Clever, heartfelt, and bursting with mythical wonder. An excellent selection for readers who are still waiting on their Hogwarts letter in the post. Big thanks to NetGalley and this publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this lovely book.

4 stars

Persephone is looking for a home her whole life. She has also been plagued by horrible accidents that happen when she meets another person's eyes. After the latest incident, Persephone takes a chance on a brief meeting with Hyacinth Ever and takes the invitation to visit her home on the Isle of Wile. Once there Persephone discovers the family she never had, impossible magic powers and a curse that will destroy it all if it is not stopped.

I liked this book. It was a bit of a dreamy read for me with a huge helping of Practical Magic mixed with Charmed and sprinkled with The Good Witch. (Yes I have watched way to much witchy tv). I liked the story. The dreamy feel I got was in the writing and the sort of knowing that was shared throughout the book without actually telling the reader. This drove me a tiny bit nuts but I actually want to know instead of guess.

The plot was interesting but it was not fast. Despite the urgency of the coming curse everything moves along at an exploratory pace. Which was fine but made it easy for me to pick up and put down the book. I think I wanted a bit more urgency or drama or something.

My favorite parts were the library and Dorian. The ending was good but a bit abrupt for me. I wanted just a tiny bit more.

This is a coming of age story and finding where you belong with magic. I can’t believe this was a debut. I look forward to reading more from this author!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher in exchange for an honest review. I read another review about this book and they referred to it as a fantasy thriller. This is my genre, I love urban fantasy books, but also enjoy a good mystery/thriller. This book checked all the marks for me and I enjoyed it thouroughly.

This is described as sci fi and fantasy and I guess it does fit in those genres to an extent but there's a steak of romance running through this as well.

As I hate reviews which try to recap the storyline I'm not going to go anywhere near that but I found ythat after a few chapters the story grew on me and I wanted to see where it would go and what would happen to the main character in particular as well as some of the supporting cast.

Well written, fairly easy to read and certainly not a waste of good relaxing time.

Paige Crutcher took me on a journey of Persephone May’s coming of age with magical islands and worlds, Persephone being chosen to end a curse. She finds the unique abilities she possessed and always thought a hindrance, are indeed very special. After setting foot upon the mystical Wile Isle she finds out who she is, by family she never knew she had, but always wanted. This is about found family, magic, mystery, a 100-year-old curse, and let’s not forget.. star-crossed lovers. I enjoyed this magical, quite unique Persephone retelling. I even splurged, purchasing a copy for my daughter as fantasy/magical realism are her favorite genres. This is a modern day witchy tale I know she’ll enjoy!

*Much thanks to St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley for allowing me to read and review the ARC.

This was a well written, interesting and unique story. I loved the magical quality and the story of finding where you belong.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Persephone May grew up in foster care and has never felt like she belong to any person or to any place. Whenever she lets her guard down with people, she gets strange reactions and often has to leave jobs when things get out of control. At one of these points where she's figuring out where to go next, she hears from an acquaintance Hyacinth who invites her for a visit. A magical tale of finding home goes on from there.

A terrific debut from a writer with extraordinary heart.

32-year-old Persephone has never felt at home in the world, and can't even bear to look others in the eye, lest something dreadful happen. It's not until she is invited to Wile Isle, and discovers that the strange happenings surrounding her, and even her understanding of herself, do have rhyme and reason. She is special: A witch with much to learn.

The Orphan Witch elevates itself over similar stories with a complex plot that pulls Persephone into the river of time--a place she has to work terribly hard to understand in order to find her purpose. I loved her guides, Hyacinth and Moira--especially Moira's grouchy sarcasm and wisdom. They become her family, and part of what she must learn is to protect them, the man who entrances her, and many who came before by discovering her role in breaking a terrible curse. Crutcher creates the ribbon of Persephone's journey with care and elegant detail and emotion. So many coming-of-age characters find their way by leaving home--Persephone comes full circle, coming home to a home she forgot she always had.

The book had a slow build for me which made it hard to get through at times. We meet the main character who has no control over her power and doesn't realize she has power. She is constantly on the move and meets a girl who asks her to come visit her island. The girl and her sister let her know she may be a missing piece to save the island from a curse. I wanted to like it, but unfortunately for me it did not happen.

This book was ok. I liked the premise, but the flow was a bit disjointed. Honestly I could have done without the romance, it felt like it got thrown in because the author thought it had to be. I would have preferred it to focus on the women and their relationships. Overall the book was good, just not great

I don’t recall DNF’ing a book 87% into it. It’s is hard to explain but I really enjoyed the book until about halfway through. The premises were fun, Persephone was an interesting characters and I wanted to get to know her better, waned to understand what was it that she was carrying and was in a way destroying her life. I wanted to know what was going on on Wile Isle, but the book lists me: too many characters, too many twists and turns, too many curses, and new add-one to the curses and turned the story into something incomprehensible. It’s like the book tried too hard and I lost interest. That’s really too bad because it was full of potential. I REALLY wanted to give this a 5-star rating.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fun! I've recommended it to several students and purchased it for the library. I'm currently clearing out all of the books that were published in 2019-21 from my title feedback view!

The Orphan Witch had such an interesting premise, but ultimately fell short of what it could have been as a novel. When I first read the summary, I was instantly intrigued - woman with inexplicable powers finds her family, who slowly teach her how to use her powers because there’s a family curse. I always love books about people finding where they belong, particularly if there’s also a good romance thrown in there.

And when I first started reading, The Orphan Witch felt somewhat like a Nora Roberts book, which raised my hopes incredibly high. But then this book lost its way a bit. The plot was a bit too meandering for me, the family feud was confusing (particularly in light of what happens toward the end), and the romance was lack-luster. There just wasn’t enough time given to the relationships with the other witches for me to truly understand why Persephone made the choices she did at the end or to truly care about any of them.

Overall, The Orphan Witch has a great premise and an intriguing world, but didn’t quite work for me. I think it will resonate with some readers though, I’m just not one of them.

*Disclaimer: I received an advance digital copy of this book for free from the publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I liked the premise of the story, as I’m drawn to books with magic as a theme. However, I couldn’t get into the story, picking it up and putting it back down a few pages later. The writing and plot just didn’t grab me.

Anyone who gets too close to Persephone May winds up hurt. After yet another workplace accident, she finds herself at a crossroads, unable to stay where she is yet not knowing where she should go. It’s fortunate, then, that she receives an email from her friend Hyacinth, inviting her to the mysterious Wile Isle. While she originally accepts with ideas of insulating herself from the outside world, she soon finds a land filled questions, but also just maybe the answers she’s been looking for.

From Persephone’s first moments on the page, sparks fly—sometimes literally. This is a woman who has the unfortunate necessity to remain alone, and the result is someone who’s hardened over time. Yet it’s so obvious she wants to make genuine connections. It’s a balancing act that author Paige Crutcher navigates expertly, ultimately setting up a hardened Persephone who’s impossible not to be intrigued by as she navigates the fog surrounding her life and powers.

Once she finally settles in Wile Isle with Hyancith and her sister, Moira, along with a cadre of peculiar island denizens, the action ramps up. While Persephone begins understanding more about herself, there are darker forces at work, and Crutcher has built a unique magic system that helps push the action. Persephone has already been forced to sacrifice so many personal connections in her life, tossing in the confusion of spells and curses only seeks to complicate things further—and just when she thought she was figuring things out! And that’s before familial feuds and a complex librarian start muddying her future…

Ultimately, Crutcher has conjured up a spellbinding tale of family, magic, and love.

Persephone May has always been a loner and she is different from everyone she knows. Whenever she is around strange things happen and this keeps her from staying long in any place and from having friends. After a public display of her power she has to be on the move again but this time a friend she actually made reaches out to her and invites her to her home. When Persesphine get to Wile island she realizes this is no normal island and she will discover a family she never knew she had and she will learn about a 100 year old curse. Will the curse be broken or is it the end as they know it.

I enjoyed entering the lives of these characters. It is a well written witchy book! Do yourself a favor and pick up this book and take a trip into another realm. Where magic can take a dark turn.

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher
Source: NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin
Rating: DNF

The Bottom Line: Oh, how I wanted to like this book! In an effort to get through this book, and hopefully thoroughly enjoy it, I tried both reading and listening to this one. Although there are some fun bits in here – the invisible library and witchcraft – the story just isn’t interesting. I normally love a story with loads of backstory/history, but I believe the author’s writing style did me in on this one. I never could find a flow or rhythm to the writing that would allow me to keep reading/listening.

There are some interesting set pieces and arresting imagery in this modern-day tale of witches on a remote southern island, tied by bonds of blood and love. You definitely get the idea that some of these scenes sprang into Paige Crutcher's head fully formed, so viscerally and lovingly are they depicted.

Alas, that's about all I can say to recommend this book. Despite the vividness of certain lovely passages, The Orphan Witch falls apart from sheer lack of craft. I spent every few pages muttering, "That's not what that word means." I'm all for poetic license, but one does not "don" silverware when setting the table nor, in a moment of fear and panic, have time to think "reverently" about an engine you're hoping will catch so you can flee, in just two of the most memorably egregious examples. In fairness, I don't know what stage of editing this book was in when it was sent to me -- hopefully, a very early one! -- but just the constant estrangement of vocabulary from meaning made me question the author's experience both with writing and with reading good fiction.

And that's even before we get into the plotting and characterization. While I did appreciate the plot twists, I felt like most of the writing that was meant to be the connecting tissue between set pieces wasn't at all well thought out, and almost hurried through as the author shepherded us from one of her preferred scenes to the next, skipping some sorely needed world-building in the process. And the characterizations were absolutely dire, with immature, borderline idiotic dialog, inexplicable motivations and, at the very bottom of the barrel, an extremely unconvincing instalove romance plot. Every single character was paper thin, and my feelings for them verged from mild irritation to deep annoyance.

The main character was especially grating, tho I suppose she had a reason for being so socially awkward. I just didn't understand how everyone was so accepting of how terrible she was. Having recently thought very much about <a href="https://dvaleris.itch.io/unrealitystrictnessonepage">power fantasies</a> and the catharsis they bring, I can appreciate the motivation behind writing this book in this way, but that doesn't at all make it enjoyable or interesting to read. For me, at least, I do sincerely hope it brings others joy and a little escape from their every day.

I hate bagging on books, especially by debut authors, but this was excruciating to read and just really poorly done. I wish Ms Crutcher the best for her future endeavors, and am hoping the quality of her writing will (can?) only improve from here on out.

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher was published September 28 2021 by St Martin's Griffin and is available from all good booksellers, including <a href="https://bookshop.org/a/15382/9781250823632">Bookshop!</a>

A witch fantasy about a orphan that finds out she is a witch that can break a family curse.
A lot of magic,twists,drama,action and mysteries.
A good read.
Voluntarily reviewed.