The Lost Witch was a unique read. It wasn’t quite a romance. It wasn’t quite historical fiction. It wasn’t quite YA. It was a good fantasy novel, but could be confusing in terms of narration. I was also not really sure what the point of the podcasts were in the book. They felt forced and a bit heavy handed as if it was to drive home that it was truly 100 years later. Overall, it was an entertaining read.

I enjoyed the romance between Luc and Bridget. I loved the familial ties between Ophelia, Finola, and Bridget. The battle between the Witches of Knight and their monsters and Bridget’s coven and the Goddess lead to an acceptable conclusion.

It was an interesting book! It was full of details and at times that made it really confusing, especially written in third person.
But it was hooking.

ARC book review:
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
the Lost Witch by Paige Crutcher

A tale of lost witches and loves that gives a hit of fantasy and romance.

🧙‍♀️Brigid is a witch of the goddess in a small Irish island. Years after making a deal with a Demi god, she is thrown 100 years into the future trying to save her village only to now have to save it again in the future. Only this time she has some help!

🧙‍♀️ This was a tough one for me. There were some things I loved and some things I was very on the fence about. The weird thing is, they were usually related to each other.
Here’s what I loved and didn’t quite love:

🧙‍♀️ The relationship between Brigid and Knightly. Their love felt epic at times and I adored them together. BUT it was also very drawn out. Brigid comes to the present without her memories and Knightly drags out the process of filling in some gaps. This felt off to me.

🧙‍♀️ The world building. The way magic worked was really cool. For instance the house was spelled and would give them things they needed. Loved that idea. BUT things weren’t always explained enough that I could follow at times. This went along with the magic in the action scenes. Things happened but it was very abrupt.

🧙‍♀️ The writing style. It was lyrical but also very humorous. There were lines that I just laughed out loud. BUT there were also times when style detracted from the story and I got lost a bit. HOWEVER, I know there are people that will love the style.

🧙‍♀️ Ophelia and Finola. Loved these two. They were funny and filled with heart. I would honestly read a book just for them. No but here. Just loved them.

All in all, this was not a bad read by any means. It just didn’t always work for me. But I think many people will adore it.

Release date:12/27

Thank you to the author and publisher for the ARC book in exchange for an honest review.

I received this e-Arc for an honest review by the publisher St. Martin Griffins and Netgalley for an honest review!

I finished reading "The Lost Witch!!! " It was heartwarming, magical and a fun read! The magic, adventure, love, friendship, believing in oneself goes a long way in "The Lost Witch." I really liked connecting with the characters: Brigid, Finola, Ophelia, Knightly, Dove and even the Goddess. Every character brought something magical to the story. I will say Finola has no filter, so I laughed a few times at what she spoke of. Knightly and Brigid do connect in such an interesting way. It was complicated and yet was touching. It worked for the characters and the story.

I will admit there was many things happening in the story which took me a while to get used to. When I finished the story and let everything sit in my mind for a few hours, I could see the connection. Some readers may like it and others may not. I will admit there were some twist and turns which had me thinking "no way!" The story kept my attention. I wanted to know what was going to happen so that kept me wanting to read. Plus magic!

The ending was not what I expected and yet I loved it.

Paige Cruther is definitely one of my favorite authors.

So go give the book a go when it comes out and see if it gives you sparks!

Overall, I think this is a good story. The prologue and earlier chapters hooked me. I was fascinated to learn more about Brigid, Knightly, and their daughter, Dove. As the book progressed, especially in the middle third, it became challenging to understand what was happening. Scenes with the Lough were hard to visualize, and I was confused reading the text without dialogue. I enjoyed Finola and Ophelia’s incorporation into the story; however, the difference between their dialogue and the narration felt out of place. Around chapter 7, I almost DNF’d the book because I struggled to visualize what was happening and wondered if it was myself or the narration. It could have been a mixture of both, and I felt parts of the book dragged quite a bit. Fortunately, in later chapters, the narration improved for me. I was happy with the resolution of the story’s conflict.

I would recommend this to readers interested in a mixture between fantasy and romance; however, be wary if any of the points mentioned are an issue.

CW: infertility, pregnancy (as per The Storygraph).

Numerical Rating: 2.75-3 stars

A lonely witch makes a bargain with a god in exchange for something she’s always wanted and he can see into her mind... yet neither of them are prepared for what happens next. In 1922 Brigid Heron is a powerful witch and healer who lives a pretty happy but empty life... she yearns for something more...,she yearns for a child of her own with none of the attachment of a partner. Living in the charming small town of Evermore on a forgotten isle in Ireland Brigid serves her goddess yet when her goddess cannot give her the child she seeks she finds herself being seduced by the mysterious Luc Knightly, head of the knightly coven. Luc is beautiful, mysterious, and the God of the Otherworld. When Brigid and his daughter, Dove, disappears she will do anything to get her back..., even if it means tapping into the forbidden magic of the Lough of Briongloid.. yet that magic has now dropped her 100 years into the future. Now Brigid is in 2022 and finds that her small town of Evermore is under siege by monsters and that the witches of Knight are using their magic to widen the rift between the island and the Otherworld. Brigid has lost her memories of how she in the future or why... but she learns that she has unleashed this curse on Evermore and that to seal the lough and stop the witches of Knight she has to work with her magical descdants, Ophelia and Finola... and that the only person who can help her regain her memories is Luc Knightly who has become the mayor of Evermore and has been searching and waiting for Brigid all these years. Can she trust Luc? Can she save her daughter and her town? Brigid loves with her entire heart and the romance between her and Luc was just beautiful. He is chaotic trickster god but she owns his heart, he is willing to do anything, go to any lengths to save her and be with her. Both Luc and Brigid are complicated people who are willing to go to any lengths for their loved ones, even making not so smart or great decisions that carry heavy consequences, but in the end they will do what is right. This was such a fun magical romantic read. I adored the author’s previous book and this one was just as magical and romantic!

*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press, St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I enjoyed this book but I found the beginning to be a bit slow. Once I got through the first few chapters I really enjoyed it. I liked the story and thought it was very different.
Thank you Netgalley for sharing this book in exchange for a honest review.

The premise of this story Hooked me and pulled me in. The way the story was told had me off the hook and heading back to sea looking for a different hook.

This story had soooo much potential. A witch who has been cast forward 100 years into the future. A villain who we want to be good. A quirky set of Scooby gang witches ready to rock n roll. This story had what it needed to be a major hit for me but it fell flat.

I didn’t like the weird podcasts. It felt like it the author was trying to “date” this book in relevant culture by doing so. And the podcasts didn’t mesh with what was actually going on in the book. The POV shifting had me confused as hell. I mean, I like multiple POVs but I need to know who’s POV I’m reading. Some points it took me a page or two to determine the POV and I’d had to go back and reread to understand. Le sigh.

I couldn’t pin a Genre onto this book. It wasn’t historical although it had historical elements. It wasn’t quite a romance read. It wasn’t quite a YA read. In a broad sense, it would be fantasy.

A couple of things upfront-

-If you loved The Orphan Witch, like I did, Ms. Crutcher's second book DID NOT disappoint. No way she's going to be a one-hit wonder. I do have some specific recs though.

-If you enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, but Luc was your favorite part, but you also wanted more from him, Knightly is your guy! At some times we're not sure where his true loyalties lie, but he's everything I wanted Luc to be and more. Definitely lots of love for Knightly!

-If you're into Nora Roberts' fantasy-ish trilogies, this book has those same vibes. Definitely reminiscent of the Dark Witch trilogy and the Guardians trilogy. In fact, if it wasn't for the lack of spice, I might even think Paige Crutcher was just a new penname for Ms Roberts.

Obviously I enjoyed this book! The beginning confused me and near the end of the book I had to go back and re-read the first chapter and then everything clicked a little better. I loved that there was so much s*xual tension between (spoiler) and (spoiler), but I wish there had been more spice rather than the fade to black. Even if it had just been in the flashbacks. I really hate that I have no words to describe how good was this. Wonderful story, loved Ophelia and Fin, just missing a few spicy scenes!

I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review, so thank you to the publishers and NetGalley.
This story had a wonderful premise, and I was very excited about the idea of two different timelines with strong women from each coming together. However, there was not a clear focus throughout, and it even was difficult to categorize this into one genre. I think the author added too much and it ended up a mish mash of ideas that never came together.

The Lost Witch struggled to find its place - is it romance, historical, mystery, or young adult? It's very hard to tell.

There were elements of various genres but it was difficult to be excited about any of them since the novel floated between several. The writing was whimsical at points but also included pop culture references that were jarring and felt out of place. It was hard to know the mood/tone the author was going for.

This book was hard to stay engaged with as the set-up between Brigid and her daughter is hardly explored at the beginning of the book. Not allowing the reader to invest in Dove made the journey to find her a bit boring.

ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this take on witches and the time period was great. This was a great read.

Not a bad read, but not exactly my type of fantasy genre.

This book starts out strong with an independent and strong female lead who wants to be a mother and will go to any lengths to be one. This part of the story had me hooked and honestly disappointed me that it was my favourite part.

Brigid wakes up 100 years in the future with loss of her memories. I just wish that the memory loss storyline could have sped up a little faster as it was 40% of the book.

I feel like this book could have benefitted from a different point of view. I found it hard to connect to the characters with a 3rd person omniscient POV and maybe i would have understood them more if the story was told from their perspective.

Also i found the way the story was written as well as brigid and luc’s tone was from 100 years ago when the story began so it seemed like it didn’t fit with the way ophelia and finola spoke. Also i could have done without the podcasts and news articles, i mostly skimmed these parts to get to the main storyline.

Overall this story wasn’t bad by any means, it just had A LOT going on and it couldn’t keep me interested.

Thank you Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this as an arc in exchange for an honest review.

The story had a lot of premise but the execution was lacking to the point of distraction. It seemed the author had so many ideas in their head it left the overall lore muddy and what should have been a rather straight forward story, overly complicated.

CW: pregnancy, infertility

I really tried to get into this one, but I just couldn't. Dnfing at around 25%. The writing style just is not for me.

The Lost Witch was a fun quick read but wasn’t anything too special or new. It felt confusing at times with the back and forth time periods. I really enjoyed the magical creatures trying to take over and the main character’s internal battle with wanting to be a mother or follow her Goddess.

The Lost Witch came out extremely strong in the prologue following Brigid and he want of a daughter and the depths she would go to become a mother and gain that love. The prologue quickly became the best part of the book on my opinion.

I feel that the book lost some potential being a 3rd person narrative. There was a lot of different perspectives that could have given “flare” to the story had we gotten to follow them. I felt that the “forgotten memories” was a dragged out plot point as it was the main storyline for about 40% of the story.

I felt that at times the story was hard to followed and felt static when you would be reading about what was happening and then it would be a random news presentation or article and then back to the plot story.

Unfortunately, i found myself bored a lot of the story, and felt that there was a lot of missed opportunities.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 It took me a long time to get into this book. I enjoyed it overall. I just wanted more. I wanted more details in the love story. I wanted more details about the world, fairies, God's, etc. I wanted more of the relationship with her daughter. It was hard to understand and be invested without additional backstory or explanations. I liked the characters.
The ending was satisfying.
If you like fantasy and witches and want a magical and atmospheric read I'd still recommend this one.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Witch by Paige Crutcher is complex and confusing and compelling. I loved it even as I picked it apart while I was reading. If you like magic, world-building, romance, horror, LGBTQIA2S+, and powerful women, you should read this book and decide for yourself.

This story needed to be two books. There’s essential world-building that would have been more effectively developed and explored in a two-book series. For example, the story is set across two centuries and another dimension, the Otherworld. We get a very hurried introduction to these worlds but judging solely from what we do get to experience, it’s truly a missed opportunity.

In addition, it’s a really delightful magical world with excellent, horrifying conflict escalation. We need to see more of the monsters, more of the magic, more of the conflict. We would absolutely have gotten that through a longer (two-book) story arc.

The characters are wonderful: eclectic, funny, loving. Brigid, her coven, Lugh (aka Luc) Knightly, the witches of Knight, and many of the townspeople have stories worth hearing. Don’t even get me started on Dove. GAH. Thanks for breaking my poor patched heart, Paige Crutcher.

The romance is told in fragments that work surprisingly well. The slower pacing of the romance allows us to empathize with Lugh, whose pining rivals Mr Darcy, but whose morals are more challenging. Thus is the life of a demigod, I assume. Unfortunately, the pacing of the romance highlights how hurried the rest of the story is.

This book is worth your time, even as it will annoy you for the choices the author and her editing team chose. Read it and cross your fingers with me that we get to see more of Paige Crutcher.

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Really good book, sometimes the story lagged slightly but then would pick right back up. The love between the characters was a great addition to the story.