VenCo by Cherie Dimaline is a story of beginnings, of finding your place in the world and fighting for it, and of taking back your power. It also happens to be about witches.

The story primarily follows Lucky St. James, a “half-breed” Métis daughter of a mother struggling with addiction, and her grandmother, Stella, who seems to be in the early stages of dementia. This all sounds depressing as hell and rest assured, Dimaline is not afraid to go dark and she doesn’t pull punches, but this story doesn’t dwell in darkness. VenCo, a corporation run by witches for witches, needs Lucky and she needs them. A coven, a road trip and a truly vile witch hunter are all on Lucky’s path to becoming, and it is one foul-mouthed, dangerous, inspiring journey.

This book was a little bit of a slow-starter and the villain really made my skin crawl, but the characters and journey were worth it. Lots of LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC representation in the story but that is not the primary focus of the narrative. They simply exist in this world because, of course they do. I also really loved the nuanced portrait of Lucky’s relationship with her mother. That she can be both an addict and love her daughter fiercely.

This gave me The Once and Future Witches Vibes with sprinkles of King, Gaiman and Alice Hoffman. If you love a found family story, especially of interesting women, pick this one up.

VenCo released on February, 7th.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC.

I loved the description of this book, a coven of women, around the world but in secret - and how they would come together against a foe.

As I read, the plot didn't resonate and add up to me. I liked how each of the women had their own "origin" story, but the narrative lacked urgency (time running out and a lot at stake, but plenty of time for unwinding at night, not sharing details about the enemy?), true support (why leave Lucky and Stella mostly on their own), and cohesion left me wanting more.

A few tweaks in the plot for consistency would have helped carry the narrative through. This is a great concept!

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of Venco, a magical race to find the last witch to complete the prophecy. It was thrilling with a great ending and I hope there's a sequel since I grew so fond of these witches.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for gifting me a digital ARC of VenCo written by Cherie Dimaline in exchange for my honest review - 5 stars!

Lucky St James is trying her best to take care of her elderly grandmother in their tiny Toronto apartment when she learns that they are about to be evicted. Then Lucky finds a strange spoon hidden in a wall, marked with a witch and the word Salem. Lucky is then invited to come for a job interview with VenCo, where she learns that a group of witches has been waiting for her. Now Lucky must find the seventh witch to complete the circle and restore women to their rightful power.

This was such a fun book - I loved Lucky and especially her grandmother, Stella. I want to be Stella when I grow up! I felt like I was going along the road trip, while Lucky hunts for the next spoon and witch. It's also a story of women being there for each other and in community, gathering on each of their strengths. The relationship between Lucky and Stella was just the best. Highly recommended for a fun, empowering read!

"VenCo" is a witch's dark tale of magic and mystery with a really interesting concept. While I enjoyed the book, the characters, though they represent diverse identities and are interesting, were a little flat, with the protagonist making a disorienting and quick character development in the 11th hour.

Happy book birthday to VenCo by Cherie Dimalin!! I am really lucky to have received this book as an advanced reader copy from Net Galley, especially since I’ve been eyeballing this book on so many Upcoming Release lists.

Everyone knows I’m a big sucker for a good witchy story, and the tale of Lucky St. James definitely qualifies. When Lucky finds an odd silver spoon in her apartment, she’s sucked into a coven in Salem, MA. But someone else is looking for the last witch too—and he is a threat.

VenCo has a fast start, but started to sag about the 27% of the way through the book. I almost gave up—and possibly might have, if I didn’t have an ARC to do—but I’m really glad I powered through. I think what caught me up was the POV switching that happens in this section, but once we get back on track to Lucky’s POV, I settled back into the book, around 44% of the way through.

The rest of the book was awesome though, and look at that cover! It’s a gorgeous read!

I requested an ARC of Venco because I felt it had an extremely strong premise and it sounded like it could be amazing. Venco had amazing characters. Each was a strong and interesting woman. It brought women together from all walks of life, but centered around Lucky St. James who lives with her Grandmother, who has dementia. Lucky has had a hard life. Her father overdosed on drugs before she was born and her Native mother died young. Lucky's life changes when she discovers a spoon. The spoon leads her to a coven of witches that are being hunted by a powerful witch hunter. The coven must have seven witches, with seven spoons in order to save the world.

I greatly enjoyed Dimaline's Marrow Thieves and I thought I would love this book too. Unfortunately, it felt too disjointed. It lacked the flow the story needed. I personally found the end abrupt and unsatisfying. Individually, I greatly enjoyed the characters, but I struggled through this book. There were times that I contemplated giving up, but I wanted to know what happened in the end. Unfortunately, I will not be recommending this book.

I was provided an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

Loved it! I always gravitate towards tales involving witches, so that's why I picked this one up. This one surprised me with how good it was - it seemed different than most of the stories I've read about witches. This was a big scavenger hunt with a lot at stake.

The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone set up the story that they need to have a coven in North America, and the timeline is short to make this happen. They have some of the members, but not all. The members selected must have found a certain type of spoon. Lucky finds one and is invited to Salem to meet the six witches already found. They need one more witch, so they work together in the hope they can find her.

There's a witch hunter who is tracking the witches and is determined to foil their plans. Lucky has taken the lead in the search for the final witch, so now the witch hunter is after her.

There was good suspense and lots of action, so the story moved at a good pace. I liked the relationship between Lucky and her grandmother, Stella. Lucky herself is a great character. The women all seem strong. They are a diverse group but seemed to treat each other as equals.

Thanks to William Morrow through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on February 7, 2023.

I really loved the overall vibe of this book, I think that this diverse coven that’s being pulled together in the story and this really worldly and inclusive way of looking at witchcraft is beyond cool, but the overall ending fell a little flat to me. I would’ve read 200 more pages of what happened after the ending, and there’s a certain dynamic between the main protagonist and antagonist that I wish would’ve have a bit more time to develop, but overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

A reimagined story dealing with witches and magic.
Lucky finds a spoon in her partment building but what does it mean? It places her directly in the path of VenCo of A coven who have been waiting for all the spoons to be reunited.
It’s always interesting reading about the different interpretations of magic and witchcraft. I liked the locales in Salem and New Orleans.
I disliked Jay Instantly and cringed when I read about him. He got what he had coming to him.

When Lucky St. James, working for a temp agency and about to lose her apartment, finds a strange spoon in a hidden tunnel in her basement, she is suddenly pulled into a high-stakes adventure. Welcomed as the sixth witch in an eclectic coven based in Salem, she must help find the seventh spoon and the seventh witch to complete the circle. She takes her grandmother, Stella, who suffers from dementia, along for the ride, helped Bookers, Watchers, and Tenders along the way.

The premise for VenCo is great: A powerful coven must be formed to battle against evil. I have so many questions though. There was never a good explanation for what VenCo is, nor was there enough time spent to understand the roles of the Crone, Mother, and Maiden characters. I longed for a more detailed explanation of the different kinds of witches; Watchers, Tenders, and Bookers; and the kind of magic of which they are capable. I wanted to know more about the members of this new coven. We only got small glimpses of their backgrounds, how they found their spoons, and no real explanation of what powers they brought to the group. What was the group meant to do once they were assembled? As this wasn’t addressed in the book, is there going to be a sequel? In short, I felt like the world-building was neglected here. We are left with an adventure story of some lovable characters on a mission, a mission we don’t quite understand.

While I found Stella to be very fun as a character, I never really warmed to Lucky. I would have liked to spend equal time with all the other characters instead of Lucky being the main character. The insinuation is that there is something special about her over the other members, but I’m not sure what.

Due to all of this, I wasn’t particularly invested in the story and it took me a long time to get through it. I almost feel like it would have more of an appeal for YA readers, all that would need to be changed would be the ages of the characters. In short, there wasn’t enough world-building or character-building to make this memorable.

The beginning was a little slow but ended up picking up. Enjoyed the intersection of indigenous representation and witches. The characters were all unique but I would've liked to read a little more of their backstories. Maybe that will play more into the next book?

Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review.

I was previously very impressed with Cherie Dimaline’s horror thriller novel, Empire of the Wild, based on the Métis myth of the rogarou. So I was very excited for this title.

This book is not horror or thriller but feminist magical realism. The story is about a business called VenCo that is made up of a network of North American witches, and Lucky St. James, a young woman who is trying to work and take care of her grandmother with no parents to help her.

The beginning was a little slow for me. First, we’re dropped into a meeting at VenCo, between characters only named “the Maiden,” “the Mother,” and “the Crone,” who each have special talents and are making plans to complete a coven. You have to just “trust the process” at first. After that we are introduced to Lucky and get a feeling for her life and how desperate it is getting for her.

When it picked up and really caught my interest is when Lucky finds a spoon (you’ll see) and is contacted by coven members. Shortly thereafter, we get the women’s stories about how they came to join the coven. The stories feel very authentic to the experiences of female and femme people and are relatable, but are specific enough to go beyond being just archetypes. And then we are introduced to even more eccentric characters and some real magic.

As in her other books, the writing here is beautiful. A few quotes that I marked:
“Lucky also liked an underdog, and she liked a good story. She’s been parented by them both, after all.”
“The scent was thick, deep. It was the smell of choral music and heavy books about the Industrial Revolution.”

I enjoyed this thoroughly. I will pick up any other adult books by Cherie Dimaline and may give her YA titles a try as well. Recommended for witches, feminists, Millennials, people who like reading about native people’s urban experiences, and anyone interested in (very) contemporary magical realism.

Going into this book I thought I was really going to enjoy it, and I did enjoy the beginning quite a bit. We meet Lucky, her mother, and her grandma Stella. We see Lucky struggling to take care of Stella who has Dementia, and her struggling to make it through every day. Then Lucky hears a story that sets off a bit of her adventurous spirit, and she finds something that will change her life.

I did really love the relationship between Lucky and Stella, and the relationships that start to grow between her and the other women in the story. and I did think this had a lot of potential, but once Lucky goes to Salem everything kind of screeches to a halt. It seemed like while the story was moving forward, nothing was really happening, and I found myself bored not wanting to continue. We do get a bit of action but that's almost at the very end.
I wish we would have gotten more magic, more from the women who embody the fates, and more action. If there is going to be more in this series or in this world this book was a good start, but if it's a standalone I was left wanting more.
While this book didn't totally work for me, I do think it would appeal to a lot of other people. and I would read more by this author in the future.

So many twists and turns! I had high hopes for this one and it did not disappoint. While there were times I saw things coming, there were more I didn’t!

I found the concept of this story was really unique and promising. A council of witches, with elders to divine when a new coven member would arrive to join the current coven. The characters were quirky, and somewhat like-able. For me the pacing was just really slow, and didn’t have very many exciting events.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Before getting into the ins and outs of the plot let me just say that, as always, Cherie Dimaline is a phenomenal writer. She is fantastic at creating vivid imagery without being flowery in her writing. Without even having to try, an image will come to mind while reading, and that is undoubtedly the mark of a skillful author. To evoke imagery in such a way.

For the story itself, I wanted to give four stars, and really felt it would be in the first 40% of the book, but dropped down as the story progressed. The story is full of intrigue from start to finish. We wonder who these characters are, how they play together and what their roles will be, and who is the holder of the final spoon. Histories mesh and collide, as they work as individuals in a much larger organism. However, although those elements work for an entertaining, vivid, and unique story, they fell a bit flat to me. Without giving anything away, I saw the ending coming a mile away. There were so many characters it became hard to keep track of everyone and their backstories. The world building also required a lot of explaining and questioning, because the characters in fact don't know what they're doing most of the time. They're working on a goal that is surrounded by a lot of mystery. Although it didn't come together for me, I do believe plenty of others will be happy and fulfilled with it. I suspect this book will be either a hit or miss for readers all coming down to preferences.

What was most exciting was the individual characters and who they are as people. There is so much diversity in a way that didn't feel like tokenism. There are so many queer characters and characters of different ethnic/racial backgrounds. Although their identities are a focal point for all of them, it isn't the base of their journeys. They exist in their current lives and in their identities while working on their goals which remains part of the big picture. It was a pleasant balance.

I was also quite fond of the overall messaging too. About women empowerment, community, and overcoming an oppressive patriarchy. There's a lot of sexism in the book but it is tackled in every decision and action each woman makes.

Overall, I think this will be a lot of people's new favorite book. For me it wasn't a total hit, but I liked it well enough that I will recommend to friends.

This is a fabulous book about women and mysticism and women's bodies and relationships and nature and darkness and juicy fruit and magic and witchcraft and power and Canada and darkness and everything. This book is about women and everything.

It's 400 pages and yet it feels like it's 1 page of just.....all of the universe in one solitary blink.

*chefs kiss.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

VenCo is one of those books that scratches that itch you get every now and then for a good witchy read. The story revolves around a newly-formed (or rather, still in the process of forming) coven as they search for their final predestined member. Added into the mix are the three women of the Oracle (Maiden, Mother, and Crone, of course), and some non-magical but still helpful and in-the-know women known as Tenders, Watchers, and Bookers.

The good parts: this is a modern witch tale, complete with cell phones and laptops and a heaping helping of feminism. The main character, Lucky, has a wonderfully complex relationship with both her quirky and beginning-stages-of Alzheimer's grandmother, Stella and with the memory of her own odd-in-her-own-way mother. In the search for the seventh witch for the coven, Lucky travels from her home in Canada to Salem, then on to the backwoods of the Ozark mountains and on to the jazz-filled streets of New Orleans. I appreciated how author Cherie Dimaline pulled in the different branches and beliefs of varying kinds of folk magic and witchcraft. Personally, I was especially happy to see an old Ozark granny witch, because well...that's my people.

The less-good: in many ways this feels like half a story. We get an introduction to several characters and the basics of a backstory, but it takes four hundred pages to find the last witch and I felt like surely there should be more. I do wonder if perhaps this is going to be the beginning of a series, in which case this makes an excellent opening chapter.

Overall, a good, fun tale, humorous at times and dangerous at others, of witchcraft and women, and the powerful bonds between them that form the real web of magic.

I will, unfortunately, be withholding my review until a fair contract agreement is reached with the HarperCollins Union.