Rise and Divine by Lana Harper

This is the fifth book in the Thistle Grove series, it can be read as a standalone but I preferred reading them in order to get all the good gossip along the way.

This book follows Dasha Avramov, a part of the necromancer family of witches, Dasha herself is a Devil eater which is a rare skill even amongst her kin. The town of Thistle Grove is preparing to celebrate Cavalcade, a ritual that lasts a month and only takes place every 20 years.

During a routine banishing Dasha faces a demon who leaves with an ominous warning, but hey demons will say anything when they’re about to die, right?

When during the first day of celebrations things start to go awry Dasha embarks on a journey not only to save the town she loves, but she also has to confront her past, face her fears and try to find the courage to stay rooted to the world of the living.

The book was slow paced, I expected a little more excitement from the story of one of the Avramov clan, but it can’t have been too slow because I read it in 24 hours, overall I really enjoyed the book, enjoyed getting to revisit the Grove and it’s a perfect halloween/autumn book.

I want to thank @LittleBrownBookGroup_Uk, @LanaHarper and @Netgalley for giving me access to the ARC of this book.

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and honestly review an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

This was cute! I think I wasn’t completely in the mood for it, but I still really liked the love story in the background. (It did move kind of fast, and I don’t really enjoy spicy scenes in books, but overall it was just very fine.)

This has witchy vibes, high stakes, complex characters, and a mystery at the heart that maybe was a little too straight forward to me. I didn’t truly feel the tension, but I still had a good time with it!

If you loved the other books, this is a solid ending for it.

3.5⭐️

Rise and Divine, is the fifth novel in the Witches of Thistle Grove series.
Thistle Grove is a town populated by both witches and normies or mortals. The Witch residents, tend to be members of the Harlow, Thorn, Blackmoore and Avramov families who founded the town. The series is wonderfully diverse.
In the first novel, Payback's A Witch, we meet Emmy Harlow who is returning to Thistle Grove for the first time in many years, and finds her in the middle of a spellcasting tournament.
In the second book, From Bad To Cursed, our protagonist is Isidora Avramov, and she joins forces with Rowan Thorn, from a rival family, when unexpectedly the celebrations in advance of the Beltane festival are sabotaged.
For book three, Back In A Spell, we meet Nineve Blackmoore and Morty Gutierrez who navigate a mortal and witch romance.
And book four, In Charm's Way focuses on the Harlow family once again, with Delilah Harlow attempting to recover her memories.
Now, in the most recent book, Rise And Divine, we return to the Avramov family with the tale of Daria 'Dasha' Avramov. Dasha is a "death eater", meaning she had the power to eat the demons that she encounters and in this story, she is charged with defeating her most dangerous foe yet. This is the darkest novel in the series yet and very enjoyable. Also rather spicy so be warned. While it's not necessary to read the other novels on this series, it does help the reader to understand the backstory and to have a greater enjoyment of the backstory.

Rise and Divine is the final book in the series, which I didn’t actually realize until I reached the end of it. It’s another good addition, these books still feel a bit twee and kitschy but they’re easy enough reads. I think this may have been the darkest one as it focused on Dasha Avramov, the resident death eater of Thistle Grove. I enjoyed it and it was a decent end to the series.

I used to love this series so much: the first two books were what really got me into romance novels. The sparkle's just been gone with the latter set though. In this case, I think it's just a mismatch of what I like in romance: I'm fine with a book starting with a relationship in tatters, but the situation sounds so disasterous that I'm not sure I can root for our main character, and it just got worse with Ivy suddenly being emotional/romantic at Dasha the moment things were dangerous. That being said, it's really nice to see all my old favourites and I love the lore about the other side.

I absolutely love this series and am so sad that this is the last book - but what a way to see it out!

Genuinely think this is my favourite Witches of Thistle Grove book for a few reasons:
1. The stakes are so much higher
2. I've had 4 other books to fall in love with the world and characters
3. Dasha is such a rich and complex character
4. The spice was spicing
5. It touches on so much more than love and magic.

There were a few more layers to this story than I think there were in the previous books. Dealing with Dasha's sense of grief was so accurate and heart wrenching, it made me really fall in love with her as a character as she was so fragile while still being incredibly strong.

While I still figured out who/what was behind everything going down, I really enjoyed the journey and getting all the details. It really was the perfect end to a series that I have enjoyed so much.

I hope we get more books from Thistle Grove in the future but if not, the way the series ended and the fact that all the previous characters played a part was perfect. I will happily re-read this series repeatedly for comfort until my copies are falling apart.