I really enjoyed the storyline in world building in the novel. I also really liked the characters. I thought this was a solid read, and I will definitely be reading more by this author.

I put this first on my tbr for October because I was so incredibly excited for it. Bi Witches? Yes please. But I just didn't care about what was happening. The relationship felt off and the plot bored me while also having way too much going on. Too many povs. Having so many povs on top of a main character that didn't really stand out meant it would switch perspective and would take me way too long to figure out who was talking. By the end I just wanted to finish this and have it be over. I really wanted to like this but unfortunately didn't.

This book was absolutely fantastic. I've already added it to our library collection on preorder and will recommend it to students.

After several chapters I knew it would not appeal to my students and do not plan to purchase it. Thank you for the opportunity to read it for preview purposes.

Witches of Ash and Ruin has a lot going on, and the book wasn't a fast read for me. It took time to get to the meat of the story, and the journey up until then felt like I was reading a completely different book about high school students set lowly against the fantasy background I was promised. The representation did add a star to the book for me, so definitely there are good bits.

I am always on the lookout for a witchy book that will give me similar vibe to Cate Tiernan's Sweep series, which is one of my all-time favorite series, and one I grew up with; I am constantly chasing the feelings it inspired in me. This book came quite close to mimicking those feelings! The witchy vibes are on-point; this is a truly atmospheric book, with so many little witchcraft details woven through. There's also gods, Irish mythology, lots of violence, murders, abusive guardians, f/f relationships, and mental health rep. And the writing is fantastic.

Sadly the ending leaves us with more questions than a standalone should leave you with; it looks like the author had intended for a second book but her publisher hasn't yet decided whether to go ahead with it, which is unfortunate!

I don’t know why but this book took me forever to get through. Not one to DNF, I casually put this one on pause for a few months. Every time I tried to get back into it, I would get distracted by something else.

I think one of the things that made it difficult for me to get into this one is just the sheer number of characters and names that are thrown at us very early on. The story follows two covens coming together to find and defeat a notorious serial killer. The premise is incredibly intriguing, but with two covens come a lot of witches who all have names that are hard to keep sorted in my pea sized brain. Add in the names of the gods and murders and all the side characters… I was lost for a majority of the story.

I will say I really enjoyed the idea of the story and I think it did all come together in the end. It was just a struggle for me to get there.

I really tried to enjoy this one but it just wasn't for me. I think the pacing just didn't appeal to me and I never got particularly attached to the cast. I do want to commend the diversity in the book and i.t. has an interesting premise that I'm sure others will love.

Rating: 2/5 Stars
I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a hard read for me. I think at times you just have to just accept when a book isn’t for you. I was excited because I saw a review that compared this book to “an adult Charmed with a murder mystery thrown in”. That sounded right up my ally, but it felt like it took forever to get to the point of the book and it was weighed down with wayyyy too much information and narrators (five to be exact). I normally like multiple POV, but this just felt choppy and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who because it jumped so much. I think this may be why I never felt connect to any of the characters.

An extremely thought-provoking fantasy! Dark, but enjoyable and delicious to read! The audiobook is actually extremely well done!

This was a hard read for me. It literally felt like forever to get to the actual purpose of the book. Not only that but the characters felt super 2D and the romance felt veery forced between the main characters. The ending was alright but overall this book was not one of met faves and I almost didn't finish it.

This book was incredible! I loved the mystery of witches being murdered, I loved the magic and how it worked, and I loved the characters. I hope there is a sequel because the ending left me with so many questions!!

I loved the idea behind this book, but other then that I didn't enjoy it much. If I can't relate to the characters I'll have a hard time enjoying the book and that is what happened here.

The author is one of the most talented I know, and I cannot wait to see where her writing career takes us.

Witches of Ash and Ruin is a dark tale of witches, gods, and love. The main character feels like a real person with real issues to deal with even though the world is full of dark magic. Love the queer aspect as well and the inclusion of Celtic mythology. The book is darker than my usual fare, but because it is grounded in family and love, I enjoyed the story.

I recieved an ARC of this story in return for an honest review.

The main character Dayna is a bisexual witch in a town where witches and lgbt+ folks are heavily frowned upon by the church. She has a wonderful female friendship with a childhood friend who introduced her to magic when they were younger. Reagan knows Dayna so well she can tell when to encourage her to talk or let it go and change the subject. Reagans mother Yemi became a nuturing mother figure to Dayna when life at home became difficult. I love how Yemi accepted Dayna for who she was and gave her a place to express herself freely. When Meiner arrives in town with another coven her and Dayna butt heads almost immediately, but despite being annoyed with each other romantic feelings start to develop. I liked how the struggles of OCD connected them, but it seemed a little unrealistic that they would both have it.

As for the other coven members it took me a while to remember who everyone was and I dont think the multiple point of view helped make things easier. They didnt fell necessary, but were added because the author couldnt figure out a different way to convey a piece of information. For example the story could have been told without Daynas former boyfriends point of view. His perspective pretty much drops out of the story towards the end anyways. Plus his reaction to the murders was a little off. Even with him being a crime buff he should have been more sympathetic towards the victims, but what he did to Dayna it shouldn't be surprising that he lacks empathy. Meiners grandmother and her fellow coven member Cora questionable motives made them both compelling characters to read about.

The plots main focus was trying to uncover who was murdering witches and why they were doing it, but there was also a sense of mystery surrounding Daynas mothers return and Meiners grandmothers previous use of black magic. I usually enjoy following killers but I feel like it took away from the sense of danger and mystery because I was able to guess their motives and agenda before the other characters. Despite having more insight there was still got a couple reveals I didnt see coming. I found some things that didnt add up like the judge being a little too old to be doing her initation ceremony and the fact that no one mentioned that becoming a full witch would make them a bigger target. Another issue was the constant switch in perspectives slowing down the pace and making it harder for me to stay engaged.

Ive never been to Ireland but this small town felt like it could have been set in America. Besides visiting some scared sites there were very few elements to make the setting stand out as Irish. The contemporary fantasy Ive read in the past were more atmospheric and whimsical or at the very least they were super immersive, but this book just didnt have that. I did like how the magic system consisted of spell and rituals using the cycles of the moon, tarot card, herbs and crystals. I also enjoyed how the way the gods play a part in this world. Despite my issues the sapphic romance between Dayna and Meiner has me considering picking up the sequel when it comes out.

I'm just really burned out on books that expect me to wait for another book to come out to resolve anything. I don't mind ragged edges, but I do mind a complete lack of meaningful resolution. Too bad because some of the characters and ideas here were genuinely interesting, and I was ready to find out what happened next. Unfortunately, I never did.

Whew. I think this one suffered too much from a giant info dump. Our MC isn’t fully fleshed out and there is just too many POVs. I wanted to love this one because it had all the elements I thought I’d enjoy but there was just too much everything.

Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to read this ARC prior to its publication, hopefully I'll get the chance to catch up with it in my TBR in the coming weeks.

I absolutely adored this book! I loved how the witches' practice was steeped in Celtic mythology. I don't know much about that at all, and it was fascinating to read about. I even wish the mythology had been explored and explained more throughout the book, I wanted to learn all of the things!

Even though we knew from the start who the murderer was and what his intentions were, I was still engrossed and couldn't wait to see how everything would all work out. Latimer did such a good job of creating suspense and keeping the pace moving throughout the entire book.

The romance was adorable! As a queer woman I love sapphic representation in books, and this romance, even though it didn't take up a big part of the book, was so much fun to read about.

I did wish that this book was longer. I think it just needed more story. Like I said, I wanted to know more about the witches' practices and why they did the things that they did. I wanted more of the romance, I wanted more buildup of the murderer. I wanted to see him terrorizing the witches over more time before they had their final showdown. I also wish more time had been devoted to Sam's role. Other than being an informant for Dayna, his scenes could be removed from the book and absolutely nothing would change. I wish he had gotten more punishment for what he did to Dayna, and I wish he had more of a development after he walked away from Bible study and threw his Bible away. What was the point of showing us that if it wasn't going anywhere? I also wish we had gotten more of Dayna's mom. I just...wanted more.

And that ending!!! I will forever hold out hope for a sequel to this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Books for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

Based on all the good, witchy books that are coming out this year, 2020 seems to be year of the witches. And you know what? I’m digging it. I’m 100% in favor of this. More witchy things! More magic! More blood! More sacrifice! Obviously, that’s what immediately attracted me to this book, because who can resist witches + Celtic mythology + a protagonist with OCD? It’s just such a winning combination.

Witches of Ash and Ruin is full of dark, witchy goodness, with roots in Celtic mythology, lots of spells being cast, and a serial killer running rampant. I came for the mythology, stayed for the mystery.

I had such a hard time rating this one, because the book felt vastly different between the first 35% or so and then the rest of the book. The beginning dragged for me. There were some dark elements that definitely grabbed my attention, but I struggled to connect and get into the story and it took me, like, a week to hit the 35% mark. Around there, though, it grabbed me so hard that I couldn’t put it down and read the rest in one day. How do you rate that?! I dunno. Three bananas, a horseshoe, and half a lollipop. There you go. That’s my rating. *throws hands up and walks away*

What my rating really boils down to is this has been published and marketed seemingly as a standalone, and it really … isn’t. Or needs to not be.

As part of a series? I’d raise my rating to four stars. If, at some point, it’s announced that more books are coming out, I’ll amend my rating. But as a standalone? I’m gonna call it at three stars.

My Thoughts:

- Here, there are witches, my lovelies! Let’s be honest, that’s really what I showed up for, in large part, because … witches. But honestly, it’s so much more than witches, and there’s this weird/interesting interplay between witches and Celtic gods and goddesses, which I just loved and thought was interesting. And these witches are unapologetically witchy. Glorgiously witchy. There’s also all the warm, bubbly feels that come with a coven of strong women who have each other’s back, and I enjoyed that dynamic very much.

- If you’re familiar with Celtic mythology, you might recognize some of the names of these gods. If not, you won’t learn a whole lot about the mythology, but you’ll get a place to start researching. The Celtic mythology was a big selling point for me, and I was a little disappointed with the fact that it wasn’t really explored all that much. Yes, there were Celtic goddesses mentioned and worshiped and prayed to (and spell chants are in what I assume was Gaelic), but they were basically just name-dropped, and they could’ve been called anything else and it wouldn’t have really changed anything.

- Latimer does a great job of creating a dark, sinister atmosphere that fits the serial killer vibe perfectly. The foreshadowing, while a bit on the nose at times, did a great job of creating a tense, charged feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. And boy did it ever. It took a little while for the mystery to really get under way, but by the time the first kill was made, I was hooked. This book isn’t a murder mystery, per se, but there are quite a few mysteries in it. Who the murderer is, is not a mystery, as he has a point of view. However, his motive and how it connects to witches and, in particular, this coven unfolds little by little, and I was eager to find out more with every new development.

- There is all sorts of representation in this book for mental health problems, and I appreciated that. Both the protagonist and the love interest have OCD, and we often get to see both panic attacks and coping mechanisms. More than that, though, there’s also some psychosis (not in a positive light, and not handled well by the characters, but there’s a reason for this that’s critical to the plot), and dementia.

- There’s an F/F romance, and while it didn’t fully work for me the way it played out, I can see it being a draw for some people. This was really a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, it felt like the romance was being primed for an enemies-to-lovers trope, but it felt … off. The enemies part was well founded, and then all of a sudden … they weren’t anymore. That being said … I think it was just a case of not having proper time for the romance to develop for me. Because goodness knows I love my slow burns, especially with hate-to-love. I can see how this would be an awesome pairing, and I’m certain some people will like it. Heck, I would be all for it if the circumstances were slightly different. I just didn’t feel like there was enough time for it to actually develop.

Sticking Points:

- I don’t know if this book is supposed to be a series, but nowhere is it marketed as or claimed to be a series. But really, this is book one of a series. Any reservations I had about a four-star rating immediately dropped by the time I hit the ending and realized nothing was resolved, and I was leaving the book with more questions than I entered it with. In every way, this reads as a first book in a series, including not actually wrapping anything up AND with a cliffhanger ending. It’s not listed as a series, as far as I can tell, anywhere. But this book? Screams of first book in a trilogy. It does not work as a standalone, in my opinion. In fact, the ending very intentionally opens up a whole new arc and potential plot for a second book, so … color me confused?

- I just … didn’t connect to any of these characters. I think it was because there were so many of them, and I spent most of the time trying to remember who was who. There are FIVE point-of-view characters, one of whom completely disappears at the end. Each point-of-view character obviously comes with their own case of side characters. It was … a lot. I’m not against large ensemble casts, but each of them needs to be unique and memorable for me to be able to tell them apart, and that just didn’t happen here.

- This book suffered from trying to do too many things all at once, in my opinion. This book was ambitious, and I have to say that I don’t think it fully pulled it off. It tried to do a lot, and I enjoyed most of it, but I kept getting lost in places, and I think it was because it just wasn’t as cohesive as it could have been. Remember, there are five points of view, and since these are rounded characters, they’re each facing more than just the immediate Butcher problems. Which means each of the five characters have other subplots going on. This is one of those cases of Jack of all trades, master of none. Some of these are powerful, important topics, but adding all of them diluted the ability to really delve into any one of them.

- I have soooo many freaking questions still. I don’t even know where to start. This goes back to the fact that this doesn’t work as a standalone. But more than that, the plot was so convoluted and ambitious that I’m not sure it fully made the connections it intended to. There’s a lot of foreshadowing in this book, which I loved, but it left a lot of things hanging, at the same time, that were just hinted at and not explained. This may not bother some people, but I really wanted an explanation, darn it. I don’t need things spelled out, but I don’t want this many loose threads blowing in the wind still.