Thank you to SG Slade and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book.


It is a beautiful book. And I enjoyed every second reading it.

An eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about so much more than magic and I was hooked from the first page. It beautifully explores themes of superstition, religious zealotism, gender roles, love, sexuality and more all tied up in the setting of the Globe Theatre as the play of Macbeth begins rehearsals.

The story is complex but is told in a wonderfully consuming way that lays everything out perfectly. The characters are rich and you get a real sense of the connection between them, the love felt by some of them and the madness that begins to creep in.

At it's core, this is a live story and I really felt that. It grows throughout the book and pulls you in so completely.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved everything about it.

I enjoyed the setting of the book, London, Shakespeare, connection to Macbeth. Personally, I would have loved to see more of it entagled further, but still, I enjoyed the writing.

𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐛𝐲 𝐒. 𝐆. 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐞
When visions of death haunt her every move, only the darkest magic can save her, or can she find a way to turn the curse aside? Her family have always closely guarded the secret of their witchcraft, though they tend as healers to those who know them, few guess the truth of the family’s skills.

But other have secrets lingering in the shadows, and when she finds herself caught in a terrifying curse, she fears for the fate of all she holds dear. Whispers of the curse begin to spread, as dark shadows haunt the town, and then she is accused of witchcraft. There seems to be no escape.

And in a world where those called witches will end up at the gallows can she find a way to escape or will the price be too high to pay? This story is equally as fascinating as it is thrilling. Written with incredible detail and rounded characters, it’s a book for fan’s of witches, romance and theatre.

𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘚. 𝘎. 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘚. 𝘎. 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘥𝘦

It’s was a quick witchy read perfect for fall. I enjoyed the plot and some of the characters as well as the Shakespeare aspect of it. It follows a character named sarah who i enjoy reading about her life. It is definitely an adult book if you don’t like smut( hetro and homo) in your books this is not for you. It does also include murder and theater.

Sarah, a witch in secret, becomes caught in a curse of death. The constant shadow of exposure looms, and when she's accused of witchcraft, her fight for survival intensifies, as it also becomes a battle to protect her cousin from the same fate.

“Touch of a Witch” by S. G. Slade is full of Shakespear, Macbeth, witches, forbidden love, and period drama. First, I loved the support the acting trope has for the members and thought it was super sweet. The multiply POV added to the story and made it feel less one sided with Tom’s insight as well. My favorite part was that there was very little actual magic done in the book which in my opinion adds to the aspect of the people during witch trials were just fear mongering. Even though the forbidden aspect of the book can put some people off I did end up wishing they would be together by the end. I loved the book and would like to read more books in the series. 5 out of 5 stars.

When visions of death haunt her every move, only the darkest magic can save her.

Well-written with great atmosphere and characters. I loved it!

Touch of a Witch is book 1 in the Darkness Rising series by S.G.
This was a well written story. With well developed characters and a true page turner.
Magic, witches and tons of intrigue. The storyline is well thought out and developed. Well written and engaging.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Xpresso Book Tours for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

This was a fun and interesting read. However, it fell short in some ways. Mainly, the plot dissipated to focus on sex (which is not necessarily bad) but it became a little overwhelming. I think the writing itself is good and the characters and plot are decent but it felt underdeveloped.

I was a little back and forth on this book while reading it. It was captivating enough to keep you reading but the story was an interesting one.

Our main character, her cousin, and her mother are witches. They've practiced magic in hiding at times when it was needed. When she falls for a member of their theatre troupe her cousin has the idea to put a spell on him to make him want her. During this rite in the woods, she and her cousin lay together. The rite seems to have worked because he starts to notice her more than before. He falls for her and their relationship gets complicated. She becomes a maid in his home to escape her abusive overbearing father.
Meanwhile, her cousin has eyes for a young man who is also a part of the theatre troupe and tries to corrupt him to sleep with him on several occasions. He ends up sleeping with the young man on a couple of occasions but that is where the problem ensues. The young man starts claiming he was bewitched and that he and the main character are witches. Word spreads and our main character finds herself in jail. When she is set free they struggle to convince the young man that he wasn't bewitched, that it was his own doing, so that he will drop the charges against her.
When he does not drop the charges, her cousin steps up and says he bewitched the young man, thus sentencing himself to death.
His hanging undoes her and causes her to move back in with her father and mother as her beloved also begins to think that she bewitched him but he won't say anything as he still loves her. During this time she is overwhelmed with sadness. And then she finds out she is pregnant with her cousin's child.
This story is a back-and-forth of emotions. It's a good story but sleeping with your cousin threw me off. I still encourage you to read it as you may find you like the story as well!

This story contains multiple instances of incest. The incest results in a child. If that was erased it would still be a one star, none of the elements that drew me to the story were in the book, not really sure where the curse went, and we just followed along as Sarah developed feelings for her cousin and then drugged another man to have sex with her. Gross in of itself but combined with the incest and very odd and harmful outdated language, sadly this was not a win.

While I appreciate the opportunity to read this, this one is a DNF for me. It was super hard to get into and once I hit the beginnings of the incest plot line that was it for me.

When I read the first few pages of this book, I thought, “Oh no, not another Shakespeare retelling.” Thankfully, it was not. Fans of Shakespearean theatre would still rejoice, as William Shakespeare and his famous dark tragedy Macbeth play a key role in the plot, but this book tells the coming-of-age story of a young seamstress who sorts through her emerging sexual feelings while facing the consequences of meddling with forces she doesn’t understand.

Plot:
There is minimal actual witchcraft, but the non-witches’ fear of sorcery as well as the witches’ fear of conviction and execution is central to the plot. Having been to Salem very recently to learn more about the witch trials, I was particularly sensitive to this topic. The memorials showed countless men and women who were convicted and brutally executed—all because of fear. Horrible. And this book stirred unease in me, especially since the FMC and MMC were not quite innocent.

For me, it’s a sign of a well-crafted story when the reader is led to reflect on thorny questions before a character ponders the very same questions in the book. Reading this, my unease and questions mirrored those of Nick, and I couldn’t help but relate to his character and struggles.

Characters:
Most of the characters in this novel were morally grey and nuanced, and even those that seemed the purest eventually showed some degree of corruption or madness. There was very little black and white, with some wicked Puritans and upstanding whores. I loved and hated in equal measure some of the characters (looking at you, Tom!), aware of their sins and manipulations but nonetheless drawn to them.

Writing:
I loved Slade’s prose and highlighted many, many excerpts. I found that this book was very well written, despite some typos, and the attention to detail and atmosphere were both *chef’s kiss*.

The downside: I agree with another reader that mentioned that the quantity of sex scenes and references to sex took away from the character’s heart-wrenching pleas. It was like most of the characters couldn’t think of anything else even when their life hung on a thread, and sex was used more than once as a way to solve a conflict—meh. There are also sensitive topics such as incest, voyeurism, murder, non-consensual sex, etc., so be warned! It’s adult fiction, and I wouldn’t recommend for a younger audience.

I plan on reading the second book of the series when it comes out.

** minor spoilers **

Shakespeare, Macbeth, and witches…everything I could wish for in a historical novel.
Yet, surprisingly, there is little to no use of those things here.
Yes, there is Will Shakespeare, making appearances as a very minor character; there is Macbeth (my personal favorite), the cursed play that the story revolves around (snippets of the play are presented here and there, mostly as an introduction to witches, prophecy, and madness) which sets in motion much of the plot; and witches, there are witches in the play of course, and the FMC and MMC are presented as witches and there are a couple of intriguing scenes where their witchy business is described, but this is not a book full of witchcraft and magic. There are the ever-present, horrible witch trials, but actual witchcraft is not seen so much as the ignorant cries of “Witch!”
This is predominantly the tale of a young girl in Jacobean London, a seamstress for Shakespeare’s company, who embraces her budding sexuality with two different men, each for different reasons, and the repercussions that follow.
Tom, the MMC, is Sarah’s cousin, and one of the men that she loves. Tom, to me, is the most fascinating of all of the characters presented (so much so that the author has a short story prequel devoted to Tom. I have not read it, but purportedly it supplies a lot of reasons as to why he is the way he is and does the things he does). He is a self-fulfilling prophecy of sin and sexuality (hetero and homo), propelling himself toward his own doom.
This is an extremely well written book which ultimately, for me, loses itself in placing the plot second and sex first. Even in the most unsexy situations, all of the characters are almost obsessed with either thinking about or having sex. What is truly a heart wrenching tale becomes mired in the author’s continued use of sex throughout the book and it becomes extremely distracting and almost absurd.
And yet, I do understand some of the whys of Slade’s choices - propelling the plot, the scheming, the witchcraft, the tragedy, the hysteria…I just wish there had been a less jarring way to proceed.
Be warned there are some things that may bother some readers: the aforementioned incest-adjacent situation, voyeuristic sex, ghosts, witchcraft, sexual objectification, witch trials, etc. However, there is no torture, which I saw someone mention in another review.
I would recommend and I would read the next stand alone book in the Darkness Rising series as the historical fiction aspect was very well done, but I was ultimately disappointed for the reasons mentioned above.

I loved the dual POVs and the writing style definitely added a layer of suspense. However the actual play content was surprisingly little and I found the ending a little rushed.

This story is fascinating and detailed. It centers around a young woman named Sarah who is engaged in some witchy business as well as working as a seamstress for Shakespeare's troupe. The book follows her life and loves as she goes up and down. Very well written with a high attention to detail. This is a book for adults. If you don't like sex (hetero and homo), murder, torture, witchcraft, and lots of theater, look elsewhere. It isn't a book for everybody.