Serena’s Review: “The Honey Witch”

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Book: “The Honey Witch” by Sydney J. Shields

Publishing Info: Redhook, May 2024

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

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

Book Description: The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.
 
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
 
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

Review: This book has been popping up all over the place on people’s “most anticipated” lists for the spring. And it’s not hard to see why! Cozy fantasy is definitely seeing a surge in popularity, and the vibes of this book are right up the alley of those of us desperately hoping for warm weather after a long, dark winter. I also enjoy grumpy/sunshine romances, and it seemed like that might be the sort on offer, as well. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite live up to what I was wanting, but I still think it will be a hit for a lot of cozy fantasy readers. Let’s get into the details!

First, let’s start with the positives! And those are mostly the writing style and, again, the vibes. This book is really checking all of the marks that readers looking for a “cozy” read will be expecting. The writing is lovely, the scene descriptions are lush, and it’s the sort of book that creates a sense of place where one wants to sink into the world and just be. The style of writing was also approachable and engaging, with a few lyrical turns of phrase here and there that were truly lovely.

Unfortunately, for me, the story fell apart with the characters themselves, and for a book like this, the characters kind of make or break the entire experience. Right from the start, things began to go downhill when I realized that I was learning traits and features about these characters primarily through info-dumping from other characters. There was a very “telling” approach to character development, and it put me on the back foot immediately. This is the exact sort of character-focused book where I really wanted to be shown who these characters are, to see them make choices and to learn and grow as the story progressed. Instead, we were simply told who they were and were left to do with that what we would.

I also was underwhelmed by the romance. The story has a very slow start, and I feel like I was already a third of the way in before the romantic interest even showed up in any real way. Not that I needed nonstop character interactions, but combined with the slower pacing of the little plot there is to be found, it left me struggling to maintain my interest in the book well into the page count. In the end, this struggle continued throughout, and I really had to push myself to continue to read.

All of that said, I do think this book will be a hit for a lot of cozy fantasy readers, especially those who are not as invested in plot and are ok for a very slow-development on the romance front. But I do think there are better cozy fantasy options out there. So this is definitely one where I’d recommend waiting to get it from the library before purchasing, just to make sure it works for you before spending any money on it.

Rating 7: The vibes are there, but that wasn’t quite enough to really draw me in, especially when the characters themselves were a bit lacking.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Honey Witch” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Queer Romantasy 2024 and Novels about bees and beekeepers