I absolutely loved this story! I am a sucker for a sapphic romance and this delivered! I adored the bond between the two and I loved the character growth the two shared. Would love to see more stories like this from the author as she did such a fantastic job!

The Hunter and Her Witch is a sapphic fantasy set in the misty forests of Washington State. I was drawn in by the promise of romance and magic, but this leaned much heavier on the supernatural and occult elements than I expected.

The world of witches, Wild Women, and ritual magic is detailed and immersive, but coming in without much background in witchcraft or the lingo, I found parts of the story hard to follow at first. The setting, with its lush and eerie Pacific Northwest forests, is a definite highlight, and the characters have strong, independent voices.

That said, the romance felt underdeveloped for my taste. I was hoping for more on page romance between the leads, but the focus stayed largely on the magical conflict and lore.

Who it’s for: Readers who love witchy fantasy, rich occult worldbuilding, and lush real-world settings will likely enjoy this.

Thanks to Bold Stroke Books for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Rachel Sullivan wrote this well and left me wanting to read more from the author. It had that element that I was hoping for from the description, it was everything that I was hoping for and was glad it was so well written.

I think this was much simpler than it should have been emotionally, considering the dynamics at play. The writing is very surface-level literal, characters feel like they're written to be much more complicated than they are. Fairly okay read.

I expected a bit more...

Oriana is a witch, and after leaving her abusive ex, her only goal is to build her yoga studio and have a normal, simple life. But when she's tasked with training a young witch in exchange of having her studio built, normal becomes unattainable. Because among the workers is Sarah, a hunter. Her enemy.

I saw hunter/witch romance but make it wlw and I jumped. This book was a very quick read, and for once, I wish it wasn't. Even if the story was overall interesting and the world intriguing, I felt like everything was rushed and underdevelopped, which was a bit disappointing for me. Of course, it's a personal opinion, but the plot evolved very quickly and everything happened in the span of a few days (hours?) which felt very fast for everything there was to unpack. Whether it was the romance or the intrigue in itself, I expected a bit more time for development of the characters and the setting. However, the intrigue in itself was intriguing and had a lot of potential, I think. Both women were interesting and I liked the hunter/witch vibe despite the lies and secrets it involved. All in all, it could have been an amazing read if it was a bit more developped.

I don't necessarily recommend, unless you don't mind very fast-paced and rushed stories!

“I’m broken. He broke me.”
“No. You’re hurting. Hurting is temporary. Broken isn’t.”

A book was an interesting premise but could have benefited from just more. The story is very short which means there isn’t a lot of time to develop the romance or parts of the world. I do believe this would have benefit from just more content, leaning into showing not telling.

this was a quick paced witch and hunter romantasy that doesn't waste a line of dialogue to get the story across. i appreciated the quickness, as it kept me interested. but i wished there was more character development, especially of Oriana. this book also tackles some really intriguing topics (mainly the patriarchal design of the hunters) but doesn't have the page length to really get into any of it, but that would've opened the book into something that it isn't in its current form.

I'm not quite sure what I expected going into this. I enjoy paranormal romance and I also enjoy lesbian books. I liked the development of the main characters and how the interactions were between them for the most part. The history with the Hunters and how that all works with witches and Wild Women was actually really interesting.

There were themes being explored with past relationships and childhood history affecting mental health that I thought was really good too.

For some reason this book just didn't do it for me. There were a few things in there that just didn't work and maybe someone else would enjoy. I don't want to give anything away spoiler wise so I will just say that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC.

As much as I wanted to enjoy this, unfortunately it was not for me. I felt that the story was rushed, the characters lacked development and I was personally not a fan of the insta love as I felt like the characters did not have any chemistry with one another. I think if this was longer and had an opportunity to be fully expanded, it would have been very enjoyable, however in this novella format, it was lacking in development.

Personally, I enjoyed reading this book. The synopsis was really eye-catching and to be honest, the story is dark which is a contrast to the cover of the book. The romance felt a bit pushed in my opinion. I am a sucker for “mates” or “predestined” lovers but I felt like they didn’t have much individual character development to make the “getting together” part of the story feel as strong as it should’ve been. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, which is not something bad but it felt like I was being told a story instead of reading the story. I really enjoyed the fantasy aspect of this story which is something that I was excited to read about, especially with how one’s own individual powers can be healing but also hurtful.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing this earc to me and also Bold Strokes Books Inc.

What I liked
1.incredibly well fleshed out world
2. fairly grounded depiction of witchcraft for a fantasy setting
3. excellent chemistry between the the two leading ladies
What didn't work as well for me
1. Pacing was a bit wonky, especially near the end of the story
2. the speed at which the bond between the two main characters forms was a bit jarring.
who I would recommend this title for
The Hunter and Her Witch is an excellent read for fans of sapphic witch stories looking for a grounded fantasy with an excellent exploration of healing and trust after trauma.

Witch Oriana is making a new start after an abusive relationship. Sarah, a Hunter, is also finding her new place in a new world that has changed its place for her. When the pair come together to build a yoga studio, sparks fly.
As a general rule, I do not enjoy books where werewolves are like, separate parts and refer to their primal selves as their "wolf" and talk about it like it is a separate entity from themselves. That is exactly how the Hunters talk about themselves in this book. It was weird. I thought that the religious aspect of the Hunters was both interesting and kind of weird. It seemed pretty heavy-handed. This book wasn't bad, but it also wasn't something I liked much.

This is a super interesting world of Wild Women, Witches and Hunters! I really enjoyed learning more about the world, but, sadly, didn't connect with either lead Oriana or Sarah. Both women deal with immense trauma from their pasts - though I feel, Sarah should have been delved a bit more into (religious/cult/female abuse) rather than the larger focus on Oriana's abusive ex-husband.

The world of witches, huntresses, wild women and other magical beings is beautifully crafted in this story. A huge amount of detail is given about covens, rituals and goddess lore, all of which is interesting and entertaining. But, and it’s a big but, in the context of this also being a romance, there is so much information about the fantasy aspect that it kind of swamps the two leads. They both have compelling backstories and cool abilities so a bit more attention spent on them would have made the book more engaging.

Oriana has left an abusive relationship and started a new life in Obsidian Falls. As she settles into herself, her powers as a witch grow and become more balanced.

Guided by the trees and her Coven, Oriana does all she can to protect the area from evil, including Hunters.

Sarah arrives in Obsidian Falls, having agreed to help her Wild Woman friend Faline build a yoga studio for Oriana. The moment Sarah meets Oriana's gaze, something in her shifts and calls to the witch.

As Sarah and Oriana circle each other, unable to stay away, it's almost too late when Sarah realises that Oriana has assumed that Sarah is another of the Wild Women. But she isn't. She's a full-blown Hunter... the only female Hunter she knows of in the male dominated Hunter history.

Can even soulmates find happiness together if they are sworn enemies with a history drenched in blood and loss?
Will Oriana and Sarah survive long enough to find out?


This was a fantastic read for anyone who loves sapphic fantasy tales interweaved with the mythical and paranormal.

I enjoyed Oriana and Sarah's individual journeys through pain and anxiety, and their internal struggles were written well, making them very relatable.

With all this said, however, I did drop one star because of minor world-building gaps.

For those unaware, 'The Hunter and Her Witch' is set in the same world as Sullivan's 'Wild Women' series. This leaves some of the Wild Women and Hunter backstory as assumed knowledge. (If you loved the parts of Faline and Marcus you saw, you should read the other series!)

Terrific fantasy read with sapphic enemies to lovers romance.


*I received an advance reader copy for free, and I'm voluntarily leaving a review*

3.5*

Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for allowing me a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I'm not going to write a summary because you can just read it in the book page. Overall, I liked the book. I liked how it handled the trauma the characters are going through, particularly Oriana. I could relate to her because I also got involved with a narcissist in the past (thankfully it didn't last long for me), and that left me broken and second guessing myself as well, most of the time believing what that person told me about myself rather than what I knew. Reading from Oriana's perspective was frustrating but real.

I also enjoyed Sarah's perspective and history, but it didn't sit well with me that her trauma was kinda swept aside. I mean, okay, Oriana was dealing with her own stuff, but Sarah's role was only to help Oriana heal and she had to deal with everything on her own. <spoiler> Moreover, when everything was over she seemed perfectly fine. And I know that her finding out about Huntresses made her come to terms with her heritage, but that doesn't erase all the years of oppression she suffered and all that she went through. </spoiler>

What I didn't appreciate was the insta-love, I get that in this book it's kinda explained why they developed these feelings so quickly and how, but there's this chapter where Sarah said something like "From what I've learned from Oriana, she isn't the kind of person to back down once she set her mind to something" (not the actual quote), okay, she did say just after, not that I've known her that long, but anyway it was like oh really you've gathered that from your four interactions over the last three days? There's also this chapter where Oriana is like "I'm going to miss our long talks" and once again it's like you've had like one of those so far, what do you mean talks in plural?

<spoiler> Also, where were the wild women during the fight with the hell hound? I kept waiting for them to appear, I mean, they had super-hearing so they must've known what was going on. I want to think that they trusted Oriana and Sarah blindly and so wanted them to have the moment (?), but I don't know, it was a matter of life or death. </spoiler>

I don't know, I feel like this book tried to introduce things that in the end only served to get the couple together, like Friday's training, and were later either never addressed again or solved in a minute to get back to Oriana and Sarah.

A 3.5 for me. This is a sweet story of two people with trauma falling in love. Oriana is recovering from an abusive ex, while Sarah is recovering from an abusive family/growing up in a cult. Faline is a wild woman with a problem, namely she needs a witch to help her daughter; said witch wants a yoga studio to be built. Luckily, Faline has just the people, a group of exhunters!

Only Oriana doesn't exactly want a bunch of people who hunted her people hanging on her property. So that limits who can help. Faline just doesn't mention that Sarah also happens to be Hunter.

None of this is going to come back to bite them at all. Especially as the connection between Sarah and Oriana grows.

This was an ok read for me. The book was not what I was expecting at all. This is more of a young adult read that should appeal to younger audiences. The romance between the main characters was not well developed , and the paranormal aspects were few and fair between. I wouldn't recommend this book to my friends or family, because it's something they do unit want to read. But , I would recommend this to anyone who likes to read young adult books.

I think the story is fast paced full of action. However it seems like it was being rushed which is why I didn't fully connect. I recommend as I'm sure this will appeal to someone else.

Thank you Bold Strokes Books and NetGalley.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for the arc!

I wanted to like this, it's about witches in the woods in eastern Washington—what's not to love?

I think the two main shortcomings I had with this book were the length and the tell-not-show nature. I think shorter books can work. This one is about 190 pages on the Netgalley copy I received, and there wasn't quite enough space for the author to do what they wanted to do. I also believe that because of the short page count, the author cut corners in character development. It felt rushed and the romance felt undeserved because there was no growth between them. You can't just say two people are "mates" (barf) and thus they can start saying "I love you."

There was a lot of therapy talk in this,, and honestly it felt like someone going to therapy, walking themselves through thought process in a complete monologue, stating they worked through their issues, thanking the therapist, and then leaving. You can talk about working through the internalized misogyny all you want, but sarah isn't cured two chapters later. Doesn't work like that.

I think this would be best for a younger audience,, like 14-16 years. But it didn't do much for me.