The premise on this is intriguing, and it starts out incredibly strong. I'm usually reading several books simultaneously, depending on my location, and I found myself "cheating" with The Bane Witch, pulling it up everywhere. I also loved that it didn't pull any punches with the poisonous plants. Often, fantasy books will substitute fairly innocuous herbs in their magic spells, which is always a challenge for the suspension of disbelief. However, once the main character, Piers, reaches her long-lost aunt in the Adirondacks, it really loses momentum. It began to feel like a series of cool scenes, all dialed up to 11, barely hanging together by a thread. A reader can only ask of the characters, "But, why would you do that?" so many times before she checks out of the story. I like witch stories, but I don't much care for women in violent peril stories, and the one did not outweigh the other in the final tally for this book.

I heard that this book was a much darker practical magic and I can say I definitely got that vibe reading this! I enjoyed the take on witches and magic and I like Piers a lot! However, this book was very slow paced and it felt like a slog to get through at times because nothing much happened in the beginning. The overall story was well done and I liked this author's writing style though!

A Dark, Witchy Read to add to your TBR
Thank you, St Martin’s Press, for the gifted e-copy of The Bane Witch {partner}

Genre: Fantasy
Trope: Witches
Format: 🎧📖
Pub Date:  3.18.2025
Pages: 384
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆.5

“We all have something that keeps us up at night.”

When I started The Bane Witch, I was prepared for the typical, predictable witchy story that would likely follow a plot that ultimately ends with a HEAP. Instead, I found a thought-provoking novel that revealed my inner female rage.

The Bane Witch was a gripping story of a woman fleeing the abuse she endured at her husband’s hands. There wasn’t a dull moment in the entire story, and it kept my attention from the very first to the last page (90% of the book, I sat on the edge of my seat).  It was precisely how I pictured a dark, witchy novel to be written, and I never felt like it was over the top or hard to believe. Every character felt real to me, and Ava Morgan should be so proud of how she brought this novel to life. 

Though, there’s no way around it - when I tell you parts of this book made my blood boil. I mean it. I recommend going into The Bane Witch, understanding that it does cover dark subject matter, but it’s, unfortunately, something that many women endure every day. 

Triggers: domestic violence, strangulat!on, sexual assault, rape

Read if you enjoy:
📝 Character development
💪🏼 Female empowerment/rage
🔍 Mystery/Suspense
👏🏼 Complex plot

I recommend reading The Bane Witch if you liked The Change by Kirsten Miller. It could also be compared to Practical Magic but with a dark undertone.

This was exactly the book I wanted to read 2.5 weeks before Halloween. I really enjoyed all of the strong women in this, and the storyline kept me interested and engaged. For some reason the romance aspect wasn't that satisfying to me - something was missing, or maybe it just felt surface level? Or maybe I was more interested in the killing of bad men. Overall though, this was a great read!

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A perfect witchy read for spooky season. I grabbed this on a whim from netgalley, not typically what I’m interested in reading, but I’m so glad I did! A page turner for me! The witch aspect was done so well.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the chance to read and rate this ARC. Recommend!

“A very little poison can do a world of good. It’s all about how you apply it.”

When we meet Acacia (formerly Piers), she is a woman desperate to escape her abusive husband, so much so that she fakes her own death & flees to her long lost aunt in upstate NY.

But Acacia is no ordinary woman. She is a Bane Witch. The women of her family consume poisonous berries & mushrooms & leaves (leaving them unharmed) to ready themselves to take down a marks: men who harm women & children, men who are destined to be brought to justice by their death’s kiss. It is their calling, & it will not be ignored.

As she learns about her origins & abilities, Acacia senses the Saranac Strangler, a man prowling her new home & stealing the lives of women. As Acacia & the killer’s paths are destined for collision, & her past comes calling, the dangers she faces are many, but “we don’t fear men in this house. They fear us.”

I was utterly entranced by, & in love with this book. The writing is beautiful & haunting. The strong & bold female characters are everything & give definite Practical Magic vibes. It’s dark & mysterious, & the bloom of the impossible romance between Acacia & Regis (the town sheriff) has its own magic. Their love is quiet & knowing, & powerful.

Thank you to @netgalley @stmartinspress for the ARC of this book.

And thank you to @avamorgyn for writing this gorgeous and delicious story. It is one of my favorite books of the year!

Sadly it won’t be available until March 18th!!! But I promise it’s worth the wait! And if you love anything remotely witchy, practical magic coded, crime thrillers, or mushrooms 🍄 😉 THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU.

Okay there was amazing flora, autumnal landscapes, super evil bad-guys, women who were fascinating and resourceful and brave, but there was just so much vomit. Like, a genuinely inexplicable amount of vomit.

The Bane Witch was the story of a woman growing into her powers and learning to use them for the greater good. When Piers was little, she remembers her mother's fear when there was some incident with a man who died. Taken to doctors over and over until they diagnosis her with the eating disorder Pica, she feels compelled to eat poisonous plants, specifically pokeweed, Piers is then drugged to the point of not feeling anything to try and control the pica. When her stepfather, who she never liked, dies and then her mother commits suicide, she's all alone, except for a vague memory of a great-aunt who came to visit them once, before her mother chased her away. Determined to make a life on her own, she becomes an interior designer and marries a man named Henry. In little, almost unnoticeable ways, Henry begins to control her, then comes the violence. Off medication now, Piers' senses are showing her that Henry will not only kill her but other women in the future. Thinking the only solution is to fake her own death, she does just that and takes off to find the mysterious great-aunt.

She smiles in the soft light. “We don’t fear men in this house,” she tells me. “Men fear us.”

This story, pretty non-stop, discusses and shows violence against women and girls. Told, mostly from Piers' pov, there's her thinking about and recounting the violence Henry has committed against her (physical and sexual), her fighting against an attempted rape, thoughts and scenes from a serial killer, and stories recounted to her from the venery (a coven of familial witches) about why they killed their marks. So while this story is about a group of women who have magical powers to use their “allure” to draw abusive men to them and then use their poison eating magic abilities to kill them, the author sure leaned into recounting, describing, and go over and over what evil acts these men commit. This is probably a mileage will vary, and while I understand fictionally serving the story, the tone and way these awful acts kept getting descriptively written out, over and over, started to give me the feeling of desensitized true crime and faintly, horror movie torture porn creeping in. It was a lot for this genre of story and I wish we could have focused more on the victims or venery members.

The hunt is beginning, and my prey is out there, hunting me in return.

Some of this was Gone Girl-ish with Piers faking her suicide and we get a pov from one of the detectives that is working her, initially, missing persons case. It was brilliant how Piers planned everything out and getting to see the detective work through the clues. The other half is Piers learning about being a bane witch. Her great-aunt Myrtle works to train her after the venery of thirteen females, all related to Piers, mostly want to kill her off because they don't trust she won't get them exposed somehow, but with the matriarch behind her, Piers gets six weeks to prove she can successfully become one of them. Her magic has picked a serial killer that has been operating in the area and there's some thriller mystery as the two circle each other. There's a little romance thread with the sheriff and Piers, and while we get some emotional background on the sheriff, he's not completely a flushed out character. They spend some time together, have two quick kissing to door slammed bedroom scenes, and then it's “I love you” time that I didn't really feel.

“[...] You either live as a bane witch, or you die as one. There is no in-between.”

This had a tendency to meander and rehash enough that I do think the pace suffered at times, Piers could get ad nauseam back and forth over her bane witch powers, accepting and using them. The ending gave us final clashes and Piers coming into her own, along with a death that was brushed away pretty quick taking away it's emotional impact. The repeated bringing up and descriptive violence against women and girls wasn't a good feeling experience for me though, it's always tougher for me in fiction to strike that right chord, and it caused me to miss some celebrating in what the bane witches were doing. However, this did have a solid ending of where Piers was going to go in life and I liked that ending for her.

Once you settle in with The Bane Witch, be prepared to read obsessively for hours because this fast-paced psychological thriller will have you hooked from the very first chapter. Piers is the hero that women have all been waiting for - she enters the storyline as an abused woman who is desperately escaping a husband who has already planned her death, and we watch as she turns into a fierce witch who exacts revenge on men who rape, who abuse, who kill. She learns to trust others, to love again, and to embrace her family and her identity. It's a beautiful story of a woman's power to overcome the abuse that they've endured, one of empowerment for women all over the world.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars
This book was a very interested read- Piers are FMC fakes her own death and runs away from her abusive husband to a mysterious aunt she met once as a child. She soon learns that her affinity for eating poisonous plants serves a purpose and she is a bane witch.
This book is rife with feminine rage (which we love). It was empowering to watch Piers grapple with her fate and finally accept that bad men often don't have to answer to the law. It was a truly fulfilling read, watching her go from hunted to hunter.
The Bane Witch does deal with some sensitive topics, so it's important to go into the book knowing what the main storyline is about.
The twist on vengeful women often becoming poisoners was especially interesting- one of my favourite aspects of the story was that the women consumed the poison first.
Overall an excellent read and I would certainly recommend!

I just finished this book and I rate it 5/5 stars! I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down. I really enjoyed this unique take on witches, it was unlike any book I’ve read before. This book is released March 18, 2025. Thank you to Netgalley and Ava Morgyn for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

All families have secrets, but Piers Corbin's family has deadly secrets. Desperate to keep her daughter away from the family obligations, her mother has Piers diagnosed with Pica and medicated until her urges to consume toxic pokeweed is fully suppressed. It is this desire towards poisonous things that her mother is determined to keep from Piers. However, after her Mother's death, Piers is left alone with no guidance as to what is happening to her.

Now as a grown woman, Piers is stuck in an abusive relationship with a husband who is progressively getting more deadly in his manipulative games. With no other option, she fakes her own death and sets up her husband as her murderer. She heads north to Crow Lake to the only family she knows she has left in hopes of safety, security, and long awaited answers to her attraction to poisons. What she gets is more than she bargained for and a destiny all woman in her family must update. To become a Bane Witch and rid the world of dangerous men.

I really enjoyed this book. It gave me Practical Magic (the movie) vibes with the woman handling violent situations with magical means. The coziness of Crow Lake made me want to pack up and go live in a small mountain town. At times, Piers' character was frustrating in her denial to accept that the men her family members murdered were evil. She continues to be convinced that the justice system would prevail even though she herself had to fake her own death because she knew the police couldn't keep her safe from her husband. Once she accepts her fate, she becomes more tolerable, and I love that her first target becomes a serial strangler that is stalking the area around Crow Lake. I felt this was a unique take on magic being tied to nature and consuming toxic plants to essentially become a walking poison bomb to be delivered to their next target. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a darker witchy book.

Piers hails from a family of "Bane Witches," poison eaters who wield their deadly abilities to punish evil men. Piers desires to break free from her volatile and abusive marriage, requiring her to navigate a treacherous path. Piers escapes her marriage and reaches out to her estranged Aunt Myrtle, who runs a small-town café. Her aunt begins to teach Piers about her gifts when a cute local sheriff shows up and is immediately drawn to her, creating romantic tension. An introduction of a serial killer in the story ramps up the stakes and provides a thrilling cat-and-mouse dynamic. Piers is not just a predator; she's also prey, adding suspense. The story blends elements of a thriller, magical realism, and feminist fantasy. It's a story that delves into themes of survival, power, and vengeance in an empowering way. I loved it. I hope we get to hear more for Piers and I would love a story about her aunt.

I received an ARC ebook for my honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin

The Bane Witch, was a fun and fast read. I loved the concept of female vigilante poison witches, killing men to protect women and children. The writing style is easy and fun, and the characters are written well. As expected, the female characters are better drawn than the men, who are more for trophy than anything else.
While the ending is predictable, the twists and turns in the end kept the book from becoming too predictable.

Addictive and impossible to put down! One of the best paranormal books out there, imaginative, tense, mysterious, and believable, that's the key. A definite must read.

This book is an unusual story of powerful women taking charge.Fantasy meets thriller with witches! Sometimes a little slow but keep going. It's worth it! Thanks for the chance to enjoy this read!

“It’s like I always say, a very little poison can do a world of good.”

This book is very atmospheric and descriptive. If you don’t like that, probably bow out.
The concept for this is really cool and while I definitely see parallels to practical magic, it’s different enough to not be considered a retelling and I love that. It’s its own thing, with its own magic system.
I’m not sure I’d call this a romance, though. It’s more fantasy with a very light side of romance. I wish we got more of Regis and Piers together.


⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️Random notes from my read: CAN BE CONSIDERED SPOILERY⚠️⚠️⚠️⚠️


* What’s to be confused about? You’re obviously poison ivy. Duh
* Literally everyone is connected somehow
* Henry sounds ugly
* I want to be a bane witch. Sounds awesome. I don’t like her family though. They seem to have crap personalities
* Regis is adorable and I love him already
* What about girls born to the boys they gave away? Can they inherit the power?
* Aqua Tofana!
* The cover is way too cute for such a dark book
* Piers….you got way more info from that feather than you’re telling him. Wtf
* Why does her hunting keep like….being defective? she’s chasing him and it keeps…not being him? I’m so confused
* Her magic heals now? 🤔


Many thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an ARC and allowing me to provide my honest review

Such a fantastic and original read. I loved all the elements and the protagonist's wit and intelligence. 4 stars.

This book had me hooked from the very first paragraph. I loved the combination of thriller and fantasy. I literally couldn't put it down. I love Piers's journey from battered wife to powerful justice-serving witch. Ed's and Myrtle's deaths made me cry, something I don't often do while reading. My only complaint is it felt a bit slow at times.

This was really good. Ava's writing was just incredible of capturing my attention and making me feel for the characters. I love how their magic worked in the story. I do wish I had a little more background on how they are able to get away with what they are capable of doing. Especially her aunt because she lives in such a secluded area.