This book is absolutely fall vibes. As someone who lives in the PNW, I love how this book captured the atmosphere of this area. This is the perfect book to sit down and read on a cool fall evening, wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket with a cup of hot apple cider. I will definitely be reading Rachel Griffin's other book, and really wouldn't mind reading other books set in this universe.

Iris and her mom are witches and own a wildlife refuge where they use their powers to help the wildlife. After Iris accidentally curses Pike the intern at the refugee, when an injured owl steals it she comes up with a plan to rescue the owl and stop the curse from happing. Iris is also keeping her powers a secret and wants it to stay that way, but also knows that in order to save the owl and everyone around her the truth will come out.

The Nature of Witches was a favorite read for me last year, so I was very excited to pick up, Wild is the Witch, Rachel Griffin's second novel. It did not disappoint. This felt like such a love letter to PNW, nature, animals, and the autumn season. It's a YA novel that doesn't feel like YA and can be enjoyed by anyone who likes witches and nature. I really enjoyed this world she has created and the way she writes her characters.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

I was blown away reading The Nature of Witches so I was excited to pick up Griffin's latest work. This was an emotional and character-driven book where I could easily immerse myself in the wilderness as I read. The descriptions were crisp and lovely and made me want to hike at a forest again.

First person POV is effective to evoke Iris' innermost thoughts and fears if anyone found out she was a witch, dealing with the tragic events of her best friend and the Witch Council. The stakes were even more evident with how desperate Iris trying to find the owl that stole the curse meant for Pike, an ornithologist who interns at a wildlife refuge and can drive her insane with his actions and words. The owl is an amplifier and if it dies, the curse will be casted on everyone in the whole region.

The dynamics between Iris and Pike definitely gave the enemies to lovers vibe as I found myself frustrated with Pike at the beginning, however the characters deeply develop throughout their time in the wilderness and come to understand each other despite the secrets they hold inside, such as Iris' reasons for searching for the owl and Pike's reasons for hating witches and magic.

Overall, this is another work from Griffin that took my breath away 🪶

A magical delight! This is an amazingly powerful page turner that easily transports the reader in to the magical world of witches. This magical realism romance book has fabulous writing with complex characters that are easy to get to know and care about and a plot that has depth and real issues combined with magical realism. The story easily flows and is impossible to put down.
The relationship between Iris and Pike is a slow growing gentle romance that felt very realistic and is full of fabulously enjoyable banter. Iris is a well written character that is compassionate, kind and courageous. You cannot help but care what happens to this young witch and hope that everything works out for the best in her relationship with Pike and with her magic.
I highly recommend you find a comfortable place to open up this book and immerse yourself into Iris' magical world in this page turning delight.
I am grateful to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read this wonderful book in exchange for a honest review.

I could tell going in that I was likely going to love this book. It's witchy season, after all, and this fits the bill. I love the different connections to magic explained throughout the book, and how magic is used by witches in tandem with the way the natural world works. The writing was beautiful and elegant, and the characters were well developed and multi-dimensional. Even the animal characters with non-speaking roles in the story had their own personalities and quirks. It kept me on my toes enough to keep me turning pages quickly to find out what happens next.

There was something so sweet and unexpected about this truly magical story. The focus on the natural world, tender relationships, and a vague but non-preachy reference to personal responsibility rounded out this story. Nothing I’ve ever read has made me want to visit Washington State the way this has. I think I was nearly 3/4 of the way through the book before I realized it was a YA offering.

I really enjoy the world Rachel Griffin has created. In this book we follow Iris, who cast a curse accidentally-ish, and Pike, the co-worker Iris doesn't like and casted the curse on. But the curse lands on an owl, a super powerful owl and the Iris and Pike have to trek through the pacific northwest to find it. I really like an enemies to lovers book and this one was filled with lots of grumbling. Super fun and a great story, can't wait to read more from Rachel Griffin!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Always a breath of fresh air, Rachel Griffin’s second novel mixes nature and magic with a rivals-to-lovers arc to cast a perfect spell over readers. Featuring a pair of main characters with backstories that set them at odds but who are determined to work together to save an endangered owl (and ultimately prevent a curse), this story takes readers on an emotional journey of learning to embrace vulnerability, taking accountability for your own actions, and learning to forgive both others and yourself.

I could feel the wind blowing through my hair during this gorgeous read. Iris is a witch and witches are not well liked. She and her mother live in the Pacific Northwest where her mother runs an animal rescue. They use their magic to help heal the animals. There is a handsome but annoying boy who interns there. When Iris curses him as a coping mechanism, things go horribly wrong when the curse attaches to an owl. Owls amplify magic. Iris and the boy must go into the forest to find this owl before it is too late. This book is atmospheric with some good steamy romance mixed in. I couldn't put it down. A must read for this witchy season!

A really fast-paced book with an excellent magical storyline. the writing was absolutely amazing and I was completely immersed in the story

I wanted to love this story. It was a bit too slow for me. I think it’s a really great story for young teenagers but it didn’t hold my attention

This was such a creatively written story! I loved the idea that magic and science can go hand-in-hand, and that magic isn't created or destroyed, just another type of energy. I also really loved that they named the owl McGuffin as a humorous kind of meta nod to the story overall. I think McGuffin ended up being much more than his namesake, tbh.

There was a lot of emotion wrapped up in this story and even though I wished it would go faster sometimes, it didn't feel like the story was being dragged out unnecessarily. The pacing made sense, I was just impatient and anxious to get to the resolution. I also appreciated how well written the characters were, and how the reader clearly isn't meant to like Pike in the beginning. But as he grows on Iris, he grows on the reader too. This book took a minute for me to get into, but barely - by chapter 2 or 3, I was hooked and all-in. I flew through this book so fast and I ended up really enjoying the whole thing. The setting is gorgeous, the way magic is described is beautiful, and the only thing I wanted to see was a reunion between Iris and Amy; however, I know that wasn't really the whole point of the story. It's hinted at in the end, which is great, but I would've liked to have seen them meet up again to get a feel for how they were going to recover their friendship again.

Rachel Griffin absolutely delivered with another atmospheric, inspiring, magical read! I could relate to Iris so much, and her desire to hide away the more vulnerable parts of herself. Watching her slowly open up to Pike was beautiful. I loved the magic system in this book! The way Rachel can tie magic to nature in both her books so far is so unique and interesting! I especially enjoyed that Iris' magic involved being connected to animals.

Something I typically don't enjoy in books is when characters have to travel and most of the book is the journey getting there, because I feel like the pacing tends to be much slower. However, this was not the case with Wild is the Witch! I felt like the pacing was pretty fast, the stakes were high without being too stressful, and I was invested the entire time both in the relationship between Iris and Pike evolving, and whether or not they would find the owl in time.

I didn't quite realize this was a YA book but I ended up enjoying the story. Though I don't read YA much anymore, after a few chapters I found I just wanted to know what happens so I flew through it. Great atmosphere, quick read, enjoyable journey. I am always a fan of different magics, and while there may not be the deepest of magical dives in here, the world is whole, makes sense, and has consequences. Sure to be a hit for those who just love witchy stories.

I liked this better than Rachel Griffin's debut novel.

Iris and her Mom move to the Pacific Northwest from Nebraska after her best friend Amy kills her boyfriend trying to turn him into a witch like them. Iris is harassed and threatened and they move to escape. They work at a wildlife refuge and rehabilitate wild animals. They use their magic to convey emotion and intent with the animals to let them know they're there to help.

In typical YA fashion, there's a boy who also works at the refuge and the 2 are constantly butting heads and fighting. They have a disagreement and Pike says something about hating witches and she takes it personally. She goes home and does a stress relief method her grandma taught her. She creates or casts a spell and then burns the components so that the spell is never truly cast. This time she casts a curse to turn Pike into a Mage, so he can learn to not hate witches? But before she can bind the curse to herbs as always, an owl swoops down and the curse binds to it instead. Before she can undo it, he flies away.

She panics and tells her mom she's going to hunt him down, Her mom won't let her go by herself, and insists Pike go with her. She reluctantly agrees and the 2 set off after the owl. Iris tells no one the real reason she's so desperate to catch the owl and constantly has to hide that she's a witch from Pike. They search after the owl, name it, and learn about each other. Once they stop fighting and trying to one up each other constantly they discover they actually get along well. The search becomes more desperate as the owl is in mortal danger and threatens to unleash the curse. I liked the resolution and ending to the story.

While I did not love it as much as The Nature of Witches, this was a great story about being seen and loved for who you are and not what you are. Absolutely love the premise of magic herein.

I loved this novel! I am a big fan of witches and this story did not disappoint. Iris makes a mistakes and binds a devastating curse to an owl. Her and Pike set out to try and find the owl but he doesn’t know Iris’s truth. Can these two find the owl without unleashing the curse? I enjoyed the character development with the 2 main characters. All in all this was a delightful read!

Simple plot, beautiful character development, solid story. Not really a plot driven story. Looking back not a ton of big things happened in the actual book. Some big back story stuff happened, but the main plot is pretty simple and straight forward. The characters were beautifully and richly developed though. Even the owl became a beloved character or it’s own, which in my opinion is the sign of a great character writer. Not a lot of twists or surprises since it wasn’t so much plot driven. But solid storytelling nonetheless.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this title.
The novel was fantastic. As a nature lover, I absolutely fell in love with the setting. The author writes in such a lyrical tone that made me fly through this one. The storyline was subjective, but kept me entertained. The world was interesting with witches and magic, it kept me reading.
I will definitely be picking up more of this author’s titles and look forward to reading more.

This is a relatively quick-paced story about a animal-loving witch and her journey to correct a mistake. In the meantime, she realizes that she misjudged her "adversary", who quickly turns into a love interest. Loosely "enemies to lovers" but still very enjoyable and definitely worth the read. I enjoyed the banter between the two love interests!