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.

The Bane Witch is an atmospheric blend of fantasy and thriller.

The concept of this story was what drew me in. A witch who can ingest poisonous plants and turn that into a venom for dangerous men.

I loved the idea of women fighting back against violence and shame.

A lot of fantasy books can start to feel similar but this one held its own, making for a memorable read.

*Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.*

I loved the witchy vibes of the book. There was just a lot with the plot. I am sure others are going to love!

This is the spooky fall read I was looking for! I was lucky to receive an ARC of this book from SMP and NetGalley. This is not what I was expecting, not my usual read - but it exceeded my expectations. The Bane Witch has some thriller components - with a serial "unaliver" and a crazy ex husband and lots of ... "unaliving" in general. Very light on romance, it's not the focus of the book. There are some trigger warnings - DV, SA. This story is about Piers, a woman on the run after she fakes her own death to escape her abusive husband. As she escapes and goes towards the only family she has left - an estranged aunt Myrtle - things start to happen and past events start to make more sense. Myrtle then educates her on the existence of Bane Witches - "an ancient weapon magically designed to be a defender of women and children by taking the lives of predatory men, an instrument of justice and vengeance older than time, a poison eater". It's a little convoluted to explain without giving away a lot of plot - but the concept is pretty cool, nothing l've really seen before to this extent.
Dark, moody setting. The forest is the perfect backdrop to this spooky thriller. The writing is a little too embellished for my taste, but once I got used to it, it was fine. There are some plot holes I feel could have been addressed, but nothing essential to the story. Releases 2025.

Very strong book and interesting premise. I liked the character growth. Ending a little unrealistic with Reyes, and felt the police side story needed some work.

But really liked the concept and would eagerly read next work by author.

I could NOT put this book down! There’s so much to get you hooked: murder, mystery, magic, revenge, strong women, and the good old Adirondack Mountains. The characters were interesting, the descriptions were done so well you could picture it in your mind like you’re right there in the story. The author revealed just enough information so you never feel totally lost, but never too much that way you’re itching to keep reading even if it’s past your bedtime. I’ll be telling all my friends to add this to their TBR lists.

I am rounding up just a bit on this review, but I really enjoyed this book. The setting, characters, and building tension made for great reading.

Piers is a desperate woman who fears her violent and abusive husband is on the verge of killing her. She manages to escape by meticulously planning her "death," and escapes to the only place she can go: the home of the aunt she met once when she was very young. There Piers learns more about her past, her family, her strange compulsion to eat plants that she knows are highly toxic, and her destiny as what is known as a "bane witch."

The combination of suspense/thriller and magic/fantasy was extremely well-done. Neither aspect of the book felt overlooked, trite, or undeveloped. The reader is genuinely frightened for Piers and roots for her to escape her terrible situation. The reader also is totally drawn into this slightly mystical forest world, where plants and mushrooms can glisten with deadly yet irresistible mystery. The reader can become immersed in the cozy cabins, the lousy coffee, the sounds of wildlife, and the smells of nature. The pacing, including necessary yet well-placed flashbacks, added to organic unfolding of the plot, and I absolutely did not want to put the book down--yet I did not want the book to end.

Piers herself is a well-developed character, who slowly learns how to believe in herself, shed her past, and embrace her future. The secondary characters are fleshed out and interesting. I felt like I knew everyone from Aunt Myrtle to Azalea to the sweet dog. I do feel Regis needed a bit more depth, however. He was a good guy, but he either needed more, or he could have been left out.

The reason I had a hard time giving this book a full four stars, and did not give it five stars, despite everything I loved was because of 2 major things: some glaring plot holes and Detective Reyes. And--fair warning--if you read the rest of this paragraph, there were some spoilers! First, when we finally meet Aunt Myrtle, and then later when we meet the rest of the "family," certain edicts, guidelines, and mandates are explained and given to Piers, and the other bane witches are mad at Piers and ready to do away with her because she has not followed their rules. YET SHE HAD NO IDEA SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW THOSE RULES--SHE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW SHE WAS A WITCH! Why do they have to give her the last kiss because she broke regulations that she didn't even know existed? Give her some leeway! And if it was truly THAT serious of an issue to leave an unsuspecting bane witch out in "the wild," interacting with the public, why did they allow that to happen? Why didn't Myrtle or some other member of the family come and get Piers when she was young? The whole situation seemed like all the witches were upset because Piers grew up and did all of these things that she shouldn't have done, when they could have prevented the whole situation from the get-go by raising her "correctly" and explaining to her what exactly she was years and years ago. (Not to mention all the pain and suffering Piers could have avoided.) Because of this, the members of Piers' family came across as unfeeling, autocratic, and heartless. There were even times when it seemed they hated all men and were not open to the fact that not every male is obsessed with exerting power and causing pain. (I feel like this could have been explored more with Regis and Myrtle, and perhaps more members of the venery, but that was a thread that was left dangling.) Then all of the details about when to "feed," taking a mark, who will die and when they will die and how they will die...it got a bit confusing. I wasn't sure why some people can be touched and others can't, and sons will die is they stay with their mothers. It felt murky. And then we come to Reyes. At first I enjoyed the chapters from his POV, and how he was ready to investigate Piers' disappearance and how her husband might be involved. But once his older sister gave him some insight into how Piers might have been living and why she "disappeared," Reyes didn't stop and really think about how he could best get "justice" for the missing woman. And when he kept on with the investigation, found some significant clues, and TIPPED HENRY OFF, I was beside myself--literally screaming "What! Are! You! Doing?!!??!" in my head the whole time. He should have been smarter than that. I mean, seriously? And then when he finally found Piers and slammed into her in the woods...? Palm to forehead--she ALMOST had him! I got sick of him. By that point I had decided he served no purpose other than to mess everything up for Piers. Ugh. I realize that it was important for the reader to know what was going on in the investigation in Charleston, and maybe set things in motion for a final confrontation between Piers and Henry, but the way it was done just did not work. By the end he was really just superfluous. And at that point, with all of the leaving the doors unlocked, getting into the shower when a serial killer is after you, and just general unsafe behavior, the climactic ending felt a little "manufactured." So at the end, I was just a bit disappointed in the book. It was great up to that point, and it set me up to expect a spectacular ending. But there were too many things that didn't make sense or add up or feel organic to leave me completely satisfied.

Okay, the above paragraph aside, I did really like this book, and found it a wonderful way to start of spooky reading season. The way the author combined crime/thriller and domestic suspense with witchy magic was fresh and fun to read. I loved the setting, details, and descriptions, and would definitely read more by this author.

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.

This was a book I could not book done once I started it. It was such an interesting story, and felt very original. The world building and witch elements were unlike other fantasy books I've read before. The concept of a bane witch was just incredibly fascinating to me and made reading this book very enjoyable. I also enjoyed Morgyn's writing here. It really suited the genre; it was descriptive and can bring a reader into the world. Also, Morgyn did a great job with Piers' character development, showing her gain her confidence back and come into her own power.
There were great twists and turns in this book that kept me reading. I thought this was a really good mystery thriller. And it's always nice seeing women get revenge.
I can't wait to make my friends read this once it's out!

This book is such a wild ride! Piers transforms from a bad marriage to embracing her Bane Witch powers, and it’s totally gripping. With a charming sheriff and some serious danger around, the tension is off the charts. The author nails the mix of dark vibes and girl power—this book is a must-read for anyone who loves a thrilling story. Grab it and dive in; you won’t regret it!