Brigid goes to be done night in her home in Evermore, an island off the coast of Ireland, in 1922. When she wakes, she's 100 years in the future and surrounded by monsters, as well as her distant relatives who are inhabiting her home. Survival is dependent on her getting her memories back, something she's not sure how to do.

Crutcher created a world of fantasy embedded in magic, mystery, and a bit of time travel which was quite intriguing to read. Mixed in with a bit of romance, there was a bit of something for everyone. I really enjoy dual timelines, as I felt that each time the story flipped back and forth there was a bit more revealed that helped us get to the root of the story!

Although interesting, this one did take a while to get into with the story building and the setting. I found it hard to follow the magic a bit in the beginning which made me slow to invest. However, with that said, once I did invest I was in it for the long run and eager to read more.

Thank you to St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Brigid Heron is a powerful witch and healer. She longs to have her own child and will go to great lengths to bring this dream to life. Years later, her daughter is taken by the magic of the mysterious and dangerous lough, and at the same time, Brigid is sent into the future. Though still in her town, on her island, Brigid finds the future Evermore trapped by dark magic, and the people in danger of the power of a strong and dark coven. Brigid and her new friends, Ophelia and Finola, are fighting to save Evermore, while Brigid searches for her precious daughter, with the hope of bringing her back home.

Thank you, @stmartinspress for this gifted copy! This was a fun and lighthearted read. There are darker moments, since future Evermore is teeming with evil, but there is also a healthy dose of humor and love. I loved Brigid's friendship with Ophelia and Finola, it reminded me a lot of Hocus Pocus 2, which I found to be a delight. If you're a fan of witches, and gal-pals, and romance, I certainly recommend adding this to your 2023 spooky season TBR.

This books tells of a witch who time-traveled to present-day. The story is very well-written with vivid image. It was very lyrical and evocative. The characters were well-developed and complex. I especially loved the romance which was the book’s best feature. However, the novel moved at a slow pace. Still, I recommend this for fans of Melissa Cruz, Deborah Harkness, and Nora Roberts!

Brigid Heron is a witch in the small town of Evermore in 1922 Ireland. She has longed to be a mother for several years, even going so far as to let herself be seduced by Luc Knightly. Knightly is the head of a powerful coven and Brigid is powerless to his magnetism. Brigid gives birth to a daughter, who suddenly falls gravely ill. In order to save her, Brigid uses the dark magic of the Lough of Briongloid but gets swept away through time in the process.

It's the year 2022 and Evermore is under attack by the witches of Knight. They have unleashed unearthly creatures upon the small town and its residents. Brigid awakens to find herself transported to the future and eventually learns that the magic she used to save her daughter in the past also helped create the chaos currently happening in the future. Brigid comes upon two of her descendants, Ophelia and Finola, and together they must fight to save Evermore and themselves.

I really love time-traveling witches. This story reminds me of the Found Things series by Paula Brackston, but I think this book was just a tad darker. I look forward to reading more from Paige Crutcher in the future!

I had a hard time connecting to this book, but I think that it was 100% a me problem. This book is so beautifully written and contains everything you could possibly want in a cozy fantasy. The small Irish village the story takes place in is picturesque and full of zany characters. The relationships between Bridgette and her descents is fun and her on again off again relationship with the demigod Luke is captivating, but the plot was too active to fall into a sense of coziness, but too slow to be entertaining. I think this book may be suffering from trying to do too many things at once. I would like to try reading this book again in a few years and see if I enjoy it more at a different time.

I absolutely loved this book. It hooked me and kept me turning pages until I was done. Finished it in two days! The character development was strong, and the premise was unique enough that it didn't feel like anything else I've read.

I. Can see the appeal of this story but for me it did not click, and I didn’t enjoy. For folks that like their witches broody and longing vs silly and charming, this one is for you,

The outlander vibes of this story and the magic was entertaining. I will be recommending this story.

Really interesting begging, but the book as a whole failed to keep my attention. It was good and well written but not 100% my thing

It took awhile to fully get into this book, I found some of it lackluster. Despite that, the story is quite interesting with some wonderful characters making up for it. The book itself is quite forgettable and my opinions on it aren't strong one way or another.

The Lost Witch (A Novel) by Paige Crutcher
Narrated by Aoife McMahon
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Romance, Sci Fi & Fantasy
Published: December 27, 2022

The Lost Witch is a standalone witchy tale set in Evermore, Ireland by Paige Crutcher.

I definitely got lost in this book! The story was captivating and I loved the characters. The time travel element was done in such a unique way. I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by the author!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Brigid is a powerful witch who seemingly has it all. She is happy and content with her life, but she is lonely. She wants a child more than anything else. When she goes against everything she knows to have that child it has repercussions that she never could have dreamed of. Falling for the seduction of Luc, the head of the Knightly coven, she has that child but the child soon becomes ill and Brigid will do anything to save her. Finding herself after a traumatic encounter, transported 100 years into the future, Brigid has to figure out why she is there and how to save her daughter. The characters in this book were amazing as well as the world that Crutcher created. It kept me wanting more and kept me engrossed to see what would happen next. This book had a little bit of everything, love, heartache, laughter, ugly monsters, and crazy witches. I really enjoyed everything about this book. Thank you, NetGalley for the eARC. 4 stars.

I wanted to love this but I just couldn't get into it. This was a DNF for me. I hope to have the chance to read another Crutcher novel.

A great story. It was a bit confusing to connect things as it jumped from the past to the present to other worlds, but a title I will recommend!

An interesting concept that had a good execution - i just didn't connect with the characters as much as I should have,

This was a tale described as a struggle between two gods over an uncontrollable power and the witches on each side. The Goddess is described as having healing magic, and nurturing the land and its people is what she teaches, and is what Brigid Heron does to help her village Evermore. Luc Knightly is a trickster god, who has the Witches of Knight at his command. Their goal: control the lough.

This was a cool concept, but I feel like there could have been so much more than I got from this novel.
For example, Luc was built up so much that when we actually interact with him the description instead seems flat, and he doesn’t seem as powerful as the Goddess at all. The Goddess is shown to be mysterious, powerful, but a friend, and her interactions with Brigid show that. Luc is supposed to also be that for the Witches of Knight, but instead, they betray him fairly easily, and don’t seem like they believed in him to begin with.

Luc is also supposed to have a romantic relationship with Brigid where he falls madly in love with her after she wishes for a child, but I could not feel the chemistry between them at all. I think the time jumps back and forth made it confusing, since we couldn't see the progression of their relationship, and when they meet there isn't really sexual tension between them because her memories are lost.

The later half of the novel was supposed to resolve a lot of questions, but I felt like it just made it worse.
The purpose of sending Brigid to the future to save her daughter was not explained clearly, and the descriptions of Brigid and Dove healing the people together confused me as well since she was supposed to have been separated from her mom when she was 12. With a main character having missing memories, I expect confusion, but the confusion never really left. I think the author tried to do too many things in too little pages, which was sad because I enjoyed the setting and the premise. My favorite characters in this story were Ophelia and Finola, and they saved this book for me.

I really wanted to love this book but it fell very flat for me. The story was very slow and rather confusing.

I want to start by saying I love everything witchy; this cover is stunning. However, I couldn't finish this without wanting to crawl out of my skin. I have LOVED everything Paige Cruther has written; this one didn't feel like it was edited the same. I was so confused. I had to re-read chapters to figure out what was going on, and my dyslexic brain thought it was being stabbed because of how many times I had to re-read sentences. Honestly, I have 0 clues about what happened, which made me sad. I will try and borrow the audiobook from the library and see if that happens but it's not top of my list. Paige, I still adore you and will read everything you publish, even if I wanna cut my eyes out while doing it.

Thank you to Paige Crutcher and her publisher for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really interested in the Celtic folklore, the best friends' relationship and their radio show, but I was 45% through the book when I had to stop reading because it didn't get any less confusing for me. It's a careful balance between having the main character be confused and without memory but still giving the reader enough information to piece some things together themselves. I felt as lost as Brigid which was taking the fun out of the story. The tension she was trying to build between Brigid and the love interest didn't work for me either because I knew nothing about him. I think the author did a good job maintaining the time jump storyline and developing the side characters, but not the main characters or the background lore. I'm still curious to read Paige's next story because there was a lot of potential for me.

Thanks again!!!

3.5 stars, rounded down.

One sentence summary: Fantasy story with Irish mythology, with a witch from 1922 that time travels 100 years into the future, has lost her memories and needs to save her small town from a curse.

Supporting characters include a trickster god/love interest, her great-niece and great-niece's best friend.

There is A LOT going on in this book. Since Brigid has lost her memories pretty early on in the story, a lot of the book is regaining the memories with her. While it's a cool technique for story telling, I think it worked better as an idea and less in practice. Unfortunately, it takes so long for Brigid to remember things that the story starts to drag. I ended up skimming a lot of the middle of the book, and I don't feel like I missed out on much.

The last 3rd of the book brings the story together and ends in a mostly satisfying way. I think what bothered me about the story was that the story was ALMOST a romance and ALMOST a fantasy (technically, it was both)-- but it felt like there could have been more of a lean on either genre.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's press for an e-copy of "The Lost Witch." Published in Dec 2022.