This book was extremely well done. The magic and trauma were so eloquently intertwined. I could not stop reading this book . It was suspenseful, thrilling, and emotional all at once.

The synopsis really drew me in, but I did find it slow paced at times. However, I the character development and world building was executed well.

I devoured this book like a Bane Witch in her cycle. It was mysterious, tragic, exciting and sadly, informative. Echoing through this magical realism fantasy novel are sad but true references to domestic abuse and the women who do not always escape their abuser.

I found myself heavily invested in Piers and what happened to her, and was on the edge of my seat during a couple of scenes. And wow - what a backdrop! The Adirondacks in New York are absolutely stunning and Ava Morgan captured them beautifully in her prose.

There’s a sprinkle of romance, a dash of murder mystery, mixed up with found family, covens and botany. Something for everyone. Highest recommendation.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Griffin for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so unexpectedly dark, so unexpectedly delicious, and I gobbled up every single page of it. Truly so original in so many ways and I just couldn't get enough of it. This is a read that will stand out and demand attention among its genre. One everyone should read; I just can't recommend it enough; I loved every single thing about it, from the setting to the dark atmosphere; it was just fabulous.

A year or so ago there was a trend that took social media by storm posing the question of whether women would rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear and women chose the bear. The concept for this book appears grounded in that premise, but never in a misandrist way that that debate often veered into. The men in this book weren't all evil, though the evil ones were somewhat stereotypical and flat villains.

The Bane Witch is a character-driven dark contemporary fantasy with a fun romantic side plot of forbidden love. Piers, escaping an abusive marriage, fakes her own death and runs away. But she's always had a bizarre craving for poison, in her case pokeberries, that her mother had tried to medicate away in pursuit of a normal life at all costs, and she's been drawn to controlling men. Piers runs to rural upstate New York to her Aunt Myrtle's bed and breakfast, where she unearths the family secret - she comes from a long line of bane witches.

These witches, like a cross with a vampire, feel a compulsion to feed on poison during cycles in which they use their allure to draw in bad men, men who are rapists, serial killers and child abusers. They then feed on the men, killing them with the poison ingested in their body. The science of this was a little far-fetched, some of the poisons acted a bit preternaturally fast and how can they hide that pattern from suspicion - but I appreciated that these weren't fluffy, sparkly witches and had dark, dangerous powers that had a cost and high stakes. I also liked how they were dark superpowers and never killed innocent men.

I also liked Piers's intoxicating forbidden romance with the Sheriff, the one man who could put them all at risk. Even good men are at risk in their world because of the danger of the poisons and stigma among the venery against all men. But Piers makes it work and I found their romance swoonworthy.

An alluring, sometimes melodramatic read with a writing style that could veer on florid, I very much nevertheless enjoyed this look into a breed of superhero death witches on their quest to rid the world of evil men.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A dark paranormal drama including elements of fantasy, romance, and thriller. Follow along as the main character leaves a dangerous situation and ultimately finds both her family and herself.

Being able to encompass female rage in a general sense is impressive but a coven of witches killing bad men with beautiful writing? This will absolutely be one of my favorite reads this year. Brb preordering!

I loved this book so much. There is something about woman rage that just sucks me in. A family of female witches that kill bad men, basically everything you could ever want in a book. While the premise of The Bane Witch is not unique, the method of killing and other details were. It was well-written, had very likeable characters and was entertaining.

If you like books about witches or killing bad men, this book is for you. I absolutely will read more from Ava Morgyn.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was really invested and loved the plot until I got to the part where Piers talks about being SA'd with no prior TW list on the book, or on Netgalleys site. Didn't really have an inclination to be interested after that. I absolutely abhor books that don't give warnings for sensitive content, and I was unable to enjoy the book afterwards. Disappointing.

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this as an eGalley from NetGalley to review..

Thoughts: This was an intriguing book, and mostly I liked it. I definitely enjoyed it more than "The Witches of Bone Hill". Some portions of this book are pretty brutal to read. There is a lot about abusive relationships and abuse of women in general (all types of abuse; mental, sexual, and physical).

Piers is trying to escape her horribly abusive husband and is forced to fake her own death to do so. In desperation, she flees to the wilderness to find her Aunt. When Piers accidentally kills a man who tries to take advantage of her on the drive out there she is even more upset. When she finds her Aunt Myrtle, she learns that she has special powers to poison evil men. There is a serial killer loose in the wilderness near Myrtle's house, and Piers may have ended up here for a reason...it is her calling to hunt and kill this vicious predator.

The story is very suspenseful, although it was also more predictable than I would like. I enjoyed the beginning and watching Piers learn about her mysterious powers. Things got a bit slow in the middle while we were meeting all the Bane witches and waiting for Piers to learn to use her powers better. I was a bit confused about why all these Bane Witch characters were briefly introduced and then didn't enter the story again. Maybe this is being set up to be a series?

After wading through such slow pacing mid book, Piers's hunt ended up feeling very anti-climatic. There wasn't much of a hunt and things were over so quickly. Even Piers's confrontation with her husband felt strangely anti-climatic and rushed.

I did like the premise of the book, although most of the Bane Witches' powersare hand-waved as "magic". It would have been nice to get a bit more lore and depth around how these women gained their power (there is a bit of this, but it feels very shallow and contrived).

I also had some issues with the characters; they feel very distanced. I never engaged with any of them well. Even the love interest here felt rushed and shallow; it was a pretty insta-love scenario which is not my favorite.

This deals very heavily with men abusing women (that is pretty much the whole story here). There are a lot of graphic abuse scenes and a lot of graphic death scenes (death by fast-acting poison ain't pretty). If that bothers you, I would definitely skip this. I have read multiple books in the last few months with abusive women trying to flee relationships. This led me to look up stats on how common this is and it is way more commen than I expected. It is estimated that about 35% of women and 20% of men have faced abuse at the hands of family members/spouses. That is a huge stat that definitely makes all this literature I've been reading horribly relevant to our society. I fear that stat is only going to get worse with the current sociopolitical scenario happening in the US.

My Summary (3.5/5): Overall there were some things I liked about this and some things I didn't enjoy. I thought the premise was creative and enjoyed the urgency in the beginning and ending of the story. I thought the action scenes were well done. I struggled with the slow pace of the middle of the book and also struggled to engage with the characters; they all feel very distanced from the reader. With this being the second book I have read from Morgan, I think I can say she isn't the best author for me. Her books have been pretty hit and miss for me; I don't plan to seek out future novels by her.

Piers Davenport is married to Henry, who on outward appearances is perfect. She has a messy past that she is battling with and Henry gave her a totally different life. U see the surface, though, he abuses her and is threatening to kill her. She decides to fake her suicide and run away to her aunt that she hasn’t seen since she was five years old. When she reaches her aunt after a tumultuous trip, she starts to understand her past and what that will mean for her as a Bane Witch.

I loved the horror, thriller, fantasy combo here. The magic was totally different and the horror/ thriller edge was great.

It did fall apart for me at the end and I was bummed because the build up was so great.

Thank you for this ARC NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press!

I thought I would enjoy this more. The concept really drew me in. However, the writing in the beginning was very drawn out. The story was slow and I found the details of Henry's trechary to be a bit much. I also could have done without the "candy apple" breast comment.

I did like Piers/Acacia's growth throughout the story. I do think it came together in the end, but I did not enjoy the story as a whole. If the roles were reversed and this was a man hunting evil women I think it would have been cancelled.

The premise of this book was very intriguing. I thought this take on witches and their magic was pretty unique as well, “women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men.” The first part of the book locked me in. I really enjoyed the Gone Girl feel it brought. However, it got really lost within the book. It almost went in a different direction and wasn't as strong. There was a lot going on at one point. Towards the end is where I lost interest, unfortunately. I still very much enjoyed this story, though.

🖤Magical Thriller
🖤Female Rage
🖤Forbidden Love
🖤Antihero

Thanks to NetGalley for my advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn grabbed me by the throat (no pun intended) from the very first page. A fast paced novel about a family of witches who meticulously take out evil men. I read the entire book in one day and I loved Piers and all the family member that we got to meet no matter how briefly. There were many quotable passages and I enjoyed every second of it.
For a more indepth review check out my spoiler free youtube review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9ReyCxFk80

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so... weird and quirky and darkly delightful?

The simmering, sometimes overflowing, current of female rage throughout this book reminded me a bit of When Women Were Dragons.

Not an easy book to read--trauma abounds--and you'll certainly feel anger, fear, grief, and more. But there's also power and hope and redemption.

At once haunting and enchanting, you'll fall in love (and hate) with these characters and eagerly await what happens after the turn of every page.

I feel like there aren’t a lot of witchy/magical books that can really keep me entertained but this book was absolutely fantastic! The story and witch type was like none I’ve read before. It was devastating and empowering and I need more female legacy magic from Ava!

Learning that one of your purposes in life is to poison evil men? Hell yeah I’m in 🫡

This story started out in a way I wasn’t expecting. Some of the chapters had me gasping while trying to figure out what the FMC was trying to do.

There were a few instances that the flow of the story/fmcs thoughts took me out, but I’m glad I finished. Loved the different magic that was involved

Ava Morgyn serves up feminist rage with a side of poison in The Bane Witch, and I ate it up. Piers Corbin doesn’t just survive, she thrives, trading an abusive husband for a legacy of deadly magic and a growing body count. Turns out, being a Bane Witch means cleaning up the world—one toxic man at a time.

With sharp prose, dark humor, and a heroine who flirts with the sheriff while secretly offing predators, this book is equal parts wicked and irresistible. And just when you think Piers has it all under control? A serial killer crashes the party. Messy, magical, and downright unputdownable—this one slaps.

(May have already slipped this to a few members of my book club but can't wait to rave about it when it drops!)

The Bane With was a creative and interesting read that I enjoyed. I haven’t read anything with a similar concept so I enjoyed getting to read something new. The writing was great, but at times, the main character’s narration felt repetitive, so I took one star for that. Overall, I’d recommend this book for people who love witchy reads and justice.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Mar. 18, 2025
Piers Corbin is desperate to escape her tumultuous and violent marriage. So desperate in fact that she fakes her own death and disappears, hiding out with her estranged great Aunt in a small, isolated community. Her Aunt Myrtle takes her in and Piers assumes a new name and a new life, desperate to keep the secrets of her past behind her. However, Piers soon discovers far more about herself than she ever thought to ask for. Piers, along with her Aunt Myrtle and every other female in her line, is a Bane Witch, drawn to kill violent and criminal men with the natural poisons only the Bane witches can ingest harmlessly. But as Piers realizes the truth about who she is, she also learns more about the Bane witches and how important her role is to the survival of the coven- and to the community as a whole.
I was introduced to Ava Morgyn with her first novel, “The Witches of Bone Hill” so when I got the chance to read her newest novel, “The Bane Witch”, labeled as part “Practical Magic” and part “Gone Girl”, there was no way I was going to pass up the chance.
First, it should be said that this novel has serious themes, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, so consider yourself warned. But it is not a novel about female victimization. In fact, it is the exact opposite. Piers and her contemporaries use their magic to seek revenge and to protect other women, against angry, hateful men, in a uniquely creative way. Don’t expect “Witch” to be a diatribe on hating men, either, as there are several wonderfully charming men in Morgyn’s novel that played significant roles.
There are two plot lines in this tension-filled story. First, of course, is Piers and her journey as she discovers her magic and the power within herself. A serial killer who strangles women and then rapes their corpses is evading capture and it is the hunt for this killer that encapsulates the second storyline, bringing Piers along as she discovers a strange connection between her and the Strangler. Two very separate storylines to be sure but both are equally exciting and they converge smoothly by the end. (A book about witches AND a serial killer? You had me at page one). Speaking of the end- the conclusion delivered everything I was hoping for and I was left utterly satiated.
“Witch” is a suspensefully witchy tale of scorned women who seek revenge on the worst of society, using their combined talents to protect others. With a strong protagonist and some deeply emotional themes, Morgyn creates her own magic with “The Bane Witch”.