"If humans wanted to believe us evil, then I would become precisely that. If they wanted darkness, I’d shroud them in it until they choked. If the hunter wanted another reason to hate witches, I would be that, for him, because in his vengeance against us, he’d turned me into his own personal poison."

I absolutely adored this story and Victoria and Elijah as characters. I think that the way that Victoria somehow balanced being a "villain" but stealing my heart is a perfect example as to why I will always have empathy and love for the villains of stories. I loved how palpable and real the magic in this story felt and even more than that I loved how real the love between Victoria and Elijah felt. Overall I love anything to do with witches, and I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting.

A satisfying revenge plot.
Victoria seeks revenge after her innocent sister is killed by witch hunters. So her family disguised themselves and plotted for revenge for the hunter that killed not only their sister but all the witches that were killed blindly. This is a very good book on executing revenge. They dead set on killing instead of being swayed by emotion. Victoria to be exact. For her revenge comes first apart from everything else.

But, as it might seem like that. I feel like the romance was poorly executed. Their emotions were not conveyed properly and there are forced feelings between them. But since the revenge is actually pretty satisfying I can just let this go. One more thing is that, I feel like some information was a bit confusing and even the characters missed some point.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

If you love fantasy romance pick this one up. I really enjoyed the world. I love a good enemies to lovers book.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

I really really really enjoyed this book. This was one of the books that makes me excited for my drive to work, because that meant that I could continue listening to the story. Starting with a tragic incident, Heart of a Witch kept me at the edge of my seat throughout the whole book.

Heart of a Witch isn't just captivating. It also has a well-executed enemies-to-lovers trope, with morally grey characters that stand for what they believe in (eventually). With just the right amount of character development and action, I wasn't sure how the main characters would end up. Which doesn't happen very often.

With no slow start and no massive portion of world building you have to struggle through, this is the perfect quick fantasy book. It doesn't have the WOW factor, hence the 4 stars instead of 5, but I really recommend this book to others.

I dnfd at about 15 percent through it. I'm just not interested in it anymore. I didn't like the writing or care about the characters.

4.5/5 Stars

Disclaimer: I received this book at no cost from the publisher/author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I am leaving a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

This book was so, so good! This was my first book from Rebecca L. Garcia but it will not be my last! This book was simply addicting with its intensity, compelling plot, and excellent characters.

I really loved Garcia's writing style. I was really drawn in by the personal feel of her storytelling. The world-building was vivid and detailed. I loved the entire premise of the story and thought that the story was plotted out very well. The only thing that I would change would be the ending. It felt a little rushed and abrupt. I would have liked the climax of the story to have been a little more drawn out.

It was so easy to fall in love with these characters. Garcia makes it so easy to immerse yourself in the lives of her characters. I loved how complex they were and how the author didn't shy away from the more personal and gritty parts of their lives. It really endeared the characters to the reader. I loved the antihero angle and that the author didn't hold back on showing the less appealing aspects of the characters. It added so much depth to them. Apart from the characters being so distinct and multi-faceted, they also had great character growth. I am actually sad that this was a standalone (in a series of standalones) because I hate saying goodbye to these characters.

The romance in this book was tantalizing. It is the perfect revenge story with enemies-to-lovers vibes. Victoria and Elijah shared such a connection that you could feel it like a tangible thing.

Overall, I was really blown away by this book! This book had unexpected plot twists, memorable characters, and atmospheric storytelling. I definitely recommend this one. It is certainly a hidden gem. Rebecca L. Garcia has won a new fan and I can't wait to read more from her.

3.5 ⭐ not a lot of depth and connection with the characters. It needs more development and better flow. But I love revenge stories and this has potential. Will give the author another chance.

a darkly delicious, sordid fantasy tale of witches and demon-fearing witch hunters, revenge and the choices we make, good and bad, and what makes one a monster. it starts off with a revenge plot, where Victoria has her eyes set on Elijah Shaw, son of witch hunter and sister-killer Damian Shaw, in order to get revenge on the latter. Victoria dabbles in dark magic, and it's fracturing her mind. as the tale unfolds, we see it spin a tale of romance and family, and the lengths to which one will go to in the name of vengeance.

i love the representation of grief and raw emotions, and the development of the romance and its impact on both Victoria and Elijah (as well as other side characters), how their icy hearts become thawed to reveal the good beneath the bad exterior. the development of Victoria's dark magic usage fracturing her mind is done in a real and subtle way. i love the banter and sexual tension between Victoria and Elijah, and the story has a very satisfying arc and conclusion.

something i thought could have been done better, however, was making scene/action changes/twists less jarring. because of how abruptly scenes and moods change, with little to no reaction from the characters, the emotional impact fell off, and action scenes weren't as tense and exciting as they could have been. another thing is that depictions of magic here are very vague and bare-bones, which can lend itself well to humanizing our witches, but may be a detriment to the action of scenes.

additionally: i was about 96% through when it hit me that this reminded me of multiverse of madness.

I wanted to love these but I think this is just not the author for me. This story felt overly simple and young, I didn't feel a lot of depth in the characters. The story itself was interesting enough, I just don't love the execution.

I felt like this book was missing something, which I suppose kept me reading in hopes that it would be resolved. The characters were a little weird and I couldn’t connect

this book was a major slay. i loved that it was a standalone surprisingly!! i would recommend for fantasy romance lovers FOR SURE.

The cover really appealed to me and i was keen to read this book, but i must admit that the book could not really capture me. Tough the story line was great and i also liked the characters but i was not really able to dive into the story and build a relationship with the characters. Therefore the book unfortunately was not quite mine.

I love a villain origin story! To show us the hardships of a character who is going to go on to do such bad things really interests me as you can often have conflicting feelings about them. I pretty much read this book in one sitting, I could not put it down. I loved Victoria's character and the character development was amazing, seeing how much they go through, makes you understand them more.Overall really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more from this author

Dark and heartbreaking filled with anger, revenge and despair. When her sister is hanged by a witch hunter and she and her family are forced to run away to save themselves the heroine vows revenge but never expected to fall in love with her enemy’s son.

I enjoyed the story but the characters were a little awkward.

I don't know how I feel about this one. On one hand I really enjoyed it but on the other I feel like something was missing. I thing the big reveal of her being a witch wasn't has dramatic as I would have hoped.
Overall I think what I found disapointing is that their plan went to well. There wasn't any major obstacle and angst.
I was expecing more.

Been thinking of DNF-ing around 30% because all things gave stressful vibes. All angers, over-protective characters, a perfect family outside but very broken inside. But, I’m glad I keep it up because it got much better in the second half.

Heart of a Witch is telling a story about Victoria, a witch, who lives so overprotective with her family because they live in a city famous for its murderous witch hunter, Damian Shaw. One day, something happened to her sister and she wants to seek revenge to Damian, then she meet Elijah, Damian’s son. So she makes her way in to revenge with seducing Elijah to earn his trust.

This book has many elements to highlight. Morally grey characters, enemies-to-lovers trope, magic, dark magic, betrayal. It also has fast-paced, but oddly in the same time it felt lack of progress.

What I didn’t like: many things left unexplained and lack of characterization. Like maybe how the magic system works, and why the use of dark magic can affect the brain, then also what is the fate of the blood pact that Victoria promised to the succubus demon. And also what about the other enemy’s family showing up nowhere to kill them? The setting was kinda confusing, they seem to be dressed like medieval times, and sometimes spoke like ones, but sometimes it’s also felt like contemporary?

Thankfully, the ending save the day! I was quite touched and happy with the ending. I head that it will be a series, so I hope in the next book we’ll get to see Alex (Victoria’s little sister) and Corbin (Elijah’s brother) more because in fact the story of the two of them also seems no less interesting.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

No words just wow! Amazing

4/5 ⭐️

Thank you to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op and the author for granting me a review copy via NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

I generally don’t read descriptions and I was delightfully surprised by this story. Victoria Amberwood dabbles in black magic to hide her, and her family’s, magical abilities and pose as a human to avoid being found by witch-hunters. However, it all comes crashing down when the most notorious witch-hunter, Damian Shaw, comes to her town. Victoria’s sister is caught and executed, driving the family to flee from their home. But, instead of going somewhere safe, Victoria goes to Redwood, the town where Damian Shaw lives. Undertaking new aliases, she and her family work towards bringing down Damian and making him pay for what he did for her family and every other innocent witch. Part of the plan was making Elijah Shaw, Damian’s son, fall in love with her, turn him against his father and kill him. What she didn’t expect was to catch feelings for him. Her mind continues to deteriorate as a price for using dark magic and with the whirlwind the story takes her, she wonders if taking revenge was worth it after all.

This was a fast-paced female villain origin standalone with enemies to lovers and family banter and heartwarming sibling relationships. I flew through the book, and would have finished it sooner if I didn’t have a presentation. I now look forward to reading more books from the author.

I recommend this for anyone who likes Serpent and Dove and a brilliantly written villain origin story 🥀

https://www.instagram.com/p/CcQfYhKvgi1/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= (link to Instagram post)

I am a sucker for witchcraft and revenge. This was the perfect combination. The author weaved the perfect witchy read with great characters. I loved the dual POV, it made it much more interesting and it added positive to the storyline. The family interaction was definitely one of my favorites!