I loved this book! It has such a unique way of viewing witches, and power, and death. I've read a lot of books with witches and so it's rare to find one that really grabs your attention like this one. It keeps you on your toes with suspense and a few twists and turns. It has some fairly dark descriptions so if you are sensitive to sexual assault this could be a tough read but it also shows a woman taking her power back. I give this book a 4.5 because there were too many witches - a handful would have been fine. Also, it could have used some more heat in the romance area. Overall, fantastic book!

Piers Corbin has always known that she was different. By the age of five Piers ate poisonous berries and killed her first man. Piers is now a married woman with an abusive husband. What she does next no one would ever think she would. Piers eats the poisonous berries again and then jumps off a bridge into the water never to be seen again. When Piers emergaes from the water she is no longer Piers Corbin Davenport but, Acacia Lee. Acacia is now seeking refuge from her past and to start a new life with her Aunt Mertle in Crow Lake, New York. What Acacia finds out about her family will change everything about who she thought she was. This was a great mystery and romance book. The storyline was intriguing when it came to the poisonous plants that grow in the wild and why these women do what they do in order to make the world a better place. I was hooked from the very first page. I would like to thank both NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for letting me read an advanced copy of this book.

For as weird and creepy as this book is (witches killing via bodily fluids), I kinda liked it. It was a very engaging read, and I just had to know what would happen next. Big, huge trigger warnings for domestic violence (sexual, physical, psychological) so take care of yourself while reading. Thanks to St. Martin’s for the ARC.

A powerful, well-researched story that draws you in from the start. A compelling and rewarding read from cover to cover

Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read this ARC.

This book had my feminine rage side whole heartedly beating. I loved the story and how it doesn’t follow a typical witch story and had its own twist of magic within it.

The FMC Piers is going through it with her husband and has to die just to get away from this hell hole of her marriage because her husband is abusive and is honestly trying to kill her.

This story has a lot of domestic violence cases and lots of survival happening throughout the book, but learning about your own mother’s past really puts things into perspective for Piers and her entering her witch era.

Thank you again.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!!

This book absolutely exceeded my expectations!! It's gritty and dark, it's empowering and political, it's funny - it's a must read for sure.

Piers Davenport has always felt different from those around her. After faking her own death to leave her terribly abusive husband, she comes into her own and embraces her true self in more ways than she can ever imagine.

The premise of this book greatly intrigued me! I loved the idea of a woman tracing her roots to magic and using it to get revenge and rebuild herself after years of abuse and trauma. It isn't a new concept, but this particular brand of witch is indeed new to me. Overall, I did enjoy this book, and I would greatly agree with the tagline that references Practical Magic (I blatantly pictured Stockard Channing as Aunt Myrtle), but Gone Girl this isn't. Piers herself seemed to go hot and cold in her characterization, making really obvious, questionable mistakes and doubting herself (understandable given her circumstances), but then turning around and blowing everyone away with her power and self-assurance I also don't really think the men in this story, with the exception of the primary antagonists, were necessary. Don't get me wrong: hot sheriffs and do-gooder detectives are fine and dandy. There might have been greater resonance, however, had Piers been able to accomplish her goals with just the strength she finds within herself and the family she's found. The thrill of the hunt was exciting, but the resolution was lackluster, anticlimactic. In the end, I think the main idea of this story is what will stick with me rather than its actual execution.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC!

First I would like to say thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book!

Now, this book was phenomenal. It was difficult to get into the first few chapters, but after that I was hooked. I finished it really quickly and I loved every minute. There were many nights I needed to go to bed but the end of a chapter left me needing to continue.

The plot was fantastic and I LOVED the concept. I’m always in awe about how authors come up with these concepts. It was a little predictable at times, but the plot was so crazy that it didn’t matter if it was predictable because it was still so addicting.

I will absolutely be recommending this to all my friends.
As long as you’re able to handle the trigger warnings I couldn’t recommend this book enough. Please read it!

This is one of the best books I’ve read all year. It’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller with a supernatural twist that grabbed me from the first page. Morgyn’s writing has a beautiful, sinister flow to it. I loved the premise and the execution.

I was able to read this witchy book through a gifted eBook.

The emotional rollercoaster: anger, sadness, doubt, etc.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a well written dark fantasy mystery/thriller with great character development and a very interesting plot. One of the main subjects of the book is poison.

Intriguing. Provocative.
Please check trigger warnings for this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the gifted eBook.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this one. I liked the premise, but some of the pacing was off, and that made me struggle to finish it. I really liked the bane witches magic and how it was used, but their lifestyle was a little archaic to me. Hopefully that’s something Piers changes for them going forward.

Received as an ARC from NetGalley. 4.5/5 stars

Piers Davenport flees an abusive marriage and runs to her aunt in upstate New York, where she learns more about her strange abilities and faces her family's legacy. Piers is a bane witch, able to sense abusive men and poison them before they can kill again.

This thriller is splashed with elements of magical realism and a minor romance subplot. The story is fast-paced and I was HOOKED - I barely put it down until I was finished!

I would recommend this for: thriller readers, people who enjoy books about female empowerment, and fantasy readers who are genre-curious.

Content warnings include: domestic violence and SA, mentioned pedophilia and child abuse. There's also a bit of cop-aganda (two of the three male characters who have more than one scene and are "good" guys are cops and want to protect Piers. The female characters, on the other hand, have very frank discussions about how the justice system fails women).

This was a wild ride, and one I was glad to be on! It is fast paced, and at times it does feel like it may be too much, but Ava Morgyn pulls it together. There really is no detail that doesn’t come together, no matter how utterly random it feels in the moment. While reading this book (and I could not put it down) I felt that I was having some sort of fever dream in the best way. It was truly an experience, with magic, witches and serial killers! A paranormal/crime junkie’s dream (nightmare?)!

3.5 ✨

Thank you netgalley and St Martin Press

Trigger warnings and Tropes

-on the run
-new identity
-SA
-abuse
-serial killers
-witch society
-small town vibes

This book begins with a bang piers, has to commit suicide… Or so you think she must leave her abusive husband who is severely mentally ill and psychotic

So we follow her journey on her way to her aunt’s cabin motel that is all the way up north hours and hours away from Charleston…

I really did enjoy the book. It’s got some heavy hitting topics that can really bring the mood down for a lot of people, but this is real society. This is what happens every day to four out of 10 women in the world if not more it was amazing to kind of see in the world of this author That Bane witches exist to get a vigilante justice that is much deserved

The thing that I disliked about the book was the pace and the writing style we would get into a really hard hitting scene or a lot happens in the first half of the chapter and then the second half is incredibly slow and has a lot of details that I didn’t seem to think were necessary and slowed the story down significantly. So that was just my personal thing I know a lot of people won’t have an issue with that so to each their own I do still think it’s a great story that a lot of people should read to understand what goes on in the world.

The Bane Witch gives a powerful voice to all of us who have been under the violence of someone else. Ava Morgyn paints a vivid story of Piers as she comes into this beautiful and horrible power of hers. I really loved the womanhood/sisterhood of the venery, the connectedness of the Bane Witches all over the world. While some parts of this story were a bit slow for my taste, I did love reading about Piers's growth and development into herself and her destiny. I would love to read a sequel in the same world about some of the other members of the venery, especially one who grew up inside of it.

i was fortunate enough to receive this ARC via NetGalley advance of the book's release on March 18, 2025. this story has an interesting concept that intrigued me from the start, but i found the story to be slow paced with unnecessary information. however, the ending was satisfying and the story came together really well. if you're looking for a story about female rage + witches with ancient magic, i highly recommend this book.

The story is original and interesting, I was consistently engaged. A fast-paced romp about a witch wielding poison as her power, reveling in the thrill of eliminating the worst kinds of men—all while navigating life in a small town.

The FMC’s journey is absolutely gripping—a testament to everything she’s endured and her transformation into a powerful, purposeful woman. Watching her evolve and forge meaningful connections along the way was deeply satisfying. The relationships she builds feel authentic and well-developed, with each character’s personality shining through vividly.

I appreciated the alternate POV of the ongoing investigation, as it provided valuable insight into the other side of Piers’ story and her motivations. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing when the threads came together. It felt like this perspective set up certain implications that didn’t entirely come to fruition. While I can’t pinpoint exactly what I was expecting, it left me wanting just a bit more in the resolution.

Overall, this was everything I could have hoped for from the description!

Ava Morgyn's The Bane Witch is near the top of my 5-star reads this year. I was drawn into Piers's story immediately, and the fast-paced twists and turns kept me engaged to the last page. If you want to see feminine rage written through a witchy, magical-realism lens, this is the book for you.

The world we see in The Bane Witch is the dark, gritty reality of so many women that have experienced abuse at the hands of men. But the women in this world can, and do, take revenge and don't hold back. To be a Bane Witch is to take in poison from the world around you and direct it where it will do the most good - into men who do unspeakably evil things to women.

The writer doesn't shy away from hard themes and somewhat graphic depictions of abuse, but I found it to be tastefully written and enough to be shocking without being gratuitous. Still, TW for a few of the themes is below.

Overall, I really can't say enough good things about this book. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who needs to feel or understand feminine rage - Ava Morgyn is going to be one of my instant-buy authors from now on!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press, for both the eBook through NetGalley and the print ARC from an IG giveaway!

TW: Sexual assault, rape, strangulation, domestic violence

The Bane Witch
By: Ava Morgyn

4 Stars

This was not just a story about a witch. It was a story about survival and justice. It was a story that followed witches and women. Acacia is on the run from her abusive husband. She lands in the lap of the one person who can explain what is happening to her and what HAS been happening since she was a young girl. Her life will be new, in more ways than she ever thought possible.

This was a really good story that turns a fantastical story to one that is relatable. When the story first began, I was swept up in the imagery and drama. It starts off action-packed, and throughout the reader gets more action plus family drama. It was very well written and was detailed and dramatic. I loved the powerful journey that Acacia finds herself on, as many have faced abuse, and this aspect is relatable and is definitely emotional. While a work of fiction, I can't help but wonder? What if?

*I want to thank Netgalley and the author for this book in return for my honest review*

Stormi Ellis
Boundless Book Review

I need more! This book was so fantastic. So captivating. So original! I love the Bane Witch concept and I really hope it continues. Maybe a book for Azalea?? Also Reyes needs some love too!

I will definitely be pre-ordering the hard copy!