This is your classic romantasy with highly empowered women. I love a good himbo-y man. His absolute appreciation and devotion really makes this book. Nothing super complex, but it doesn't really need to be.

Wooing the Witch Queen swept me into a world of magic, intrigue, and romance. The chemistry crackled, the pacing balanced action with quieter moments, and the emotions felt genuine. I did wish for a bit more depth at times, but the story was great! A solid 4 stars!

Wooing the Witch Queen is the first book in the Queens of Villainy series. It is a romantasy that is about a wicked sorceress that everyone is scared of and then we have the mystifying dark wizard who gets hired to sort through the library of magic in her castle. The author wrote this well and the romance in this one was good. Every character in this one was interesting. Overall, this was a fun and enjoyable book that I would recommend to any reader who likes romantasy. Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group/ Bramble for this read in exchange of my honest review of Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis.

This was a quick fun read! I enjoyed the comical setting and have always enjoyed a good mistaken identity trope.

This is a cute and cozy 3⭐️ read for me! There were hilarious characters that I fell in love with! I’d say around 70%, the story kind of plateaued… But I absolutely enjoyed the read overall. If you love magical kingdoms and sorcery and cozy fantasy, pick this up!

This is a super cozy, low stakes romantasy story. There is definitely potential for big drama (hello, secret identity), but things don't really ever get fully there. I might have liked to see a little more, but that would only be a personal preference. For being described as a wicked sorceress, Queen Saskia is pretty fluffy. I still was able to read it fairly quickly and enjoy the ride. The story about these two is wrapped up and we get a snippet of what is to come in book two!

Thanks to Tor and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

I unfortunately have to cycle out of this book, for now. I cannot get into it or the writing. While I’m curious about the world and the characters, it was not engaging me well enough.

I never fully DNF a book and will definitely cycle back into it, but it might be a long long while.

Thank you for the ARC opportunity. And I have posted about this book in a unique way on my socials.

Picked this up after some heavier reading and it was exactly what I needed! Cozy fantasy romance with a prickly queen and a sweet-natured "librarian" who's obviously more than he appears to be. Pair that with a loyal staff consisting of a troll and an ogre, a cadre of wicked queens, and a fun sequel setup, and this is definitely going to be a series I pick up in the future when I need to scratch a very specific (and fun!) reading itch.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this edition from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

So much fun. Librarians are the best and Fabian is an does and amazing job. Fun characters and great dialogue. So much fun

The walls in Burgis’s WOOING THE WITCH QUEEN (Bramble, 294 pp., paperback, $19.99) are magical ones — Queen Saskia of Kitvaria is a powerful sorceress and has cast an enchanted border around her kingdom to keep all her enemies at bay. Enemies like the tyrannical Archduke Felix Augustus von Estarion, supporter of the usurping uncle from whom Saskia just reclaimed her throne. It’s a tense political moment while everyone’s armies are still in the field, and alliances are fresh and fragile.

So when the dark wizard Fabian finds his way through the barrier, Saskia is relieved to have someone she can appoint to organize her mess of a magical library while she looks for more permanent defenses. But Fabian is actually Felix, the archduke himself; his reputation as a tyrant is a fiction. He knows revealing his true identity will put him at risk, but he’s increasingly drawn to brilliant, beautiful Saskia and her loyal cohort. This book delightfully upends the gender dynamics of romantasy while staying true to the core appeal: a warmhearted innocent falling prey to someone hot and sinister.

Stephanie Burgis in Wooing the Witch Queen has written a bubbling and hopeful romantic fantasy about love and hiding your real self. The Witch Queen faces challenges to her authority from her uncle who murdered her mother and father; her new dark wizard Sinistro is really the archduke of a neighbouring kingdom who has sought safety in disguise at her court from his tyrannical guardian. Both have to claim their real powers without disguise. Fun read.

It was cute, but the writing told more than it showed things. This made it harder to connect to or care about the characters much

I went into this really hoping to love it, but it just didn't work for me. I loved the author's voice and writing style, but the amount of infodumping made it so I couldn't connect to the characters at all. I wish she had weaved that more into the dialogue rather than large chunks of prose.

Saskia is the "Wicked Queen" from the stories, determined to protect her small country from the overreach of her evil uncle who inflicted untold trauma on her as a child, and the authoritarian archduke who wants to take over her territory. In order to best protect her subjects, it takes time to study and perfect her spells. She has developed a reclusive personality, and she doesn't appreciate the progression of dark wizards that come to her doorstep to curry favor. The newest is Fabian, who is nerdy and sweet, the right person to become her new librarian. Time spent together leads to a strong bond. Little does she know that he’s actually the archduke who is in hiding. Will their love survive that reveal, and a confrontation with their enemies?

Wooing the Witch Queen is a feelgood, humorous fantasy romance that flips the script, Saskia has “take charge” and “leave me alone” energy, and Fabian is gentle and kind, carrying physical and emotional from his past, but so full of love and goodness. They feel so right together. Fantastic elements are vividly rendered and enjoyable, the storytelling immersing the reader into a world brimming over in magic. Saskia comes off as tough, but never feels truly evil. If that was the goal, perhaps more development in her character was needed. Instead, she reads as “edgy,” a person who has gone through dark experiences that have made her cynical, curmudgeonly and cynical. However, Fabian’s steadfast devotion and care melts her heart of stone. Fabian is an absolute sweetheart. He’s the kind of hero that every (slightly) wicked queen needs. Saskia’s makeshift family includes servants who are considered monsters to the bigoted other nations around her, but show love and devotion, and two other wicked queens who have their own unique quirks. This romance is more on the sweet side with implied sensuality, but there’s plenty there to feel the chemistry between Saskia and Fabian. Wooing the Witch Queen is a pleasant, fluffy concoction of fantasy and romance mixed together, for those who enjoy this combination, or newbies who want to dip their toes into the genre.

This is pure romantic fantasy candy—with just enough plot and social commentary to make it interesting. It’s got deception, secret identities, and that sweet spot of toe-curling yearning. This is exactly the kind of cozy fantasy that keeps a smile on your face the whole time you're reading.

Saskia is brilliant, dangerous, a little prickly, and more interested in her spellwork than small talk. Same, girl. Fabian is charming in a wide-eyed, poetry-writing, cinnamon-roll-with-secrets-that-cause-him-guilt kind of way, and their dynamic is so. good. The fake identity trope here is delicious, especially because you know the reveal is going to be a mess, but you keep waiting for it anyway.

The emotional core here is all about connection and acceptance, and the slow-burning attraction is what really sells the story. The yearning? Top tier. Sidelong glances, hand brushes, hesitant touches—YES PLEASE. I honestly didn’t need the spicy scene that came in hot and fast; it felt more like plot convenience than character payoff because of the magical aspect involved. Give me a good smolder and emotional tension over rushed steam any day.

That said, I did roll my eyes a bit when Saskia got mad at him for not telling her who he was… after she literally took away his voice. He was trying. Ma’am. Come on.

Still, this book isn’t trying to reinvent the genre—it’s here to charm you and sweep you off your feet with magical banter and swoony romance. It’s fun, it’s fast, it’s flirty, and it left me with a goofy grin. If you’re into soft boy love interests and chaotic powerful women, this is the one.

Thank you so much to Tor Publishing Group, Bramble, and Netgalley for the complimentary copy. This review is voluntary and all opinions are my own.

Delightful, rich but also surprisingly fun, with a charming hero of the sort romance could always use more of.

I really enjoyed this book i think that Stephanie Burgis really knows how to write a very good cozy romatasy. I recommend Wooing the Witch Queen to anyone who loves a misunderstood witchy woman and a bit of romance. I am looking forward to reading more of Stephanie's writing.
I fell in love with the characters, and from the world building, all around I would recommend

I really struggled to stay invested in this story. While I enjoyed the idea of the premise I don’t think I could recommend this book to my audiences simply because I found the writing style and plot execution quite boring.

I absolutely adored this! It was such an intriguing book that completely had me guessing from page one till the end!

I went into this book having had forgotten what the plot was at all, I loved the cover design and the sprayed edges so I was in. I am so glad that I picked it up. We had a misunderstood witch queen and the softest, cinnamon roll of an Archduke. I love how it played out and how it did a good job setting up the series. I’m definitely excited to pick up the next book later this year hopefully!