I loved the very beginning of this book!! it was so sweet and kind and heartfelt but once it got to the middle it felt like a total different book to me. i would still recommend reading!! the pacing of this book also through me off a bit. and the dialogue in this book is so good!! should a great book for a debut author!!

This is my favourite book I have read this month! It’s insane that this is a debut! It was sweet and lovely but also fiesty and challenging! I loved the queer rep and the characters were so amazing… I will be thinking about them for such a long time. I will also be re reading this book to annotate and enjoy it time and time again! I don’t know if I really like cosy fantasy but if all cosy fantasy was like this it would become my favourite sub genre! There were some really poignant moments here too and I think that was an important element for the book to have because it raised the stakes which is unusual in cosies but it was definitely appreciated here.

The cover had me intrigued,

Cosy cottagecore sapphic vibes.

The story wasn't the best though

I really wanted to love it

The Honey Witch is a book full of heart. In the beginning, it reminded me of a Bridgerton like atmosphere amidst courting and marriage but spun into so much more. With a unique take on magic, interesting characters that make you root for them and a storyline that is both tightly woven and a breath-of-fresh-air kind of cozy, it's the perfect summer book for those nights where you just want to be consumed by another universe.

The way this was marketed, I thought this would be right up my street. Witchy cosy sweet fantasy is exactly what I was after as the days get longer here in the UK, the bees and sunshine are out, and spring and romance are in the air, but this felt so middle grade at times, it really confused and distracted me. The main character especially, the way her inner thoughts and opinions are either told to the reader, or inappropriately dropped into conversations with other characters completely stopped me from connecting with her or her narrative. The plot felt contrived, even from the beginning as Marigold tells the reader many many times that she doesn't want to be trapped in marriage, and that she's not like other girls, she can't paint or sing, or dance, whatever can be in store for her? Well, children, luckily she's a witch ('I'm a what? You're a wizard Harry' ), and not just any witch, but one with a curse that means she can never be loved (yay! no marriage for her after all!), a random-sounding curse that happens to fit with pretty much the only thing Marigold has told us about herself over and over.

The opening of the book just felt like the set up to a surface-level witchy story, where the characters are cut out representatives of messages, tropes, or ideas, rather than living believable people in a fantasy world. To me it felt like modern Disney, overdone vibes and pushing a very simple story, but with no substance.

Apologies to the author if the beginning misled me, and obviously, other readers loved this, and had I persevered maybe the style would have changed, the characters become more real, more likeable, and more like their ages - Marigold reads very young, even younger than YA to me - but some of the other reviews I've read suggest not, and I have too many books shouting at me to read them for me to continue.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review, should I ever revisit this, I will, of course, update my review if the book grows on me.

This was such an adorable and cosy fantasy filled with magic, curses and forbidden love. I found myself absolutely enchanted by this book and it's characters. Not only does it have a beautiful cover but Shield's does an amazing job of drawing you in with it's cottagecore ambience and vivid descriptions.

Marigold is an amazing character who felt like she never fitted in until she found herself at the family cottage where she learns to become a Honey Witch. I loved watching her character grow and I loved seeing her become to love herself and her uniqueness. I loved her connection with Lottie who is the complete opposite of Marigold. Lottie doesn't believe in magic and is quite standoffish but as the story progresses you come to know why and you cannot help but want to wrap her in bubble wrap and protect her at all costs.

While there were a few plot points I had guessed very early on it never took away from my experience and this one still managed to get me teary eyed on numerous occasions. The perfect book for anyone looking for a witchy and cosy fantasy this year!

WOW. I knew this was going to be a good book by the summary but I didn’t expect to love and care so much for the characters that I was nearly in tears by the end! I loved Marigold’s journey to becoming the Honey Witch and the issues she faced along the way, especially regarding friendships and love. I loved the concept of magical honey and communicating with bees, and Innisfree just felt like such a warm and cosy place to live. Lottie’s character development was also fantastic and I loved her sibling-like relationship with August, and their journeys to find their soulmates. This was a beautiful story and I can’t recommend it enough!

This book was the perfect spring book 4.5 stars

- Soulmates
- Magic
- Regency
- Found family
- Queer normative world
- Bees

The romance

The main romance in this book was cute and I really enjoyed it. It was a hate to lovers. There were side romances in this book I won't say much about them so you can see but although I was able to predict them I still enjoyed it.

The magic

The magic system in this was really fun. It is more <spoiler> potions than spells </spoiler> The spirits that guard the land and look after it are really cool and I would love to meet one.

The world

There isn't a tonne of world building so if you love that then maybe this isn't for you but I was happy with a less high fantasy book and wasn't left with too many questions.

The Characters

The characters were loveable, the main character may have been a bit annoying looking down on people who thought different to her to start with, but you watch her grow and learn. Also handles loss and grief in a great way and the feelings on loneliness. Overall I really liked the characters in this book.

Overall this book made me feel like I was sat in a field of wildflowers wearing a regency gown. Fairly low stakes(for most of it) and was a lovely read. If you like cosy fantasy, romantasy, witches this might just be for you. This was a mostly happy read and calming.

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown for this arc in exchange for an honest review

I’ve been waiting on The Honey Witch ever since the author announced it on social media, and I’m grateful to have had the chance to read it early. The book was an incredibly pleasant read that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was easy to get through, and I finished it quickly. Initially, it felt a bit juvenile and trope-heavy, but as the story progressed and the characters developed, these concerns dissipated.

The story was spicier than I expected, which wasn't clearly advertised, although this might be due to my oversight. Overall, I enjoyed this story a lot, and it’s great to see a sapphic regency fantasy gaining such popularity.

This is a perfect example of cottage core. The theme of magic in nature is cute and fun and the writing brings the world to life. Take me to Innisfree!

The beginning felt like a nod to a Bridgerton style setting, which I loved. The overall pacing was good and I felt the tension gradually growing until the climax at the end. I loved all the characters. Marigold the MC is relatable but has her own personality. The romance was well done.

I would definitely recommend this to cottage core and witchy fans! A quality cosy read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for sending me an e-arc copy for review.

This book honestly sounded like such a great cosy cottagecore fantasy book and I think it’s a great starter for people coming into the fantasy genre who are not looking for anything crazy.

Unfortunately this book really wasn’t for me. The premise was great but I couldn’t get into it and found the storyline to be kind of boring and anticlimactic. I think I expected more from this book with the hype around it being fairly big.

Needless to say, I DNF’d this book but I do think I wanted something more.

A great concept, with so much to love and so much potential, but I don’t feel like this found its footing properly. Wild witchy magic set in the Regency period, with a love curse, sapphic romance and bees. It sounds perfect. However.
The characters felt very childish, in fact for the most part it read like a children’s book, which is no bad thing. Apart from the spice and some of the other very adult content which means that this is definitely not for children.
Also the magic system bothered me, it was so vague and I didn’t really understand why honey and ash were opposite. Also it felt like she had impossible amounts of power and yet had only been given the bare minimum amount of training.
I’d recommend this but not with as much enthusiasm as I’d like.

I saw The Honey Witch marketed as Bridgerton x Practical Magic x The Secret Life of Bees, and I had to read it. Witchy cottagecore with a dash of whimsy? Sign me up. A magic system based around bees and honey? Sounds enchanting. Queer romance? Even better.

And yet.

I so wanted to like this book. I really, really did. And while the prose was lyrical, I felt the pacing was stilted right from the start, which made it challenging for me to get into the plot. Vibes-wise, it hit close to the mark for me but something still felt off, and I needed more depth to the atmosphere to really ground me into the story. I loved the premise but it didn’t really pay off for me, and definitely read more as a YA book than an adult one, despite some of the themes being more mature.

In terms of the characters, I sadly felt nothing for any of them and found myself drifting away whilst reading. The worldbuilding, also, felt incomplete — there was some, but it wasn’t enough for me, and the magic system was rather vague and had moments of insta-magic. I do enjoy slow reads but I felt this one didn’t hold my attention at all. I struggled through it but would not re-read.

I also want to highlight the lack of content warnings for this book, specifically character deaths, bereavement, blood, and miscarriage. It would be worth to check these if you decide to give it a try.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Orbit, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found it hard to rate this book as I had mixed feelings whilst reading it. I loved the setting, the descriptions of nature and the characters, but I wasn’t invested in the plot. The scenes on Innisfree with Marigold, Lottie and August were some of my favourites, plus when they returned to Bardshire.
I just felt like the plot dragged on a little and all the action was at the end. It felt a bit like the drama at the end was just thrown in as an extra plot point.
However, this was a lovely book and I loved the vibes as it had great practical magic vibes crossed with Bridgerton / Austen!

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, brown book group.

I wanted to love this book, I really did. I was so excited to start reading this but, honestly I was a bit bored.

The story is very predictable and I felt as if nothing really happened. It had all the right witchy, cottagecore vibes that I expected, but the story fell flat for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Orbit for granting me the arc!

Cottagecore witchery? I was so in. And that cover! Gorgeous. Unfortunately, the book didn't give me what I was expecting.

Mari longs to leave societal life and has no desire to wed (when set in the early-mid 1800s and in a higher society, this is a must). Luckily, she is destined for other things (and there's a handy curse that agrees with her on marriage) - she is a Honey Witch. Upon this discovery, she is sharply whisked away from her stately home by her Grandmother, to the wonderful cottage on an enchanted island that I wish I could live in.

From here the book was extremely predictable, I'm afraid I grew bored - parts with the dialogue were jarring given the time period, and the magical cottage-y feel was largely lost. To be honest, putting in dates in parts of the story reminding me of the year(s) it's set over probably added to the jarring nature - as otherwise I'd forget this, it's totally irrelevant.

There were parts of the story I enjoyed - and some characters I did enjoy, particularly August (who gives me golden retriever energy) - but they felt too fleeting, the story already moving on and past that. With myself finding it predictable, I was also at the end of the book in my mind already - any budding intrigue falling on me like a "yeah, and...?" vibe. I'd have been a lot happier with a chunkier book and more details - let's dive into the secondary character's lives, more of the day-to-day witchcraft and Mari's journey to learn.

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

I wanted to love this book so much. It was actually one of the books I was most excited for coming out in the first part of the year. Unfortunately, while the vibes were definitely there, the story itself was a bit boring for me. I felt like nothing was really happening.

But again, I'd still read another work of the author because I loved the cozy cottage core/regency era vibes and it was an easy read and yeah, I liked the set up, just not the story so much.

The Honey Witch follows Marigold who has always known she was different and didn't fit in with the others around her. With the return of a family member from her past she discovers her trueself and where she belongs. Finally feeling like she is where she is meant to be, her life then gets flipped on its head by Lottie, a fiery redhead who is adament she doesn't believe in magic.

I have been in a reading slump for months and after trying many books The Honey Witch has finally pulled me out of it. I loved the concept of the magic in the story and how it was carried out and evolved through the book. However, my favourite part was the relationships that Marigold grew when she finally could be herself. I loved reading a book that made same sex relationships normative and instead was able to focus on building those relationships.

I overall have absolutely loved reading The Honey Witch by Sydeny J. Shields. Thank you so much for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this book in exhange for an honest review.

3⭐️ This book was highly anticipated for me and has a lovely premise, involving a unique, honey centric magic system. A fantasy of manners set in a queer normative incarnation of regency society this was cosy with an ethereal and whimsical cottagecore vibe.

This had some wonderful writing including

‘…how romantic to die young, unstretched, unsullied, without ever outgrowing the part of the ingenue. But what happens when the girl keeps living, when she ages proudly and defiantly, without abandoning imagination, or stories, or that secret wish to find magic wherever it hides?
Well, then the poets would call her a witch.’

I felt like the book explored important themes, including grief, in a poignant and relatable relatable way and did have the cozy vibes it promised however, there was just something about the book that didn’t hit the mark for me and I felt like it didn’t quite reach its full potential with the pacing being off (very rushed at the end) Sadly, for me some of the plot threads felt like they were left dangling or were odd and unexplored fully while others were so obvious

Although this is an adult book with some adult scenes, Marigold felt immature at times so that it read more like a YA. She made some choices that were questionable and seemed against what her character would realistically do and it seemed that after how important for the locals the honey witch’s abilities were made, 90% of what Mari did was pretty frivolous stiff.

For many readers this could be a fantasy favourite that is an easy, comforting escape but for me it just didn’t hit the mark 😔

This was quite a mixed bag for me, so I'll start with the positives:
I am a huge fan of nature and the way authors incorporate it into their stories, so the idea of a honey witch, and their magic being tied to the land was immediately a win. The idea of escaping to a little Scottish (?) island to learn magic from my grandma and a big old grimoire sounds pretty perfect to me (besides the whole cursed to never be in love thing).

Plot wise I felt like maybe we tried to cram too much in to one story: we had two primary locations, in the city and Innisfree, and I felt like neither of them got explored enough to really feel at home in them. I'm also personally not so much of a fan of travelling plots, and because the two locations were so far apart, this was kind of unavoidable.

A sweet story (haha, get it?) that I think regency-era fantasy lovers should certainly give a go