I liked the premise of this until I started reading it. The dynamic between Gray and Willow was hard to get past. Ultimately, not my favorite, but I will say that Woods really threw me for a loop at the end. Halfway in, I said there was no way I wanted to read book 2. By the end, I was teetering on maybe.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of this title!

3.5 - i loved the character development that progressed through the book but I found the age gap to be off-putting at times and made me not want to keep reading.

I think the nicest thing I can say about this book is that I laughed really hard at the last line. Pretty sure I wasn’t supposed to laugh but my god what a stupid last line. The second nice thing I can say is that I didn’t finish this book out of spite. I was mildly amused by how bad it was and the premise was really cool, just executed so very badly. I wish this had had more editing done and been built into the solid book it could have been before being published traditionally. The sex wasn't even good enough for me to understand why this book is popular. But I'm sure there will be someone I recommend it to someday who will love it. It was not for me.

*** Thank you Netgalley for an Arc of the book**

The Coven is book one in the Coven of Bones series and ends on a cliffhanger. This is a gothic, dark-academia, paranormal romance and includes elements that may be triggering to some listeners.

Willow has known for many years about who she is. her father has trained her for her destiny! so save her brother she agrees to attend the Hollows Groves University. all is not as it seems the headmaster grey is a vessel! Can willow survive long enough to find the bones of her ancestors and fulfill her destiny!

I was really excited for this witchy school book but unfortunately it fell flat for me i felt like not a lot really went on in the book a few smutty sceanes nothing i haven't read before. the usual cleashays. so many trigger warnings that i felt weren't needed. didn't keep me interested enough to want to read the next book.

What’s there not to like. Dark academia with beautiful people. I loved fmc she was so perfect from the start. The pages went fast and even though gave nothing different from this genre it def keeps you entertained.

found this to be a bit too trope-y and even with the TW at the start, a bit too dark for my tastes. the relationship isn’t anything to root for, it’s toxic and messy, and the insta lust aspect was cringeworthy. i also found the story had many inconsistencies throughout.

When I stumbled upon The Coven, I wasn't sure if l'd like this book. Don't get me wrong, l love books with witches and vampires, but I'm not all about the spicy romance type books. Anyway I decided to give it a try, and I am so glad I did. I was hooked from the beginning.

The book follows Willow Madizza, a powerful witch, who is on a mission to find the bones of her aunt and complete her father’s mission of revenge. She gets invited to Hollow’s Grove University so that she can learn to use her magic away from prying human eyes. The only problem she faces is the scrutiny from headmaster, Alaric Grayson Thorne. The unwanted attention only makes her mission harder.

Thorne is a Vessel, a being in a body created by the witches long ago. Essentially he’s a vampire, but in this world the Vessels need witch blood to stay alive. Because of this, the Vessels are subservient to the witches and rely on them to survive.

Willow is a breath of fresh air to Hollow’s Grove. She’s here on a mission, and her attitude towards The Covenant, two ancient witches that are actually animated skeletons, and the rest of the college is fantastic. She is such a badass character and she does what she wants. The tension between her and Thorne grows and becomes a great enemies to lovers trope in the book.

I absolutely loved this book! This first book in the duology is not very spicy, but there is some included. After the shocking ending, I am ready for book two. I would definitely recommend this to any fans of books with witches and vampires. It also has a nice dark academia setting as well

I absolutely devoured this book! I loved it so so much! I was hooked right away and could not stop reading. It was so hot and spicy. I loved the dark academia setting. If you haven’t read this yet (first of all, what are you waiting for?!!) now is the perfect time of year! It’s the perfect fall vibes book, but honestly it’s 10/10 Andy time of year!

The Coven speaks to very specific, abusive kinks that I do not have and as such could not settle into. To be fair, it starts off with disclaimers - which did nothing to prepare me for the world I was wilfully and consentingly entering.

The beginning: I spent an inordinate amount of time actually trying to commit each element, colour and legacy name to memory, thinking they would become specifically relevant in due course. They never did.

The beginning still: This isn’t a slow burn, I’ll-buy-you-dinner-first story. It’s immediate, on-heat-at-first-sight and tantrums all over the place from start to finish.

The middle: lots of cringey seduction (?) and no real time spent with the world. The world was just a backdrop for all of the spicy abusive dalliances to rock on.

The end was…well it ended.

I can’t explain how or why I finished this book when it could have been a DNF. I suppose that speaks to the ease of flipping through the pages? If you can get through it, ignore the thorny, clunky plot twists and find elements of it you enjoy, this could be the book to bury yourself in for a day. For the rest of us, a cup of rose tea perhaps?

I loved 99.9% percent of this book even though it is completely cliche and the storyline is so overdone. However, it is like popcorn, I just couldn't stop turning the pages. The end was a little convoluted but I might have just been tired because I couldn't put it down.

The Coven is confusing. Are we supposed to be rooting for any of these characters? Is there a coherent, singular goal plot-wise? I found it strange and awkward and a little gross. The cover seems to be marketed to young adults, but I would not suggest this for young adults-- and probably not for adults, either.

Wow!! This book is PHENOMENAL!!!

I don't even know where to start. The story was BRILLIANT!! The characters... Perfection...

I already ordered the hardcover of this book. I loved everything about it.

It is deliciously dark and loaded with triggers... The kind of triggers that make your toes curl. What can you expect from this romantasy...

❤️dark academia
❤️morally gray
❤️enemies to lovers
❤️forbidden love

What wasn't brilliant? The cliffhanger at the end just because I dispise them!

4 stars.

Witches, vampires, démons, the devil... What's not to love, really?

Be forewarned that there are a lot of trigger warnings for this book, and they are needed.

I'm conflicted. I really, really like Grey, even though he's the bad guy. And I really, really like Willow even if she makes stupid decisions? The ending has left me in a mess. 😂 That's not a bad thing, but since it's a really harsh cliffhanger, I am desperate to know what happens next!

My biggest complaint with the book is not learning more about the magic system. More worldbuilding and less spice would have made this book better.

This witchy story is DARK! Fair warning, since the author put trigger warnings up front AND tells the reader that the main male character is actually a villain. But, I was pulled in from the very first page, so I knew I wanted a copy with the roses for my special edges shelf right away. I spent much of the book reminding myself that rooting for Gray was probably a bad idea, and then realized that poor Willow thought she was playing the game as a queen, but really she was just everybody's pawn. Poor girl! The ending shocked me, and now I am looking forward to book 2 as a spooky season read.

I just finished reading "The Coven" by Harper L. Woods. I received an eARC from NetGalley.

50 years after the massacre that forced Hollow Grove University to shutter it's doors-- it's finally time to reopen them. Hollow Grove serves as a school for the original families of Crystal Hollow-- a haven created for witches during the infamous Salem Witch Trials. The witches in Crystal Hollow are real though, based on an ancient pact between Hecate and the devil himself. Enter Willow-- the last remaining descendant of an ancient line of Greens (earth witches) and the Covenant's great-great-however many more greats-granddaughter. Willow has an agenda of her own however, and has been raised outside of the prying eyes of the Coven, and she possesses more than any witch in the Coven's history.

This book opens with a trigger warning. Coercive SA, manipulation, dubious consent, etc. And all of that was very very present. Willow was a likeable enough main character-- a typical "I'm so tough because I've been hurt before" type. Her magic is very powerful, and she is in touch with the "old ways"-- which seems important but isn't? The magic system was theoretically very cool-- but we didn't explore it in anywhere near enough detail. The majority of the book takes place in a magic school-- where very little attention is paid to the magic, or the schooling. Plus, forget about ANY secondary characters. They do not matter, they do not exist-- so we get accounts of exactly 2 types of magic even though there are a multitude of different types of witches present at the school.

The story is way more invested in this perverse relationship between Thorn and Willow. Thorn is the headmaster, and a vessel, which is a demon trapped in a flesh body that is kind of a vampire too. Vessels were created as part of the pact between Hecate and the Devil-- demonic possession was apparently too rough on the hosts, so now they have their own bodies. But they're also trapped in them. Thorn and Willow have different agendas, but apparently Willow thinks she's smarter than an ancient demon, which *shocker* she isn't. But in the meantime they exchange a whole bunch of blood and sexy-time and red flag behaviors.

I think there was a lot of potential in the idea, and the world building-- but we never really get to see it fully form. The book ends on a cliffhanger-- but apparently everything has changed in the world now so who knows if the rules of the world are still intact. It wasn't an awful read, but I do think it perpetuates problematic relationships (at one point one of the characters says something along the lines of "you've obviously never had hate sex") as sexually satisfying. I don't usually read romantasy and I think I'll keep it that way.

The Coven is a very interesting take on witches and vampires! I wasn’t expecting this unique world when I first started, so it immediately piqued my interest.

The story follows Willow, a 20-year-old witch who was hidden by her mother at birth and raised outside of the world of witches. Her father raised her to get his revenge against the coven that killed his sister and took his birthright. Her father’s revenge brings her back to the town her mother escaped from, Crystal Hollow, and to Hollow’s Grove University, where witches learn to practice their magic.

This was definitely a wild ride with a great gothic, dark academia atmosphere. The magic school setting had some dark aspects that I wasn’t expecting. This book offers one of the most interesting takes on the supernatural and magic! The link between the witches and the vampires was so unique.

There were aspects of this story that I really enjoyed, such as the magic system, the familial bonds, and the dark and spooky vibes. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the romance part of this book. I know this was meant to be a dark paranormal romance, but it didn’t feel that way while I was reading it. The romance felt too forced, giving off insta-love vibes from the beginning. Maybe not insta-love but insta-lust? It was too much too soon for my liking.

While there were a lot of things that weren’t my favorite, I can definitely see the appeal, and I think fans of dark romance will like this. The story was full of twists and turns that kept me interested, and I definitely wasn’t expecting the reveal at the end.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was SO good. If you are a fan of Zodiac Academy I feel you would really like this. The TENSION between Gray and Willow is so good and I am obsessed with them- if you arw a Bluelance fan…this is for you!

I cannot wait for book 2

A great start, intriguing plot and characters but as we went on I personally wasn’t interested in reading about demons and he who shall not be named in such depth I felt like I needed to pray my apologies. Kudos to Woods for publishing a book, this is no small feat. Looking forward to dipping into her other works and watching as she continues to hone her craft.

🖤Enemies to Lovers
🖤Dark Academia
🖤Forbidden Romance
🖤Morally Grey MMC
🖤Witchy

I love morally grey characters. They’re definitely up there as one of my faves.
I loved this in the beginning. And then it fell a little flat for me. Things were happening to quickly and then I wasn’t sure what was going on. But I love witchy books and dark romance so I still enjoyed it. That ending definitely leaves you on a cliffhanger to want to pick up book two.

The Coven by Harper L. Woods is an enthralling adult fantasy & dark paranormal romance with academia vibes full of mystery, intrigue, steam & suspense.

This may be the biggest surprise of the year for me because my lmood reader self hasn’t been in the mood for fantasy much lately but I was transfixed with this story. The two main characters & the fiery enemies vibes that started were fascinating to witness as their chemistry-filled connection never wavered.

The Coven is great for fans of…
🖤 Adult Romantasy
🖤 Enemies to Lovers
🖤 Forbidden Romance
🖤 Dark Paranormal Romance
🖤 Witches & More
🖤 Who did this to you?!

I absolutely loved the writing style of this book. I love the fantasy & paranormal romance genre but sometimes I struggle with my ADHD & the time it takes for world building…:however, this was not the case with this book! I was captivated immediately & fascinated by this world, its’ magic system & the characters at the helm. I was also shocked that I was rooting for the villain type hero.

I could easily see this becoming a TV show & would watch this happily.

If you ate looking for a new series to start that is quick & mesmerizing, I highly recommend The Coven.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Tor for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

4.6 stars