Ah, this story was incredible. Badass witches coming together to help one in need. And they eat poisonous plants as their defense mechanism! Ugh, I love these characters.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC. Honestly this book was nothing like I expected and I loved going into it sort of blind. It felt like a true crime thriller but also had some magical realism that I loved. Piers and the whole cast of characters really stole my heart. I loved watching her get comfortable in her own skin and her new found powers. I honestly wish we got a little more of the hunt aspect within this book. I feel like that would’ve elevated it for me. I also didn’t love her relationship with Reyes. All that to be said though, I still found this book captivating!

Piers has a memory of eating berries in her backyard and a dead man. Her mother takes her to a specialist and they diagnose her with Pica. She also remembers an Aunt who tells her about a place called Crow Lake. Piers has always had weird cravings for poisonous berries. Now she's married to a controlling abusive man. She believes he's going to kill her. So she decides to do something about it.

I went into this book blind. I saw the witch in the title and was instantly intrigued. Boy, did this book capture me right away. I had a hard time putting it down in the beginning. It lost me a bit in the middle and redeemed itself at the end. A witchy murdery book. A fantastic read.

The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn is a darkly satisfying blend of revenge thriller, magical realism, and feminine empowerment. From the first chapter, I was hooked by Piers Corbin—a woman whose lifelong fascination with poison is more than a morbid quirk; it's her family legacy. After fleeing a violent marriage, Piers finds refuge with her estranged aunt in a secluded mountain town. Her discovery that she’s part of a line of Bane Witches—women who consume poison to rid the world of dangerous men—was both chilling and oddly empowering. Watching Piers embrace her power felt deeply satisfying, especially as she faced off against a local serial killer. Each twist kept me on edge, and I couldn’t stop reading until I knew how it would end.

Morgyn’s writing feels almost hypnotic, weaving eerie descriptions of poisonous plants with themes of justice and resilience. What stuck with me most was how this book balances darkness with moments of hope. The story doesn’t vilify all men—instead, it highlights the strength of good ones while giving space for Piers' hard-earned vengeance. The ending left me breathless, and I’m still thinking about it days later. If you’re drawn to stories that explore strength, survival, and justice, this book will linger with you long after you’ve turned the final page.

“We don’t fear men in this house, men fear us”

Hooked from the very beginning and could not put The Bane Witch down. Don’t let the cover fool you, this is a dark mystery thriller.

The concept for the plot is unique. Piers is a witch but doesn’t know it. What’s more is that she is a Bane Witch who can eat poisonous plants that regular people would die from. She doesn’t discover this until she escapes from her abusive husband to go find her aunt. From there Piers learns just who she really is and what she is capable of.

There are a ton of dark topics in The Bane Witch that are not limited to domestic violence, SA, choking, rape, and more.

As a survivor of domestic violence strangulation, I felt empowered by Piers and it connected me even more while reading.

The Bane Witch is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2025!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC. This is an honest review and the thoughts are my own.

Overall I enjoyed the magical realism and Piers escape from her husband, but the pacing was a bit distracting at times and felt off. I enjoyed this while I was reading it, but wasn’t actively reaching for it when I paused.

Not going to lie, I thoroughly devoured this book, but it didn't hit for me until AFTER the first couple of chapters. The start of this book is a tad rough. Mostly because there are a few little things that aren't explained until later, or not explained very well, so it makes it seem like there might be a tiny plot hole or two.

Push through!

Once I got into the story, I realized that I probably would understand the "little things" if I went back and did a reread with context, or if I didn't bother, the "little things" wouldn't matter all that much, because the overall plot swept me away. This feels like a cult classic. A certain kind of perfection in the imperfection. It's suspenseful, easy to read and action packed. Witches meets Serial Killers! I want to obtain a physical copy of this when it comes out. I loved it so much.

The pacing of this book was absolutely perfect; impossible to put down. Piers was such a compelling character and I thoroughly enjoyed her development throughout the novel

This book deals with dark themes including domestic violence, murder, and more.

I found that the beginning 2/3 of the book were very engaging and I really was rooting for the main character to get away from her abusive husband. I think the introduction of the magic and the secret society of women witches managed to lose me. I found that the character arc from the beginning right up to that point was believable and empathetic but I found some of the mistakes made by Piers to be really annoying and the character turn a bit difficult to enjoy. Some of the point of view switching also made it difficult to follow.

Solid read but lost steam near the end.

Mixing magical realism with thriller is one of my favorite combos so when I tell you I was jumping up and down after reading the synopsis of this book, that's an understatement. That combined with the incredible cover... I was all in.

Now that I've finished there are some things that I absolutely loved and some things I'm a bit disappointed by. This book really started with a bang! I was sucked in by that cunning that Pier's showed when it came to escaping her abusive relationship and intrigued by the unraveling of past as she begins to discover her family history and true life calling. The story did take a bit of a turn at the halfway point though where I felt like Pier's personality changed. After being given a purpose and support system for seemingly the first time in her life, Piers met that with truly questionable choices that put the people she loved at risked in a way that was childish and selfish and hard for me to continue to like her as a character.

Overall though I enjoyed the story and it was a unique and exciting read. It'll be a fabulous spooky season read that I won't hesitate to recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. I am Currently still reading but I am halfway and will review what I had read thus far.
This read has been very grippiling from the very beginning. Piers's life is a golden housewife life, until she can no longer cannot take it anymore from her demanding husband and his lifestyle. So she starts off by planning her own death to the extreme. Of course plans don't always go as they are planned. She eventually gets to where she needs to be, and shows up at her long lost Aunt doorstep. While there she is currently understanding where she came from and her families history, that brings back a lot of memories from her childhood that shes forgotten about or was never told about from her mother, who kept this side of her life closed and never shared much about it to Aracadia (Piers new name).
I will update my review once done. Will say this is very triggering for some who may have dealt with DA in there past relationships.

I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC version of this book.

I really enjoyed this story about vigilante witches and the story behind Piers. Piers has a dark childhood and is an abusive marriage - she chooses to 'gone girl' herself and run away to a long lost Aunt that she knows about. Here she begin to learn her true heritage and the realities of being a bane witch. Story flowed nicely without being drawn out and was darker than I was anticipating (which I enjoyed) - I would recommend to anyone interested in a crossover of Fantasy and True Crime.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. DNF. I will not be finishing it. This is not the books fault at all. I have no idea why I requested this, because reading the synopsis, it does not sound like my kind of book. This is different than what I usually read. Maybe I requested it because I was in the mood for something different but this is not for me. I’m only rating because it makes me and reviewing so it doesn’t hurt my feedback ratio.

I was so shocked by this book and loved it so much! It would have only been better reading it during spooky season.
The story was so unique to me and had a perfect mix of Belladonna and Gone Girl with slightly more dark undertones. We have a mystery with a lot of moving parts and magic that cannot be explained, and I had the best time!
The only thing that could have made it better was if the ended wasn’t as “tidy”? It wrapped up almost too nicely after all the twists and turns the story takes, I was more expecting things to go unanswered.
I would definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy an eerie tale of the unexplainable, complicated romance, and a mystery of a serial killer wreaking havoc on all the main characters.

The start of this book was quite intriguing. A woman faking her death to escape her abusive husband. There was another story going on as well, the same woman who was faking her death had an odd experience when she was five years old. She was found in the woods near a dead stranger. She had also ingested a large amount of poisonous berries, which should have been fatal.....and survived.

From her on two stories play out consecutively. Running from her husband, to an aunt she barely knew... and unravelling why she could ingest poisonous berries repeatedly and survive. What lost me was the third story, of an ill fated romance. That is when I really began to loose empathy for the MC, and become less interested in her story.

I felt like this book had interesting ideas and concepts, but in my opinion too many storylines were going on at once. I DNF'd this book at about the 60% point.

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC to read and review.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book. Domestic violence is not a topic I prefer to read, however, this book is extremely well written and with the mystical storyline included made this an amazing book. I could not put it down. The main character is relatable with the mistakes she makes but not so obvious that you are screaming at her what was she thinking. Some stories the characters are just so blatantly written oblivious that it is annoying. This author did not make this mistake and made the character realistic. Absolutely recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin's Griffin for letting me read it early.

Thank you to St Martin’s Griffin for the earc, all opinions are my own.

Piers Davenport is married to an abusive man. We learn of her past, an estranged family, her mother’s death, and she managed to find the worst sort of person. After his mother dies a few weeks after their wedding, he really starts to get more aggressive. Piers fakes her death and heads north to find an aunt she met once at the age of 5. After a few unfortunate deaths and meeting up with her aunt, she learns that she is a bane witch. A woman that ingests poison to use later on a victim.

The premise of this was unique and I was hooked for the story. The side characters were fun and endearing and the thrillers/suspense aspect kept me up late finishing the book!

I read this over two days and the only reason I didn’t finish it on the first day was because I was reading and reading and didn’t notice how late it was getting until 3:10 am.

If you weren’t able to tell from my above statement, I didn’t want to stop reading this.

Well earned female ire, revenge, magic, a secret sisterhood, all in one tightly paced thriller. This kept me turning the pages, held my interest, and captivated me from the first chapter. The reasoning for my star rating are the last chapters; I found the final confrontations oddly unfulfilling after the buildup of the story, along with being far too quickly wrapped up. I still enjoyed this despite the ending, but it definitely adversely affected my reading enjoyment.

This was my first time reading Ms Morgan’s work; it won’t be the last.

*“The world as we know it has l long festered a hatred for women, let alone witches, a hatred for everything we are and stand for. There is nothing it despises more than a woman with power.”*

Recommended!



*Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the DRC*

4.5☆ rounded to 5 here and on Goodreads.

I seriously sat here and read this book in a single day. It was a bit slow and dark and touched on extremely heavy subject matter, but I was sucked into the story. I haven't read anything like it.

Piers is an abused women who fakes her own death because she knows her husband is going to kill her. That in and of itself makes for a powerful story as she relearns to stand on her own two feet after. But then you add in magical family secrets, where the magics' sole purpose is to rid the world of abusive men... and you have a recipe for a unique story full of feminine rage and female empowerment.

I think my only complaint was that it focused so heavily on men being the perpetrators. While it did showcase that not all men are evil and there was mention of one woman who abused a man which was one of the driving factors for him turning out the way he did, it was kind of glossed over in comparison. I wished this superpower the bane witches have was for all abusers regardless of gender.

Overall though, I did really enjoy this book even though it's not my usual sort of read outside of the magical part of it. I think it would be a great read for spooky season especially.

A dark book about the brutality of abusive men and the women left injured in their wake. Piers fakes her death to escape her horrifically violent husband. When she tracks down a distant relative to lay low for a while, she discovers a legacy of poison witchcraft and the power to fight back against dangerous men. A really interesting take on witches, and I loved how Piers tries to get control of her power in time to stop the violence that seems to circle her.