3.75 stars

The Honey Witch was one of my most anticipated book releases of the year, and while the pace at the start was a bit slow it was still an enjoyable cozy read, I loved the queernormative regency world the story takes place in.

A few criticisms I have are that I did feel like the romance was a bit rushed at times, and that I felt that the writing style over explained some points, while I wish that I could have learnt a bit more about the magic system. There was also a quite obvious plot twist early on in the book that isn't revealed till near the end, which was a bit frustrating. Despite this I would still recommend it if you want to a read a witchy sapphic romance book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC

Thank you to Little Brown Book Group and Netgalley for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

The Honey Witch is a cosy, cottagecore dream for the first half (or so) of the book, really taking its time to paint the beautiful setting and set up our main characters. Perfect for fans of Bridgerton & Half a Soul, the regency era setting and magic are an absolute perfect combination that gave me heaps of serotonin ✨

I’ll admit that the pacing of this book is quite strange - the first 30-40% felt quite long, but not necessarily in a negative way. Here we really got chance to get to know Marigold, her family, the society she lives within and fights and her longing to be that “wild woman” she feels inside. Some of the opening chapters were my absolute favourite and made for a promising start for me.

Once she begins her training, things started to fall apart for me - we loose a lot of time in Marigold’s journey of learning how to be a honey witch and I really wish we’d got to see more of her trial and error with her craft, and how she cares for the isle.
Weirdly, I almost wanted this to be a cottagecore version of Circe and to really feel that solitude; this would’ve gave Marigold the time to reflect on her previous relationships and connections with her family, all while honing her craft and being one with the island - instead August and Lottie lodge themselves into the plot and again, this is where things became confusing for me.

I like August as a friend to Marigold - he has unwavering loyalty, with the energy and enthusiasm of a golden retriever, which I love, but I just wish we knew what made him tick a little better and his character was rooted in something deeper.
Lottie was confusing to me - it was obvious that she would become the love interest of the story and the romance is really where I feel let down. It chalked up to feel very YA to me. There didn’t seem to be a lot of depth to their relationship and I still struggle to see who Lottie really is as a person, aside from pushing people away if they try to get close and being an artist with a tragic past. I feel as though the author tried to make this an enemies to lovers situation, but it fell flat for me and didn’t feel like a genuine hatred to love.

I won’t spoil the plot for you; however I found the conflict to be predicable and, again to touch on the pacing, over FAR too quickly!
All the “action” was within the last 15-10% and the ending had me honestly a bit irritated with how abruptly it ended.
(SLIGHT SPOILER HERE)
I wanted to know more of how Ash and Honey witches could live in harmony, but we weren’t left with much reconciliation on this.

Where I do think this book shines is in the atmosphere and setting. I absolutely adored the descriptive writing style, particularly with the isle itself and the cottage. This book is THE perfect spring/summer read - Shields does such an amazing job of really placing you on the isle of Innisfree, with all of its flora, fauna, bees and spirits alive and breathing on the page. The cover really draws you into the beautiful atmosphere and I truly didn’t want to leave the world she had created - I could so clearly see, taste, smell and hear the world “around” me and there’s nothing I love more than when a book can take you to another world like this.

All in all, this was an enjoyable read for me, but unfortunately let me down with the romance and pacing. I do think this is incredibly promising from a debut author, so I’m very excited to see what Shields turns her hand to next.

Thank you again to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this 🖤

I didn’t have many expectations going into this, I liked the title and the loose premise and NetGalley kindly shared an e-copy with me to read and review prior to release.
For me the writing style was a little jumbled. This is set in the 1800s and the writing sometimes feels of that time period but then at times, it feels too contemporary. From the very beginning, the story is rushed – we meet a witch Althea and find out she is close to death. We then meet Marigold and we learn she has 2 siblings, she feels slightly out of place in society and feels quite different to most people around her. Althea is her grandmother, tells her she is a witch and she needs to decide if she wants to live that life – she’s close to death and needs a successor, Marigold goes with her despite her own mother being very against it.
It happens SO FAST. There doesn’t seem to be much time taken to process the information, Marigold just accepts it very quickly and it just seems like we need to get this part out of the way to get to the main Witchy story. Her grandmother being ill is mentioned from the outset and I can’t help but think that maybe that information should have been withheld – there may have been more of a mystery as to why her grandmother chooses now to tell Marigold all of this, we could have pieced together the signs of her being close to passing which would have made the passing feel much more emotional.
There is a lot of telling not showing and not enough real development to bring you into the story. As Marigold is a Honey Witch, she has an affinity with bees and there is a lot of description of bees and the harvesting of honey and potions which is nice and does slow the pace down, I just wish that was applied to the main plot and the character arcs so they felt a bit more rewarding and you have some time to really connect with what’s going on.
With the vast amount of telling not showing, I feel that the story and some important plot points were way too predictable. The romance element is one of these, though it’s very tender and sweet and the general feeling of the romance in this story is predictable from the outset, moves very quickly and left me struggling to connect.
Generally this book had some lovely moments and it did have a lot of potential but I felt it needed a lot more finessing. We could have had more development of the magic system as it felt very loose with unexplained elements. I thought it was too rushed, if more time was given to plot and character development, this would have resonated more.
If you like a very cozy romantasy with sweet romance and very mild conflict, then you’ll like this. I just needed more from this.

Thank you to RedHook and NetGalley for gifting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book was my saddest DNF of the year, I wanted to love it SO bad. The author’s descriptions were so beautifully crafted. I don’t often feel immersed in fictional worlds when I read, but that is what kept me going to 45%.

I felt the prose was too much and was at the expense of the pacing and plot. It also had a decently bad case of telling vs showing. Once the initial charm wore off, I kept waiting for something more to happen and could not get into the storyline. While this book was not for me, I can see many regency or cottage core readers enjoying it. I look forward to reading any future works Sydney J. Shields releases.

(3.5 rounded up to 4.0.)

I enjoyed this cozy(-ish) storyline very much and it held my attention most of the time. Just turn your brain off and let the words, descriptions and feelings - from the author's pure imagination - flow slowly over you as you read. There is unbearable sadness, short-lived joy, and the wonderful, yet overwhelming, warmth, passion and love of a deep relationship.

There are different types of relationships in here, and the one I loved the most was our main character Marigold's with her grandmother. Marigold has never felt at peace with her surroundings. She'd much rather be watching the spirits of the meadow, and dance in her bare feet by the light of the moon.

After an argument with her mum, her grandmother takes her back to her wee cottage in Innisfree where Marigold had such lovely memories as a child. Granny hopes to train her as the succeeding Honey Witch. The only downside to this calling is that no one can fall in love with a Honey Witch. Even at the age of twenty-one, Marigold doesn't believe that love will ever be for her anyway.

I loved her interactions with the bees... so beautiful, like a collective of like-minded beings. I'm still not wholly convinced about the character of Lottie, though. I must've missed the part inbetween detesting and lust somewhere along the line. Lots of comparisons here such as: light/dark, good/bad and Honey/Ash witches, and I'm still a wee bit stunned that this is a debut novel. Count me in for your next one, please, Sydney!

I chose to read an ARC of this work, which I voluntarily and honestly reviewed. All opinions are my own. My thanks to the author, the publishers and NetGalley.

This Heartwarming Saphic book has a curse thats lasted generations that must have a cure right? This sweet, magical book was everything I hoped it would be. This is one of my most anticipated releases and I was lucky enough to receive an arc and WOW this did not disappoint. I would hooked straight away. I loved all the main characters and the romance that needs to defy everything is wonderful. This is what I want from a cosy cottage core book and it did not disappoint.

Wow. I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but now I can say it's safe to expect everything from it and not be disappointed.
At the heart of the tale is the relationship between a grandmother and her granddaughter, bonded by love and also loss and grief, and their shared witchy powers. This part is very personal to the author, and so it's written with sadness but also joy, and deeply heartfelt.
There is a lot of love in this book - even though there's a curse in place that prevents love. There is Mari and Lottie - and I've rarely feared and felt for two people more. There's also August and his search - and let's not spoil but still say the love stories are delightfully queer.
The magic system with Honey Witches and Ash Witches is just great, and I've never encountered something like this before. With the two opposites representing life and death, creation and destruction, this is just right up my alley.
This is not a cozy read despite the title, and you will feel all the feels reading it, and you will cry and laugh and fear. And yet, what remains is a cozy feeling in this standalone novel.
I fully recommend it.

5/5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @littlebrownbookgroup for the eARC!

#HoneyWitch #fantasy #netgalley #bookstagram

Beautiful sapphic story of a girl who never quite fit in then reconnected with her grandmother then discovered she is the next honey witch

This story was such a fun cosy read I wanted to live on the isle along marigold!

This was really good! It was such a heartwarming story

The Honey Witch is a sapphic cosy fantasy book that focuses on Marigold Claude, a young woman who has never felt like she fit in. She has always preferred the company of nature and the meadow close to her house. Her grandmother, whom she has not seen since childhood, reappears and introduces her to her birthright as the next honey witch, living on the Isle of Innisfree. There Marigold meets Lottie, a grumpy sceptic who grows on her, but who, according to the curse on the honey witches, can never fall in love with her, but can love be commanded like that?

I loved this book! The magic system was very different and interesting. I really wanted to live on the Isle of Innisfree! It was a really enchanting and cosy read. The feelings Marigold and Lottie develop for each other felt very believable and gradual. It's a slow burn (which I love) and it's so worth the wait.

Thank you so much to Orbit UK for my ARC!

*Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.*

DNF at page 115. I really wanted to love this book but it just wasn't working for me.

The pacing of this book is very uneven, and a lack of change in tone means the dramatic moments lack the urgency needed to build tension, so instead they drift by in the same dreamy manner as the slow descriptions. A field of wildflowers gets the same attention as a woman dying from ectopic pregnancy, a life changing decision less time than a meadow at midnight; hell, the life changing moment barely happened on screen, so to speak. It almost feels like the opposite of books that forsake world building for plot: this book rushes through the plot to get back to the scenery. It's a strange choice.

The lack of breathing space is obvious when it comes to relationships, which are more told than shown, and when they are shown they lack depth. Marigold and her grandmother are so familiar so quickly that it is genuinely hard to believe they haven't seen each other for years. Marigold is so blasé about taking on a family curse that it's borderline farcical. She keeps casually dropping in the whole "no love" element without giving it real consideration, which would work if a realisation of having brought this on herself was coming, but it isn't. Actually taking time to consider a rushed decision and its ramifications and deal with them isn't the kind of maturity this book is interested in. It feels very YA as a consequence.

Somehow women are treated the same as the Regency setting would expect, but queer relationships are an accepted part of society. It is a strange choice and more than a little jarring. 1831 is the date given, but it is difficult to read this in the setting. There are also inconsistencies in the language, sometimes much more casual like "boyfriend", sometimes aiming for something sort of archaic sounding: "I know not what to do now" appears at a dramatic moment and is clunky enough to disrupt the flow.

Every opportunity to dwell on feelings, which would work for the slow pace the book is trying to aim for, is dodged by a chapter end or time skip. Gaining her magic, leaving her family, her entire relationship with August, the immediate aftermath of Althea's abrupt death: we skip it all in favour of being told about it at a distance, moving on to something else much more nebulous and less interesting. Mr Benny rearranges her grandmother's room without her knowledge in the immediate aftermath of the death, and she reports this without ever clarifying a single feeling about it. Was she relieved he took that responsibility from her? Resentful? Anything?

Also the romance takes a long time to even begin to emerge and when it does it is weak. Lottie is someone met in passing who wants nothing to do with Marigold, and Marigold is hot for her for some reason. It gets funnier when Lottie's very reasonable suspicion of Marigold's magic, which we barely see and have little real confirmation is working, is treated like a challenge, but then immediately becomes a non issue. She then burns herself and Lottie is the one to put together something healing for a burn, which is ridiculous in context.

Essentially this book had some interesting ideas and writing that worked well in descriptions, but the plot and structure were not strong enough to pull it all together. A third of the way in little has happened, and what has happened has little impact, and Marigold has seen no development as a person or a character. Perhaps there was more coming in the later two thirds of the book, but this was too wobbly a beginning to warrant the journey to the end.

This book started off so well. I loved the magic and the cosy fantasy setting. However, the romance and some parts later on in the story became a bit too cringey for my tastes, and I started to lose interest in the storyline.

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. Marigold has always felt out of place until her grandmother shows up and offers to train her as the new honey witch, but the magic comes at a price.
This is a a lovely, cottagecore sapphic fantasy which made me feel like I wanted to be transported to Innisfree.
It took a while to get to the main plot and the romance so I wasn’t overly invested until near the end but I did go in expecting a nice cosy romance.
Overall I enjoyed the book and it was a nice, easy read that made me smile while I was reading it.

This is by far the best ARC I have ever read! This book made me fall in love with womanhood all over again. It made me want to run barefoot through the fields, mix potions, and channel my inner witch. The Honey Witch is a whimsical sapphic fantasy romance that makes you feel a spectrum of emotions. The book follows a young girl, Marigold, and her journey of becoming a honey witch, just like her grandmother. She moves to a remote island to reside in a small cottage with her grandmother where she discovers her honey magic and the secrets of the past. I absolutely adored the FMC and the way her character encompasses both gentleness and fierceness. She was a breath of fresh air! To add, the romance in this book was truly exhilarating and the tension between the main characters was absolutely sizzling.

The book touches upon the themes of friendship and loss, desire and heartbreak. The feeling of grief, which is something inherently negative and sad, has been described truly beautifully in this story. The plot itself is paced perfectly to keep the readers glued to the story until the very end. The author served us a true cottage core dream full of magic and I cannot wait for the rest of the bookish world to discover this masterpiece.

P.S. There are many quotes from this book that I want imprinted into my mind but this one is my favourite:

"These are the wild women who run barefoot through the meadow, who teach new songs to the birds, who howl at the moon together. Wild women are their own kind of magic."

Unfortunately, I dnf’d this at 22% as I was very bored. I expected some cozy worldbuilding and while the magic system seemed fleshed out enough from what I read, it was still lacking. I wasn’t enjoying the writing style or the main character. I found her ability to jump right in and practice her magic with such ease after not even knowing she was a witch odd and everything seemed to be moving too quickly and easily. This just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I DNF at 47%, felt like the story was progressing at such a slow speed. It was cosy, but cosy doesn’t mean boring, which this was.

A sweet witchy sapphic fantasy romance. This was a low stakes read with such a cosy feel to it. I loved the unique magic system and the growth of the characters relationship. The description was beautiful and I've never wanted a piece of honey cake more than when reading this. Marigold and Lottie's character and relationship progression was a journey. I genuinely disliked Lottie at the start but loved her by the end. I did have an inkling on the reveal for a while but I loved how it played out. The ending was slightly higher stakes albeit a tiny bit rushed and I definitely cried at a few points in the book too. Such a good read.

Marigold feels like she doesn't quite belong at home. So when her grandmother appears and offers to take her to the small island of Innisfree, where Marigold can become the next Honey witch, she immediately accepts. There is only one problem. There is a curse that comes with being the honey witch. No one can fall in love with you.

I absolutely loved this one and have not been able to put it down! It was whimsical and cosy, and I didn't want it to end. I loved both Marigold and Lottie as characters, and the grumpy X sunshine vibe was brilliant.

The world building in this one was great. The cottagey, magic feel was carried through this book amazingly. I loved the chapters where Marigold took over from her grandmother and started learning all about her magic and creating all sorts of potions with the honey.

The whole premise of this story was amazing, and I highly recommend it to fans of 'cosy' fantasy.

Thank you Little, Brown Book Group UK and NetGalley for providing me with this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to read and review many amazing arcs. This one has a stunning cover and a nice and easy story but it just wasn’t for me so I took the rare and difficult decision to DNF.

What bothered me personally was the childish behavior and thought process of the main character, the many cliches and the sudden shifts in tone which made me wonder if this maybe is an inexperienced author? Not a bad story at all and I think some readers might enjoy it but it gave me mixed feelings.

Sadly this didn't work for me. For starters, right from the beginning, the main character Marigold read much younger than her twenty years. It really felt very young adult. Considering the adult themes later in the novel it just felt a little strange and hard to connect to emotionally. The writing sadly just didn't capture me. It felt very flat and two dimensional.The plot synopsis was selling something I just don't think the writing could deliver on. The whole curse thing was also very silly. It had a very obvious plot hole and I didn't feel it made a lot of sense. The honey witches are cursed not to fall in love in order to destroy their bloodline. But they can apparently have babies without any outside help because their magic can just magic up a baby. So what is the point of the curse? I just don't think it was really thought out that well. Sadly this was a miss for me. I think the author has potential though. One last thing: in the first chapter i noticed 3 taylor swift references. This book felt like the author was trying to write a taylor swift song. It was just weird.

This is a lovely heartwarming story.

The honey witch is about marigolds who has always felt different to her siblings and she discovers that she’s a honey witch. She moves to her grandmothers cottage inis-free to learn how to become a witch and this follows her story as she learns and grows.

I adore the characters, Lottie is such a tsundere. The writing is sublime. Increadibly atmospheric and the romance although slow burn is so sweet.

I especially enjoyed the relationship between Marigolds and her grandmother Althea and the idea that all magic has a counterbalance magic. Honey having its balance be ash Magic was so interesting to me. Very unique.

Overall, it’s a wonderful cozy cottage core sapphic romance that I would recommend if you enjoy low fantasy settings with a focus on relationships and characters. I would absolutely recommend!

Thank you to littlebrown book group uk and NetGalley for the Arc. All opinions here are my own and I am sharing them voluntarily.

I will post my review on my Instagram, Waterstones and Goodreads.