The Coven by Harper L. Woods is a thrilling and atmospheric fantasy novel that immerses readers in a world of magic and intrigue. Woods' engaging storytelling and well-developed characters create a captivating narrative that keeps readers hooked from start to finish.

The world of The Coven has a super fascinating take on witches and vampires (or vessels) and a very controlled way of raising new witches to the coven. Hollow’s Grove University gives off the best dark academia vibes though I don’t know how much learning happens given everything going on around the students.

I definitely got some Vampire Diaries vibes reading this too, but a more adult and more dangerous version of that story, mixed in with a witchy university and a unique tie between the vessels and the witches. Plus, throw in the devil and some demons and you have some really interesting takes on the supernatural. I didn’t quite get the relationship between Alaric and Willow as I never due understand the instant lust/love types of stories. However, I do appreciate their bond more later in the story as several things happen that lead to that strengthening.

Thank you to Bramble Romance and @netgalley for the eARC of the book. All thoughts are my own.

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

This book was definitely a ride. Following Willow, a witch who has been hidden by her mother until she attends a magic school where she then meets a super hot professor, there was a lot of things that I enjoyed. Enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, forbidden love, age gap... but then, there were things that I just didn't vibe with.

First, the MMC is putting the GREY in morally grey omg. Maybe it is because I have been deep in my contemporary romance world, but I was shook by the change. That's not to say that he was a 'bad' character, I just was NOT ready for that.
Also, the virgin trope is just not my cup of tea. I used to not mind it as much, so again, maybe it is just because I've been in a specific world of books for a while and this one is so different.

Overall, there were things about this book that I found intriguing- witches, magic schools, demons, the romantasy vibes. While some things weren't my favorite, I can definitely see the appeal and think that if you are a fan of Gothikana, you'll like this one!

This was really interesting if a bit slow at the beginning. Not as spicy as I was led to believe, but the story overall was so good! Willow has been hiding out with her mother and brother to avoid the coven at all costs. When her mother passes, she has no choice but to hide her brother and go.

Headmaster Thorne, Grey, has brought her to the school in the most inappropriate way possible, blurring the lines between teacher and student. But of course, she's an adult, so that was already different. Grey is a Vessel, existing to manage the power of the witches by drinking their blood.

When Willow realizes that pretending to seduce Grey is a little too easy, it's already too late. In the search for her ancestors bones, secrets are revealed and betrayal ensues. The ending was not what I expected at all!

This book, OMG, THIS BOOK. Okay, first tropes:

-witches & demons
-dual POV
-forced proximity
-who did this to you?
-enemies to lovers
-witch & vampire
-dark academia

If you love a truly morally BLACK mmc and an age gap (student and professor) then this is the book for you. He's a vampire, she's a witch, use that imagination of what's to come... and I hope you are very imaginative LOL I loved the vibes of this book they were immaculate and truly I rate and review books off of vibes and this one did it for me. I can't wait to dive into The Cursed!

I received this an arc from Netgalley for the the rerelease of the special edition!

I pre-ordered The Coven before I got the arc, and had no regrets about that decision (my copy just arrived today and it’s gorgeous). The Coven is a romantasy, setting up a major romance plot alongside the primary plot. This is an intriguing, suspense-filled story that kept me on the edge of my seat. The author does a great job establishing character motivations while holding back the things that will change the landscape as the story progresses. Sometimes, that’s a delicate balance, but I never got the impression the author was cheating with reveals. Instead, things unfolded in ways I never expected and kept me on my toes, but looking back, I felt the seeds were there, and the reveals worked.

I want to avoid spoilers, so I will say that there’s a dark academic aspect to this story, because of the setting, although we don’t spend as much time focused on classroom learning as you might expect. That worked well for me. If anything, it makes me curious about where things will go in the second book (which I have pre-ordered, and I have an arc for, but have not read yet). Without getting into spoilers, for me, if a book makes me want to get back to the next book in the duology/trilogy/series, then it’s done its job. There was plenty here to get my attention and hold my interest, and I’m curious about the ultimate resolution for the story and characters.

From my secondary school teacher's perspective, The Coven, by Harper L Woods, was too much for me. I did not enjoy it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the ARC I read to review. All opinions are solely mine. I am sure there is an audience that will enjoy this one, but it is not me.

The Coven
Harper L. Woods

“If it is order that you value, then I will bring you nothing but chaos.”

Ok I loved this and the deceptions and twists were wonderful. This is the only suitable age gap I will entertain, when it’s magical immortals because for a whole that’s not a trope I go for. But this and the authority vibes, here for it.

This has a gothic, dark academia, paranormal romance vibe and I deeply enjoyed this. Possibly addicted by it actually.

“That no matter how pretty the shell may be, we are all capable of great and terrible things.”

I adored the dark and mysterious undertones and our main character Willow was ignorant and left in the dark knowledge wise constantly. But her misinformation was fantastically entertaining.

And what an ending! Seriously applauding that conclusion and how am I meant to be okay waiting until September for the conclusion!

‘He was beautiful and infuriating - a disaster waiting to happen.’

Both the main characters were great. Willow is raised isolated, outside the Coven and has this unwavering strength and determination, hardened by her circumstances and training.
Alaric Grayson Thorne is the Crystal Hollow University Headmaster and is broody, vicious, powerful and possessive. He is amazing. He is tasked with bringing Willow in when the Coven discovers she exists. Gray (Thorne) is a Vessel, and like vampires, they feed on a witch’s blood.

“Like hell, you will. This one is mine and you know it as well as I do,” he growled.

I am a massive enemies to lovers fan and the tension here was top tier. The banter phenomenal. I’m all in for book two!

“Just find the boy,” I ordered and I followed my dinner into the woods.

The Coven is book one in the Coven of Bones series. And is released in glorious special edition tomorrow! August 6th.

“Drink, Willow. I may be an asshole, and I will most definitely take advantage of you,” I said, chuckling when her gaze snapped back to mine. “But you’re safe with me. That’s more than I can say of your own.”

(REVIEW POSTED 5TH AUGUST 2024.)

I'm not sure where to begin.

I'll start with the fact that I LOVED that our FMC was big. No thigh gap, with lots of jiggle. I also felt like Woods wasn't trying to constantly remind us that our FMC was big. It was mentioned a few times where appropriate.

I hate a virgin trope. I hate it. I genuinely can't believe I finished a book with this trope. But it was mentioned so far into the story that I convinced myself to continue. This book did not make me feel differently about this trope.

I wish I could have met other witches and gotten to know their kind of magic. I don't think we saw a single other witch perform magic at a magic school? I loved Willow's magic, and how the plants and earth felt almost sentient in reaction to her magic. I wish I could have seen others.

That ending was predictable and yet somehow felt unhinged. I'm not convinced Woods knows exactly where this story is supposed to go. I'm also not convinced she understands her own magic system.

This book reminded me so much of Gothikana by Runyx, which I DNFd. But I know people devoured that book, and I'm convinced those readers would like this one even more.

Thank you to Bramble and Netgalley for access to this eArc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙚.

Well, I inhaled this book in a day! And I need the next book ASAP.

My craving for a bloodsucker, slow burn, enemies-to-lovers dark fantasy romance has been met by the book and yet I want more. I'm addicted. Sounds like the FMC and MMC in this story :)

Willow's life mission is to seduce the headmaster of Hollow's Grave University so that she can reclaim her birthright to necromancy, a magic long thought to be extinct, then Unmake him and all his bloodsucking kind. But the chemistry and sexual tension between them is too great for the mortal enemies to withstand and soon, the two are addicted to each other and their love-hate relationship.

As Willow executed her covert mission, she comes to question where all parties' loyalties lie and how many layers of motives will unveil the truth of her purpose.

This is a steamy read, the flirtation is prime, and the burrrrrnnn is so good. If I had one criticism, it would be that the academic setting didn't feel real enough, despite the headmaster of a school housing witches and bloodsuckers being named Alaric (TVD vibes). The setting seemed like icing on the cake to serve forbidden love/schoolgirl kink, though I haven't read too much dark academia to know if that's common.

While this first of the series focuses on the relationship development of the FMC and MMC I can see how coming books will build a larger world, deeper lore, and take a closer look at character development.

I'd like to thank the author for sharing an advanced e-copy for review!

I loved this book. Was it well written, no. The world building was lacking, and there were definitely some plot holes that we just jumped right over and never looked back at. But still, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and read it in on sitting!
It did take a bit for me to get into her writing style. That could be because it severely needed a better editor (some of the sentences are just bad) or it could be how she writes. After a few chapters I didn't really notice it.
I thought the spice scenes were well done, even if at times I really had to think about how we got where we were, was there an extra arm somewhere, or did they just move without it being mentioned. That last one is most likely, as in other parts of the books, we sorta skip some bits.
The ending?! You gotta be kidding me! I started the next one the next day cause I had to know what happened next!

A lot of the negative reviews appear to be from people who either skipped over the trigger warnings, or misinterpreted parts of the book. The biggest one I see is the ages of the main characters.
Willow is 20. It is very clearly laid out that no one under the age of 20 can attend the school, do to the weekly reapings that happen. So yeah, she's definitely 20. Her mom just warded against her magic, so that's who the school didn't know about her. Really standard magic shit here.
The headmaster is like hundreds of years old. I've seen reviews that he's some creepy 50 year old dude or whatever, but they're taking that 50 from how long the school has been closed since the massacre.
So take a reviews with a grain of salt.

It’s a great book!! I will be rereading it! It’s crazy, very different. Very well written. A lot of action, magic and mystery. Willow is such a bad ass, always appreciate a strong FMC
I’m going to download the next book in series now.

4 ⭐️ 3 🌶️


🦴 Forbidden Romance
🦴 Dark Romance
🦴 Paranormal Romance
🦴 Manipulative MMC
🦴 Forced Proximity
🦴 Betrayal
🦴 Secret Town
🦴 Secrets
🦴 Witches
🦴 Dark Academia
🦴 Enemies to Lovers
🦴 Age Gap
🦴 Morally Grey



Willow is both a green witch and a necromancy witch (all which gets explained), but is going to school to finally train as she runs the risk of being known at the same time. The MMC, Gray, the headmaster of the school, uses Willow, as she uses him to get what they both want.

The books is very good! It is honestly something that I didn’t expect to like as much a I did. I love the connections that were made between witch and the powers they hold. Willow, the FMC, was just unimaginable especially with her strength, not to mention the tension had with Gary, was even better!

Their character development was excellent! The more you get into the book, the more revealed personalities you get. The cliffhanger was also a great one, leaving so many questions and wonders for the next book to hopefully be answered.

The setting and world building is unique, and at times, I did feel lost where somethings just didn’t make sense to me. Also, this is a school, so I feel like Willow learned nothing of value, so what exactly was the real importance of these lessons then?

Overall, it was a fun read, and I can’t wait to read the next one to see more and get some questions answered. I am also here for the spiceee!!





* Thank you to NetGalley!

I unfortunately did not finish this book. I started out not knowing much about this book at all except for it being a spicy fantasy romance book, and maybe that’s my fault for not doing more research. But I realized that the relationship is between the headmaster of the school and a 16 year old student and I cannot get behind that morally. I just do not feel comfortable explicit sex scenes with a minor.
Besides that, I was really not enjoying the writing style. It seemed to be very juvenile and basic, with a lot of telling and not showing the reader what was happening.

4 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC!

I truly wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did! The magic system was so cool; I love when a story shows the reader instead of constantly tells. I do wish we could learn more about the other forms of magic, but maybe in the sequel.

The relationship between Willow and Gray was...iffy at times. I like that Woods put the content warnings at the beginning so that it's something to keep in mind.

All in all, a fun read! I'm looking forward to tracking down the sequel. Didn't realize they were already published, so idk why it's on Netgalley as a to-be-released book.

I think you’ll either love or hate The Coven. The Coven had a good start but did slow a bit for me. The romance was meh and a little too dark.

I think the premise of the story was amazing. however I just wish the author really expanded on it. I easily could have read another 100 pages if we got more build up of chemistry or background about the school/Willows day to day.

It was OK at best. The storyline seemed chaotic. I almost DNFed this book. There was no tension, no chemistry. Instalove(lust) is not for me.

I have read other books from Harper L Woods and they are great! Her books are more on the spicier side, so if you love spicy romantasy this one is for you!

I liked this one!! Willow, the main character, was SO cool, I loved her powers and her personality. I did not love the love interest which I’m sure is kind of the point but I couldn’t connect with that part of the story at all and cared more about the parts of the book outside of the romance.