Paige Crutcher's novel, The Orphan Witch, is time travel, romance, sorcery, and so many other good things rolled into one fantasy novel. Interesting characters and beautifully written text make this book difficult to put down. If you are a fan of Alice Hoffman and/or Deborah Harkness, then you must check this one out.

When I originally enjoyed this book, it was in the ebook version and I gave it a solid 4 stars. I was given the opportunity to listen to an audiobook version and the narrator did a beautiful job. In this format, I can't help but bump my review to a 5 stars. While the story is the same, it becomes more of an all encompassing experience. My mind sometimes wanders with audiobook presentations, but that was not the case with this one. Take a chance and enjoy the audiobook!

The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher
Narrated by Saskatoon Maarleveld
Genre - Fantasy
Book Rating - 4 out of 5 stars
Narration Rating - 4 out of 5 stars

This audiobook was a great way to start my October reading pile off with. It had a little bit of everything witchy. A little romance and a lot of plot twists.

This book is about a witch named Persephone who was abandoned at birth never knowing she was a witch. Strange things start to happen to her and all of a sudden she has found long lost relatives who also are witch’s. They must unite to save the Wile Isle from an 100 curse that can only be broken at a certain time.

At first I thought this book was going to be a lot like the series Charmed (the original not the reboot) because they kept talking about the power of three breaking the curse. Well it turns out she has even more family and it takes all of them to break the curse and I was pleasantly surprised that it was nothing like Charmed.

The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was because of all the plot twits. I have to admit that towards the end characters were coming out of the woodwork and even now as I write this I have no idea who they were related to and how they fit in the story.
The narrator was great! She kept everything going smoothly and made the characters come alive in your ears. Although I would have rather had an actual copy of the book because I think I would have been able to keep track of the characters better.

Persephone May is an orphan who grew up in the foster care system and has always yearned for family but is destined to be alone due to her strange powers. That may be about to change when she is drawn to an island where her family may be from.

I have mixed feelings about this book. In general, it is pretty well-written but there are some very strange quirks. That gorgeous cover grabbed me and the first couple of chapters really drew me in. It honestly has some really pretty prose as well. I mainly have two problems with it.

1. There is no delineation of time. I'm not sure if this story takes place in a day, a month, or a decade. No one sleeps, has a meal, or anything else that would suggest time passing. I could be exaggerating just a bit, but I honestly don't remember any of this happening. It's just nonstop drama. I found my mind wandering a lot for want of some release.

2. Not once in the whole book does anyone tell a single joke, laugh, smile, etc. I need a little humor to break up all that drama as well. I felt like I was living for 352 pages with a dramatic teenager. I just didn't end. It was all high-tension, high-drama, dense seriousness the whole way through.

This strikes me as a good draft. It needs some levity to offset the tension and drama, as well as some way to mark how much time is passing.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Persephone May is a witch, though she isn’t quite sure what that means yet. That is, until she continues to get persistent messages from her friend Hyacinth to come visit her island, and accepts. After years of causing harm to others, and not knowing why, or how to stop it, Persephone wants a break, and answers.

As she arrives on Wile Isle, things start to make a lot more sense. She beings to learn how to create and control magic, finds friendship where it’s unexpected, and enemies that may or may not actually be enemies.

While working to discover who she really is, and who her family really was, she finds happiness in the most unlikely place. A place that doesn’t usually grant solace. A place, that does grant her answers, and gave her family a name.

With this new found knowledge, Persephone sets about to undo a curse, one that has kept her family apart for 100 years. One, that if undone, may mean sacrificing those that she loves, those who first called her “family”. Decisions need to be made, and fast, before the curse becomes Persephone’s undoing.

Persephone has lived a life in foster care bounced from foster and group homes until leaving the system. She is beset with a dangerous power that has her keeping everyone at arms length to ensure their safety.

After an invitation from a friend arrives at a fortuitous time she finds herself on a island and surrounded by family she never knew existed.

She also learns of a family curse and tries to find a way to break it.

The story’s end left me a bit unsatisfied but Persephone seems happy with how it all went.

One slight annoyance with the recording. The narration of action and inner thoughts was quite a bit softer than the narration of speech. I kept having to adjust my volume to hear properly or avoid being blasted.

The narrator is great. I loved her use of accents. But the story did not engage me at all on audio. I really want it to, so I am going to try the paper version. Thank you for letting me try!

Bad things happen when Persephone May is around other people so she is constantly on the move and never makes real connections with anyone, not even eye contact. After a very public display, she leaves again and heads to Wile Isle to stay with her only friend. She finds family secrets and magic waiting for her there.

I wanted to love this one but I feel like nothing was really flushed out enough for my liking, not Persephone, not the mystery/history, not the romance and not the side characters. There were multiple POVs but I couldn’t really tell the characters apart so I was confused a lot. I didn’t really get invested in any aspect of the story so I can’t say I would recommend it. But if you don’t like all the nitty gritty details then it might work for you 🤷🏽‍♀️ I listened to the audiobook and I can say the narrator did a great job.

More than a witchy story, this is part mystery and part coming of age novel. The narration was fantastic.

What’s super cool about The Orphan Witch is how it really feels like I’m reading about a day in the life of a modern witch. Calling on the directions, crystal magic, creating protection circles, etc.

Overall, the themes of the book are about feeling alone and finally finding family.

What I enjoyed:

- The different kinds of magic each sister was skilled in

- Reading about the different kinds of teas the women drank

- The library of lost things

What tripped me up:

- The pacing was a little slow at times.

- I was listening to the audiobook, so this may be present in a print copy… but a family tree would be great. I usually make one when listening to audiobooks… I definitely would have benefited from making one.

I would have loved to have more backstory on the characters. Much of it was in the present day but their histories are so complicated. Especially Dorian and the sisters from the past.

The second half of the book was definitely more action-packed than the first half. I did find myself getting overwhelmed and confused by the different characters and their connections to each other. If this is you too, I highly recommend making a list of characters to help you keep track.

Overall, an enjoyable, witchy read. Lots of characters that I wish I knew more about. A take on witchcraft that felt very current. Narration was solid, accents well done.

Thank you, Netgalley and Macmillan Audio, for the opportunity to read and review The Orphan Witch.

This audiobook started off so well. I was very excited to see how Persephone came into her power and finds her family.. but I ended up being pretty bored and confused by all the "sisters" & "cousins"

This story was not what I was expecting from the initial description that I read. The audiobook narrator did a good job. However, I never really connected with Penelope May. She should have been a sympathetic character. Weird things happen if she meets someone’s eyes. So she is a loner and moves around a lot.
When she gets to Wile Isle, the story gets even stranger. The world building is kind of cool but I never felt like I understood where the story was going. The piece meal way the author fed us the backstory broke up the continuity.
It’s not a bad book but I struggled to want to finish it. I didn’t really care much for most the characters.
There is magic. It and it’s misuse are the backbone of the book.
The attitudes of the characters toward sex is very cavalier. Several of the characters are LGBTQ.
I am sure this book will have its audience but I am unlikely to request this author again.

Not even Saskia Maarleveld narrating could save this story about a family of women witches, a curse and the one woman who has been on her own her whole life but finally finds a place to belong. As a huge fan of Alice Hoffman and her Practical magic books, I thought it would be a no brainer that this one would be another satisfying fall read full of modern day witches, magic and romance (hello hot librarian love interest!) but sadly this story was soooooo slow-moving and I really struggled to get invested or connect with the characters. Unfortunately this was a miss for me, great cover though for this debut author. Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my ALC.

The Orphan Witch is a well written and engaging paranormal YA/NA story by Paige Crutcher. Due out 28th Sept 2021 from Macmillan on their Griffin imprint, it's 352 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

The world building and characterization are the highlights of this creative novel. It's a character driven crossworlds fantasy with a chosen-one trope and a strong element of romance and a bonus drizzle of time travel. The writing is competent, but skates very near the ledge with regard to overwrought tortured simile and light purple prose. I found myself rolling my eyes fairly often and at a couple of points, skimming a bit to get past particularly egregious descriptions. If the characters had rolled their shoulders or necks one more time (so help me), I was calling the chiropractor. The cursing is average, a smattering of lesser rugged cursing and a few "f-bombs". There are somewhat positive depictions of LGBTQIA+ attraction in the book (one main character, Hyacinth, is gay, or possibly bi).

The audiobook version has a run time of 14 hours, 7 minutes and is beautifully narrated by Saskia Maarleveld. She reads clearly and well and imbues the characters with distinct voices and personality. I was impressed with her facility with dialogue especially; scenes with different characters in conflict, and she managed to imbue them with distinctly different tone and expression. The sound and production quality is very high throughout. Despite the scenes which made me roll my eyes a bit, her voice remained pleasant to listen to.
Three and a half stars. It's a diverting read/listen and would be a good choice for library acquisition, and for fans of NA fantasy romance.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3

I love a good witch story but despite some nice world building, this one never really grabbed me. Persephone had a difficult childhood, going from one foster home to another without ever being adopted. She had no idea she was a witch; she only knew that strange things happened when she looked directly into someone else’s eyes. But very little of the book was spent exploring her situation. Most of the story takes place on Wile Island, after she goes there at the invitation of someone she used to work for, Hyacinth. It turns out that the island is enchanted (or cursed) and Hyacinth is a distant cousin and a witch, and so is her sister, Moira. There’s also another pair of sisters (cousins? I was never clear on this.) who are witches and they are basically in a feud with Hyacinth and Moira. The theme of family plays an important role in the story along with a 100-year-old curse and lots and lots of magic (both good magic and dark magic). I was particularly taken with the Library of the Lost. But ultimately, the story didn’t fascinate me. It dragged a bit and was confusing, with a lot of side characters and time- and place-jumping. Positives include a bit of romance and some good LGBTQ representation.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. The audiobook’s narrator is the fabulous Saskia Maarleveld. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook and to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I love witchy mystery and enigmatic female characters, so this was a good read for me. The Orphan Witch by Paige Crutcher was a book that kept me guessing until the end about the good guys, the bad guys, and how the curse of Wile Isle could be broken by its imprisoned inhabitants. Our protagonist, Persephone May, knows that she is different and has the power to hurt people, so she keeps herself isolated, until she finally finds out what she is – a witch, who actually has a family. An orphan no more, she learns to use and control her many powers and even finds a cute man along the way. However, a long ago prophecy says she will be the one to break a curse…or destroy the world, depending on your interpretation. The audiobook is well-read by the narrator and the pacing is great. I definitely recommend this book for those who love witchy mysteries like I do.

If Sarah Addison Allen & Alice Hoffman’s books. had a baby book, that baby book would be Paige Crutcher.’s Orphan Witch. Persephone May is alone in the world. For 32 years she has been seeking family & friends and answers. She seems to possess a deep magic that she does not understand. After an accidental (and public) display of power, Persephone knows she must move on once again. She is lucky to receive an email from the one friend she has managed to keep, inviting her to come stay at her home on the elusive Wile Island. Persephone quickly discovers upon arrival that Wile is no ordinary island. She also discovers family and home. And 100 year-old curses and family feuds that need mending. And love. Chock full of magic & mystery and sweetness, The Orphan Witch is not to be missed!

*Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-audio version.*

One of the pieces of author praise for The Orphan Witch relates this author to Alice Hoffman (Practical Magic series) and Sara Addison Allen (Garden Spells/Waverley Family series). I get it, but those are awfully big shoes with which to saddle a newish novel writer. [The blurb in question says it's Crutcher's debut, but she had a book published in 2014 and has contributed to a couple of anthologies.] When I started reading, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought finally a comparison had been made that wouldn't end up disappointing me. This held for most of the book. I was all in for the premise, the now-32-year-old Persephone going to Wile Isle, the magic/witchcraft, and the family feud. I wasn't keen on the romance aspect, but it was a relatively small portion of the story. Really, I was engaged for most of the book. Then we got to the climax and it all fell apart. While I'm not completely alone in my mild disappointment, the majority of advance readers seem to really love it. So, don't be discouraged to read.

[3.5 stars]

Thank you, NetGalley and MacmillanAudio/St. Martin's Griffin, for the audio ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The Orphan Witch
Paige Crutcher
Strange things happen around Persephone May. She avoids people looking in her eyes; it as if they are hypnotized and something tragic happens. Persephone was abandoned when she was a mere six week old; she has grown up in foster homes; it seems no one every wanted her. She could never get close to anyone; they would look in her eyes and go mad or try to kill themselves. She knew it was time to move on again when a guy she likes looked in her eyes and came close to dying.
Persephone received a letter from Hyacinth inviting her to Wile Island. The island is a mysterious, ghostly place, a place to escape to. Witches, Hyacinth and her sister Moira make Persephone feel at home; they are her cousins. The sisters hope Persephone can help them end a curse that has plagued the witches for centuries. Prophecy tells only a time walker can break the curse and all indications she Persephone is a time walker. The other witches on the island try to stop Persephone. Hyacinth makes Persephone feel at him from the beginning. Moira is grumpy and grouchy but deep inside she is gentle hearted and caring.
As a time walker Persephone can journey between worlds. During her travels, she finds the Library of Lost where she meets Dorian a librarian. Her eyes do not affect him.
This tale address solitude, sisterhood, quarrels, spells, control, selfishness, deception, passion, despair, loss, surrender, strength of character, and learning to belong. Author Paige Crutcher sets the ambience for this eerie tale; it is emotionally intense. This book has all you want for a spooky read: magic, witches, a spell, and romance. A perfect Halloween read!

I loved this book. The pacing the character and concept was on point and the plot twist was amazing..

Persephone has magic powers that, unfortunately, she can't control. An incident with her powers pushes her to meet a friend on an island. Once there, she finds out that she's the key to breaking a curse put on the island.

A massive problem with the book is that there is so much cryptic information floating around that when a twist came, I wasn't heartbroken by the betrayal because no one was sitting Persephone down and telling her everything. Instead, they would tell her something that didn't add up or explain everything. So I trusted no one.

The other characters are interesting, even though I got annoyed at their lack of communication.

I'm only a fan of the romance because whenever she's with Dorian is the only time someone will speak clearly to her. He can't tell her everything, but he tells her why he's holding back. He was the most helpful person.

Once Persephone figures everything out, that's when the book picks up steam. But it does take a while for that to happen.

Review based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.