I really wanted to love this one! This book started off strong with a gripping plot and interesting characters but around half way I lost interest in the story and just did not feel connected to the characters or what they were going through. The journal entries just felt a bit brisk in the book and kept taking me out of the story when they would pop up. Overall though a fun read that I definitely recommend looking into!

If you’re looking for a different angle on a witch romance you should give this book a try.
The story sucked me in immediately. Before I knew it I was halfway finished with the book. Doreen, although fiesty and independent, had the true heart of do no harm. Ambrose, although a bit bad in his own way, has some good left in him as well.
I won’t give away all the twists and turns of this book but I will say I would have loved for it to be even longer as I enjoyed the world and characters.
I received an ARC of this title. All opinions are my own.

Quick Summary: A very witchy tale of a romance

My Review: A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher is a 2025 fantasy fiction novel.

About the Book: "A witch generationally cursed to never find true love sets out to break the spell cast on her family, and must team up with the last person who wants to help her – the witch who set the curse in the first place."

In My Own Words: A curse from long ago is broken by a powerful witch who uncovers her family's duplicity. In the process of liberating the source of the curse, she finds the very thing she wanted all along, and she frees one who contributed to the spell.

My Final Say: This story brilliantly marries the past and the present, by way of Doreen and Ambrose. It is highly entertaining and offers magic, adventure, and love.

Reasons I Liked This Book:
Entertaining
Whimsical
Great world building
Wonderful characters
Happily Ever After

Other: I think this story would be sensational as an audiobook. It would come alive, even more.

Rating: 4.5/5
Recommend: Yes
Audience: A
Re-read: Yes
Keeper: Yes
Favorites Shelf: Yes
Status/Level: 💛

Appreciation is extended to the author, to the publisher (St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin), and to NetGalley. Thank you for granting access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest critique. The words I have shared are my own and have been submitted voluntarily. I am grateful for the opportunity to review this title.

I loved this book: it’s a fast-paced adventure fantasy romance. Give me witches and a quest any day!

Doreen is a seemingly normal woman, turning 30 soon and still trying to figure out her life. But she is also trying to break a generations-old curse that will see her dead by 30 if she doesn’t find love. The only thing is, her family’s curse means that others fall in love with them, but the women don’t fall in love. Feeling held back by her controlling family, she decides it’s time to break the curse once and for all.

Breaking the curse leads her to Ambrose, who’s been trapped by her family for centuries. He’s angry, handsome, and has a grudge to pick with her family. The two of them set off to break the curse, and end up in the underworld where the ancient witch, Ada, has her own reasons for hating both of their families.

The story is sweeping and dramatic and fast-paced. You’re thrown into the world and magic system and, like Doreen, have to hang on for the ride. I understand this may not be everyone’s favourite style, but I personally love this writing. It asks you to grab hold and trust the journey. The magical setting, based on Scotland, and the cast of characters of Doreen’s family of strong witches and Ada’s army of souls, are fantastical and lush.

This is a story about love. Not just romantic love, but familial love, sisterly love, and unconditional love. It asks us to look deeply into ourselves and identify what we need to do to open ourselves up to love and accept and give it freely.

I think the only love in the book I struggled with was Doreen and Ambrose. They are strong-willed characters, whom we don’t see a lot of facets of. They are focused on survival and the quest. And yet, they insta-fall in love. While I loved how their relationship bloomed once they were in love, I didn’t like the instant love trope here. I don’t think it did the characters and their journey justice, and that watching them learn to love would have been more apt with the book.

A Circle of Uncommon Witches has Starless Sea vibes and is perfect for fans of Erin Morgenstern, Marisha Pessl and Sangu Mandanna.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press @stmartinspress and St. Martin's Griffin, for both the physical and electronic copies of this book!

💫 A Circle of Uncommon Witches had everything that instantly hooked me. The story has powerful witches, feuding clans, generational curses, and an alternate universe filled with trials.

Doreen, a thirteenth-generation witch from a powerful bloodline, is determined to break the curse that prevents the women in her clan from finding true love. But in doing so, she breaks more than just family rules. She frees Ambrose, the very person who had cast the curse. Now, the two must journey together in search of a solution.💫

✨️The lore in this novel is so compelling. The alternate version of Scotland the author has created is immersive, and I could vividly picture the setting as I read. That said, the beginning was a bit of a struggle for me since the story jumps right in without much setup or a prologue. But as things unfold, everything starts coming together, and I just wish that there were easy transitions in the story to understand everything that was going on.

One of my favorite parts was the friendship between Doreen and Margot. Their friendship and love were the strong point of this story. The world-building, as I mentioned before, was excellent and a highlight of the book. While there is some angst between Doreen and Ambrose, the romance takes a backseat to the larger fantasy elements.✨️

🍃If you’re in the mood for a witchy story with trials, curses, and an immersive setting, definitely check this one out!🍃

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher was a fun and quirky read, but it didn’t fully live up to my expectations. The premise was intriguing—the trials, true love curse, enemies to lovers, and generational family dynamics—but the execution felt a bit uneven at times.

I enjoyed the world-building, especially the idea of a hidden society of witches, and the magical elements were unique and imaginative. The characters had potential, but I found myself struggling to connect with them at times. The protagonist, in particular, seemed a bit one-dimensional, and I was hoping for more character development throughout the story.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but not as captivating as I hoped. Fans of light, magical fiction might still enjoy it, but for me, it just didn’t hit all the right notes.

The MacKinnon witches are cursed and have been for centuries. They are doomed to never be able to fall in love. And if they do not enchant a mortal into falling in love with them by their 30th birthday, they die. So many of the MacKinnon clan has spelled a human or two in order to keep living. But it is not love and it is very lonely. Doreen MacKinnon decides she is breaking this curse once and for all and wakes Ambrose MacDonald, (he who cursed the MacKinnon clan) to find out how to break the curse. Doreen and Ambrose wind up in a series of trials on the Isle of Skye in order to break the curse and set free the souls of the entire MacKinnon line.

*Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this digital audio e-arc.*

I was really excited to read this book but unfortunately I struggled to stay interested in it. The first half was exciting but by the middle I found myself not being able to keep reading and when I had one chapter left I struggled to even finish it. The premise was good but there was almost too much going on with not enough world building to sustain it.

I enjoyed this book. It is a fun read that I would definitely recommend. I enjoyed all of the characters in this book. They mystery around the solving of the curse was fun to read. I did feel the ending was slightly rushed, but only slightly and I still enjoyed it a lot.

I will start by saying that overall it was a decent read. I think this author can write beautifully. So much so that I felt like this could have exceeded better as a historical romance. There was enchanting imagery and just the tone of the writing felt like a storybook. But then I realized it was set in modern times and the narrative felt disjointed to me.

The book started on an intriguing note, with a backstory about the MacKinnon curse, leading to Doreen taking immediate action. Even the initial romance aspects were promising, with Doreen and Ambrose’s back-and-forth. The mystery of the full truth of the curse was admittedly clever. But then suddenly too many things were happening in the plot. These characters were taken from one location to the next, with very little actually happening in these places. Not a lot of characterization happened as well, which made it harder to root for their romance. I was hoping for more Scottish roots too, but the characters really fell flat for me. There was a lot of dialogue between the characters, perhaps too much honestly, and the humour felt forced. Each character seemed to have an uncontrollable need to lace their comebacks thick with sarcasm, and it got annoying really fast.

But I think what really disappointed me was the romance 😅 While there was obviously an attraction and tension between Doreen and Ambrose, they had no meaningful connection. Doreen continued to save Ambrose and rather than engaging in deeper conversations, the sarcasm just hung onto every word they said to each other. Plus, the plot had them moving around so much, there wasn’t really even time for a heart-to-heart. Very unfortunate.

Thank-you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for a chance to read this ARC!

𝐀𝐑𝐂: Thank you so much Netgalley
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ - I love me some witches
𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: Tuesday, February 25, 2025

I just want to say a shout-out to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. I love anything and all things witches!

On top of witches when you throw in amazing lore and trials I'm 100% sold! This was such a fun read due to the fact that I love it when revenge plots never go as they should. I cannot wait to read more from this author!

This book has:
🌑Witches
🌑 Trials
🌑 Curse

A Circle of Uncommon Witches by Paige Crutcher is an enchanting and complex fantasy romance that weaves together magic, mystery, and the power of unexpected connections. The story immerses readers in a world of witches, secrets, and love, with rich character development and a captivating plot. Crutcher's skillful storytelling draws you in, making this novel a charming read for fans of magical romance. I received an advance reader copy and all opinions are my own.

I really wanted to like this, but I honestly can’t tell you a single thing that happened. The premise was so good, but the execution made zero sense.

Right from the start, I had a hard time connecting with Doreen, Margot, or Ambrose. You’re thrown right into the middle of this half-explained story and kind of left to fend for yourself. Like, there was an element to magical realism in that magic and witches exist, but they’re in secret, but the magic system is not explained at all.

As others have said, the story is somewhat disorienting and hard to follow. As Doreen and Ambrose embark on these trials, I was scratching my head. The author uses a lot of descriptive narratives to set the scene, but then the scene itself is quick, and it moves on without fully explaining what was happening. It’s just kind of all over the place, and delves into explaining things that aren’t important, while not giving an explanation for things that actually matter.

Even Doreen and Ambrose’s burgeoning romance is barely touched upon, until suddenly they’re in love? And don’t even get me started on the Hastings/Ada/Margaret thing. That came out of nowhere and all those journal entries were so odd

I really struggled with the writing here. It was clunky and confusing, while also being weirdly basic. I swear there were multiple instances of “he said, she said, she said” over and over on a page.

Overall, this concept was so cool but the execution was lacking for me. I came out of this book just so incredibly confused.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and St. Martin's Press for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

Oh how i devour any witchy book i can find. Unfortunate this one has been a real real struggle for me. I wanted to love this so much and it just really missed the mark.

First, I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

This book is a 3-star read for me. I really wanted to love this book. The “bones” of the story are there, and it could be a pretty unique story, however, the influences of the writing are a little too obvious for me, and it felt as though the author needed more space (perhaps a second book) to really flesh out the details they incorporated.

Let’s start with what I did like - Paige Crutcher does have some really adorable turns of phrases. The wording is occasionally very charming and quaint, which makes it feel cozy. There *does* seem to be a desire to have a “quotable” book, so sometimes, it does feel forced, making something that could be more organically charming feel awkward.

This book is also a commentary on men in power and how much they suck - or at least, I got that feeling. For me, that is always going to be a point in a book’s favor.

When I first started reading this book, I got really big “Practical Magic” vibes, but the movie vibes, not the book vibes. It almost felt like a slightly-adjusted retelling. It was cute for half a second, but then it just felt too obvious. The apothecary, the aunts, the red-hair, the judge-y townsfolk, the binding of spells with maple syrup (the aunts bound spells with molasses in the Practical Magic movie) - the parallels were just a little too much. It could just be me looking too much into it, but it felt overbearing at some points.

The story started to pick up around the half way point, but it still had it’s flaws, and made it difficult to finish. Initially, this book felt like it took a second to figure out what it was doing. The witches are introduced as Scottish witches, and then, all of a sudden, we are in Georgia. But, then we end up back in Scotland. The locale changes and confusion made the entire setting unsettling.

When Doreen (which I don’t find a very modern name for such an extraordinary 21st century witch) first finds Ambrose and frees him, it feels a little cartoony - especially when people start throwing the storm clouds around, through windows and doorways. It doesn’t feel like it’s entirely fleshed out, or that the author had the space to delve into details the way they needed to really make us feel like we were experiencing the “battle.” The whole rescue happens awkwardly fast.

The pacing continues to be an issue for me - sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, but generally, with way too much dialogue. There were quite a few times I had to reread entire sections because the plot just seemed to get a little lost for me. The characters seem to get “over explainy” and the dialogue drags on, trying to be “quotable” and you just disengage for a minute. Once the trials were introduced, it felt like an entirely different plot. Almost like there’s a book within a book. I’m not sure if the author had too many ideas and wasn’t able to/didn’t have the space to really flesh them out, but I had more questions than answers most of the time. There were entire plot points that I felt were just…dropped. Or, connections that were a stretch. I would have liked the curse to be one book, and then the trials a second, but I don’t know what constraints the author had on her.

Overall, this was an ok read for me. I really enjoyed the parts I liked, but feel just as strongly about the parts I didn’t enjoy. This wouldn’t be my top recommendation for the year, but it’s a cute seasonal read

If I could give half stars, 3.5. I read the book quickly and found it easily digestible with characters like Doreen that pulled at my heartstrings for merely wanting a love that's real. The story is a good mix of romance and fantasy but light on the witchcraft and obvious spellwork by our main cast of characters with Doreen, Ambrose, and Margot, despite witches being in the title. Its core is based on a curse wrought upon the witches and their entire family line, but most of the book is set in an otherworldly Scotland that is based entirely on magic. With a plot centered around families of witches, I hoped for more casting on the page instead of a illusionary world based on their reality. Romance is believable, although edging on insta-love, but the premise hints at how connections could form. More showing of what happened in the past with certain key characters that caused the current situation rather than all the TELLING would make the book feel more immersive. Stella is presented as too easily forgivable based on her impacts on the girls. The ending feels rushed.

Doreen and Margot's bond makes me smile and feel wistful of past friendships. Without saying too much, I really like how symmetry ties the past to Doreen's mission of breaking the curse. Ambrose grew on me quickly, but I wish more was exposed of how he kept up with changes in the world and even language while trapped. As an antagonist, he is captivating to watch with great banter and tension between him and Doreen.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press /St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley for early access to the book.

Wow this book is so incredibly witchy, I absolutely adored it 🖤 In this standalone we do follow multiple POVs throughout. Our FMC is Doreen MacKinnon, a powerful thirteenth generation witch in her family along with her cousin Margot. Doreen’s family line is cursed due to a tragedy that happens over 300 years ago. Lenora MacKinnon fell in love with Ambrose MacDonald, her family kept them apart eventually hiding her away. Ambrose took revenge and cursed the MacKinnon line to never have true love, also making it so they die by the age of thirty when never experiencing it. Now Doreen is out to break the curse for her line, which results in a crazy adventure involving saving the witch who cursed them to begin with 👀 There is also trials that need to be completed in order to break the curse. Taking place in a haunted Scottish castle setting as well ✨Doreen’s character evolves throughout this book as she discovers everything that has been kept from her throughout her life. I had such a terrible time putting this one down, I really adored this story. I highly recommend this for your next witchy read✨ This author has written other books on witches and now I can’t wait to get them all 🖤

A Circle of Uncommon Witches was, unfortunately, really not the book for me. The premise was promising - a witch must break a curse placed on her family line in order to find true love and not die by the age of 30 and in order to do so, she must free the male witch who cursed the MacKinnon line and undertake a series of trials. Seems like a straightforward, enjoyable romantasy but alas, I found myself bored to tears!
Doreen MacKinnon refuses to cave and marry a man simply to save her own life - she will settle for nothing less than proper love without the taint of a charm spell - but in order to do so she has to free Ambrose MacDonald. Ambrose has been trapped in a spell and tortured by the witches of her family for three centuries all thanks to some failed love with Lenora MacKinnon. The two unlikely allies set out to enter a series of magical trials in order to break the curse. I’ll be quite honest, this is as far as I got in the book because it was just underwhelming and I found myself bored. I kept pushing onward because it’s on the shorter side (320 pages) and I could easily read 10% here and there, but at the halfway point, not much had really happened. The trials had only barely begun and I felt the start was lackluster and quite frankly, I just didn’t care what happened to these characters.
Though I liked the beginning of the book, things started to deteriorate quickly. First of all, the MacKinnon witches are pretty awful. Doreen’s aunt Stella is a piece of work and it’s quickly made clear she’ll do anything to maintain the status quo, though it’s not all that clear why other than she really supports this bizarre centuries old grudge. Next, Ambrose, who has been trapped in a spell for 300 years is also remarkably up to date on the modern world, including the lingo and even implies he can totally drive the car he just ‘borrowed’. I think this was a cheap way out of what could have been a really interesting addition to the story - Doreen having to teach him at least a few basics of the modern world. The excuse behind this was that he can “see” what’s going on outside of the entrapping spell. Lame!
I suppose I’ll never know if the trials were actually interesting because I DNF’d this at 54% and they had only just begun. It seems like there were some interesting ideas here that just didn’t come together as cohesively as I would have liked. I wanted to like this and struggled onward past where I would typically DNF but ultimately decided to pursue a book I would actually enjoy - too many books to spend time reading one you don’t like!

I thought the premise of this was quite good, we have Doreen a witch whose family has been cursed never to know true love. She is determined to break the curse, which leads her to the man who originally cursed them, a castle in Scotland, and a set of trials that will test their will, and their resolve.

I enjoyed both Doreen and Ambrose and while they did have a bit of instalove going on, I don't think it overwhelmed the story. The setting was great, the trials were so interesting and full of mystery and suspense as they figured out what they were supposed to do.

I do feel the story started strong, lost me a bit in the middle, I think the pacing just slowed down a bit too much. But it came back strong towards the end. Overall I think this was an entertaining story with great characters and I had a good time reading it.

Thank you to St. Martins Griffin and NetGalley for my complimentary eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I really enjoyed The Circle of Uncommon Witches.

It’s a wonderful story of love, regrets and family.
Is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all? Is love freely given or just an illusion?

A game of trials, all in the name of breaking a 300 year old curse. Will Doreen, Margot and Ambrose work together to get past the lies and misunderstandings of their families.

Or will they be doomed to a loveless life. Or even worse. Death?