4.25 stars

This is a really solid romantasy and a compelling continuation to the first book, as well as a satisfying conclusion to the duology. The pace really picked up throughout, and the stakes were real, the conflict was interesting, and it was fun seeing the relationship develop. The politics were so-so at the beginning, but got more realistic or interesting as the book went on.

My best guess is, romantasy lovers will enjoy this, so long as they aren’t hoping for extreme spice. I struggled with perceiving why our main couple loved each other because the romance wasn’t built enough for my satisfaction. But this is something I regularly struggle with in this genre, and even in romance in general, when it isn’t a slow burn. So for me, the romance wasn’t great, but the rest of the book was quite solid.

I was obsessed with the first book, but this second installment completely blew me away! The pacing is flawless, the stakes are higher than ever, and the tension between Rune and Gideon? Absolutely electric!

The enemies-to-lovers dynamic is masterfully done—every interaction crackles with intensity, and their forced alliance makes for some of the best banter I’ve read in a long time. The emotional depth, the betrayals, the rebuilding of trust—it all had me on the edge of my seat, devouring every page.

The supporting cast shines in this book, adding so much depth and balance to the story. The history of witches is explored in a way that makes everything feel even richer, and the plot twists? Jaw-dropping! I literally could not put this book down.

And the Rune and Gideon moments? SO. MANY. AMAZING. SCENES. Their journey is intense, heartbreaking, and ultimately so satisfying. The way Traci Ciccarelli wraps up their story is just perfection—thoughtful, hopeful, and utterly unforgettable.

If you loved the first book, prepare to be absolutely wrecked (in the best way possible). This sequel is everything I wanted and so much more!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Firstly a HUGE thank you to NetGalley and Kristen Ciccarelli for the eARC.

I loved the Crimson Moth, Rune and Gideon are everything. The world building in the crimson moth duology was so gooood! Gideon sharpe the man that you are. I loved the fact that Kristen didn’t shy away from trauma, PTSD and the struggles of the main characters. The side characters are also so charming and diverse.

I think this was a perfect way to complete the series and the perfect ending for Rune and Gideon.

❤️🖤 Rebel Witch ARC Review 🖤❤️

Thank you so much to Kristen Ciccarelli and Wednesday Books for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Rebel Witch is a fantasy romance and book two in The Crimson Moth duology. As always this will be as spoiler free as possible, so it might feel vague. After the events at the end of the first book, Rune Winters is on the run. She’s been betrayed by people she trusted and now finds herself in the middle of a rebellion. Is it possible for two rivals to overcome their differences to reach a common goal??

This book was an amazing conclusion to this story! I adored Rune and her character growth in this book. Gideon was a fantastic compliment to Rune and I loved their relationship in these books. I loved the world building in this series and this book truly expanded on the story started in Heartless Hunter

Overall this was a five star read! I adored this story and these characters! This book had some potential triggers, so please check if you’re sensitive. This book was a bit of a slow burn and had moments that faded to black, so overall 1 flame for spice

If you’re a fan of fantasy romance with unique magic, intriguing world building, and characters with all the enemies to lovers vibes, then absolutely pick this one up!! As this is a continuation of the story started in the first book, I absolutely recommend reading these in order.

Full review coming after release, because no spoilers, but OMG HOW IN THE WORLD?! WHAT IN THE ****?! EXCUSE ME?!

First off, thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press | Wednesday Books for letting me read this one early in exchange for my review! I was lucky enough to get Heartless Hunter as an ARC from them as well, and honestly, I hope their pillow is always cool, they never step on a lego, and their drinks are always the right temperature.

Okay, *deep breaths* - small review right now because I don't want to spoil it:

This book, somehow, someway, is about 40% more intense than Heartless, 50% more "edge of your seat", and 100% the best way to spend a day or 16. I adored Heartless Hunter, I couldn't imagine how this was going to come together, but this was beyond my wildest dreams.

*chefs kiss* *bows* *5 minute standing ovation*

Rebel Witch picks up right where Heartless Hunter left off. Rune is on the run and working with Cressida Roseblood to take back the Republic. Gideon is hunting Rune, furious that she would betray him and ally herself with Cressida. But not everything is as it seems and when Rune makes a bargain with Gideon, the two pair up to accomplish their goals as their feelings for each other re-spark to life.

This was an excellent sequel and I am SO happy with the ending!! It was perfect and everything I wanted. Gideon and Rune are such a stellar couple with the most electric chemistry. There is something just so addicting about a witch x witch-hunter romance. The author toed the line of their distrust of one another and their burning feelings so well. All of their interactions had me screaming and kicking my feet.

I LOVE Rune. She is such a great fmc and goes through so much in this novel. Her arc was so well done and so worth the pain in the end. Same with Gideon. They’re both such strong characters you can’t help but fall in love with. And the yearning!!!! SO good.

This plot is so fast-paced and explosive. It’s very twisty and thrilling and hooks you instantly, although the plot twists can be easy to guess. There’s so much drama and fighting balanced with these sweet romantic moments and rebuilding old friendships and trust. There’s more political intrigue in this one and wraps up the fight between the witches and blood guard really well.

Overall, this is 100% a sequel you need to pick up, and if you haven’t already read the first book, please do!!

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Kristen Ciccarelli really killed it with this one! Absolutely fantastic sequel to Heartless Hunter! Everything picked right up where the first left off. We meet new characters along the way in this amazing adventure. Highly recommend!!!

This is how you write a follow up!

Picking up shortly after the ending of Heartless Hunter, Rebel Witch continues Rune and Gideon's cat and mouse game. But now, there is never more at stake. Including their hearts.

Read if you like:
-Intrigue, Secrets, Plotting, & Heists
-Magic
-Witch x Witch Hunter
-I can do it with a broken heart
-I hate how much I love you

I think I love Rebel Witch even more than I love Heartless Hunter! This duet is the perfect complement. It went from a game of cat and mouse where one was trying to evade the other to a game of cat and mouse where they were trying to hard not to catch the other. The tension and pacing were so good! And the dual POV just added to that. I was on the edge of my seat again, eating this whole thing up. I didn't want it to end!

Heartless Hunter was a surprise favourite of 2024 for me, so I had high hopes going into this one. I was not disappointed!! Somehow this was even better than Heartless Hunter. A must read for fans of romantasy, political intrigue, slow burn. Thank you so much to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC - one of my most anticipated reads of 2025.

A massive thank you to the publishers for an early copy of this book in exchange for a review! I was so excited to read this early and it was an absolute pleasure!
This duology is absolute perfection and is probably an all time favorite Romantasy story for me.
I love Rune and Gideon as characters and I felt their development in this was so well done! The struggles they went through, everything they did (don’t want to spoil anything).. But yeah.. I loved every page of this and was never bored.
This was one of those books that ripped my heart out, destroyed it, made me sob, stitched my heart back together, and then repeated the process multiple times 🥲. It was an emotional ride but that was something I loved about it!
I love the magic system.. I loved the plot.. I marked this book UP because some of the dialogue was just beautiful 🥹. I’m sad this series is over but it’s everything!

Let's get into it!

The writing ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Very easy reading, easily digestible, bingeable. This book can be consumed in a couple of days easily

The world building ⭐⭐
This world building was bonkers. Based on the first book, I thought we were in a world of opera, ball gowns, gas lighting, and transportation via horse back, horse drawn carriages, and sailboats. My mistake, we are actually in a world of fedoras, steamboats, railways, and...cars?

Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Basic. Lots of side characters, and a couple LGBT referenced minor romances. The main couple was...irritating? He SO big/tall/thinking, and she's SO tiny/birdlike/babydoll.

Romance ⭐⭐
Very lusty. The enemies that hate each other for very good reasons, but can't stop thinking about doing each other. It reminded me of a cat in heat for the first portion of the book to be perfectly honest (probably because my cat at home is currently in heat).

Content 💫
The content is sexually explicit with a side of attempted rape and sexual trauma. The magic system consists of self harm and occult ritual.

Overall enjoyment ⭐⭐

My first review of this book was very salty, scathing, And sarcastic. But the more I thought about it, my gripes are less to do with the story itself, and more about who this story is aimed at. I don't know if the author has anything to do with marketing, and marketing is where I have my biggest problems with this story. This is a book with adult characters, adult themes, and adult content. However this book is marketed to and targeting an audience of minors.

Thank you to Wednesday Books and St Martin Press for providing a complimentary digital copy of this book through Netgalley. All the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

5 stars.

⚔️ The vibes:
- book 2 in duology
- Witch and witch hunter
- Jealousy
- Lies & betrayal
- Open door (low spice/ vague)

⚔️ My thoughts:
I’ll be keeping this VERY vague with no plot details because I don’t want to spoil anything. Some yap about Rebel Witch and a lot of yap about The Crimson Moth duology as a whole (no spoilers).

⚔️ The short chapters of Rebel Witch made this a CONSTANT thrill of cat and mouse and you never know who is the cat and who is the mouse at any given moment. This read was incredible, engaging, and you’ll be wondering the entire time if this ends in romance or tragedy. (No spoilers here, I’m simply here to wish you the best of luck. Dm me if you’re stressed).

⚔️ I absolutely love this duology because it is nonstop thrill. It’s the perfect place for readers who are intimidated by fantasy because this one leans more towards magical realism and is easy to follow. There’s nothing too complicated here. The books aren’t huge, which make them an easy read and not a huge commitment.

⚔️ I love that the duology maintained a low spice level (imo) with only one open door scene in each book which I considered to be vague and brief and easy to skip, if preferred.

⚔️ If you loved Heartless Hunter (book one), I think you will love Rebel Witch (book two). And if you haven’t read book one, now is the perfect time to read it so then you can dive right into book 2. (Also, because I told Hilary I want to do a full Rebel Witch episode on @dontyoutworeadpodcast ). Bonus because Heartless Hunter is on KU right now. 👌🏼

(Similar to A Bond of Briars in blood magic, vibes, and a few other small elements. Similar to Serpent & Dove in witches and witch hunters.)

Note- language; open door (1 scene. Low spice/ vague).
Release date: February 18, 2025

Thank you so much to Kristen
Ciccarelli, St. Martin’s Press | Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

OMG this book!! It took me for a ride. From the beginning to the end., it was so packed full of action and I couldn’t put it down. It was so good and such a fitting end to the duology. I absolutely loved it. I also loved that Gideon and Rune ended up together. Thank goodness.

While I did not enjoy the first book in this series, Rebel Witch redeemed this series for me. I finished it in about three days and am so happy that I continued on with the series. While there were a few tropes that I did not personally enjoy (ex. the miscommunication trope), for the most part the book was gripping. The ending was fantastic and I look forward to future work done by Ciccarelli.

♾️ stars!!! The story was fast paced, kept me on the edge of my seat and the tension, the yearning, the pining; perfection! I felt the plot twists were very predictable but I found comfort in that! Absolute perfection!

Wow. What a fantastic conclusion to the duology! I really enjoyed Hearless Hunter when I read it last year, and I knew I was going to enjoy this one too, but I didn't expect to love it as much as I did. It was soooo good, and it got me out of a major reading slump.

Gideon and Rune are EVERYTHING, and I'm pretty much obsessed with them. lol There's such a fantastic push and pull between them, and their love story was done perfectly. This is what enemies-to-lovers is all about and why it's one of my favorite tropes. The tension. The chemistry. The fantastic banter!! The yearning!!! My word. There's a unique ebb and flow to their relationship, which is made more difficult since they both love and hate each other. I like how their relationship grows and changes, especially as they face their true feelings and the forces working against them.

The plot is fast-paced with a lot of action and a few surprising twists, and the new characters were balanced well with some of the originals. Cressida is deplorable and as easy to hate as many of the others are to love. Oof, she really put Rune and Gideon through it, and I was eager to see her defeated.

I found this book hard to put down, which surprised me because before I started Rebel Witch, I was in a total reading slump, and I DNFed three books in a row. But from the minute I picked this up, I was hooked. It was exciting and suspenseful, and the push and pull between Rune and Gideon was brilliant. And the ending - I have so many thoughts!!! Jaw-dropping, heart-pounding, satisfying. This duology is definitely going on my favorites shelf!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the book. All thoughts are my own.

This was a good sequel to Heartless Hunter, albeit predictable. Some world building moments felt rushed and I wish more would have been developed in the first book rather the last quarter of this one. (More specifically the parts about Wisdom and the temples. That would have been fun to flesh out.) I felt like the story wrapped up really well and I felt overall satisfied by this duology!

🤍Thank you @wednesdaybooks and @prhaudio for the arc of Rebel Witch🤍

Spoiler Free Review

This book was a must-read last year and I had big expectations for the sequel — it DELIVERED!

Full of the high stakes, glittering and gritty world, banter, chemistry, and the action of book one that had me addicted.

So, if you haven’t picked up this duology yet, I cannot recommend it enough. This one also has a great audiobook and fantastic narrator.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★/5
Steam: fade to black

“I’d rather fight with you than do most other things.”

If you love enemies to lovers and haven’t picked up this book, then this is your sign to do so immediately! This is a case of true enemies to lovers. Gideon is a witch hunter and Rune is a witch. He is relentlessly hunting a rogue witch known as the Crimson Moth who is freeing captured witches and wrecking general havoc. And Rune of course is the Crimson Moth. Rune decides she needs to get closer to Gideon so she can rescue more witches and a delicious game of cat and mouse ensues.

The whole book I couldn’t decide who I wanted to get the upper hand. And all the while they slowly start falling in lust and love with each other despite what they suspect the other truly is.

“You are a knife in my heart.”

After a truly gut-wrenching cliffhanger, I was so lucky to have an eARC of REBEL WITCH* so I could start immediately. The sequel starts shortly after the first book ends with Rune and Gideon hurt and desperately trying to hate each other. Their cat and mouse game begins again but this time it feels like so much more is at stake.

I won’t say much more about the plot but I absolutely loved this duology! It has all the things I love:
-Witchy FMC
- Secret softy MMC
- Cat and mouse game
- Enemies to lovers
- “Who did this to you?” moment (we love to see it!)
- Really interesting magic system
- Found family
- The perfect ending

REBEL WITCH is out February 18!

*Thank you @WednesdayBooks for the #gifted eARC of REBEL WITCH!

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7202143937
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGBhReOym3z/

REBEL WITCH

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I know this was a big hit for a lot of people so maybe it will be for you too! I enjoyed reading but it didn’t turn out to be something I loved.

Things I liked:
•the magic system in this series is really unique and I like how the FMC became more comfortable using it
•the villain was truly unlikeable and I love when an author makes you feel so strongly about a character
•the angsty enemies to lovers back to enemies to lovers again

Things I disliked:
•writing felt youthful but the content didn’t match in order for me to be able to recommend to a YA audience
•had a hard time placing the time period, I thought it was kind of a colonial type world but then there were trains and steamships which felt a bit jarring to the story
•some plot things happened a little TOO conveniently
•felt like the FMC only used like three spells and I wished her use of magic could have been built up more

romantic content: brief open door, moderate detail
strong language

*Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for the eARC!