Magical and addictive - a fable-like vibe, think 'Chocolat'. Folk magic, the magic of friendship, respect, and love all overpowering intense evil and fanaticism. Finding inner strength and the courage to reach out - strength in truth. And you can bet, good wins over evil every time. A lyrical and refreshing tale, another tale of Morgan's Gap, where we all should live.

4 stars / This review will be posted on goodreads.com today.


I now want to move to Sugarloaf Mountain in Virginia. When authors can transport you to magical places that you never want to leave, you know you’ve read a good book.

Rachel was left at The Home for Wayward Girls as just a baby. Raised among The Sect, a strict religious group, Rachel thought there was no joy or happiness in the world. Because every little bit she found was squashed by the Sisters. While attending a revival, Rachel has had enough and runs away. She runs all the way to Crone’s Hollow where she finds peace. Her peace will be short-lived. Mary May gives Rachel one perfect night of sleep and rest, a slice of apple pie, and a keepsake, before Rachel is found and returned to the Sisters.

So it’s no wonder that Rachel grows up, marries into a loveless and abusive marriage, and thinks there is no better life for her. Until something changes to make her want to return to the orchard and the Crone. Will Rachel find the safety and comfort of home she’s never had? Or will her return to Crone’s Hollow turn things upside down even more?

This was such a magical book. The visuals of the wildwood, Honeywick, and all the characters was beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to run away to such a perfect place? I loved Rachel’s plight and wanted nothing more than for her to be happy, finally. For The Sect to get their comeuppance. For life in the late 1960s to bring about change.

I did not read the first book, Wildwood Whispers, but you can bet it’s on my ‘to read’ list now.

I loved Wildwood Whispers. It was atmospheric and lovely and the cover was stunning.

Wildwood Magic did not hit the right spot.
It felt bogged down by repetitive paragraphs and pages and pages of details that made me forget who was even in the scene. But mostly I am so tired of books about "magical woman" who discover their magic because of being abused or raped or assaulted in someway. As if women can only find strength from being broken by a man. I honestly stopped reading at the 50% mark because I knew they abuse was only going to get worse. Can we find a new trope please. Thanks.

I received this arc from NetGalley in exchange for a review. After reading wildwood whispers I have been craving another book experience like this. Both books take place is Morgan's Gap a small town in Appalachia that have secret magical land, people and creatures. it is such a nice escape from every days life and the descriptions are so lyrical that they almost fall off the page. I enjoy the small amount of romance but more so the relationships the main character builds in the community. I am hoping there are more stories in this world in the future!

Getting back into the wild wood and getting both women’s story together was magic. Found family, doing anything for the people you love and falling in love who could beat it. Willa transports you to a magic forest

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Orphaned at birth, Rachel Smith has had a difficult life. She’s endured years of abuse at the hands of the Sisters in the orphanage and from the husband she was given to, a leader in a strict conservative sect. When she finds out she is pregnant with her abuser’s child, Rachel knows she must get out to protect her baby. Faking her own death, she escapes to a small Appalachian town called Morgan’s Gap where an elderly wisewoman takes her in at her apple orchard.

After years of reclusiveness, only occasionally going to town to help at the market or surreptitiously check on her daughter and her adoptive mother, Rachel is forced to go out into the world when the orchard owner leaves without a word. Once she does, she’ll find that there are friendships to be made and a world that needs her talents. As Rachel starts to find her place in the community, a dark force from her past will find her and threaten everything she has built. Will the strength of her friendships be enough to save the town?

This book was a magical journey from start to finish. The author creates a beautiful tapestry by weaving together themes of friendship, sisterhood, love, redemption, hope, and trust. The story leans heavily on themes of humans’ connections with nature and our responsibility to care for the earth as it cares for us. The proverb “we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children” came to mind throughout my reading. Ms. Reece does a masterful job of exploring Rachel’s relationships with nature and those women she comes to rely on like family. With magical elements throughout, this is a beautiful book for anyone who enjoys seeing the quiet, the mistreated, and the rejected people have a win.

I'm a sucker for a good book about wayward girls.

Rachel's entire childhood was dictated by the religious fanatics that ran the Home for Wayward Girls where she was routinely abused. For one brief day, a teenage Rachel heard the call of the Wildwood, and escaped her sect. The call brought her to a Wildwood orchard and the shelter of silver haired Mary May. Though she was quickly returned to the Home, she never forgot the way that orchard and Mary made her feel welcomed and safe. Years later, when Rachel discovers she's pregnant by her zealous reverend husband, she's determined to escape his clutches and protect the child at all costs. She knows it's time to return to the Wildwood.

When her husband shows up years later in the same town to preach his hate and intolerance, Rachel knows she can cower as she always has or she can form bonds with her community and learn to stand up for herself and protect her new home.

This book has magic in so many forms. My favorite of them all is all of the female characters like Mary May and Granny Ross that support Rachel and help her find her true power. Just allll the female empowerment is so good! The magical realism is woven throughout the story as each wisewoman has her own unique power and I loved the way it was done. I really want a Jo and Mavis story!

Another thing I loved about this book is the incredible amount of detail about the town, the orchard, the farm life. I was immersed and felt like I was really there learning how to make cider. But at times it did feel like this slowed the story down just a little bit. For me, this is 4.5 star read rounded up.

If you loved Practical Magic or Garden Spells, I think you will love this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the opportunity to read this magical book. #netgalley #redhookbooks

Ah, the return to the wildwood was everything I could have hoped for and more!

Have you ever felt like a story connected with your soul? That was how I felt upon finishing Wildwood Whispers. The magic intertwined in the every day tasks paired with the characters and the community and the wisewomen! Willa Reece continues on this beautiful feeling of connection in her writing of Wildwood Magic, the prequel to Wildwood Whispers.

The storyline for Wildwood Magic was a bit more enthralling. The buildup - and knowing something big was going to happen kept me turning every page. It was fun trying to figure out the connection of characters between the books but I tried not to dig too much. I wanted to just sit back and take it in. Enjoy the bees, the embroidery, the community, the magic.

I would pickup any story within the Wildwood and I hope Willa continues to weave the magic for us.

Oh, how I have been waiting with bated breath to return to the Wildwood!

I am happy to share that Reece's prequel is written in such a way that readers will feel like they are returning home. It's every bit as magical as the first book and somehow feels rooted even deeper in the old ways. There's a cast of characters, both familiar and new, that just leap of the page. Each nuanced, most likable, and all connected in a intricate tapestry that delivers one heck of a story!

Wildwood Whispers earned a spot on my all times favorite stack for it's nuanced approach to weaving magic into the mundane. The plot was engaging but it was never the big draw for me. That changed for me in the prequel! I was so deeply invested in where all these stories where going and how they would intertwine!!

I would quite literally read stories written within the Wildwood world again and again!!! I do hope we have more coming.

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for the ARC!

Wildwood Magic is a prequel to the debut novel, Wildwood Whispers. In Wildwood Magic, we're going back into the past, both circa 1883 and 1957. The juxtaposition of two very different time periods helped to amplify how little the mistreatment of women and POC has changed. In all honesty, I'm hoping this was intentional. Wildwood Whispers was a statement novel in the power of the quiet people on the fringe's of society.

As an avid fan of the first novel, I am hoping that Wildwood Magic is the set up for a follow up story to Wildwood Whispers. There is more understanding of how Reverend Moon came to be, but so many unanswered questions. History shows that the Sect can never truly be expelled from Morgan's Gap and what about the fate of all the lost souls caught up in the Moon's family web? What does the future look like for our wise women?
All in all, Wildwood Magic left me desperate to relive in the wild Appalachia of Morgan's Gap, again.

In terms of the writing, Wildwood Magic had a few more descriptive paragraphs that didn't add value. Less can sometimes be more when trying to transport the reader. Wildwood Whispers had a perfect combination of descriptive surroundings interspersed with the main protagonist's POV. I recommend cutting some of the additive sections in Wildwood Magic. A good example is when Rachel visits Deborah's trailer for the first time. The activity of the two women requires descriptions of the land. Cut the five extra paragraphs that don't add to the storyline. It'll keep the reader from getting bored.

One final note, there were a handful of typos that are disruptive to the reading experience. As well as one word that repeated in the novel, 'haint'. My familiarity with this word is limited, but it's a good learning experience. It might be useful to build into the novel an explanation of the word and why it simply isn't a misspelling of "haunt" but rather an intentional use of the vernacular.

I loved this intriguing novel about the community of Morgan's Gap in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. Rachel is running from an abusive childhood, and ending up in Morgan's Gap was like coming home for her. The wise women of the mountain accept her as their own with their whimsical and magical ways. I loved the friendship, love, and caring for others so freely given to those in need. And when evil descends upon the town and tries to destroy some of their own, the community unites to stop it. I will definitely be recommending this book and looking forward to the next book by this author. Thanks to author Willa Reese, Redhook Books, and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this ebook. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook Books for this opportunity to read rate and review this arc which is available July 25,2023!

As an Appalachian this book resonated with me. Appalachian Witchery, culture and history in this book was perfection. The religious part really had me as I know preachers like this one in the book just as I know Appalachian wise women. I am buying this book for my momma, my grandmomma, aunties and myself.

It feels like this author knows us, our pasts and who we are

Wildwood Magic is another earthy magical story from the author of Wildwood Whispers. This story has a bit of The Scarlett Letter with its plot about a young woman fleeing from a religious cult who finds her freedom and inner wild woman in the bewitching woods. Like Willa Reece's first novel, Wildwood Magic is infused with green witchery, folk healing, and rustic paganism. Reece's writing is ethereal and melancholic which made this a sadder story than expected. Themes of self-discovery, the forbidden, ancestral healing, and intuitive knowing were explored in this enchanting story. The bucolic settings and almost spiritual like descriptions of the plants, animals, and nature provided a mystical deep dive into the wild woman archetype and journey that the characters in this story embarked upon.

I didn't connect to this story as much as Willa Reece's first novel 'Wildwood Whispers' and I think it's because this story was a bit too long and heavy. It just didn't have as much whimsy as I would have liked, so unfortunately it did not charm me in the way that I was hoping.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a free arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for the opportunity to read Wildwood Magic by Willa Reece. Found family, strong, fierce women, and magic. What's not to love? I did not want this book to end.

Rachel was so brave for the decision that she made, she left an abusive situation and good on her. I love that we have the found family trope here as well. This was a beautiful story about freedom and love with a touch of whimsy. I didn't like, however, that the book would switch from first person to third person, it really threw me off.

This book follows Rachel, an orphan raised in a religious sect who later is married to the sect’s (abusive) preacher. Rachel bravely leaves him and begins a journey of self-discovery that she was never allowed growing up in the oppressive religion.

We are told the story through first-person POV from Rachel, but the book also switched to third-person for various side characters, which I didn’t love but understood why it was done this way.

This book is about magic, love, freedom, and so much more. I loved the cast of characters that become our main character’s found family. This book was slow at times and I felt like it took a little too long to get where it was going, but I overall loved this book and feel it is worth a read.

Wildwood Magic is luscious, dreamy, and deserving of its title. A meeting of the old ways and the new, it explores community, love, freedom, nature, magic, home, and the power of bonds between women. Sprawling with gorgeous prose, it unravels its tale through beautiful and sensory description, stunning imagery, and characters immediately familiar and filled with life. It is hopeful without being trite; it charms without romanticizing away the ugly undersides of rural Appalachia.
The webs between characters are finely woven and delightful to behold. While it would be easy to undermine the significance of found family in some of its reveals, the coexistence of family chosen and family reunited highlights community in all its forms. It's a poignant depiction of the impact of the bonds between women, whether blood, friendly, or romantic, as well as the fear they can instill. The necessity of division & discord in sowing the seeds of bigotry & oppression is thrown into sharp relief, as well as those who stand to benefit from it. That said, the antagonists walk a thin line that can veer from the frighteningly real to becoming caricatures, particularly the secondary ones. Ezekiel represents cyclical abuse; Morgan is shown in only one light, that of the evil abuser, while readers must assume that another face exists which inspires the loyalty and devotion of a town, one we never see. It's a small outlier in a novel otherwise populated by richly imagined complex characters.
This is a love story, but it’s a love story of many forms, perhaps the least compelling of which is its romance. The primary romance is believable, and the basis of two individuals surviving their trauma and learning to love again is a lovely one, but it’s simply one bond among many. This is no drawback in my estimation, but readers shouldn’t go in asking this novel to be something it isn't.
A testament to surviving, enduring, loving, and, finally, living, Wildwood Magic is a breathtaking, atmospheric, and transportive triumph, capturing the magic of the world and the magic of life.

Thank you to NetGalley!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I need to preface this with the fact that I normally hate this genre of book. However, the blurb for the ARC sounded like it might be okay, so I requested it. Best thing I have done for a while! For me, this was a five star read! It's definitely more romance than I normally read, but the paranormal elements, while subtle, distracted from that enough that I didn't want to put the book down. So thankful that I had a rainy day to read this book! Definitely worth it!

Rachel has retreated to Morgan’s Gap, and a small apple orchard in the Appalachians to escape her violent husband. Here, she feels safe and nurtured. But Rachel’s pull to the orchard wasn’t random, this is a place that has sheltered women for centuries, women who know the mysteries of nature and all the magic it has to offer. Just as Rachel begins to feel like she could be a part of these wie women, her past comes calling. I really enjoyed this book, it put me in mind of Sarah Addison Allen’s lovely books