This is a super cozy, low stakes romantasy story. There is definitely potential for big drama (hello, secret identity), but things don't really ever get fully there. I might have liked to see a little more, but that would only be a personal preference. For being described as a wicked sorceress, Queen Saskia is pretty fluffy. I still was able to read it fairly quickly and enjoy the ride. The story about these two is wrapped up and we get a snippet of what is to come in book two!

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

I unfortunately have to cycle out of this book, for now. I cannot get into it or the writing. While I’m curious about the world and the characters, it was not engaging me well enough.

I never fully DNF a book and will definitely cycle back into it, but it might be a long long while.

Thank you for the ARC opportunity. And I have posted about this book in a unique way on my socials.

Picked this up after some heavier reading and it was exactly what I needed! Cozy fantasy romance with a prickly queen and a sweet-natured "librarian" who's obviously more than he appears to be. Pair that with a loyal staff consisting of a troll and an ogre, a cadre of wicked queens, and a fun sequel setup, and this is definitely going to be a series I pick up in the future when I need to scratch a very specific (and fun!) reading itch.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this edition from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So much fun. Librarians are the best and Fabian is an does and amazing job. Fun characters and great dialogue. So much fun

The walls in Burgis’s WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN (Bramble, 294 pp., paperback, $19.99) are magical ones — Queen Saskia of Kitvaria is a powerful sorceress and has cast an enchanted border around her kingdom to keep all her enemies at bay. Enemies like the tyrannical Archduke Felix Augustus von Estarion, supporter of the usurping uncle from whom Saskia just reclaimed her throne. It’s a tense political moment while everyone’s armies are still in the field, and alliances are fresh and fragile.

So when the dark wizard Fabian finds his way through the barrier, Saskia is relieved to have someone she can appoint to organize her mess of a magical library while she looks for more permanent defenses. But Fabian is actually Felix, the archduke himself; his reputation as a tyrant is a fiction. He knows revealing his true identity will put him at risk, but he’s increasingly drawn to brilliant, beautiful Saskia and her loyal cohort. This book delightfully upends the gender dynamics of romantasy while staying true to the core appeal: a warmhearted innocent falling prey to someone hot and sinister.

Stephanie Burgis in Wooing the Witch Queen has written a bubbling and hopeful romantic fantasy about love and hiding your real self. The Witch Queen faces challenges to her authority from her uncle who murdered her mother and father; her new dark wizard Sinistro is really the archduke of a neighbouring kingdom who has sought safety in disguise at her court from his tyrannical guardian. Both have to claim their real powers without disguise. Fun read.

It was cute, but the writing told more than it showed things. This made it harder to connect to or care about the characters much

I went into this really hoping to love it, but it just didn't work for me. I loved the author's voice and writing style, but the amount of infodumping made it so I couldn't connect to the characters at all. I wish she had weaved that more into the dialogue rather than large chunks of prose.

Saskia is the "Wicked Queen" from the stories, determined to protect her small country from the overreach of her evil uncle who inflicted untold trauma on her as a child, and the authoritarian archduke who wants to take over her territory. In order to best protect her subjects, it takes time to study and perfect her spells. She has developed a reclusive personality, and she doesn't appreciate the progression of dark wizards that come to her doorstep to curry favor. The newest is Fabian, who is nerdy and sweet, the right person to become her new librarian. Time spent together leads to a strong bond. Little does she know that he’s actually the archduke who is in hiding. Will their love survive that reveal, and a confrontation with their enemies?

Wooing the Witch Queen is a feelgood, humorous fantasy romance that flips the script, Saskia has “take charge” and “leave me alone” energy, and Fabian is gentle and kind, carrying physical and emotional from his past, but so full of love and goodness. They feel so right together. Fantastic elements are vividly rendered and enjoyable, the storytelling immersing the reader into a world brimming over in magic. Saskia comes off as tough, but never feels truly evil. If that was the goal, perhaps more development in her character was needed. Instead, she reads as “edgy,” a person who has gone through dark experiences that have made her cynical, curmudgeonly and cynical. However, Fabian’s steadfast devotion and care melts her heart of stone. Fabian is an absolute sweetheart. He’s the kind of hero that every (slightly) wicked queen needs. Saskia’s makeshift family includes servants who are considered monsters to the bigoted other nations around her, but show love and devotion, and two other wicked queens who have their own unique quirks. This romance is more on the sweet side with implied sensuality, but there’s plenty there to feel the chemistry between Saskia and Fabian. Wooing the Witch Queen is a pleasant, fluffy concoction of fantasy and romance mixed together, for those who enjoy this combination, or newbies who want to dip their toes into the genre.

This is pure romantic fantasy candy—with just enough plot and social commentary to make it interesting. It’s got deception, secret identities, and that sweet spot of toe-curling yearning. This is exactly the kind of cozy fantasy that keeps a smile on your face the whole time you're reading.

Saskia is brilliant, dangerous, a little prickly, and more interested in her spellwork than small talk. Same, girl. Fabian is charming in a wide-eyed, poetry-writing, cinnamon-roll-with-secrets-that-cause-him-guilt kind of way, and their dynamic is so. good. The fake identity trope here is delicious, especially because you know the reveal is going to be a mess, but you keep waiting for it anyway.

The emotional core here is all about connection and acceptance, and the slow-burning attraction is what really sells the story. The yearning? Top tier. Sidelong glances, hand brushes, hesitant touches—YES PLEASE. I honestly didn’t need the spicy scene that came in hot and fast; it felt more like plot convenience than character payoff because of the magical aspect involved. Give me a good smolder and emotional tension over rushed steam any day.

That said, I did roll my eyes a bit when Saskia got mad at him for not telling her who he was… after she literally took away his voice. He was trying. Ma’am. Come on.

Still, this book isn’t trying to reinvent the genre—it’s here to charm you and sweep you off your feet with magical banter and swoony romance. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s flirty, and it left me with a goofy grin. If you’re into soft boy love interests and chaotic powerful women, this is the one.

Thank you so much to Tor Publishing Group, Bramble, and Netgalley for the complimentary copy. This review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

Delightful, rich but also surprisingly fun, with a charming hero of the sort romance could always use more of.

I really enjoyed this book i think that Stephanie Burgis really knows how to write a very good cozy romatasy. I recommend Wooing the Witch Queen to anyone who loves a misunderstood witchy woman and a bit of romance. I am looking forward to reading more of Stephanie's writing.
I fell in love with the characters, and from the world building, all around I would recommend

I really struggled to stay invested in this story. While I enjoyed the idea of the premise I don’t think I could recommend this book to my audiences simply because I found the writing style and plot execution quite boring.

I absolutely adored this! It was such an intriguing book that completely had me guessing from page one till the end!

I went into this book having had forgotten what the plot was at all, I loved the cover design and the sprayed edges so I was in. I am so glad that I picked it up. We had a misunderstood witch queen and the softest, cinnamon roll of an Archduke. I love how it played out and how it did a good job setting up the series. I’m definitely excited to pick up the next book later this year hopefully!

Wooing the Witch Queen is, in a word, marvelous. If you’ll allow me a few others, I’ll add magnificent and magical, brilliant and beautiful, and stunning and sensual. Honestly, I have not enjoyed a book like this so much since His Secret Illuminations – and for many of the same reasons.

What Stephanie Burgis has written here is a slow-burn, cozy, and yet high-stakes fantasy romance that is deliciously surprising in so many ways. The Queens of Villainy are the heroes, the monsters (especially the goblins) are cute, and the protagonist is a cinnamon roll of a boyfriend who does a really bad job of pretending to be a dark wizard.

Felix (Fabian) is the kind of protagonist with whom I identify wholeheartedly, and his gender-role-swapped relationship with Saskia makes me feel seen. He’s kind, bookish, good-natured, and loyal, but there’s a hidden strength behind his resilience. Utterly smitten with the Queen, who is the lead in their relationship, Fabian throws himself into a world of magic he knows nothing about and risks both his safety and his freedom to keep her safe. As for Saskia, she is a good woman with a dark reputation and a backstory as tragic as Felix’s. Confidently and openly bisexual, she’s still navigating the fallout of one relationship while easing her way into another. She’s angry and stressed and frustrated, beset by challenges on all sides, but in Felix she finds a safe outlet for her heart.

Morlokk, Mrs. Haglitz, Krakk, the goblins, and the crows are perhaps the oddest found family you’ll ever come across in fantasy, and yet they’re absolutely endearing. It was they who made Saskia’s dark castle a home, and they who make Felix feel welcome. The other Queens of Villainy (Lorelei and Ailana) are more complex characters, women of incredible strength and worrying flaws, and I’m looking forward to getting to know more about them as the series continues.

Wooing the Witch Queen is beautifully written, a breeze of a book that begs to be savored, and I enjoyed it immensely. There’s magic aplenty, books aplenty, and even some mythology that you’d best pay attention to, because it’ll become important by the end. I cannot recommend this highly enough, and as soon as Enchanting the Fae Queen is released, I’ll be first in line to follow Lorelei’s tale.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for this eARC & ALC in exchange for an honest review!

The dynamic between the main characters was so cute. They were literally a golden retriever wizard MMC and the grumpy black cat witch FMC. He is literally a simp from the every beginning and I loved his inner monologue. Saskia is a badass and full of feminine rage. She would do anything for her people and those she loves.

There were times that the plot nearing the end of the book seemed rushed but overall it flowed pretty well.

3.5 ⭐

Wooing the Witch Queen was a quick, cute and cozy fantasy romance. The whole set up is a little silly when archduke Felix turns himself over to evil Queen Saskia, but she mistakes him for a dark wizard under the alias "Fabian" and hires him to organize her magical library.

(Personal note: My best friend's brother's name is Fabian, so that took me out of the romance a bit. 😅)

A lot of this I really enjoyed, including the quirky side characters, library setting, crow familiars, and a bi main character! The dynamic between grumpy Saskia and soft Felix felt fresh, and they both made me giggle as they danced around their feelings for each other.

The ending felt a bit rushed and convenient, and I did not feel satisfied by the political storyline. I had not been expecting the set up for a second book, but that was fun, if not a little random. The writing style was also not my favorite, and I struggled with the overuse of ellipses.

Thank you, Bramble and NetGalley, for the advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

<i><b>“She’d burn down the world for any of us—but she’ll never, deep down, believe she deserves any real happiness of her own. And that’s what you need to understand about Her Majesty.”</b></i>

Wooing the Witch Queen was a cute slow-burn romance perfect for readers of cozy fancy!

I had a difficult time at first getting into the story but I did fall in love with the characters! The relationship of the main were to die for. The crows were my favourite! It had everything from slow romance to twist leaving you wanting more!

<b>Thank you to Stephanie Burgis and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this e-arc in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions remain my own.</b>

This was such a lovely and engaging fantasy book. I love books in which you are actually rooting for some people might consider to be the villain. The romance itself was lovely and the pros is well written.