Serena’s Review: “Witch of Wild Things”

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Book: “Witch of Wild Things” by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland

Publishing Info: Berkley, September 2023

Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: Legend goes that long ago a Flores woman offended the old gods, and their family was cursed as a result. Now, every woman born to the family has a touch of magic.

Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands.

What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart.

With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.

Review: Cozy fantasy is a term that I both am a bit skeptical of (it seems like another way of differentiating “serious” SFF from “that woman stuff” which I don’t think benefits anyone) and a subgenre that I’ve struggled to enjoy. But I do like romances and I do like sister drama and I do like low-level family magic, so I thought this one was definitely worth a shot. However, in the end, I don’t think this is the best example of any of these themes.

But I’ll start with what I did like. For the most part, the main character was a good lead. I enjoyed her voice, and in particular, her relationships with a few of the women in her life were very interesting and explored a level of complexity that I hadn’t expected. For example, Sage has a close friend who has a struggling marriage, and I appreciated the care that went into the balancing act that is supporting a friend in this situation where, to an outsider, the problem and solution seems easy, but to the friend whose life is in the balance, things are much more complicated. I also really appreciated the exploration of Sage’s relationship with the woman who took over the care of Sage and her sisters when they were young. There were some very nice points about grief and the burdens we can place on those around us when caught up in devastating positions. But, even here, there were moments where the depiction of this relationship took a bit of jarring turn towards the simplistic, with Sage taking on a rather “perfect victim” persona that left me wanting.

And this speaks to many of my problems with the other relationships in this books. Many of the characters, including Sage herself at times, came across as simple and without any real depth of character. The romantic hero is the most bland example of handsome perfection that I’ve come across in a long time. Pick out some romance hero tropes, and he checks them all of neatly, right in a row. And then the relationship between Sage and her angry younger sister, Teal, verged on the ridiculous at times, with Teal coming across as an unbelievable caricature of irrational anger.

Beyond this, I struggled with the overall tone of the novel. At times, Sage definitely took on a more YA sounding voice, testing my ability to believe her to be a 29 year old woman who has actually lived in the world. This isn’t helped by the inclusion of some truly cringe-worthy AOL conversations from her teenage years. And, unfortunately, these blasts from the internet-past can’t be simply skipped as they are key to understanding the unfolding relationship between Tenn and Sage in the present day.

There were bits and pieces of the story that I liked, which did help me get through it. But I often found myself struggling to really invest in any of these characters or care about the romance at the heart of it. I do think there are readers who will enjoy this, but I think the biggest failure lies with its inability to depict adult characters who…well…behave and think like adults.

Rating 6: Not for me, though I do think the depictions of the beautiful location and some of the lyrical moments had merit.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Witch of Wild Things” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Mushrooms, Toadstools, Fungus and The Witches.