This novel by Rachel Harrison was a delightful surprise! I absolutely enjoyed the journey of self discovery the main character embarks upon as she seeks to heal and make a new life post-breakup after she turns 30. Admittedly, I was able to easily identify with her and am in my late 20's, so there were plenty of references that hit home for me. This novel is ultimately about female empowerment and reclaiming one's own sense of self and value. There were times when I wanted to cry with Annie, laugh with Annie, and felt sick to my stomach for her.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys women's fiction, magical realism, and a little bit of a spook!

Sometimes it's refreshing to read a witchy, romance Halloween book in the mix of all of the Halloween horror. Cackly was an unexpected fun read!! It's a Halloween book that will apeal to many people.

This read a lot more like a cozy mystery/cozy horror(??) book than straight-up horror. I was a bit disappointed, but enjoyed it none the less. Manage your expectations and all that!

This was not what I expected! I really enjoyed it though. I connected with the characters, loved Ralph the spider and the underlying message of being true to yourself. A fun book that will have you laughing out loud.

What do my eyes spot here? A new story by Rachel Harrison? Why, yes, please! Cackle is a story perfect for this time of year, with a witchy focus that I will never turn down.

Annie is a stereotypical good girl. She always does the right thing, listening to others and playing it safe. Yet none of that prevented her heart from getting broken, now did it? Struggling to find peace with what had happened, Annie decided to take a risk.

She now has a new teaching job, one that's going to require her to relocate to a beautiful small town. It's almost too perfect. Here, Annie makes a new friend. Sophie is stunning, and she wants what is best for Annie – which means she's never going to encourage Annie to accept second best. Only...there does seem to be something odd about Sophie...

"It's best not to be specific with wishes. Otherwise, you end up getting what you think you want instead of what you need. How dangerous."

Cackle was such a fun and enchanting read – slight pun intended there. It's a perfect read for right around Halloween (though I am rather behind on actually writing the review, my bad). If you like witches and Rachel Harrison's sense of humor and storytelling, then you're going to enjoy this read.

I will say that there's more funny than frightening in this story – but I'm okay with that. I like lighter witchy reads, for obvious reasons. But those expecting something darker may be disappointed, so I wanted to mention that as soon as possible.

The friend vibes of Cackle are pure perfection. They're also super endearing, and were the highlight of the book, at least to me. The pacing, character development, and surprises along the way were all bonuses.

A 'horror lite' story with a relatable main character who is on a journey to find herself after a breakup. There are some darker moments too which were really effective and I wish there had been more of them. It was still an engaging and enjoyable read. (3.5 stars)

I don't know how to feel about this one. It's not a bad book, per se; I just truly don't understand what the point of this book is. Annie is a total sad sack who gloms onto anyone who shows her affection or interest, like a lamprey, and this is ... bad? Objectively, everyone understands that this is not a healthy character trait. Except for Sophie. She's allowed to distance herself from Sophie, but only temporarily. Ultimately, she must continue to wrap herself around Sophie.

I think the takeaway was supposed to be that Sophie helped Annie discover her own power, but it just read like a supernatural dangerously co-dependent relationship.

I really wanted to like this book, but it fell so flat for me. It just wasn't very memorable. I liked the main witch (sorry, I forget her name as I read this a few months ago). And the main character was ok, but I just wasn't loving it!

This story was not what I expected. It is dark, funny at times and a little sad. Annie has just been dumped by her boyfriend of ten years. She picks up and moves to a small town for a fresh start. Annie struggles with being lonely and becomes friends with a beautiful, generous, and vivacious Sophie. As their friendship blossoms Annie discovers that there is some underlying tension with Sophie's popularity amongst the town folk. Sophie's forest mansion is a bit strange and she has some unusual friends. Despite the strangeness Annie embraces Sophie's mentorship and learns to focus on herself and stop worrying about the past. She also befriends one of Sophies friends and brings him home to stay with her. (My favorite character in the book TBH)
The friendship grows and Annie becomes a little frightened of Sophie and the dark secrets that she has. She must decide whether or not the friendship is worth the risk.
A good story that I loved from the beginning, However as the story progressed, I started to like Annie less and less. I would have liked to see the ending take a different turn but alas it left me a little unsatisfied. Still a fun read.

I always like to read spooky and/or witchy books for the month of October, so I read quite a few in quick succession. Unfortunately, this was not my favorite. Just not my particular cup of tea, but I think other readers will enjoy it.

3.5 stars.

"It's best not to be too specific with wishes. Otherwise, you end up getting what you think you want, instead of what you really need. How dangerous."

Such a delightful, unexpected book about the power of female friendships and embracing one's own ferocity. Going to be thinking about this one for a while.

I would just like to begin by saying that I fully welcome what seems to be a rising subgenre of cozy horror novels. Cackle was the perfect embodiment of a Hallmark movie that someone dosed with a liberal helping of spiders and ghosts. And though the book was more atmospherically creepy than outright scary, it certainly had moments that made me glad I was reading with the lights on. But what I probably loved best about Cackle was that villainy was so ambiguous throughout the novel. Yes bad things happen, but they seem to consistently happen to rotten people and its hard it's hard not to enjoy that. And yes there's a witch in the woods that some upstanding townsman is accusing of basically stealing his wife, but maybe he deserved to lose his wife in the first place. Who's really the villain here?

Cackle is a novel of moral grays, and at its heart is a power fantasy about rising above all the people in your life that tell you to be smaller, weaker, quieter. Less. It's a fantasy about being free from the societal expectations placed on women that require them to be nice, and biddable, and conforming in order to be tolerated. And even when you comply, you never know when the townspeople will go for the pitchforks. Over all I thought Cackle was genius, and with its moderate horror content and A+ witchy vibes it's the perfect novel for would-be horror readers looking for an entry point into the genre.

This was such a fun, witchy Halloween book. I’m witch obsessed so this did the trick for an October read. Def spider heavy…so stay away if you hate spiders!

Annie is looking for a new start after being dumped by her boyfriend of 10 years! She moves to an idyllic village where everything seems to be almost perfect. She befriends, Sophie, who seems like the friend Annie needs. She encourages her to work on herself and to stop apologizing for everything. Only problem is she lives in a mansion that may or may not be haunted and soon unexplainable things start happening.
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This is the perfect witchy book! It’s a book about friendship, spells, and spiders! A lot of spiders… Its not a scary book, but there were some parts in the book that made me turn the light on at night, I’m a big chicken, so take that for what it’s worth! I love how Sophie seems to want to help Annie without telling her what to do and letting her discover on her own the person she is meant to be, while encouraging her along the way. This was a quick and easy read and I highly recommend it!

Appeals: character, tone, frame

Annie, our heroine, turns 30 at the beginning of the book and she's still not over her boyfriend, who dumped her before the story starts. A teacher, she moves from NYC to Upstate, NY for a new job and to live in the not-insignificantly-named town, Rowan. And there she becomes best friends with a witch!

I consider this to be chick lit with some spooky elements rather than straight horror. There are some genuinely scary bits like the ghosts in the house. However, mostly there's a feeling of dread because everyone is afraid of Sophie and Annie is unsure she shouldn't be afraid of Sophie as well. Otherwise this is a humorous and uplifting book.

I loved this book! Fun, creepy, and fantastic. Great story, fabulous characters, unlikable characters, spider friends, ghosts, witches, feminism and a whole lot more! Addicting!

What an odd little book! Absolutely was not expecting a whimsical mix of witches, fantasy, and the occasional dab of horror. (Not scary per say, my only disclaimer is that there are spiders. A freaking lot of spiders haha)

Quick Synopsis:

Annie, after being dumped by her boyfriend of ’10 years’, moves from Manhattan to a small village upstate. The town is quaint, her apartment is dreamy, and the people are all extra warm and welcoming. Then Annie meets Sophie; a magnetic and beautiful woman who lives alone in a mansion, in a creepy forest. Cackle follows Annie and her discovery of who Sophie really is, and what it all implies…


My Thoughts:

Okay 100% was not expecting this book! It is an incredibly bingeable read, I finished it in one day! Cackle is a very quirky, odd, and bizarre book that is tinged with magic. It is not a thriller, or horror, and was filled with strong feminism vibes. I am not sure which category this would fall in, so labeling it as contemporary fiction. The ending fell a little flat for me, was hoping for more/less repetition of Annies heartbreak but still really fun, and enjoyable read!

This has a very "bewitched" feel with a slightly sinister undercurrent. I definitely wouldn't call it "horror". It was a fun Halloween read.

A slow start to this one and unsure where the story was going at first. Picked for my Halloween read and was not disappointed with the witchcraft and crafty spider companion. The characters grew on me and I liked that it didn’t have the typical girl gets out of bad relationship and immediately falls for mr perfect. Instead it speaks to finding your own strength and not needing a man in your life with a little witchcraft thrown in for good measure.

This was my first experience with Rachel Harrison’s work, but I have to say that I really like her writing style. It was engaging and wasn’t as straightforward as your typical chick-lit style. I think she did a good job keeping the pace pretty steady throughout the beginning of the book before ramping it up towards the climax. There were only a few times in the middle that I felt were a little slow but I never lost interest in the story. If anything, it matched the sleepiness of small town life.

Here is where things got a little dicey for me… Annie. As our main character, she’s just not someone that I was able to really connect to. She suffers from a sense of self, independence, and mental toughness that makes it hard for you to want to root for her. Or should I say, for ME to root for her. Because honestly, I spent the first half of the book just wanting to smack sense into her. I have never been the type of person to tie myself completely into whatever relationship I’m in. Which is exactly the opposite of how Annie has lived her entire life (I’m going to say that’s affected by some daddy issues but the story only barely touches on it, so we’ll ignore for now). However, that is the point of our story. You’re not supposed to necessarily like Annie, you’re supposed to want better for her. And I did do that. And while I may not have seen any connection between myself and Annie, I know that a lot of people will. Then we have Sophie, our resident mystery woman that’s full of confidence, independence and resilience. She is the complete opposite of Annie and is someone that the young woman wants to become. Luckily for Annie, Sophie sees something special in her and takes her under her wing.

The plot here is what really shines. As I mentioned earlier, I thought this was going to be horror-lite and full of suspense. Instead, this is a character driven story about a woman finding herself after ending a long term relationship, while under the influence/tutelage of an older woman with “special” abilities. I loved watching Sophie’s influence over Annie transform her. She starts out very timid and holding on to her relationship with her ex, Sam. After their break up, Annie is lost and unwilling to replace him and the hole their relationship has left in her heart. She’s still believing that they will get back together and things can go back to the way they were before. It was nice to see her VERY slowly come to the realization that she can be alone and live her life without needing someone else to validate it.

I think my biggest issue with the book is that it seems marketed as horror-lite with a spooky mystery. That is completely and utterly incorrect. You might could say there is a bit of a mystery aspect as to learning who or what Sophie is and what her background is with the townsfolk, but that’s it. There are a couple of spooky moments but they almost seem out of place due to the tone of the rest of the book. Had there been more and if they were better integrated to the overall plot, I would have preferred that. But as it stands, they stood out too much and not in a good way. To me, this was a missed opportunity in really pushing the mystery aspect and building more tension. I think that change would have really elevated this book.