I'm so sorry, Sourcebooks! I've tried to get into this book three or four times now and it is just not holding my attention. Officially DNFing due to not connecting with the characters at all. Thank you for the opportunity.

After a brutal attack on her coven, Fritzi is determined to bring her attackers to justice. To accomplish this, she must take down the witch hunters leader, Kommandant Dieter Kirch. Otto, also a witch hunter, is second in command to the Kommandant. However, he is actually posing as such so he can exact revenge upon those who killed his mother. Fritzi and Otto meet and join forces to kill their enemies.

The story is told in dual POVs between Fritzi and Otto. This book was never able to capture my attention. It was pretty slow and I just had a hard time getting into it. The ending was a cliffhanger, which I’m guessing the outcome of will be revealed when the next book releases. Overall, this one was a miss for me.

Thank you to NetGalley + Sourcebooks Fire for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fritzi is a witch who survived an attack on her coven. Otto is a witch hunter, at least that’s what he tells the world. These two get thrown together as secrets are revealed on both sides of this fight.

What I liked: Otto and Fritzi are great characters with a lot of depth. The authors slowly reveal their layers as the story progresses to a final showdown. While this book does have some mild romance, it is not the focal point of this book. With its dark material, I very much appreciated how the romance was used to lighten it up just enough. I also enjoyed the set up for the next book, and will probably read it when it comes out.

To keep in mind: The content is very dark in this book and I had to spread it out the first half over a long time because of the emotional heaviness. This made the first half of the book a little tough to read, even though it was written very well.

Rating: 3.5⭐️ I found the first half of the book a little slow, but the second half was fantastic and I could not put it down. I am excited to see where this book goes next in the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A bit of a disorganized mess. The beginning was super hard to get into. And I genuinely did not think I would be able to finish the book. I must say it did get better though. However, with this being said, the romance aspect still felt subpar at best and the plot was all over the place. The story felt like something I had heard before and didn’t exactly being anything new to the story. I usually find that with books like this the sequel tends to get better, but I worry that, that may not be the case here. This being said, I still plant to read the second book, as I do still want to give this series a shot.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I wasn’t sure about this book for the first 10% or so but once we got to know the main characters more, I dove in and enjoyed it. This book is perfect for fans of anything witchy, love enemies to lovers tropes, and dual POVs. Honestly, I think the people who loved the Serpent and Dove series would love this book. Something that I have learned is a trope that I enjoy a lot is historical fantasy which Night of the Witch contains. I will for sure read the sequel when it comes out.

I was a little ehh at the beginning, but this book wound up being much better than I expected.
Everything about this is fast-paced. Secrets are revealed promptly which I think works well to not leave the reader frustrated and forgetting about small key details.

The title and stunning book cover drew me to this book on NetGalley. The bright neon green on top of a geode-looking swirl with runes is just beautiful. The description promised a forbidden romance with danger and adventure. Sign me up! And indeed there was action and adventure from the start of the book, barely ceasing. This is a great tradition in YA literature and certainly kept me turning Kindle pages until I literally fell asleep. Fritzi is on the run the entire novel and Otto is her unlikely companion.

Speaking of Otto, his backstory is revealed slowly throughout the book and he's not what he seems. His relationship with Fritzi is cute, but suffers from a bit of "insta-love." I struggled with believing their bond was serious because it felt so unrealistic. But still, they had their moments and it's not like I didn't want them to get together. At over 400 pages I would have expected better character development, but that would have slowed down the aforementioned fast pace I just praised. You can't have it all!

One aspect of the book I enjoyed was the Germanic influence because it's not something I've come across before. Many fantasy books seem to have a generic far-east influence or something vaguely British. In the authors' afterward, I discovered that the book is based on actual witch trials that later inspired the Salem Witch Trials. This surprised me and is something I now have to find some nonfiction about. The Black Forest particularly appealed to me, so I'll be looking into that as well since my current knowledge is limited to ham and cuckoo clocks. My German ancestors are rolling their eyes at me right now.

I gave the book three stars because, while fast and fun, I felt like something of substance was missing. Again, take that with a grain of salt since YA and I apparently have a complicated relationship right now. If you love fantasy witchcraft books I think you'll enjoy this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the early copy. Opinions are my own.

The premise of this book sounded interesting, but I found it difficult to stay involved. The story was all over the place, disjointed, and not well developed.

This book is amazing! A twist on enemies to lovers with just the right tropes to satisfy…. I eagerly await the next volume and want so many more books in this world.

This book was very much like how I would think the Salem witch trials went down with the burning of the villages and massacring of the women who they believed were witches. Though in this book they were actually witches. The sacrifice a mother makes in the beginning chapter brought tears to my eyes. It was so much sadness. This book was a great read even with its hard pronunciations of the German words. It had a great story line between a witch and a witch hunter and the chemistry was undeniable. I rated this a 4/5 star for me!

I received an ARC of Night of the Witch from Netgalley and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Night of the Witch is a book by two authors whose books I've enjoyed previously and was extremely excited to read. Witchy magic in a historical setting with fantastical elements? Sign me up. Unfortunately, I ended up leaving the story disappointed. The characters fell flat, the romance wasn't romancing me, and the plot did not make much sense.

Before I get into that, though, one thing I enjoyed about Night of the Witch and why I finished the book was the setting. From someone who barely ever reads anything other than fantasy, historical romances don't sound like something I would enjoy. Yet, for some reason, I love them. Maybe it's because I didn't live in those times, which ends up giving the story a fantasy-esque quality. I have no idea. But I do enjoy them. Throw in some magic to make it actually fantasy, and you have captured my attention. And this book captured my attention. The setting was fascinating, and the historical references and cultural mentions that were slipped in were wonderfully done. While there may not have been quite enough world-building, the information we did get was chef's kiss. I loved it. Now, on to my complaints.

The characters were not developed enough. None of their decisions made sense, the ten-year-old acted like no ten-year-old I've ever met, and I have no idea what motivated any of these characters to do anything. I'll be honest: the only reason I knew what Fritzi was doing in the beginning was because the summary of the book told me. None of her vengeance was ever mentioned on the page. If I hadn't read the summary, I would have had no idea why Fritzi was doing anything, and even then, the lack of real emotion from her didn't make it particularly believable. The same could be said for Otto. He had all these plans to take down the witch hunters from the inside, but I have no idea why he waited as long as he did. Or why that was what he wanted to do in the first place. There was a smattering of information here and there, but I never believed that the things that happened affected him as much as he said they did. There was even a character that mentioned that fact to him, and we didn't get a straight answer there, either. If I don't know why the characters are doing what they're doing, then how am I supposed to believe any of the decisions they make? On top of that, our "big bad" Dieter felt evil just for the sake of being evil, though by the end of the book, I would say that he was the only one whose motivations I could actually follow, even if he was just plain evil.

Because the characters felt underdeveloped, this left their interactions and relationships feeling the same way. I did not believe for a second that Fritzi and Otto loved each other. Circumstances pushed them together, and then suddenly, they had feelings for each other. Being attracted to each other? Sure, I can see that. But loving each other? No. I just felt like they were together because the authors wanted them to be, but I didn't feel any of their chemistry or see any of their feelings actually develop. It was all very quick, fast, and in a hurry. I would also like to mention that, as this is a young adult book, I was not expecting a full-on sex scene, but here we are. I know no one wants to categorize their books as new adult because that's not a popular category, but that's definitely what this book was, even if the writing style wouldn't agree with me.

My final thing is that the plot was all over the place. I could tell that there was a lot that the authors wanted to do, but that ended up making everything feel very rushed. Additionally, because everything was rushed, it felt like nothing that happened actually mattered. Things were essentially brushed off, which made it feel like there was no urgency or purpose behind the characters' actions. Why set up all of these significant events and then, once concluded, relegate them to the background? There didn't seem to be any real impact, and it left me wondering why the characters were even doing anything.

I was expecting so much and was excited to read Night of the Witch. Unfortunately, it did not live up to those expectations, and I will not be picking up the next book.

Kind of a slow build with this and world building, but that usually makes for a great series in the end. But Fritzie and Otto are absolute perfection. Loved the historical aspects of the story with regards to witch trials, and German folklore etc. there is a touch of romance which is pretty nice and enemies to lovers to boot. Can’t wait to see where else this goes.

I've been in the mood for a good historical fantasy book and Night of the Witch was just the key! Otto and Fritzi were excellent protagonists for the medieval German witch hunting story. The pacing of the novel was fast-paced without sacrificing the detail that is sometimes missing in a fast-paced plot. The cliffhanger at the end definitely has me waiting impatiently for book 2!
What I think could have bumped it up to a full five stars: while I do enjoy a good YA novel, I think this book could have taken the enemies-to-lovers element and some of the inherent violent tendencies that accompanies murdering innocent women to the next level if it had been an adult novel.

Fritzi and her mother are part of one of the strongest covens to survive the onslaught of the hexenjagers, the zealous witchhunters. . When she finds herself the lone survivor of a sudden attack she sets out to locate her young cousin who has been abducted When she crosses paths with Otto a captain with the witchhunters everything changes. Otto has been working undercover for years to avenge the death of his mother and protect his sister. With both seeking vengence they make a powerful duo. This reimagining of the medevial European witch hunts was rich in historical detail and fast and Otto are likable characters and the magic system was creative and original. I always relish a story told from dual viewpoints and Fritzi and Otto's voices come off the page realisticlly. Featuring the classic enemies to lovers trope this is a quick, engaging read.

Witches and adventure and romance? Yes please! I started this book the day I went to Salem, MA, so I was in a witchy mood. I loved the backstory about the witches, the different types of magic each has, and where their power comes from. I enjoyed the relationship between Otto and Fritz, but it could have used a little more development. It seemed like they were enemies and then hours later they....were not. I did enjoy this book and was excited to learn it was the first in a series. I'm looking forward to reading the second book in fall 2024.

**Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I really wish I could have enjoyed this book. Every word and every page felt like a slog to get through, I just wasn't a fan of this book.

Going to jump right in by saying that at first I didn't really know if I was going to be a fan of this book, but anything that has witches will be an automatic read for me. Honestly I loved the book, Fritze was an amazing MC, who as they so often do, underestimates herself. She's hearing a voice in her head which she believes to be Wild Magic, an evil form of magic she was always warded against using by her family and all of the other witches in her village. But then the hexanjagers come and destroy everything, burning witches at the stake and kidnapping her cousin.

The adventure she finds herself on with the beloved Otto Ernst, Kommandant is such a fun sweet story and I honestly am looking forward to the sequel because I have to know how she is going to take down her brother Dieter.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I'd hoped. I struggled with the pacing and the relationship was a bit too easy for me. I am unsure if I will read the next one as the synopsis sounds very familiar to this first plotline.

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however I did listen to the final published version of the audiobook. As always all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this! I've had a been interested in witch trials since visiting Salem as a teen, so I love a good non-fiction or historical fiction about that time period. I believe this is set in historical Germany during the time of the European witch hunts. Fritzi is an actual witch and is the sole survivor of her coven being slaughtered at the hands of the hexenjägers a group of religious soldiers whose purpose is to hunt witches. Many of those caught by the hexenjägers are innocent people with no powers, however Fritzi and her young cousin Liesel are both powerful witches and the Kommandant has plans for them both. Otto is a hexenjäger, and he and his group of soldiers capture Fritzi, but Otto unexpectedly turns out to be a friend instead of a foe to the witches. Otto and Fritzi form a fragile truce to protect the remaining members of their family and fight against the crazed Kommandant.

This was action packed with plenty of twists and turns to keep you engaged. There is alot going on but I think the authors did a good job brining things together in the end. I am looking forward to seeing what they have instore for us in the next book. This end on a small cliffhanger, but you kind of expect it so I don't think it was that big of a shock. I really enjoyed the bits of lore woven in among the historical aspects of the witch trials and the magical aspects of plot. This book isn't going to be for everyone. There is a romance aspect, some brutal and violent scenes, magic and paranormal aspects, action, and more. I thought the authors did a good job weaving all of those elements together, but some may find it not to their liking.

This book is classified as YA, but I would say this falls more into into the New Adult/Adult age range. There are some pretty brutal torture scenes and several other violent scenes when it comes to the battles. There are a few intimate scenes, but they are fairly tame and not very descriptive but they are there. The characters and some of the plotlines read more YA though, so I think this will appeal the more mature YA reader as well as a broad range of adults who enjoy fantasy and historical fiction. Keep in mind that from a historical aspect, those who were tried and found guilty of witchcraft were tortured and maimed in the most horrific ways. I think from that perspective the authors did a good job keeping in line with the historical nature of how the men and women who were accused were treated during the actual witch trials in Europe and the US.

Overall, i really enjoyed this, and I am very much looking forward to the next book in the duology.

I am really disappointed that I struggled with this read. Between the gorgeous cover and the interesting plot, I thought it would be one that I plowed through. Instead, it took me far longer than it should have to get through it as it just wasn’t holding my attention.