Wowza, what a story. A historical folklore love letter. I love anything witchy and this was truly...magic. Thanks to the publisher for the chance to read and review this book. Incredibly atmospheric.

An absolutely enthralling historical fantasy that immediately drew me in. I loved each of the sisters and how their individual chapters had such different voices, their contrasting personalities and experiences.

Whoa. This was beautiful, emotional, heartbreaking. I have to admit, it took me a while to get through this because it's not a very lighthearted read, but I loved it anyway.
Definitely a perfect read for spooky season. I'm glad I finally got around to reading this.

I loved the storyline, our three sisters, the bonds and relationships that were formed, the past and the present and the future. Bravo, Alix E. Harrow!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this arc.

Great read with atmospheric setting. A unique take on witches

Once and Future Witches is a classic example of a book getting a lot of hype, and me leaving it on my shelf for a couple of years. What is it about hype that makes me instantly guarded? In this case, however, I’m glad it did.

It’s a tricky one for me to review. For most of the book, I wasn’t sure how I felt. I struggled to connect to the characters and found the pace to be slow. It felt there was a big climax in the middle, and I wasn’t sure where the story was going from there.

But towards the end, I became gripped. I’d come to care more for the characters and was genuinely interested to see how this was going to end, and if all the questions would be answered.

Let’s start with the characters. Bella, Agnes, and Juniper are given constant reminders of how they differ from one another, but I found they had one thing in common: it was initially hard to like them all. They’re so closed off emotionally, unwilling to commit or let down their defences. As a reader, it made it hard for me to care about them. If they weren’t prepared to put their hearts on the line, why should I?

I liked Bella the most – although cannot guarantee that wasn’t just because of the bookish side of her. Agnes is so detached that it took a long time to warm to her. Juniper, on the other hand, is rash and headstrong, to the point I wanted to give her a shake. Once these extremes in personality start to mellow, that’s when I became engaged.

It also felt a while before any tension developed. Of course, the suffragette movement had its own pace, but many chapters pass before the book gains momentum beyond that and onto the true story: witches. There’s a lot of information/spell gathering and making connections which make the pace slow.

The mid-story peak showed the potential the book had. It gained pace, the tension increased and it was the first time you saw the characters truly fight. It had drawn me in! Then everything slows again, although admittedly needed to begin with. It could’ve been a hundred pages less without losing any of the drama.

But I can see why it was talked about a lot. There’re strong messages about women’s rights and voices, the power of differences, and the magic of finding uniting traits despite all those differences. It’s a story full of magic and sisterhood, finding family and romance, and something bigger than yourself to believe and fight in.

I’m glad I didn’t read it while it was highly visible, as I think I’d have been disappointed. But I’m also glad I’ve read it now. In hindsight, it was an enjoyable book covering some heavy themes. Kudos to the author as well for showing a lot of research had gone into this book and it didn’t magic its way past any historical accuracy.

Harrow has a gorgeous writing style and her books are always an immediate purchase for me. I love the atmosphere and the magic at play writhing the narrative.

Unfortunately I will be unable to give feedback on this book. I requested this book and had intentions of reading it. However my taste in books has changed and I do not feel that a review from me would do the book justice

I was surprised by how much o enjoyed this book. I really liked Alix writting style and also loved the fairytale snippets of stories and how they was tied into the actual story, mentioning the darkness to them but also that they hold power. The descriptions made it easy to see and understand without overloading with detail was a perfect balance.

3 sister lost then found, and once found so much happens, evil hidding in plain sight. I cant wait to read more by Alix as i loved this so much. Highly recommened to any reader who likes a bit of magic, drama, high stakes, sister rivalry but also found family.

I must be honest, I wasn‘t sure if I will like this book, but at the end I must admit it was one of the best books written about witches. It‘s a story full of witchcraft, and sisterhood. I loved the beautiful respresentation of early feminism shown in the book. Great book to read during the spooky season in October.

Please note that this book is not for me - I have read the book, However I had to DNF and because i do not like to give negative reviews I will not review this book fully - there is no specific reason for not liking this book. I found it a struggle to read and did not enjoy trying to force myself to read this book.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused and thank you for the opportunity to read this book

This was quite a unique read with a different take on witches. It did take me a while to get in to, but once I did I found it interesting and quite compelling

"...her daddy said women were like hens, flocking together and pecking at one another, and Juniper didn't want to be a hen..."

As summer wanes there is the first breath of autumn in the air, so it is time to retreat indoors, preferably with the company of witchy books. I've had this book for some time, but I wanted to wait until I could give myself up to it entirely. I took a few days off from my own writing and crept into the fantasy world of New Salem and The Once and Future Witches - Bella, Agnes and Juniper.

This book is a melting pot of feminism, literature, Authurian legend, folklore, fairytale, mythology and politics, which the author has stirred together in a big cauldron, thereby creating a totally unique novel. Here we have the suffragettes that we all know from history, with the Pankhursts making a cameo appearance, yet in this novel they are not only fighting for the right to vote, they are fighting for the restoration of witchcraft. The sisters are natural witches who want witchcraft to take up its rightful place in their society, giving women back their goddess given power. It is a dangerous task and the city of New Salem where they live was built upon the ashes of the witches they executed in old Salem.

The story is told from the perspectives of the three sisters and this does lead to a certain amount of head hopping in that you just get used to one character, when the viewpoint changes again.

I also wonder if there isn't just a bit too much crammed into the story. Although it works as a cohesive whole, there is a lot in this novel and I am not convinced that all of it was necessary. For instance, although I understand that this is a feminist book, I'm not sure why the author felt the need to turn all great writers of the past into women, so we have a Charlotte Perrault instead of the fairytale anthologist Charles Perrault and the Sisters Grimm instead of the Brothers Grimm. I'm not sure that this was needed and it seemed quite clunky. Diminishing or appropriating the accomplishments of men from the past does not lift women higher! So I didn't like that part.

There also seems to be a trend for lesbian sub-plots in publishing at the moment, with many new titles having an obligatory gay female character, or at least one who is open to sexual experimentation. I feel that this is being driven by the diversity band wagon, rather than the authenticity of the books, or even of the authors themselves. It makes me wonder how much of it is being suggested to authors by publishers in an effort to keep up with social trends. This novel is no different and again, I didn't really like it. I'm not sure what it adds to the witch story and even though I liked the character of Bella, I'm not remotely interested in reading about her lesbian crush!

On the whole though, The Once and Future Witches did draw me in and I enjoyed the overall plot and the storytelling. It is very nicely written and as I said, it is completely unique in it's approach to historical witchery. It just wasn't the book that I was expecting. However, I'm sure young millennial readers will love it as it ticks all their politically correct boxes!

Happy Reading!
Marie x

"...proper witching...only ever takes three things: the will to listen to it, the words to speak with it, and the way to let it into the world. The will, the words, and the way"

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I honestly want to rate this higher than I have but I was at least 1/4 of the way in before I finally found myself submerged in the plot and felt anything endearing of the characters. Personally, I think the author is trying to get too many diversity needs met to properly address any of these, from the suffragettes, to 'New Cairo' and the black community, to LGBTQ+, feminism and then witching on top. There are so many aspects however which were still great; The sisters of Avalon, Old and New Salem, the library and Mr August Lee, Further to this, I loved the exploration of sisterhood throughout the story and the empowerment of women.

Will I pick up another Alix Harrow novel - potentially if I don't have anything else to read but it won't be on my pre-order list I don't think.

Overall, 3/5 stars for me!!

I don't know why it took me so long to read this book but I enjoyed the audiobook a lot. The pacing is a bit slow at times yet it made it up with the brilliant characters and their relationships. Happy to read my first Alix E Harrow book. Might have to reread again.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for giving me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 stars

The writing style was arguably the best part of the entire book. It was gripping and meticulous in commanding the attention of the reader. It urged me to keep reading and not stop until I had read every single page of this beautiful book.

At first I was intrigued by our huge cast of characters but slowly it became too confusing and I lost track of who was who. The alternating chapters from the perspective from each character were well written but broke the flow of the story.

The book was too slow at times and did not do justice in executing the unique premise it was working with.
I see room for improvement in the author's future works, and I definitely had an amazing experience reading this book.

2.75 stars
Oh, I wanted to love this so badly but it just didn't quite work out.
The feminist themes were a big draw to the story for me but it mainly focused on white feminism which isn't exactly very inclusive. I felt that the first half was far too slow-paced and, while the second half was better, it all felt too dense. It didn't need to be SO long. Of course, I loved the witches and magical themes (who wouldn't?!), and I particularly enjoyed the sisterly relationships.

This definitely has its flaws but, I appreciate the plot and the intentions for the story. Loved the magical aspects!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

This was one of the @booking_pretty_book_club picks for this month, and was also a buddy read I started with @all_books_great_and_small, but she raced ahead and finished day's ago! 🤣

I love a good witchy read and this didn't disappoint.

TOAFW is a highly entertaining, atmospheric and emotionally charged read. The story flows from the pages, the pacing is spot on and it's a mix of historical fiction and fantasy.

Beautifully written, with some fantastic world building and the characterisations of the Eastwood Sister's so good, they were well developed and they made the story come to life with their folklore, witching and the relationship's they had with one another.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you to Orbit for my copy of this book!
I don’t know why it took me so long to read this. I loved this book and the sisters and their different personalities. At times it felt a little slow but I did really enjoy this one!

i fell in love with her previous book, so when i decided to read this one, i had great expectations, and i was not disappointed. i loved the story, the protagonists, but especially the writing. i absolutely adore the author's style,

I lived the writing of this book, it made everything seem so magical and the characters were well written and relatable. There were some parts of the story where I did feel myself loosing interest however I persevered and I’m glad I did. Overall a magical story!