I really enjoyed this book, the plot was well paced and the characters were well written. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Victory Editing for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

Nettie Clarke has never known the world beyond Hollenboro, her tiny home island off the coast of Maine. So when she abruptly flees with few belongings, no money, and no idea where to go, things get complicated. Mainly because she’s a werewolf. After arriving on the mainland, she comes across Wisteria Grove, a witch village hidden deep in the forest, and seeks shelter in a local cafe. There, she is confronted the owner, Rowena Hawthorne, the town’s surly and introverted herbalist. Impressed by Nettie’s baking skills, Rowena makes her work as the cafe’s resident baker and pretend to be a witch, and she’ll be paid enough to make it worth her time. At first it seems like a great deal, and Nettie only plans to stay for a few weeks before taking off to see the rest of the world. But as the days pass, her baking skills grow, she befriends the local elementals, and she (reluctantly) finds Rowena attractive. All of which makes it harder for her to leave. But as Nettie and Rowena’s bond deepens, so does the danger. Nettie’s safety is at stake if the village finds out she’s a werewolf, and her ears and tail won’t stop popping out when she gets stressed. And Nettie isn’t the only one with a secret to hide. Wisteria Grove is full of mysteries, all of which seem to trace back to Rowena. Despite warnings from the rest of the village, Nettie continues to fall for the herbalist witch, eager to discover the truth. But the past has its claws sunk deep into Wisteria Grove, and Nettie will have to confront her own secrets — as well as Rowena’s — to stay in the town she’s grown to love.

Nettie is such a sweetheart. For the majority of this book, I just wanted to reach in and give her a hug. She is a bit naive to begin with but considering where she is from, it’s not entirely a surprise. What I loved is how much of a people person she is! She was so bubbly with everyone and so willing to share her talents to help brighten their days. Seeing her grow in confidence was wonderful. As she settled and finally accepted she was away from home and making her own path in life, we really got to see her blossom. It will be interesting to see where she ends up if we get to see more of her in the future.
Rowena is very much a recluse. Though it is out of necessity, not want. But when she gets close to someone? Oh, it was amazing getting to see her be more open and jovial. She has this cold exterior that’s seemingly impenetrable but I loved that Nettie wormed her way in and wouldn’t leave. Whilst we get Rowena’s backstory, I would have loved to see more. Yes, this book is in Nettie’s POV but I think Rowena opening up further and strengthening her relationship with Nettie would have been utter perfection.

I see sapphic romance with cozy Halloween vibes and I am instantly SOLD! The cover art is so cute for this book too so I was excited to dive in. What a delightful plot this is. I love that there is such a harmonic blend between the magical side of things and the regular old human world. I found that it helped ground the story and allow it to feel more fresh and modern. It is certainly different to other modern magical tales I have read but I certainly enjoyed it. Character wise, it is clear the main focus is on the main duo. We get to see a variety of other characters which is great, but what we do see is more surface level. I would have liked to have taken a deeper dive into the supporting characters. We see elements of their personalities coming out - particularly when trying to bond with Nettie - but those glimpses are all we see. I want more because I’m incredibly greedy. The romance here is so incredibly sweet. I could feel my heart melting in my chest and I absolutely adored it. The level of sweetness may have given me a cavity but it was so good to see - especially after what they’d beeb through. And the spicy moments we get too. Oh, those were perfection. They were emotionally charged and engaging to read which I love. They weren’t there just for the sake of it! That ending was pretty good too. I loved that the majority of things were resolved. It closes up everything nicely but I love that this will have another book following it. I am so excited for The Wolf Tales Bookshop coming out next year!

Overall, The Lone Wolf Cafe is a fantastic sapphic romance full of cozy vibes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you again to Victory Editing for an advanced copy of this book. Review will be live on my blog on release day and is available now on Goodreads

Unfortunately, the writing style wasn't for me. The book has an interesting premise but I found it hard to stay invested in the storytelling.

Sapphic
Generational Troubles
Abandonment
Secrets
This was so cute! Also note: depending on your preferred spice level, this is wonderful for those who don’t like too much. It’s just one scene! I loved seeing the family dynamics and the budding relationship between Nettie and Rowena. I can’t say too much about the family dynamics without spoiling but oh my eyes kinda burned. Then the village being adverse to Rowena and Nettie becoming Rowena’s person. The food and setting descriptions. I can’t forget the elementals which were absolutely adorable!

The Lone Wolf Cafe was a wonderful discovery for me through NetGalley. I have not previously read any books from Sydney Wilder but I am definitely interested in reading more of her work. Although I found the first half of the book a little slow (possibly partly because witchy/shape-shifter stories haven't traditionally been part of my reading repertoire), once I got into Part 2 I was absolutely hooked. There were a number of twisty, turny surprises along the way, some of which I did manage to see coming, others I didn't.

I loved the two main characters, particularly the naivety of runaway werewolf Nettie who had never lived outside of the isolated island she'd grown up on. She had no idea how the outside world worked, including no concept of what money was. Finding herself in a witchy village her main concerns are trying to hide the fact that she is a werewolf, to stay hidden from the family she ran away from and to get out of the village before the next full moon when her werewolf nature will no longer be able to be hidden. I also loved the developing connection between Nettie and the witchy cafe owner who provides her with a roof over her head and a job baking sweet treats to be sold in the cafe.

As someone who has not previously read many witchy stories, I had not come across the concept of elementals but oh my goodness, they were just adorable! I instantly fell in love with them and loved the bond that they shared with the two main characters.

I am very grateful to Sydney Wilder and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC copy of The Lone Wolf Cafe (and in doing so, introducing me to a whole new world to be explored). I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was SO cute. Nice and cozy, it felt like a combination of Legends & Lattes and Studio Ghibli, with just a dash of spice. I loved Nettie and Rowena from the start, but it was the elementals who truly stole my heart because they were absolutely adorable. And the werewolf x witch pairing is one of my favorite romantic combos, especially for sapphic books. Nettie’s partial werewolf transformations from anxiety acting up were fun, and I loved all the baking (there are even a couple recipes in the back of the book, which was a nice touch).

The pacing did occasionally drag for me—for example, I didn’t feel like most of the Epilogue was needed—but never enough that I lost interest. And though I enjoyed most of the world building, I was a little confused about silver having no ill effect on werewolves and why the ice bones didn’t melt if they were stored in the house (unless I just misunderstood their location, in which case the latter is solely on me).

If the next book in this series is also sapphic, I’ll definitely be adding it to my to-read list!

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

4.5/5 stars.

This is the perfect little Halloween book. This book feels like that warm fuzzy feeling when you cuddle up underneath a soft cozy blanket with a steaming mug of tea in your hands on a crisp autumn or Halloween day with the smell of marshmallows lingering in the air.

''The Lone Wolf Café'' is about a runaway red-haired werewolf girl named Nettie who stumbles upon a witch village in the woods called Wisteria Grove. There, she meets Rowena Hawthorne, a herbalist and owner of a café. Rowena offers Nettie a job in the café as a baker after she has tasted one of Nettie's scones. Both Nettie and Rowena have secrets of their own, which, as feelings between the two begin to grow, are hard to keep hidden.

What a lovely cozy story! I love Fall and cozy reads a lot so I just had to read this one. *Content, happy sigh*, this book was so so lovely! We follow a werewolf girl and a witch with secrets. It has all the werewolf, witchy, woodsy, autumnal, Halloween vibes. It has baking, a tea shop, pumpkin carving, magic, the smell of tea and coffee, mysteriousness to uncover, sapphic love, vulnerable moments and conversations, and charming and like-able characters, and so much more. This book is very wholesome and cute overall, with not all too much drama, but there's quite some character depth to be found, which I really appreciated and liked.

I liked all the characters. Nettie is quite reserved, and anxious, but curious and excited who doesn't really know how to behave in the ''human'' world and whose ears and tail pop out when she gets nervous. Rowena, who's kind of tough and being ignored and side-eyed by the other witches, is quite mysterious but so so kind, and she just deserves the best. And then there are also elementals, which were just so adorable! There's a little mouse who bonds with Nettie and who helps her while baking and it's just the cutest thing ever. I now want a little elemental of my own as well!

Nettie and Rowena are just so cute together! They gave me a lot of black cat x golden retriever vibes. We get scenes like Rowena helping Nettie calm down during a panic attack, them flirting and messing with each other while baking, discussions about tea and coffee, they let each other feel safe and at home, and they let each other feel seen...It was just so wholesome, moving, and heart-warming to read and I was smiling continually.

I found the writing to be very atmospheric and every word penned down came alive. The world, the characters, actions and smells...It felt like I was there alongside Nettie and Rowena. It's a cozy fantasy, so the pacing is quite slow in the beginning and picks up gradually, and the romance is a slow burn as well. In the beginning, it might not look like much is going on or that not much will happen, but around the middle of the book things start building up and we're getting some plot twists and reveals and things suddenly start to make sense and it's just all so intriguing, interesting, and so much fun. I enjoyed both the slowness of the beginning of the book with getting to know the characters, the baking, the conversations between Rowena and Nettie, their feelings slowly growing, the gentle touches, and just the overall cozy vibes, and I also enjoyed the plotline picking up. It was just a perfect mix. I never felt bored. I just wanted to keep on reading.

I have not much negative to say other than that I found that the one spicy scene and the more spicy thoughts Nettie sometimes had felt a bit off and awkward in comparison with the rest of the book.. It wasn't really needed for me and kind of put me out of the book. There wasn't much of it, but I still skim-read over them because I thought it felt a bit awkward in this book. Overall, I really liked the writing, but sometimes during or after some of the romance and action scenes, it felt like the writing was a bit stiff and some sentences suddenly were quite short and repetitive. In moments, it felt a bit flat in comparison to the flowiness of the rest of the book. Nevertheless, I really really enjoyed this book and I can see myself rereading this one some other time during Autumn when the book has gotten published! I want to read the second book now as well already!!!

Read this if you'd like:...
- Slow-burn sapphic romance between a werewolf x witch.
- Autumn/Halloween.
- Tea shop/café.
- Slow-paced cozy fantasy with the plot slowly building up.
- Magic and enchanting moments.
- Secrets, mystery, plot twists, and reveals.
- Cuteness, wholesomeness, quirky, warm fuzzy feelings, with some vulnerable moments as well.
- Flowy, vivid writing.
- Elementals.

3/5
Thank you to NetGalley for an arc, all opinions are my own.

This was a very cute story, and I think if you liked Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea, you’ll probably enjoy this as well. I really enjoyed the first 60% of this, but unfortunately the ending fell a bit flat for me. I predicted almost all of the twists pretty early on, which doesn’t really bother me, though it did feel a little cliche. My biggest issue was that the protagonist ended up being secretly super special and powerful which is a big pet peeve of mine. I understand that the trope is meant to be wish fulfillment for the reader, and I know a lot of people do like it, but it just isn’t something I enjoy, especially in an adult book.

Also, there was a throwaway line partway through that mentioned that the werewolves were in Wisteria Grove before the witches, which in combination with some of the werewolf lore kind of makes them feel like an unflattering analogy for indigenous people. I do not think this was intended at all, but after it was brought up, I wasn’t able to ignore it. The fact that Nettie thinks the witches are right to fear werewolves is also kinda gross in that context. Again, I don’t think this was the author’s intention, but I kept thinking about it and it kind of gave me the ick.

I loved this witchy, howlingly wonderful, sapphic story! Nettie Clark is a werewolf that runs away from her home island to learn more about what is beyond her small world. When she stumbles into the cafe owned by Rowena Hawthorne, she just knows this witch is going to call her out for what she is. She knows she would not be welcome in Wisteria Grove if the other witches knew what she was. Luckily, Nettie has a gift for baking, and the cranky witch seems to be in need of a new baker, so she is willing to keep Nettie’s secret…about being a human?!.

One other sticking point, Nettie loves coffee. That should be ok. It’s a cafe. Well, Rowena is an herbalist, and she specializes in tea. Nettie is not a fan. Yet, she has to try and stay on the witch’s good side so she doesn’t spill her secret, all while learning about working in a witchy cafe, learning about elementals, and meeting the other witches in town without them finding out her real secret.

Nettie struggles with why Rowena is so set on keeping her distance from her, and also the other witches it seems. She also has to work through feelings of wanting to get to know her more, and be closer to her, when it doesn’t seem the feeling is mutual.

This book makes you long for fall, baked goods, a warm beverage, and someone to share it with. You will go on a journey of uncovering secrets, learning to stand up for yourself and others, trying new things, and forgiveness. Sometimes the truths you thought you knew, aren’t what they seem.

Sydney made my heart so happy with this sapphic story, and I cannot wait for the rest of the world to get to read it. While I did finish in May, I am happy to be posting about it in June, during Pride Month. There was other LGBTQIA+ representation, as well as mental health representation,

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op (yay for getting indie authors out in front of people on NetGalley instead of only trad published), and especially to Sydney, for the eARC for review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nettie has led a sheltered existence on a small Island in Maine. Her future is all planned out. She will marry the werewolf her father chose for her and live her life on the island. Feeling her chances to see the world slipping away she runs away but soon discovers life isn't easy in the human world for a naive werewolf with no money.

When she stumbles into Wisteria Grove she quickly realises it's a witches village and werewolves and witches do not get on. She somehow manages to land a job at the town's café but she must keep the fact that she is a werewolf secret. And she's not the only one keeping secrets. The owner of the café, Rowena is intriguing and enigmatic and has her own secrets.

I really loved this book. There isn't much to it but it's cute and entertaining and rather well written. The ending did drag on a bit but I think lovers of Howl's Moving Castle would probably enjoy this. But not for the kids. It is lesbian romance but I wouldn't have a problem giving this book to a mature teenager.

𝙴𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠
🌟🌟🌟
The Lone Wolf Cafe is a cozy, sapphic, Halloween paranormal romance which is book 1 in the Mainely Magic series.
Nettie Clarke is a werewolf who has never left her small town home off the coast of Maine; she randomly leaves and has no idea where to go. Once she arrives on the mainland, she meets Wisteria Grove, a witch village hidden deep in the forest, and seeks shelter in a local cafe.

This story was too cute, and low stakes, and a good palate cleanser for me. Sometimes I just need something cozy, and this book delivers that. It would be a great read during the spooky season. It gives those vibes. I did DNF @50%, it unfortunately wasn't keeping my attention. Will read again during the spooky season.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

*cover art is gorgeous*

Thanks so much to NetGalley for sending me an ARC for this book!

I always need more cozy queer fantasy books in my life and this was PERFECT. I adore the little elementals and I love Nettie and Rowena so much! This was a wonderful cozy story and I cannot wait for the next book and seeing more of those Characters and how their stories will continue.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley and it has since come out. I didn't know I needed a sapphic romance werewolf witch paranormal book but I definitely did. This was adorable. It just flowed off the page into my brain more smoothly than tea (team tea here).

meh, this seemed cute but the writing is a slog; dnf. The main character is sheltered, but she's also not very bright-- the one is forgivable, the other is less so. The writing is extremely clunky. The plot seemed cute, but a *very* strong editing hand was needed and no-showed.

eARC from NetGalley.

review posted to GoodReads 6/12/25; no end date, posted indefinitely.

I loved the premise of this story, very cute and cozy. I do feel like it did veer into the cringe a bit too much for my liking but as someone who read all the Wattpad werewolf stories in my teens, I do think younger me would have really enjoyed this book.

What an adorable book!

The story follows Nettie, a runaway werewolf with nowhere to go. She finds herself in Wisteria Grove, a hidden witch village that is tucked away in an enchanted forest. There, she finds Rowena, a reclusive witch that everyone seems to be wary of, who runs a cafe. After Rowena offers Nettie a job, Nettie plans to work for a while to get money and then be on her way. Yet, the two find themselves tangled together in more ways than one.

What starts as a cozy slice-of-life story delves into one that is about love, family, strength, and the courage to stop running. Nettie and Rowena are both lovable in their own right, and the chemistry between them is so sweet and grounded.

I loved the setting! It was so whimsical with the enchanted garden, portals, and adorable elementals. I highly recommend reading this with a mug of something warm, a sweet treat, and a rainy day!

Thank you, NetGalley and Victory Editing, for this ARC.

This sapphic romance was super cozy and fun. It felt low stakes and very slice of life, in the same vein as Legends and Lattes. The characters were really cute, especially the elementals! I wanted a little more show and not tell in the writing style, and the romance moved a bit quick over the timeline of the book. Overall, this is a good choice for a fall-themed palate cleanser between heavier books.

This was such a cozy book. This would be so perfect for the autumn season, a baked good and hot tea to keep it company. The atmosphere of this book was so comforting and the café was nicely detailed. The characters were as well, the plot kept my attention, and the romance was really sweet.

Plot: 8/10
Pace: 8/10
Ending: 10/10
Characters: 9/10
Enjoyability: 9/10
Writing Style: 8/10
Would I Recommend? Yes
Favorite Character: Rowena

Favorite Quote: ❝ "Well... no offense, but I think your father is wrong. Forgiveness isn't about forgetting the past. It isn't about throwing away what caused you pain and forgetting it ever existed. If you want to forgive your mother, you can still acknowledge that what she did hurt you. You can confront the past instead of locking it away. Together, you and your mother can analyze it, process it, learn from it. Then, once you're truly ready to move on, you can.” ❞

4.5 Stars

The Lone Wolf Cafe follows Nettie Clarke, a werewolf that runs away from her small werewolf community, only to find herself lost in the human world and ending up in a sanctuary for werewolves enemies, a witches village. Luckily for Nettie, the first place she stumbles upon is the Lone Wolf Cafe and its proprietor, Rowena, a quiet herbalist witch that embraces the opportunitity to fill her missing baker position with Netties, baking skills. Nettie gets into a rhythm in Wisteria Grove but how long can she stay before anyone realizes she is a werewolf.

I really enjoyed this book. It is another nice cozy fantasy read that takes place in a cafe. The story is told only from Nettie's point of view, and she was enjoyable to navigate the world with. She is a bit anxious but willing to stand up for herself, and her growth throughout the story felt natural and exciting. I like Rowena, but I do wish I got a little bit more about her. That is probably my own desire to have POV from her, but her story also comes full circle with a few heartwarming moments.

All in all, this was a fun and cozy fantasy book, which I am totally here for. I was a bit surprised that it takes place in the modern world but ultimately, it didn't really effect the story. The characters were fun and engaging and I look forward to more books by this author.

I received an ARC from Netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley and Sydney Wilder for this ARC!

I absolutely adored this book. If you want super cozy fall vibes all within a book this is definitely the book for you. I really loved the writing within this book, the author definitely has a knack for putting us into the sensations that our main character, Nettie, experiences. The world-building was so well written, and I enjoyed getting such pleasant descriptions of everything. The reason I am rating this 4.5 is due to the fact that I wish it had gotten to the main plot and action quicker, but that was really my only gripe. But once the action took off, it was super interesting and really went fast!

If you want to be in a book that feels exactly like a fall paradise, this is for you!