This book provides an entertaining experience, blending dark fantasy with a surprising twist towards the end. It follows the enemies-to-lovers trope and concludes with a cliffhanger. Readers are advised to check the trigger warnings, as the book explores non-secular themes that may be offensive to some.
All in all a fun read.

Was truly unsure if Willow was 16 because the line that made it clear was not in my copy (e-ARC or audiobook), so while I was reading, it gave the ick. But she is indeed 20. But besides the age issue, it was truly just meh. Nothing about this really hooked me in. The spice was there but it wasn't anything too amazing and mostly uncomfortable. It truly just proved dark romances may not be for me unfortunately.

REVIEW:

**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

There are trigger warnings, so please look those over before you read this book. And with that said, my review isn’t based on any of them.

I have seen The Coven recommended many times so I was excited to give it a try. There is spice and it is written decently. I also thought that the characters started off strongly. There was so much potential for the two leads, especially the female main character but I don’t feel that it carried through until the end. Somewhere in the middle I got lost because I was a little bored.

This book just wasn’t meant for me. I kept waiting to be hooked, to feel emotionally connected to the story and/or the characters but it fell flat. Willow, the female main, was all over the place. Her convictions felt strong at first and then she went for Gray, the male main, so easily. Also, the synopsis lists this as a gothic, paranormal romance. I expected something much darker, especially with all the triggers that were listed. In my opinion, this isn’t that dark or gothic.

I’m giving The Coven two stars because I lost interest and found it hard to follow the plot.

I will never tell anyone not to read a book, so if this book sounds like something you’d like to read, please give it a go!

The Coven is an addicting dark gothic fantasy romance. Willow has been trained for vengeance and will do anything to protect her brother. Her fate is sealed when she enters Hollow’s Grove University and meets the beautiful and haunting headmaster Alaric Grayson Thorne, and she is forced into a world of darkness and intrigue. This is the epitome of an enemies to lovers with its gothic setting and morally gray leads. It is steamy too! There is betrayal and forced proximity and all the fun things of a dark romance. There’s also a lot of trigger warnings, so definitely check those out too. The magical university is dark and intriguing and the cliffhanger at the end has me super excited for book two! There was some pacing issues I had and the world building felt like it had some holes, but the characters are really strong. Willow and Gray are so interesting and I love it has dual POV, it adds so much! The tension of their enemies to lovers is just perfect and I love how they just were constantly drawn to each other. The magic and systems around it were cool to read about too. And I just overall really enjoyed this one. Definitely will be picking up the next one.

3.5, rounding to a 4

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I’ll start off by saying I think the world built in this book is pretty interesting. We have a Witch coven, an alliance with Vessels (vampire demon types), and a decent magic system.

Unfortunately, the plot really let me down. Quite a few plot holes and it was just a bit messy in general.

Our main relationship was also super insta-lusty and that’s about it. There was no emotional connection and so I just wasn’t into it at all. This was lust, not love.

Surprisingly, the smut was written decently (as someone who generally does not like smut) - so if you’re into that, you may love this book!

I absolutely devoured this novel in a day! It had everything I was looking for in a fantasy, including witches, vampire, dark academia, paranormal romance, and the Hecate lineage. The main character, Willow, is also everything I look for in a main character. She is sassy, strong, has an insane amount of magic compared to other witches, is intelligent, willing to fight for the ones she loves, and she is stubborn. I cannot wait to jump into the next book!!!

Oh Grey, swoon. This is one of my favorite professor/student age gap PNR romances. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and can't wait until the traditionally published version is out!

This story is a great story mixed with witches, vampires, and the devil himself. The ritualistic feedings was such an interesting take on sacrifices.

The cover and sprayed edges of this edition are absolutely stunning and August can't come soon enough for my pre-order to arrive!

5/5 stars. she was too stunned to speak. that twist.. THAT cliffhanger!!! dual POV, dark academia, witches + necromancers + other creatures, villain gets the girl, “who did this to you?” & just a whole lot of everything I love so no surprise here but I loved it. devoured it in one night.
Thank you so much NetGalley for the ARC.

𝐁𝗼𝗼𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 🧛‍♂️ wow! Thanks @netgalley for the e-arc of The Coven! I loved it!

Title: The Coven
Author: Harper L. Woods
Genre: NA Fantasy
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

🔪Willow has one goal: to seduce the vessel and find the bones that will give her the power of an entire bloodline. She’s been trained for this. Was born for this. But as she sets out on this endeavor, nothing is what it seems, especially the targeted vessel standing in her way of her goals.

✨I devoured this book! I love it when fantasy authors can balance great romance with a great plot and fast-paced action.

I really liked the character of Willow. She may be up there in my top five favorite badass FMC. I didn’t love how naive she seemed at the end, but I’ll cut her a break since she was being deceived by…well, I can’t spoil it for you now can I?

If you’re a big fan of questionably morally grey characters and forbidden romance, this one is for you!

This book had so many twists and turns towards the end, it made it so fun to read! I enjoyed the romance with a splash of spice. It’s a shorter book so I thought the world building was decent for this short of a book, but really enjoyed the pace of it!

I’m excited to read the next book in the series!

I received a copy from the publisher via Netgalley for an honest review.

When I read the synopsis of this novel on Netgalley I thought this sounded really fun! Witches and vampire-ish and a long history of the coven and it's power. I was super intrigued. And yes, I even read the "trigger warning" at the beginning of the novel. The good part of this novel was the over arching story was super interesting and entertaining. The reason why this novel is only getting two stars is because of the "romantic" relationship. It was demeaning, disgusting, abusive, raping, BDSM controlling tripe like horribly written 50 shades. At least this novel was well written, however, the main character is coming to this academy and the HEADMASTER is her raping, domineering, emotionally abusive "love interest" and it was all disgusting. Frankly, their sexual encounters, if you could call the controlling abuse and rape 'encounters', made the novel horrible and I want nothing to do with any more of this series or even this author. If this is something you enjoy, by all means. Considering I work with trauma victims on a daily basis, this is not entertaining to me, this shit was their real worlds and it is abuse. Disgusting, demeaning and beyond disappointing.

Absolutely trope-y good time. Yes, you've read this book before, and yes, the plot is all over the place. But if you go into that knowing this, you're going to have a decent time. You cannot take it seriously - exactly like Zodiac Academy. It's just got every trope under the sun in here that comes with fantasy romance books lately, so read all the trigger warnings in the beginning. It's dark so I wouldn't call it a fluffy read or anything, but I still breezed through it. Sometimes my brain needs a break from more serious reads and I want something that reads like a CW teen TV show, and this delivered.

𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨
📖: The Coven
✍🏼: Harper L. Woods
💻: Tor Publishing Group
📆: August 6, 2024
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ /5

⛔️18-up⛔️

👇🏽 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕗:
•you need a dark fantasy romance like….NOW
•vampires make you 🥵
•you’re a plant lover

📚 𝕤𝕪𝕟𝕠𝕡𝕤𝕚𝕤:
swipe for synopsis —>

💭 𝕞𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤:
I didn’t know if I was going to like this one or not. Honestly, I think it was my evangelical upbringing that made me question if it was okay to enjoy a book about witches, demons, and satan. Thank youuuuu church trauma.😂 But man it was good. Not great, but GOOD. Maybe a 3.5 for me and not a solid 4 stars, but I digress.

I am still new to the dark romance genre, so if you are new as well, please do not see the word “romance” and take off running. This is NOT a Tessa Bailey or Lucy Score. Heck, it ain’t even a CoHo or Penelope Douglas. It has some pretty intense and often triggering scenes, but it’s also nowhere near Haunting Adeline. 😅 Think of Vampire Diaries on steroids.

“What happens when I’m tired of fighting?” I asked, trying to ignore the pool of tears threatening to fall. Hoping the water from the shower would wash them away before he could notice. His face softened, his lips touching mine in a kiss that was so much more delicate than any other. “Then you let me do it for you.”

[*internally SCREAMING*]

I’m in love with Willow and Gray. Dark academia, gothic atmosphere, and paranormal sprinkled in? Ughhhh. TAKE MY MONEY. I’m excited to see what book 2 has in store!

This is an ARC, but only because it just got picked up by a publisher I do believe. Be on the lookout because I hear the first run is going to have….wait for it….SPRAYED EDGES!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this ARC!

I felt like I had read this book before, if you know what I mean. Girl with Important Powers with links to Important Families is targeted after her mom dies and is dragged back to a magical school for witches in order to save her much younger brother. Girl (Willow) gets to magical school and finds things are "off." But, then things get a little more wonderfully convoluted!

Turns out, witches are inexorably linked to beings called "Vessels" (aka demons who live in a vessel body that require witches' blood to live) and the witch in charge seems to have plans that may not be in the best interests of all witches. To top it off, Willow had been mercilessly trained and tortured by her father to become a weapon to destroy all Vessels, and Willow is falling in love with one.

Oh, and sex. Lots of sex.

The book ends on a pretty major cliffhanger. I continue to wish that I could give half stars sometimes, because this was a solid 3.5 stars: I totally want to read the sequel, but I felt it started a but slow and will need to be more deliberate with who I recommend it to.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

I had no idea this book was going to be so dark. I was expecting a fun witchy romance, and it’s not that. This one wasn’t for me, but if you like dark paranormal stories, check it out.

I LOVED the gothic vibes. I am a sucker for a dark fantasy between vampires, witches, and demon could not have asked for more. The plot kept me on my toes the entire time as well >>>

I'm honestly not sure what I just read and why I read it all😂

The first 30 pages had me really intrigued and then we got to the school and things were sexual or raunchy for literally no reason. I am a slow burn girly at heart. And this was the complete opposite. They INSTANTLY start talking about sleeping together and touching eachother. There was litterally no chemistry between our characters.

And honestly our main male character was just creepy to me. There's a scene early on that really just wrote him off for me. There was no coming back.

I'm kinda sad cause there was a cool world underneath all of the other stuff. But all the "WTF" why are we doing this moments really lost me.

For those who watched Netflix's Sabrina reboot and wanted more spice... way more spice. Decent writing, solid story, but ultimately felt like a vessel for spice (not a complaint).

Oh wow this book was unique and it had my attention right from the very first chapter. I didn’t wanna stop!

I liked this book, but I didn't love it.

I didn't love that the main action between Willow and Gray was her constantly getting hurt and needing to drink his blood to heal. I really don't love when the FMC of a book is portrayed as being such a tough cookie, and then her entire role in the romance is to be injured so that he can be protective and heal her. It's a pet peeve. Honestly, I loved the plot of this book, and would probably like it more without the romance elements. I just didn't buy it with these two. I know the plot would have needed some tweaking if the romance wasn't there, but I was far more intrigued by the story of the coven and what would happen with their corruption than I was in the romantic elements.