The House Witch

Needs heavy editing. Very badly edited. 

My first foray into cozy fantasy was a success!

This was a really cute little story. While there is a sort of over-arching plot happening, it's mostly in the background. Most of this book is just slice-of-life and I think that worked really well. Just watching Fin and his found family get into shenanigans for 400 pages was unexpectedly delightful. 

I have to admit that the kitchen knights were the break out stars for me. It's kinda rare to establish characters as these douchy, sexist assholes and then put in the character work to redeem them, to see them grow as people and evolve. I really enjoyed that part of the book and just the whole found family that the kitchen crew turned into.

I really liked Fin's magic. The broader magic system in this world seems to be the standard elemental stuff, nothing new there, but the mutated witches are really interesting. I wish we'd gotten to see more of them besides just Fin and his mom but I thought Fin's powers were really unique.

The author made some choices in the story that I'm not sure I agree with so I don't know if I will continue this series, but this was a lovely little book!!

This was a cozy rec and turned out to be a Phe.Nom.En.Al. listen. I'd call this cozy-found-home, cozy rating 5-stars and I just had a good ol' time with it. It had cute moments, awkward yet silly moments that made me chuckle, lots of burgeoning friendships, a romance, and individual growth.

A cook begins his new role in the castle's kitchen and shenanigans of sorts ensue. The curmudgeony young cook can't seem to stop pissing everyone off and he might not be great at keeping his magic a secret either. Fin is one of those seems like an a-hole, but is actually a great person and those close see it characters, with reasons as to why he keeps everyone at a distance.

If any of the above speaks to you or you want to drool while Fin is cooking or watch people be pacified and satiated by his food, this would be very good for foodie people too.

This book seemed really cute and fun, but is not for me sadly. I really like the concept, but the writing made it hard for me to enjoy, I'd love to read this book after an editor has gone to town on it. The writing style feels quite juvenile to me for an adult book, everything is spelled out to the extreme. The lack of subtlety by both the writing and the characters themselves is why I stopped reading at this point (22%).

it was aight. lots of nonsense and dogwater immature humour. haha funny dick fuks name haha funny drunk man naked in a bush lol so hilarious. sometimes the writing reminded me of my writings from when i was 12 and im not trying to be a cunt but im serious. it had the humour of my 12 year old self so maybe i wouldve liked this then lol

Being a fan of cozy fantasy, this is a great edition to my shelves. I loved this book because in true cozy fantasy, it was an easy read that allowed me to get immersed into the world without having to break my brain on complex world building. The magic system concept was very interesting to me and quite honestly, the limitations of magic being based on proximity and what defines a house/home resonated extremely deep.

The writing is well done, and I am a huge fan of the banter/snark between the characters.

If you are looking for a cozy fantasy that has several books in the series (as well as spin off series), I would highly recommend The House Witch.

Had to force myself to finish. Wasn't horrible though.

I really wanted to like this book. At the beginning, I was really feeling the “cozy fantasy” vibes, but it got really boring really quickly. I just couldn't care for any of the characters, and I felt like the plot was all over the place. I bought the audio + ebook combo, and if it wasn't for the audiobook, I couldn't have finished it! I thought this was going to be like “Legends and Lattes”, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but sadly, it's of a much lower quality overall. I won't be continuing with the series :(

I DNF'd this one. I read about 40% of it and I was really hoping to enjoy it as it seemed to be right up my alley. The characters were interesting, but the plot moved along so slowly that I lost interest.

Not bad, just not for me. Too long for too low stakes?

Absolutely adorable cozy fantasy. I can't believe I had never heard of it before. It has characters you love to love and love to hate. It's really just a feel good book that'll make you happy.

Very interesting book. I found the characters fun and it was a nice escapism read.