I DNF'ed this book at 17%. I thought the premise sounded interesting from the synopsis, but in reality it did not hold my attention at all. The central conflict in the book was ridiculous and I really tried to suspend my disbelief, but I couldn't. Usually in the first fifth part of the book, the characters have been established and I have feelings about them — either good or bad or something in between— but I had absolutely nothing going on in my brain for the FMC and the other supporting characters. They felt like paper dolls. No substance. I left off about the point where she was working her way through a sort of escape room with lots of intricate puzzles to figure out, and it was like she was breezing through on easy mode, there was no tension or anything that made me want to keep reading. I didn't even get to the witch part of the book, which is why I requested the ARC to begin with, which is sad. I hardly ever DNF books and am sad that this one didn't hold my attention.

This is definitely a nice cozy mystery, I just feel like it felt a little first drafty at times, but the vibe was really nice.

An Intrigue of Witches by Esme Addison Is a Good witchy read that made me want to go to Scotland. The cover caught my eye and then the title made me History read it . This book has the right amount of Mystery , Scottish History / Mythology, And Witchy vibes that i couldnt get enough. Great read!

This definitely was a really intriguing read, filled with mystery, puzzles, sci-fi, mystery and a touch of magic.

Sidney is a Historian, however after being placed on furlough, she receives an invite to find an artefact - if she finds it, she'll receive a cash reward. The location of this treasure hunt? Her home town of Robbinsville.

Venturing back to Robbinsville, where her grandmother Fiona lives, Sidney takes on a job at the local museum - a cover for her to freely move around to try and find the clues of this artefact. But the more Sidney digs, the more dangerous this quest becomes.

𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀
This definitely reminded me of some sort of Da Vinci Code film, the mystery, puzzles and clues... alongside other people attempting to stop you, by all means necessary.

I enjoyed adventuring with Sidney to uncover the clues of the artefact, and the revelations told along the way. The different societies really intrigued me, alongside the magic that surrounds these groups. I am a big fan of Ancient Egyptian history, so loved the connections to this timeline.

Although enjoyable, there were quite a few places where there were large information dumps, causing me to zone out of what I was reading and get slightly confused.

With this being book one however, it definitely sets the other books up nicely.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this copy. This review is voluntary.

An Intrigue of Witches takes us through the story of Sidney - placed on furlough as a popular historian, she returns to her hometown to follow a mysterious request to uncover an ancient artefact. As Sidney follows the clues, she learns more about the town, her family, and magic.
I particularly enjoyed the Scottish links in this book. The VR/quantum physics baddies were a little jarring for me, personally. The characters were rich and well written.

If you're looking for a historical magic fantasy sci fi mashup, this is the book for you.

This book was an interesting mishmash of the past and present, filled with history, political machinations, and a critical eye to the dangers of technology. Diverse characters and an compelling premise. Many of the historical characters referenced in within the pages were based on actual people from American history, which gave this book a bit of an educational allure.

But there were also things I didn't love. There was a lot of genealogy, which became confusing. There were sections that felt like info dumps—slow, convoluted, and (again) confusing. There were places where the pacing was far too slow. And there were also sections where it was hard to muster the appropriate suspension of disbelief.

I liked it. There were some good aspects. But I didn't love it.

I absolutely loved this book! As many others have said it has a real Davinci Code feel about it. The touch of magic and the paranormal was just perfect.

The main character, Sidney, is well respected historian who finds herself back in her home town having to solve a mystery that at times threatens her life. I found Sidney to be a likeable character - she is intelligent and driven. As the book progresses you learn much about her family history which really helps to understand her.

The book is fast paced - I often didn't want to put it down as the chapters ended with cliff hanger after cliff hanger. The references to current political situations made the story feel modern. I did struggle a little with following some of the AI elements of the book but this didn't distract from my enjoyment of it at all.

I can see that this book is the first in a new series and I will definitely pick up the next book.

Thank you to Netgalley for an eARC of this book.

This had the potential to be such a good story, but unfortunately it fell flat for me. There was SO much information crammed into the book that I became overwhelmed and couldn't keep things straight. If it is setting things up for a trilogy, though, I think the second and third book have the potential to be better since so much groundwork was laid in this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and SevernHouse.com for the advance reader's copy of this book.

An Intrigue of Witches is a fun, fast paced novel of history, myth, magic and imagination. Sydney Taylor is a talented historian searching for a mysterious artifact. As she uncovers clues, and questions historical beliefs, Sydney must decide who can be trusted. She must also determine what is possible in this new understanding of the history of her family, and the impact on the future of the world.

I look forward to Sydney's next adventure!

Thank you Netgally and Severn House for giving me access to this eARC.

Sidney Taylor is a thirty year old American history professor who after getting benched at work receives an anonymous invitation to hunt for a missing archeological treasure. And a bounty of one million dollar. Sidney must now return to her hometown Robbinsville where she will find much more than she bargained for.

This book made me extremely confused. It’s marketed as “National Treasure meets A Discovery of Witches” which made me really interested, I LOVE A Discovery of Witches. There’s just one problem and that is that there’s no discovery of witches here…

Instead of the thrills of National Treasure and the dark academia vibes you get from A Discovery of Witches we get threats of AI? And a whole story that revolves around AI taking over the world? I truly didn’t see that coming when I requested this book and I did not like it. I can understand the thought behind it but I feel like it was rushed and felt very weird.

Sidney doesn’t feel like a thirty year old woman, she feels so much younger. Especially when we can read her inner monologue and all that. She could pass as someone in their early twenties…
The writing of her felt really off for me regarding how she handled when bad things happened to her. She could be almost murdered and then continue on like nothing happened. Myself would need a few months with a therapist but that might just be me..?

The love interest (?) was an insta love with barely any conversation between the pair. She lays eyes on him and instantly feels a “connection”. Girl please, he could be a serial killer for all you know.

Speaking of serial killers, (there’s none in the story… ish?) the person who sends Sidney threatening text messages felt really off. It was such a short storyline, the messages felt like a teenage girl had written them (I thought of Pretty Little Liars and all of A’s messages) and I wasn’t scared for the main character at all? SPOILERS: Also the part where he enters their home and ties up the grandma? And then does nothing more? Hello???

The story fell really flat for me and it could have been a Wattpad story for all I know. Especially with all that end stuff. I- I don’t even have words. Sad to say this is a 1/5 rating for me and I won’t be continuing the series.

ALSO, what was that artifact that Sidney found but could not reveal at her old job? It was never mentioned and that’s the biggest mystery of this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Severn house Publishers and the author for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book to be released in May 2024 in exchange for an honest review.

An Intrigue of Witches - A Secret Society Mystery # 1
by Esme Addison

What would you do if everything you knew about American history and their leaders was planned by a secret society formed centuries ago in Europe?

Fans of The DaVinci Code, and National Treasure meets Outlander, and A Discovery of Witches will love this new urban fantasy filled with magic, ancient bloodlines, cryptic messages, puzzles, hidden rooms and a treasure hunt that leads to the most coveted relic in the world.

Thirty year old Sidney Taylor embarks on an unexpected mysterious treasure hunt that has been hidden in her hometown for centuries. Guarded by a secret society to keep hidden from the evil that wishes to rule the world, she must locate the relic before they do which is not an easy task. Even for this well educated historian, she too must piece the puzzles together to find it.

The closer she gets to the truth, Sidney, her family, and the people sworn to protect the artifact and bloodline are in more danger. They are all closely watched, and there isn’t anything they won’t do to obtain what they seek, including murder.

I’m a big fan of mysterious Indiana Jones/National Treasure type stories, and an even bigger fan of stories with witches and ancient magic. I found this book very interesting and loved the inclusion of history and weaving in the past to write an adventure with focus on well regarded black figures through time.

Her families ties to fated restoration of power back to a fated family who plans to only bring protection to the world was weaved well. It seems this character and her powerful friends and family have much more work to do. I look forward to reading about it.

Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt?!?!

Once you think you got the puzzles nope here comes a twist!

Cozy mystery sprinkled with sci-fi elements and witches.

Enjoyed the story look to the next book.

As a big fan of Doctor Who and The Librarians, I was excited to dive into "The Intrigue of Witches," hoping for a cool mix of spooky stuff and history. But, uh, it didn't quite deliver. Instead of getting lost in the magic, the story mostly fixated on red-haired women getting the short end of the stick, some far-fetched VR conspiracy theories, and a forced love interest that felt totally out of place. Also, a whole secret society was built up to be this big thing, only to really lack suspense.

At first, I was intrigued by the whole red-haired women vs. witch hunts angle. It had this cool mysterious vibe, like maybe there'd be some actual magic involved, especially with hints of fae portals and stuff. But as I kept reading, I realized the intrigue of witches I was hoping for just wasn't there.

By the halfway mark, I was pretty bummed out. The story didn't hold my attention, and there were many moments where it felt like the author was dumping a ton of info on me all at once. It left me feeling disconnected from the characters and their struggles. Eventually, I just had to call it quits on unraveling the story's secrets.

Thank you to Severn House and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest and independent review of An Intrigue of Witches.

This book is honestly a melting pot of mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, history, and magic. Throw it all in a caldron, mix three times, add a pinch of 'intrigue' and you've got An Intrigue of Witches. Without giving too much away (which is very easy to do with this one), the novel follows the journey of our red headed historian, Sidney Taylor, freshly forced into her furlough from the university where he is employed as a historian, due to some questionable story lines/excuses. Sidney is enlisted on a quest to help a find a long lost archeological treasure in exchange for a cool million dollars.

This quest quickly leads her back to small towns Robbinsville, NC where she reunites with her grandmother and joins the local museum as a new employee (again) in order to secure a cover while she searches for the missing artifact. The only problem is, Sidney has absolutely zero idea what she's actually looking for or how to find it. She also doesn't understand why it's protected and what lengths will people go to in order to ensure it's not found. In almost no time at all, she's off and running through a series of quests that take her back over two hundred years across history and time. Mix in a little sci-fi and technology, and you've got yourself a modern day treasure hunt for the ages!

At the start of this book I was so excited because it was giving major National Treasure vibes, and I was over the MOON. Mix that with witches and I was all on board. The part where I really deviated and disconnected with the book was the added sci-fi element. I don't want to disclose too much for fear of giving away too many secrets, but lets just say I wasn't on board with the whole "VR" agenda woven throughout the plotline. It just seemed too far from the original story line we were headed down. An odd left turn I guess you could say.

Essentially, I just wanted to see things head in a different direction with a different sci-fi element. At times, there was just so much going on I could not keep track of facts or clues. My head was a bit of a mess, so I really had to slow down to read this one, which isn't a bad thing. It just was more confusing than I would have hoped. Had this book focused more on mystery, witches, and treasure hunts, I would have been all on board. But ultimately, the confusing sci-fi element dropped my overall rating of this one.

An Intrigue of Witches follows Sidney, a recently furloughed Smithsonian researcher, on a mysterious quest to find a lost artifact. Along the way she discovers the truth about her heritage and the secret societies controlling the elite.

At first I found the story slow and the writing a bit clunky. As the book went on the pacing got much better and the story started to flow as more pieces came together. I began to really root for the characters and thoroughly enjoyed Sidney's journey of self discovery.

If you like secret societies, deep history, treasure hunts, witches, and a sprinkle of science fiction this book is for you.

Overall I had a good time with An Intrigue of Witches. The story kind of reminds me of Legendborn mixed with National Treasure. The secret societies, prophecies, black history, and urban fantasy elements from Legendborn plus the mysterious and adventurous treasure hunting reminiscent of National Treasure combined made for a really fun read! I'm looking forward to more in this series.

3.5/5 stars.

This was such an interesting read. I’ve truly never read anything like it. There’s magic, and science, and secret groups trying to control the government. There was a lot going on but it wasn’t so much that it was hard to follow and I felt it all wrapped up neatly in the end.
This book is a little hard to explain because of that, but I did enjoy reading it. I actually had no idea what would happen next.

#NetGalley #AnIntrigueofWitches
I would like to thank NetGalley for giving me the chance to let me read this book early in exchange for my honest review. The overall plot was an interesting one, I love the main character and how the author wrote her throughout the book. My main gripe is how there's some parts where it felt like the author was putting too much themes and subplots in this story, making it confusing to fully understand at times. Since it looks like this book would end up becoming a series, I hope that the plots become cohesive in any potential next books of the series.

This was such an interesting mix of genres - Fantasy, historical fiction, some sci-fi elements thrown in, a dystopian twist, a dash of cosy mysteries - honestly I really loved it! And it’s so rare that we find such a genuinely unique plot line and world. There was a lot I loved here and just a handful of things I think could be improved on - it didn’t quite hit the mark for a 5 star read but I could definitely need future books in the series getting there.

I loved how empowering so many of the female characters and their relationships were - there were so many strong female characters here and I feel like the book THRIVED because of them. I also loved the intergenerational interactions!

I do think this book could have been a little longer as there is a lot here and I would have really enjoyed more time to absorb everything and some quieter lulls in the pacing. Everything feels fairly fast paced and there’s a lot of developments here, I think a handful of smaller, quieter scenes might have lent itself to further character developments and relationship depths. But maybe more of that will come in future books?

I know other reviewers have also mentioned this, but I wish we were shown things more than we we told about them. There are so many little facts we are told about and if we had only been shown them they would have hit so much harder - it feels like a little thing to complain about but it’s things like this which really level up the writing.

Things are absolutely left open for more books but I loved that the plot was neatly tied together - no cheap cliffhangers here! You could easily read and love this without needing to read further books (although I will definitely be reading any further installments that might come out!)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an E-ARC

I like how the author set the stage with visually descriptive narrative, engaging dialogue, and several story subplots to keep me intrigued from the start. The mystery was executed nicely with characters here and there having pivotal roles and secrets left to uncover that kept me in the game as I had to know who was doing what to whom and how this would end. Overall, a good read, especially if you like treasure hunts.

Unfortunately I did not enjoy this book. I found the period of history that is focused on boring and the magic took long to enter the story. It was more National Treasure than A Discovery of Witches which is why I didn't enjoy it.

I am sure many readers will like this story, but for me it just wasn't my cup of tea.