Gothic, gripping, intense. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to the author and publisher for the chance to read this, in exchange for an honest review

'The hundred eyes of Witchwood Manor loomed above, grinning through torrential rain.'

The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater is a dark faerie tale with a Gothic ambience - wherein Winifred Hall untangles the dark menace behind Witchwood Manor, finds out information regarding the mysterious disappearance of her once-protector and rescues the kidnapped young heir to the Manor, all while conquering her inner demons and befriending the hostile faerie butler.

Winifred is a strong and clever lead character, bringing iron knives in her chateleine and lies with her governess guise to deal with whatever is tormenting Witchwood Manor. She is beset by both human and faerie menaces during the course of the fast-paced story and her character growth in dealing with them is doubly remarkable.

Though this book can be read as a standalone, the stakes grow higher as the story progresses and I'm looking forward to the next books in this series (Victorian Faerie Tales). I'm also intrigued enough by the layered world-building and several tidbits in the storyline to read the other books in this world (Regency Faerie Tales). Atwood's writing with the Gothic vibes complete the package!

Thanks to NetGalley, Starwatch Press publishers and Olivia Atwater for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

🌟🌟🌟🌟

The rating for this book is 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads and NetGalley as I'm interested in this series.

[Half a star for the premise and the whole book; Half a star for the story arc; One star for the characters; Half a star for the writing; Half a star for the world-building and description - 3 1/2 stars in total].

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for this review.

Apologies for my delay, I’ve had a very hectic few months.

Can’t recall a lot so I might reread it and revisit this, but I recall that the beginning was really good and really hooked me!

Was quickly taken in by this gothic fantasy. Had a hard time putting it down and was so absorbed that I read it quickly. Will be picking up other books by the author. Found the characters to be interesting and multidimensional. Loved the darkness of the fae and their complexity. The issue of sexual abuse did arise and was handled well. Will definitely be recommending this book.

I loved this book! I originally received a copy of this book from netgalley to review but I ended up buying the book anyway because of how much I enjoyed reading it.

I have lived many other books by this author, she writes in an easy flowing manner. And it is just a delightful, easy read.

This is honestly such an amazing read.
It keeps you on your toes and sends shivers down your spine, its scary, misterious, witty and tangled and it has all the best things: creepy houses, magic, crime and a baddas main character

What I enjoyed most about this book was the vibes. This was a super well-written gothic fae story. It wasn't "dark" in terms of violence, sex, horror, or gore....just dark regarding a looming curse that has fallen over the manor, the forest, and the local village. Victorian governess Winifred/Winnie is a magician and the house's faerie butler, Mr Quincy hides awful secrets behind his charming smile. I felt absolutely no chemistry between these characters so the romance (albeit slow, slow, slow burn) was just not there for me. And the last thing - the pacing was slow for me. Started off fine and then it was just so slow! And then the ending was great! So what happened in the middle? Not much excitement, in my opinion. But we are set up for more Victorian Faerie Tales so we'll see what happens next!

What a delightfully dark faerie tale!

I loved this! From the enigmatic Mr Quincy to the hardened Winnie to the true monster of Witchwood Manor, the characters were all excellent and made me want to know more about them.

I love the lessons about the faerie world that we were able to get from Winnie that contributed to the worldbuilding. In this book, faerie is mischievous and cruel, with a gothic Victorian setting.

Plot was really good, as well. And I'm looking forward to seeing more of this developed in future books. Can't wait to see more!

This was my first time reading books by Olivia Atwater and overall I quite enjoyed this gothic fantasy about the mystery of a haunting manor and magical creatures. It has slow pacing and a good plot. But I think the characters could have developed more cause I didn't really connect with them. Because of the insufficient development of chemistry between the two main characters, I also think the subplot romance is lacking. But maybe I'll give it a try to read another author's works.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this e-arc.

I think there should be a genre called “Creepy Cozy” or “Comfy Creepy” because that is exactly what this book is. It has all the Gothic vibes, for those of us, who actually find the strange, slightly dark and unusual quite comforting somehow.

The Witchwood Knot, book one in the Victorian Faerie Tales series, is a wonderful and whimsical tale about a governess named Winnie, who has come to Witchwood Knot, a haunted manor, at the request of an old friend, the dowager (who’s health is failing) in order to keep the dowagers grandson Robert, safe from the fairies. To Winnie’s dismay, Robert is quite a handful and his Father a predatory, entitled, aristocrat, who gave me the creeps, with each and every scene he was in. When young Robert suddenly starts being extremely polite and well behaved, Winnie knows that the REAL Robert has been taken by the fairies and she must do whatever she must to get him back.

A few other wonderful little tidbits I absolutely loved about this story, was how Olivia wrote in so many little details, that pertained to the Victorian era, including some very strange historically accurate Victorian death rituals and such that were actually preformed back in the day, that just added to the atmospherics of the story.

There are even a few bits and pieces mentioned here and there, from some of Olivia’s other stories, which were worked perfectly into the story. I just loved that.

I found this story to have some dark moments, but nothing too scary or too gory, it was just right for me. Perfectly Creepy Cozy. (I do not enjoy extreme gore or horror)
There are also some scenes of some childhood abuse and sexual harassment, but Olivia took great care in how she wrote of this and in the end, our MC chooses to take back her sexuality for herself, after having had it used against her in the past, which was such a strong part of this story.

I believe this is being marketed as Gothic Fantasy Romance, and it was just that, and the perfect read for me. If you have read any of Olivia Atwater’s other books, then you will already know, this is a must read! And even if you haven’t read any of Olivia’s other works as of yet, you can still read this one on its on. Then you’ll be hooked and will want to read ALL of her other tales.

I immediately signed up for Olivia's newsletter, to receive her Atwater Scandal Sheets.

Thank you Netgalley, for allowing me to read this wonderful story and I look forward to reading more of Olivia’s VICTORIAN FAERIE TALES!

2.5⭐️

What can I say? At this point I’m afraid it’s me and not the book 🤣 So take my opinion during this ongoing reading slump for a grain of salt.

This book gave me Mexican Gothic x Rebecca vibes. It relied heavily on atmosphere and mood, and the worldbuilding and pace were far too slow and ultimately underdeveloped for my taste. I loved the romance, but by the time we got to it I wasn’t invested anymore. On a positive note, the writing and language was immaculate. I am not giving up on this author yet!

I loved Half a Soul, and the whole regency faerie tale series, so I was excited to come back to that world for a bit with this new series - and having read it, I enjoyed it, and I'll read more books in the future, BUT, it had a much different vibe and atmosphere than the other series. So you're not going to find a repeat of half a soul et al if that's what you are looking for, you might only find glimmers of it, it's the same world, but there has been a shift in that world. Things have changed.

The series name is telling - it's very much more a *Victorian* faerie tale vs the regency style of her previous series, I mean, this one takes us into an isolated haunted mansion, the faerie aspect is more dismal, It's less faerie frippery and more mean faeries that are kind of the worst. The romance aspect is much more muted - because they're Going Through Some Things.

Ultimately, I did enjoy it - but I had to adjust my expectations away from this becoming just another book in the original series.

I was a big fan of Half a Soul in spite of not being a big fan of regency era books so when I saw she was writing a darker Victorian era book I was so excited.
I adored the characters in this book, especially Ollie and the dark and gothic atmosphere was so rich and memorable . I appreciated that the story wasn't wholly focused on the romance aspect and we got a really good plot out of this book. Overall I really enjoyed this and can't wait for more.

This one had all the ingredients for an enchanting gothic tale, but it didn't quite come together as expected. The premise was promising: Victorian governess Winnie sets out to rescue the young lord of Witchwood Manor from the Fair Folk, but the plot takes its time to get going.

I love a good gothic atmosphere, but the setting didn't really deliver. It was a bit flat and lacked the dark, brooding vibes I was hoping for. The pacing was also slow— the major plot point of the boy's disappearance doesn't happen until halfway through the book.

Winnie is a strong lead, but her magical abilities were underutilized and not well explained. The world-building needed a bit more depth, especially around the concept of black magicians. The narrative's connection to Atwater's Regency trilogy might leave new readers like me feeling lost.

Overall, this one had its moments but left me wanting more in terms of atmosphere and pacing.

5⭐️ - This book was so unbelievably good! The setting in the victorian era together with a haunted manor and mysteries and riddles was done so well 🥰

It was such a delight to follow Winnie how she discovered folklore and stories about the faries. She had such a strong character development and I felt so much for her 🥺💛

I absolutely loved this book from the beginning to the very last page. I’ll definitely check out her other books 😍
If you want a victorian gothic fantasy book with dark tales and wicked fairies, I can just recommend you to read this! ✨

Thank you Victory Editing and NetGalley for providing me an ARC of this book!

This review was posted on Goodreads (on May 9th) and Instagram (on May 4th).

I loved this book and the characters. I enjoyed the story and the slowly building relationship around the rest of the plot. My favourite Atwater book yet, can't waiting to see more from the world and the cross over from previous books!

I loved her previous works but this one was really hard to get into.
The pacing felt so awkward at times and I haven’t been able to pass from de 85% of the book which should be where the story picks up.

The most important thing you can know about this book is that it has a ghost cat and he's a very good boy. The Witchwood Knot follows Winifred, a magician who has been hired to be a child's governess, but really, she's there to free Witchwood Manor from the curse that holds it. This is a pretty solid book. I usually really dislike the Victorian Age, but Winnie was a very solid protagonist. The rest of the cast was also good, between the hardy cook, Winnie's petulant charge Robert, and Mr. Quincy, a faerie butler who is so far from what he seems. The writing could be a little dense at times and the beginning is slow. If you make it through that, it's a satisfying read. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for the sequel.

Olivia Atwater can write and delivers an entertaining and compelling story set in the world of half Soul.
It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to read another book by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was a lovely read!
The Victorian Gothic atmosphere was spot on, and I really enjoyed the story and characters.
I wish the chemistry with the love interest (no spoilers) was built up even more but overall it was a good book, with deeper themes than I expected at I first, including themes around childhood, trauma, and metaphors about human exploitation of nature and others.
The several "true" fairytales interspersed in the book really added to the world building. I get that this book is set up in a wider universe created by Olivia Atwater but I never felt like I was missing out on something or not understanding something.

I want to thank Victory editing and NetGalley for giving me a copy of the book in exchange for a fair review.

--
This was published on Goodreads on April 29th 2024, and May 1st 2024 on Librarything and StoryGraph