Thanks so much to Ava Morgyn and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the eARC. This is a perfect Spooky Season book. It's like a fantasy romance murder mystery book. It's not too spicy either! It took me a a bit to get into it but still a good book.

"If I had shown up on your doorstep, told you that you were an ancient weapon magically designed to be a defender of women and children by taking the lives of predatory men...."

This book was so good! It's a murder mystery mixed with a darker version of Practical Magic. The magic system felt really unique and I loved all the female empowerment/rage!

It's important to have books like this one, and I'll tell you why:

I've gone on record in other reviews stating that I suspect I've outgrown the normal 'urban fantasy' tropes. I find them trite and predictable. But THIS novel, it has all the ingredients: magic in the modern word, a shadowy supernatural underbelly beneath reality, a person discovering their powers in a very 'yer a wizard, Harry' way so that exposition and world-building can be conveniently dumped onto the main character as a proxy fish-out-of-water, romance/sexuality blooming in the midst of life-and-death stakes. But it's all done SO WELL!

Highly recommended for fans of bloody fantasy/crime novels, female empowerment, and sweet dogs named Bart.

Talk about a book that you can't get out of your head! This was a chilling and yet beautiful story all around. There are so many monologues and scene descriptions throughout the novel that I just thought were a masterclass in writing. I have no doubt that certain scenes will be staying with me for a long time.

Ava Morgyn did such a fantastic job making me feel both dread and feminist empowerment throughout each chapter. There are some heavy themes throughout this book, such as assault, abuse, murder, sometimes offering graphic descriptions of such details, so I do hope that the publisher includes a trigger warning at the beginning before the book is finalized.

I love the concept of bane witches and how their magic works. Anytime Piers and the venery would dive into their lore, I was hooked, but it would often cut back and forth with a police procedural b-plot that I wasn't all that invested in. Those chapters are vital to the plot, but anytime they popped up, I just kept wanting to go back to the women and see what they were up to! Overall, The Bane Witch was a captivating, eerie page-turner of a thriller that I hope to find more of in the future.

Big thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the advanced review copy!

This book has me hooked almost from page one. I was enthralled by the magic in this story. The mystery surrounding it and how the poisons worked were all working together to keep me turning page after page after page. It was so intriguing how the magic pulled those seeking evil in so they could be destroyed. I loved this one and can’t wait to read more from this author.

This book was honestly incredible. I was really surprised by how much I loved it.

The whole thing starts out feeling like a murder mystery of a sort, but eventually ends up pulling fantasy elements into the story.

It built up quickly enough that I was kept enraptured, but not so fast that I felt confused or lost. Everything came together fairly well too.

The characters were fascinating and unique too. What a great Halloween read!

5/5 stars. This was the perfect spooky season book.

I enjoyed this book from start to finish! I love murder mysteries, Thrillers, Fantasy, and I love when there is romance thrown in. This book was a brilliant combination of these genres. The description for this book says "witches meets Gobe Girl", or something to that effect, and boy does it deliver.

*SPOILER ALERT

Piers is a character who plots and executes the perfect plan to escape her abusive husband. Adding in the fact that she is from a long line of witches who kill abusive men with poison and I was hooked.

Do the men they poison deserve to die? Absolutely. Did I enjoy the fact that these witches were getting justice via murder? Heck yes, these bad men have to go. Would I recommend this book to friends? Absolutely.

The romance in this book was great, it wasn't over the top or too raunchy unlike in some other fantasy books, but still present and enjoyable.

I haven't read a book about witches in a while, but I have to admit this one has me wanting to go find some more to read!

Very well done! Thank you NetGalley for the awesome read!

Piers Corbin is a thirty-something in a horrible marriage, an abusive husband who has threatened to kill her and the only way out is to fake her death. This fake-out was thought out very well, at least up until the point Piers jumped off a bridge. She escapes to her great-aunt's house in the middle of nowhere. There she learns that the cravings that she has had since a child were all a part of her witch ancestry. Her venery of witches, from the same family, all inherit this to varying degrees. They can eat toxic plants and poison their victims. Their magic lures these victims to them, all are men, and all are horrible. Each witch lures a particular type of bad to them and Piers lures the worst of the worst. As she learns who she is, she is also drawn to the town sheriff, in a romantic and non deadly way. With bodies dropping all around Piers can she pull her life together?

When I first started reading this book I had to go look at the description a few times because the first several chapters had no witchy vibes at all. It was all about a battered wife trying to escape her evil husband. Which, in itself would be a good story, but I was expecting more magic. We get there though, as Piers is escaping we have bits and pieces of her past which brings us to the big reveal when she finally discovers who she is and who her mother was. The book is all about empowerment of the women over the bad men of the world. The overall gist is a bit depressing when you get down to it. None of the women can keep their sons in fear they may accidentally kill them. They don't have any real romantic love, because they hunt and kill bad men. The venery is in control of everyone's lives and finances, I don't love that. The hunt and the journey were amazing. The growth of Piers and the changes that we see in her were subtle, but not unrealistic. The feelings I had while reading this pushed me to want to rate this a bit higher than a 4 and I am still now teetering between a 4 and 4.5. I do feel like we had some holes that keep me where I'm at. We get this second POV, and though those two characters do come together, it is lackluster and anticlimactic. Like the author was like, Oh yeah, I have this one guy. I would almost have been ok having all of that side being a mystery and just being surprised at the surprise. We knew that twist was coming because it was broadcast so heavily. Then we brush past the trials that the venery gives Piers, just oh yeah it happened. The end. Overall though, I like the budding romance, the magic of the Bane Witches, the hunt of the victims, and Piers' gifts. I wish we could see more of this and know if she was special or if everyone was like her. Then we get that ending. I would totally read a book with the cousin who comes to visit, I forgot her name. She seems like she would have an amazing story, plus hunting bad guys, bane witch style. That would be pretty fun. Anyway, this book is worth the time. It is unique in the magic system and has pretty amazing FMCs.

Okay. So I enjoyed this book and all, but “He takes my breasts in his mouth like candied apples …??” Really?? This is the best simile that the author could come up with to describe this situation?? I mean, perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I bite my candied apples. And fairly forcefully, too, because, you know, it's an apple and apples are firm? And then I end up with sticky bits of apple all in my teeth and it's pretty annoying (which is why I don't often eat candied apples), and I am not even sure how this imagery has anything at all to do with foreplay? At least the food-related stuff stopped there and there were no descriptions of her taking anything in her mouth "like a churro” or whatever. Ahem.

Anyway, bad fruit-based similes aside, I did enjoy this book and I kind of wish I were a bane witch now. I don't necessarily want to poison anyone, but it'd kind of be nice to have the option if it came down to it, you know? Just in case?

The plot isn't incredibly novel – there are a bazillion books out there about women who return home to their estranged families and discover that they have magical powers. The bane witch aspect of it is an interesting twist, though, and Morgyn does a fantastic job of fleshing out the magical aspects of the story. I really enjoyed the lore behind the creation of the first bane witches, as well as learning about the powers and rituals of the venery. This is a dark tale that's all about justice and revenge and feminism and taking power back from abusive men, and it's really quite enthralling.

However, I did feel that the climax was a bit, well … anticlimactic. I was absolutely surprised by the identity of the Saranac Strangler … or, rather, I was surprised by who it wasn't because I was certain that I had things figured out. But, otherwise, for a showdown that the entire book has been leading up to, there really isn't a whole lot to it – it's over and done with in minutes.

Overall, though, this was a fun read. Well, okay, I guess “fun” might not be the right word because it's a dark and violent and infuriating tale, but it's still also awesomely magical and suspenseful at the same time. Between this and The Witches of Bone Hill, Ava Morgyn is quickly becoming one of my new favorite witchy writers.

3.7 stars, rounded up.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review. Its expected publication date is March 18, 2025.

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.