Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.

2.5 stars. I wanted to love this book. By the description, there was great potential. Now, I didn’t hate it, but it could have been better.

Some positives.
1. I enjoyed the Scottish mythology. I enjoyed the world building, around how magic works and the trials.

2. I enjoyed Doreen and Margot’s relationship.

3. I enjoyed Doreen and Ambrose’s banter and relationship.

Some negatives.
1. The pacing was off! 20% to get to chapter 5. Then chapter 8 was at 31%, chapter 9 at 40% and chapter 44%.

2. The different POV within the same chapters without announcing which character we are now following was jarring.

3. Unless this was a typo (and it didn’t feel like one with the context), Doreen had her first boyfriend at age 7. But Stella had “for years” found a way to subvert Doreen’s romantic interests. When did Doreen start having romantic ideas?! She was a child, how does this make sense?

4. I really disliked how the girls were treated growing up, especially Doreen. Why not train her to her full capacity? Why keep secrets from the new generation when they will take over the coven eventually?

5. For it to be a HEA, I understand how Ambrose had to forgive the family. Who could forgive these heinous crimes?

One question though. Why do Doreen’s eyes shimmer like pearls at the end? Was she tainted by Ada? Or is it proof of winning over Ada?

I have to agree with many other reviewers…I felt like I was just dropped into a world and thrust into a plot. For a romantasy, that’s an odd way to structure a story and in this case, I felt like it didn’t work.

I like romance at the core of plots, especially if it’s marketed as that. There’s a difference between a romantasy and a fantasy with romance. I would consider this the latter because the romance was barely surface level.

I know I would have enjoyed this more if we’d have had MORE exploration. The setting, the history—we needed more to appreciate the present.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary copy.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

If I am being honest, I struggled with this book. I thought the plot was lacking excitement and the characters didn't have any depth. I almost wonder if this would be better off as an audiobook?? Perhaps I will try again when the audiobook is released.

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher

“A witch generationally cursed to never mind true love sets out to break the spell cast on her family, and she must team up with the last person who wants to help her - the witch who set the curse in the first place.”

Rating: 3.5⭐️
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Yes, no, or maybe: Maybe

Read if you like:

-centuries old curses
-family secrets
-magic
-trials
-intriguing tales

This book was a crazy time! I had about a billion questions while reading and they were all answered over time. If you are a patient reader and willing to go with the flow, this is a very enjoyable and mind boggling cozy fantasy. The writing was lyrical and at times poetic.

Our FMC, Doreen, is a strong and determined witch. She wants to break her families curse so she can find true love. The MMC, Ambrose, is our brooding, centuries old witch that set the curse in the first place! Their love story is tender. We also meet Margot, who is Doreen’s cousin and best friend. She was a 10/10 secondary character, fierce and loyal. (I really hope Paige decides to write her next book about Margot’s story) This book is not romance heavy, it’s mainly focused on the characters’ internal and physical journeys.

Why isn’t this book 5⭐️???
I will confess, the story felt like a fever dream (you’ll see what I mean). Again, I had a lot of questions, and at times was very confused but everything was revealed by the end of the book. I felt like there was probably some lore I didn’t understand (story was set in Scotland). The trials and people they met along the way were all very cryptic. In the end, we did have a nice wrap up to a wild ride! (And maybe a lead into a second book??? 👀👀)

If you want an intriguing and unique read, this is the book for you!

Favorite quotes 💭

“She wore all black, her hair was the color of spilled blood, and her eyes were the shade of burnt honey.”

“Falling in love. It’s not a curse. It’s a hope.”

“To be loved back, in kind, might be the truest form of magic that exists.”

This book made me want to become a powerful witch. It's probably holdover from me seeing The Craft in junior high and deciding it would be cool to be a witch.

Doreen is a loose cannon who releases a male witch that her family had imprisoned and tortured for 300 years. The witch, Ambrose, is responsible for a curse on her family. They embark on a quest to break the curse and the ensuing adventure puts them through a series of trials.

I'm not sure what to say other than I loved this book and didn't want it to end.

DNF at 30%. I was excited for this book and thought it sounded great. The premise of this book held so much promise. Unfortunately the execution fell quite short. There were issues with pace, the amount of attention that was put on different scenes, and even the flow and transition between scenes. Character interactions were flat and forced. I also found the writing itself to be very inconsistent in quality, with awkward or odd word choices and disjointed sentences. I found the flow of the story overall hard to read, and not even something I could speed-read through to try and get to a part that was better. On trying to speed-read, the weird writing and sentences made me have to go back and re-read entire sections because it wasn't making sense. I got so annoyed with trying to read this book that I gave up.

This book tried to do too much too quickly and in a short amount of time. I felt like things started happening too fast? Like I wasn’t able to properly meet the main character or go in depth before important things started happening. Which also meant I cared little for her. But it was also a quick and short book for what felt like a bigger premise so maybe it deserved more pages. Also the dialogue felt childish at times and it was difficult to understand the rules of magic. And just difficult to follow in general. I admire what this book tried to do but I don’t know if it accomplished it for me. Thank you Netgalley for the arc.

So this was a fun idea and i liked the world but it just felt like it was missing something, i feel like they fell in love to fast and the happily ever after wrap up ending felt a little to perfect and neat. Overall it was just fine. And i wanted to like it more

I thought this book was a little confusing. I don’t even know what was going on. It felt a bit jumpy and it just didn’t hold my attention

Thank you Netgalley for this arc :)

A unique witchy story about a curse that needs to be broken, before a heart is broken.

I’ll never be tired of reading a story involving magic. Glad I got to check this out!

A family curse with a destined end. Family secrets and 1/2 truths. A sister determined to break the curse and release her sister from unhappiness.
I was intrigued by the curse and how it impacted all the women in the family.
Although the romance was clear this book felt like it was more about choice and women’s happiness.

I wanted to like this one. The premise—witches breaking a centuries old curse—is definitely the kind of thing I enjoy. And I did really enjoy the world-building. Every scene was so descriptive with rich detail that captured my imagination.

But unfortunately the story itself fell flat for me. The plot was really confusing and hard to follow. It may just be because I haven’t read enough fantasy to get the tropes, but I was often very confused as to what was happening. There were several very significant moments where the characters seemed to grasp something of importance to the plot, but I was left confused. Even the big climax was hard to understand. I was glad they all lived happily ever after, but I didn’t quite understand how they did it.

I didn’t really vibe with the characters either. The aunt was presented as evil and controlling, ruling with an iron fist and torturing her enemies. But then in the final chapters she abruptly transforms into a kind and caring guardian and the torture is laughed off as no big deal. Although hers is the most dramatic, other characters too seem to shift personalities and motivations at the drop of a hat. It was very hard to like the characters when they kept changing so much!

Sadly, as much as I tried to, I didn’t end up enjoying this one.

Thank you to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for my review copy of this book.

Unfortunately this is a fast dnf for me. 2% in and it talks about 7 year olds falling in love and wanting to brush their fingers over the others mouth or tucking the hair behind the others ear. That completely turned me off from wanting to read anymore of this book because that's something teenagers would do or YA, but not 7 year olds. It's just odd anyone would write that about 7 year olds and love.

I loved this book. Magic, generational curses, Scotland. What more do you need to know? Great twists and turns, and very fun.

While this book gives all the witchy vibes with an interesting premise, I had a hard time connecting to the story and characters. The middle of the book lost me a bit and I had to keep going back to see if I missed something. Concept was great but the execution was not.

Title:  A Circle of Uncommon Witches  
Author: Paige Crutcher          
Genre: Romance        
Rating:  3.0 out of 5

Doreen MacKinnon is doomed to die of a broken heart - if she can’t break the centuries old curse placed on her family.

Three hundred years ago, Ambrose MacDonald, a powerful male witch, fell in love with a MacKinnon. And when the MacKinnon witches forbade him from seeing his love, by secretly hiding her away, he retaliated by cursing the family and its future generations to never find love. But it wasn’t without a cost. Now, Ambrose is imprisoned by those same witches, trapped in a tempest and doomed to outlive everyone he has ever loved.

But Doreen isn’t like the other MacKinnon witches. As the 13th generation of the MacKinnon line, Doreen is one of the most powerful witches in centuries… and one of the loneliest. So when she discovers where Ambrose has been trapped, she releases him to help her break the curse, once and for all. Ambrose agrees to help, but with his own motive: vengeance. He plans to use her as bait to enact his revenge on her family.

Together, they enter a series of trials, which take them to a castle in Scotland, off a cliff, and into a world beyond their wildest dreams. As they work together, sparks start to fly, but soon Doreen must choose how far she is willing to go to break the curse, and what she's willing to sacrifice.

Normally I love family saga type stories, but this one didn’t work for me. Family secrets were taken to whole other level, and the flip to “Oh, we were on your side all along” felt completely made up with no supporting evidence. I wasn’t a fan of the insta-love aspect, either.

Paige Crutcher is a former journalist. A Circle of Uncommon Witches is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

(Blog link live 2/26).

An enthralling witchy romance with plenty of drama and mystery. Great character development and overall plot kept me drawn into this story throughout and turning pages to find the resolution in this story. My only critique is that it seemed to be tied up a bit too neatly in the end with some of the conflict and characters suddenly getting along.

Circle of uncommon witches was a good read… not bad but not great either. I had trouble connecting with the story and honestly got confused at times.

3.5 rounded up!

A CIRCLE of UNCOMMON WITCHES was a well written and good book. But, unfortunately, I don't think it was fully for me. This is marketed as a romance, but to me, it is more of a magical realism, character driven novel that happened to have some romance in it. As a result, I wasn't overly enthralled with the novel because the genre is not a favorite of mine. 

The novel is well written and explores the nature of relationships and love. The ideas were solid and those concepts were ones that made me think. The characters within are interconnected and detailed, and I appreciated how detailed these characters are. I felt like I knew them while I was reading. The magical realism element was amazing for those that love that, and this book is not overly invested into the romance aspect. For many, this is a book that they will love because of those elements. 

Unfortunately, I am not one of those people. Magical realism is a hit or miss for me. And this time is a miss. I think it is because nothing is really fully explained well and effectively. The elements just are. And that is fine to some. But is a reason why the genre and I are acquaintances at best. And, I thought I was reading a romance, as that is how it is marketed. However, I think that is misleading. It isn't really a romance because they just happen to fall in love, very quickly, without the reader really following along with why. It has barely a romance plot at all. 
Overall, this book isn't for me. But it was well written and I cared about the story. If you like magical realism and deeply character driven novels, this will be your vibe. 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

My review: very interesting read. When true love is out of reach because of a curse, you go through your whole life trying to figure it out. Sacrifices, lies and torture In some aspects. Kept me reading , and I really liked to ending.