“It sounded like forgotten words to a once beloved song. It sounded like a place to belong.”

This book was fabulous. As a long time Alice Hoffman fan I’m always searching for the hidden witchy gems in the literary world. I definitely feel that this is one them! Persephone is everything you could want in a conflicted main character. Inexperienced in the ways of Magic and unaware of her lineage she is thrown into a battle of survival against a 100 year curse. A curse that threatens the lives of the family she’s been searching for her whole life. A curse that only she can break. In order to do just that she must piece together the fragments of a past she doesn’t understand and lay to rest the century old fight between the light and the dark.

It’s all here, heartbreak and sorrow, family feuds and betrayal, romance and forbidden love. The suspense and twists were intoxicating, I found myself cringing and rooting sometimes simultaneously throughout the entire tale. I adored the world building, and found myself completely drawn to the island and the realms and every nook and cranny we got to experience. I’m secretly hoping there’s a sequel because I desperately want to know what has become of the characters I ended up loving so much!

Oh, I thought this was such a wonderful book! Persephone is a character that I connected with immediately. I was attached to the book from the first page. Crutcher has created a character that I needed to know what happened to her! This was an emotional story that I was completely under the spell of, and I highly recommend it!

The Orphan Witch is a fun story, but I thought the storyline was a bit complicated at times. The characters are enjoyable, however there are not many and I generally prefer there to be interactions among more people. The story itself calls for there to be fewer though, so it makes sense for its plot. Another thing that I noticed is that the first half seemed to have a more serious tone and then the second was lighter with more swearing, banter between characters, etc. This was despite the increasing drama and nature of the character's plight. Although the tone of the book wasn't significantly changed, I did notice a slight shift and was a bit surprised by it. I preferred the 'lighter', more humorous narration and dialogue.

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher, and author for allowing me to read this early!!

A contemplative novel of magic, family, and love with beautiful prose that will beg to be reread. Complicated world building meets a fresh take on magic.

Full review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4049958112

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Magical and emotionally written, pulling at your heartstrings. One I'll think about for a long time! Paige Crutcher knows how to tell a story.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

This title was poorly constructed and full of shallow, static characters that left the reader feeling disconnected from the story. The plot moved incredibly slowly in the beginning of the novel but soon sped up to the point that the actions of the characters ceased to make any real sense.

This is an adorable story that captures your heart. The intricate and complex world building, character development, and suspense of Persephone’s journey is delightful.

Persephone May (I love the name Persephone) is an orphan yearning for love and a family to call her own. When her only friend, Hyacinth, invites her to Wile Isle, Persephone thinks she may have found out where exactly she belongs. Paige Crutcher draws you into the story and keeps you there until the very end, and what an end it was!

A thoroughly enjoyable and unique standalone fantasy. While this book didn't hook me from the start, it definitely had me hooked by the end and there were a number of unexpected twists, which I always appreciate. In The Orphan Witch, we follow the story of Persephone, a lost witch. I thought that Persephone was a likable and relatable character, and even though she's super-extra-special, she takes a long road to master her powers. At times the magic system was not as well-explained or described as it could be, but the rest of the world-building made up for it. The world this author created was refreshingly unique and elaborate. I also enjoyed all of the female relationships portrayed in this book, and it was awesome that the fate of worlds literally depended on the strength of these relationships. The romance in this book does not take the forefront and the insta-feelings had me a little skeptical in the beginning, but overall I think it was a positive and well-written addition to the story. If you like witches, magic, girl power, a little romance, and intricate storytelling, give The Orphan Witch a try.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book in advance!

If like many you find yourself longing to rediscovery the enchantment of the movie Practical Magic, look no further than this book about witchy sisterhoods and long lost family members. Persephone has spent her life in foster care, never knowing who her family is or why her life has been drenched in loss. She struggles with a kind of magic that means she cannot look into someone’s eyes, and longs for a day when just one person lets her look into their eyes without their imminent demise looming over her as a result of that shared look. When she’s pulled to Wile Island, she’ll discover a curse that has been in place for 100 years and a family she never knew existed who needs her help to break that curse.

Magical and lovely, this was an enjoyable read.

This book caught my attention early while the main character is discovering that she has magical abilities. However, once she got to the island the story bogged down. It is not holding my attention and I will not be finishing it.

I was charmed by the cover and the blurb. Both gave a me a feeling if optimism when everything I've read lately has fallen flat. Which is why I'm so bummed. I really wanted to like The Orphan Witch. The possibilities were there... I just couldn't get into the characters and the story was confuoto me.

I enjoy the fact that the author stays true to a mostly female cast of characters, not throwing male characters in where they're not needed. The story has incredible potential. It just wasn't for me.

I still can't get over the cover of this book, so gorgeous!
The Orphan Witch made me want nothing more than to live on Wile Isle, the island on which Persephone May finds the link to the family she has never known. Beautiful witches sitting on their misty front porches drinking chamomile tea and occasionally breaking century old curses. How does it get any better?
While the book picked up for me towards the end, I was underwhelmed for the first 65%. I struggled to feel a connection towards any of the characters and the story dragged. I also struggled to keep track of all the various elements in the plot/world, there was A LOT going on.
I got many smiles and a few chuckles out of The Orphan Witch. I truly loved the setting of it as well. I gave it 3/5 stars on Goodreads.
Special thanks to St Martin's Press & NetGalley for providing a digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Persephone May has always been alone. Raised in foster care from infancy and apparently doomed to a lonely existence in adulthood. She’s unable even to make sustained eye contact for fear of the strange power she has to unintentionally cause people to hurt or kill themselves. Everything changes, though, when she's called to Wile Isle, and finds out the truth about her ancestry ... and the curse her family is under.

Many aspects of the book were refreshing. It's very rare for a Chosen One-style narrative to have a protagonist who's a thirty-something woman! I also loved that the cast of the novel is predominantly female, with a few very minor male characters at the beginning and Persephone's love interest, Dorian, being the only men involved.

However, I found the book unfortunately difficult to follow. The characters all have the same voice, which ranges from oddly old-fashioned to suddenly modern. I'm still not sure at this point exactly what happened in the second half of the book, and how the villain was defeated. Another major difficulty I had, which might be more personal to me, is that the magic aspect of the book seems to be based entirely on Wiccan ritual. Persephone never questioned why they're talking about a Goddess, and there are a lot of unexplained spells and aspects of magic that just felt like assumed knowledge on the reader's part. If you *are* a Wiccan, though, this may feel very comfortable.

I really like the author’s writing style but the plot fell kind of flat for me. It didn’t feel very cohesive and was difficult to stay attentive this took me ages to get through. That said, I did like the main character. I liked her history and the first chapter really set a good scene. I would like to try again with a different book by this author.

Let's get this out of the way : the heroine has a kickass name — Persephone, and so does her mother. Try to guess it ;)

That aside, even though there was so many elements that made me like the book, there was also a lot that made it hard for me to give it more than 2.5 stars.

The ideas were all there , but unfortunately even the magic, the world-building, the family bond and the sisterhood couldn't make up for the unbalanced pace nor the repetitive and lenghty writing.
At times, it made it hard to really connect with the characters, even though I really wanted to love them.

That being said, the Orphan Witch still have that magical something that makes you want to finish the book.

I enjoyed this read about Persephone May, the orphan witch who discovers an island world of magic, curses, and libraries. While the story and characters were a bit up and down, overall this was an entertaining read. Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Persephone May is lonely. Friendless and family-less her whole life, she has no idea who she is or where she comes from. Making matters worse are the unexplainable and unpredictable things that tend to happen around her, like surges of wayward magic. She is drawn to a mysterious island called Wile Isle and finds herself on a course that will reveal her past, make sense of her present, and offer her a new future. The Orphan Witch is a story about a woman finding her place in the world, growing into herself, and the power of family bonds across space and time.

There are a lot of reasons I wanted to love this book: magic, sisterhood, a quest to break a curse, and the mysterious Library of the Lost, to name a few. The story has Practical Magic vibes, with a bit of time travel/space manipulation mixed in. Unfortunately, after a long stretch of exposition in the first half, I found myself struggling to connect with Persephone and the characters she meets on Wile Isle. The world-building felt confusing and muddled. I often had to re-read to try and visualize what was going on and figure out what it meant. I did feel more engaged in the latter half of the book, but by then it was too late to feel that true, deep investment that makes me want to re-read a book for the pleasure of spending more time with the characters in a world I've grown to love. I liked the characters, but didn't feel like I truly KNEW them. It felt like I was experiencing this world and its characters from a distance, rather than being fully immersed in the narrative.

The romance storyline didn't do it for me. I had to keep reminding myself that Persephone was supposed to be my age (early 30s), because she read much closer to a YA character. This isn't necessarily a bad thing (I love YA), but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Unfortunately, the witchy herbs, elemental magic, powerful women, and casual lgbtq representation (all great!) were dampened by a confusing story and pacing issues. (2.5 stars)

I really wanted to like this book, the description is what led me to request it but I just couldn't finish it. I still love the idea of the book, but I feel like the writing needs improvement and names are repeated way to much in paragraphs.

Oh my gosh this story was amazing!! I requested an e-Arc on Netgalley and got it from there and the publisher.

The book was on my phone since I don't have a Kindle. Gotta work on that eventually right? So the first couple of chapters of the book is really interesting because the main character Persephone was dealing with survival and finding herself. She never knew who her family was and always wondered about it. She also knew that there was something different about her and never revealed this to anyone. You could feel she needed to know more, she needed not to have others get hurt.

I am not going to give everything away about this book because it is so good. Persephone eventually ends up going to this island. Her journey on the island feels like home. She learns of her family history and the Wile island. She ends up meeting Hyacith, Moira, Ariel and Ellison. Some of these other ladies she meets turn out to be related to her. All four ladies gave off different vibes to me: calming, secretive, fiesty and alert.

I do have to point out there is a love aspect for Persephone which was great. All I will say his name is Dorian. It was so cool to learn more about him and how he fits into the story! So awesome.

While Persephone is on the island, she learns that there is a curse! What will happen next? Just when you think you got it all figured out there is something else that pops up. Persephone has to learn more things.


The story was great! You have to pick this up if you like richness, adventure, magic and a bit of love! Go for it!