What an entertaining romp. A group of octogenarian witches who have been friends for decades run a distillery on their property and are faced with the destruction of their home unless they can save the day. The women are a hoot and are fully fleshed out characters with active lives despite their ages.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝗪𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐘𝐍𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐑 (Pub 08.23) is feisty, feminist and so.much.fun!

QUICK TAKE:
- A sisterhood of octogenarian witches.
- Smart, loyal, mature ladies. Ladies that are still as full of moxie at 80 as they were at 20.
- A heist, a manor and the quest to save it.
- Passages that had me laughing out loud. One in particular made me spit out my cocktail.
- Even-paced, humorous, and heartfelt novel.
- Imagine if the Golden Girls got together with a version of Practical Magic
- Bonus: Recipes for cocktails, tinctures and salves.

I am a big fan of Ms. Marais' writing. Her previous books (𝘏𝘶𝘮 𝘪𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 and 𝘐𝘧 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩), deal with serious topics while her latest endeavor is fantastically spellbinding. What remains consistent is her compassion, wit and personality shining through in the characters and story.

Born from the vivid imagination of Bianca Marais, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is a feminist fable about a powerful sisterhood of witches. It is a celebration of women and what makes them complex.

The coven face issues that plague all women, one of which is aging. Society is obsessed with youth, linking it to beauty, thus denying women the privilege to grow old gracefully. Through the lens of of feminism, Marais also explores themes of identity, sisterhood, and the balance of power. Also paramount to the story is sex and sexuality, topics that are often taboo with women—especially those women that are more mature with age.

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor is magical, mysterious, and full of mirth. Marais will put you under her spell.

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais The witches were quirky, unique, and amusing. I could not connect with the characters or the story. An amusing and entertaining read for fans of the Golden Girls and Charmed, although the picture of Bette Midler's Winifred in Hocus Pocus was foremost in my thoughts.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

I really wanted to like this book. I just couldn't relate to the characters. I love quirky but they were a little too weird for me.

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor
by Bianca Marais
Pub Date: August 23, 2022
Mira
* Fantasy * fiction
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.
This book was a delight to read. Funny, tender, and uplifting, the novel explores the formidable power that can be discovered in aging, found family, and unlikely friendships. Marais’ clever prose offers as much laughter as insight, delving deeply into feminism, identity, and power dynamics while stirring up intrigue and drama through secrets, lies, and sex. Heartbreaking and heart-mending, it will make you grateful for the amazing women in your life. Readers of Jennifer Weiner, Rory Power, and Hazel Beck would enjoy this book.
4 stars

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor by Bianca Marais is an enjoyable read that celebrates a magical sisterhood, enduring friendships and aging gracefully. There are not many books that honors elderly women, and this story applauds their spirit, sense of humor and healthy sex drive.

This band of found sisters find themselves pitted against the Patriarchy as their land is to be taken from them if past-due mortgage payments are not paid. Enter a high school social media wizard who wants to learn from these women and fight for them, even if it means going against her own father.

I just loved the acceptance and encouragement that made this crew a family. The plot tackles ageism, secrets, LBGTQ+, magic, friendship and romance. Marais works magic (no pun) in creating memorable characters that are fleshed out and individualized which is important with a large cast.

This book is completely different from the author’s previous books and I love she’s so adept at genre jumping. It’s a testament to her skill as an author. If you liked the magical games in Harry Potter, you’ll love what these ladies come up with.

Overall, if you’re looking to laugh and enjoy the total escapism that magic provides, you should read this as soon as possible.

The "Golden Girls" comparison you may have heard, in relation to this book, is apt: imagine the playfulness of the TV show, women in the last third of their lives engaged in snappy banter, acts of sex and love and friendship. Now mix in some handed-down knowledge of spells and potions, and a town of men up in arms that these women have both power and property, and you've got the feel for Marais' latest novel. Readers of her other books will recognize her humorous touch and her feminist angle. I could see book clubs across the country reading this book together and trying out one of the cocktail recipes at their book club. A fun romp.

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader's copy.

The "Witches of Moonshyne Manor" has several things I love in a book: humor, found family, magic and romance. Best of all, it has characters who are much older than those usually found in books about magic and adventure. Why should the youngsters have all of the fun? Seeing women who had been together for decades, and had years of life and magic experience, navigate a fun, sometime dark adventure was wonderful. And I loved how characters who are in their 70s and 80s were given full, exciting sex lives that figured heavily into the plot. The sometimes tragic consequences of aging were discussed as well, along with an LGBTQIA+ plot that was beautifully done. I would definitely recommend.

The newest work of fiction from Bianca Marais is a really fun departure from her previous work. Combining geriatric witches with pop culture references, a magical heist, feminist ideals, gender and sexual fluidity, Marais builds us a world with magic and conflict and hope and love.
The cast is large but the characters are unique, a sisterhood in the best way. I loved the way she linked them together as they arrived to the manor as children then grew into their elderly years even with the amount on tribulations they ended up suffering. I also loved the little bits of misdirection and red herrings that had me surprised in a few different places in the book, something Marais is so good at.

Ultimately this book is lighter than her previous works but it is so fun and the statements continue to pack a punch.

An amazing, entertaining, and original book from start to finish!

I absolutely loved this! I wasn't sure exactly how this scenario was going to play out but I loved every moment. Bianca's writing is so beautiful. The diction was nearly pedantic but wasn't over done or too pretentious. It definitely characterized the witches as witty, intelligent, and funny.

I thought that I would get confused with all of the witches but I grew to love and adore each one! I was able to easily distinguish them.

The plot: race against time to save their home at the same time revealing secrets

This plot could have been fast paced, however, I feel that Ms. Marais slowed it down a bit to really hone in and focus on the characters
More so, the witches. This is not your typical witch story. These are some fiery and funny witches! So the pacing did not negatively affect the story, it allowed readers to learn more about them and to connect with them.

I enjoyed this experience. Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin for my free copy.

I am a huge fan of Ms. Marais' writing. I read her previous two books and was so excited to read this one because fantasy is my favorite genre. This book did not disappoint. The writing is beautiful and very much Marais' style. The witches in this book are hilarious. They are witty and funny and there is never a dull moment in the Manor. The magic in this book is woven seamlessly into the story that has non-stop surprises.
The book begins with the people of the town descend onto the manor with a wrecking ball to destroy it and the distillery and leave the witches homeless. They are left with less than two weeks to save their house but in order to do so, they must reveal long kept secrets. I do not want to give anything away. This book made me laugh out loud often and shed a few tears as well. I absolutely loved it and it is a definite must-read.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Witches of Moonshyne Manor.

This book was describe to me as The House in The Cerulean Sea meets Charmed meets The Golden Girls so immediately I knew I had to read it because I love all three of those things. It was refreshing to read a story with lead characters who were in their 80s and were still capable of kicking some ass. If you love books with witches then this one is definitely for you. The characters are quirky and complex and lovable. I really enjoyed this book.

That being said, there were two references to Harry Potter in this book that I think does not need to be there. We are in the year 2022 and in my opinion Harry Potter should not be mentioned in any books after everything Rowling has done and said. She has done serious harm to the Trans and LGBTQ2+ community and mentioning her books brings attention to her and she doesn’t deserve any more attention. This book ultimately has a Trans character in it so I’m not sure why the author thought it would be a good idea to mention books written by an author who doesn’t support the Trans community.

This book either needs to remove the reference or add trigger warnings so people who do not support Rowling are made aware before reading.