So good! Alison's story was so heartbreaking and infuriating. I love the dual timeline and both were done very well. This is a great book if you like historical witch stories. Definitely a great book to read during spooky season.

My only dislike is that I wanted more from the ending. It felt almost sudden. I'd like to have known what happen to all the people in the 1594 timeline afterword. Other than that it was really good. Definitely a solid 4 ⭐️ book! Highly recommend.

For some reason, I have something against books that take place in the past, or in past-like settings. I didn’t realize this book took place partially, well, more than partially, in the past. However, I still read this since I’d requested it. I enjoy learning about the witches’ persecution, and I can tell the author did a lot of research about that. Add in a mystery in the present that collides with the one in the past, we have an exciting thriller. I did enjoy this even with the past setting. This author is talented at keeping your attention and writing a great story. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

4.8 ✩✩✩✩ - Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Nightfire for this title.

This story ebbs between the present time of 2024 and 1594 to uncover the past, what happened in our time, and its relation to Erin and her family.

🔮 2024: Erin has been found by the water and near death with first-degree burns on most of her body. Her mother is notified, and after she sees her daughter, she is heartbroken. Erin, 19, is also a young mother to daughter Freya.

Erin’s mother (Clem) then begins the journey to find out what happened. Was there an argument that went totally wrong on Erin’s camping trip with her friends? Did they delve into the unknown? All will be revealed as this story begins to unravel.

We go back to past events in 1594 where Alison Belford (mother of Beatrix and Edward, wife to William) has been accused of witchcraft and consorting with the devil. Alison is known as a healer in her small community, using herbs and natural elements to heal the sick and afflicted.

The parallels to both times would be intertwined when Erin awakens from her medically induced coma as someone else.

🔥 I’M HEATED 🔥
- I'm already sour about Alison’s treatment and examination in jail, all done by men poking and prodding and looking for any natural nuance to be a mark of the devil 🤬😡Why are men stupid.
- This is just a means of probing a woman’s body (in what they call) in the name of Christianity.
- It’s always men in power who are threatened by what they don’t understand and use any excuse to accuse (mainly women) of devil worship.

🤪All Kinds of Weird but Good🤪
- The Book of Shadows, usually a guide to the craft and a written account of coven activity, differs in this story.
- This book of shadows is made from wood or twigs (from what I gather), but the pages are black with no writing.
- Each member (upon induction) screams their name into the book to seal their placement and determine whether they will be a traveler.
- Travelers have the ability to move through time and change their shape.

🧹Overall🧹
I enjoyed this book because it shows witchcraft as a generational aspect of this family history and explains why this book was initially attached to Erin but appears to the mother (Clem) and will continue to appear (possibly) to all the women in the family.

It reads well, and there is a mystery, a crime committed, family drama, and historical fiction. It is NOT scary, but that's my opinion. I still recommend this title.

This review will be posted on GoodReads (live now), Amazon, and my ARC reviews on Spotify (Oct 4th).

I received a gifted galley of THE BOOK OF WITCHING by C.J. Cooke for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, PRH Audio and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review!

THE BOOK OF WITCHING follows two timelines. In the present, Clem gets a call that her daughter Erin has been in a horrific accident. Her daughter's boyfriend is dead and her friend is still missing. When Erin awakens, she doesn't recognize Clem and instead says she is Nyx. In 1594, we are following Alison who lived in the place where Erin and her boyfriend were found. She is brought up on false charges of witchcraft and is treated horribly by the men in charge. It is not initially clear how the two timelines will merge and what Clem must uncover to save her daughter.

Based on the book's synopsis, I went into this one with some incorrect assumptions. I thought we'd be spending the majority of our time with Clem and the mysteries surrounding Erin, but a large part of the book (especially in the beginning) is more about the historical timeline. I will admit I was more hooked by the present timeline than the past, so it took me a while to settle into the book.

As we got further into the novel, I did find myself more engrossed in the story, especially as we start to figure out who the timelines work together. I will give warnings that there are some pretty brutal torture scenes and descriptions of injuries, so do go into this one forewarned.

This does work quite well going into witchy/spooky season if you go in with the right expectations.

What a great book for spooky season. C.J. Cook writes amazing atmospheric, haunting reads, and this book was no different. I really enjoyed the dual timelines and multiple POV’s. The past POV was my favorite and I love reading about Alison and her trial as a witch. It is just so horrifying that so many were persecuted as witches, because they were misunderstood. I had recently read a non-fiction book about trials and witches, so this was a nice follow up to that. Since I had just read this book, I could tell that the author had done their research and really paid attention to how real witches were treated, which was a nice treat. The author’s note really sealed the deal for me The present POV was interesting, and I also enjoyed reading it. I do think that some of the cursory POV’s were a little distracting, and I wasn’t exactly sure how they added to the story, but overall, there weren’t so many that it really took away from the story or upset me immensely.

I followed along with this one on audio and really enjoyed the experience. The narrator did a nice job with the book and nailed the characters.

The Book of Witching is a fascinating and well written blend of horror and historical fiction that C.J. Cooke blends into a story of family, fear and historical trauma.

I live a good witchy book, and this is no exception! The writing style lent itself to telling a great tale of history involving witches and the present situation of a mother fighting for her daughter's life. I absolutely loved this back story of the witches as well as the interesting situation of the present and how the daughter thought she was someone named Nyx. Folk lore was an integral part of this story and I absolutely loved it!

"A mother must fight for her daughter's life in this fierce and haunting tale of witchcraft and revenge from the author of A Haunting in the Arctic.

Clem gets a call that is every mother's worst nightmare. Her nineteen-year-old daughter Erin is unconscious in the hospital after a hiking trip with her friends on the remote Orkney Islands that met a horrifying end, leaving her boyfriend dead and her best friend missing. When Erin wakes, she doesn't recognize her mother. And she doesn't answer to her name, but insists she is someone named Nyx.

Clem travels the site of her daughter's accident, determined to find out what happened to her. The answer may lie in a dark secret in the history of the Orkneys: a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft and murder four centuries ago. Clem begins to wonder if Erin's strange behavior is a symptom of a broken mind, or the effects of an ancient curse?"

It's so a curse right? Please say curse!

The Book of Witching, written by C. J. Cooke, is a chilling and beautifully crafted tale that captivated me from the very first sentence. I was so engrossed in the story that I read it all in one sitting.

This was a beautifully done novel about witchcraft and family that really was well done in this story. The plot had everything that I was looking for and was engaged with the story being told. The characters were well done and worked with the history being told. C. J. Cooke has a great way of telling the story that it needed to and enjoyed the overall feel of this. I enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship in this and thought the rest of the cast was realistic for this.

🧙‍♀️ M Y S T I F Y I N G M O N D A Y review 🧙‍♀️ featuring “The Book of Witching” by CJ Cooke!

BOOK REVIEW: 🖤🖤🖤🖤/5

Clementine is not prepared for the news dropped on her about her 19 year old daughter Erin. Erin’s weekend “hiking” trip on Scotland’s remote Orkney Island turns into a horrifying disaster when a fire breaks out leaving Erin’s boyfriend dead, her best friend missing and Erin in a coma with life threatening burns and injuries!

When Erin eventually wakes up, something is very OFF about her. There are so many questions surrounding what happened that night and Erin isn’t giving them anything and refers to herself as someone named Nyx.

While all of this is happening in the present, readers also get to follow another story line that goes back to 1594 where a woman named Alison is accused of witchcraft on the Orkney Islands. How are these two stories connected??

Thank you kindly to @cjcooke_author @berkleypub @netgalley for my advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book releases on October 8, 2024 and is the perfect witchy read for your spooky TBR!

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkley, for this ARC. The Book of Witching pulled me in and didn't let me go until the very end. C.J. Cooke's writing is a masterclass in how to convey an enormous amount of information in very few words. Each paragraph was potent and brought these characters and their situations to life in fascinating ways. Being able to tell a story in two timelines where each chapter moves the plot of both forward is an amazing skill, and Cooke always kept thing moving, which is part of the reason why it was so hard to put down.

In the current timeline, Clem finds out her daughter, who is lying in a hospital bed, has been leading a secret life that has nearly killed her. In the past, Allison is a healer who, like many, is being falsely accused as a witch to cover the misdeeds of the men in power. The two timelines are connected through a mystical society and a book of dark magic. Yet the trials and relationships that each of these women goes through are grounded in reality and, in many ways, very relatable.

Having been to Orkney and Kirkwall, it's hard to imagine the darkness of the witch trials that happened there. Of course, we know Scotland's King James led a brutal slaughter of innocents. The Book of Witching brought to light the horrors of those times as well as some of the horrors in the time we currently live in. Just a fantastic and fascinating read.

Really enjoyed this and the authors writing. I loved how it was easy to read and follow along to. I really enjoy readying witchy books and this is definitely in my top ten now .

I am thrilled to get the chance to read two C.J. Cooke novels in one year! I appreciate the research that goes into these novels and historical facts that she presents that send me down rabbit holes of my own. The dual timelines held my attention and I could not wait to see how they would tie together. The emotions that Cooke's writing make me feel are deep. Anger, frustration, visceral pain from the torture that so many humans went through. The hypocrisy of the courts and those in power, sadly mirror what is happening today.
I would have loved a bit more story in how Erin becomes well again. More about the book's ties to her.

Thank you to @Berkleypub for this gifted ARC!

This was the perfect book to start off spooky season! C.J. Cooke does such an amazing job weaving historical events, folklore and fiction into a completely riveting novel! The story had multiple POVs, dual timelines, and kept me up late into the night. I've always been so interested in witch trials throughout history, and this book met that curiosity above and beyond. Every chapter left mystery and intrigue to where I just couldn't put the book down because I had to know what was going to happen. The ending was chefs kiss!

I really loved the writing style of this book! It made it easy to follow and digest while keeping you engaged in the story. I loved the research that went into this, there is so much attention to detail and I am very impressed with the effort the author put in. Alison’s story was top tier, I would have read an entire book focused solely on her, but the dual timelines makes up for that lack. I loved this book and went through it very quickly.

This will be hard to review without scaring readers away or giving too much info. I wouldn’t necessarily say go into it blind but maybe I would say, go into it if you like fantasy horror… or cults.

This book is the story about witchcraft. Or even better described as powerful magic that uses nature to feed the curses. Don’t believe in this fantasy type of world, perhaps I will say that it’s heavy on the mysterious healers of the past with and blend of the modern day.

It’s best to let your mind just go and be frightened that a book has survived hundreds and hundreds of years. And that burning rituals have ceased to exist.

It’s cult like, horror lite and a bit of feminism in a book that touches on family emotions. The emphasis isn’t on the family so much as it is about the strength of women. And the pull of feeling like you are loved or belong somewhere.

That’s all I’m going to say. But if you enjoyed this authors past books, I’m sure you’ll fly through this. It’s definitely the moody atmosphere I wanted as we go into the fall season

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of The Book of Witching. Told in multiple timelines and POVs, we have Alison being accused of witchcraft in the late 1500’s and then we have Clem in present day who’s daughter has been badly burned and she’s trying to figure out what happened to her.

Of course the two timelines eventually converge and the connecting piece is the mysterious book.

Overall, The Book of Witching kept me engaged, and intrigued. I appreciated the historical fiction aspect of the story, knowing a good chunk was based on true happenings. Set to drop 10/8/24, just in time for spooky season!

Two women centuries apart. How do their stories intersect? The Book of Witching is told in two timelines. The first timeline takes place in 1594 and is the story of Alison Balfour accused of being a witch and her subsequent imprisonment. In the present day, we learn about Clem, and her daughter Erin. I found both stories to be interesting and at times each was hard to read. The author pulls from history to bring Alison to life and the events and treatment of women at that time are horrific. Likewise, Clem's daughter has been horrifically burned and is in search of answers. It is a parent's nightmare to have a child devastatingly injured. The author brought it all together in the end and it is clear that the story has been diligently researched.

Thank you, NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

C.J. Cooke continues to solidify her spot as one of my favorite authors. Her haunting, witchy, atmospheric novels are truly incredible. The Book of Witching blew me away.

This story is told in the past and present. I was fully immersed in Alison Balfour's story from 1594. I loved Clem and Erin's story as well, but something about Alison and her family... I could have read an entire book about her alone. Reading the authors note at the end made it even more intriguing! I highly recommend this one!! All the stars!!!