Fritzi is a witch. As the lone survivor of a brutal attack on her coven, she's determined to find her captured cousin and bring the hexenjägers―zealot witch hunters―to justice. To do this, she will need to take down their leader, the merciless Kommandant Dieter Kirch. Otto is a hexenjäger―but that's just his cover. Years ago, the hexenjägers burned his innocent mother alive, and he has been plotting his revenge ever since. When Fritzi and Otto are unexpectedly thrown together, neither is sure they can trust the other. The reluctant truce fueled by their common enemy takes them from the city at the heart of the hexenjägers' power to the wild and mysterious Black Forest. As old truths come to light and new dangers are revealed, Fritzi and Otto uncover a horrifying magical plot at the center of the hexenjäger attacks that leads back to Kommandant Kirch…but their own growing feelings for each other may be the most powerful magic of all.

Thank you so much to @netgalley, @sourcebooksfire, @bethrevis, and @sara_raasch for the ARC! This was such a great witchy fantasy novel that is the perfect fall read. I loved the dual point of view of Otto and Fritzi. The enemies to lovers plot line was great, but I also loved the other plot elements and that the relationship wasn’t the central focus of the novel. The writing was great and suspenseful, and kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next! There were a lot of small twists and reveals that really made the story engaging The magical elements were really cool and unique, and I appreciate how well developed they were. All of the characters were so well written. The book flowed so well. Great fictional interpretation of the European Witch Trials. Can’t wait for the second book already! Night of the Witch releases October 3rd!

Thanks NetGally for giving me an ARC of this book.

Did you love Serpent and the Dove? Then this book is just your cup of tea.

We get to journey with a witch and a witch hunter in Germany, both with complicated pasts and feelings. Of course, love blossoms between the two which complicates their mission. The villain is a man so vile that he does not care that most of the people he kills are not witches but ordinary innocent people. He will also gladly abuse children for his gain and mission. My only issue with the villain is his motives and how he ended up as the villain, hopefully, we will get a better backstory or explanation in the sequel.

The book is filled with twists and turns. I often thought I had it all figured out for just being tricked by the authors. I highly enjoy a book that always keeps me on my toes. The magic could have been explained better, with more examples of how the magic is used.


I would prefer if the romance between the two characters were slower and described in more detail. I felt the romance was sudden and unexpected, so a more detailed description of their feelings would have been wonderful. I enjoy that we get both of their POVs and how well they managed to work with each other despite the obvious trust issues.

As a non-German, I did struggle with some German words, but most of them I did understand, probably cause they are very close to how we would say it in my language. Luckily, I have German friends and could ask them for a translation, and Google Translate is free and easy to use. The German words did not have a heavy impact on the overall understanding of sentences either, so if you can’t be bothered to translate it, it will not be the end of the world.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would give it a solid 3.5 stars. It was easy to read, and the plot developed quickly, but it does lack explanations and details that I deem vital for the overall understanding of the world. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

"Night of the Witch" is a historical fiction based on real events of the Trier Witch Trials (check out the Historical Note at the end of the book - really interesting!) and I absolutely enjoyed the mix of fiction with inspiration from human history. Now I can add this book to the list reads from this subgenre I'd recommend to a friend.

In short, here's what I enjoyed:
- attention to details (description of scents, geography, it's easy to be more 'sloppy' about those things but that's not the case here)
- dual POV
- the plot twists!!
- potential for some exciting, "female range" character development (I'm crossing my fingers for this)
- layers and layers of themes that make you reflect, including history of feminism, various approaches to religion overall, dealing with grief
- really exciting build up for the next books in the series

The pain points:
- romance. Did it feel rushed? Sure. I'm a reader who enjoys a good slow burn so this is purely personal preference. I recognize how fast paced everything was from the moment we first meet Fritzi and Otto, not just the romance but the whole plot too, even though this book is a little over 400 pages. High stakes (pun not intended) and all, sort of deal, I guess.
- rules of the magic world. I found myself asking "but why?" during the last quarter of the book. While some questions were answered I still wonder why some rules for witches are in place. What was the motive for them to be there? Perhaps that's something that will be uncovered later in the series but for now it made me feel confused and even a little frustrated.

Also want to note: this is not an enemies to lovers book. Initially, it might seem that way but as you continue reading, I would say"one-sided hate to love" fits better.

As a fan of both authors, I had high expectations for their latest work, but unfortunately, this fell short of my hopes. The writing style, while not terrible, felt somewhat juvenile and lacked the depth I was anticipating.

The storyline, though promising, failed to fully engage me, often coming across as a bit boring. I found myself struggling to stay invested in the plot, which was disappointing given my initial excitement.

One of the most disappointing aspects of the book for me was the romance. I'm not a fan of insta-love, and unfortunately, this book leaned heavily in that direction. The romance lacked the gradual development and chemistry I usually enjoy in love stories, leaving me feeling disconnected from the characters' relationship.

While the story had its moments and showed flashes of potential, it ultimately didn't live up to the standards I had set for these beloved authors. Here's hoping their future works will recapture the magic that initially drew me to their writing.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO NETGALLEY & Sourcebooks for this ARC

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e arc of this book.

It was good - the book was very, very dark though. It mixes history with magic, and it absolutely touches on true historical events and realities of the time. Which make it a bit more real - this era is one I focused on, and reading about it still gives me chills.

I think my biggest problem with the book was not that it wasn't well written - it was - but that the pacing and plot struggled. I thought I would love the plot, but I just didn't jive with it. Just struggled. At times I felt it went so fast, and then it was too slow.

None of the characters were outright bad, I just didn't feel the romantic relationship between the two main characters.

In the end the book was good, and I definitely think it is going to be appealing to some readers.

This in a way reminded me of a more historically accurate Serpent & Dove!

This story takes place in historic Germany, at the height of witch trials. Fritzi and her coven have been able to avoid detection, until one day it all comes crashing down. Fritzi finds her self on a journey to save her cousin and others accused of witchcraft, when she collides with captain of the witch hunters Otto. From there, Fritzi begins to uncover secrets and truths that could change the foundation of everything she thought she knew.

What I liked:
- all of the history and the German setting. Having briefly lived in Germany I love when I am familiar with settings.
- the political and religious tensions that are a constant theme throughout the book.
- the witches and magic. This book really put me in the Fall mood

What I didn’t like:
- This book is YA, but it seems like it desperately wants to be adult. It seems to have an identity crisis
- The magic system and rules change throughout the book. Which makes it confusing and hard to follow towards the end when all the “rules” seem to go out the window
- the relationship between the main characters felt a little forced and developed way to quickly (over a matter of days).

Overall, I loved this book for the German and witchy vibes, but a lot of things fell flat for me. I think I would be inclined to read the next in the series.

This book was the perfect blend of history and fantasy. I’ve always loved hearing stories of witches and their customs, and this book had so much interesting information! I really enjoy books that showcase the grey areas between good and evil, and this one did that by allowing Fritzi and Otto to see life from each other’s perspectives. Not all witches use magic to cause harm. Not all hexenjägers share the beliefs of their corrupt leaders.
The love story between Fritzi and Otto reminded me of Nina and Matthias from Six of Crows. They’re natural enemies who eventually realize that they’re not so different after all. I’m excited to see where the next phase of their relationship takes them.
Liesel was my favorite character. So much confidence and sass in such a young girl.
The epilogue set up the next part of the story perfectly.

Witch trails are something that have always fascinated me so this story captured me. It’s a tail as old as time in this story so it is slightly predictable but not in a bad way. It is not often that i enjoy being able to guess at what is going to happen but with this story I enjoyed that aspect. I do feel as though the characters could have been flushed out just a bit but I still found myself enjoying this book and could see myself reading it again.

Okay okay. I really enjoyed this one - there is something SO delightful about a teenage girl coming into her own and owning her power, be it magical or not.

I think I enjoyed this one so much because the world felt *real* like this is something actually happened during this time period in German history. I love a well-researched book!

thank you to NetGalley and SourceBooks for the egalley!

This book was so good!!! Yay for a new series. Fritzi watches her coven all die (even her mother being burned). She uses that as fuel to try to 1-get back her cousin and 2-get back at the guy that killed her coven. Along the way, she gets arrested by Otto, who has to put on a brave face as he hunts witches, but is really rebelling against them and using his position of power to do so.

This was an interesting historical read about witch trials and the impact religion had on these. It’s also a fight for their lives while also having relationships blossom.

Thank you sourcebooks for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. Can’t wait for book 2!

special thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions!

"Night of the Witch" is a historical enemies to lover romance set in a world heavily inspired by the German witch trials back during the time of the Roman Empire. this book had all the ingredients for an incredibly engaging fantasy romance, but fell short for me.

I believe this story would have been better told as an adult fantasy, the limitations of YA kept things more tame than I believe the roots of the story called for. the world building could've been more intricate and interesting if the book had the broad range found in adult fantasies, and the romance could have been much more interesting if more adult themes and dynamics could be included.

all that being said, I enjoyed my time with this book! while it lacked in certain departments for me, I would still recommend this one to YA romantasy lovers!

Big fan of both of these authors but not a big fan of this book. I had a hard time keep track of everything and Definity felt it was more mature than YA. This one took me a while to get through too which surprised me.

I did enjoy this book; I practically read it in one day. However, I have a bit of a problem with it. This is marketed as a Teens/YA book, but it really isn't suitable for Young people. In my mind, a YA book, if there's going to be a sex scene, it's a fade-to-black scene. Children as young as 13 could read this book, and I'm just not sure it's appropriate to specifically target their demographic for a book such as this. Not to mention the torture described in this book; even with the trigger warnings, a young person probably shouldn't read this.
If it wasn't described as YA, then I think I could rate this book a bit higher. It wasn't my favorite, but it was very good! I liked Otto and Fritzi, and I adored Liesel's character. The 'enemies' to lovers plot progressed a bit quickly for my tastes, but it wasn't too bad. I loathed Dieter, as I'm sure I was supposed to, but I also got kind of annoyed at Holda and definitely the other goddesses as well. Their motives didn't seem clear at all during the book, and Holda especially acted so ridiculously when it came to Fritzi. You can't just haunt a person's dreams and nightmares, every waking moment, for years, without a single explanation.. at all(!) and expect that person to listen to you. Like... duh! It was quite infuriating when it finally came out, and made that whole part of the plot seem superfluous. Also, the whole persecution of witches just gave off weird vibes. It was an intriguing part of the story, but I also didn't like it, and I'm not sure if it's because of how it was described at times or what.
All in all, I'm not sure this is a book I can recommend.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for providing me with an eARC of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Witch and Hunter, who will win? Otto is a hunter, finding witches and burning them to rid society of their presence. But there's more to him than anyone around him knows; he's a rebel. Fritzi is a witch, hiding among her coven until she makes a grave error and lets the enemy in. When Otto and Fritzi's world collides, the wheels are set in motion for the world to know just exactly who the witches are and what their powers can do.
I truly enjoy a good witch story. So the blurb for this book drew me right in. Plus I love the simplicity of the cover. And I know Beth Revis is a writer I've enjoyed in the past but I have not read Sara Raasch before. I'm not usually one for historical fiction but when it's mixed with fantasy, I have been known to enjoy it.
Let's start with the characters. I really like Otto and his cause. I was happy to see he was more than just the hunter I thought he might be. I love that being such was a cover for him and he has such a good heart wanting to save people and expose the Kommondant for who he truly is. Otto's character is fairly well fleshed out. I definitely felt for his cause and wanted him to prevail. Fritzi, for me, was just ok. She's a witch, but not one with any special powers I've not seen before. She's also determined to live and right the wrong she has caused, which is noble. She's a bit stubborn but it does take her until about 80% into the book to truly see herself. The side characters we meet along the way are nice but not as fleshed out as the FMC and MMC. There was a lot of missing back story.
The plot was fun but I felt like the pacing was off. The way the authors revealed information was very slow and I honestly struggled a bit and had to push to get to the last 25% where the main action takes place and so much is revealed. I wish we had some snippets along the way. I was honestly kind of bored. And I felt like it was all over the place at times. Some of the mystery revealed a bit to keep me wanting more. I also had some issues with the actual voice of the story. This is set in the late 1500s, but does not feel that way to me. I wanted more of the history, which isn't really included in the book but is given in the note from the authors at the end. The world building was just poor given its use of history. Where was that history in the book? Tell me about Germany at that time. Tell me the background of witches during that time. But it just was not there.
I really didn't like the romance. It felt forced to me and had an insta-love vibe. Like they had to fall in love because why else would we have these two POVs in a book? I wanted it to be a true enemies to friends trope, but it wasn't. I just didn't feel the chemistry. I was waiting for it but it just didn't come. Suddenly they were just in love. I need a better build up. More tension. Plus the one love scene seemed over the top for YA. I was surprised at what I actually read as it felt more like a romance book scene.
Overall, I'd give this one 2.5 stars but would round up to three for the ending. That's when all the good stuff happens. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger and introduces a new POV, which I assume will be utilized in the nextz book. But I had a lot of expectations and for me this book did not live up to them and it's doubtful I will move on to future books in this series. If you enjoyed Serpent and Dove, you may like this one. As soon as I started reading, that was the first vibe I got.

This story is very heavy with religion and honestly knocked this book down a few pegs because of it.

Unless you speak german, french, and italian you might want to read this one on a kindle so you can use the translation feature. This probably would’ve annoyed me if I read a physical copy honestly.

This is almost insta love. They are enemies for like 5 mins before they’re basically fawning all over each other. *disappointed sigh* Like she wants to kill him and then the next scene he wants to spend all his money on her and buy her a necklace because she thinks it’s pretty. I just wish there was more of a buildup and depth to their “relationship.” These 2 are strangers with not even an entire 24 hrs together and jump right to tongue wrestling in a shared cot. Idk I just couldn’t get behind it.

50% and on the story gets pretty good and it redeems some of the things listed above. It’s fast paced, high stakes, and has intense story twists that leave you wanting to read more and more. The worthiness test in the Black Forest was such a cool scene I think this may have been my favorite part.

The battle was decent but short lived and i didn’t particularly love the ending but it was okay. I think this is a good fantasy book for the right audience, it just wasn’t my favorite.

Definitely a great book for fall, loved the story and how it goes, it was a way read and definitely spooky. Great for october

A rather enjoyable read for the most part. I was excited for the concept for he story, the plot was a little predictable at times but there were also parts that had me shocked. The characters are pleasant, the writing good. It was a fun read! My biggest complaint would have to be the romance. It’s marketed as enemies to lovers but it really isn’t one. There’s also a strong insta-love that kind of ruins the whole thing for me. The pacing was also a bit of an issue for me but I got over that quickly since I found the whole book overall good.

DNFed at 22%

Sadly, I could not get into this story at all. It felt boring and all over the place. I wasn’t caring for the characters at all.

This book has an interesting premise. Told between two POVs we have a powerful witch who’s family/coven was slaughtered and a witch Hunter, Otto who is like a double agent and wants to stop the witch hunts.

They end up joining forces and develop a romance in the book while the witch learns more about her power and the original tree.

The biggest issue with this book is pacing the first half is so slow. A lot of wandering around and hiding and it doesn’t really add to the story and then the book ends on a cliffhanger and one of my biggest pet peeves in literature is when books that don’t need to be series decide to be a series. Even if this is only a duology it is so unnecessary. The book could have and should have ended with how we thought it ended especially given that so much time was wasted in the first half. Honestly if the first half was cut in half and then whatever is planned for book two was in this book it would be a complete standalone book.

I will unlikely read the second given these issues.

Spoilers follow:
The lead witch Hunter is actually the witch’s brother and he was cast out of the coven because he uses dark magic and he’s after her to take her power and destroy the original magic tree. She is on a journey to save her cousin and finds love with Otto as they free suspected witches from burning and then run to the protected forest and learn that the people there having been hiding and refuse to fight to protect the women and witches on the outside.

She also learns that wild magic isn’t dark magic and that the three goddesses had to bind magic to the tree in hopes of protecting witches from trials but that it didn’t work. She learns to use wild magic and defeats her brother who takes a potion that zaps him of his magic. But SURPRISE he somehow escapes and controls people that he branded and he’s out for revenge (what a dumb ending).

I was able to meet the authors and snag a signed ARC of this way back at the ALA convention in June. Since then, I’ve been regularly pulling it out and trying to decide how early is too early to start reading a book that doesn’t release until October. But the day finally arrived, and this book, while not exactly what I was expecting, definitely lived up to my wildest dreams!

I don’t know why I had this in my head, but I definitely thought this was going to be a single POV book. Now, reading the book description, it seems pretty obvious that it was not going to be that. Honestly, I probably went in with a more optimistic attitude because of this misconception, as dual POV YA fantasy books rarely really work for me. But I’m happy to always be reminded that there are exceptions to that rule! Here, we see the proper equation to creating a dynamic dual POV book.

First, it starts with voice. It was supremely easy to tell the difference in narrative style between Fritzi and Otto. This doesn’t come down to any quirks in dialect or anything like that, but more the clearly different ways the two characters observe and relate to the world around them. Their senses of humor, levels of cynicism, and the various weights of emotional baggage are clearly different from one another, allowing readers to feel fully immersed both characters’ head.

Second, they each have a distinctive arc from one another, without one over-shadowing the other or their combined arcs turning out to be essentially the same story. Yes, they experience many of the same events, but their motivations, choices, and priorities are very much built up on the many years of life they bring to the current situation, lives that were very different from one another. While they find themselves with common enemies, they each have been coming at the problem from unique perspectives. What’s more, they have very, VERY, different relationships with the players involved, affecting how they each process and respond to certain situations.

Third, they have a joint arc that perfectly ties together their separate story lines and weaves a greater overarching plot line. I really appreciated the slow-burn nature of the romance, with each having to slowly come to trust and rely on the other. It’s never believable when I read these “enemy to lovers” stories where the pair immediately seems to get over whatever made them “enemies” to begin with and then just jump easily to “lovers” with no stumbling blocks of distrust, betrayal, or misunderstanding to be found. Here, these characters must quite naturally, over time, come to understand what makes up the other, and thus grow to love and respect them. It also helps that the “enemy” portion of their storyline is largely built on a misunderstanding, albeit it a natural and, in fact, necessary one. It would be truly hard to buy any story that saw a witch fall in love with an actual witch hunter. Instead, the authors found a clever way of side-stepping the issue while still getting at the juicy drama of it all.

I also am really enjoying this current trend towards Germanic fantasy and folklore. (Spoilers, I’ll be reading another Germanic fantasy here in another few weeks!) This book, specifically, included a lot of references to the historical and religious influences that played a role in the region, as well as a good dose of actual German words and phrases. While much of this was on the periphery of the main story, I appreciated these small touches.

I also liked the magic, fantasy, and witchy-ness of this story. While I was able to guess a few of the major reveals about this magic and the players involved, it was all interesting enough to keep me fully engaged with the story throughout. My one major complaint comes down to the ending of the book. It felt like the story had come to a nice, natural conclusion, leaving us with the rare, unicorn of a stand-alone YA fantasy. But alas, at the very last minute, and I mean very last minute, we get a reveal that effectively undoes this resolution. While I’m happy to return to these characters and this world, I’m not sure this ending actually benefited this book on its own merit.

Rating 8: Stellar! Full of danger, intrigue, and forbidden romance, this is how you do enemies-to-lovers stories right!

link will go live Oct 13