I am very much enjoying the cozy witchy vibes this book has and it is a perfect book to cuddle up and read in the fall when weather is getting colder and leaves crunch under your feet. What really adds to the cozy vibes are the amazing food descriptions and I swear i got instantly hungry when reading these descriptions of various dishes.
Besides the cozy vibes, usually cozy fantasy books don't have quite a big mystery element to it which I really love here even if I didnt love all of the elements of it when it unfolded.

Why I took a stars off my rating, was the fact that I simply want to know more about the magical system and different witch types, mid-book I still felt like i was lacking information that the main characters just know as it's obvious them as it’s their enviroment, but definitely not to me and I just want to know more details faster so i could just enjoy the story and not try to piece together the worldbuilding things when the plot is getting more interesting and I would rather have focused on that.
The romance was cute, buuuut I was not a fan of the insta-love trope. Yes, they met years ago for a day and he fell in love and now after a week of party prepping both of them are head over heels? I think it could have been set up bit different and I would have enjoyed it more.

Overall I think it was a nice read, just not a full 5 stars for me for the reasons i mentioned but still an mouthwatering and cozy read

Thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.

This took me so long to read, because I was contemplating dnfing this at the halfway mark. So much of the beginning is establishing Kate's normal state of life. Yes, it is important, but much of that was detailing every single minute of her daily routine. Even when Matt the mystery man shows up, it's still going through her normal day-to-day. After the halfway mark, it thankfully picks up, but it wasn't enough to make up for a very tedious start.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6809309730

https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/33fffcc6-ba80-4499-a0be-f6778e8c46e5

Check out this review of A Dark and Secret Magic on Fable. https://fable.co/review/31e35c80-8ba4-4ad7-b29c-5a54455cc195/share

The cover drew me in!! The coziness and magic of it all. Sadly fell a little flat for me when it came to the actual story of it all but was sweet. Cozy and YA.

The perfect book to start off the cozy season!
Filled with witchy, cottagecore, romance and mystery. Although there were some higher stakes moments this was mostly a low stakes story.

I loved all of the characters and really connected with them, the world building was also so well done, I wanted to live in this town!

I highly recommend and the recipes at the end were an added bonus!

A nice cozy-ish fantasy that featured some delightful plot and characters. I really enjoyed the FMC / MMC but I wish the other characters were as fleshed out. I also absolutely loved all the recipes included in the back of the book! 4.5/5

Charming. Cozy. Witchy...
with just a pinch of dark magic and romance.

Picture this: fuzzy socks, a flannel blanket, a warm mug of "So Cozy Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate" and a furry companion joining you while you read this book... in a cozy little cabin in front of a crackling fireplace the week before Halloween. Seriously, this book is an ode to everything there is to love about the autumn season.

I enjoyed this story. While the stakes aren't particularly high, the plot is enticing, and you can't help but love Hecate our FMC and Hedge Witch. I was amused by the plot development, the little twists along the way, and the sweet romance within these pages.

Some of the characters did put a sour taste in my mouth with their treatment of the FMC - and although she pardons them in the story - I think they got off a little bit too easily. I did find there could've been a little bit more conflict resolution, and the ending is fairly fast-paced after a slow-building story, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The included recipes and descriptions of the food were just top-notch. I may have drooled a little.

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓝𝓮𝓽𝓰𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓐𝓵𝓬𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪𝓷 𝓐𝓡𝓒 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓲𝓷 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓶𝔂 𝓱𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀.

3.5 stars rounded up

A really cute, cozy, fall read that would be perfect to bundle up with as it nears Halloween. This book follows a witch, Hecate (Kate) Goodwin who lives in a witchy town, surrounded by witches that go all out on Halloween. However, as Halloween approaches strange things are occurring and then an unexpected guest suddenly shows up to make matters worse.

It's cute and low stakes despite the author trying to make it seem high stakes at times. You know its cozy so you know nothing bad is really going to happen which is nice. My main complaints with the book are the repetitive words/sentences that are used (I swear to god if she described his warm hand on her shoulder one more time!!) and how its an insta-love story. I suppose we can justify it as a 'soul mates' type situation, but it still is odd to see ppl proclaiming their love after just several days (and even though she knew him 10yrs ago, they only knew each other for a few days then too)

Overall enjoyable but near the end I was pretty over it, but I don't think thats fault of the author, just something I was getting bored with personally.

Thank you for the eARC, Netgalley & Alcove Press

Cute book. I liked it, but it wasn't what I expected it to be. Sorry, it fell a little short, and I was hoping for a little more than what it gave me. Loved the fall vibes and the witchy story. I just wanted more, and I was disappointed 😞

Thank you, Netgalley and Wallis Kinney, for the ARC. It was a beautifully written story.

4.5/5
This book was really great! It had everything you could want in a spooky Halloween centered book. Kate is a wonderful protagonist who didn't realize her life was about to turn upside down. What I thought was going to be a cozy Halloween story evolved into a mystery of Kate's past and finding out who she really is. The connection between Kate and Matthew was so good. It was definitely the perfect book to read to welcome the autumn season.

Unfortunately, it will be a DNF for me. I'm not usually one to not finish books, but sometimes they're not for me and I don't want to force myself because I know I'll finish hating it. I didn't feel that this book had a solid plot at all. Maybe it's the first book of the author and it needs a little bit more work. The writing was not bad, but not the best. I think with a little bit more it would have been better. But at the end of the day, this was not the story I was looking for and I just couldn't past the 45% mark.

I don't think this book was for me. I appreciate what it was trying to do, but it was the story I was anticipating and I found the writing to be juvenile.

I really enjoyed the plot line of this novel, with its different disciplines of magic and secrets that are slowly weakening the coven from within. I also enjoyed the aspect of dark or forbidden magic and the linked underworld that was uncovered as the story progressed.

I felt that the book could have been condensed to make it more readable and increase the pace of the plot. It was somewhere between a cozy fantasy and a dark mystery and may have been more cohesive if it stuck to one of these moods.

This is definitely a cosy read with minimal plot progression. The romance aspect was set up well, but felt that it could have been expanded in a bit. I enjoyed that the ending wasn’t conventional and it was fitting if a little bittersweet.

If you like cosy witchy reads, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

The perfect fall read to get into the Halloween spirit. This book employs the witch trope beautifully and features many different types of magic. It’s a cozy read that I think makes a good palate cleanser between more intense books. The prose is elegant. The only thing that fell a little short for me was the romance aspect. It was a slow burn, but lacked as much tension as I would have liked. It almost burned a little too slow? Either way I still really enjoyed it and would recommend it to friends.

This felt like the perfect witchy, cozy fantasy for the autumn season! 🍁 although there was a major conflict throughout, this was just the coziest lil thing. If you’re a fan of any fictional witches across all media types, you’ll find that a ton of the names of the witches in the Atlantic Key coven are familiar to you. The major conflict was fun to follow, however all of the in-between with our main characters was what had me all giddy with this novel. Definitely the perfect book to pick up if you don’t want anything too spooky this Fall! Thank you NetGalley & Alcove Press for the advanced copy. ❤️

Hedge Witch and solitude-loving Hecate “Kate” Goodwin has her peaceful life upturned when her sister asks her to host their Coven’s annual Halloween gathering. The task comes with a huge amount of pressure to impress, and Kate’s still dealing with the loss of her mother. To further complicate things, a former friend, who just happens to dabble in forbidden magic, shows up on Kate’s doorstep and despite her own misgivings, as a Hedge Witch Kate is duty bound to take him in. When she uncovers secrets about her late mother and herself, Kate will have to confront her own past and carve her own future.

This book balances macabre and cozy while still putting in the time to make the characters believable. The Halloween-y atmosphere, which is seemingly the standard in these types of books, worked very well as the author wasn’t afraid to lean into the darker aspects of magic and death but also kept things grounded. The themes of family and duty were explored in a unique and fresh way, and though there were characters who I can’t say I agreed with, a lot of effort was made to explain their actions and portray them as three dimensional people.

In addition to the overall interesting characters, the romance was so well fleshed-out, and suited the “cozy but dark” atmosphere of the rest of the book perfectly. Much like the book overall balances between the two moods, the romance balances between sweet and sexy in an equally satisfying way. Hecate’s journey of self-discovery was also wonderfully written, and as a reader I felt very connected with her from start to finish. I would highly recommend this book for fans of witchy romance. Many thanks to NetGalley and Alcove Press for this ARC. This is my honest review.

5/5 Halloween-y, mysterious, and perfect for anyone who waits all year for Autumn.

A cozy fantasy story with a witch, black cat, perfectly Hallmark Halloween town, and a few mysteries a-brewing while she cooks up a storm. The description of the town and the apothecary are perfect. I personally identify with a lot of these cozily-inclined heroines, but the pacing is a bit slow. It’s not clear to me what Hecate personally wants or what the tremendous change she needs in her life, so I find it hard to connect to her. The descriptions of emotions with Matthew in the scene were a lot of outright telling vs. showing, which made it hard to visualize their interaction. I read a few chapters and skipped forward in the book, but wasn’t hooked enough to keep going. The cover is on point and the premise definitely caught my interest. Perhaps a good book for other cozy fantasies (Legends & Lattes), the Spellshop etc.

This is my witchy pick for fall! It has all the small town cozy magic you could want with a plot that actually MOVED!! I loved the romance and atmosphere.

This was exactly what I needed. I was pulled into those cozy & witchy Autumn vibes from the first page and reading this story felt like reading a love letter to Halloween. Beautifully descriptive and imaginative it has me yearning for October. The eerie witchy vibes were on point-my heart raced-and I was turning pages late into the night!
Kate has that quiet strength you admire while Matthew will drive you the good kind of crazy. The banter and swoon worthy moments were just..*insert wistful sigh*. I loved this book and can’t wait to read it again!

🎃 Supernatural romance
🎃 Enemies to Lovers
🎃 Young adult
🎃 Closed door
🎃 He falls first

Hecate Goodwin is a Hedge Witch. Although she is ostensibly accepted, she lives a quiet, isolated life on the fringes of her coven, the Atlantic Key.
She is conscientious about her role, providing healing care and sanctuary but her life is staid and her routine rarely varies. She is grieving the loss of her mother and protection she always felt.
Matthew Cypher, the heir to the dark Pacific Gate coven, may be a threat to Hecate's core beliefs, despite the fact that they bonded when they first met years ago., His practices are forbidden to her coven and she is instantly wary when he arrives on her doorstep right before Samhain.
But something is changing and bad omens abound. Matthew may be the only person who can protect Hecate against the coming battle.
This book is packed with seasonal vibes - perfect for getting into the spooky season. The descriptions of food and the recipes made me want to get into the kitchen and start some magic of my own.
The writing would definitely appeal to a young adult audience - my teenage self would have loved it.
The relationship between Matthew and Hecate (Kate) is innocently sweet. I liked Matthew as a character, but I didn't really connect with Hecate (Kate), so it wasn't obvious why Matthew was so drawn to her.
Kate's sisters were interesting characters and there was a reality to their dynamic which was appealing.
An enjoyable read.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

★★★★★

Is it officially witchy season? Absolutely! Let me introduce a debut that deserves a spot on your TBR this season.

Here’s what you can expect: rival covens 🧙🏻, jack-o-lantern contests 🎃, safety spells disguised as caramel apples for the kids 🍎, a familiar named Merlin 🐈‍⬛, the ultimate autumn setting 🍁, a villainous king of the underworld 🪦, and a forbidden romance a decade in the making 🧡

Meet Hecate (Kate) Goodwin, a hedge witch born on Samhain (October 31st). Her magic was predetermined at birth, denying her the right to choose on her 13th birthday. Kate is a rare type of witch—one not seen in over two centuries. As her 31st birthday approaches and she prepares for the Containment Ritual, where she must sacrifice part of her magic, strange events begin to unfold, including the reappearance of Matthew, a man she hasn’t seen in ten years.

Read this if you love:
🎃 Cozy, autumnal witchy vibes
🎃 A richly atmospheric Ipswich setting
🎃 A MMC (Matthew) who is head over heels for Kate
🎃 Bonus recipes at the end, which were a treat!

Officially out October 8, 2024

[Many thanks to NetGalley & Alcove Publishing for providing a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review]