Disco witches is set in the late 80’s at Fire Island. Joe heads to Fire Island to meet his friends Ronnie who has said there are bartending jobs available there. Joe is still mourning the death of his former boyfriend Elliott from AIDS. On Fire Island, Joe meets mystical men, mythic figures, idealists, greedy capitalists and the promise of a new love. The author paints a vivid portrait of a man struggling with his sense of loss and his own perceived inadequacies who unexpectedly finds friendship and affection..

Unfortunately I could not finish this book. I really liked the concept, but over 30% in nothing happened to grab my attention. I love reading fantasy which is why this witchy concept intrigued me and led me to requesting an ARC, but this disco thing felt so silly and I don't even listen to disco music, so I didn't even have that to keep me going. I didn't like Joe at all, nor any of the other characters. Ronnie felt very rude, and Howie and Lenny seemed completely unrealistic. The writing style felt aggressive at times, if I can express myself in that way, or better yet, crude and direct, which I did not enjoy either. I was really hoping to love it but I know if I continue I will be forcing myself to finish it and end up hating it which is not what I want.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I read this straight through in one sitting. Quite literally stayed up ALL night just to finish.

It gave me the one-two punch of puffy eyes from crying and sunken eyes from exhaustion.

I don’t understand how someone could rate this anything less than 5 stars. I am a queer non-binary New Yorker (born and raised) and Fire Island was such a massive part of my teenage years. I formed my identify on those beaches and boardwalks. This was so heartfelt and heartbreaking to see my beloved community at its most challenging time.

This book will be in my top 5 for 2025 and it’s only January 3rd.

The love story was giving all it needed to. Beautiful, heart wrenching, grounded and so, so real. It was campy. Funny as hell—literally laughed out loud. But so realistic and the hard moments hit VERY hard.

Read it. Read it. It’s that good.

I wasn’t sure what all to expect with this book but ended up reading it in two days. The characters all had good depth and personality. The book focuses on Fire Island and how it is such a paradise for gay people; only for the main character to realize there would be a lot of problems from day one. While friends and enemies made some drama, this book had an interesting plot with a bit of fantasy mixed in as well. This book deals with topics of the AIDS pandemic and having loved ones living with it and grief of those who had passed because of it.

While having a completely different plot and characters this had the general vibe of American Horror Story season 11, NYC. So if you liked that season you’ll probably really enjoy this book.

I was kindly given a copy of Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hmm, well, I'm not quite sure what to say about this novel. I was intrigued to read about Fire Island in the '80s, and the magic element allowed for some quirky energy in what could have been a subdued story. Fell threw a lot of energy into the group. However, this was a really long book that could have benefitted from some scenes taken out. We follow Joe, sad and adrift, as he arrives on the island, receiving a few lucky breaks to get him on his feet. He moves in with a bunch of mature men who seem very much inspired by Tales of the Cities archetypes. He almost immediately decides to break the trust they have offered him by going through their apartment searching for evidence of the 'disco witch curse' (I'm not a fantasy reader, so this required me to suspend my disbelief), but, hey, these characters get over it because this book's all about Joe. Other tales of Fire Island characters also include his cliché Irish colleague at the bar, Vinnie; friend, Ronnie, who wants to date rich because he's jealous of the wealthy elite that populate the island over the summer; and love interest, Fergal.

The plot weaves along as best as possible, but I had problems with the characters' motivations. The sex scenes were sort of (and I say this as politely as I can) pretty gross and the ending felt wildly silly.

Suitable for those on the beach who want their pop culture references continually, good or bad.

MLM Devastatingly sad, healing & self recovery/rediscovery
Joe and his best friend ronnie spend the summer on New York Fire Island Pines hoping for fun and relaxation.
joe is trying to heal and move on after the death of his boyfriend
after they are taken in by Howie & Lennie, the friends become distant and destructive to each other
Joe learns howie and lennie are coven leaders and protecters of the island and the gay communtiy that gather there
a dark, magical insight on the AIDs crisis and self healing

I requested and received and eARC of Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell via NetGalley. How could I resist a book with such a fabulous title? I was instantly ready to conjure up a spell with Alicia Bridges, or whatever Fell had in store for me. The year is 1989 and Joe is depressed and lonely. When he’s offered and opportunity to work out on Fire Island for the summer with his best friend Ronnie, he accepts with the hope that the summer will help him the heal from the loss of his boyfriend to the AIDS epidemic. Ronnie’s plan, however, doesn’t quite work out as expected. Then again it seems that nothing on Fire Island is as expected. Joe is charmed by the older house cleaners, Lenny and Howie, who take him in, but he suspects they may be hiding something from him (such as the fact that they belong to a coven of Disco Witches!) He begins to fall for a gorgeous stranger, but the man has webbed feet and can hold his breath under water. With his life and Fire Island in danger, it may be up to Joe’s new friends to save the day!

Man, I fell. I fell hard. This book was so much fun and seemed to have a magic that captivated me. Something about the cultural references and the dialogue gave the story a quality that made it feel like an 80s film. I think what surprised me most was how quickly I developed an emotional connection to the story. First, I was drawn in by the sweet-natured Joe. After reading about the loss of his boyfriend, I wanted nothing more than for his character to experience joy and healing. His dynamic with Ronnie added some great humor which is also what I appreciated about Howie and Lenny’s friendship. All of the characters were written with such distinct and vibrant personalities that it really made Disco Witches of Fire Island an exceptional reading experience.

I laughed. I cried. I swooned. I’m accustomed to so many AIDS narratives that are (justifiably, obviously) maudlin so I really thought this was a unique approach that was respectful, campy, and absolutely joyous. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Disco Witches of Fire Island made me feel an entire range of emotions. There was laughter, there was tears, there was some very real anger. In this book, Fell manages to create an extraordinarily little world populated with some of the most interesting characters I’ve ever encountered. It feels impossible not to fall in love with Joe, Fergus, Ronnie, and company. Definitely a great way to start off my 2025!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty much what it says on the tin, lots of camp, humor, magic, and love.

Our protagonist, a sad, gay (it’s the 80’s, most gays have something to be sad about), prospective med student, Joe, follows his chaotic best friend to Fire Island for a summer of bartending, new experiences, and love. Still dealing with the loss of his first love, Joe attempts to navigate life on the island, new love interests, and his eccentric older housemates who are rumored to be witches.

Look, if you pick up a book called Disco Witches of Fire Island and don't like it’s silly, queer, historical fiction / fantasy, I don't know what to tell you. You might have known what you were getting into.

This was a delightfully engaging story that worked on multiple levels for me. Set in the 1980's it is, in part, an elegy for the previous, more carefree decade of the 70’s. During a time of Regan, AIDS, and pervasive pessimism, who wouldn’t look fondly back to disco, free love, and the birth of queer liberation only a few short years ago? It’s also a charming fantasy tinged story with a unique magic system and a satisfying, if predictable outcome.

Pick this up for an easy beach or vacation read.

Blair Fell’s Disco Witches of Fire Island is a wild, glitter-filled ride that combines the magic of Fire Island, the unapologetic glamour of disco, and a coven of witches who dance between worlds both fantastical and heartfelt. With a story that pulses like a perfect beat, Fell blends humor, charm, and sharp wit, all while exploring themes of identity, love, and belonging. The vibrant island setting feels like its own character, alive with parties, secrets, and, of course, spells. The characters, who embrace their quirks and flaws with magnetic confidence, will have you cheering for them every step of the way. It’s a novel that sparkles with joy and heart, reminding us that even in the most fabulous worlds, we still need grounding. Disco Witches is a celebration of magic, life, and unapologetic self-expression, and once you dive in, you’ll never want to leave the dancefloor.

Blair Fell's Disco Witches of Fire Island is a tragic and powerful story that shares the fears and pain of the AIDS crisis while also showing that love, while imperfect, can bring light to a dark time.

Joe moves to Fire Island after suffering a tragedy and finds himself under threat from a powerful evil. As he searches for love and as he finds himself, his protectors, a group of elder queer witches, seek to keep him safe.

While I was far too young to have experienced the AIDS crisis during it's height, I felt that he captured the terror that swept through the LGBT community. He also seemed to capture the joy and lust of gay love. I was completely captivated by this book and cannot wait to share it with others.

Thank you Alcove Press and Net Galley for the advance copy.

There’s something undeniably special about the queer community’s ability to find whimsy in darkness. Set in the throes of the AIDS epidemic, Disco Witches of Fire Island follows Joe and a group of lovable, wacky queens through a summer on Fire Island where they must band together to combat trauma and embrace love as the ultimate healing power. Fell establishes deep emotional worlds in these lovable characters that would make the reader weep if it weren’t for the campy humor blazing its light through the novel. It would have been easy for this book to go either hyper-gay comedic or hopelessly sorrowful, but it’s a book about balances both in its themes and its construction.

Every character in this book feels incredibly real. Like, I could cast every character in this book as someone I know in my real life. While every character has something to love, I most adore Howie and Lenny because they remind me so much of my own guncles. Fell writes in his acknowledgements that he based Howie and Lenny off of two men who let him stay in their attic one summer. As a result, the pages are dripping with love and admiration for these two men so that the reader can’t help but love them too. They are the perfect guides through the summer for our main character Joe as he learns to release his trauma and accept love into his life again. Joe’s journey is particularly moving, especially for readers who have ever felt lost and undeserving of joy. Every turn in this story has the reader fully understanding Joe’s decisions, but desperately hoping he will open his eyes and see the bounty the universe has in store for him. Reading this book is like hanging out with a beautifully messy group of close friends, and the aura of love is palpable on every page.

It’s this positivity and joy that carries this heavy book as though it is weightless. These are tough topics- trauma, mortality, HIV/AIDS, capitalism- but there is humor around every corner here that lightens the load and offers endless hope to the reader even after the book is shut. It perfectly captures the queer instinct to smile through the darkness and help each other find the light. Part of this book is about the coven’s quest to restore the Great Balance between joy and sorrow and each character in the book has their own journey to reckon with the highs and lows of their lives. These themes are reflected in the tonal balance throughout the story that offers moments of grief and humor, tears and laughter in equal measure. Fell masterfully allows these opposing emotions to exist together without contradiction.

While I often recommend books from marginalized perspectives as windows for those outside the community, I think this book will land best with queer readers. I am not a gay man, but even as a bisexual woman who was not alive during the AIDS crisis, I saw so many elements of my queer experience in these pages. I will be giving this book to every queer person I can - it’s already listed as a future present for my guncles. As a community, I fear we are about to enter a very dark time politically and socially. I think this book offers us the hope that we will need to continue fighting oppression and spreading love.

Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell will be published in May of 2025 by Alcove Press.

fun, campy, weird, and heartfelt tale. very cool fantasy aspects too. would recommend it. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

God what a fun romp this book was! Pure camp and actually pretty well-written! With a title like Disco Witches of Fire Island, I knew it was going to be fun, but I really devoured this book and cant wait to recommend it to all of my gay friends. As someone who grew up spending Summers on Fire Island, there was a lot of nostalgia for me. It's a love letter, in may ways, and I hope gets in as many hands as possible.

this is a piece of media that convinces me life is worth living. it is messy and weird, yet beautiful and super heartfelt.

I love Howie and Lenny with my whole heart, and even came to care deeply for Joe even with all the mistakes he makes.

this book has a little bit of everything and I think it accomplishes all it set out to do, which seems rare based on other books I have been reading recently, especially those with so many moving parts.

the only critique I really have is I don't feel like I got a great grasp on the Disco Witch magic and how it works, but I am also thinking that was part of the point. I ended up feeling more confused than comfortable with the ambiguity though.

I definitely would recommend if the description seems interesting to you and I was at the edge of my seat through the whole story.

Thank you to the publishing team and NetGalley for sending me a free and advanced ecopy in return for an honest review.

This book is so good. You should read it.

This is historical fiction with some magical realism thrown in. The setting is Fire Island in the 1980s, during the AIDS pandemic (we can call it that, right? Or do we need to keep referring to it as a crisis, as if it only affects certain types of people?). A pair of young men go to the island for the summer, hoping to find jobs and make steps toward their future lives. They meet a foursome of older characters that have the potential to change their lives. And I'm going to stop there with the summary because you should just read the book and see what happens.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone that is currently reading this review. Everyone.

I really, really wanted to like this book. I mean gay disco witches during the 80s? Count me in! However, I don't think this was the book for me. I did not enjoy the writing style (too crude, clumsy and direct), the characters (seriously annoying and sadly not intriguing enough to make up for their unlikeability) or the plot (a directionless mess). This had the potential to be a deep-cutting exploration of what the AIDS crisis meant to gay men in the 80s and instead, I wanted to yell at everyone in this book. Joe specifically is an asshole whose tragic backstory did not make me pity him enough to make up for his pathetic and nonsensical actions. His mood swings are so random and frequent that I was left with vertigo. The relationships are underexplored and come out of nowhere. I can enjoy extensive horniness (see: The Pairing by Casey McQuiston) but I tend to prefer sensual prose over... whatever this is: "They closed their eyes while their tongues grappled like two Turkish oil wrestlers who had fallen in love."

I think this book really did a great job capturing the heartbreaking feelings of the 1980's and the AIDS crisis. The emotions these characters were going through was devastating and Blair Fell did a great job writing that. His writing style was well suited to the story he was trying to tell. I was particulary fond of Howie and Lenny as they were entertaining characters. Each of the characters in this book felt very unique and realistic.
The magic part of this book felt a little flat for me, and slightly confusing. I was never quite sure what was going on with that aspect of the book and think some of the world building could have been expanded on/explained. Overall, I really enjoyed reading Disco Witches of Fire Island.

“Disco Witches of Fire Island” totally took me by surprise in the best way. I thought it would be a fun, magical adventure, but it turned out to be an emotional ride full of heartache, hope, and just the right touch of magic. It’s one of those books that hits you in all the feels—laughing and tearing up at the same time. And the disco witches? They were the best part. Their wild magic, charm, and fabulousness stole the show, and I couldn’t help but wish for a whole book about their crazy antics.

If you’re looking for a story that’s sweet, funny, unexpectedly deep, and a little magical, this is the one. It’ll leave you thinking, “What did I just read?”—in the best way. I recommend it if you want something with humor, heart, and a bit of magic.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with an advance copy to read!

Disco Witches of Fire Island had its moments. I came into it thinking it would be a campy, silly story, but it was surprisingly pretty serious, understandable for a book set in 1989 with queer characters. The older characters were the stand outs and kept the plot moving. I’d take a book about their hijinks in their prime! Overall, the book fell a little flat for me, not quite as special as I hoped. Thanks to Alcove Press for the ARC through NetGallery.

Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell is a fun, glittery, flamboyant, and fruity LGBTQIA+ fantasy that's perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Casey McQuiston. This delightful romp will rival all of the fantasy escapades that are likely to occupy your shelves at this very moment! It's a perfectly brewed concoction of humour, heart, and (disco 🪩) magic. It's guaranteed to leave you snorting with laughter and shedding a tear or two. With Fell's archetypal witty and riotous humour interwoven with heartbreak, mayhem, and revitalised fantasy tropes, Disco Witches of Fire Island is wonderfully idiosyncratic. It was the balm my jaded soul needed. Thank you, NetGalley and Alcove Press, for providing this eARC in exchange for an honest review.