4 out of 5 stars.
I was captivated by the description & the mention of witches in the genres. And it did not disappoint me in the slightest.

The book grabbed my attention with its world-building and the circumstances surrounding the characters. I loved the vivid emotions and the detailed world within the story's pages. The relationships between the characters and the women in this book warmed my heart. Thank you for such an impressive story!

* Copy provided by Alcove Press via NetGalley & 100% voluntary review.

A story filled with feminine power and commentary on the impact of religion and blind faith in a fantasy setting, Song of the Hell Witch pulls you into an adventure that will make you question if the monsters we see are truly wicked in the inside. This has one of the most unique magic systems I've ever read. The fact that women who become traumatized because of something bad happening to them can transform into a creature of nightmares.

YESSSS! Just Yes! I love a dark feminist fantasy. The folklore is amazing. The feminine rage burns on the page. With how things are all over the world, for women currently, it speaks volumes. It’s so incredibly relevant.

A delightful gothic fantasy.

This author may become an insta buy for me!

Taylor Hartley deserves all of the internet’s attention right now with her debut novel, Song of the Hell Witch. All fantasy and romance enjoyers look no further because this is the perfect blend of the two. Prudence has spent her life as a poor girl, secretly a Hell Witch, a group of powerful women who transform into witches after traumatic events, and who are hunted by the religious men of their country, Leora. But finally, Prudence has married a rich man and become a duchess. She’s escaped her past, and Puck Reed— an old lover and friend. But when she accidentally kills her husband, she seeks Puck’s help in getting to a sanctuary for Hell Witches. Puck has a sick daughter, Beatrice, who’s haunted by hallucinations and fevers, and the Hell Witches might be able to fix Beatrice. They agree and together, with help from a gender-fluid hotel manager, Arcadie, a transgender woman, Mari, who’s only witch is to become a Hell Witch (which would prove to her that she’s a real woman), and Beatrice, who’s become mute during her sickness after her mother’s death, they travel to where the Hell Witches are while being hunted by Prudence’s brother-in-law and religious extremists. This book was the feminist fantasy book of my dreams with an amazing male protagonist Thief Lord who is more than happy to uplift the women in his life. This book needs to become as popular as humanly possible upon release day because I’m obsessed. I need the second one ASAP.

“More than anything, she was furious at every man who had ever penned a law or holy book or sentence aimed at shrinking a woman’s power, who made women believe they needed to make themselves small.”

There were strong elements to this book, didn’t quite deliver the pow I was hoping for.. Likable story and characters — still it was just a little too sweet and predictable for me completely fall in love with it.

I feel this book has a lot of promise but it was missing the mark for me. While its a really cool premise and covers a lot of important topics that are parallel to what we are seeing our society today, the overall plot felt disjointed. I was missing some of the character building and it seemed that new characters were being introduced and then fading quickly away without much explanation. The conflict while obvious didn't feel developed enough. I loved the diversity of the characters and the themes throughout.

gorgeously interesting and well-written romantasy with interesting style and very impressive character building. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Taylor Hartley for the eARC in exchange for a review.

This was an interesting take on the 'hidden power' troupe. It's known but also feared.
There is a sudden and forced reunion that ultimately ends in a cliff hanger.

Love it and will be looking for the second in the series!

5 stars

#IndigoEmployee

My Rating: 4 stars!

I love me some “fuck the patriarchy” witches.

First and foremost Mari there is nothing in this world you could do to make me hate you. I will love you until the day I die. Secondly I adore Pru and Puck, my beloveds. The book was a great read, and I loved all the world building and magic woven through the story, though I wish more information was given on the different kinds of hell witches and why certain ones become one or the other. I also found the ending to be almost too quick, I would have loved to explore more around then, draw it out a little. Still, I loved reading about these characters and can’t wait until the next one.

BUMBLE BETTER BE ALRIGHT DO YOU HEAR ME!!

Just finished Song of the Hell Witch and while it didn’t totally cast a spell on me, it had some real promise. The plot was cool and surprisingly fresh, with a dark magical edge and older main characters who actually got to be the stars instead of fading into the background. That alone earned some points. The writing felt a bit rough around the edges, like the author’s still finding their voice, but the bones of a great story are definitely there.

The book dives into themes of oppression, identity, and rebellion, which could’ve packed a punch, but instead felt a little too much like a speech. It’s not that the message wasn’t important, it just needed to blend more smoothly into the world instead of climbing up onto a soapbox. Still, I’m curious where the series goes from here. There’s enough potential bubbling under the surface to make me consider picking up book two.

A powerful and well-written debut that explores themes of patriarchy, religion, feminine rage, and found family through a unique premise—women gaining magical powers through trauma. While the pacing dragged slightly at times, the immersive worldbuilding, vivid sensory details, and emotional depth made for a compelling read. Pru is a beautifully layered protagonist—soft yet fierce—while Puck’s quiet vulnerability adds an unexpected emotional weight. The story’s take on female empowerment feels timely and impactful, and the characters are easy to love. I’m excited to see where the story goes next, especially with Beatrice potentially taking center stage.

Thanks to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the early read!

🌟4
🌶️1

A great new debut, beautiful cover art, title and strong feminist concept with a swoon worthy romance, sisterhood, magic, and frustrating relatability of perils of patriachy.

◆ Romantasy // Fantasy Romance
◆ Gothic, dark, atmospheric
◆ Magic is restrained
◆ A woman trying to keep herself alive after her magic is revealed
◆ A criminal who is trying to find a cure to his daughter's illness
◆ Must work togther
◆ Forced proximity
◆ Found family
◆ Childhood friends // prior relationship
◆ Second-chance romance

Tagline "romantic fantasy features monstrous women stepping into their full power" is a winning tagline let me tell you! I jumped on this book because I love a story about women stepping into their power, but support of good men is just as important (real good men not 'good guy's) and MMC was a devoted father, attentive friend and lover, absolutely swoon-worthy.

One thing that I'll note is that the story does stagnate a little at times and you have to 'push' through for a bit but it does pick back up.

A solid debut. A story where women gain magic powers through trauma. I enjoyed this book that explores themes such as patriarchy, religion, feminine rage, found family, ... I did not always like the pace of the story that dragged a bit in places

Thank you, NetGalley, for an ARC of this future novel.

I never expected to like this arc so much. I finished it in two sittings. It was good; the plot had a good flow. It was a bit predictable, but that's not a bad thing. Many are looking for books they can just enjoy without trying to guess the ending.

This is the first time I ever read the single parent trope and liked it; it was very well written. Beatrice was amazing, and so was Puck; he had that "I'm a parent, and I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm trying" vibe.

Pru (Prudence) was a good main character, not too "I'm not like other girls" and not too boring either; she was panicky but in a good, understandable way.

I loved the way Taylor Hartley incorporated multiple historical settings in one book, and she did it in a way that didn't feel forced.

It was a good, fast-paced, I would say, palate cleanser. I would pick this up after reading a big doorstopper of a book, to keep myself from going into a reading slump.

This is a book that I was so sure would be a five star, it has everything I love in a book but for some reason I struggled with it just a bit.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

Prudence Merriweather is an ex-street-rat-turned-Duchess and a secret Hell Witch who accidentally kills her husband and has to flee so her brother-in-law doesn’t send her to the pyre. She was once given a mysterious gold card from another Hell Witch in case of emergencies. The only place, or person, she knows that’s safe enough to help her escape is Puck Reed, the lover she (quite literally) ran away from over a decade ago.

Puck Reed has been trying his best to raise and take care of his 8 year old daughter, Beatrice, whose seizures started after her mother died a year ago. One night he’s reminded of the ‘Ladies of Leora’ in the mountains somewhere who maybe probably might be able to help heal Beatrice. The same night, an old flame turns up in his shop covered in blood asking for his help to find a community of Hell Witches.

This book is very well written and I enjoyed every minute of it. The past relationships, the tension, I loved it all.
Pru is a great FMC who’s soft and fierce in all the right places. Puck is rough around the edges but in a comfortable cozy kinda way and, honestly, his barely brushed upon secret broke me a little bit if only because of how hard it must have been for him.

The world building was good and I always appreciate a story that includes scents and food! Makes the experience more immersive imo.
I am really entrigued to see how the story continues with Beatrice (I hope) as more of a main focus!

Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC early.

This is a good start to a new romantasy series! I was really drawn into this story from the beginning and the magic is a refreshing take on the norm. The ending was great and I absolutely cannot wait to see what happens next. I'm thinking Beatrice may be my favorite character and there is so much the author can do here and so much to build upon with her and I'm excited to follow along. I also liked the second chance romance angle with Prudence and Puck and I'm interested to see how that goes.

I am not quite sure how to rate this one because it's obvious that there is much I liked about it but there were also parts that I found redundant and could have been skipped. Overall I enjoyed this one and want to give it 3.5 stars but I'm rounding down to 3 for now.

Thank you NetGalley and Alcove Press for access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a magical read for me. I enjoyed my time in this world. And romance was like a dance on the second song. I do like the way this was written and both the female and male character of the story.

DNF at 63%.

The book was promising, but feels like it needs a really good edit. It feels like the writing is still in a draft state. There were a couple instances where the reference to "her" was made more than once in the same sentence and it was unclear who which of the hers referred to who. Around page 169 of the PDF, there was a comma splice. The scene where Pru woke up from a nightmare and her sheets were soaked through, I stopped because I didn't know what her sheets were soaked with. Tears? Sweat? The image and characterization change depending on which. Basically, I was broken from the reading experience too many times and it just became a chore.

I also didn't connect with the characters unfortunately. I found Pru selfish. I liked Puck until he made the comment about the snake hell witch. I get that he probably meant it as a joke, but the ice was already thin for me, and that's your daughter!

The positives:
The author does have the ability to write evocative prose and shows a lot of promise. Some strict editing would help.
The story and premise was fresh and I think we need more books like this.

Song of the Hell Witch.... What. A. Book.
I wasn't sure what to expect going in and was seriously blown away.
The story brings the Romantasy genre to a whole new depth. The second- chance romance, with magical mystery, systemic oppression, and women's rights all tied into one heart-wrenching, deeply moving story.

The female characters were well developed and it was impossible to not find a connection to them...all of them main and side characters all had a story that was moving and inspirational.

The MMC is incredibly written and swoon-worthy, while still managing to be vulnerable and down-to-earth.

I was held captive with the lyrical, raw and emotional writing. Hartley was able to capture the depth of emotions and growth of all the very diverse characters.
I will be waiting impatiently for the story to continue as powerful as it was... I can feel it's just the beginning!