As a big fan of the Regency Faerie Tales, I was so excited to see Atwater delve into the world of Victorian Fae and it’s just as delightful as I would have hoped.

Based in Victorian England, the story follows Winnie, a beautiful young woman who becomes a governess and unofficial magical guardian/protector at Witchwood Manor to Robert. But when he is taken by the fae and held in the Witchwood Knot veil despite her best efforts (and a certain butler’s interference) and replaced with a changeling, Winnie must work with Mr Quincy, the mysterious butler with red wine eyes to find him once more amongst the villains in this world and the fae.

While darker than the Regency tales and addressing more adult themes, particularly regarding how Winnie is treated and the threat of predatory male violence, this still has the same charm I have come to expect from this author. Winnie is an instantly loveable character, she is strong willed and defiant and will not be pushed around by the men in this story determined to try. Winnie has grown up with men focusing on her beauty, a past experience and the current Lord Longfell treating her like prey, but she refuses to be a victim. Mr Quincy is an interesting character, initially quite menacing and peculiar but as the book progresses and he works with Winnie, you can’t help but like him and start to understand him. The romance (rat tail aside) is handled so endearingly and delicately, especially with Winnie’s fears, these are 2 characters who with everyone else have learned to form hard edges and not let anyone in in order to survive, but they bring out a softness and ‘home’ in each other and I wanted the best for them so badly. I’m not always a fan of enemies to lovers (if you can call this that) but I honestly didn’t mind because it felt so important and made my heart very happy.

With this being book 1, I am excited about what’s to come and whether Olivia once again interlinks the stories as she did with the Regency novels. I’m hoping in the future we learn more about Winnie’s sisters and their magic, have more Oliver the cat terrorising Quincy and his tail, and explore more of the Lord Sorcier and the fae. I just want to go back.

This book made me incredibly happy, it’s not as ‘cosy’ a read as Half a Soul due to the more adult themes but it’s no less cute and comforting. Just like her previous series, Atwater has created characters that feel like friends and I can’t wait to meet them again.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review

I really enjoyed this, it was entertaining and funny and original. The characters were likeable and realistic, and the problems encountered were unique and actually took work to solve. It reminded me a little of T Kingfisher or Gail Carriger. It could have almost been longer to really flesh things out, but I'd be interested in continuing the series.

I think this might be Atwater's best fairytale reimagining to date. It follows Winnifred Hall who at the request of an old friend, goes to the remote Witchwood Manor to fill the role of governess. In reality, Winnie is actually trying to solve a faerie mystery as the house is cursed.

This is much darker than Half a Soul or it's sequels and set in the Victorian era rather than the Regency. It has notes of gothic literature, hints of Erlkonig (or more properly Labyrinth) and takes many of the themes from Sleeping Beauty. Considering some of it's more difficult subject matter, it's careful and honest never shying away from ugly truths nor succumbing to the desire to be graphic for shock value. Overall it comes together beautifully. Highly recommend

I was not able to finish this one in time to give a full review by the publish date. However, I gave this book 4 stars.

4/5 stars
Recommended if you like: Victorian era, fantasy, witchy reads, mirror worlds, Fae

This review has been posted to Goodreads, my book blog on 2/8, and to Instagram on 2/17.

This book is connected to Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales, but set some time after, once the period becomes the Victorian Era. Characters from the Regency Faerie Tales are mentioned, and Winnie knows some of them quite well, so it's a little spoilery if you haven't read the other series. That being said, this one does stand on its own and you don't need to have read the Regency books to grasp what's going on here and how the magic system works. (I did not read the Regency Faerie Tales series, but now I'm kind of thinking I might).

I have to say, I appreciate Atwater's dedication not only to representing the time period she is writing about but also to the style and theme of writing from that time period. She has a 'review' here on Goodreads that goes over some pretty interesting things and I enjoyed finding hints of that in the book (it is a somewhat spoilery review though, so only read if you've finished or are OK w/ spoilers).

The book opens as all Proper Victorian Books must: with a stormy evening and a governess. You get an immediate sense that something about the manor is strange, first from the fact that the coachman wouldn't go near it and then from the skittish silence of the servants. I definitely liked how it set up a Slightly Off atmosphere, though Winnie's humor and matter-of-factness creates an illusion of calm. The weird goings-on at the manor are the result of Fae, not 'horror' creatures, and so you know the rules going in. That being said, Atwater creates Fae that are cunning and cruel, quick to press advantages and attempt to ruin things before they've begun.

I did think it was easy enough to figure out why the Fae were mad (it takes Winnie longer), but there are some interesting and gruesome twists in there that I wasn't expecting. I was definitely intrigued by the missing town's folk and quite enjoyed how some of Winnie's Fae stories came around in a different way later on in the book.

Winnie is used to Fae, was saved and tutored by one as a child, and so she's able to have a matter-of-factness about her that many of the other characters lack. Even if she doesn't practically know certain things, she knows them theoretically, and that's a leg up compared to people who have little information about them at all aside from their terrorizing of the manor. I enjoyed Winnie's practicality as well as the humor she suffused into many of her Fae interactions. I found her dislike of Robert to be relatable and honestly think she has more patience than I would in that situation. Despite her semi-tough exterior, and her own best attempts, it's clear Winnie cares deeply for people and is willing to go to great lengths to protect them, even if she still doesn't particularly like them.

Quincy is the butler for the Fae side of the manor and plays both harmless and horrifying pranks on the inhabitants. It was hard to get a good read on Quincy because he was clearly not on the side of the humans, but at the same time he seemed to have soft spots for them at times (such as for Cook). I didn't like him for a good portion of the book, but he grew on me in the last 30% or so and by the end I liked him.

There is romance in the story, and while I liked it, I also am not sure how I feel about it. I knew who would be involved and that it was coming, but I feel like we don't really get a solid buildup to it. I knew those things because I read fantasy with romance, and I've read fantasy/romantasy books like this before, but if I was new to the genre and didn't know the pattern and tropes, I would probably be confused as to where the romance was coming from. Now, that's not to say there aren't hints of the romance throughout, but it is to say that I don't feel like the hints really build up properly.

I liked the Fae elements of the book and the topsy-turvey version of the house. The mirror world was an interesting aspect, and I particularly liked how it seemed to grow and become labyrinthine as a way of confounding the humans caught in the mirror world. Quincy is the main Fae we come into contact with, but there are the standard Gentry partying in part of the house, and Lady Mourningwood plays a bit of a role too. As usual, I enjoyed the careful wordplay that the Fae engaged in and that Winnie and the others had to accommodate lest they get trapped. Winnie seemed particularly adept at using faerie rules, which proved a nice challenge for the Fae who weren't expecting her.

Overall I enjoyed this book. I'll probably read Half a Soul at the very least and see if I want to get the full Regency Era story.

The Witchwood Knot is the first book in the Victorian Faery Tales series, which is set about 30 years after the events of the Regency Faery Tales series (Half A Soul, Ten Thousand Stitches and Longshadow). Winnie Hall is the new governess of Lord Longfell's son Robert at Witchwood Manor. When Robert is replaced with a wooden replica, Winnie vows to rescue him and to release Witchwood Manor from its faerie curse.

I think you could definitely enjoy this book without reading the previous series, but reading the previous books does provide more context to some of the characters who are mentioned. I was pleasantly surprised at how connected the characters were between the two series, and I love the direction this series has taken already! The plot and the ending completely hooked me and I am so invested in this series - I can't wait to see how the story develops over the next few books. It has more of a direct lead-in to its sequels than the Regency series did, and the hook definitely worked on me.

I loved returning to this fantasy world. It was darker and more gothic in tone than the Regency Faery Tales series. I thought it matched the Victorian era really well, but it still had all the qualities I loved from the previous series: amazing female characters, a sweet romance where the characters face things together and accept each other exactly as they are, and a plot that lets you understand this world even more with every book.

I genuinely loved how this series is continuing the story with a different tone but the same heart, and I can't wait to read more!

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley, but this is my voluntary and honest review.

I really love Olivia Atwater's whimsical writing and magic filled worlds. I think she has such a great voice and great characterization and I always feel like I'm transformed into her worlds. I read the author's other series, Regency Faerie Tales, and really enjoyed them, but I fear I felt the same way about them as I did this one.

While the fantasy and historical elements are so strong, the romance is oftentimes underdeveloped or shoved into the last 10% of the book. This might be due to marketing, but this was not a fantasy romance. It was a historical fantasy with a romantic subplot. The two have a difference and because the romance was not at the forefront as I thought it was going to be, I was overall a little disappointed. I still enjoyed this book overall, the plot was engaging and the mischievous faeries were so fun to witness, but I am foremost a romance reader, and this was lacking in this story.

Thank you NetGalley and Starwatch Press for the ARC.

First of all Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I adore Olivia Atwater’s Regency Faerie Tales so I went into this with somewhat high expectations.
And they have been met.
I adore the more darker almost gothic setting of this new Faerie Book. However I do believe the setting had the potential to be so much more than it was and I feel as if there was so much going on that a lot of things came too short.

Still Atwater’s writing is as engaging as ever and I managed to read the entire book within almost a single day. She always manages to write incredible characters where none is like the other yet I still love them all equally.
This is no different in the case of Winnie.

In terms of romance I feel as if this is her weakest one yet. That does not mean I think the romance in this book was bad at all, quite the opposite I enjoyed it quite a bit but even though you could see it coming form the beginning it still felt a little sudden and rushed towards the end. But both Quincey and Winnie were compelling characters (although I could have lived without the rat tail) and I enjoyed watching them grow both individually and as a pair.

Overall I adore this new book and it’s broadening of the magic and world already set up in the previous three books.
Even though this book, like the one before can be read as a standalone I do recommend reading the Regencies Faerie books before reading this, as it will definitely improve the reading enjoyment.
I made the mistakes of not reading Longshadow before this, which in hindsight, was a bit of an error on my end. However even on its own this book is definitely enjoyable.

What I especially enjoyed about this book was that unlike the endings in her previous books, this one didn’t have an overly sappy ending but rather it is a cliffhanger which hopefully explains some of the unanswered questions I still have.

3.5/5 ⭐️
rounded up to 4

I LOVED this book. From the beginning it was super atmospheric and beautifully descriptive which is exactly how I like books to be. I loved Winnie from the moment we met her. The mysterious vibes around the house had me hooked immediately. There are some darker topics/themes covered so please check the content warning. It was a lovely book.

[3.5 stars] Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

We follow Winifred, a secret magician assigned as governess to the Witchwood Manor, tasked to protect the young Lord from a looming threat from the faerie world. It’s a callback to the spooky gothic of the Victorian age, but with added charm in ghostly feline familiars, magical card tricks, and dark fairy tales. I especially appreciated the standalone chapters which served as Beedle the Bard-eqsue fairy tale interludes to deliver plot reveals.

Pacing was a challenge for me, with the first 50% building up characters/atmosphere but lacking the promised disappearance plot, not enough tension, and little romance. The second half of the book plays better, but given the long setup time, I’m not sure the payoff offsets it. That said, the romance was fun and the emerging dark themes added a welcomed complexity to the characters. In particular, I loved Winifred’s competent, thorny demeanor and her interactions with Robert.

I sort of doubt it’s marketing as a standalone; there’s enough callbacks to Atwater’s Regency trilogy that I felt a little lost/like I was missing elements of the plot, having not read them. The magic system and history aren’t well explained and assumes likely prior knowledge from that series, which makes this a harder entry point.

Overall, I would recommend to anyone who doesn’t mind a longer plot setup time, enjoys Victorian fairytale elements/settings, and loved Atwater’s prior work in the Regency Faerie Tales.

This is goth fantasy Bridgerton x Nanny McPhee. The writing style was easy to get into and the world was rich and atmospheric. The characters were delightfully captivating, and the story itself was largely enjoyable. I look forward to reading the next book.

Thank you NetGalley and Starwatch Press for this eArc.

Victorian era romance meets haunted house meets light fantasy! Olivia Atwater has a super engaging writing style that I absolutely love. It is so descriptive and I very much enjoy how she uses it to develop her world building. As usual in her books, there’s a light and airy magic system and characters with tons of personality, but this one touched on some more serious topics that I really enjoyed. I wasn’t 100% sold on the romance and it felt a bit rushed, especially in the last quarter of the novel, but overall it was cute and I did enjoy the connection between Winnie and Quincy.

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater is a captivating blend of gothic horror and dark fantasy set in a magical version of Victorian England. The story follows Winnie, a strong and determined magic practitioner, as she navigates the haunted Witchwood Manor to rid it of its curse. Along the way, she meets Mr. Quincy, a mysterious and intriguing character with whom she forms a deep and meaningful relationship.

Atwater's writing is engaging and immersive, drawing readers into a world filled with fae-like creatures and dark magic. The romance between Winnie and Mr. Quincy is a highlight of the book, offering a sweet and meaningful counterpoint to the darker themes of greed and trauma.

While the pacing and characterization can feel slow at times, especially in the beginning, the story picks up momentum in the second half, leading to a satisfying conclusion. The book also serves as a nod to Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales series, although it can be enjoyed as a standalone.

A spooky, cozy fantasy. It gave me feelings of Bly Manor mixed with Emily Wilde, with a dash of A Study in Drowning.

The main characters were intriguing and their magic unique. The villain was unconventional for fantasy but all too conventional in real life.

There is very little romance which was a bummer for me, I was left hoping for a bit more tension throughout

The witchwood knot is the perfect Gothic fairrystory. Set in a eldritch manor magical manor with a gateway to the Fae surrounded by foreboding woods. Our protagonist Winnie Hall finds herself employed as governess and charged with the protection of the young master against Fae who are out for vengeance but Winnie has some tricks of her own up her sleeve.
I absolutely adored this book and cannot wait to read the authors other offerings

I really love Olivia Atwater's voice and style of writing. Her books are so fun and enjoyable and the exact kind of book I'd want to just grab and cozy up with. I previously really enjoyed Half a Soul by her. I really enjoyed this as well, but it had a bit of a darker vibe. Excited to read more of the victorian faerie tales!

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater was a gothic faerie tale in a Victorian setting. It tells a story about Winifred who came to the Witchwood Manor to be a governess to the manor’s young Lord. Winifred knows that her charge was abducted by the fairy folks of the manor and since the lord of Witchwood Manor does not believe in the existence of the fairies, Winnie will be rescuing the young lord all on her own while protecting the everyone else in the manor.

I must admit that as beautiful of a gothic romance this book is, fantasy is not my genre. I have a love-hate relationship with this style that I am having a hard time connecting. I love Winifred’s character and the story is very interesting. There were a whole lot of characters to explore too but with the flow of the story that was a little slow for me, they just fall right off to the background. This is my first Olivia Atwater book and even though The Witchwood Knot is not for me, I am not giving up on this author that easy. I can explore her other work for sure!
Thank you Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange of my honest review.

3.5 Solid Stars!

A successful first read with Atwater, and I'm definitely intrigued!

I will say the blurb doesn’t tell you everything about what’s going on, and I’m reluctant to reveal more. Just know that Winnie isn’t all that she seems to be, and though she’s hired to be a governess, past sentiment compels her to promise more than she expected to, and she soon finds herself caught in the middle of a curse plaguing Witchwood Manor.

This was densely eerie and atmospheric, steeped in all sorts of faerie lore, filled to the brim with unsaid truths, dark subterfuge, and dangerous bargaining. As Winnie races against time to rescue her charge, she plays a perilous back and forth with the enigmatic butler Mr Quincy. However she is honor bound and stubbornly ventures into the fray despite the mortal risks.

This for sure capitalized on its Victorian setting with lots of prim and proper rules and societal class division, all intertwined with various faerie tales and complicated protocol. If you are well versed in such, then you know the fae are very tricksy, always after their own interests and advantages and ready to bind one into an unbreakable promise.

Overall, I liked Winnie. She’s a strong heroine contrasting smartly with the alluringly mysterious Mr. Quincy who in turn, makes an interesting tortured tragic hero. I enjoyed seeing their antagonism turn to grudging respect, to more, but beware a bratty child and a very chaste, but layered, romance (which I quite enjoyed). Admittedly, I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to the fae because while a fascinating folk, they come with a bazillion rules of engagement, their cunning and cruelty knowing no bounds. Atwater’s rendition is no different and again, I was intrigued nevertheless.

This neatly concludes the first act of this story arc but leaves the reader wanting more as the challenges ahead have only just begun for Quincy, Winnie, and their allies. Luckily for me the next installment comes out later this year, and I look forward to what's in store for these characters! If you want a historic, gothic faerie infused tale, then this should deliver on all points!

Thank you to the author and Starwatch Press via NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review posted on Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6346613243?book_show_action=false

Thank you NetGalley for sending me a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is the perfect fall vibe or if you're in the spooky mood in general. I had some strange dreams while reading this book but I'm not mad about it! This one is for all gothic lovers.

This is fae fantasy plot with a very slight romance subplot (two kisses only) set in Victorian England. It follows Winifred who is brought to the Witchwood Manor under the guise of being a governess for Robert, the Lady's grandson. In reality Winnie is has been called in as the Manor is haunted by faeries trapped in the Manor and they require her expertise.

The MMC is Mr Quincy, a fae-like male with a rat's tail and red eyes (this did take me a minute to get past) but I assure you he is actually pretty sweet.

My fave character would have to be Ollie - Winne's dead cat who comes to life in the knot, hates men and ferociously protects women. I also really liked Winnie. She's a badass, independent woman and spinster in her twenties. She doesn't look for male attention, knows how to play her cards right and isn't afraid to use the knife she carries to protect herself.

Slight trigger warning for sexual harassment. I really enjoyed how the book covered these themes particularly in the time period this book is set in.

The first 25% was a little slow for me to get through as expected with a new fantasy and third person perspective but I'm glad I stayed with it as the magic system is very interesting. It has a potential to be a series with the way it ended. This is my first Olivia Atwater book, I'm keen to read she comes out with next!

The Witchwood Knot is a gothic fantasy and I swear I could feel the atmosphere of it. I dived so deep into it, and it’s a story with such amazing characters. It was a delight to read this book.

Winnie is a superb character, intelligent, manipulative and I really liked her. This has horror and romance with a few cruel and conniving Faeries and a haunted house that’s the cherry on top of it. The romance in this book is not the center of it, however, the bits we got were slow burning moments and heart-wrenching ones.

Overall, this was a great cozy Victorian fantasy with amazing and well-developed characters in a creepy setting. This felt like a promising start to a new series, and I look forward to reading the next book.

Thank you, NetGalley & the publisher, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.