This book is more historical murder mystery than anything else, and the murder mystery was a fun one to solve. I was drawn in by the premise, but found the omniscient third person pov to be somewhat tedious in this application. Where motives could be in question, the narration gave away more than I would have liked, and I correctly guessed the would-be killer at about halfway.

That being said, this book would benefit greatly from another round of edits, as there were a number of spelling and grammatical errors, which sounds nitpicky, but there were a few sentences I had to read through a few times in order to identify what was being said. I also struggled with this book being set in Scotland, yet only using "ye ken" and "dinnae fash" to remind the reader that it's set in Scotland. If a dialect is included, I wish the author would lean in, otherwise it just feels like an obvious reminder at strange times.

Overall, the mystery was fun and it was a step outside of my comfort zone, as I'm primarily into romance. This has a clean romance that feels more like an afterthought, added so that the book could be tagged as romance, but I wouldn't call this a romance novel. It's strength lies in the charm of its characters and their overlapping lives, which I did enjoy quite a bit.

There isn’t much depth to this book.
However, I still enjoyed it.
There is a witch in the story and I enjoyed the description of the potions, the old witch and her house.
However, it turned out to be a bit of a detective story.

It’s lighthearted and worth a read.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for this eARC of The Cursed Witch

Anna Stewart is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, therefore the people of Edinburgh believe she is a cursed witch.
When Anna is assumed dead and buried, two resurrectionists are tasked to dig up her body and sell it to the local medical school.
Much to their horror upon digging her up they find Anna alive.

The Cursed Witch was an interesting read. I enjoyed the historical fantasy and cozy mystery aspect of it.
The whodunnit murder mystery set in Victorian Edinburgh was a great setting for this story.
I did feel that the murder mystery aspect of the storyline did over take the witchy story, it would have been nice to read more about Anna's witchy abilities.
Overall it was a good read.

I have enjoyed all of the books Brenda Hasse has written, but I think I have to say, this is my favorite, so far. The story was intriguing from the beginning and kept me captivated throughout the book. I also loved learning the history of witches As I find it highly fascinating! This is a must read!

This book is quite a good read. The story focuses on Anna, her godmother who says she is a witch and Resurrectionists. I found it flowed well, there were some small inconsistencies which most others might disregard. The editing here is truly annoying- several examples of misspellings and some misused words, eg portal and door? The characters seemed a bit two dimensional except for the two protagonists.
Those aside, it is a good excuse to sit still and read for an afternoon, which I did. Not the worst I have read. It does deserve its 4 stars for a good whodunit.

*ARC received from NetGalley for an honest review.*

Anna Stewart is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and as such, the people of Edinburgh believe she is a cursed witch. Assumed dead and buried, two resurrectionists are tasked to dig up her body and sell it to the local medical school. Instead, once they have done the work of digging her body from her grave, they find Anna very much alive. This begins Anna's search for her attempted murderer with the help of the town healer, a very protective dog, and a handsome shipping merchant in from across the Atlantic.

The Cursed Witch was a quick read, falling somewhere between historical fantasy and cozy mystery. I enjoyed the methodical investigation and the whodunnit style mystery set in Victorian Edinburgh, though it didn't stand out to me. When Anna first meets Haggadah, we see her learning about herbs and medicines, as well as more spiritual and arcane arts. After the murder mystery sets in, it's almost as though that aspect of the story disappears. I would have loved to see more of these possible witchy abilities Haggadah hints at for the first 30% of the book, or even see Anna become proficient in healing.

3 stars from me, it was a nice, atmospheric read for a dreary afternoon.

Enjoyed this not quite my normal reading genre, a mystery, a love story, betrayal some humour 😁 it's not graphic, it's about a young woman who is the 7th daughter of the 7th daughter therefore named as a witch,
Follow the character's the god mother is funny.!
Recived this book from netgalley for an honest review and I've got to say it's quite delightful.

I received a complimentary ARC of The Cursed Witch by Brenda Hasse in exchange for my honest review.
This book kept me turning pages long into the night. I love books that contain witchcraft, spells and curses and this one did not disappoint. The characters are well developed and the vivid descriptions made it so easy to imagine myself right there in the book. The plot kept me hooked from the first page and just when I thought I had it figured out, I realized that I didn't. I highly recommend this great book!
Anna Stewart goes on an errand for her mother on the eve of Samhain and hears footsteps behind her. The next thing she knows, Anna is waking up in the kirkyard with two ressurectionists who had just dug her up from her grave. As the body snatchers flee in terror, Anna heads towards home and meets the town witch. Fearing that whoever attempted to kill Anna may strike again, Haggadah hides Anna in her cottage to keep her safe.
Douglas MacEwan, a mercantile shipping company owner, is in town awaiting his ships to be unloaded and reloaded and falls ill. He visits Haggadah, at the suggestion of the maid where he is rooming, to get a remedy and sees Anna. Douglas is immediately enchanted by her beauty, and upon hearing her story, vows to help solve the mystery of who is trying to kill her.
The one who wants Anna dead will stop at nothing to achieve their goal. Will Douglas be able to save Anna or will he pay with his life?

I love historical crime fiction and this is a little gem. Anna Stewart is a young woman who others say is cursed. The seventh daughter of the seventh daughter, with flaming red hair and green eyes people say she is a witch. Anna is murdered and buried in an unmarked grave. Body snatchers are paid to steal her body for the medical school. As the body snatchers are heaving her body up and out of the grave she sits up and sneezes. Wandering the streets Anna comes upon a wizened old lady with a a very large dog. Little does she realise that this old lady Haggida who takes her home is her godmother and a witch. With the help of a kindly stranger they set out to find who killed Anna and more importantly why???
I LOVED this book, beautifully written, so descriptive and the characters especially Haggida and her animal companions. A new author for me and I will definitely be searching out the rest of this author's work.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Someone tried to kill Anna. Unbeknownst to the culprit, she survived. After luck strikes again and she’s saved from suffocating in her coffin, Anna needs to find her would-be killer before they try to finish the job.

A very interesting mystery read. Truly, a whodunit with a smaller-than-usual cast. Maybe also a whydunit because of the small cast of characters. I was admittedly deceived by red herrings and I went where the author took me in general. It’s also a great read for history lovers. This book is obviously a work of fiction but it has real historical components in it. I, for one, really enjoyed this macabre aspect of the history. Witches, resurrectionists, doctors who pay for stolen dead bodies to use as teaching tools and all the oddities all came together and created a world which I was delighted to discover. Knowingly or not, The Cursed Witch also had some poignant social commentary because no one except for the thoroughly depraved or the thoroughly desperate for money would resort to illegally digging up graves at the witching hour of the night.

I do think that the characters could’ve been more developed. I found Lachlan to be a very interesting character but we never got to learn much about him or why he acts the way he does. This was, I think, a general problem with all the characters in the book. They only existed in the present and that made them two dimensional and harder to identify with. Weirdly, the two characters I really ended up caring about were the two resurrectionists. However, the potential is there, the characters just need to be explored a bit more (for example, the backstory that Haggadah hinted at, involving the witches in her book of shadows). Some plot points were abandoned prematurely. I expected Anna’s apprenticeship under her godmother to have a bigger effect on the resolution or maybe the ending of the book.

I was provided an ARC of this book and I thank the author and the publishing team for it !


!!! ONLY ON NETGALLEY !!!

There was this short instance (on p. 353-354) where Haggadah explains to Anna and Douglas what happened in the lunatic asylum when she went there to check on Anna’s mother. But she gives a resume of the entire interaction with hospital workers which isn’t necessary at all because as the reader, I was already there when it happened. So there’s no need to repeat the whole thing again. I suspect it was an editing oversight.

A quick, easy and riveting read that I read really quickly. Well written, good storyline that was full of mystery and well developed characters. I really enjoyed it.

Being the seventh daughter of the seventh daughter, Anna Stewart is considered a cursed witch by many. When she is murdered, body snatchers come to steal her body for the medical school…only to have Anna “Come back to life”. Lucky for Anna, the town witch, who turns out to be Anna’s godmother, takes her in and helps keep her hidden as they try to find out who tried to kill Anna and why.

A handsome stranger who turns up on the witch’s doorstep to get a remedy becomes a close ally and steps up to help keep Anna safe as they solve the mystery of her murder. But can the trio solve Anna’s murder before the killer strikes again?

A good read, I wished it were a little longer because I didn’t want the story to end. The writing is strong and completely entrances you…I had a hard time putting the book down, but quickly picked it up again as soon as I could. I recommend this book for any mystery lover. It’s cozy, with a day of historical, and a pinch of supernatural, making it a perfect read for everyone.