I found this story to be an accessibly written and engaging read that pleasantly surprised me, especially since I don’t often gravitate toward historical fiction/historical sci-fi fantasy/historical anything. The story drew me in with its intriguing premise and kept me invested for most of the journey. However, the momentum of the plot did falter toward the end, making the final stretch feel slower and more challenging to get through. Despite that, I still found it to be an enjoyable experience overall, and I appreciated how the author brought the historical setting to life.

It took me a bit longer to get through this story only because I'm the type of person who needs to look up every historical event and site mentioned. The Stone Witch of Florence follows Ginerva, a women exiled for witchcraft, as she is summoned back into the city of exile during the black plague to solve the mystery of missing church relics. This story was well researched, decently paced with the perfect amount of magic, mystery and an unexpected humor. I really enjoyed it!

A very strong start. Italy during the black plague, magical healing, a an accessible but not predictable mystery. Rasche is a fantastic writer and I loved her descriptions. Despite the heavy topics there is also a good amount of humor spread throughout that doesn't take away from the greater narrative. Ginevra is written in a very relatable and accessible way despite her extreme circumstances and her story line makes sense given the circumstances she is in. My only real complaint is that it seemed to peter out a bit and slow down towards the end. This stopped it being a higher rating for me but overall did not keep me from enjoying the book as a whole.

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**TL;DR**: What a sleeper hit - This deserves so much more hype!
**Source**: NetGalley! Thank you so, so much!

**Plot**: Ginevra returns to the city that banished her to try and stop the Black Plague but instead ends up hunting a thief.
**Characters**: We switched PoV’s a few times and consequently I loved so many of these characters. Anna Rasche did a great job connecting us to the character.
**Setting**: I loved Florence in this. I’ve never been an Italy girl but this had me sold.
**Fantasy:** It’s just a drop, Ginevra’s ability to use the magic of the stones, but it’s well woven in.

**Thoughts**:

I’ve been in a slump, well and truly for the first time in years. But this book - WOW. This book knocked my socks off. My husband had to force me to put it down for bed, I was so invested I wanted ‘just 15 more minutes!’. It got me good.

Ginevra returns to Florence after receiving a letter from an old lover. He wants her help to stop the plague, and in return she may gain admittance to the Doctor’s guild and her exile from years before rescinded. Of course there is far more to this request than she thought and she ends up hunting a thief that’s stealing the holy relics from the churches. Along the way she meets the few people left in the city, she discovers new uses for her magic, and she faces her past.

Ginevra is a complicated, very real feeling woman. She’s got backbone and she’s smart, but she’s also a bit bullheaded and naive. Just enough that you’re left wondering if she’s going to get herself into more trouble or if it’s going to work out at all. We get some secondary characters as well, a noblewoman she saves who becomes her partner and a gravedigger I loved with everything in me.

The characters and setting are both strong, Florence felt grounded (which I’ve never been so take that with a grain of salt) and I ate it up. There were a few moments in here that had me laughing out loud, while others had me glued to the page. I loved it a lot, what can I say?

6 out 5 Bloodstones - this is going on my favorites of the year list.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for the copy of this book!
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Read if you like: historical mystery/fantasy
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The book follows Ginevra, who is called back to Florence in the midst of the Black Plague to find missing relics, even though she was expelled from the city for witchcraft. She has a special talent for healing people with gemstones and she uses this skill during the plague.
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Overall, the concept of this book was interesting but it didn’t hold my attention like I hoped it would! If you like reading about medieval Italy then you might like this one!

What a fantastic surprise this book turned out to be!

I’m generally skeptical of historical fiction/fantasy about witches and witchcraft, as it’s usually centered on a lot of fairly depressing stuff about the persecution of women and a lot of torture.

This book, however, is something else entirely. It reads more like a charming adventure story and almost a buddy comedy at times, and the author (herself a gemologist) has done a wonderful job of marrying this fun and light story with some excellent historical content, including a lot of really terrific stuff relating to medieval gemstone magic.

I loved both the fiction and the history of this book, but I especially loved how well they were woven together. The characters are fantastic, the humor is sharp and deftly deployed, and the story is truly original.

What a book! Plague, Witches, Religion...what could go wrong? This is a phenomenal book written very well. The author really takes you into the heart of living in the time of the plague. The specific descriptions of the places, times and smells...yes, smells.

This story was woven with such care and intensity it was impossible to put down.

#TheStoneWitchofFlorence #NetGalley

The very interesting story about this woman named.G I n e v r a. This woman had a very hard upbringing, but she possessed powers through these stones.She carried with her. She helped people during the plague in in florence. At first she was sent away to a The nuns but this did not go well for her either. She became.
Romantically involved with one of the richest men's there. And this led to a disaster's. Decision to let her go from the C o n v e n t. She struggled a lot and things just seemed to get worse for her The stones were there to help her but sometimes they did not help her at all. People expect i Or to cure them. They considered her a witch which was really hard because the church was really afraid of these people. This was a really interesting story.They have a lot of different twists and turns in it.

Wonderful debut novel by Anna Rasche! Ginevra di Gasparo is a healer who has been branded as a witch and exiled from her community. She has a special affinity for stones, and with the expert tutelage of her mentor, they are an integral part of her healing process. When the Black Plague is in full swing, Ginevra is called upon by her ex-lover to come from which she was previously exiled, to heal the sick. Ginevra is reluctant, but unable to leave the sick to their own, she and a young boy she meets make their way to the city. What she discovers is that her lover isn't there, and its the same clergy who branded her a witch are now calling her to come back. As Ginevra helps the infected, she discovers that those who called her back have much more in mind that simply healing people, and her very skills with gems put her at tremendous risk.
The Stone Witch is a very interesting and entertaining read. The characters, especially Ginevra herself, are well defined and relatable. The integration of magic with healing, the malignancy of those in power, the courage of Ginevra all blend together to make The Stone Witch of Florence a compelling read, one which you won't want to put down until you've read every page!

This book sounded SO GOOD to me and while I am very very grateful for the ARC, I really struggled to focus on what was happening sometimes. I definitely did like it for the most part, I love all things witchy and whatnot, but maybe it's the timeline thing that didn't work for me?? I would still recommend it to someone if I thought it would be their vibe

I did not enjoy this book at all. It just was not what I thought it was going to be.

Thank you NetGalley but I won’t be leaving more thoughts.

3 stars up from 2.5

This was such an interesting and unique story and played into so many of my personal interests, i.e. Florence, the plague, witchcraft & the occult, secretive & shady church stuff, the Late Middle Ages time period, and the power stones have or we perceive they have. We also have a wonderful main character in our “stone witch” Ginevra. This book did a great job at balancing historical facts while weaving in fantasy elements that somehow still felt like they legitimately could have happened. I’ve never been to Florence even though I’ve been obsessed with that city since elementary school. The world building in this book make it so vivid in my head and I’m able to go down a rabbit hole googling certain places or events or items mentioned throughout the story. This book sort of gives a mix of A Discovery of Witches vibes mixed with The DaVinci Code vibes (or, at least the very little I remember from that book, which I read 20ish years ago). Others might disagree with me, but the magic/occult stuff and churchiness rolled into the legit historical realism reminds me of those two books off the top of my head. I think this is a really great, atmospheric read or a great way to dip your toes into the fantasy genre if you’re hesitant to dive right in. I liked this book so much I bought it in hardcover and an additional kindle version. I hope we get many more books like this from Anne Rasche in the future!

I absolutely love this book!! Witchy books are always a go to comfort world for me so I was very excited to delve into this world. Especially with the setting in Florence during the Black Death, one of the worst hit areas by the plague. It's interesting how after the 2020 lockdowns, we are actually able to connect to events like that in real time now. So everything about this book sank its claws into me before I even read a page. The blending of magical realism and historical fiction was so beautifully done and so engrossing, I didn't want it to end.

This story is told in third person and dual timelines. In the former timeline we are introduced to main character Ginevra, a ten-year-old girl living in 1330 Genoa apprenticed to the local healer learning about her magical abilities quietly to avoid notice by the powerful religious leaders who would prosecute for witchcraft. Ginevra dreamed of being a doctor, an impossible feat at the time for a woman and is later sent to a convent in Florence to continue her healing education. The latter timeline finds Ginevra back home in 1348 where she has been exiled from Florence for her healing practices. A thief has been stealing religious relics from the churches of Florence, leaving plague in their wake. Ginevra is promised a pardon in return for finding the thief and returning the relics.

As a geologist, I’m always fascinated by stories that involve rocks and I loved reading about the various gemstones and their purported healing properties. I really enjoyed Ginevra’s journey to finding the thief and the revelations of her youth and how she came to be exiled. As she investigates the missing relics, Ginevra attempts to heal many people of the Plague along the way, some hopeful and some suspicious of her practices. She touches many lives with kindness, making new friends and even turning old enemies into friends. The story shines with the light of hope amid devastating loss.

Recommended to historical mystery fans who enjoy witchy healing stories.

Thank you to Netgalley, The Hive, and Park Row Books for a copy provided for an honest review.

A mystery in Florence during the Middle Ages amidst the Black Plague.

Ginevra has the special ability to use magical gemstones to aid in healing. She also can’t get sick thanks to her ancient, magical necklace.
She’s been banished for the past 10 years after having been publicly disfigured for using magic. Then she is summoned back to Florence to help solve the mystery of the disappearance of religious relics.

Florence is being ravaged by the plague and now the religious relics that people believe have miracle properties are going missing. Ginevra returns and immediately begins sleuthing.

This was a fun read and I enjoyed that it was a standalone. A historical fantasy mystery. You get dual POVs and dual timelines in the chapters as you follow the characters through solving the mystery.

I absolutely loved all the interesting information on the plague and the use of different gemstones. The magical system was simple, but unique. I would absolutely have loved it if there was a little glossary in the back that listed each stone, what it looks like and what its fictional magical abilities are. I just think that would have been a nice touch to further bring this book to life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for the free early access read in exchange for an honest review.

The Stone Witch of Florence is a vividly imaged tale that blends magical realism with historical fiction. The subject matter deals with the arrival and aftermath of a plague, the corruption of the Church, and the persecution of "witches" and "heretics." Ginevra is a compelling FMC, who starts off as a sensitive and big-hearted teenager and slowly navigates her way to the wisdom of adulthood. I really enjoyed the magic system in this book that was tied to divine aspects of gemstones. I did have some trouble with the pacing, which could get rocky at times and disrupt the reading experience. That being said, there was so much about this book that did work well, and that I enjoyed. I would recommend it to those who enjoy a historical fiction with a dash of magic, a Western European setting, and the exploration of deeper and darker societal themes.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Anna Rasche for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishigg by for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Overall I enjoyed the book but there were a couple of overall choices made that just brought down the entire book a couple of notches for me. First is that the vibes were much more cozy and comedic the second half of the book compared to the first half, and that mood change was very unexpected and threw me off. Similarly, the first part of the book is told in a dual timeline that switches back and forth between chapters which I found very confusing, but then that ended abruptly in chapter two. Both of these just made the book feel disjointed and a bit non-cohesive for my tastes. The premise was interesting though and entertaining for sure.

I felt this one was a good take on the witch genre set during a time period we don’t hear a lot about. I loved the gem aspect of the story and felt it was well researched.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review the book

"The Stone Witch of Florence" by Anna Rasche is an immersive mix of historical fiction and fantasy, where 14th-century Florence is brought to life with Rasche's meticulous attention to detail. The protagonist, Ginevra di Gasparo, is both relatable and enigmatic, her struggle with her gift of gemstone sorcery adding depth to the tale. Rasche's portrayal of Florence during the Black Plague is hauntingly vivid, effectively transporting readers to a time of turmoil and resilience.
The book stands out for its unique blend of magical realism and historical accuracy. Rasche's narrative is rich with historical authenticity yet doesn't shy away from weaving a compelling fantasy. The author's ability to balance these elements while keeping the plot engaging is commendable. The magical elements are seamlessly integrated, enhancing rather than overpowering the historical setting.
One potential drawback is that the pacing may feel slow at times, especially for readers seeking a more action-driven plot. However, the character development and atmospheric world-building make up for these lulls, rewarding patient readers with a deeply satisfying story.
In essence, "The Stone Witch of Florence" is a well-crafted tale that will appeal to fans of both historical fiction and fantasy, offering a fresh perspective on a well-trodden period of history. Anna Rasche's debut novel is a promising start to what could be an exciting series or future works

The Stone Witch of Florence is an excellent debut novel by Anna Rasche. I am easily giving it 5 stars and adding Anna to my list of authors to watch.

I love when books pique my curiosity with interesting facts that seem like they couldn't possibly be true and this one is full of them.
Let's just say I went down the rabbit hole more than once while reading this one.

Thanks to the magical elements, the black plague, and the many references to relics, also known as the body parts of saints, this book will do nicely for a spooky season read.