Such a cute cozy warm fantasy, enjoyable, super easy to read, the writing is brilliant and very whimsical. Enjoyed it .

Oh. The Honey Witch is a painfully beautiful read. Every moment I spent in the pages of this novel, I longed to know where the story was going but feared for it to end. It is pure and endearing, joyful and terrifying. You will feel EVERYTHING while reading The Honey Witch. Sydney J. Shields has created absolute magic within these pages that both dictates an incredible story and draws the reader in with such great focus that all beside the world within melts away.

Rating: 2.5

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting it to be, but I was fine with that. What I didn't like was how boring it was.

A cozy, cottage core, witchy, sapphic romance that just makes you feel content while reading. This was a delight to read and I really enjoyed the characters and their story. Looking forward to seeing how this author grows!

I enjoyed the vibe and concept however this story just didn’t end up being it for me. It explored some interesting themes however I just couldn’t connect with the characters.

I am always drawn to books with pretty covers — especially if those covers have any sort of floral, cottagecore aesthetic. I was really eager to read this sapphic, witchy love story with a stunning cover.

Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite hit the mark for me. The writing style fell flat at times, and I struggled to connect with the characters. I think the third-person POV might have been the cause for the disconnect. While the atmosphere and setting were lush and beautifully described, the dialogue between characters felt almost robotic and awkward.

This concept has such potential, and there were things that I did enjoy. I loved the whimsy atmosphere filled with cottagecore elements. It makes for a good spring/summer read. I also found Marigold’s relationship with her grandmother to be very sweet and reminiscent of Marnie from Halloweentown. I am sure there are readers that will love this one. I was just hoping for a little more.
My rating: 3⭐️

Thank you NetGalley and Redhook Books for the advanced reader copy. Opinions are my own.

I loved the concept and aesthetic of this story. It's a very spring-time Halloweentown meets Bridgerton, and overall, it is fun. However, The story is too rushed and jumbled together and doesn't leave much breathing room and it took away from a lot of the magic for me.

The Honey Witch was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I’m glad to say it did not disappoint! Queer and whimsical and beautiful and just everything I wanted!

The story follows Marigold Claude who is equal parts hilarious and insufferable as she chooses to pursue her family’s line of honey magic, move away from home, and take over her grandmother’s place as the Honey Witch. However, by choosing this life she also chooses the curse put on her magic by the Ash Witch, no one can fall in love with Marigold. She’s okay with this outcome until she meets Lottie as the two of them choose each other, they must find out how to break the curse and keep Innisfree safe from the Ash Witch.

What kept the magic alive in this book for me was the romance between Marigold and Lottie. Lottie changed Marigold in ways that she so desperately needed and love was such an important catalyst for Lottie’s character development as well. With the curse their romance was equal parts painful and beautiful to witness and I just kept rooting for them from the second Lottie was introduced!!

I’ve never wanted to be around bees but this book makes me want to frolic through the meadows of Innisfree, make potions and art, and relax in the apiary with the cutie bee friends!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review! It was a delight to read and review this (:

Unfortunately, it was a DNF for me at 36%.

The vibes are beautiful, but the pacing and plot progression are very slow. It is cozy, but I felt like nothing was happening. It unfortunately was not for me.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Redhook Books for this advanced electric copy in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 ⭐

This one is for the girlies who love Penelope Featherington — but maybe wish she gay or a witch or both.

The Honey Witch is a beautiful cozy fantasy featuring tropes like grumpy x sunshine and forbidden love as well as dealing with themes of grief, loneliness, friendship, self-discovery and more.

But in her heart, she is a creature hidden beneath soft skin and pretty ribbons. These are wild women who run barefoot through meadows, who teach the birds new songs, who howl at the moon together.
Wild women are their own kind of magic.

Marigold Claude has never fit in in Bardshire high society — instead of dancing balls and mingling with suitors, Marigold would rather spend her nights barefoot in the meadow under the blue moon with only the spirits as company.

One day her long estranged grandmother arrives with a huge revelation — Marigold is the latest in a long line of Honey Witches. This magical legacy finally makes everything in Marigold’s life make sense, but this amazing opportunity has a catch in, of course, the form of a generational curse — no one can love the Honey Witch.

But, when Lottie, a grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe magic, shows up to Marigold’s cottage, Marigold strikes a deal that she will make Lottie believe. This bargain turns into more than Marigold or Lottie could have every imagined in this story of friendship and love that perseveres even the most insurmountable odds.

The writing in this book is gorgeous. It’s atmospheric and insightful, but even though the book leans on Marigold’s philosophical ponderings a lot, the characters do not suffer because of it. Marigold and Lottie — both as separate characters and their relationship is full fleshed out and a little bit of a slow burn tbh (like I was begging for them to get together). Their banter ranged from painful in the cutest awkward way to like get me a fan bc I’m swooning. I was literally screaming at my kindle on multiple occasions bc of Marigold’s pining for Lottie — esp in the beginning where she hadn’t quite realized it was pining.

I also LOVED the twist on traditional folk magic with the use of Marigold’s honey/bee magic.

The book also just felt like it found me at the perfect time when I needed a break from intense epic fantasies — like this book should be the textbook definition of cozy fantasy. It felt carefree and easy without sacrificing depth and emotion which I feel like alot of cozy fantasies struggle to balance.

The main reason I took off half a star is because while the romance was AMAZING, I felt a bit let down by it at the end. Marigold and Lottie were never given their moment of “release”* at the end when the plot was resolved and they were allowed to finally be together with no curse looming over them.

My other complaint is that I felt like after certain losses Marigold suffered I was supposed to be more sad, but the story didn’t really make me emotionally invest in those situations (trying not to say anything specific bc spoilers).

But overall, an amazing book that deserves ALL the hype, and I highly highly reccomend.

If you like…

- Bridgerton,
- Practical Magic or Halloweentown,
- Sapphic love stories,
- or Cozy fantasies,

then I think you will absolutely love this book! I definitely did <3

Sigh, my hopes were pretty high for sapphic witchy cottagecore but this book didn't manage to meet them. The ingredients were all there but this book just didn't really come together. I wasn't pulled in by the writing, the story takes a while to get going, and in the end most of the 'twists' were very predictable. Some stronger editing, more focus, and more leaning into the witchiness would have helped. At least the vibes are very good.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Redhook books for the opportunity to read this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. The Honey Witch is the story of Marigold Claude, a young woman who has never seemed to fit in amongst proper society or amongst her artistically talented family. Marigold’s grandmother mysteriously re-enters Marigold’s life to proclaim that she is a witch, like all eldest daughters in their family line. Althea shows Marigold her home, a magical isle called Innisfree and teaches Marigold all she knows about witchcraft. Marigold is eager to become the next Honey Witch (aka a good witch) and vows to help her grandmother protect Innisfree and the magical spirits that live there. However, Marigold is warned by her grandmother that an Ash Witch (aka a bad witch) placed a curse on the Honey Witch line so that they cannot find love and retain their magic. Marigold must decide if she is truly happy in her newfound role and if she will be able to fight her growing feelings for a certain grumpy redhead woman.

For starters - the vibes in this book are immaculate. Truly magical cottagecore at its finest. Shields created a detailed, magical haven on Innisfree and I never wanted to leave. I loved Marigold’s growth as a character, she started off very judgmental and close minded - I’d call her a bad feminist. But her work in witchcraft helps her grow, and through service to other women she learns that power truly resides in the ability to choose one’s own destiny. I also enjoyed that Shield’s world - though set in the 1800s, was free of LQBTQIA+ prejudice. The cast of characters was openly able to enjoy the company of anyone they desired.

This book didn’t quite reach 5 star status for me, because I found the story was slow at the start and too fast at the finish. And as my reviews will show, good pacing is important for me to fall 100% in love with a book. Though, this might be because I’m not the biggest fan of slow burn romance, and the romance in this book is extra slow.

I would recommend The Honey Witch to all cozy, witchy fantasy lovers and I cannot wait for more stories from Sydney J. Shields’ brilliant mind. The Honey Witch will be published May 14th 2024.

I would have loved to see more focus on the characters outside of Marigold and Lottie. It felt very troupe-focused and the characters felt like shells of who they could have been. The grandma and Mr. Benny had such a lovely introduction and it felt like we were given a tiny taste of who they were, but then it was quickly taken away. (maybe a follow-up novel about their love????)

The third person POV made the beginning of the novel very confusing. Being thrown into a dilemma with multiple people interjecting was difficult to follow when we barely learned the names or importance of the characters. I liked the tattoo scene, but also felt like it was almost out of no where? It felt personal, but gentle. I was sooo thrown off by Lottie dying in the middle of them having psuedosex i actually had to step away. I understand what the author was going for, but I wasn't expecting a scene like that, and I was NOT expecting Lottie to just be dead LOL. It gives the reader a lot to talk about in regards to our relationships to sex and to love.

Mari reminds me a lot of Eloise from Bridgerton, and I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't inspired by her. Definitely a fun little read if you don't take it too seriously. A solid debut novel.

First I want to just praise this book on the gay rep alone. Far too often do we find harmful gay stereotypes in fantasy and many romance novels, and so finding a book that has both fantasy and romance yet also allows the characters to be gay just because they are was soooo nice. It genuinely made me happy.

When I first found out about this book, I heard that it was sapphic and so the happy little gay in me had to read it. However, I was actually pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book and not even for the romance.

The beginning gave me like Bridgerton regency era vibes but like with a badass fmc that was a raging feminist, then this book actually made me cry halfway through because I miss my grandma, and then towards the end I just wanted two lesbians to live out their days in a witchy cottage in the woods and take care of bees. That was basically my reading experience.

I did really like the book, but there were some times where I was just wanting more. Like it’s very much a slow burn kind of book, but there was a time where I just wanted the pace to pick up a little bit. I’m also very confused by Lottie Burke’s character. There were many times where I thought some of the actions and behaviors she was playing out didn’t really match the original idea of what her character was supposed to be like, but at the same time I do kind of enjoy seeing just more than one facet of Lottie as a character because all too often do we get the stereotypical grumpy broody love interest in fantasy romance, so seeing someone have more sides to them and show other emotions was sometimes kind of nice to witness. Lastly, I thought that a large issue with this book was that the plot was there in the background but it was never truly explored until the end, and that irritated me because most of the book was spent fulfilling sub plots than really showing the impacts of the main plot and how we would inevitably be introduced to the big bad. I do understand that a lot of these subplots were to show more of Marigold’s character and her growing into herself, but I feel like there could have been more of a balance between the two.

Ultimately, this book was great. It was fun to read, and I would definitely recommend it to people that really like cozy fantasy and books that have a fun and cute vibe to them.

One thing I will always need more of though is iconic Marigold Claude quotes. Here’s a few of my favorites:

“Marigold laughed then—what is so wrong about being a bitch? It is the closest a girl can be to a wolf.”

“You are beautiful and full of life, like springtime.” — a man
“No. You see only springtime. What happens when I am winter? I will tell you…When winter comes, you will freeze.” — Marigold ✨

“Her mother loves to remind her of her age, as if it is a reason to stop believing in magic…Yes, she is a grown woman, and is that not magical in itself? To have survived this long, despite the world’s penchant for beautiful, dead girls? Marigold has grown up surrounded by the poets who propel the narrative—how romantic to die young, unstretched, unsullied, without ever outgrowing the part of the ingenue. But what happens when the girl keeps living, when she ages proudly and defiantly, without abandoning imagination, or stories, or that secret wish to find magic wherever it hides? Well, then the poets would call her a witch.”

Thank you NetGalley & RedHook for the gifted copy of this book. This is my honest review ✨

The Honey Witch is a sweet fantasy debut that was, unfortunately, not my favorite cup of tea.

I really liked the writing style for the most part, but the pacing of the book was not what I prefer. I like a plot-heavy book with strong character development, and this was mostly a slow book where the characters stayed mostly the same and the plot fell to the wayside until the last 10-15%.

I also found that it was easy to forget that this book is set in the 1830s. I think the goal was for Innesfree to feel distinct from Bardshire, but instead of feeling different in atmosphere they felt different in time period.

I also struggled to see the connection between Mari and Lottie. I think this is partly because of Mari’s curse; but I wanted more chemistry between them.

All in all, this book was cozy but not for me. I hope other readers have a stronger connection to the book. 3 stars.

My review will be posted on Instagram no more than 7 days before publication, and will be posted on Amazon on publication day.

This story is so wonderfully written. Marigold’s journey of finding herself, forbidden love, and phenomenal friendships made for such a beautiful, tender story. I was immediately hooked by what felt like a cottage core Halloweentown, but was so encapsulated by the world of Innisfree that we entered with Marigold as she was learning she was a witch.

This releases May 14, and I highly recommend for a perfect spring read once it is out.

I was really looking forward to enjoying this book. It appeared to have been tailored to my preferences - sapphic cozy fantasy romance set in the Regency era, featuring witches while also delving into themes of grief. Plus, the cozy setting adds to its overall charm. If you ask me that is a delightful combination.

But to be honest, I was a bit disappointed. The dialogue felt cheesy and childish, the pacing was rushed, and the world-building needed a bit more work. And let's not forget the lack of logic in some parts of the story.

When it came to the interactions between the characters, it felt a bit emotionless. I really wanted to connect with the characters, but it was a struggle so many times.

Although I had issues with the story, I must admit that I enjoyed The Honey Witch to some extent.

Thank you to Netgalley, and the Publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

DNF'd at 33%

I decided not to continue reading this book because I don't think it's for me. When it comes to romances, a huge part of my enjoyment lies in connecting to the main characters. However, in the case of Marigold, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I had 0 impression of her as a character, other than she's wild at heart and not like other girls. At the beginning of the book, she states that her only option in life is to get married and be someone's wife. Then, when her grandmother tells her she is a honey witch, she feels saved from a fate worse than death. I understand that this is regency-inspired, but it's also queernorm, so I don't get the logic of her only option in life being to become someone's wife in the first place. Marigold also constantly mocks women who do aspire to fall in love and get married. She gets called out on it once, but it doesn't really fully stop. There's also a scene where people come to her grandmother for contraceptives, and Marigold comments about how she is all for women not getting pregnant. I'm guessing the author was going for a pro-choice statement, but the way it was phrased read more like anti-motherhood to me.

By 33%, not much had happened at all, and ultimately, I didn't find her a compelling enough character to push through.

Thanks to Redhook Books and Netgalley for an e-arc of the Honey Witch.

Marigold is finding herself in another season of trying to find a match, but would rather be anywhere else. She has always felt that she is different than everyone else around her and we soon find out it’s because she comes from a long line of witches, Honey Witches to be precise.

We follow her along as she finds herself learning about magic and what her duties as a Honey Witch entail, including protecting Innisfree, the island her grandmother has lived on and is home to numerous magical creatures.

We soon meet August, an old childhood friend who knows about magic, and Lottie, who doesn’t believe in it at all, but also seems to be a person Marigold can’t get off of her mind. Marigold sets out to prove that magic is real to her and in doing so opens her heart more than she thought possible, because there’s a problem - Honey Witches are cursed and can’t fall in love.

If you’re looking for a sapphic, witchy, historical romance with some coziness then here you go.

I won’t lie, I predicted almost every plot point in this book, but I still had an enjoyable time reading it to see how everything played out.

As always be sure to check out content warnings as some heavier topics are discussed.

3.75/5⭐
0.25/3🌶️

I love reading about witches and people coming into their magic. And this was an enjoyable read.

However, it just fell a bit flat for me. I think I would have enjoyed this being written in a different style, perhaps more of a past and present. I didn't feel like I really got to know the characters, rather I was just along for the ride. Same with some of the settings as well. We'd get brief views, but never anything that built up to amount to anything memorable.

The ending was quite predictable, but I still really enjoyed the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, Redhook, and Orbit for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.