Before I begin this review, I want to thank Net Galley and Sourcebooks Fire for allowing me to access Night of the Witches before publication in exchange for an honest review. Check out this book on its release date of October 3rd, 2023.

Sara Raasch and Beth Revis offer an intriguing story of magic, witches, and hunters. Through this tale, readers are introduced to Fritzi and Otto. Both have dealt with their own traumas, traumas that seem to haunt them. There are great elements of family, love, and loss. A great book to read for the Halloween season!

This was a fun book to read with an interesting plot and story. I will say that I did get a bit bored about halfway through the book, but things did start picking up again near the end. In fact, the last few chapters were the most engaging part of the book. Those who enjoy the book most will love witchcraft and the romantic, sweet relationship between Fritzi and Otto.

There were a few things that didn't sit well with me. One of them being how rushed the characters' relationships felt. It seemed odd how quickly Otto and Fritzi were moving things along, considering they had just met and thought themselves enemies not too long ago. The relationship also felt a bit one-sided at times, in which Otto seemed way more invested in learning about Fritzi's world and religion, but Fritzi didn't seem to give him that same respect.

Readers should also be aware of how Christianity is depicted in this book. In the beginning, Otto comes off as a devoted Christian, but as the book goes on, he says things that are just out of character and the time period, suggesting things like God being okay if he offers something to another god, which most Christians are aware is not true.

The writing and worldbuilding were a bit off, too, but they got better as the story progressed.

The best thing about the story was the plot. The authors did a great job providing an intriguing plot with many twists and turns.

Wow… this book was everything I’d hoped it would be! I loved Fritzi - she was always concerned with doing the right thing, taking care of her family and others before herself. And Otto was a complete surprise!

The changing points of view with each chapter offered a unique perspective for each character. And this world, loosely based on historical fact, was so vibrant! I certainly hope this is only the beginning of Fritzi and Otto’s story!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the authors and publishers, for the advanced reader’s copy of Night of the Witch in exchange for my honest review. 5 🌟

Hands down, this is the best witch book I’ve read in quite a long time. There’s a time and a place for cute cozy witches but I almost always want the kind of witches that aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. When I think of witches in literature I want spooky, gothic, and dark. This book is labelled young adult but it essentially tells the story of a genocide against an entire race of people, witches. There is detailed torture and is labelled as young adult so I do think this veers towards the much older teens.

It’s a romance between a witchhunter and witch. Otto, the witchhunter, had his own doubts about the church’s persecution of witches long before he met Fritzi. When Fritzi inadvertently disrupts his plans, the two are forced to strategize which brings them closer together.

The plot explores prejudices, particularly religious, and how they are perpetuated amongst populations. There’s a line in the book about normalcy and the way it breeds acceptance of injustices and it stopped and had me considering a lot about what was happening in the book in direct correlation to what is happening in our own world. The book is also based on historical witch trials in Germany in the 1500s which held a fantastical world feel extremely grounded in reality and possibility.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This one was an absolute pleasure. All opinions are my own.

A witch and a hunter. Vengeance is their mission. Love is their destiny..
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Complex, alluring and well written.. this story will be perfect for an October read ..
Mixed with historical fiction, fantasy, magic, action packed, love story and revenge..
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Check trigger warnings before reading it.
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Special thanks to the Author, Publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, The opinions expressed here are on my own.

Y'all, when this baby hits Booktok I think it's gonna check all the boxes. Before reading, though, make sure to check your content warnings. The authors freaking deliver. Check your hearts, witches!

Our heroine is Fritzi, a young witch who begins the book experiencing unimaginable tragedy as she loses her entire coven to the hexenjägers, the 16th century German witch hunters. She believes that her young cousin has survived and in her quest to find her, she is captured by Otto, a double agent who is trying to bring down the hexenjägers and has been plotting to free hundreds of innocent prisoners. One thing he hadn't considered was that there were REAL witches like Fritzi!

I found the characters in this novel to be utterly charming and the love story is definitely swoon-worthy. I think the authors Sarah Raasch and Beth Revis definitely find their best groove when writing the tender low-spice love scenes. They may not be explicit but they are deeply romantic-- almost spiritual and poetic.

The villain Kommandant Kirch is truly bone chillingly creepy and it's a bummer that the pacing of this novel felt so off because otherwise I would have found myself fully immersed in this love story. I'm not sure if it was due to having two authors or another reason but I found myself surprised that bits of it were so compelling and well written and then it would seem deeply awkward and a bit cheesy. It is YA and I know it's geared towards a younger audience, but the inconsistency was difficult for me.

I found myself fascinated enough to hop on Wikipedia and dive down a rabbit hole to research more about these historical horrors. It's clear that the the authors did an excellent job of bringing the violence, persecution, and cruelty to life while still creating a compelling and charming narrative. Looking forward to the sequel!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Fire and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to provide my unbiased opinion.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this eARC to review!

As I've said before in another review, I love witchy stories. And this was a really good one! I haven't read that many set in Europe, so when I saw this was set in Germany, I knew I had to try it!

It's the perfect combination between historical fiction and fantasy, genres I both love. It was easy to get into, though some parts in the middle were a little bit slow. Characters were great and the villain was an actual real villain, which was interesting for sure!!

This was a really interesting read. I thought the blending of historic 16th century Germany and fantasy was woven beautifully. The characters were well developed and had depth and growth. The villain was truly evil, and you felt it with every action on his part.

There were some really big surprises for me in this book, as a reader, that I did not see coming - and I really appreciated that. This story really pressed all of the right buttons and was thought-provoking, particularly regarding ideas of organized religions, the nature of good and evil, as well as love.

Overall, it's a really great story.

Thanks to NetGalley & SOURCEBOOKS Fire for the early copy in exchange for an honest review. Sadly, I DNF'ed at 20% of the way through.

I really couldn't connect with the characters nor the story. The premise is really compelling but the execution fell flat for me. Worldbuilding was meh, the magic system was incredibly boring which is saying something. Definitely not the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for this opportunity to read rage and review this Arc which will be available October 3,2023!

German based lord with witches and witch hunters. Yes! Gimme gimme gimme! This is a story about Fritzi who is a hexen and Otto a hexenjager aka witch Hunter. Slow burn, lots of action, betrayals and uncovering plots. Mind the TW as they are many and DARK. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the mixed of German lore with this world. It was a fun read

This book is set during the European witch trials and follows Fritzi, a young witch who is fleeing from where here coven were attacked and Otto, a commandant and witch hunter with an alterior motives.

This was a very enjoyable read. It did take me a while to get into it the book but once I did, I enjoyed the story and with the cliffhanger ending, I'll definitely be picking up the next installement.

This would be great for fans of Serpent and Dove and would be a great autumn read. It's witchy, suspenseful and the setting had Grimms fairytale vibes.

Thank you to Net Galley for suppling me with the eARC in exchange for an honest review

Wow! This book was incredible!

The story was so up and down and I had no idea what to expect next. Enemies to lovers has always been a favourite trope of mine and this book did it Justice. I cannot wait for the next book.

*more in depth review to come on my instagram whilst I gather deeper thoughts about this book!

This was a great story that had great details of what was happening and a fascinating.details of all the magic. There was also great chemistry w the characters. This was full of love witchcraft and war which kept the reader in suspense. I don’t normally read this type of book I was glad I did and will read more by this author.

Night of the Witch" by Sara Raasch is a delightful magical journey. The way she crafts the fantasy world is truly impressive, and the characters are captivating. The plot is full of surprises, making it an engaging read. The magic system and world-building are immersive, and the themes of friendship and sacrifice add depth to the story. If you love fantasy, this book is a must-read. Sara Raasch's storytelling talent shines through, and I'm eagerly awaiting her next creation!

I received an ARC from the publisher and this is my honest review.

"How many times can one soul be yanked out of hope and back again before it breaks? One more time, I think. Always one more time."

Night of the Witch is a blend of magical fantasy and German history regarding witch trials. We follow two perspectives — one is Fritzi, a good witch, and Otto, a witch hunter. They first cross paths in one of the raids on a suspected witch village. Fritzi immediately hates Otto, but we quickly learn that his motivations are different from the other hunters (but of course, Fritzi takes a while to believe this). The main plot follows the suspected witches being burned in Trier, and the battle between good green magic from the Well, and evil wild magic that corrupts witches. We see Fritzi grapple with the difference between these sources — all witches in her coven are only allowed to practice good magic, but we learn more and more that wild magic has significantly more power. There’s also great banter between the characters, and discussions of religion that emphasis personal faith versus politicized hatred. I'm normally not a fan of religion in books because it can be very preachy, but this is far from it. There's criticism of organized religion, as the witch hunters are operating under Christian beliefs, while still leaving room for personal faith.
I much preferred the first half of the story because of all the banter & humor. There’s more political tensions and war in the second half, which always bores me a bit as we’re just getting descriptions and actions without dialogue. I also loved the banter between Fritzi and Otto, so I was sad to see it wane out about 40% of the way through as their relationship got more physical. I think this aspect was very rushed and unnecessary, but it seems to be common in newer YA. Which reminds me - I love how smart Otto is. I am so used to characters in fantasy never learning their lesson and always making rash plans. But everything Otto does is well thought-out, and I greatly appreciate that. Fritzi does makes a lot of assumptions at first, bu I was happy to see her grow out of them.

Also ... the epilogue …. wow.

I was so excited to delve into this world, a witch meets witch hunter, enemies to allies to lovers tale with inspiration drawn from the European witch trials. Night of the Witch had so many elements that I crave in a story and while I definitely wasn’t disappointed, I didn’t connect with the characters quite the way I would have liked to. Despite that, I did really enjoy reading about Fritzi and thought her chemistry with Otto was wonderful. I am definitely intrigued and am anxiously awaiting the next installment!

I was so excited to get my hands on this book from Sara and Beth as I've enjoyed other books by both!

I wasn't disappointed! Filled with drama and action and unexpected twists and turns, it had me turning pages quickly. I am a sucker for enemies to lovers and add in the witch vs witch hunter dynamic... and a crazy relative - count me in - I'm very excited to see where this goes in book 2!

Thank you for an early copy!

I am speechless. I got a review copy of Night of the Witch from NetGalley and WOW. I had this on my TBR but was not quite sure as I have not read either of the authors before (and yet I own a few of their books, oops). But honestly I’ll read anything with witches. And then throw in a Witch Hunter. I am sold.

Fritzi is a witch on the run to save her cousin Liesel from the witch hunters, the hexenjägers. She befriends a Jäger, Otto, and they must work together to take down the kommandant of the hexenjägers.

I really appreciated the historical background of this story. While fictional, it is based on the witch trial of Trier in Germany. I love any story with some true historical background. I truly was so excited to read this book every time and never felt like there were any lulls in the story. I do feel that Liesel acted older than her age of ten, but I really only cared about that a few times. I really liked the basis of magic and the Well that witches magic is pulled from. If you at all like witches, this has got to be on your list.

I devoured this book! Not only because I've lived in Germany before and could connect with the language, cities and events (hello Christkindlemarkt) but the story line about a witch and a witch hunter was so captivating and well written that I couldn't put it down. The relationship between two people seemingly at opposing ends of the story coming together for a shared purpose to save not only themselves but magic itself was filled with moments of romance, suspense and fantasy. I loved every minute!! I've always heard about the Salem Witch trials and the atrocities that were acted upon in the name of faith. I loved the added historic note at the end of the book, about the real Trier Witch Trials from 1581-1593 which executed an estimated thousand. It was eye opening! Especially because it was the largest mass execution in Europe outside of war and it was SO impactful that it sparked a revival of witch trials which reached us in the USA with the Salem Witch Trials.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book!*

Night of the Witch has an almost Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Gretel vibe to the story. It had a minor enemies to lovers storyline (though honestly they skipped through the enemies part pretty quickly). This was a solid read if you like witch-based fantasy with historical elements. I wish I had seen a tiny bit more character development as well as more insight into the villain's motives (him just being crazy and evil doesn't feel enough to me).

Perfect for fans of everything witchy, enemies to lovers, and interesting foreshadowing. This book has a dual point of view. Interesting read. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for a review.l