INFO:

Title: A Dark & Secret Magic

Author: Wallis Kinney

Release Date: October 8th 2024

Genre: Cozy Fantasy; Romance

Editore: Alcove Press

SUMMARY:

A warm, spellbinding tale about a witch and the secrets her coven has been keeping from her, with echoes of the classic Hades and Persephone story, in the tradition of Practical Magic and Witch of Wild Things.

Hecate Goodwin, Kate to her friends, has curated the perfect life as a hedge witch, living in a secluded cottage with only a black cat for company. She spends her days foraging herbs from the Ipswich forest, gardening, and creating tinctures to sell at the apothecary she owns. Most evenings pass without her speaking to another human being, an arrangement she quite prefers.

Kate’s solitude is thrown into disarray when her older sister, Miranda, reaches out and asks her to host their coven’s annual Halloween gathering. The day marks the beginning of the new year for witches and is also Kate’s birthday. The pressure from her coven to make the evening memorable mounts as the event draws near. To complicate things further, a handsome man from Kate’s past turns up at her cottage, asking for sanctuary. It is Kate’s duty as a hedge witch to honor this request, much to her dismay. Matthew Cypher is no ordinary lost soul–he’s a practitioner of forbidden magic who’s tricked Kate once before, and her guard is up.

As she juggles Matthew’s arrival and the preparations for Halloween, Kate comes across an old tome shrouded in dark magic. She is horrified when she realizes the blood-red inscription is written in familiar handwriting: her recently deceased mother’s. Afraid to even touch the dark magic her mother secretly studied, Kate can turn only to Matthew for help. Her idealized memory of her mother begins to distort, and as she and Matthew grow closer, Kate has to reevaluate whom she can really trust.

A Dark and Secret Magic is a celebration of the Halloween season and a love letter to anyone who drinks pumpkin spice in August and carries the spirit of a witch inside their heart all year long.

REVIEW:

Hedge witch Hecate "Kate" Goodwin has been having a tough time since her late mother's passing.

A kitchen witch & one of the Atlantic Key's coven elders, she left Kate and her sisters: older sea witch Miranda, a kind of twisted Ariel with her red curls, and younger Celeste, a divination witch.

Like all the fellow witches & hexen, they chose their path at thirteen years old.

ALL. Except Hecate.

Since her birth on Samhain (Halloween, Oct 31st - Kate, my fellow Scorpio), her mother chose for her the hedge witch's path, an heresy. Hecate never discovered why.

But things, especially secrets, can't be buried forever. And with her thirty-first birthday approaching & the Containment Ritual set, in which a witch willingly chooses to give up some of her powers, her mother's legacy starts to bring up dark truths.

And with elder Margaret Halliwell's strange death and Matthew Cypher's arrival in Ipswich, a shadow hexen (necromancer) and heir to rival coven Pacific Gate, it's a fact that her life is starting to rot.

Because he's the same man with whom Kate has had a tumultous past. He claims he's here to protect here.

But it's an omen, and factually true, that The King Below is coming, and he won't stop to claim what he thinks is his. 

Or better, who.

...

Debut author Wallis Kinney has produced a spellbinding cozy (and also dark) tale, relying on witches' lore to create a lush book. It's natural that this book is meant to be read in October, in full spooky season mode, and especially in the week before Halloween, which also marks the very same start of the zodiac' Scorpio Season. 

Yeah, I think I'm a little bit unreliable on this, because I'm a Scorpio myself (er, double, both Sun & Moon) and this is my favourite year period.

Kinney's prose felt magnetic and stimulated my senses to imagine Goodwin Manor, its cottage, the near village, the witches' ritual. It's pretty great because English is not my primary language (in fact, it's Italian, its roots far away from English)... & yet the author made me feel all of this.

And made me feel for the characters. I fell in total synchrony with Kate and in total symphony with Matthew. Their path was so different yet so similar, bounded by their past or by other people.

I liked having some glimpses of Kate's sisters, Siren Miranda & Bubbly Celeste, and I'm secretly hoping for a spin-off on each of the Goodwins. Not so secretly, ups.

More pages into I fell in love with the setting, with every character - slightly rotten or not (yes, Sybil & Winifred, I'm talking about you, old hags!).. and after even more pages I start to see hints to Hades & Persephone lore, and yes, I start to dread the ending.

This book made me feel so much. I could say that it's a little bittersweet in some parts, but hey, this is the life. And even the sour can't compare to the cozy heat of famly, friends. 

And love. 

Amor vincit omnia.

Rating: ★★★★.5

...

I want to thank Alcove Press for the ARC kindly offered via Netgalley. I'm not bound to the publishing house, to the author and/or any other person related. My opinion is only based on my honest thoughts and feelings.

Anais by The Bookish Scorpio

Review Time | This Fatal Kiss by Alicia Jasinska

INFO:

Title: This Fatal Kiss

Author: Alicia Jasinska

Release Date: September 24th 2024

Genre: Dark Fantasy; Romance, LGBTQ+

Editore: Peachtree Teen

SUMMARY:

Spirit away with a whimsical fantasy filled with dark magic and flirty, polyamorous romance.

Cursed to haunt the river running through the magical spa town where she drowned, Gisela is a water nymph who dreams of returning to the living world and the family she left behind. All it takes to regain her humanity is a kiss from a mortal...but everyone sees her as a monster.

And then there’s Kazik, the brooding, interfering, spirit-hunting grandson of a local witch. He's determined to rid the world of unholy creatures like Gisela. After Kazik botches Gisela’s exorcism, she strikes up a deal. She won’t tell the other spirits that he’s losing his magic, if he agrees to play matchmaker and helps her get a kiss. But Gisela’s plan goes awry when Kazik also falls for the devilishly handsome young man that she sets her heart on—someone who could be linked to Gisela’s troubled past.

Finely crafted with a magical setting, this delectable quest through the spirit world is an enchanting read for fans of queer romantasy.

REVIEW:

This Fatal Kiss is Alicia Jasinska's debut novel, a dark fantasy filled with Eastern European folklore and creatures as fascinating as they are deadly. Like the FMC, Gisela.

Once a teenage girl, now a water nymph (a "rusałki"), doomed to infest the waters where she died, terribly close to the nearby town and its exorcist, a boy named Kazik. Clever, cunning, a little arrogant and for sure antisocial, Kazik has learned the old ways from his grandmother and seeks to extirpate evil from Leśna Woda, especially since last year his grandma was viciously attacked alongside him by a forest demon (a "biesy") and that established the downfall of hers, who died mere weeks later.

It's not rare to see Kazik and Gisela fight, especially since the latter has been dreading to kiss a human, the only way to regain her status as a human. The other way to unbid her fate as a rusałki is forgiving or avenging her death, but it means ascending.

Gisela sets eyes on Leśna Woda's Golden Boy, Aleksey, who is also Kazik's crush, and makes Kazik join her as a team to get this kiss. The plan is going well, as Aleksey is smitten with both, but it also spreads doubts, as Kazik stars to question his beliefs, while also getting dangerously close to Gisela.

And dark forces are lurking near, closer than they all imagine.

...

This Fatal Kiss has instantly smitten with me. I'm all in for a dark fantasy exploring less known folklores, and Slavic is one I always look forward to reading it. Jasinska's prose felt magical, dangerously lush like the book itself and its setting.

Leśna Woda's town was magnificently descripted, and I felt it like I was in the own book, with all my senses. But if I have to be honest I think I was way way more intrigued with the characters.

Gisela, the rusałka, is still the young girl she was before dying, and I really liked how she hid her pain with jokes. It's not a game, she wants her humanity back. She misses her life, her young brother, her family... being alive. And she still doesn't know how she ended like this. It's a void which will create a solid plot thread.

Aleksey is the sunshine of the group, the human boy who doesn't know he's being won over by a literally water demon or who tries to hide that he's also attracted to boys. Especially one. But he doesn't want to lose the girl too.

Kazik was the star of the bok, the one with more growth. Short and somehow funny in a non-comical way, Kazik hids himself, is scared of people. But when he sees more, he's not that willing to return into the shell.

I loved the sisterhood in the rusałki group and in its "leader", a kind of water goblin named Wojciech, who feels like a father figure.

The plot twists were crazy, and I don't know how I survived.

From the ending, I hope there will be a sequel because yeeesssss I'll read it for sure!

Rating: ★★★★.25

...

I want to thank PeachtreeTeen for the digital ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) via Netgalley. I'm not affiliated to the author, to the publishing house or any other person/agency. My review is honest and based only on my thoughts/feeling while reading the book.

Anais by The Bookish Scorpio 

Happy Release Day | Post Fata Resurgo di Chiara Saccuta

Buongiorno booklovers, come state? Oggi voglio augurare buon compleanno al sequel di una delle mie gemme preferite del 2023, che ho già letto per via dell'anteprima a Stranimondi Milano!

Sto parlando di Post Fata Resurgo, di Chiara Saccuta. Siete pronti a tornare nel Kosmos?

SCHEMA:

1. Per Aspera ad Astra

2. Post Fata Resurgo

3. TBA

4. TBA

5. TBA

SCHEDA TECNICA:

Nome: Post Fata Resurgo

Autore: Chiara Saccuta

Genere: Romantasy con elementi Sci-Fi

Data: 18 ottobre 2024

Editore: Lumien

TRAMA:

Da quasi un anno, Edward Lannore e Ambrosine Lira sono separati, ma il Kosmos non è rimasto fermo ad aspettare che le cicatrici lasciate dalla loro unione si rimarginassero. L’Incarnazione Stellare di Vega è stata punita in modo esemplare, la reputazione della famiglia macchiata, forse per sempre. Ambrosine è rimasta sola, senza l’uomo che aveva giurato di proteggerla e senza il calore della sua stella. Alle sue spalle, amici e nemici complottano contro di lei, per usarla per il proprio tornaconto. Il Signore dei Buchi Neri è invece sparito, trasformandosi in una minaccia silenziosa che terrorizza le famiglie stellari. La Compagnia di Astrea e i Pilastri della Creazione sono sulle sue tracce, ma ad essersi perso è anche lui, costretto a seguire una via che sembra non appartenergli: quella dell’Era dei Buchi Neri. Il suo potere è cresciuto, il controllo sulle sue creazioni è diventato più solido e affidabile, ma fame e dubbi lo divorano. Le stelle brillano ancora, ma forze diverse minacciano la loro luce. Anche quella di Vega. Qualcosa si muove dentro e fuori il Sistema Solare. Qualcosa di pericoloso, di sconosciuto. Il risveglio di timori passati e di una nuova grande guerra nel Kosmos ha portato alla formazione di insolite e meschine alleanze. Nella vastità del Sistema Solare, luci e ombre si confondono, bene e male perdono di significato. Schiacciati da rimorsi, paure e responsabilità, Edward e Ambrosine devono di nuovo trovare il loro posto nell'Universo. C'è da capire soltanto se il posto sarà lo stesso.

...

Lo leggerete, booklovers?

...

ATTENZIONE: Io, Chiara, Agnese (attraversalibri) e Francesca (memoriediunalettricedisperata) organizzeremo un Post Fata Resurgo GDL dal 21 ottobre al 21 novembre!