Sadly wasn’t a big fan. Interesting premise but I couldn’t get through it. Kind of boring characters and story

Normally, I would absolutely love a cozy, witchy book. Unfortunately, this one was not for me. I had a hard time getting into it, and it was a little slow. I think I just wanted there to be even more magic. It felt like the story was lacking something.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I enjoyed this book. The vibes were perfect. My biggest complaint was that there was suspiciously very little magic for being a book about generational magic.

This book was a perfect one for Witchy season! Easy to understand and well written! If you are looking for something super new and innovative this one might not be the one for you, but if you are looking for for an easy read with a good vibe this is a win!

I loved One Christmas morning so when I saw that Rachel Greenlaw had a new book coming out I knew I had to read it and I’m glad I did because I was not disappointed. Such a cute and cozy fall read with multiple POV’s I loved everything about it! Rachel Greenlaw is officially on my “gotta read every she writes” list.

This had a great atmosphere but lacked the driving plot it needed to get past that point. I never yearned to know what happened next or was excited to pick it up, but it wasn’t bad. It just didn’t grab me the way I hoped it would.

I absolutely loved The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw. The story is such a beautiful blend of magic, resilience, and sisterhood—it really pulled me in. The characters felt so real, like people I’d want to sit down and share stories with, and their journeys were both inspiring and heartfelt. Greenlaw’s descriptions of nature are stunning; I could almost smell the woodsmoke and feel the forest around me. If you enjoy stories about finding strength in yourself and in the people you love, with a little touch of magic, I can’t recommend this one enough!

The Morgan women and the magic of Woodsmoke completely drew me in. Carrie Morgan’s return to her grandmother’s cottage after years away is a mix of cozy renovations, family secrets, and mysterious mountain magic. Her great-aunt Cora’s warnings about the mountains and the man helping Carrie with the renovations added an eerie layer to the story, especially when he disappears just as things get serious.

I loved how the story blended past and present, giving a deep look at the Morgan family’s history and the legends surrounding the mountains. The mix of magic, heartache, and love felt so real, and the setting was so vivid it felt like another character. The characters, especially the Morgan women, were complicated and relatable, and their struggles hit close to home. This book was such a beautiful, emotional read—I’ll be thinking about it for a long time.

Probably more of a 3.5…

The Morgan women have always been a bit odd and a bit of outcasts to the other people of Woodsmoke. Carrie Morgan ran away from woodsmoke when she left her man at the alter but is back now that her grandma died and left Carrie her cottage. Carrie meets a man while she is renovating the cottage but is warned against him from her great aunt Cora believing that he isn’t real and will leave her when the frost comes.

I think I mostly wanted more magic and less repetition. It was cozy and the mystery did keep me engaged.

Thanks to netgalley and Avon Harper voyager for an eARC

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced copy for the review. I realllly enjoyed this book. It kept me wondering what was next, and excited to go back everytime I had to put it down for something

I had a hard time getting drawn into this one. Normally I would love a cozy novel like this but the beginning felt very slow and I struggled to figure out what was happening or where the story was going. I would perhaps give this another try sometime as it may have been the mood I was in.

I was so intrigued by this book because the synopsis was giving the unmaking of june farrow x practical magic, which the former is one of my favorite books is the year and the latter is one of my favorite movies ever! I don't know if it was so much my own self inflicted high expectations or the synopsis itself, but I finished this book wanting more. More of the romance, more of the magic, more of the mystery. The book was so atmospheric and I felt transported, but the plot fell a little bit short for me on the romance and magic front. .

I did enjoy the author's writing style so I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of their work in the future.

thank you Avon and NetGalley for this eARC.

This book combines reality with a touch of magic so it is hard to tell what happens by chance and what comes from the stories written in the Morgan compendium. I for one would love to read that book as the little snippets you get at the start of each chapter are quite intriguing.

This story goes back and for between present and past so that we get the whole story of what happened with Carrie and why she ran and what she needs to face now that she has returned to Woodsmoke. I must say I enjoyed the parts with Carrie and Matthieu and their renovation of the cottage best, most likely because it shows moving on from the past and not being stuck like Jess and Tom. That bit was not so much fun. But I did like how it all came together and though the mountains demanded a price, it was sweet and showed how it was willingly paid.

So, it was an enjoyable story over all and I am glad I got the chance to read it.

YAWN!! Maybe it's because I read about 3 books with similar premises all at the same time, but this book truly bored me. All of the major plot points were explained away by showing that... the mountains hold magic and therefore they are what determines who can survive in Woodsmoke. OR that Carrie would have never escaped if she didn't leave as a teen.

There was no big bad that they needed to fight, it was all just generational trauma. I felt like we didn't need to get the viewpoint of our bestie, Jess, but I did feel for her. And the fight between herself and Carrie was dumb and Carrie literally had no right to yell at Jess lol.

Ultimately forgettable, and skippable.

*4.5 stars rounded up*

A story revolving around a book of mountain magic passed down from grandmother to granddaughter? Yes, please!

Carrie Morgan’s grandmother Ivy has passed away & left her a cottage that needs renovating just outside the hometown Carrie fled ten years ago. Carrie returns thinking she can have one relatively painless winter season there & get the cottage ready to sell, but instead she’s sucked back into the orbit of her great-aunt Cora (current keeper of the family book & always making dire warnings about respecting the mountains to those around town), caught up in an uneasy blast from the past with her former best friends, & also finds herself falling for the man helping her update the cottage: but he goes missing just as they’re starting to get close…

Carrie’s quest for a place to belong & the stories that are legend in the town of Woodsmoke are combined in a compulsively readable way, & the imperfect characters make you sympathize while simultaneously suppressing the urge to shake them (in short, this author gets people & portrays them accurately). I also loved the Practical Magic reference & the fact that the book club was reading Erin Morgenstern’s “The Night Circus.”

Thank you to NetGalley & William Morrow/Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’m not even sure how to start this review, because I know that I don’t have the words to describe how incredible this book is. The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells was such an impactful and transformative book, I don’t know how I’m supposed to recover!

This is a tale of magic, of female friendships, of family, of being lost (then found), of heartache, of love. The way Rachel Greenlaw built this tale is beautiful. Absolutely stunning. The writing itself is incandescent - Greenlaw builds characters and storylines, almost like a swirling mist, with everything and everyone dancing around each other, but with purpose. She brings everything together in the most brilliant way, especially with her snippets from the past. Truly, the writing seeps into your very bones, much like the magic of Woodsmoke.

The storyline itself is unlike anything I’ve read before. The mountains are a character in and of themselves, and while they have no dialogue, they speak through the tale. The women of this book, the majority of them Morgan women - with the exception of Jess - are all complicated, magical, but very human. Each with their own desires and complicated relationships with the mountains & Woodsmoke, they highlight the decisions and weaknesses of our own human hearts.

The men of this book are supporting characters, in my opinion, but supporting characters that are very much needed. They support and further the plot lines of the Morgan women, and the men undergo their own pivotal growth and changes.

This is the perfect book. Sincerely, I have no notes. I knew about a third of the way through that I was never going to get this book out of my heart. I will be recommending it to anyone who will listen to me.

***Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the ebook.

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is a contemporary fiction novel steeped in magical realism, weaving elements of witchcraft, romance, and mystery against the haunting backdrop of Woodsmoke’s mountain setting. The novel follows Carrie Morgan as she returns to her family’s home after a sudden departure ten years earlier. Her goal is to restore her late grandmother Ivy’s cottage, but upon arrival, she encounters a mysterious man, Mathieu, who offers to help. Meanwhile, her great-aunt Cora, the keeper of the Morgan family’s Compendium of Spells, believes that Carrie is cursed and that Mathieu may not even be real.

The novel excels at building suspense around Mathieu’s true nature. Is he really just a man helping Carrie, or is there something supernatural at play (i.e. retribution from the mountains)? This mystery is cleverly constructed, with subtle hints and eerie moments that make you question the boundaries between the real and the magical. The sense of place is also incredibly strong, with the mountains of Woodsmoke feeling alive with secrets, a place where both beauty and danger lurk in equal measure. The magical realism here is woven seamlessly into the narrative, creating an atmosphere that makes the mundane seem extraordinary and the unknown, all the more sinister.

However, despite the gripping mystery and atmospheric tension, the story doesn’t fully develop its magical elements or the witchcraft at the core of the Morgan family. (So disappointing!) The potential for deeper exploration of the family’s magical heritage is largely underexplored, and the catalyst that drives the plot, while important, doesn’t have the emotional weight or significance that it could have had.

Side characters like Tom, Jess, and even Ivy, Carrie’s beloved grandmother, don’t feel as integral to the story as they might have. There is really only snippets of backstory, which makes it hard to connect with the characters on a deeper level. Even the small chapter about Aunt Cora and Uncle Howard tender and sweet-- it didn't add much to the overall plot, especially considering the heavy atmosphere at play.

Carrie’s own journey also feels somewhat underdeveloped. While her struggles with her past—particularly with Tom and her abrupt departure from Woodsmoke—are central to the plot, her emotional development is not fully explored. As a result, her decisions, especially when it comes to Mathieu, don’t always resonate with the depth or urgency. The repeated motifs of Carrie leaving and returning, of unresolved conflicts, aren’t as impactful because we don’t get a sense of why these issues weigh so heavily on her heart. There’s a lot of surface-level storytelling here, and while the backstory is provided, it doesn’t quite satisfy the reader’s need for a deeper understanding of Carrie’s motivations.

Despite these drawbacks, The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells remains an enjoyable read for those who appreciate atmospheric fiction with a touch of suspense and magic. The novel offers a rich setting and a compelling mystery, even if some of its emotional beats and character development don’t hit as hard as they could. If you enjoy books that focus more on mood and atmosphere than on intricate character arcs, this book will likely appeal to you.

Rating: 3.0/5

Would I recommend this book? Sure, this was an ok choice for fall/winter. It’s a solid read for fans of magical realism and those looking for a suspenseful, atmospheric tale, but if you’re looking for deep character development and emotional resonance, you might find yourself wishing for more.

Sometimes, a book just doesn’t resonate, and unfortunately, that was the case for me with this one. The writing itself is solid and polished, and I can absolutely see how it would appeal to certain readers—I even have a few people in mind I’d recommend it to. However, the characters and plot just didn’t quite connect with me on a personal level. I’m genuinely disappointed because I had high hopes, but I’m not giving up on this author. I’ll definitely try another of their works in the future to see if it’s a better fit for me!

This was an interesting and unique witchy, wintery read! I was expecting it to be a little bit more cozy, as this was more emotional than I thought it would be. Started off very slow, but once I got to the half way mark, I wanted to binge the rest of it to see how it ended!

I enjoyed the family history revolving around the book of spells, and was initially invested in the extra complicated love triangle, but the pacing was slow and I struggled to stay engaged. There wasn't as much witchy magic as I had expected, and Jess's POV really lost me. I love a good atmospheric read but the vibes took over and this was very character driven, which ultimately wasn't for me.