Oh my witchy friends, you are going to love this! Carrie is a perfect lead, you warm to her instantly and you'll be begging her to be your friend! As the story unfolds you get stories from Carrie, her great aunt Coraline (Cora) and her ex best friend Jess. The stories intertwine as you hear about events past and present, why Carrie left and why she had to return. Why Jess is not her friend anymore and the secret behind Cora's obsession with "the book" and the mountains.

It's plotted well, with a diverse collection of characters and although there is an element of romance, although it is not a romance novel - the focus is on the women, female bonds and sisterhood.

It's not scary, but it has a mysterious undertone, which comes mainly from stories of the mountains and the people it has taken, but also the extracts from "the book" too, which appear at the beginning of some chapters. It's mainly set in autumn and winter, so this is a perfect time of year to read it.

I struggled with this book. Not with the writing but the plot. It was my understanding that it would be small town, mysterious magic stuff but it was just small town drama which I am not really into. I mean the mystery part was not enough for me to keep me entertained.

Title: The woodsmoke women's book of spells
Author: Rachel Greenlaw
Pages: 320
Rating: 3/5

Arc Copy (gifted) - review left voluntarily
Publish date - 10th October 2024

"There is an old tale that weaves through the mountain town of Woodsmoke.
It whispers of a stranger who appears as the snow falls, only to disappear in spring.
Leaving behind a broken heart…"

After 10 years away, Carrie returns to woodsmoke following the death of her grandmother and inheriting her cottage up in the mountains. - on one condition. She stays there for the winter.

This is a lovely cosy wintery read. A little hug in a book. It's easy to understand and has a hallmark quality to the plot. The writing is based on different perspectives but mainly focuses on the MFC Carrie.

We learn about past relationships and consequences. I found myself getting frustrated with some of the characters which is a credit to the writing skills.

I could easily see the images of what the author was creating in her descriptions, but they weren't wordy so it left some room for imagination.

This was a perfect christmassy seasonal read!


You'll love this book if you like
- cosy romance
- hallmark style reads
- winter
- no spice romance
- witchy books
- weyward by Emilia Hart
- homecoming

Thank you netgalley and hqstories for allowing me to review.

Will you read it? If you've read it already, what were your thoughts??

A perfect witchy read with cures, secrets, and mystery in abundance. Carrie returns to the mountains after the death of her grandmother, but can she stay? Secrets never stay hidden forever. Friendship and family are main themes in this fabulous story, but who is the mysterious stranger? Beautifully written and full of surprises, I could not put it down!

This was really cosy and it gave me autumn vibes, but in summer - fantastic for when it’s due to be released. Thank you to the writer, publisher, and Net Galley for allowing me to read this book.

The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is a wonderful tale of magic, curses and romance. The story takes place in the cosy, mountain town of Woodsmoke, where everybody knows everybody else, and nothing remains a secret for very long. In the midst of this town live the Morgan women - a family of natural witches, who pass their special book of magic down from one generation to the next. However, the book is more than a grimoire or book of shadows. It is a history of romance, of all the loves and losses of the Morgan women down through the ages, told in the style of a collection of fables, in the hope that future generations of women can learn from the losses of their ancestors.

Into this environment sweeps Carrie, the youngest of the Morgan women and the only one who tried to break free and leave the town for good. But when her grandmother, Ivy, dies and leaves her everything, Carrie has to return to sort out the cottage and the shop that Ivy left behind, and to make her peace with her great aunt, Cora, the witch who currently holds the family book of spells.

The Morgan women aren't just run of the mill witches. They are mountain witches and the mountains and hills of Woodsmoke are sentient, the mountain trails populated by the spirits of winter, who prowl in the frost. It is the legacy of the Morgan women to keep the townsfolk safe from the threat of being taken by the mountains. So when Carrie returns, tongues start wagging.

This is a fantastic book full of winter's charm and the practice of witchery. It has all the cosy vibes of Stars Hallow, with the enchantment of Practical Magic and the insidious threat of The Village. The author even mentions the film, Practical Magic, in the novel, giving a nod to her inspiration and the obvious parallels between the two stories. This book is just as magical, just as cosy and it's just as hard to put down.

In The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells you will find a mysterious love interest, family feuds, cosy cottages, witchcraft, skate dates, blood magic and blood ties and the ominous mountains brooding over the frosty town. It reminded me of the time I spent in Glencoe, where the mountains do seem to be sentient beings that will either protect you or kill you! As Carrie attempts to find her place in the world and make up for past wrongs, I couldn't help but be drawn into her story, although Cora is my favourite character as she is so feisty! I sincerely hope that this novel kicks off a series and that there will be more tales of the Morgan women, because I enjoyed this one so much.

If you like the Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman, then you will love this book too. Just don't forget to ward the thresholds before you read. You never know what's out there, ready to come tap, tap, tapping at your window! The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is the perfect October read. Enjoy!

Brights Blessings

Marie x

Carrie Morgan fled from the town of Woodsmoke as a teenager hoping to see more of the world.
Now, 10 years later, her Grandma Ivy has passed away and left her run down cottage and shop to Carrie, her only stipulation being that Carrie has to return to Woodsmoke and spend at least the winter there.
Carrie is expecting the whispers and stares that always follow the Morgan women in Woodsmoke, what she isn’t sure of is the welcome she will get from her remaining family or from the brooding mountains that surround the village.
When Matthieu arrives at the cottage with the first winter frost, Carrie tries not to become involved. After all he could be the stranger that is spoken of in her family’s precious book of spells and lore. The one who arrives at first frost and disappears with the spring thaw.
How real is Matthieu and will he break Carrie’s heart as her family warn.

"It's true that the stories can't be ignored in Woodsmoke, that trying to explain them to anyone from outside of the town would be futile. But Jess and Tom and Carrie have all grown up with it. They've seen the seemingly magical effects, the unexplained things that happen. As much as he'd like to brush it all aside as superstition, he simply can't."

An atmospheric and seasonal tale set in a rural town at the foot of mountains, focusing on the Morgan family of women and their book of stories. Whilst there's an element of witchy fantasy it remains solidly grounded in reality and in the relationships between returnee Cassie and her family and friends, including great aunt and uncle Cora and Howard, love interest Matthieu and school friends Tom and Jessie. I enjoyed the uncertainty the author creates around the grey area between superstition and magic and the impact it has on characters' choices and behaviour. Split into seasons, the climate, landscape and Cassie's inherited, rundown cottage felt like characters in their own right. This is a bewitching tale about family and society's expectations and daring to live differently.

In this beautifully atmospheric read, we follow Carrie Morgan as she returns to the town she fled ten years prior, intending to quickly fix up her grandmother's house and leave again. But, as her past catches up with her and reality and dream merge, will she make different choices this time?

This story of witches, magic, and mystery is told from multiple points of view, including Carrie herself and her great aunt Cora. The characters are engaging and the plot walks a fine line between magic and superstition, leaving us guessing at every turn. This story of lost love and the magic of coming home is the perfect autumn read.

A recommended read for fans of Practical Magic, Adrienne Young's books, and atmospheric reads.

Thank you to Netgalley and HQ stories for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I needed a new book to read for Autumn so I chose The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells. Autumn to me means cosy blankets, cold mornings, witches, Halloween, pumpkins, and beautiful colours. This book was a perfect way to enter the "Ber" months and Greenlaw really manages to capture the essence of the season. The writing was haunting, yet whimsical, the setting atmospheric yet cosy, the characters familiar yet intriguing. I think this is probably one of my favourite reads this year and I think it might just need to be reread every year. There are beautiful elements of love and loss mixed in with the fantastical mythical mountains. I love nothing more than a forbidden romance and this story did not disappoint. I was worried that Greenlaw was going to make Carrie get back together with her childhood sweetheart but I am so grateful that she didn't. I would like to point out that although the story does take some time to get going in the beginning, this is a book worth sticking with because it is all so worth it in the end. If you love stories such as Practical Magic, please read this, you will not be disappointed.

I loved Rachel's previous book, One Christmas Morning so I was over the moon to get the chance to read her next book. The Woodsmoke Womne's Book of Spells does not disappoint. A gorgeous magical and mysterious book, a perfect fall read. I love how Rachel describes everything, it's so visual, from the mountains to the small town, you actually feel like you are there.
Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this eARC.

I loved this book, it was a cozy mystery and kept me interested all the way through and I was completely satisfied with the ending

Carrie returns to her home town of Woodsmoke ten years after leaving her fiancé Tom at the altar when she is left a home and business in her grandmother's will. She finds little has changed in the small mountain town, particularly with her great aunt Cora who still has the family spell book and lives by the belief that the mountains look over the town and must be respected.

When Carrie meets a handsome stranger in the mountains Cora is convinced he's Fae folk and will vanish at the end of winter. But Carrie is besotted and falls under his spell nonetheless. Tom and his wife Jess have kept their distance since Carrie returned but they may be the only ones that can save her...

This was a gorgeous story for reading on a wet autumn day with candles lit, and living in a town surrounded by mountains, with myths and legends about the hills, I really enjoyed this atmospheric tale of small town life.

What an amazing little cosy book The Woodsmoke Women's Book of Spells is! Perfect to curl up with this cosy season or any cosy season for that matter. The little town of Woodsmoke was deeply and richly described, and you could instantly picture the beautiful landscape described in the book along with the mountains. Superstition and magic, folklore and tales from old fill this book and keep you guessing till the very end. Praise for Rachel Greenlaw for writing such an amazing magical book.

Loved this! The folklore captures the imagination! Does magic truly exist? Well it certainly seems to in Woodsmoke! The narrative keeps you gripped as it's told from three perspectives (all women from Woodsmoke). Is the stranger magically going to disappear as soon as the frost melts and leave behind a broken heart? I don't want to give the storyline away but it is well worth a read and definitely a book to curl up with.
Will be looking out for more from Rachel in the future. Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.

I enjoyed this book. The setting descriptions were really well written and I loved the folklore of the mountains. Recommended.

Thank you netgalley, HQ, HarperCollins and Rachel Greenlaw for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to read this book the second I saw it compared to The Unmaking of June Farrow. I actually wish I hadn’t seen this comparison before reading as this set me up for high high expectations.

That said this was a wonderful, thought provoking read. With beautiful atmospheric descriptions of the location and characters. The book is told from 3 characters perspectives, all the women of a small town called Woodsmoke (hence the title). I found myself changing my opinion of each character as the story progressed. I enjoyed the flash backs to the past and getting to know the love story between Cora and Howard (by far the best love story in this book)- this made Cora’s character more likeable but still I struggled with the chapters in her perspective.

I liked the folklore and magical elements in the book but I found myself wishing for more. The book is a little simple (and I don’t necessarily mean that negatively) but for me I was expecting more depth and development than there was, and I feel there was real scope for it to be a more tragic and heartbreaking story, the death of characters and loss of years spent together just didn’t seem to bring out the emotion in the way I would have expected.

This is a perfect cosy read for the autumn/winter months with a wonderful story about magical folklore, family, love and finding where you belong in the world.

Thanks for an eARC of this book.

I loved the premise and was super excite to read it but the pace was sligtly too slow for me. I was 40% through the book before I felt like the story really picked up. It was a good read, definitely one for an autumn day but perhaps not the read for me.

The Woodsmoke Women’s Book of Spells by Rachel Greenlaw is a captivating and magical novel. After 10 years away, Carrie Morgan returns to Woodsmoke, the small town where she grew up and a place full of superstitions about the surrounding mountains.

Over the years the female members of Carrie’s family have recorded the tales of these mysterious mountains in a book that is passed from Grandmother to Granddaughter. The Morgan’s also protect their community from the dangers of mountains but it always comes with a price.

This book was such an enjoyable read, I was expecting The Gilmore Girls meets Practical Magic, but it was so much more, with the themes of homecoming, family and female relationships, handled in an honest and relatable way.

I’m reluctant to write much more as I don’t want to give too much away, the beauty of this book and Greenlaw’s writing is how she skilfully reveals aspects of the plot, leaving you unable to put the book down. However if you’re looking for an atmospheric autumnal page turner that features an enigmatic stranger who arrives with the frost this is the book for you.

Thank-you HQ and NetGalley for is ARC.

I was completely captivated by this book from Rachel Greenlaw. I initially expected a cozy, witchy read but was delighted to find it delving into much darker themes. The story masterfully explores the weight of curses, the sacrifices tied to magic, and the strain on fractured relationships. The pacing strikes a perfect balance—steady without ever dragging—allowing the intricate characters and their complexities to shine. The haunting, atmospheric setting, with its looming mountains and ever-present sense of foreboding, added an extra layer of depth that I loved. An unexpectedly immersive and beautifully crafted tale.