This is one of those books that literally hooks you from the first page. There were a few times it lost me after that but I quickly found my way back and could not wait to see how Raphael's story panned out.

Past and present collide in a modern-day fantasy ripe with vivid imagery.

The lost city of Ys is little more than a myth, at least that is what Ariadne (Ari) Walker believes until her brother opens the Pandora's box left behind by her late fiancé Simon, triggering a whirlwind of PTSD and grief.

Thorne's writing is rich with evocative detail that brings you right to coastal France. However, if the names and locations don't jar you, the transitions between description and dialogue might. An easy read, heavy with romance, water Witch went down more like a light summer read than a rich work of fantasy.

If you are someone looking for your next romance laden with fantasy and interspersed with mystery and curses- this book is for you. If you are looking for a more complex fantasy, on the other hand, Thorne's book may not be your cup of tea.

[Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.]

The setting and descriptive prose in this book is the highlight of the story. It was a quick read and did keep me engaged.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐮, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞, 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫, 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐞𝐫.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞.”

MC who is an archaeologist? Check!
Interesting French Folklore? Check!
A Sunken City that needs to be found? Check!
A Curse that needs to be broken? Check!
A mystery that needs to be solved? Check!
A Magical mask that makes you tell the truth or you forfeit your life? Check!
Unexpected romantic connections? Check!

This story enthralled me from the get-go, & I binge read it in one day. I needed to know what happened next, I needed to know if Ari, her brother & the rest of the marine archaeological team were going to find the lost city of Ys. The book also made me realise I don’t know a lot about French Folklore, but I’m now incredibly keen to discover more!
I loved Ari, she was a fantastic protagonist, clever, tenacious, brave & the fact that she’s an Archaeologist just made her much more awesome to me. I loved her relationships with her brother Jason, Nico & Rafael. Also, can we talk about Rafael’s Great-Aunt/Memè Seraphine! She was wonderful & I loved her interactions in the book with Rafael, Ari & the rest of the team searching for Ys. I loved how the author wove this story of grief, coping with loved one’s unexpected deaths & finding a future without them, while still loving them & honouring their memory, adventure, magic & mystery. It was a great balance. I also loved the fact that Ari was in her 30’s, along with the rest of the main characters.

There were enough twists & turns to keep me entertained, enough mystery to make me want to keep turning the page & I enjoyed the smattering of romance. I definitely want to read more books centred around French/Britannic Folklore & Legends. I only wish there was an epilogue set 2/3/5 years down the track, so that we could see where everyone ended up, but that’s a regular complaint of mine, because I love epilogues & getting glimpses into the lives of the characters that have endeared themselves onto your heart. Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A very captivating read with lots of amazing imagery throughout!
A wonderful mix of mystery, folklore, and mythology with dashes of paranormal and romance throughout. If you're looking for a modern archeological folklore book- this is for you! If you're looking for romance- this isn't the one, but I'm glad for that in this regard. I personally felt like there was enough romantic aspects to this book without taking away from the main theme of the curse and finding the lost city of Ys.

The characters were well thought out and I enjoyed the way they developed through the book.
I love trying to guess the ending to any mystery and I love that there were surprises around corners I hadn't expected. I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and I really wanted more paranormal aspects, but I liked the book overall and would recommend to anyone looking for a folklore mystery!

An okay read,, once you get past the beginning. The grief is conveyed in a poetic and sentimental style that kind of threw me off. It didn’t seem very grounded and engaging . Overall the pace was pretty slow, and some of the dialogue seemed unnatural and stiff. For the vast majority of the book, the mood was almost bland, not eerie or sad as I expected. It felt vibeless, for lack of a better word. And the ending made sense, but seemed apart from the rest of the book.

Brittany, France is a magical and mystical place, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and various underwater caverns and caves; it is a land of mystery, tradition, and ancient lore. Many generations ago, this was said to have been the location of the great city of Ys. The city was beautiful and intriguing, the city had a princess who was known for her beauty, power, and she wielded ancient magic. When the princess was betrayed by a man, the city's protection was lifted, it quickly flooded and was lost to the ocean; as was the princess and she cursed his name with her last breath. As generations passed, it became lore and myth.

Present day: Ariadne Walker lost her fiance, Simon, during a diving expedition to uncover Ys; she is still mourning the loss years later and reluctantly agrees to return to Brittany to sort through Simon's belongings at camp. On one last dive with the team, Ari discovers an artifact that might be the clue needed to find Ys, or at the very least to prove its existence. The artifact is surrounded by mystery, misfortune, and magic. Ari meets a handsome stranger in town, who believes that the curse is real and asks for her help to find answers.

The Water Witch is an intriguing tale that successfully entwines mystery, treasure hunting, romance, and history. Thorne creates such endearing and engaging characters that stay with you well after you've finished the story. I enjoyed how the story unfolded through parallel storylines of the past and present.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a creepy, dark and a little romantic. Although the men in this story are all terrible and I wasn't rooting for him. But this was well written and I wanted to know what happened to Ari and the truth behind Simon. I wish the story didn't include the romantic aspect as I felt that brought the story down a star for me.

It would good and the writing sucked me in. It just wasn't the best for me.

This is a wonderful book, one of those that has me both wanting a sequel and not at the same time, because the experience was so perfect and I don't want that to be tarnished.

It has everything; wonderful, relatable characters, a sense of wonder, mystery, intrigue and only a dash of romance. I would absolutely recommend this for everyone's catalogue.

I found this book to be a unique tale that offered something different from the normal fantasy realm. The background pieces of France were fascinating. The plot ended up being a bit predictable, but overall this was an interesting read.

This book was so good. It had the right amount of fantasy mixed in with reality, well as real as a story involving a cursed family history and drama can get.
It didn't take me long to read but I had so many fantastic things to say it took me long to think about what to write.
The characters were also wholesome with their own unique stories and not one was sidetracked.
A witch, a family curse and someone out for blood.
A fantasy, thriller , drama, romance gift-wrapped in a mystery

Based on real French lore filled with mermaids and other creatures!
A great read! Ari is brilliant!
Thankyou to netgalley for the arc

This isn't really my kind of book, where everyone is young, beautiful and charmed, or else a heartless villain, but I read the whole thing and mostly enjoyed it. There is a nice atmospheric feel to it, set in the Breton coast of France, with collapsing cliffs and dangerous riptides, and local nobility.

This book adds fictional elements to a real legend. Told masterfully and full of stunning imagery, this is the story of a lost city. This story tells of the underwater city of Ys that can be found in Brittany, France.

We follow Ariadne Walker who is still dealing with the loss of her fiance Simon who drowned in the Atlantic Ocean looking for the lost city of Ys and its treasures. Simon told Ari of the legends of the area, how the princess of Ys became a water witch when her city was drowned by a lover who betrayed her. Ari doesn't believe in the tales Simon tells, believing them to just be myths. But what if the myths are true?

This is a book full of magic, adventure, and written so detail-oriented that I felt like I was there the whole time with the characters. I even shivered when they did their dives knowing that the water was cold. The author really painted beautiful pictures in writing form. Thank you to Netgalley and Jessica Thorne for the opportunity to read this wonderful book!

||That's what the book is about: Ari is an archaeologist visiting her brother on the French coast to help him find the sunken city of Ys. There she meets Rafael, whose male ancestors all fell victim to the water at the age of 35. Together, the two try to prevent the curse and become entangled in a web of magic, sunken cities and secrets.||🌊

I thought the story was really well done. You're not sure until the end whether the curse and the water witch really exist or not. It dragged a bit in parts, but maybe that was because I never read much in one piece. ✨

I really enjoyed this book. Ari is wonderfully smart and unapologetic. She is smarter than every man in the room and they know it and acknowledge it. Rafael is captivating and sexy. The suspense in this story kept me turning the page. I love a book with a spooky factor and I find they are hard to find without falling into the horror category. The description of this book did a good job letting me know this was going to be a bit gothic and I am here for it. Definitely a Gothic Romance to me. Learning more and more about Simon and his motives and his findings made my emotions go up and down. I hated him then loved him then part of me just wished he would go away because I wanted so much more Rafael. Looking for "Ys" was interesting and I certainly did look up whether or not it was an actual legend because it was so interesting and throw in a with, you\'ve got a must-read for me. I was very entertained and very grateful for the thrill ride. Will be recommending it..

The water witch is a dark and twisted fantasy romance filled with deep waters, majestic mermaid lore and spooky twists. This is the ultimate fall read and will leave you flipping pages to find out what next.

What a story filled with adventure! I definitely enjoyed the water witch and as it is outside my typical genre, I was surprised at how much I did. I loved the lore elements and was pleasantly surprised to find out they're based in real lore of France. The characters were definitely likable and you'll wanted to stay tuned to see how it all ends. I definitely recommend giving The Water Witch a try!

The Water Witch is real. And so is Ys. It is what the inhabitants of this little village in Brittany believe. For Ariadne Walker, it is just a story. A stupid belief that her brother and his team of treasure hunters love to share as well. But Simon, the love of her life, died believing in this tale. And Rafael, the rich heir of the DuLac family is certain he is doomed, except if he discovers the truth about the legendary city. So Arie decides to help him, and maybe pierce the secret of what really happened to Simon in the process.

I really really really loved this book. Based on the legend of Ys, the mysterious city swallowed by the ocean in Brittany in France, this book has a strong myth and legend background where romance, adventure, mystery and fantasy meet.

I knew about the Ys legend before reading the book, and am amazed by the work Jessica Thorne did with it. She describes places in Brittany, bringing the reader along with the characters, as they dig into very old Celtic beliefs. This novel smells like the salty wind on the Western coast.

The characters are all very interesting. Ariadne Walker has to deal with the death of her fiancé Simon, drowned in the stormy Atlantic Ocean as he was looking for proof of the underwater city of Ys. As she put pieces of the puzzle together, she discovers that some part of the legend may be true. Dahut, the beautiful princess of Ys, that some accuse of being the reason the city was destroyed, still haunts the mind of the inhabitants of Saint Sirène, such as Ankou, the personification of Death.

If you love well written and strongly atmospheric stories, you will surely enjoy the Water Witch. It is full of mysteries, hidden beneath the waves.

Thank you netgalley for providing me with a free arc of the water witch in exchange for a honest review.

I dnfed this at 40% in. The writing failed to intrigue me into continuing it, as it's quite blank, missing the element of mystery and paranormal horror this book promised. The characters are also very uninteresting and feel extremely one dimensional having very unstable developments as a way for the story to continue. Overall I lost all interest and will probably not try to read this again