Cassidy's Reviews > The Honey Witch

3.5 ☆

First of, thank you to NetGalley and Redhook books for the opportunity to read this early in exchange for an honest review. This book is set to be published May 14, 2024. Spoilers clearly outlined at the end of the review.

This book felt like Bridgerton meets witches and ✨magic✨. Overall I thought it was a very cute and cozy read! That said, it does have a few heavier scenes, so do check content warnings.

Description: Marigold never really felt like she belonged amongst her siblings and peers, going to fancy balls and waiting to be courted and married. Her grandmother shows up after fifteen years of absence and drops a bombshell on Marigold- she's a witch, a Honey Witch to be exact. Innisfree, the magical island where Marigold's grandmother lives is under attack from a rival witch. There's just one catch, becoming a Honey Witch leaves a curse behind, where one is not able to ever fall in love. No big deal, right? 🤔 Marigold must decide if the risk is worth it and if she will leave behind everything she knows to train in honey witchcraft and protect her legacy.

The overall storytelling is done really well. The writing is very descriptive and I felt very immersed in the story while I was reading. It was really easy to picture what the different cities and landscapes looked like and how the magic system worked. A lot of care went in to setting up the story. The Honey Witches are essentially healers, they use different potions for different ailments (as well as some fun spells too!). Each spell has it's own ingredients and reasonings for using it and it feels realistic in that sense. I love the softness to it, to think that Marigold is so powerful, but uses it to help her community. The story is very female empowering and has strong themes of choice sprinkled throughout.

I really liked the two main characters, Marigold and Lottie. Lottie is a character that has a lot of pain and baggage and lashes out to those around her, but I feel for her and enjoyed her character development. The grandmother, Althea, was also an amazing character. However, I did not feel very invested in any of the other characters and thought they were quite one-dimensional.

Things that weren’t my favorite- I found the story quite predictable. Some of the dialogue between characters felt a bit cheesy and the ending felt a bit rushed. The bulk of the story is pretty tame and low-stakes, and then the ending is fast and intense. SPOILER (view spoiler)[ I did not like the pairing of August and Frankie. I understand this is a magical fantasy world, but their relationship was very insta-lovey and too coincidental and unnecessary. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, I think it's a fun story and a strong debut novel!

I think you'll like this if you're a fan of soft, magical stories- such as Divine Rivals and The Ex Hex.
The big tropes are:
-forbidden love
-found family
-there's even a late night, one-room-left-at-the-inn scene....
-LGBTQIA+

Content warnings: blood, injury, fire/fire injury, death, and grief