Ok, so I absolutely LOVED this book, I binged it in a day and enjoyed almost everything about it.

The magic system with the bees and honey is completely adorable and unique, whilst the cottagecore vibes had me dreaming of a warm spring day kneeling between the flowers in my garden.

It really reminded me of a mix of Circe, Bridgerton, A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and Practical Magic - all books I love!

The cover is absolutely phenomenal and matches the vibes perfectly.

My only gripe is the ending. This huge mortal peril moment happened towards the end and then the last chapter it was happily ever after. It felt a little rushed and like it jumped from peril to happiness, leaving me a little stumped as the first 90% of the book was exquisite.

Not sure what happened there. But it’s definitely a brilliant must read and I’d love to read more from Sydney in the future.

If you are searching for a relaxing, cozy, cottagecore read then this might be for you. the overall plot was a bit underdeveloped for my taste, but this hit all the cozy vibes for sure

Received as a free arc copy via netgalley

Another disappointment unfortunately.
From the description I was exited to read this book, but it was a flop.

The vibe is cottage core to the max, but the story is under developed.

Would have been a DNF if not for feeling obliged to finish it

4.5⭐️ A cosy cottagecore witchy fantasy with bridgerton vibes, enough stakes to move the story along and a complicated sapphic romance in a queer normative world.

Marigold has grown up in high society where she is now of marrying age and it seems that is her only role in life, to find love and to be a wife. Without any obvious talents nor a desire to be a wife, Marigold reluctantly attends the balls as the quirky outcast. Until her grandmother arrives and shakes up this mundane world, inviting her to take up her role as the Honey Witch.

To accept, Marigold must choose between love and magic, for a honey witch cannot have both. She eagerly accepts and leaves her comfortable lifestyle without purpose, moving to the island of Innisfree to train with her grandmother.

The Honey Witch is everything I love in a cosy fantasy. The story takes place in an intimate setting and moves quite slowly which allows us to really immerse ourselves in the little details. The cast of characters is small and we get to know them well, allowing them to work their way into our hearts so deeply that they feel like friends. The stakes are high enough to keep us engaged and wanting more but not too high to cause stress (most do the time anyway!) The sapphic romance was a delightfully complicated connection which was perfectly complimented by an easy courtship romance for her sister and an intense love-at-first sight romance for her brother in this queer normative world.

Perhaps my favourite part was being with these three friends in the cottage at Innisfree. All so different from one another yet they compliment each other so well.

I adored Marigold and loved watching her step away from a life that didn’t work for her and embrace a new life with such heart and commitment. It was especially beautiful to watch her connect with and learn from her grandmother.

Lottie was a dark storm cloud who craved love and connection but seemed to fear it at the same time, so watching her character arc was just beautiful.

August was an absolute delight, we all need a friend like August.

This story has love, grief, friendship, magic, witchcraft, connection to nature, community, romance, curses, high-society, women’s choice.

The only reason that this was not a five star read for me was the questions that popped up while reading that I’m still left pondering. Little elements that took me out of the story enough to feel jarring when I was completely immersed in the coziness… and they were little, but details matter to me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Little Brown Book Group UK and the Author for this eARC. This review is all my own thoughts and has been given freely.

Thanks to NetGalley for the early version of this book. I really wanted to enjoy this book, I mean it had all the right ingredients but it just didn't hit the mark for me. It is a very cosy, sapphic romance with witchy magic so definitely worth checking out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it’s the perfect cosy read.

The plot had the perfect amount of predictability and twists and was very well written.

If I could change anything about this book, it would be more for the ‘battle’ scene but other than that it was outstanding.

Are you looking for a cosy, witchy, sapphic, cottagwcore dream of a book? Well, look no further because this is it.

It’s 1831, and Marigold is fed up with society life. Not as talented as her younger twin siblings, and still burnt from a break up, she’d rather be off frolicking in the fields during the full moon, than forced to dance with yet another suitor. Thankfully for her, things click into place when her Grandmother returns to her life - revealing the secrets of the island she lives on that Marigold’s mother had tried to protect her from, the magic they can both wield, and the spirits that roam the world.

However - the magic comes at a price. Like her grandmother, she will be cursed to never be able to have true love. Marigold, however, thinks that’s a fine thing to give up in exchange for magic and purpose, and happily travels back with her grandmother to her home of Innisfree, throwing herself into learning the ways of their honey led magic, the nature of spells, and the spirits that protect the island… until one day she finds herself trying to convince a beautiful, stubborn, redhead called Lottie that magic is real, not ‘mythcraft’ as she calls it. Feelings begin to bloom, which could lead to dire consequences….

Firstly the setting is beautiful - the island settting, filled with the gentle buzzing of bees, magical protective spirits, and a small cozy cottage location, is just perfect. I could envisage it all so beautifully, and I wanted to frolic and learn alongside Marigold as she adapted to her new life, looking after the creatures of the island, and serving customers from the mainland.

The writing is lovely, and fully wrapped me up in its whimsy. I loved seeing the relationships between everyone evolve - especially with Lottie, as she began to open up. Parts of it reminded me of Bridgerton, but with added magic, spells, and curses.

The LGBTQIA+ representation is brilliant - characters simply love who they love, with no eyelids battered.

I just can’t overstate how cosy it is - there is an element of threat that grows stronger throughout, but my overall feeling after finishing the book is still one of utmost comfort, love, and magic. Just so lovely overall.

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the copy to review.

Unfortunately for me this book just didn’t hit it for me.Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

5 magical stars.

I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book since learning of it late last year - a huge thank you to Netgalley for the copy of the ebook.

The story starts when Marigolds grandmother arrives and informs her she is a honey witch. A honey witch can make spells and potions with the use of different flavoured honeys made by bees on the honey witches island. Marigold then travels to the island to learn from her grandmother who is nearing death.

I fell in love with this book from the first few chapters. The writing is beautiful and it was like I was there on the island of Innisfree. You could smell the flowers and taste the honey and feel the warmth of the sun.

The book is set early 1800s in the regency era - think Bridgerton- parts of the story include balls and masquerades and visits to the modiste for ballgowns. There is a wedding and a one bed trope.

I loved the found family and soulmates aspect and the sapphic romance was beautiful.

I think this one will be making my top ten of 2024.

Going off the vibe, the cover and some booktokkers comparing this to “The very secret society of irregular witches “ and thats all the convincing I needed.

This book is light hearted, It doesn’t have overly complicated world building and is an all round easy read.

There are secrets revealed, soulmates found , tattoos shared, magic used and in the end honey proves to be sweeter that ash🍯

If you are looking for a sweet, whimsical read with witchy Brigerton vibes , then this is the one for you.

I read this as an arc, it comes out in May 2024!

I absolutely loved The Honey Witch!
This makes me really happy as it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year!
I've recently been loving cozy fantasy reads and and this was no exception. I think it's becoming a favourite genre.

This book was beautifully written and I adored both Marigold and Lottie.
Their romance was so sweet!
The only negative i have is the pacing could be a little slow at times but that didn't really bother me much.

I definitely highly recommend this book as it was amazing! Any fans of Sapphic cozy witchy fantasy with cottage core vibes will love this book!
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a review.

DNF at 40-ish %. I have many issues with this, which I will talk about more in depth in a review on Instagram, The Storygraph, and Goodreads. Per publisher's request I will do this two weeks before release.

To summarise:

- I feel like the marketing of this book is misleading and doesn't fit the execution. The comparative marketing to other known titles is off and to me only conveys someone Googling the terms "regency" and "witches" without having read said compared titles.

- Talking about regency, nothing in this book screams regency apart from the first sentence of the book which states the era. This feels like an afterthought someone added to check off a trending subtrope.

- Marigold as a main character is insufferable to me. She feels like a cardboard without any personality trait apart from being judgmental and looking down on others for having different dreams than her. (which for a book that attempts to be feminist and empowering, doesn't work) She vibes "not like other girls" and that's a dealbreaker for me. The other characters are forgettable and equally made out of cardboard. Also, the fact that the love interest only had three lines by 40% is really forgettable as well. It screams instalove at a later stage.

- This book leans on telling and not showing, through chunky and forced expositional dialogue. This chosen technique is the base of whatever issues I have with this book. Also a dealbreaker for me. You can even state the book takes place in chapter two, when the grandmother explains basically every plot point. It makes it so every chance at character development, guessing, surprise or foreshadowing disappears.

- I have a lot of issues with the lore in this book, including its curse. It's explained that ash and honey witches are natural enemies because they're supposed to be elemental opposites, which makes no sense. (And this immediately gave away the plot twist.) The curse also makes little sense because because the grandmother gives out two solutions for it in chapter two. It should also an explanation as to why Marigold never had any suitors, but she wasn't interested in them anyway. It all feels very flimsy.

Generally, I feel like the concept of the book is there. The author knows what she wants but I feel like the script is off and chooses a wrong timeline. It's like the book would be better if the story just immediately starts out with Marigold already being a witch and living with her grandmother. The overproportionate dramatic fallout with her mother at the start when finding out she's a witch was also not necessary and did nothing for the plot.

I feel like the book can use more rounds of editing focused on character development or plot tension, because at this point, I read none of that and I feel like this was rushed to meet a deadline. Thank you for the opportunity to read this pre-release and give out a review.

I actually really loved this, most of it was really cosy and sweet and adorable but part of it was dark and a little bit creepy at times! I loved the world building and the magic system, the idea of each thing having it's equal counterpart made complete sense. It was well thought out and an excellent debut.

This was so good, I have no words for how much I felt for Marigold and Lottie. A satisfying ending with the perfect amount of suspense and anguish, I truly felt immersed in the environment and the characters. The characters were fleshed out to perfection, and I felt truly innamoured by the witchiness this story encapsulated. The love as described is tragic but lovely and you really felt for marigold as she struggles to come to terms with freedom to love and her obligations as a honey witch. The only thing I felt drew this story back was the pacing, such as a chapter dedicated to the aftermath of lottie and marigold (trying not to spoil too much here), or more suspense with lottie and marigold prior to the final battle as it felt a bit rushed. However, that is my only criticism as everything else was amazing, and I did, in fact, cry many times in the final couple of chapters. As a debut, this was fantastic and I cannot wait to read more from Sydney J. Shields. I could not recommend this sapphire witch fantasy enough, it is a perfect read with a cup of tea (sweetened with honey).

The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields

Published by Little, Brown Book Group UK

4/5 stars!

The Honey Witch is a cozy enchanting read

Marigold is training to be the next Honey Witch after her grandmother whisked her away to the family cottage. However with the magic she learns, Marigold pays the price which is that no one can fall in love with her! Until she meets Lottie!
I expected a cozy easy read book and I got exactly that! It was easy to fall in love with the characters and countryside, this book pulls on your heartstrings in the best ways!

Thank you to the published, author and NetGalley for this arc!

My review will be published on Goodreads in the next couple of weeks.

A sweet sapphic love story with themes of found family and grief. The pacing is quite slow and the dialogue a bit cheesy but overall it's a good book

This book gives beautiful imagery and sensations of warmth, nature, and love. It definitely gives off cottage-core vibes.
The setting, the magic, and the characters were all enjoyable. Sydney captures loss and trauma beautifully, serving as a powerful reminder of feminism in its entirety. In particular, it emphasises the significance of choice and how it varies among individuals. The story main flaw, in my opinion, was that the pacing was too quick, and it was moving too fast, leaping ahead when it might have developed more gradually, while other parts felt like they should have been given more depth. The writing itself was quite lovely.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Little, Brown Book Group Uk for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was given access to an advance review copy on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 40%

A cozy fantasy I was looking forward to but in the end it simply did not catch my attention.
I found myself bored a few times and other times there was simply not enough things happening to push me to keep reading. The plot is very interesting but I simply could not connect with the MC and I felt like the romance lacked chemistry.

I had to stop reading when I felt the reading slump coming... This book was unfortunately not for me.

I went in to this book without any expectations or prior knowledge and what I got was such a sapphic cozy witchy fantasy.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the world, the cottage and countryside were just pure magic it was absolutely a place I wish I could visit even better if I could live there, it's so colourful and bright filled with bees and flowers and it made my heart sing. There were definite Bridgerton vibes with the rules of society and the balls and I could also see similarities with the Olivia Atwater books with that whimsical feel- the writing is poetic and flows so beautifully.

I loved seeing the story and romance bloom but I did feel that I was looking for something more, I would have loved to have seen more of the magic system it was so interesting and I just wanted it to develop but felt that once the romance took off the magic was secondary.

I enjoyed the characters- Marigold with their intense sunshine and Lottie a grumpy cynic- both are dealing with changes and overcoming trauma and sadness and I thought they were a delight (for the most.) I loved the queer aspects of this book but found that some of the dialogue was unnatural and awkward and the language used while predominantly quaint and of a regency style there were sometimes words used that really threw me.

Overall I enjoyed this and would recommend if you want a cozy fantasy read with a really interesting magic system packed with cottage core vibes and a sapphic romance- this is definitely not one for the plot lovers.

This was 3.75 stars for me so rounded up to 4

A lovely and cosy fantasy enemies to lovers story. I really enjoyed this one.
I didn't know much going into this, and expecting something a little darker, but pleasantly surprises none the less.
would love to read more from this author in the future!