Unfortunately, I was really not as into this as I hoped I'd be. It was slow to start and I gave it till about half way through before I gave up. I can appreciate a slow burn, but this really just didn't pick up!

I enjoyed the story of Doreen and Ambrose and their family drama. This book would be a perfect read for during spooky season with witches, ghosts, and magic.

Plot: Doreen is attempting to break the century long curse that her family faces by releasing the person who placed the curse on them. Her journey with Ambrose takes them through a set of trials that they have to face together in order to break the curse. However, there are consequences that both Doreen and Ambrose will need to face throughout the trials. Will they succeed or will they fall?

I loved this story from the get-go and was sucked into the magic of it all and the storyline. I liked the character development of Doreen and Ambrose and the history that we got on both of them. We learned why Doreen wasn't able to use her magic and why Ambrose was shut-off. I loved the bond between Doreen and Margot. I enjoyed the don't trust you, don't trust me but we still need to work together dynamic between Ambrose and Doreen. It added the value of the book.

Why I gave it 4 stars...the time traveling into the trials was a little confusing to me. How were they actually getting around? Were they walking, using portals, etc? Also, while they were in the trials, but weren't really in the trials was lost on me. And then Doreen's aunt and cousin being so cold towards them and not letting Doreen learn about her magic and then wanting to get rid of Doreen and Margot, but coming to their aid as soon as the girls call them. I found it very frustrating. Finally, it wasn't very clear how Ambrose actually broke the curse.

Overall, I enjoyed the story. I was happy with the way that it ended but feel like there could be a sequel. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this E-Arc in return for an honest review.

Review posted to GoodReads on 11/18/2024
Review will post to IG in December/January
Review will post to Amazon on pub date - 2/25/25

Unfortunately this was a book I struggled to get into. It started slow and never really picked up speed.

Regretfully I DNF at 38%

I was intrigued by this one going in. The synopsis sounded right up my alley and I was excited with the concept. However, the execution just didn’t do it for me. First off, heads up to anyone starting this please read the synopsis first before starting. This book immediately throws you in and it honestly felt confusing. Definitely wasn’t used to feeling like I should know everything when I’m starting a new book. To make matters worse I couldn’t connect to the characters. I found neither of them root worthy and honestly lost interest in their quest before we even got to the half way mark. Overall not for me, maybe someone else would enjoy it more.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley

Definitely had some fun reading it and the magic was interesting. Seeing Scotland in a new magical way and in an astral type plane was fascinating. The characters grew on me the more I read so overall a nice witchy read that has a nice twist on enemies to lovers and second chance romance!

Doreen, a 13th century generation witch of the MacKinnon line, is determined to break the curse Ambrose
MacDonald placed on her family three hundred years ago. To do so, she must find where her family has imprisoned
Ambrose and get him to reveal how to break the curse, To do so, the two will undergo a set of trials that only
one other has completed. Doreen isn't sure how much Ambrose can be trusted, but she has no choice.
When her cousin Margot is pulled into the fight ,and imprisoned, Doreen and Ambrose need to successfully
defeat the trials the trials to free Margot.. To Doreen, to be able to love freely is worth the trials she must endure.
#ACircleofUncommonWitches #StMartinsPress #NetGalley

I have loved every single thing Paige writes and this one is no different! I love her writing and her characters so much! The characters were a little long, but I never wanted the book to end so it wasn’t a big deal to me.

While I loved the idea of this book, it wasn't quite there for me. I thought the story was a bit muddled and maybe there were some areas that could have used a bit more description or explanations.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Reviewed by: @literary.listener
Publishing: February 2025
Author: Paige Crutcher
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC!
*Contains Spoilers"

Generational curses are the pits. I was very invested in this book until a certain point. I loved the relationship between the FMC and her cousin. It was really well written. It showed how strong their bond was and how the relationship was so important to the whole plot of the story. I think that the romance part could have been taken out of the entire book and I could have just read about these two women. The romance to me while nice. It just wasn't there. How do you fall in love with someone whose family literally for the last 300 years tortured you? It just doesn't seem believable to me. I don't think that a week or so in a Dreamland could make me forget that almost every single person in your family line took turns torturing me. I don't care how good of a person you are. I think that I would have to go to therapy for a while to get over that. And I understand that this is not a real situation but that entire plot line to me made me go down to three stars (I would probably do 3.5 if I could). It just was unbelievable to me.

I think that a more focused plotline on the FMC and her cousin and even the female protagonist and her relationship with another female character would have been ideal in my mind. I just don't know. It's just something about falling in love after being tortured that I just can't get behind. Everything else was fantastic. The writing was very good and I was sucked in to the story and with the characters. I really enjoyed it. I just can't get behind the falling in love after torture even if you are different from your family. And I know that I say this understanding that this is not a real life scenario, but this is not realistic to me. So it took me ok out of the story and into more of my head which then made me question everything and think it wasn't believable anymore. I don't know of anybody else ever does that but I do a lot.

Now if there wasn't torture maybe I would feel different about the love story. Or if maybe he just came back from the past? I don't know. It just really made me dislike that portion of the book when I was enjoying everything else so much. But all in all it wasn't a hard read or a bad read. It just had one thing in it that I couldn't get over. So try it out. Maybe you'll like it!

With a 300 year old curse to never find true love, Doreen sets out to break the curse but first she has to team up with Ambrose - the witch who sets the curse in motion to begin with, in this adventurous, enemies to lovers paranormal romance. Doreen must break the curse before she turns 30 or die of a broken heart and the only way to break the curse is to go through a series of trials meant to challenge them: mentally, emotionally and physically, which takes them to a castle in Scotland, off a cliff and into another world that could only exist in their nightmares.

Overall, I thought that the book was very good. The storyline was strong with a cast of loveable and well-written characters. The storyline was based both on plot and characters and did a good job on both. My only complaint is that many of the chapters were way too long and in my opinion needed to be broken down. I think that this would be a great witchy romance for the spooky season or any other time of the year and I enjoyed it.

My reviews can also be found on my GoodReads profile.

I would like to thank the publisher - St. Martin's Griffin and NetGalley for the advanced reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

Fans of cozy Romantasy are sure to enjoy this book! It has it all, from arrogant witches, to enemies to lovers.

Doreen’s family is cursed to never know true love; but she refuses to accept the generational curse and decides to seek out Ambrose, the witch who originally cursed her family, to help her reverse the spell. Along the way, they find themselves drawn to each other; but will they be able to break the curse and find true love?

This book felt perfect for autumn, but I could see it being a great spring read as well; it’s just a very cozy book. The romance is a sweet slow burn, and the family relationships are fun and well-developed. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it to readers who like romantasy, enemies-to-lovers, and cozy witchy stories.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the arc!

Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I enjoyed the start of it, I thought the author did a good job explaining the situation and providing enough information for us to understand the character's quest, however, I did grow confused by the magic system and the world. It seemed that they just ended up in a new place randomly and it wasn't super clear how they ended up there. I think there needed to be more relationship building amongst the trials the characters went through but it just seemed repetitive.

A Circle of Uncommon Witches - Paige Crutcher
Doreen MacKinnon comes from a family of powerful witches, but she is not like the rest of them. She refuses to accept the family curse and marry before she's 30, or face death. Instead, she goes against the family to find the man who put the curse on them 300 years ago.
Ambrose made the mistake of falling in love with a MacKinnon, and when they forbade him to see from seeing her, he got his revenge by placing his curse for the future witches of the MacKinnon family to never find true love, and must marry before they're 30, or face death.
When Doreen finds Ambrose and convinces him to help her break the curse, he agrees but only because he has his own motives, seek revenge.
As they're faced with trial after trial, Doreen must decide how far she is willing to go to free herself and her family from the 300 year old curse.
This book was truly different from any others I have read. I did find the pacing to be a little off, but overall I enjoyed Doreen and Ambrose's journey. I respected Doreen for fighting for what's was right, knowing full well that it would burn some bridges with her family.
I went back and forth on my rating throughout the book, but in the end I truly enjoyed their journey and felt the book deserved ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher is a third person multi-POV contemporary fantasy romance focusing on a curse across generations. Doreen MacKinnon and her cousin Margot are the thirteenth generation in a long line of witches who cannot have genuine romantic love. Anyone they fall for will immediately come under their thrall and they must marry before they reach the age of thirty or they’ll die. Doreen decides to go to the source, Ambrose, a witch trapped in a storm who is the same person that cursed her family and loved Doreen’s ancestor.

The MacKinnon family takes a very pragmatic approach to romantic relationships, viewing them more as a means to an end instead of something people need. Through Margot, we do see how even if they are in romantic relationships, because of their partners being enthralled, it doesn’t feel completely real, and how the longing for a passionate relationship doesn’t actually go away if that is what someone wants. Stella, Doreen’s aunt and Margot’s mother, explains to the two how they need to simply deal with their reality to continue their family line but that some women in their family don’t and end up dying young or feel quite lonely for most of their lives.

Ambrose and Doreen feeling a lot of frustration towards each other in the beginning, particularly in how Doreen’s feeling has kept Ambrose trapped for centuries and how Ambrose isn’t totally willing to listen to Doreen. Ambrose is incredibly powerful but he also doesn’t have all of the answers. I liked the fact that we have this older witch who has spent a long chunk of time watching the world go by but he’s still essentially going ‘I don’t know’ when it comes to certain aspects of magic and what is happening around him. Doreen might not be having a good time, but I’m all for a powerful, centuries old witch who doesn’t have all the answers.

Of all the characters, I think Doreen was my favorite because she was trying her best to be compassionate towards Ambrose while achieving her goals but she also is not the type to suffer fools. I certainly felt for her when we see her first relationship end up in flames because of her magic and we learn more about a long term relationship that ended up being magically induced as well. It would make me question everything if every time I tried to find love, I couldn’t be sure if that person loved me or if my magic was making them love me. It sounds incredibly lonely.

I would recommend this to fans of witch-y romances who like books with centuries old curses and readers looking for a contemporary fantasy romance that has a mystery element

A centuries old curse has ,Doreen, a 13th generation witch determined to break it so she can marry for love.
She must locate the imprisoned witch, free him and follow the tasks. All of this without the support of her beloved aunts.
Loved the family interaction , the creativity of the tasks and of course the romance!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a little more intense than what I look for in a cozy autumn read but still very enjoyable!

This was a fun different type of fantasy read! I really liked the premise of the book! Thank you netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin

A Circle of Uncommon Witches was enjoyable but intense. Don’t read this if you’re in the market for something that doesn’t require a lot of thought! Doreen was an interesting character and I loved her personality and I really liked reading along as she discovered how powerful she actually was! It was obvious from the beginning how things would turn out for both Doreen and Ambrose and seeing it all unfold with the trials and tribulations they had to endure was quite an adventure!

*No Spoilers* This book can be read year-round but especially during autumn. There was a lot that happens within this story and I would consider it more of a slower/steady pace that really picks up towards the end. I liked the complexity brought to the characters and although the romantic relationship is usually the focus, this book also had a sisterhood bond too that will make you love certain characters even more. I enjoyed the writing and the uniqueness of the magical aspects. I especially love slow burns and enemies-to-lovers which this book delivers on.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin New York for this opportunity! I enjoyed this eARC.

I really liked this book! I'm saying 3.5 stars, rounding to 4. I loved the plot, the trials, the folklore, and the magic used by the MacKinnon witches. I think what would've made it better for me was more development on the relationship between Ambrose and Doreen. I loved their banter and the burn was slow, but then it was very anticlimatic. It would talk so much about their shared glances and personal feelings, but then skim over the fact that they slept bundled up together. I also really didn't like the aunts and couldn't believe how quick the relationship shifted at the end between Stell and Ambrose. It was a little unrealistic after everything that happened. At times I also found myself needing to reread and be like, what's going on? I had a hard time conceptualizing things in the underworld universe sometimes, but I think it was supposed to be disorienting. Overall, I thought it was a fun read and perfect for October!