thank you to St Martins Press for providing an ARC through netgalley.

while i enjoyed this book overall, it was a bit slow moving for my taste for the majority of the book. a cute YA story filled with magic, friendship, and a sprinkle of romance.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC. The Lost Witch starts off slow but picks up pace as the story begins to unfold and the world is built with such care that it is easy to find yourself immersed within it. It is clear the author too extreme care with the construction of each character and how they interact with the events, structures, hierarchy of magic, and their relationships. To say it was a joy to have the opportunity to read this book would be an understatement. Hopefully this is not the last we’ve seen of these witches and their world.

I throughly enjoyed this novel. In fact, it’s one of the few lately that has held my attention throughout the entire story. While I could see a few things coming, I never felt like rushing though it. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

* I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I liked the premise of this book but felt it needed to be developed a bit more. I liked all of the characters but they really didn’t grow throughout the book, except Knightly. The way the chapters were set up (and not formatted) made them seem very choppy and I felt the podcast bits and newspaper article were unnecessary and didn’t add much to the story.

There was more fantasy in this book than I was expecting, but most of this book is about fighting monsters. It was a bit repetitive as well because there was always somebody out of the 3 witches that needed to be saved and I was really tired of that by like the third time.

I wouldn’t read this again and would only recommend based on a little more editing and formatting.

3.5 stars rounded up to four. I received this from netgalley in exchange for a review.

I really enjoyed the characters in this - from Brigid, Ophelia, and Finola to Luc and the witches of Knight, but I wanted more about them! The plot was okay - figuring out how to save the island you lived on 100 years ago, while also trying to find your daughter and what happened to her and you will always be an interesting story, but I wanted more in terms of learning about the different characters. I could see this having a universe of enjoyable stories about different characters.

I really wanted to like this one, the premise was interesting and the first chapter had my attention but sadly it all kind of fell apart after the time jump. It felt like it was trying to be too many things and ended up just being convoluted and all jumbled together instead of having any kind of discernible flow or sense. The voice and tone of the writing was all over the place…and there wasn’t really any depth to it, so I never felt invested in any of the characters, the romance, or the story. I kept hoping it would find itself or the end would pull it together to make a bit more sense or something…unfortunately that didn’t happen.

A great story of love, friendship, rebirth and sacrifice. it will keep you turning pages to see what happens next. i really enjoyed this story and would like to see more like it.

1922. Brigid Heron is a powerful witch and healer in the seemingly lost, but charming small town of Evermore on a forgotten isle in Ireland. However, there is one thing that she longs for above all else: a child of her own. She is even willing to be seduced by the mysterious Luc Knightly, head of the Knightly coven, whose pull is potent and impossible to resist. When their child is born and falls ill, Brigid will risk anything to save her daughter–even tap into the forbidden magic of the Lough of Brionglóid. But when the wild magic takes her daughter from her, Brigid is swept away as well. Bridgid wakes up one day and finds that she is 100 years in the future with no memories of how she got there and what she is doing. All around her, there are monsters referred to as 'the damned'. It was funny watching through Brigid's eyes as she encountered new inventions/scenarios a century later, and interesting uncovering her missing memories and working with her modern day relatives to help stop the curse she unleashed on Evermore. I will say it was very convoluted, and the back and forth - the flashbacks- from present day to the past had me confused for a good portion of the book.

Overall, I enjoyed the story especially the last few chapters. At some points the writing seemed a little disjointed and it didn’t flow well, but it was not an overwhelming issue- just a few spots, It bothered me that Brigid was from the early 1900s and yet her speech wasn’t any different and besides her thinking cars were big metal beasts, she had no problems acclimating to the future. I wish we would have seen more of a struggle there or even some, comedy. I don’t think the articles/podcasts were necessary to the story. I think one at the beginning and one at the end would have been fine, but the ones throughout the middle lent to that disjointed feeling I was getting. I loved Knightly and his role in the story. I also liked that the ending was not 100% predictable. The magic was a major plot point which I really enjoyed as well.

As spooky season is upon us I decided to dive into this one. I’m a sucker for anything witchy and this one didn’t disappoint. I loved the dial time lines and how it connected the story together.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!

Brigid is a witch who wants only one thing, a child. When her wish is granted she gets caught up with different spiritual forces of witchcraft and she is sent into the future without her memories.

I loved how each chapter had a sample text from the witches spell book and how lighthearted this was at times. However, I felt this had some redundant aspects and I thought this would be better with a little more emphasis on plot.

Altogether a fun read!

Out December 27, 2022!

I really REALLY wanted to like this book. It sounded so promising and so good! And the basic plot of it was, but in the end, it just wasn't for me. I struggled to get through it, even as someone who reads epic fantasies. I almost DNFed it a couple times and had a hard time trying to follow what was happening. I did like the very first couple chapters and the very last couple chapters, but the middle dragged. The characters of Ophelia and Finola were awesome, though! I really liked them and would've loved to see more of them. And the writing itself was gorgeous! It was nice and flowy and lyrical.

An engrossing story about a witch who wrongfully uses magic to help her daughter and accidentally sends herself 100 years into the future. There she must team up with her descendants to try to undo the wrong she has caused and find her daughter. This novel was more substantive than I was expecting from the somewhat cutesy cover. I enjoyed the high-stakes story.

Brigid gets lost in the Otherworld for 100 years and comes back to her home to find two young witches living there. Her memory is gone. Her town is constantly being invaded by the Damned. An evil coven of witches is trying to take over. But thank goodness the hot Demi God she had a fling with 100 years ago is still there waiting for her. This book had a fairytale like feel to it. Right now there are a slew of witchy romcom type books available that are better than this one. This was mediocre.
Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.

Brigid Heron is a healer witch who living on an island in 1922. When she casts an important spell she is thrust 100 years into the future, with no memory. The present (2022) island is a dangerous place, with monsters lurking and turning the townspeople into the Damned. And nobody can leave! Two witches who are living in Brigid's home join with her to try to save the island.

I enjoyed seeing Brigid learn about what happened, and I really liked the characters of Fin, Ophelia, and Knightly. Some pop culture references (thanks Fin) made me laugh. And I liked the world of monsters and townspeople who continued on through the horror.

The tone was slightly detached - giving the story a mythic feel. That's not my favorite tone, but it did fit with the story.

Steeped in Irish folklore, this book has sister witches, faerie, gods/goddesses, family connections, the small town feel, spooky vibes with the Damned, and even a love story. So many of my favorite elements are found in The Lost Witch that I'm sorry some components were not expanded upon firther. I read Crutcher's previous novel, The Orphan Witch, and this one gave me similar (OG) Charmed and Practical Magic vibes. While Brigid, Ophelia, Finola, and others practiced magic against very high stakes for their lives and the village's, the book overall consistently gave me familiar cozy feeling. I really like it and will definitely reread it upon final publication. Preferably the Goddess and the MC wouldn't have such similar names, but I never truly got confused. I recommend the book to anyone interested in a witchy read that pulls in Irish folklore and prefers minimal spice.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, St. Martin Press, for the chance to read an ARC of this fantastic book in time for Halloween.

Thank you so much for the advance copy of The Lost Witch! I had a little difficulty getting into this book, but once I did I really loved it. Definitely a book I'll revisit during many Spooky Seasons to come.

This is a dual timeline story (1922, 2022) centering around a lough on the island of Evermore off the coast of Ireland.

Brigid is a powerful witch who longs for a child. She relinquishes secrets to the head of the power-hungry Knightly coven, Luc Knightly, in exchange for a child. When her daughter is lost to the lough, and she herself is transported to 2022, she must work with her coven to stop the influx of monsters being released from the lough, rescue her daughter and seal the gate between the island and the Otherworld.

This was a good story. However, I felt the character development was lacking so I didn’t feel like I knew any of them well, and thus I couldn’t really connect like I would have liked. There was also some abrupt jumping around that was sometimes jarring.

All in all, an OK read for me.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing the free early arc of The Lost Witch for review. The opinions are strictly my own.

I love a witchy read and The Lost Witch was a great, magical journey. Brigid Heron is a powerful witch and healer, the only thing missing in her life is a child. So when she finally has a child, she’ll risk anything to save her, but wild magic takes her daughter and Brigid is lost for 100 years, only to wake up in 2022 where her beloved town of Evermore is under siege by monsters. This book reminded me in a way of The Lost Apothecary—the ideas and writing were great and beautiful but the concept was better than the execution. I feel like the pacing made for a lot of confusion and I found myself having to go back to figure out if I missed something. I was super invested in the characters though! Brigid is so determined and powerful and Luc Knightly, the mysterious head of the Knightly coven, was so endearing. And Brigid’s magical descendants Ophelia and Finola were such spitfires. I didn’t love their podcast interludes, I feel like it didn’t match the tone, but I just loved the writing and the magic. I was really curious where things were going to go and my heart went out to Brigid for all she had to go through. The setting too is so rich and vivid, and the story itself has fantasy and mystery and romance, just a little for everyone to enjoy. It may not be my favorite book but I did really enjoy reading it!

Although this one doesn’t release until December, I needed to read it during spooky season.

It started off slow but also very confusing. Once I figured out what was going on it was an interesting story. This was a character driven story in which you connect to them.

Family, love, and romance and scattered throughout the story which make it appealing.