I was really looking forward to this one after I read Harrow’s last book. I wasn’t disappointed.

I loved the Eastwood sisters, Beatrice, Agnes and James. They are all so different and such strong characters.

The world is dominated by men and their rules. The sisters must work through their own personal issues and rediscover the power of witchcraft to overcome and challenge men.

There are lots of important issues raised in the book: women’s rights, race, feminism and homophobia to name a few. This is depicted well throughout and I was immersed in the story.

Overall, this was a great read.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy..

The Once and Future Witches, Alix E. Harrow’s second novel, bewitched me with its memorable characters and gritty setting, a Victorian-era America in the midst of the war for women’s suffrage. Here, the last witches may have been burned long ago, but stories of magic are everywhere. They’re written down in the works of the Sisters Grimm, Charlotte Perrault, and Andrea Lang. They’re hidden somewhere in every nursery rhyme. They’re woven into the very nature of a girl’s mother’s-name, an often-alliterative second name given to a daughter at birth and spoken only amongst loved ones.

As we read, we’re introduced to bookish Beatrice Belladonna, beautiful Agnes Amaranth, and furious, determined James Juniper, who used to be inseperable until they were forced apart and turned against one another by their abusive drunkard of a father. Seven years later, however, a twist of magic or fate or both means that the sisters find themselves in the town of New Salem at the same time, and when they meet again in the town square after all experiencing a mysterious vision, they must confront the past and reopen the old wounds between them once more. Each believes herself to have been betrayed or abandoned by the other two, but their backstories, which Harrow carefully reveals to us over the course of the novel, paint each as a sympathetic character, so alike her siblings yet so unique in her own way. Though I identified most with Beatrice, the wise, quiet librarian, I had a hard time choosing my favourite of the trio!

What I especially liked about the sisters was how cleverly Harrow subverted the narrow archetypes of fairytales through them. How often have we seen the beautiful sister regarded as better — kinder, purer, more good — than her plainer siblings by sheer virtue of being beautiful, the brave one pitted against a pair of cowards, or the intelligent one rewarded while the other two receive nothing but mockery? Harrow’s heroines are clever, beautiful, or brave, but they’re far more than that. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, and like all of the women in this story, they’re stronger when they’re united.

While this book presents itself as a novel about the oppression and empowerment of witches, it’s also a breathtaking exploration of the oppression and empowerment of women that recognises that all women, even those who might scoff at the idea of fighting for their rights, need to be uplifted so that their voices can be heard. We’re told that a witch is “merely a woman who needs more than she has”, and doesn’t that just resonate today in a world that, despite countless political, legal, and social developments over the past century and a half, is still not as kind to its women and girls as it ought to be?

Ultimately, The Once and Future Witches is a testament to both the power of female anger and the power of hope, and without those unstoppable forces, we’d have nothing — certainly not this gorgeous tale. I could go on forever about the lyrical, sumptuous writing style, the wonderfully varied types of magic practised by witches from a whole host of nations and walks of life, or the thoughtful way Harrow examines how class, race, and sexuality intersect with feminism, but I’ll end this review by stating the obvious: I loved this book. I’ve read, reviewed, and enjoyed some two dozen advanced copies since I started using Netgalley, but The Once and Future Witches is the first I’ve hurried to pre-order as soon as I finished. It made me sob to the point I could barely see the final pages through a fog of tears, and so I’m recommending it to everyone so that they can laugh, smile, and bawl just as I did.

I was super excited to pick this up now that the days are getting shorter and we’re approaching Halloween; a book about witches seemed the perfect thing to curl up with on a cold evening. Sadly I did struggle with this book a bit, and it didn’t have the payoff I was hoping for.

I should start by saying I think this is a book many will enjoy, the writing is brilliant, the characters are engaging, and the setting is atmospheric. I just couldn’t get into it. For a start, the book is long, really long, and at times I felt it was really weighed down with needless prose, especially in the middle. I did love the addition of spells based on well-known fairy tales and nursery rhymes, but my initial excitement about this was lost as the story dragged on.

I think the biggest issue for me was our main characters; the narratives are split between the three sisters, but the points of view changed so quickly that I never really connected with any of the them and found myself not caring about what happened to them. Perhaps it would have been more successful if the story was told from just one POV, because as it was it felt like all the sisters were kept at arm’s length, and that I could never fully connect to any of them.

Overall, I loved the fact that we get a story about strong, fearless women, but for me to really love a story I need to connect to the characters, and I just never did. As I said previously, I really think this book will just click for some people and they’ll absolutely love it, sadly that just wasn’t the case for me.

I received a copy of this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Érase una vez, en un libro aún por publicar, había tres hermanas brujas. La mayor era la anciana sabia, siempre rodeada de libros y con las manos manchadas de tinta. La mediana era la madre, fiera como una tormenta y rebosante de amor. Y la pequeña era la más salvaje de la tres, la más libre, la que no creía en las consecuencias.
Bienvenides a este cuento titulado The Once and Future Witches, la segunda novela de Alix E. Harrow, de quien ya reseñé su debut, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, que se publicó el año pasado y de la cual tendremos pronto una traducción en español.
En The Once and Future Witches encontraréis brujas, tres hermanas que se quieren con locura, mujeres luchando por sus derechos, un villano digno de cuento, brujas practicando magia a escondidas y un sinfín de acción y giros de trama que te obligarán a llevarte el libro a todas partes para ver cómo acaba.
Juniper Eastwood llega a New Salem tras la muerte de su padre. Hace siete años que no sabe nada de sus hermanas mayores, quienes huyeron de su hogar paterno sin mirar atrás. Juniper se siente traicionada y solo busca una forma de vengarse del mundo. El destino no tardará en proporcionarle una excusa.
Agnes Eastwood lleva siete años trabajando en una fábrica sin casi relacionarse con nadie. Se siente sola y su soledad la llevó a buscar cariño entre los brazos de un hombre que se cree enamorado de ella, pero Agnes sabe la verdad: en su círculo no cabe nadie más. El destino, sin embargo, no está de acuerdo con ella.
Bella Eastwood ha pasado siete años escondiéndose detrás de una fachada de timidez. Trabaja rodeada de libros, en un entorno idílico para ella, pero lo único que quiere es huir del dolor de su pasado. Está acostumbrada a la soledad y a ocuparse de sus asuntos y no quiere meterse en más líos. El destino, cómo no, hará que pronto conozca a alguien de quien no debería enamorarse.
Las tres hermanas, separadas tras siete años de soledad, se reúnen un día en New Salem, donde ocurre un extraño fenómeno: una torre se materializa en medio de la plaza dedicada a San Jorge, el santo que acabó con una plaga mortal y con todas las brujas de la zona.
¿Todas?
No, no todas. Cuando eran niñas, las hermanas Eastwood aprendieron de su abuela canciones infantiles, cuentos y rimas que, a oídos ajenos, pueden parecer absurdas. Pero ahí radica la magia de las mujeres: esconde tus más preciados secretos donde los hombres no vayan a mirar.
Ambientada a finales del siglo XIX, The Once and Future Witches habla de sufragismo; de los derechos de las mujeres, ricas, pobres, negras o blancas; de la importancia de la tradición oral y de los conocimientos olvidados que pasan de madres a hijas; del poder de la comunidad y de la fuerza que poseen cien mujeres unidas contra el status quo.
Estilo
Como The Ten Thousand Doors de January me encantó y le guardo mucho cariño, me lancé de cabeza a pedir The Once and Future Witches en Netgalley. Sin embargo, la primera vez que intenté leerlo me vi inmerse en una prosa un tanto rebuscada. Diría que no fue culpa del libro, porque la segunda vez que me puse a leerlo, meses después, la cosa fue mejor. Es muy posible que mi cabeza no estuviera preparada para un estilo tan rico que evocaba unas imágenes muy potentes y, a la par, un tanto extrañas para mí. La novela bebe muchísimo de los cuentos clásicos y se nota en su estilo y en las metáforas y recursos que emplea. Aun así, al final me ha parecido un estilo muy bien conseguido que no carece de fuerza, aunque reconozco que a veces se me hacía un tanto repetitivo.
La novela, además, está salpicada de hechizos basados en rimas infantiles y dichos populares. También hay capítulos que acaban con una versión distinta a los cuentos de hadas a los que estamos acostumbrades. Casi parece un gran retelling sobre la historia de las brujas.
Temas tratados
Me dio la sensación, nada más empezar The Once and Future Witches, de que cada página era un puñetazo. El inicio es bastante potente, ya que comienza hablando de sufragismo, de derechos laborales y de maltrato. Estos temas se desarrollan con más profundidad a lo largo del libro y enlaza con otros también importantes: la impotencia que siente una mujer cuando el mundo no la trata como una igual; el desamparo que sufren las mujeres que no son consideradas como "normales"; los palos que te da la vida y los palos que te da tu marido, tu padre o tu hermano; el control que ejercen sobre ti, sobre tu cuerpo y tu mente, sin que casi te des cuenta.
Sí, esta novela trata temas duros, pero también habla del amor entre hermanas, del poder de la comunidad, del poder de la rabia de una mujer cabreada y de sus múltiples usos... De hecho, podríamos decir que The Once and Future Witches es una novela sobre mujeres enfadadas que se encuentran, siembran el caos en una sociedad patriarcal y ya nadie las puede parar.
Representación
En esta novela hay una relación sáfica muy bien llevada (de esas de: "y vivieron felices y comieron perdices rodeadas de libros"); es, de hecho, una de las dos tramas románticas que aparecen.
Además, hay un personaje secundario trans y, además, se dice en la propia novela que es trans. Esto es importante, porque hace un par de años leí una novela, bastante conocida en el mundillo, donde la autora revelaba que un personaje era trans... en una nota al final del libro.
Por otra parte, la comunidad negra también tiene un papel importante en la trama y una de las mujeres principales es negra. Sin embargo, también se podría interpretar como una novela de salvador blanco, ya que las brujas negras eran más conscientes de su poder y estaban mejor organizadas que sus conciudadanas blancas, pero son tres muchachas blancas las que montan todo el percal y luego lo arreglan, librándolas del villano.
Curiosidades
The Once and Future Witches se presenta como una novela de fantasía, aunque en realidad presenta muchos elementos típicos de la ucronía, un subgénero de la ciencia ficción que especula sobre qué habría pasado si un acontecimiento histórico hubiera ocurrido de un modo distinto en vez de como ocurrió en realidad. En la novela de Harrow, la magia existe, pero ha sido prohibida, sobre todo para las mujeres. Así pues, cuando en Salem aparecen muchas mujeres practicando magia, las autoridades deciden actuar. Pero en vez de celebrar juicios, lo que hacen es quemar toda la población, con sus habitantes dentro.
Por otra parte, aparecen muchas figuras históricas que existieron de verdad, como las sufraistas Inez Gillman y Electa Gage. Además, Harrow convierte a muchos folclóricos y escritores de cuentos en mujeres, como Andrea Lang (Andrew Lang), Charlotte Perrault (Charles Perrault) o las hermanas Grimm. Esto se debe a una cuestión del mundo que ha creado Harrow, y es que las mujeres, a lo largo de los siglos, han escondido hechizos en cuentos de hadas.
Conclusión
The Once and Future Witches es, definitivamente, una novela muy potente sobre brujas y sobre el poder de la comunidad, la literatura y la sabiduría que pasa de madres a hijas. Desborda imaginación, aunque parte de una historia real, y trata temas importantes de los cuales aún tenemos que escribir mucho. Creo que, en el futuro, la recordaré con mucho cariño y, sin duda, seguiré leyendo todo lo que escriba Alix E. Harrow, porque consigue dejarme siempre con el corazón henchido.

This is a huge story in every sense of the word. At over 500 pages it has that slow burn feel about it but the text had me transfixed on the characters and my apprehension grew in each chapter with the story building to an outstanding breathtaking conclusion. Emotional, exhilarating and thrilling.

The story is set in 1893 and revolves around the three Eastwood sisters, Agnes Amaranth, Beatrice Belladonna and James Juniper as they come together after being estranged for many years. Their mother had died, after the birth of Juniper and her two older siblings left home and abusive father as soon as they could. Years later, Juniper is on the run for a crime she has committed and the three of them all end up in New Salem. They find themselves being drawn together and attempt to bring all the women's causes that are being separately being fought together and band them with the ladies suffragists of New Salem. With some, it is like trying to mix oil with water.

It had been a long time since the word ‘witch’ was bantered around and the last trials and burnings were just tales now. The sisters were intent in stirring up a bit of a frenzy among the women of New Salem with the ladies who were used to keeping their family secrets well hidden in fables and rhymes that had been passed down from mother to daughter.

The style of writing is pure perfection to the era it is set in with the author creating very visual places that are full of wonder and solid characters that I felt could do anything as long as I believed in them. The last few chapters were ones that I had to kept reminding myself to breathe. What a climactic ending it is. I loved how the author wove together historical events with her own magic and made this into an alternative but what if this had happened twist. Highly recommended!

I wish to thank the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

I enjoyed Alix E. Harrow’s ‘The Once and Future Witches’ tremendously, and it was such a perfect way to spend the evening after a tiring week. Not to mention, that it was such a lovely read for Halloween/spooky season.

‘The Once and Future Witches’ follows three Eastwood sisters, Jupiter, Bella and Agnes, reunited at last in New Salem, and discovering the witchy ways that seem to be long forgotten. And yet, they are not – for that their own grandmother has taught them ways and words, and different women around the city have been taught their own ways, their own secrets. Witches might have been burnt in the purges and the witchy ways might have been (almost) forgotten, reduced to the whispers in the shadows.

I loved how different and yet equally powerful were the voices of each sister in ‘The Once and Future Witches’, and how engaging the whole story was from the beginning to the very end. They all have been interesting, flawed and real. They all have made mistakes that cost them the close bond they once shared, and it takes the whole book to uncover some things that happened between them, but you can still see how much they care for each other. ‘The Once and Future Witches’ has such diverse characters, from Jupiter who has permanent damage to her leg and doesn’t let that stop her from achieving everything she sets up to, to some strong BIPOC representation (Cleo is truly one of my favourite characters!), and same-sex relationship.

Alix E. Harrow’s book is so fast-paced and full of events and troubles for Eastwood sisters, and still remains so beautifully written. I really enjoyed the author’s style, and by the end of ‘The Once and Future Witches’, I just wanted more.

If you’re on the hunt for the perfect witchy read this Halloween, then look no further than The Once and Future Witches! An amazingly ethereal read, Alix E. Harrow’s new novel combines compellingly powerful female characters with a spine-tingling recreation of patriarchal New Salem and a plot that will unite witches everywhere! I loved it! Huge thanks to NetGalley, Orbit and Alix E. Harrow for providing me with a complimentary e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Right from the very first page, The Once and Future Witches had such a distinctive, atmospheric tone that I actually felt as if I had stepped into a vortex and travelled back in time to 1890s New Salem. The way the opening captures and introduces each Eastwood sister… it’s one of the best openings to a story I’ve read in a long time, it hooked me right in. Harrow’s storytelling was so sharp and effervescent; every single word and sentence meticulously crafted to transport the reader right into the hearts and minds of the Eastwood sisters – I loved it! Language and writing style are so important to me as a reader and the way Harrow told her story is by far my absolute, favourite thing about this novel.

The story is told through the three perspectives of the Eastwood sisters and each one has their own different style linking to their personalities. James Juniper is wild, feisty and headstrong, Agnes Amaranth has a strong moral compass and an iron will to protect her own and Beatrice Belladonna calls out to every book-loving nerdigan out there. I found there was something to relate to in all of them and I was interested in reading every narrative equally rather than favouring one character over another.
What’s more, these characters are on a mission! The way the rights of women is merged with the rights of witches – all of that anger and vengeance from oppression and the patriarchy is turned into determined action which keeps driving the storyline forwards like an ongoing march without making the storyline come across as aggressive. A slow-burn Sapphic relationship also sprinkled a little romance into the mix allowing one of the main characters to really come into her own.

The subversion of famous historical male figures was like little Easter Eggs which I loved looking out for. Iterations to the heritage of witches with the presence of the Crone, the Mother, the Maiden and Familiars sang out to my inner history geek whilst the featuring of Avalon and a quest to revive the witching ways by hiding it underneath everyday women’s work appealed to my love of treasure hunting and puzzles.

All in all, The Once and Future Witches was exactly the novel I needed to get me right in the mood for spooky season. It is also one of my favourite representations of witches I’ve read in fiction for a long while. A beautifully-written, action-packed piece of witch-lore with characters I will be championing long into the future.
Review to be posted on blog: 14th October 2020

If I had to imagine what my ideal book about witches would be, The Once and Future Witches would be pretty close. It follows three sisters, who after being estranged for several years, found themselves again in New Salem. There, women are fighting to have the right to vote, while some sort of evil is awakening.

I have a soft spot for family sagas in any form, so of course this book won me over, and I was so happy to follow Bella, Agnes and Juniper. They all had amazing growth and characters arcs, and I couldn't even tell you which of them was my favourite, as they all wove their way into my heart for a different reason, and it would have changed with each chapter.

The Once and Future Witches is one of those books were the historical setting is very much present, which I loved, but Alix E. Harrow put her own spin on it, so it felt close to our world, while we could tell there were some differences. In a sense, this book reminded me of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is one of my favourite books. Moreover, I really enjoyed how magic worked in this world: it was with spells passed through generations, but also mysterious and lost books the characters had to study. Because of that, the characters all had to come together to get knowledge, teaching each other, making it all about sisterhood. It's also quite diverse: it challenges white feminism in this world, and the main romance is between two women (I relate to Beatrice because, I, too, would freak out if a woman like Cleopatra took an interest in me).

I loved that this book took its time introducing the characters and the world: it's slow-paced in all the best way, it takes its time with the story, and it made me appreciate it all the more. Now, make no mistake, this book is *quite* dark; it is set in a time and place where men at the head of society don't want to accept anyone who isn't like them, challenge them and could threaten their power, plus it is set in Salem, where all the witch trials took place, so it can be a lot at times. Still, it's a very empowering and magical story! Just be careful with some of the content in it.

Throughout the story, Alix E. Harrow had such beautiful writing I couldn't get enough. I found myself highlighting so many sentences to go back to them later on. You could also feel her love for storytelling, as she wove her own fairy tales both in the story and at the end of some chapters, which made me fall in love with this book even more.

All in all, this book was such a perfect Autumn read: it was both atmospheric and poetic, it's about witches and sisterhood, and I couldn't get enough of it. I'm looking forward to reading whatever Alix E. Harrow will write next!

I have been looking forward to this book for a while. I saved it for October because I thought it would be a perfect Halloween read and I was not wrong!
This book is not just about magic. This book is about community, women's rights and working together to build something for the future generations. I could feel that throughout. My favourite character would have to be Juniper hands down. She is strong, free and an overall badass. I enjoyed the way the book centred on three completely different characters, it was easy to relate to different parts of their personalities that way.
It took me a while to read and finish this book, I didn't feel as gripped as I hoped i would be. Some parts were quite slow and I didn't realise how long it would be.
Overall I did enjoy the overall story, I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would. Alix is an amazing author, I clearly felt the amount of research and time she put into the book to get it right.

At this time of year with the nights darker and the temperatures dropping there is nothing better than curling up with a very large book, The Once and Future Witches has been that book for the last few evenings.

It is the story of the estranged Eastwood sisters, James Juniper, Beatrice Belladonna and Agnes Amaranth and how, after a long estrangement, they find themselves in the same place at the same time in the town of New Salem.

The late 19th century in New Salem is not a good place for women, we cannot vote, we work for lecherous men who think they own us and we cannot use the gifts our mothers and grandmothers left us, the gifts of witching. Witching is forbidden, the last witches were burned to death and it’s frankly better that you keep any special little tricks to yourself.

Juniper Eastwood, the youngest, has other ideas, she joins the women’s suffrage movement with plans to kick up a fuss. She wants to gather witches and show the men the power they have, her sisters being older and slightly wiser are hesitant to begin with but slowly the Eastwood sisters find that they are not alone in their path, women from all backgrounds of life want to support them. Of course their path is not clear, a man stands in their way, a man who seems to be surrounded by dark shadows who do his bidding and he wants the Eastwood’s and their witch sisters gone by any means necessary. He has taken on the wrong sisters.

The Eastwood sisters are very unique characters and through them we meet a whole host of supporting characters, the most notable is Cleo, Bella’s lover. Being a witch in 1893 is a dangerous business but being in a biracial lesbian relationship is no picnic either and Cleo and Bella of course cannot display any hint of affection on the outside. Agnes is also hiding a secret, she is pregnant and she is single, not so much a big deal these days but again 1893, it is definitely frowned upon. The good thing is the ladies are not alone, they have a found many kindred spirits throughout New Salem and they are determined to help each other out through thick and thin as witching becomes punishable and the mayor hunts them down.

I almost DNF’d this book twice, it is a long book, maybe a touch too long as in the middle and near the end I got a little disenchanted with it. Don’t get me wrong it is beautifully written and the world building is suitably dark but sometimes I felt a few pages had passed with nothing much happening but a lot of talking and brooding. The repetition of their names also annoyed me a little but maybe its a nod to witches spells, the incantations? I also feel the side characters where exactly that, I really wanted to find out more about them .

I wanted this to to be much darker and possibly scarier but that is just me and my tastes, this wasn’t totally for me but that doesn’t mean it wont be for you.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

"The Once and Future Witches" is a cracking story and I love the way Alix E. Harrow uses language. The scene-setting and atmosphere are perfect. I did feel as though I was watching the characters through a haze of smoke though... almost like the author was deliberately keeping them at arm's length... so that stopped this from being a 5 star read for me.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Alix E Harrow has done it again.

This wonder of a book will blow your mind, explode your senses, and make the world a magical place. You will fall in love with the sisters, and feel everything it is possible to feel when reading a book. I can't rave about it enough. Just as I recommended "The Ten Thousand Doors of January" to everyone, I will be shouting about this book from the rooftops.

This is such an incredible read, with so many facets in terms of characters and plot. It covers a plethora of relevent topics such as social injustice, racism, sexism, ableism, sexuality, equality and sisterhood/found families. I got to a point where things felt resolved/achieved/ended and thought "this must be it, this must be the end...the next part of the story will be in book 2"...only to look down and see that I was only halfway through. At that point, I couldn't imagine how the author was going to fill the space BUT LET ME TELL YOU she jam packs it full of action.

It will be so good to have a beautiful finished copy in my hands (the cover art is stunning) so I can re-read with a real book.

I highly recommend this, if you haven't already pre-ordered (or got a certain bookish subscription box on the way) be sure to add this to your October "to buy" list. It'll be worth it, I promise!

This is the first book I have read by this author and won't be the last after reading this.

The story follows 3 sisters who find each other again in New Salem with their own individual worries and hardships going back to their childhood.

It is a story about the hardships women went through back then, a story of witches, and most of all a story of sisters.

The use of children's rhymes and fairy tales as ways of passing down spells was probably one of my favourite parts of the book.

This was a thoroughly compelling book from start to finish with an interesting take on witches and Salem. Would highly recommend this to anyone.

I didn't know what to expect from this book since I don't often read novels about witches. It's not really a conscious decision, the description usually either doesn't appeal to me or they don't cross my path.

The catch phrase of Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches spoke to me straightaway. "There's no such things as witches. But there will be."

This novel is so much more than "just" a story about witches, let me tell you why. It's set in the past in 1890's Salem. Well, it's set in New Salem because Old Salem has been destroyed when the witch burnings took place in the past.

The story is about the three Eastwood sisters. They were apart for many years because of their painful history, but they meet again in the city. They join the suffragists and start the search for the forgotten words and ways to make the women's movement into the witches' movement.

These words and ways are important because they make Harrow's tale unique in my view. Witches don't really exist. They are actually women scorned who have found the words and ways, and most importantly the will to change their circumstances. Apart from women's rights, this book tackles a whole foray of other issues. At times a bit too obvious for my liking, but most of the times nicely tucked away inside the seems of the storyline.

A story like this needs a strong antagonist. The Eastwoods' adversary is mayor-elect Gideon. He's a man who seems frail from the outside but seems to make shadows move at his will. He's pretty evil. To be honest, I expected a YA story but I don't think it is because it does get a bit dark at times.

I'm really happy I picked this novel up. I could happily rave about different elements of this story for hours such as the fact that the words of magic hidden are hidden in well-known fairy tales. How clever is that?

If you're interested in reading a book with multiple layers which tackles interesting subjects and which includes witches a fast-paced story and quite a lot of action. Look no further!

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

I was a big fan of Harrow's January book so was keen to crack this one open. For whatever reason it just didn't completely click with me. There is some familiarity here though as the author again uses storytelling to tell another story. As readers we are treated to reimaginings of fairy tales and nursery rhymes as hidden magic which is at times really interesting. I just felt that somewhere along the way the thread was lost. The pacing was dissatisfying and on the whole the book felt needlessly long.
I'm still a big fan and am very impressed at the speed that this must have been written. I also really appreciate that it was wrapped up in one instead of a clumsy series that a lesser fantasy writer would churn out. There is real magic in some of the passages in these pages, and I love that the author continues to write about strong, adventurous women. Even if this wasn't 100% the book for me I'll be back for the next one.

I enjoyed Alix E. Harrow's first book so I was excited to read this next book by her. However I didn't quite enjoy this book as much as I hoped. I mean, its about witches, where did it go wrong? 

For me I think it went wrong with the characters. We follow three sisters who had a hard life and who were separated 7 years previous. They all gravitate towards New Salem and in 1893 find each other once more. I though there the excitement would start but I never found it. I couldn't quite get myself to care about the 3 main characters. I still feel like I only scratched the surface on them. Maybe I would have liked it better if we had followed just the one character's point of view. There ended up being an awful lot of switches between the three. I just didn't care if any of them lived or died. 

And I felt no excitement about the story. The start tried to create almost a fairy tale like feeling with the rhymes and such, but throughout the story there was no such thing. It was honestly boring in places, especially nearing the mid of the book. Like I said before, there was no excitement to be had. I don't need to be surprised by twists. But I do need to care. And I never did.

This was just the perfect feminist witchy story I didńt know I needed it. The Ten Thousand Doors of January was my favorite book last year so I was beyond excited when I got the ARC. Before I started it I’d read some not so glowing reviews so I was afraid I wouldn’t love it as much as I did January but I should’ve known Ms. Harrow wouldn’t let me down. While I absolutely loved everything about this (characters, writing style, pacing, plot...) at the same time I totally can see why some of this can be a turn off for some people, it just happens to work perfectly for me. Also, I really enjoyed all the fairy tale and literary references.

With just two full-length published novels, Alix E. Harrow has gone straight to the top of my must-read authors and I’ll be here anxiously counting the minutes until she releases her next delightful story.

The sister story I have been hungering for. This is a tale of fierce and flawed witches told with magical Storytelling. I cried into my tea.

Alix Harrow became one of my sought-after authors because of her mesmerizing novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, this book brought me to tears and made me saturated to an enchanting world of January. Harrow's stories are nostalgic, heart-warming, vibrant, and tear-jerker.

I am so excited that I have been approved to read her another novel. Since the themes are all about magic and especially witches, this caught my attention, and fell in love with the story.

The story revolves around the Eastwood sisters,

Agnes, Bella, and Juniper grow-up by hearing magic and witchy stories that stick to them 7 years later. The sisters are separated and Juniper is the one left at New Salem. Because of circumstances that Juniper did, the path of the sister once again intertwined.

I loved the 1893 nostalgic vibe of the story. Though it was set in 1893, Harrow manages to write a vibrant and inspiring story of womanhood and sibling's love.

The relationship between the Eastwood sister is strong. Though circumstances may separate them, the love and concern they have for each other is what matters most and it was written very well. There are certain predicaments on each of the sisters but, that doesn't take away the bond of sisterhood between them.

The novel portrays also sexism in the 1800s. The thought of women is only for household material and not for greatness like in men. Harrow manages to portray strong women in this story and also narrates the indifference with women and men at this time. Especially with witches. The story also portrays the separation and disgust with witches which consist of women rather than men with magic.

I loved Harrow's writing style and the concept of the story but there are certain moments in the novel that quite dragging but forgivable. Nonetheless, The Once and Future Witches was another satisfying novel of sisterhood, magic, and women in power.