’s magic fritzed out around Titus and she was constantly trying to hide it. The chemistry was literally electric between them! It was also a nice twist to have Titus be a bisexual virgin who just may be under a romantic curse.

Overall, this a fun, funny, and charming love story. It was a joy to read from the very first page and will keep you giggling for hours.

If you would like to add this delightful story to your shelf, you can find ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

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The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke

Available now

From the Publisher:

Two sisters go missing on a remote Scottish island. Twenty years later, one is found--but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting.

When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it's an opportunity to start over with her three daughters--Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she's frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.

Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she's initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers--except she's still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she'll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn't realize just how much the truth will change her.

This is an intriguing and compelling story of dark family secrets, small town politics, and history that keeps repeating itself. In this atmospheric novel, Cooke effortlessly blends together tales of centuries old witch trials and present day crimes. As the story unfolds through multiple characters from different time periods, we learn the dark history of the local lighthouse and it’s hold on the present day village.

Liv, our exhausted and overwhelmed artist and mother of three, is doing her best to balance everything on her plate. As she struggles to connect with her moody teenage daughter, she also has two other daughters that need her as well. Her latest commission should be a chance at a fresh start but instead, turns out to be a terrifying nightmare. As Liv tries to settle in with her family, tales of the local forest being filled with changelings hits remarkably close to home when her daughter Luna’s doppelganger appears on her doorstep.

Fast forward twenty years and we have Luna , pregnant and in a precarious place in her own romantic relationship. When she is told her sister has been found after twenty-two years, she immeadiately jumps into action. Discovering her sister hasn’t aged in over twenty years is only the tip of the bizarre iceberg that has become her current life. Unraveling the mystery of her family’s fate is a compelling and compulsive story that is filled to the brim with twists and turns.

I loved the author’s take on the impacts of the witch trials with the local community. The lore that is handed down through the generations shaped the community and it makes their actions believable and understandable. I really enjoyed the characters and found them all well-developed and relatable. The magic system was both intricate and easy to understand, while still being quite fantastical and intriguing.

Overall, this is a wonderful, atmospheric and gripping gothic thriller that will keep you engrossed from start to finish. If you are like me and wanting to keep all your October reads spooky, this is definitely one to add to the list.

You can find ordering information here:

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for the opportunity to read and review this title. All opinions and mistakes are my own.

This post also contains affiliate links and I may earn from qualifying purchases.

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson

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This book is incredible! Just an absolutely amazing and horrifying novel. Set in the lands of Bethel during an unknown time, the Prophet rules over all. Living in a compound named Haven with his many wives and children, he determines who lives, who dies, and what is considered moral. Living under this tight rule is already difficult, but even more so when your very life is considered a crime. Born to an outsider father, Immanuelle's mother was married to the Prophet when she defied his controlling rule and fell in love with another man. Left to be raised by her grandparents when her father is burned at the stake and her mother disappears, Immanuelle is constantly reminded of her mother's sin and disgraceful expulsion from the community.

Immanuelle is tasked with caring for her family's flock of sheep and spends her days in the fields or selling the animals or wool in the town's market. When she is sent to sell off one of the rams, the beast escapes her and runs into the Darkwood, a dark and mysterious forest that the town is convinced will destroy the soul of anyone who enters. Immanuelle, balancing the risk of the Darkwood and her grandparent's disappointment, decides she has no choice but to enter the woods. When she discovers two women laying together on the forest floor, she is convinced they are witches and flees for her life. With the cries of the tortured ram following her, Immanuelle escapes to the safety of her family's farm, but discovers she has been given a journal by the witches. A journal that belonged to her mother.

Reading her mother's diary uncovers secrets long held by the family, and a connection to the witches living in the Darkwood. When an inexplicable plague reigns down on the people of Bethel, Immanuelle is convinced that the nightmares brought on by her mother's journal may be a reality. Convinced she is the cause of everyone's suffering, she sets out on dangerous mission to reverse the curse.

As Immanuelle tries to discover her mother's ties to the witches and the betrayal to the Prophet, she attracts the attention of Ezra, son to the Prophet. Torn between wanting to pursue the friendship of Ezra but knowing she must use his access to the secret libraries of Haven and the gate guards to discover the spell she needs to reverse the plagues.

All the while, her best friend has been married to the Prophet and is in danger, the plagues have become more deadly, her family is ill and in danger, and Immanuelle is closer and closer to losing herself to the Prophet or worse, the witches of the Darkwood.

Whew! There is a lot that is going on in this book and it moves at an exciting clip. Alexis Henderson drops us into a controlling and strictly religious community with a heavy dose of toxic patriarchy. You can feel the oppression the women live with everyday and their only hope for escape is becoming a wife to the Prophet, who has many, or hopefully find a decent man to marry you. Don't go looking for a decent woman-they'd probably burn you at the stake. Outside the walls of Bethel is an unknown. At one point Immanuelle is able to leave to for a short time to meet with someone, but it's unknown whether she will be allowed back in. Threats of banishment and exile are to be taken seriously, but it's unclear what is really going on in the outside world. Also, I was never really clear about when this all took place. It had such an oppressive and otherworldly feel that it could have been any time period-men do like telling women what they can and cannot wear. So. 2020 or 1820, doesn't matter when you have a crazy cult involved.

I loved how Henderson describes the connection between Immanuelle and the magic of the witches. The lore behind the women and their powers was fascinating and I love a "coming into our powers" story. Will they use it for good or evil? I love that struggle. Immanuelle is also a character who is incredibly well written. She's complex and is thrown into one harrowing situation after another and all the while, has so many different people she has to try and protect and also, needs to protect herself. It would be so easy to give in to the demands of the community, the magic, her family's pressures, or just run away. She deals with a lot of pressure and feels so real about her choices.

This is an excellent novel for readers who love their magic on the darker side-there's a lot of horror and disturbing images in this one. It's so good people.  So good. 

If you would like a copy of this for yourself, you can grab one here:

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These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

These Witches Don’t Burn by Isabel Sterling

Available Now

If you enjoy teenage witches discovering their true self while also trying to balance their friendships and coven secrets, this book is everything you’re looking for.  

Hannah is an elemental witch, descended from a long line of witches.  Part of a tight knit coven of other Elementals, she splits her time between normal teenage summer activities like beach parties with her best friend Gemma and a summer job at the Fly By Night Cauldron, and weekly magic lessons with the coven’s high priestess Lady Ariana.   

It’s during one of these beach parties that Hannah and her friends discover a horrible sight in the woods.  Someone has sacrificed a raccoon in the middle of a burning pentacle. Consumed by the fear of a Blood Witch seeking revenge against Hannah and her ex-girlfriend Veronica, the two witches nearly expose their magic in front of all of their friends.  Exposing their magic could cause them to be sanctioned by the Council and face strict punishments. This is just the beginning of a series of horrific and threatening events that begin to plague Hannah and her friends. When a house fire nearly kills her friend Benton, once again forcing her to choose between saving a friend and exposing her magic, he enlists her help in finding out who the threat really is.   If being stalked by a potential Blood Witch isn’t enough stress for Hannah, she meets Morgan, a cute new ballerina who has just moved to town and has secrets of her own.  

How does one witch handle dealing with a jealous ex-girlfriend, finding a killer, meeting a new girlfriend, and telling your lifelong best friend that you’re a witch?  The only way you can: by doing whatever it takes to not get grounded by your parents.  

I loved this book!  There is so much teenage drama packed into this book.  Jealous exes, first date stresses, secrets, friendships, identity, it’s all in here.  I really enjoyed Gemma’s character-she’s Hannah’s best friend and is completely accepting of Hannah being a witch. She’s fun, smart, inquisitive, and really truly cares about Hannah’s happiness.  There were several different characters that I was sure was our evil nemesis and I was wrong every time. It’s fast paced, with great characters, and a story that many teens will be able to relate to.  

If you’d like to try out this bewitching tale, you can get a copy here:

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Hazel and Holly: A Fantasy Adventure by Sara C. Snider

Hazel and Holly:  A Fantasy Adventure by Sara C. Snider

Available May 16, 2019

Ok Reader Friends, isn’t this the most gorgeous cover? Every time I look at it I want to pick out one of the colors and paint a room in my house.

Hazel and Holly is a fun and rollicking adventure through magical woods, mystical spells, and finding hope in unlikely places.  

Hazel and Holly are sisters who share a home in the Grove, a wonderfully slow and magical place where magic is divided into schools such as Hearth and Wyr, each with their own special focus.  When the sisters are invited to the home of Hawthorn and Hemlock, warlocks and very eligible bachelors, Holly is insistent on their attendance. Hazel, on the other hand, would rather stay home and away from the nosey gossips who spread nasty rumors about their family and their father’s dabbling in Necromancy.  Necromancy is the one magical discipline that is not tolerated in the Grove.

But Holly wins and the sisters attend the ball and true to fashion, nothing goes as planned.  The one bright moment from the disastrous night is a new alliance with the brothers. With their help, the sisters might finally be able to track down their father and free their mother’s soul that has been entrapped for years.  

Together, the witches and warlocks face one obstacle after the other, and all the while, they become closer and better friends with every mishap.  With the help of a magical mouse, Holly’s innocent eagerness, Hemlock’s dry humor and reluctance to dirty his clothes, and Hazel and Hawthorn’s focus and planning, the group sets out to find the secret hiding place of the necromancers.  Unfortunately for our adventurers, nothing ever goes as planned or remotely close to easily. Their one promising link to their father, a necromancer named Elder, betrays them. Spells misfire, intentions are misinterpreted, and along the way, they pick up a cellar gnome with a penchant for beer who turns up in the most unlikely of places.  

Full of humor, magic, and adventure, Hazel and Holly was a fun and entertaining read.

If this sounds like something you would enjoy, you can get your copy here:

The Graces and The Curses by Laure Eve

When I came across a copy of The Curses by Laure Eve I was immediately drawn to the cover. It’s this gorgeous green with a beautiful font for the title. It’s also about witches, rich kid problems, and family drama-all of my favorite things. But The Curses is actually book two in the series and after devouring it in one sitting, I really had to know what happened in the first book. Since I read them out of order, I can honestly say that you don’t have to read book one first, but it does provide a lot of insight in to a few of the characters. Both of the books are excellent and were exactly what I was hoping for-magically inclined teenagers with rich kid problems doing magic and creating havoc. It’s just fun reading.

A gorgeous Library copy of The Graces

The Graces introduces us to the Grace family. Summer, the youngest of the siblings and a headstrong goth kid. Thalia and Fenrin are twins who are gorgeous and wanted by everyone. All the siblings have their own unique style that looks ridiculous on anyone else who tries to copy them. Living in a mansion with their equally gorgeous parents who they are on a first name basis with, the Graces are legendary in their small town. They are a series of contradictions. Incredibly wealthy and powerful, the siblings don’t have cell phones or drive cars. They’re parents don’t mind that they have wine in their bedroom fridges but hate that they own a t.v. For Summer’s birthday, there is a huge party on the beach but for the twins, they throw lavish parties that no one from school is allowed to come to after an “incident” at the twins’ eighth birthday party. Everyone wants to be friends with the Graces but no one ever is.

That is, until River moves to town. River, awkward and friendless, wants what everyone else wants-to be friends with the Graces. When she magically becomes best friends with Summer, their relationship will lead them all down a dark and destructive path. What the Graces don’t know, is that meek and mild River is more powerful than she lets on. It’s with her help that the siblings hope to destroy the Curse that has plagued the Grace family for generations. Unfortunately for them, it’s that wish for happiness that will cause incredible heartbreak for their family.

The story of the Curse and it’s impact on the Grace family continues in book 2, The Curses. Now, if you don’t like spoilers, stop here.

I mean it.

SPOILERS

The Curses opens with the resurrection of Wolf, a long time family friend of the Graces. His death was caused by River-maybe accidentally? Maybe not. Now that he’s back, everyone thinks they can go back to normal. But a lot has changed. River isn’t a part of the group anymore. Wolf is acting differently and Fenrin is constantly tired and drained. Someone is granting wishes from the villagers in exchange for money and it’s not a Grace witch doing it.

One thing hasn’t changed though. The siblings are still trying to find a way to end the family curse-no Grace will ever find happiness with a non-witch. Many love matches have ended in horrible deaths and accidents. Even the Grace parents, Gwydion and Esther are an arranged match-not a love match. When the siblings try to track down someone from the family’s past to help end the Curse, an evil greater than they could have imagined is released. More dark family secrets are revealed but old friendships return in time to help save everyone.

I think what I loved the most about these books is the Grace siblings. While they are definitely rich and indulged, they’re not jerks. They have family secrets to protect so they can’t be as open as other teenagers but they’re not mean about it. The siblings are fiercely protective of each other and love each other completely. They are also clearly a product of their environment-they are super wealthy, live in a huge house, have anything they could want, and have nearly zero rules. Could you imagine being 15 and your parents not caring that you have wine in your bedroom?

I really enjoyed these books. They’re a lot of fun and the writing was really engaging.

If you’d like a copy for yourself and someone you want to cast a spell on, you can pick up a copy here:

Thank you to Netgalley and Amulet Books for the opportunity to read The Curses by Laure Eve. The Graces was borrowed from a local Library. All opinions are always my own. Books bought through the links help support this site.