#witchy bookstagram

[apolline-lucy]

THE HOLLOWS : sapphic witches, ghost cats, demons, necromancy, & curses.

[therosewitchcottage]

𝕿𝖔𝖉𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝕸𝖔𝖔𝖉…

Todays mood is pumpkin spice coffee, blueberry oat bars, vanilla scented candles, rain falling softly, piano in the background, writing up a history lesson on witchcraft, looking for a good book to cozy up with, cinnamon vanilla tea, fluffy socks, and weighted blankets...

[memyselfandi-12]

Ridley Duchannes from Beautiful Creatures

[elliepassmore]

Rebel Witch review

5/5 stars Recommended if you like: fantasy, witchy reads, enemies to lovers, dual POV

Heartless Hunter review

Big thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was one of my most anticipated sequels of 2025 and it did not disappoint! For those like me who were worried about where (and with whom) Rune ended Heartless Hunter with, have no fear: she is perfectly aware it's a problem and has no plans to really stick around. That was honestly my biggest issue with book 1, so I'm glad Ciccarelli had a solution for it.

Gideon and Rune are once more on opposite sides, but now they have the added complication of their feelings for each other. Falling for Rune made a fool of Gideon, even if he turned her in in the end, and falling for Gideon nearly got Rune killed and did get someone killed. The two are a big bundle of conflicting emotions in this one, though Rune seems more willing to let things slide than Gideon does (to be fair, Gideon also thinks Rune wants to be with Cressida). Only one of them knows the full story.

I liked that Ciccarelli started the book with Rune and Gideon about to meet again after weeks/months apart rather than starting it with them separated and part of the plot being them finding each other again. Enemies to lovers works best when they're in proximity, and in proximity they are. That's not to say they get along though. The 'enemies' are back in full force, with Gideon being particularly prickly and ready to double-cross Rune the second he gets the chance. Despite that, the two are still familiar enough with each other that they work quite well together and are mostly able to scheme a way out of trouble.

With the Blood Guard still in charge and Cressida gathering an army, politics naturally comes into the conversation. The Blood Guard is clearly bad, indiscriminately torturing and killing witches simply for being witches. On the other hand, Cressida presided over a reign of terror with her sisters, allowing and even participating in the torturing and killing of non-magical people. So...both sides are bad, but at this point there's no alternate solution. I was definitely interested in reading Rune and Gideon talk their perspectives out since they both make valid points but also don't see a non-extremist solution. Other people join in on this conversation as well and I liked seeing what other characters had to say about things. In the end, I think they come up with a good solution that works for everyone.

Rune is stuck between a rock and a hard place when the book opens. She greatly dislikes Cressida, but she can't go home and she still wants to see witches free. She does get out of the situation, but is in deep trouble with Cressida as a result of it, leaving her with two enemies at her back. Rune definitely goes on a personal journey in this book, trying to stay true to what she wants while also remaining free and dealing with the trauma that is Cressida Roseblood (and Alex's death). She has some low points, but her loyalty to the people she loves as well as to witches as a whole is able to bring her around.

Gideon is back to being fully against witches (although admittedly I don't know if that ever stopped). He's on thin ice with the Blood Guard, so he's determined to prove that Rune isn't a weakness where he's concerned. She is obviously, so Gideon has to juggle keeping her safe while also steering clear of the Blood Guard and trying to figure out where his loyalties lie and what he really believes. I have to say, Gideon really comes through in this one. He fought in the Revolution because it was the right thing to do and he continued to be in the Blood Guard because he thought it was right. This can very easily lead to a rigid character who sticks to his guns even when proven wrong, but Ciccarelli wrote Gideon to be moral, not necessarily loyal. As evidence mounts that neither side is entirely correct, Gideon is able to shift his perspective and comes to understand that there's good and bad on both sides. I really liked seeing this shift in him and seeing him put his brain power and experience behind a new solution that benefits everyone.

We meet some new characters as well as some old ones. Harrow is back and we get to learn a little more about her background. I enjoyed her character and do wish we got to know her a little better since she's still pretty closed off. Laila is also back and I liked seeing her camaraderie with Gideon. She definitely doesn't understand his actions always, but she's loyal to him and trusts that he at least somewhat knows what he's doing. Seraphine is back as well and we get to learn more about the older witch as well as her relationship with Rune's grandmother. Seraphine definitely has some surprises up her sleeve and she proves to be a good ally.

Bart and Antonio are two new characters. Rune and Bart used to run in the same circles before things blew up in Heartless Hunter, and it seems Rune wasn't the only one keeping secrets. Bart ends up being much more serious and down-to-earth than Rune thought, his socialite persona just as fake as Rune's was. Antonio is Bart's lover as well as an ex-acolyte for the Cult of the Ancients. He's not a witch, but is just as much at risk as Rune is if anyone finds out. I really liked the dynamic between the four of them and wish we got more page time to see a deeper friendship develop (maybe a novella?).

Overall I greatly enjoyed this book and think it's the perfect sequel to Heartless Hunter. I wish it were longer, but that's only because I want to stay in this world for a longer period of time.

[la-libreria-chula]

Has anyone read these?!!?

I literally finished all three in a week! While I was a little disappointed in the novellas (The Sword and the Scepter) because I was hoping to see more of Rooke's time in the Northern Lands, still glad to have read them.

But The Crown of Oaths and Curses?? I loved it! At first, I thought it was going to be straight up romantasy (because of those two novellas and the whole fated mates thing) but now it's just a fantasy to me with the aspect of romance not being the central thing (or least I hope so). I can't wait for the second book. I know there has been something going on where it's been delayed, but I'm waiting for the paperback version anyway.

[heartstopperthoughts]

Some graphic novel recs from Bookstagram: @ and_so_she_reads_

The Sad Ghost Club ~ non-binary ghosties with mental health struggles find friendship in one another

The Girl From the Sea ~ summery sapphic love story with selkies

Mooncakes ~ cozy autumnal sapphic romance with queer and non-binary rep and a hard-of-hearing mc

Witchy ~ magical adventure with trans rep and talking ravens

[krissys-library]

life lately 🧺🌷🎀🫧

[readingfolklore]

🌙 the book of witchy wellbeing 🌙

[stellabellabooks]

Weyward by Emilia Hart ★★★★ 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘴

“Weyward, they called us, when we would not submit, would not bend to their will. But we learned to wear the name with pride.”

[mywitchlingjourney]

One thing I've been working on is doing things I loved to do as a kid. And the thing I absolutely loved most as a kid was reading.

I've not been an avid reader in the last years, I've been reading 1 maybe 2 books a year because I just couldn't be bothered to make time for it or put energy into it. However, lately I've been getting back into it as an offer to Athena and to heal my inner child.

I mostly read YA novels as that is where my interest mostly lies. And I've learned that it's okay not to be reading only books that are deemed 'worthy' asif YA books are not worthy. I read what I want to read, and they don't have to be super informative books, just fun is enough.

What has helped me getting out of my reading slump has been keeping a reading journal! And to keep on motivating myself I started a bookstagram. If you want to follow me, its 'BookshelfSanctuary'. Just be mindful, its not an aesthetically pleasing account, its just books I'm currently reading featuring some cameos of my cat 🥰

https://instagram.com/bookshelfsanctuary?igshid=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA==

[i-am-the-page-turner]

"Akata Witch" by Nnedi Okorafor.

"Akata Witch" by Nnedi Okorafor is a captivating fantasy novel set in Nigeria. The story follows the journey of a young girl named Sunny Nwazue, who discovers she has magical abilities. Sunny is an albino, and she faces challenges and discrimination from her community. However, she finds solace and empowerment when she joins a group of fellow young witches and wizards. Together, they embark on a quest to stop a powerful and dangerous sorcerer who threatens their world. "Akata Witch" explores themes of identity, friendship, and the power of embracing one's unique abilities. Nnedi Okorafor's writing is rich with Nigerian culture and mythology, and she creates a vibrant and immersive world. The book is filled with adventure, magic, and a strong sense of community. If you enjoy fantasy stories with diverse characters and a fresh perspective, "Akata Witch" is definitely worth checking out!

[apolline-lucy]

THE HOLLOWS — tropes✨

be a sweetheart & add my little sapphic book on Goodreads please!!

[newlullabies]

Semi-Precious Stone Bookmarks by ragtrader on Etsy

[pyrodecor]

Celestial Bookmark Set #pyrodecor #pyrographyartistsofinstagram #pyrographersofinstagram #pyrography #woodburning #bookmarks #bookmark #bookstagram #custombookmark #handmadeboookmarks #celestial #constellation #witchy #nightsky #astology #astrological #sun #moon #planets #stars #astronomy #celestialart #theheavens #moonbookmark #astrologybookmarks #constellations #celestialbookmark https://www.instagram.com/p/Co2kCzYgQW3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[elliepassmore]

Night of the Witch review

4/5 stars Recommended if you like: dual POVs, witchy reads, chosen one, historical fantasy

TW torture, animal cruelty (memory)

I really like the premise of the book and think there's good potential here, but the book itself just didn't....wow me. I enjoyed reading it but wanted it to have a bit more oomph to it to be able to make it five stars.

One of my big issues with the book that kept popping up was the German. Did no one involved in the publishing process consult a German speaker? Or at least Google Translate? While the German was meant to help create the worldbuilding, I was taken out of the story almost every time due to the mistakes. Even though the characters are only using single words, the grammar is all over the place. In German, all nouns are capitalized, which Revis and Raasch do for words like Liebste, meine Schwester, and Hauptmarkt, but conveniently don't do for Miststück and only do it half the time for Hexe and Jäger. Likewise, they get the pluralization right for words like Hexen but not for the second part Jäger (which they have plurally as jägers). I promise, people will understand if you don't use an s. Then, there's a little issue of mistranslation, or at least the authors misunderstanding the translation. At the beginning of the book (and thankfully only the beginning 1/3-1/2), they really like using the word unverschämt, which is an adjective and means 'outrageous/rude/brazen/etc.' But the authors use it almost solely like a noun: "They're full of gunpowder, you unverschämt" (p. 18) and "Stay awake, unverschämt" (p.29). Like....what? Those sentences don't make any sense! The translation for 'idiot' in German is just Idiot, or they could've used Dummkopf, or if they wanted to use a non-obvious German word for insulting someone's intelligence, they should've used Trottel or Blödel. Finally, they use the word schiesse liberally throughout the book. Schiesse translates to "shoot," which might be fine if the characters weren't 1) using it like a curse, and 2) actually cursing elsewhere in the book. If the characters didn't use actual curse words in the book, I could believe they were saying "shoot" and keeping things PG (except also for that sex scene). But these two things make me think the authors were trying to use scheisse "shit" and just misspelled it throughout the novel. Again, all of these are very simple mistakes that even a Google search could've fixed. You bother to research the witch trials of Trier but can't be bothered to get the language right?

The actual content of the story was better, probably because we're dealing with fantasy and not things you need to fact check. I definitely wanted there to be more witchiness and magic in the book, and felt we didn't really get enough of that. Perhaps in book 2, but I don't think I'll be picking that one up.

Fritzi starts her journey desperately trying to rescue her cousin, Liesel, from the witch hunters who attacked their village and killed all of its occupants save Fritzi and Liesel. It's a bit weird because I thought Liesel was Fritzi's age (18) at first, or at least a teenager, but then it turns out she's only 10. Regardless, Fritzi feels immense guilt for what happened to their coven and is determined to protect Liesel, and others, from the same fate. Otto says she's got a mouth on her but....I don't really think she has an attitude? She's rightfully freaked out, angry, and defensive when they meet and are getting to know each other, but after that she's pretty chill. She's willing to stand up for herself and others though, and maybe that's what he means? I did like Fritzi as a character. She does end up in a bit of a mess, but practically every adult in her life has been lying to her, either knowingly or not, so it makes sense that she makes mistakes.

Otto is trying his best. He desperately wants things in Trier to change and decides a big show to push revolution is the only way to make that happen. Best laid plans and all that. But Otto is protective and willing to help Fritzi and Liesel. I think he'd help them even if their paths didn't go the same direction, it's clear he's a softy. He and Fritzi have similar guilt in them about their pasts and things that have happened, so they function well as mirrors.

I liked Liesel, she was cute. She has some moments of being wise beyond her years, perhaps due to the goddess whispering in her head, but then she'll get overly delighted by things like dessert and it becomes clear again that she's a kid.

The romance is pretty quick, but it's sweet. It's one of those instaloves where it feels gradual even though they've probably only known each other a week. I tend to be okay with instalove when it doesn't feel like instalove, so other than some stuff at the beginning, I liked the romance.

I'm a little confused by some of the stuff with the Well. The people there pose the argument that they can either protect the Well or go out and protect other people/witches, but...why not both? They have people specifically assigned to protecting the Well already and they already have a separate group of people assigned as guards on patrol, so why not have a subsection of the guards that goes out and helps people/witches? It doesn't seem like it would be a drain on their resources.

Honestly, I don't know why everyone is griping about this being labeled a YA book but not actually being YA. ACOTAR is sometimes labeled as YA and is definitely not. This? I would consider it YA. The characters curse (only in German), but that's normal (and as mentioned, some of it isn't even correct), and refer to The Three or Maiden, Mother, Crone. There's some grim stuff, like killing, off-page witch burnings, and one memory of animal cruelty, but imo there are neither enough scenes nor are the scenes graphic enough that the book warrants an 'adult' designation. As for the sex scene...does it start to tip a little toward 'adult' content? Yes. Is it a graphic sex scene? No. There's very little actual description of what's occurring. I know there's this new push to keep sex entirely out of YA books, but people. Teenagers have sex and they're going to read/watch/find out about it. YA books range from no sex to fade-to-black, to some mild descriptions and imo that's totally fine because it allows teenagers to safely and age appropriately explore and see that stuff in their fiction. While this is definitely on the upper end of 'mild descriptions,' this is also described as an 'upper YA' book.

Overall I enjoyed this book but it didn't wow me as much as I would've liked. Despite there being a graphic torture scene, I feel like a lot of the book's teeth were pulled out. I wanted more magic and more of a plot besides 'travel from A to B.' Also the incorrect German was really annoying.

[mythos05reviews]

2.5/5 stars

I thought I would like this but ended up thinking it was ok. I was originally going to give this a 3 star but decided against it because I didn't really like this book. I'm usually ok with the fast paced of it's done right but this was not the case. I felt like the story ended before it actually got going in a way.

A lot of the "conflicts" were resolved too quickly. So much so that it didn't really give me an enemies-to-lovers vibe. In this case, it was more of a show than tell. I originally believed that the fight was going to be a major part of the story but that is quickly overshadowed by the curse situation. The curse itself was confusing because not a lot was explained. Also, kudos to Elena if I had been cursed, I would have been a lot more bitter towards the person who was the cause.