Big Little Lies, but make it witchy! I absolutely enjoyed the heck out of this book. It was such a good look at humanity, friendship, loss and small communities. I loved the way witchcraft was built into the modern world. I thought it was really unique and clever. This book was filled with a lot of twists and turns, but once all is said and done, what actually happened makes sense and you realize it was sprinkled in there all long. The characters were all very well developed. You’ll certainly empathize with all of them, but there’s a few that absolutely deserve what came to them. I also enjoyed the look at the mob mentality, especially in a small town and how easy it is to turn on friends and neighbors when you don’t understand them. I cannot wait to see this as a show on AMC+. I think it’s going to be so interesting and compelling. Highly recommend this for fans of neighborhood dramas and witchcraft.
CW: mentions of rape, sexual assault, grooming, bullying, slut shaming, violence, death

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark for the free digital copy in exchange for an honest review!

I'm going to have to give this one a one star.
What started out as a cool mystery of a popular highschool football player's tragic death, turned into a slow crawl to find the details.
There were multiple POVs, I've lost count of how many, and most of them honestly felt pointless.
The town also has a coven of witches, that while it was a unique touch, felt very out of place with the story.
I quickly lost interest in the story and the characters. I didn't really care for any of them and I didn't feel the need to get any of my questions answered.
I can see this working out better as a TV show, but as a book I found it lacking.
I'm grateful for the opportunity, and hope this book finds it's right crowd. Unfortunately, that is not me.
Thank you again to the publisher and the author. I hope you find success.
Happy Reading and Blessed Be.
Lily Ashtree

Sanctuary is a small town in Connecticut which, like the rest of the country, has legal protections and rights in place for witches. Of course there are also rules and restrictions on witchcraft and what is legally permitted for witches to perform. Sarah Fenn and her daughter, Harper, live in Sanctuary where Sarah has a small business and Harper goes to school. The small town is their home, where they have made a life and have a circle of friends. However, when a graduation party ends in tragedy with one of the town’s most popular and well-known teens dead, the old prejudices and fears about witchcraft begin to re-emerge. What will happen to Sarah and Harper if there is a modern-day witch hunt in Sanctuary?

I am late to the party on this one. Sourcebooks Landmark kindly offered me a digital copy to review, now that the book has been made into a series about to premiere in January! Wow – I just loved this modern era cautionary tale about mass hysteria and witchcraft. The novel is told from multiple perspectives and has a large cast of characters, but the primary ones are Sarah, Harper, Abigail (as the mother of the dead teen and one of Sarah’s friend circle) and Maggie, the detective in charge of investigating the teen’s death and whether witchcraft was actually involved. The real magic in this story lies in the relationships between the characters, where we see the complex friendships between the women in Sarah’s coven, the lengths that parents will go to defend and protect their children, and the conflicted decisions they must make between family and friendship. The author very effectively demonstrates how quickly common sense and public order can deteriorate in the face of rumours, superstition and fear. The ending is morally ambiguous but also satisfying.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and I am definitely watching this in January!

This was such a clever and unique plot and I found myself enthralled from the start. This was extremely well written and I was surprised this was a debut novel, I will be looking out for more from this author

Very interesting and fast paced read that feels like you’re reading a classic book like practical magic, with a dark mystery at the center and witches and witchcraft all about. I liked the setting of sanctuary, and how it was written and described by the author. I can see why people would want to live here. I also like the use of the witch hunt metaphor literally and figuratively in the story, it really helps move the plot along and gives us a fun tale to follow.

“A suspenseful debut that twists Big Little Lies with Practical Magic in a dark mystery of four women, a wicked secret--and an investigation that shakes their Connecticut town to the core.”

In all honesty, I never would have guessed that this was a debut novel. James has written a book that immediately hooked me. She gave so many characters such a distinct voice, and as a reader I was truly invested in their wellbeing. I really enjoyed this modern day witch-hunt, and I am excited to see what James will do next.

(Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the opportunity to read and review this title)

I went into this book thinking this was going to be not another modern day "witch" story, that it would be different and give me that historical feel. I didn't get that in this story. Although the book is not bad and there is a great twist at the end, it just was not what I hoped it would be. That is on me, and as I said I don't think it was bad, just a little too cheesy modern day witch trope that I don't enjoy.

Witchy, twisty and a bit much for my mind.
Masterfully written, just not my cup of tea. It kept me reading, so I know the writing was on point, however the story itself was far-fetched and a bit to "beyond" for my liking.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, V.V. James and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Thank you to Net Galley for the digital advance reader copy of Sanctuary. James writes a great mystery. Many twists keep the reader guessing how the star athlete died. The witch aspect of the book was a little unbelievable, but it was still a great story. 4 stars

What a roller coaster of emotions in this book. Witchcraft is real and regulated, friendships are tested between 4 women and the cruelty of some towards others. This book is terrifying in the fact that people can turn on each other the way they do in this book. Full of fascinating characters, some that are completely despicable, lies and fear, the investigation of a star quarterback's death spirals out of control. Was it an accident, murder or was he killed by witchcraft?

AT the beginning this was a bit slow and confusing with too many characters at once, but it didn't take long for it to pick up for me. It was interesting how the author created a world where magic is real, but governed. In the end, I was ready for another book set in this world.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
The synopsis of this book sounded intriguing to me so I requested a copy to read.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during that 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.

The plot sounded interesting to me...modern day witches', suburbia, I'm all in! The book fell short of my expectations. There were to many view points. However, I enjoyed the ending.

I needed time to absorb and dissect this book. Sanctuary by V.V. James is a VERY BIG BOOK. And I am not talking about page or word count…

It would have been so much easier if I could pigenhole this book into ‘small town mentality goes mad’… But…

It’s not as much a small town and its mentality with all its stereotypes piled up, it is human mentality. It is that and human weakneses and wickedness.

Town of Sanctuary turns on its ihabitants. It turns on the very people that helped, advised, saved. Well, witches can be tolerated when they are needed. But when they are not… Or worse, when they are to blame or to be made a scapegoat…

V.V. James has chosen witches as scapegoats for the town. However, anyone could have been in their place. It could have been people of colour or different nationalities, homosexual or single mothers, or even single fathers… ‘If you are not like us, you are against us’…

Sanctuary was a roller-coaster trip down the rabbit hole of human cruelty to abandon, selfishness to destruction and smallmindedness to point of no return.

When town turns on two women, mother is doing her best and worst to protect her child from the madness of people they used to call friends. When a mother loses her child she turns into a monster trying to cling on to unreal and find anyone to blame.

V.V. James has done an amazing job with this thriller. Only when you think this is it, this is the worst of it, you’d get another twist and hits you even worse than anything before that.

I kept turning ther E-Reader off as I could not believe people are capable of what they were doing and saying. Most of the characters in the book hit point of no return, a point where all the plugs were pulled, where religion became a weapon of destruction, where parents love became carte blanche for despicable acts..

It all… No, you have to read it for yourself. Seemingly easy to digest story of an accident at teenagers’ party turns out into something that will make you look over your shoulder and hug your kids just a bit more and hope for the best in your relationships with other people…

Definitely 5 stars.

Heading into this book, I was a bit apprehensive. There are two definitive sides -- you either love it or hate it; is the hype worth it or just the work of an aggressive advertising team? For me, it was well-hyped and well worth reading. I am a person who likes to figure things out early, and when there was a subtle sentence in the first third of the book, I knew that I had found the zinger. That one thing that would put the end, whatever it may be, into perspective. Well, I was wrong, and the ending caught me by surprise. Well played, Mr. James.

Nothing like mass hysteria and a modern-day witch hunt to get the juices flowing. Witches are now a protected group in the United States; and when much loved high school football star Daniel Whitman falls from a balcony at a party house, which later catches fire, the town goes into hysterics after a video showing Harper, a non-magical and daughter of the local witch Sarah, placing what appears to be a curse on Daniel before he fell.

Told from many perspectives, the stories, and secrets of Sanctuary, Connecticut, come out. It appears that everyone has something to hide and, at one point or other, have used Sarah’s help when dealing with everything from the mundane to the extraordinary. And the biggest secret of all is what happened six years prior when Det. Maggie Knight met all the actors for the first time which set this tribunal in action.

A fascinating grab you from the beginning book. At first, I was concerned with all the characters thrown at me, but soon V. V. James slowed the pace a bit and let each tell their own story. There are a couple that remains in the periphery which only makes you wonder about them more. But don’t underestimate. Each one has their place by the time you reach the final chapter.

Sanctuary is filled with twists and turns, but it's the characters that make it. The cast is diverse, and everyone is complex, filled with a drive to do what they think is right. The author is great at showing us people whose actions we disagree with, people we loathe, people we think are utterly wrong, and making us see why they do it.

A small, peaceful community can unravel in a matter of days...and James takes it all the way to the terrifying end.

As usual, nothing is black and nothing is white. Most of these people are grey, and I believe we're all grey, and the author is a master at portraying that emotional baggage we carry with us. Those mistakes we've all made, and how they sometimes haunt us.

From mass hysteria to mob mentality and vigilante justice, this book has it all.

I loved every creepy page of this novel. A Halloween triumph indeed. I’ve always enjoyed books that involve small towns and witches, and this was absorbing and so very entertaining. Not to mention, the twisty ending, which I thought was fantastic. Happy to talk up the title like mad!

This is a very different kind of friendship book. This group of women live in an era where witchcraft is real and legal if heavily regulated. Their coven consists of one skillful witch and her three support friends, those that supply her with energy and support during her spelling. The women are also best friends, their families socialize and their children attend the same schools. Remember the saying...too much of anything is still too much....that is true in this book too.

An incident involving their children threatens the whole town. It brings with it reminders of an incident when the children were much younger and will cause each woman to question her friends while trying desperately to protect their child. The unique addition of witchcraft to this mix leaves us scrambling to figure out where these families will end and the twists that will not come together in the end.

Suspense, Magic and even what could be akin to dystopian. All my favorite things in a book!
In a world where witchcraft is real and recognized by society, a football star, Dan falls to his death! Harper Fenn, the daughter of the resident witch and former girlfriend of Dan is accused of the crime. She was across the room at the time of his fall and it is wildly known that she does not possess magic like her mother. This doesn’t stop the town from turning against her especially after her accusation against Dan gives her motive. What lengths will Sarah go to save her daughter? Would she reveal the secrets of the town and those she has helped? Is she willing to sacrifice herself by revealing a secret that would ruin her life?
Great book! Loved the characters and flow and how all of the elements of the story fit together! Highly Recommend!
Thank you netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

V.V. James' Sanctuary is one of my favorite books this year. In the modern-day United States created in this book, witches are accepted as part of society. Your grandma probably visits the local witch's booth to cure her ailments. The witches don't do spells that harm, only help. They are just another alternative to Western medicine.

But what if you visited the local witch and asked her to do something illegal and she refused?

That's what happens in Sanctuary, Massachusetts, a small town with a Salem-era history of killing and persecuting witches. Sarah, the local witch, has three best non-magical friends - Abigail, Bridget, and Julia - who are part of her coven. Their children have grown up together and are about to embark on college adventures and futures. But when Abigail's son Daniel suddenly dies, this mother's grief is strong. So strong that she asks Sarah to use her magic to bring Daniel back. Sarah refuses because it's illegal, but Abigail reminds her that she's done it before.

And thus begins the breakdown of Abigail, Sarah and Abigail's friendship, and the sanity of the town of Sanctuary. Angry that Sarah won't help, Abigail wages a war on witches, and Sarah's non-magical daughter Harper is accused of killing Daniel - with magic. Abigail convinces the town that Sarah has bewitched them, but really it's Abigail's lies that have the town under a spell.

What is at the truth of all these lies? What is the truth behind how Daniel died? Detective Maggie Knight is dispatched to investigate, and the presence of magic in the accusations makes her job that much harder. If Harper is found guilty of murder, she will immediately be executed because she's a witch.

I loved the twists and turns that this book took, but heed my warning: this book will haunt you! Once you get about halfway through, you better just lock yourself in a room and turn off your phone so you can finish the whole thing without stopping. I was so invested in these characters and so hurt by the way people were acting (a bunch of people afraid of something different than them - sound familiar?) that I often had lingering feelings of unease after finishing a chapter.

You might figure out the ending. I didn't. It was quite a surprise. And because of that, this is one of my favorite books of 2020!

If your book club needs a new book to read, then definitely choose this one. A Reading Group Guide and author Q & A in the back will be especially helpful to foster discussion.

Sanctuary is published by Gollancz and is on bookstore shelves now. I received a free e-ARC to review.