Penny is a witch and member of the thorn coven, which means that on her birthday she will cross the veil between Life and Death. Thorn witches protect the veil between Life and Death and to do so they must burn. When Penny’s sister Ella does not return from a trip to the veil, Penny decides to burn without permission to discover what happened to her. In Penny’s journey, she meets a mysterious man who offers her a contract- he’ll free her sister if she returns to him every night and brings information on the Warden. The Warden is the evil and omnipotent man who rules the lives of the witches. Yet in the shadows, a rebellion lurks. Will Penny join the rebellion or forever bow to the Warden?

Katharine J. Adams’ debut features witches with incredible powers, LGBTQ+ rep, and a compelling fantasy world. Penny is a lovable character who will do anything for her sisters, including go against her formidable grandmother. Tonight, I Burn is filled with intrigue and betrayal, making it very hard to put this book down. Penny is bi, which I enjoyed because I always want to see more bi rep especially in fantasy. Adams does an excellent job of pacing and it feels like the witches are always on the verge of getting caught. The world-building feels richly detailed and fantastical. I particularly liked the book sprites!

Both Malin and Alice are mysterious and captivating characters who love Penny. I’m looking forward to seeing more of their relationships and learning more about them. However, the main thing I didn’t entirely love was the open relationship/poly rep. It felt like it came together very quickly without two people in the relationship even meeting each other. I think there is a lot of potential for it to be successful, especially if more communication occurs. I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops. I liked the ending twist and am excited to read the next book in this series!

I think readers who enjoyed Belladonna (Adalyn Grace) will love this book. Readers who seek stories about witches, rich world-building, and LGBTQ+ rep in fantasy should check out Tonight, I Burn.

Thank you so much to Katharine J. Adams, Orbit Books, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Instagram, Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc

The magic system was super interesting and like nothing I have read before. Having to burn to the stake to patrol the afterlife is an amazing and gruesome concept.
In terms of general plot I’m a sucker for a bad government vs rebels so I’m interested to see how it’ll develop further in the next book. There were enough mysteries to keep me reading (I was especially interested in the gilded)
I also loved the descriptions of the afterlife, I found the writing vivid and easy to read.
I could have been more attached to the characters but will read the next book and see if I grow more fond of them.

Honestly the beginning kind of confused me but then when I got it figured out I was hooked! I didn’t want to put it down, my heart was beating the whole time! And the cliffhanger ugh!

This book tried to be a lot of things and succeeded at some of them. I spent almost 6 weeks reading a review copy of this book, first from my editor in PDF format and then in a cleaned up format via NetGalley. My hopes that the better formatting would fix my issues were quickly dashed when the author tried to convince me that the protagonist was in love with not one but two people with whom she had had insufficient page time or development. I wanted the bisexual polyamory rep, but it was flat.
The worldbuilding is interesting. Halstett and the witches' lives are bleak and horrifying, one having to be burned to death each night in order to patrol the realm of Death. It's much worse for Penny after the Warden discovers her magic abilities and forces her to do truly awful things. The real issue is that the book would have been stronger without the romance and since I was reading it in large part *because* of the romance arcs... I didn't have a good understanding of why Penny was drawn to either of her love interests beyond that they represented the duality of her nature: one in Life and one in Death, resistance or escape.
None of this was enough to keep me going and eventually I threw in the towel at 85% and skimmed the rest.
***
I was going to review this for Shelf Awareness and received an early copy for review. We only publish recommendations there, however, so my review will not run in that publication. Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for this copy.

I'm generally not a fan of witch stories so me stopping after chapter 1 (6%) doesn't mean much, since maybe one witch story a year will actually grip me. It's extremely readable, the prose is lovely, and I think any fans of magical witch fantasies will be quite delighted.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the ARC.

It isn't the fault of this book that I couldn't be drawn into the story - it had the makings of something I would really enjoy. Compelling characters, witches who die and cross into the land of the dead only to be born, burning queer love and tender sisterly relationships - so much of this resembled my usual favorites list. However, for some reason the writing style just rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't find myself properly engaged in the story. I kept putting the book down and getting pulled into other things, such that it became a chore to finish the novel. Good building blocks, but sadly not enough to keep me engaged.

I wasn't sure to expect when I opened this book. What I did not expect was to end up foregoing sleep for days to finish it. It drew me in like a moth to flame and kept me on my toes throughout. The main character is a magic user who must die and journey into death to keep the veil between life and death whole. She is then reborn when she crosses back over. It is a fascinating take on magic. This world is nearly destroyed by an immortal king who cannot die. If he does all the world will die with him. He has enslaved witches to keep his power, his life and the veil intact. Penny is just beginning to explore her powers when she finds herself caught between family, rebellion and an enigmatic man living in the land of the dead. The whole situation is fraught with peril, forbidden romance, and a deep desire for freedom. It really is a beautiful and haunting book. I am desperate to continue this series with the next book and I hate waiting. Thank you for netgalley and the author for letting me read this book in exchange for a free review.

This book was fine, just not for me

~This book was given by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I received a free copy of this book for for an honest review…

Well written book with lots of surprises I didn’t see coming… Penny is a well written character. Very excited to see where the next book will take us

Tonight I Burn quickly and easily became one of my favorites of all time.

The world in which these witches live is oppressive and heavily controlled. Penny is on the verge of a monumental time in her life, and right before it can happen, her life takes a hard and dramatic turn. She quickly realizes things are much worse than she ever thought, but she might be the only one who can fix it and set everything right again.

This is a great story of a world unraveling, Penny discovering her own strength, and finding love and friendship along the way.
Just a chapter into the book and I knew this was going to be a book that was written beautifully. At many points, I felt like I was reading poetry, which I absolutely adored.

Katharine J Adams did incredibly with painting scenes and making you feel all the hope, euphoria and distrust alongside Penny. My heart hurts from all of it, but in a good "damn that rollercoaster was fun" kind of way, and I'm excitedly awaiting the next book.

*many thanks to the author and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book*

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (via Netgalley)

I enjoyed this a lot (read it in one sitting!) and can't wait for the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this advanced copy! You can pick up Tonight, I Burn on November 7, 2023.

I've been trying to read this book for over a week, and I'm barely a third of the way through. I think it's well-written and has an interesting premise/world, but it's just not for me at the moment. I can't connect with the characters in the way I want or feel motivated by the plot. All the ingredients are there, but I don't feel like cooking with them if that makes sense.

I'll likely try to revisit it in the future, but for now, I'd rather focus on books I want to read. I would definitely recommend this book to someone who enjoys The Handmaid's Tale-type dystopia but with a witchy/death-defying twist.

A quick read, partly because the story felt a bit straightforward despite some unique worldbuilding, and partly because I didn't connect with the first person POV. I think the book also suffered from being the first of a trilogy; to me, it felt like lots of set-up, and the book ended right when I felt it had found its stride.

What I liked: witches! I will always pick up a witch book. I was also told this story has poly rep and while this wasn’t a fantasy romance, I think it would have benefitted from more development of Penny’s relationships, as they are what kept me reading.

This book was amazing!! The storyline was well done and kept my interest throughout the book! The characters were well written, and I enjoyed them. I would highly recommend this book to everyone!!

Thank you to Orbit, Katherine Adams and Netgally for givng me an e-arc of "Tonight, I Burn" in exchange for a honest review*

This was an amazimg fantasy. The romance was swoony and the cover is so pretty.