The Age of Witches

4.5 Stars

This was a very compelling storyline with an interesting magic system and family history or lineage behind the magic.

The spell casting is a prominent part of the plot line, and it makes for a very witchy read. The romance picks up remarkably around halfway through, but it has a dubious start, at best. As far as romances go, I think it ended alright but it’s beginning makes it hard to support and overall isn’t one of my favorites witchy romances (see The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston for that).

I mostly picked this up because I was on a Gilded Age and witchy kick, and this ticks both boxes more than adequately. There is also a very strong family theme throughout, which is nice.

Overall, it’s a very good read, and I would recommend it. I would also definitely look into the author’s other works, provided the settings and plots appeal to me.

Stumbled across this at the library, where it was mis-shelved as science fiction. It wants to be Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers with a little added witchcraft, but it's not anywhere near that level of historical fiction. However, it's an entertaining bit of summer reading.

This was ok, but felt relatively formulaic. I also felt as though some pretty big themes were just glossed over. The way the assault was handled and the mental degradation of Frances could have been handled a lot better I thought. I finished it, but I won’t be recommending it.

2 stars
Not necessarily bad but I had to bump the speed up to 2.65x just took stay hooked throughout. The American accents were so grating I have no idea why the main non-dialogue narration was accented in English when 3/4 of the povs are American, and then the whinyness of the characters did nothing to help. I didn't feel any attachments to any of the characters either, they felt so flat and undimensional. Frances was a caricature evil social-climbing stepmother and the way she employed her "evil magic" and the goal it was for was so laughable when you think about it. Harriet was clearly the good perfect witch and was so bland. Annis was so goddamn obnoxious and jesus christ did I not expect her to be such a Horse Girl TM like cool ok we get it you loooooove horses and you love your horse so much you're obsessed with literally watching it fuck mares because you want to create a famous horse blood line oh my god please shut up about it literally every other sentence from her was about it. James was just the most bland boring blank slate guy and love interest ever. In fact the "romance" was impossible to root for at all - Him and Annis meet and don't hit it off because she's obsessed with going on feminist rants about women riding regularly instead of side saddle and that it won't ruin your virtue and babbling on about watching horses fucking and he's a weird sexist prude (although if a stranger I just bumped into started going on about how they insisted on being in the stall watching as their horses were going at it, I'd be weirded out too). They clearly don't like each other and then are trying to be set up by their families, with Frances going so far as to use her magic on them to make them horny for each other. James lusts after Annis because of the spells but Annis is aware and working to counter her stepmother and feels bad for James but also doesn't feel that way about him and rejects his proposal. At one point Frances puts such a strong lust spell on James that he literally tries to rape Annis, going so far as to pin her down and rip her clothes and grope her and force himself on her before she manages to stop him. She remembers all of this but afterwards he doesn't and imagines it all as a "horrible nightmare" he had. But then after her stepmother is defeated all of a sudden they realise they do actually love each other. At no point do they experience any character development whatsoever or change their opinions about things or even really spend any significant time together not under the effects of magic. So James goes to her and proposes again and she's close to saying yes but then says no because no one can tell her what to do and he still holds outdated (although common for the era) sexist notions. But he changes his mind and says for her he'll never tell her what to do. So she says yes and they marry but she's still so insecure that she keeps a poppet of him as a fail safe/insurance so that if he ever starts acting different then she can just use magic to get him back under control. And then Harriet tells her that's wrong and she's like ok you're right and gives Harriet the poppet to destroy but Harriet doesn't and instead tucks it away just in case it could be needed. I can't even be bothered to continue my criticism because it was so bad. At first I was going to rate this a bit higher because I can always find enjoyment somewhere, and I did read it all and care somewhat where things were going, but thinking on it now in hindsight it was actually so superficial and annoying and shallow and bad and definitely going to be wiped from my mind as soon as I hit post on this and don't have to think about it any further.

Sweet, enjoyable story

I really enjoyed the way the story felt realistic with a little bit of magic. The time period felt right for the characters and the dilemmas were interesting. I have read a lot of books about a girl finding out she is a witch, and this is the most believable revelation. While there is a love story, it is not sappy or predictable. Both sides are well rounded characters that teach each other how to be better versions of themselves. My favorite part of the book was how independent the characters are.

Meh. I’ve read quite a few other books about witches from this time and this isn’t as good as some others. It dragged on way too long and was fairly predictable when it came down to the love story portion of it. I liked the story between the cousins and thought it was well developed.