There's always a need for a cozy read, and I'm so thrilled that we have The Honey Witch to fill that need. A captivating magic system with enough intrigue and plot to keep us going, but we don't need to do the intense heavy mental lifting of the big fantasy epics - what a treat and delight to curl up with The Honey Witch!

A sweet forbidden romance with magic, cottagecore charm, and a witchy book—what more could you ask for? The unique magic system, centered around bees and honey, was captivating. While the writing fell a bit short for me, I still thoroughly enjoyed it!

I DNF'ed after a few chapters. I wasn't a fan of the setting or the main character. The writing was fine. I realized I do not think I am a "cozy fantasy" fan.

The Honey Witch wasn’t a great hit for me. The storyline felt super rushed and while I don’t need the story to be super drawn out, I just think it could have been paced better. Don’t get me wrong I liked the majority of the character and the premise, it was just both lacking and too much for me at the same time.

Thank you, NetGalley and Redhook for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This wasn't giving cozy fantasy like I was expecting. It was too rushed and everything just fell really flat.

i think this book is just mid. it isn’t good, but it isn’t bad. it was perfectly predictable in a way that it good to entertain me for a few days.

This was a very lovely, cozy romantasy!
Lesbian witches will always have me happy to be reading, so I loved that piece of this. The tension between the love interests had me hooked from the moment they were introduced!
My interest honestly fell off a bit in the later half of the book. I was less interested in the witch fight I think than the internal battles of our protagonist.

*The Honey Witch* by Sydney Shields is a charming witchy romance filled with magic, family secrets, forbidden love, and self-discovery. The story follows Marigold Claude as she moves to Innisfree to learn from her grandmother and embrace her destiny as a witch. Reuniting with old friends and meeting the captivating, yet elusive Lottie Burke, Marigold is pulled into a whirlwind of emotions and new realizations. As Marigold navigates her growing affection for Lottie, she also begins to confront the weight of her family’s curse and the potential loneliness that comes with her future as the honey witch.

The relationship between Marigold and Lottie develops slowly, filled with tension and tenderness, but their love is overshadowed by the dark curse that haunts Marigold’s family. To protect her town and her loved ones, Marigold must confront the powerful ash witch who has longed to take over Innisfree. As danger looms, Marigold is determined to fight for a future where she can have both love and freedom, ultimately choosing to write her own story.

The book offers a unique and heartfelt tale that blends romance, magic, and a deep sense of belonging. The cover immediately draws you in, with its illustration of a cozy cottage surrounded by vibrant, wildflowers—a perfect reflection of the enchanting world within. The bond between Marigold and her grandmother feels warm and real, with Shields capturing the essence of family love and magical wisdom. The slow-burn sapphic romance is engaging, relatable, and full of quiet moments of connection. Additionally, the honey and ash magic system adds an intriguing and beautiful touch to the story.

While *The Honey Witch* is an imaginative and tender story, I personally didn’t feel a strong connection with the characters or the romance. This might be because I’m not a huge fan of romantasy, and the slow-building romance wasn’t enough to fully draw me in. The pacing felt a bit off at times, and some elements of the plot could have been more tightly developed. That said, fans of magical romance and character-driven fantasy may still find it enjoyable.

3 stars.

The Honey Witch had a captivating premise, but for me, it didn’t fully live up to expectations. The plot had a lot of potential, but there were a few things that kept me from fully enjoying it. One major issue I had was with the time period of the story. The dialogue and overall style felt mismatched to the historical period it was supposed to take place in. The characters’ conversations, with their modern expressions and casual tone, clashed a little with the world-building for me. It was distracting, and at times, it took me out of the story.

All in all, The Honey Witch has some good ideas but didn't quite nail the execution.

Cute story, not my cup of tea, but really good and cute. I definitely recommend to anyone looking for a cozy read.

Marigold sets out to learn from her grandmother and step in to her true potential, but a generational curse leaves her to fight for everything she worked for. The Honey Witch takes some of the best ingredients: witchy women, familial curses, sapphic romance, and a cozy feel, and blends them together into a sweet story that sticks on you, just like honey.

I looked forward to this book after seeing Sydney Shields posts on tiktok advertising her Sapphic, witchy, cottagecore novel. The anticipation bubbled throughout the whole booktok community and Shields definitely delivered with The Honey Witch.

DNF @ 20%

The writing for this was not for me. The pacing felt hurried, and, although the vibes were sweet and magical, I wasn't getting invested. This may be a good novel for some, but not for me.

I just finished reading a copy of the honey witch by Sydney j. Shields that I was granted a free copy of four of you by net gallery. I did not receive any compensation for this review. All opinions and thoughts written here are my own.
The honey witch by Sydney j. Shields he has a refreshing love story that proves that love conquers all through time and space. And regardless of gender, love is the healer of all things that trouble the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this refreshing tale that had a little bit of old world charm with the clean feeling of the purity of Love, washing away and healing the wounds that darkness can cause. This was a very refreshing, low pressure, easy read . I also love the way that The characters here really showcase the arts of physical art, music and the art of cooking, and healing as well.
I found this story very enjoyable and refreshing. I hope to be allowed to continue to read any other books that Sydney j. Shields rights in the future and I hope she continues the stories with these characters. I would be interested to see where they go from here
Thank you very much for this wonderful piece of work

DNF- 50%

I was excited to read this book, especially since it was featured in a book box, but i just couldn't finish this book, The reason why I am leaving a review is because i did read half the book and that took my time.

I felt the story was a bit rushed and a little...meh. The MC didn't really interest me so therefore i didn't really care for her story. I felt bored the entire time until i decided to not finish it.

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields was one of my favorite reads for 2024. I loved the world building and Marigold’s journey of self discovery. The love story was secondary to the main plot but still essential and beautiful. I can’t wait for more from this new author. This gets an uncommon 5⭐️ from me.

This was pure magic. I left like I was watching a theater play right in front of me while reading this book. The author was able to not only capture my attention, but keep me glued to the pages all the way until the end. When the end? Oh wow, it definitely went from 0 to 100, I was holding my breath all the until the end. What an epic journey.

1.5

I started this book at least 3 times before I finally finished and I kept giving up between the 10-20% mark and I kept trying again because I had hope it would get better and it just didn’t and I’m so sad about it.

The Honey Witch is cottagecore sapphic fantasy which on paper should totally work for me, but I struggled with the writing. It felt very stilted, especially in the dialogue, and prevented me from getting immersed in the story, which then gave me time to pick holes in the world building and pacing that I might have been able to overlook if I had been more immersed. I have seen some people love this, and I truly think it was the writing that made me struggle so much, so I would recommend sampling the first couple chapters to see if it works for you.

The Honey Witch is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the prose is beautiful, with lines that are evocatively crafted and unique descriptions. Some of the plotting was a little confusing, like the juxtaposition of honey and ashes.

Unfortunately this fully missed the mark of being a cozy cottagecore fantasy for me. If you have to keep reminding me over and over and over again how whimsical and vibrant and magical everything is then, well, it’s simply not. An atmosphere cannot be shoved onto readers, it has to actually be built through your skills as a writer.

The opening portion of this book, the entire lead up to Marigold discovering her witch calling, is her fighting against societal norms that dedicate that she must be a wife and mother. The whole point is that finding out she’s a Honey Witch makes it click for her that the reason she never fit in was because she has a different calling. And yet, this whole time same-sex couples are happily accepted. How can you have enforced gender roles in a queernormative world? Because despite the lack of homophobia, this world mirrors the regency era fairly close. Women are still forced to have a chaperone when in mixed company. There’s a whole plot point about how it’s illegal for women to have tattoos but it’s fine for men. Aster mentions making the “unconventional” decision to make Frankie a part of her bridal party.

On top of that, at no point does Marigold dismantle her own misogynistic perceptions. She looks down on and mocks the “silly” love struck girls she encounters. She believes she’s more enlightened because she “wants more for her life.” Even her own grandmother calls her out on it. And you’d think this means at some point Marigold would have a moment to change her way of thinking, but she doesn’t! We never touch on it again.

This is advertised as a grumpy x sunshine romance but there is no grump or sunshine. Just because Marigold is all golden honey and flowers does not make her sunshine. The title is meant to describe personality… and her personality is nowhere near constant positivity and happiness. She’s literally miserable for the majority of the book, and with a temper to match. Lottie may be somewhat closed off and sour at the beginning, but it’s later revealed that it was the curse’s influence, so! She’s not even a true grump, it’s just a cop-out. If anything Marigold should have been the grump and Lottie should have been some lovey-dovey sunshine girl that Marigold would have called an airhead. That way Marigold would have been forced to change her perception on other women.

So much of the plot was predictable. There were so many ways to prevent what happened. Marigold’s grandmother sought her out to train her as her replacement because she feared the Ash Witch would return and overpower her. But as the new Honey Witch, the moment there is a hint of danger Marigold leaves the island. Things are being set on fire and she leaves to visit home.

Our main conflict, the love curse, is trampled on the entire book. The Ash Witch cast the curse in an attempt to destroy the Honey Witch bloodline. But Marigold’s grandmother circumvents this by magically creating asexual reproduction. But that doesn’t even matter because apparently the curse bends against the will of soulmates?

The ending was so convoluted, it was difficult to follow along with the revelations made about Lottie’s origins. It was too rushed compared to the more leisure pace of the rest of the book. I was left feeling very unsatisfied by the world building, romance, and ending.

I wanted to love this cottage core fantasy romance but it was so painfully slow in the middle I lost interest. This book was cute and cozy and delivered on the cozy fantasy vibes but the plot felt very underwhelming and the pacing felt all over the place the beginning felt fast paced and info heavy but about a third of the way in it felt like it slowed way down. I enjoyed the ending but at that point I just kind of wanted to finish the book. I think my biggest issue with this book was it read very ya, so much so I actually went back and checked to make sure I didn’t misread what it was categorized as. The characters felt young and when some of the spicy scenes came up I was kind of shocked. I don’t think this author is for me but if you enjoy ya romantasy you may enjoy this, personally I just enjoyed a more fleshed out world and plot.I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.