I will start by saying that overall it was a decent read. I think this author can write beautifully. So much so that I felt like this could have exceeded better as a historical romance. There was enchanting imagery and just the tone of the writing felt like a storybook. But then I realized it was set in modern times and the narrative felt disjointed to me.

The book started on an intriguing note, with a backstory about the MacKinnon curse, leading to Doreen taking immediate action. Even the initial romance aspects were promising, with Doreen and Ambrose’s back-and-forth. The mystery of the full truth of the curse was admittedly clever. But then suddenly too many things were happening in the plot. These characters were taken from one location to the next, with very little actually happening in these places. Not a lot of characterization happened as well, which made it harder to root for their romance. I was hoping for more Scottish roots too, but the characters really fell flat for me. There was a lot of dialogue between the characters, perhaps too much honestly, and the humour felt forced. Each character seemed to have an uncontrollable need to lace their comebacks thick with sarcasm, and it got annoying really fast.

But I think what really disappointed me was the romance 😅 While there was obviously an attraction and tension between Doreen and Ambrose, they had no meaningful connection. Doreen continued to save Ambrose and rather than engaging in deeper conversations, the sarcasm just hung onto every word they said to each other. Plus, the plot had them moving around so much, there wasn’t really even time for a heart-to-heart. Very unfortunate.

Thank-you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a chance to read this ARC!

𝐀𝐑𝐂: Thank you so much Netgalley
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ - I love me some witches
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: Tuesday, February 25, 2025

I just want to say a shout-out to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I love anything and all things witches!

On top of witches when you throw in amazing lore and trials I'm 100% sold! This was such a fun read due to the fact that I love it when revenge plots never go as they should. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

This book has:
🌑Witches
🌑 Trials
🌑 Curse

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher is an enchanting and complex fantasy romance that weaves together magic, mystery, and the power of unexpected connections. The story immerses readers in a world of witches, secrets, and love, with rich character development and a captivating plot. Crutcher's skillful storytelling draws you in, making this novel a charming read for fans of magical romance. I received an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this, but I honestly can’t tell you a single thing that happened. The premise was so good, but the execution made zero sense.

Right from the start, I had a hard time connecting with Doreen, Margot, or Ambrose. You’re thrown right into the middle of this half-explained story and kind of left to fend for yourself. Like, there was an element to magical realism in that magic and witches exist, but they’re in secret, but the magic system is not explained at all.

As others have said, the story is somewhat disorienting and hard to follow. As Doreen and Ambrose embark on these trials, I was scratching my head. The author uses a lot of descriptive narratives to set the scene, but then the scene itself is quick, and it moves on without fully explaining what was happening. It’s just kind of all over the place, and delves into explaining things that aren’t important, while not giving an explanation for things that actually matter.

Even Doreen and Ambrose’s burgeoning romance is barely touched upon, until suddenly they’re in love? And don’t even get me started on the Hastings/Ada/Margaret thing. That came out of nowhere and all those journal entries were so odd

I really struggled with the writing here. It was clunky and confusing, while also being weirdly basic. I swear there were multiple instances of “he said, she said, she said” over and over on a page.

Overall, this concept was so cool but the execution was lacking for me. I came out of this book just so incredibly confused.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin's Press for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

Oh how i devour any witchy book i can find. Unfortunate this one has been a real real struggle for me. I wanted to love this so much and it just really missed the mark.

First, I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

This book is a 3-star read for me. I really wanted to love this book. The “bones” of the story are there, and it could be a pretty unique story, however, the influences of the writing are a little too obvious for me, and it felt as though the author needed more space (perhaps a second book) to really flesh out the details they incorporated.

Let’s start with what I did like - Paige Crutcher does have some really adorable turns of phrases. The wording is occasionally very charming and quaint, which makes it feel cozy. There *does* seem to be a desire to have a “quotable” book, so sometimes, it does feel forced, making something that could be more organically charming feel awkward.

This book is also a commentary on men in power and how much they suck - or at least, I got that feeling. For me, that is always going to be a point in a book’s favor.

When I first started reading this book, I got really big “Practical Magic” vibes, but the movie vibes, not the book vibes. It almost felt like a slightly-adjusted retelling. It was cute for half a second, but then it just felt too obvious. The apothecary, the aunts, the red-hair, the judge-y townsfolk, the binding of spells with maple syrup (the aunts bound spells with molasses in the Practical Magic movie) - the parallels were just a little too much. It could just be me looking too much into it, but it felt overbearing at some points.

The story started to pick up around the half way point, but it still had it’s flaws, and made it difficult to finish. Initially, this book felt like it took a second to figure out what it was doing. The witches are introduced as Scottish witches, and then, all of a sudden, we are in Georgia. But, then we end up back in Scotland. The locale changes and confusion made the entire setting unsettling.

When Doreen (which I don’t find a very modern name for such an extraordinary 21st century witch) first finds Ambrose and frees him, it feels a little cartoony - especially when people start throwing the storm clouds around, through windows and doorways. It doesn’t feel like it’s entirely fleshed out, or that the author had the space to delve into details the way they needed to really make us feel like we were experiencing the “battle.” The whole rescue happens awkwardly fast.

The pacing continues to be an issue for me - sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, but generally, with way too much dialogue. There were quite a few times I had to reread entire sections because the plot just seemed to get a little lost for me. The characters seem to get “over explainy” and the dialogue drags on, trying to be “quotable” and you just disengage for a minute. Once the trials were introduced, it felt like an entirely different plot. Almost like there’s a book within a book. I’m not sure if the author had too many ideas and wasn’t able to/didn’t have the space to really flesh them out, but I had more questions than answers most of the time. There were entire plot points that I felt were just…dropped. Or, connections that were a stretch. I would have liked the curse to be one book, and then the trials a second, but I don’t know what constraints the author had on her.

Overall, this was an ok read for me. I really enjoyed the parts I liked, but feel just as strongly about the parts I didn’t enjoy. This wouldn’t be my top recommendation for the year, but it’s a cute seasonal read

If I could give half stars, 3.5. I read the book quickly and found it easily digestible with characters like Doreen that pulled at my heartstrings for merely wanting a love that's real. The story is a good mix of romance and fantasy but light on the witchcraft and obvious spellwork by our main cast of characters with Doreen, Ambrose, and Margot, despite witches being in the title. Its core is based on a curse wrought upon the witches and their entire family line, but most of the book is set in an otherworldly Scotland that is based entirely on magic. With a plot centered around families of witches, I hoped for more casting on the page instead of a illusionary world based on their reality. Romance is believable, although edging on insta-love, but the premise hints at how connections could form. More showing of what happened in the past with certain key characters that caused the current situation rather than all the TELLING would make the book feel more immersive. Stella is presented as too easily forgivable based on her impacts on the girls. The ending feels rushed.

Doreen and Margot's bond makes me smile and feel wistful of past friendships. Without saying too much, I really like how symmetry ties the past to Doreen's mission of breaking the curse. Ambrose grew on me quickly, but I wish more was exposed of how he kept up with changes in the world and even language while trapped. As an antagonist, he is captivating to watch with great banter and tension between him and Doreen.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press /St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for early access to the book.

Wow this book is so incredibly witchy, I absolutely adored it 🖤 In this standalone we do follow multiple POVs throughout. Our FMC is Doreen MacKinnon, a powerful thirteenth generation witch in her family along with her cousin Margot. Doreen’s family line is cursed due to a tragedy that happens over 300 years ago. Lenora MacKinnon fell in love with Ambrose MacDonald, her family kept them apart eventually hiding her away. Ambrose took revenge and cursed the MacKinnon line to never have true love, also making it so they die by the age of thirty when never experiencing it. Now Doreen is out to break the curse for her line, which results in a crazy adventure involving saving the witch who cursed them to begin with 👀 There is also trials that need to be completed in order to break the curse. Taking place in a haunted Scottish castle setting as well ✨Doreen’s character evolves throughout this book as she discovers everything that has been kept from her throughout her life. I had such a terrible time putting this one down, I really adored this story. I highly recommend this for your next witchy read✨ This author has written other books on witches and now I can’t wait to get them all 🖤

A Circle of Uncommon Witches was, unfortunately, really not the book for me. The premise was promising - a witch must break a curse placed on her family line in order to find true love and not die by the age of 30 and in order to do so, she must free the male witch who cursed the MacKinnon line and undertake a series of trials. Seems like a straightforward, enjoyable romantasy but alas, I found myself bored to tears!
Doreen MacKinnon refuses to cave and marry a man simply to save her own life - she will settle for nothing less than proper love without the taint of a charm spell - but in order to do so she has to free Ambrose MacDonald. Ambrose has been trapped in a spell and tortured by the witches of her family for three centuries all thanks to some failed love with Lenora MacKinnon. The two unlikely allies set out to enter a series of magical trials in order to break the curse. I’ll be quite honest, this is as far as I got in the book because it was just underwhelming and I found myself bored. I kept pushing onward because it’s on the shorter side (320 pages) and I could easily read 10% here and there, but at the halfway point, not much had really happened. The trials had only barely begun and I felt the start was lackluster and quite frankly, I just didn’t care what happened to these characters.
Though I liked the beginning of the book, things started to deteriorate quickly. First of all, the MacKinnon witches are pretty awful. Doreen’s aunt Stella is a piece of work and it’s quickly made clear she’ll do anything to maintain the status quo, though it’s not all that clear why other than she really supports this bizarre centuries old grudge. Next, Ambrose, who has been trapped in a spell for 300 years is also remarkably up to date on the modern world, including the lingo and even implies he can totally drive the car he just ‘borrowed’. I think this was a cheap way out of what could have been a really interesting addition to the story - Doreen having to teach him at least a few basics of the modern world. The excuse behind this was that he can “see” what’s going on outside of the entrapping spell. Lame!
I suppose I’ll never know if the trials were actually interesting because I DNF’d this at 54% and they had only just begun. It seems like there were some interesting ideas here that just didn’t come together as cohesively as I would have liked. I wanted to like this and struggled onward past where I would typically DNF but ultimately decided to pursue a book I would actually enjoy - too many books to spend time reading one you don’t like!

I thought the premise of this was quite good, we have Doreen a witch whose family has been cursed never to know true love. She is determined to break the curse, which leads her to the man who originally cursed them, a castle in Scotland, and a set of trials that will test their will, and their resolve.

I enjoyed both Doreen and Ambrose and while they did have a bit of instalove going on, I don't think it overwhelmed the story. The setting was great, the trials were so interesting and full of mystery and suspense as they figured out what they were supposed to do.

I do feel the story started strong, lost me a bit in the middle, I think the pacing just slowed down a bit too much. But it came back strong towards the end. Overall I think this was an entertaining story with great characters and I had a good time reading it.

Thank you to St. Martins Griffin and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I really enjoyed The Circle of Uncommon Witches.

It’s a wonderful story of love, regrets and family.
Is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all? Is love freely given or just an illusion?

A game of trials, all in the name of breaking a 300 year old curse. Will Doreen, Margot and Ambrose work together to get past the lies and misunderstandings of their families.

Or will they be doomed to a loveless life. Or even worse. Death?

Doreen MacKinnon hails for a long line of witches cursed to never find true love. In a desperate attempt to break the curse and free her line, she must team up with the witch that started it all, Ambrose MacDonald. As the witches embark on a journey of trials, I was reminded of the writing style of Alice in Wonderland or Greek mythology: poetic, rich, and at times whimsical. I enjoyed the cerebral level of the plot and found the imagery like that of a movie. I could see how this writing style may not appeal to everyone and I admit, it caught me by surprise.

I was given a free copy by NetGalley. I am leaving my review voluntarily.

I very much enjoyed the different romance story that was told in A Circle of Uncommon Witches. Our FMC, Doreen, was independent and a great take on how to want to find love but not lose yourself.

There were some parts of this that I wasn’t a huge fan of: the ending felt a bit rushed and a little unfinished, and at times it was hard to follow who was the character we were with as it does switch point of views throughout the story.

I would recommend this book definitely for a moody day, one where you’re stuck indoors and want to cuddle up with a book to get lost in.

I read "A Circle of Uncommon Witches" by Paige Crutcher on NetGalley. Doreen MacKinnon is a witch, from a long line of witches, who wants to find true love. But her family has been cursed and can not find love. Doreen frees Ambrose MacDonald, who has been held for centuries by her family. He was the one who placed the curse. Together they must learn to trust each other to free themselves. I enjoyed reading this book!

First, thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC and to read this book early.

I was so, SO pumped to read this book. I've been in a witchy mood, I've been deeply interested in women's centric stories (female friendship and familial relationships) and, of course, I love myself some romantasy. Throwing a little enemies to lovers and this was checking all the boxes for me.

Something about the execution, however was just not working for me for a number of reasons - so much so that I ended up DNFing the book. First, I felt the story was all over the place. We were thrust right into the story from the first page and the reader was expected to play a lot of catch-up (felt almost like this was a sequel and I was supposed to have some sort of understanding of this world I didn't possess). Now normally that is fine with me; I like when an author expects their audience to put in a little bit of work but there is always an assumption from the reader that things will get clairifed as the story progresses. There was none of that here. Because the plot felt disjointed from the start, the pacing of the story just felt off and I could never truly immerse myself in this world.

I, again, want to reiterate that I liked the premise of this book. A cursed family of witches? Doreen being the strongest must break the curse? A family that keeps secrets? A magical game/quest? This story has the opportunity to be so, so great and original - I just think the execution needed some help. I look forward to reading this book in its published form with the hope that some of the above critiques were addressed!

3.5 ⭐️
2 ❤️‍🔥

The teaser for this book sounded so exciting. I was thrilled when I received an eArc for it. A lot of information is dumped on you from the beginning without much context. I didn't feel I understood completely what was going on for quite some time, and I didn't understand the motivations for the way the aunts acted. But the adventure began once we got past this initial moment of being lost in the fog. I really enjoyed the magic used by Doreen and the way she could do things and learn throughout the book. I enjoyed how all the plotlines came together. I wish the book had been a bit longer so certain aspects could have been better detailed and worked toward building a more believable love story between Ambrose and Doreen. And I felt there was some unfinished business. It was an enjoyable read with a lot of history, magic, and some romance.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eArc.

For the MacKinnon family, the penalty for love is a curse that will shatter generations and allow the mostly female line to never know true love and to instead live half lives. For the MacDonald family who placed the curse while reeling from his lost love, the penalty is being trapped in another curse. So much heartbreak and pain should not be the result of love, even love betrayed. Doreen MacKinnon, the 13th generation of this cursed line, refuses to settle and as one of the strongest witches she decides to instead fight. She is a tough woman to take on the challenge of freeing a man destined to hate you but I enjoyed watching him return the favor. Like Doreen, the truth of Ambrose's plight surprised me as well. It was cruel and while the curse he placed was as well, his suffering was different. The book takes these 2 enemies on a journey to free both but leads to so much more. This book was different for me as it was a bit of an epic love story wrapped in magic. Our FMC and MMC must decide what they are willing to risk to break the curse and change the course of their lives. Through the book, loyalties are tested and we learn that not everyone in her family shares her strength to try to break the curse. Doreen truly felt like she lost so much, giving up boys/men she cared for, watching her cousin settle, not being part of the town and facing off against her family. A weaker woman couldn't have done but so it was good to see her strength rewarded with a man capable of loving her as she deserved. We also got a satisfying end to the family drama, family is most important so it would have hurt had that not been resolved. Overall, I would give this book 3.5 to 3.75 stars.
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for the opportunity to read this ARC.

2.5 ☆

i wanted to like this cause i always love the idea of a witchy book, but it really didn’t end up working for me. the plot and romance moved so fast, to the point where it became disorienting. i imagine this was supposed to be some sort of magical love story but Doreen and Ambrose didn’t have enough time to build up their relationship in any way, so it felt unbelievable and forced cause they weren’t that far off from being strangers to be honest. i did like some of the friendships and the parts with the trials but other than that, this really didn’t stick out to me and i was never invested in what the outcome of the curse they’re trying to break would be. the ending itself was abrupt too, it feel like there were chunks missing cause it didn’t flow the way it should’ve.

This was a mix of magic, destiny, and unexpected love!

Doreen is the latest in a long line of witches cursed to never find true love. Three hundred years ago, Ambrose MacDonald, a powerful witch, fell for a MacKinnon. When her family tore them apart, he retaliated with a curse, dooming generations of MacKinnon witches. Now, trapped in a storm of his own making, Ambrose is bitter and out for revenge.

They find themselves thrown into a series of magical trials that could change everything.

This book leans heavily into fantasy, with the romance feeling more like a subplot at times, but the magic, family history, and Scottish setting kept me hooked.

This is a great pick for anyone who loves a magical adventure. I can never resist a story set in Scotland!

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin for the ARC!

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book. I really enjoyed the storyline and the characters to an extent. I will start by saying the book begins very slow, I had a hard time pushing throw the first couple of chapters until it finally started to pick up. So I will say this is a slow burn all the way through. The characters story and the personalities are interesting. Doreen is a witch and a very powerful one at that but has been shunned in other terms from her family and does not know much about her powers or family background. Until she releases Ambrose a male witch who has been kept locked up for centuries by her own family and she starts to uncover what has happened to him and what her family has done.