The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Ratings405
Average rating4.1
Added to list2025 Readswith 27 books.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, specially for the first half approximately. However, here the characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them and their stories and traumas didn’t feel authentic but forced. I even struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I almost to DNF’d at 40% because of this, but I was too lazy to choose a different book so I continued. It didn’t get better.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.
I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.
I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.
I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.
This book has the same exact structure to The House in the Cerulean Sea, but without the depth of character development or emotional impact. The characters felt flat, I didn’t care for any of them, and I struggled to differentiate between the three witch children.
I have DNF’d at 40% because I just can’t push myself to keep reading—I’ve already read a much better version of this story, and unfortunately, this book doesn’t offer anything new or compelling to set it apart.
I highly recommend to skip this and read The House in the Cerulean Sea instead— I gave it 5 stars. It offers a much richer experience.
This book is, probably primarily, a Romantacy, though it could also be considered Cozy Fantasy (if an erotica scene and sexual tension doesn't disqualify it from that genre for you.) It's modern day fantasy featuring witches. If that sounds good, and you truly just want an uncomplicated, standard grade read of either of those genres, this book will serve you well.
What follows is a breakdown of why it wasn't really what I wanted, in the end.
------
Firstly, and primarily, I wasn't impressed with the overall writing. The pacing is not very good. Events are supposed to take the course of a few(?) weeks, but it's hard to tell what is happening relative to when, because a lot happens and evolves in the relationships of the characters that really feels like it should have evolved slowly over a long period of time. Especially the romance--rushed to the point that I kept wondering *why* these two characters feel the way they day about each other. I feel like I read the cliffnotes version of a longer romance story instead of actually getting to enjoy the entire story. Overall I'd say the romance has the same feel and depth as a Hallmark movie.
The erotic scene + the sexual tension also feels a bit strange in this book. For me, personally, it pulls it out of the Cozy Fantasy genre--too explicit for that. But it was also just one scene. I feel like if the author had wanted to go in that direction, then commit! Draw it out, make it extra steamy! Throw in a couple others! It could have transformed the meh, lukewarm romance into something more interesting and complicated; the characters didn't like each other at first, but make them attracted to each other sexually, and *acting* on it, while the emotional development is still struggling, and bam, you've got some pretty standard erotica tension to work with.
It also loses marks for the prose, which has some amateurish weaknesses in spots. Some sentences simply do not flow how they should; some, the word choices are questionable (using 'primly' and 'Primrose' in the same sentence really rubbed me the wrong way.) The inner monologue of characters gets repetitive--a lot of people's mouths seem to run away without conscious input from the characters and it's invariably followed by some kind of inner mortification of the fact. And yet, it keeps happening.
The child characters frequently don't feel like children. Their ages are given to us but I can't remember for the life of me what they were because everyone talks like a young adult, even though I'm fairly certain all the kids are supposed to be under the age of ten.
Some of the writing feels, again, kind of rushed. We get brief overviews of activities instead of being allowed to sink in and experience them slowly and leisurely. There's a bit too much telling over the showing. Scenes feel very short. Instead of being tight and snappy, they feel lacking as a result. This is a book that should have either been cut down to novelette length or allowed room to grow so each scene could be marinated in detail.
There are some good, important themes and morals in this book but I kept feeling like I was being bludgeoned with them repeatedly. It circles back to telling more than showing. The same statements get repeated by the same characters, over and over. By the end of the book I was exhausted with it. I was also kind of exhausted with that Hallmark feel I alluded to. Nothing really felt earned enough, so the saccharine ending was just And Then They Lived Happily Ever After.
For me this book started really strong, but ended with a whimper. I think it could have benefited from being cut in half.
This book is, probably primarily, a Romantacy, though it could also be considered Cozy Fantasy (if an erotica scene and sexual tension doesn't disqualify it from that genre for you.) It's modern day fantasy featuring witches. If that sounds good, and you truly just want an uncomplicated, standard grade read of either of those genres, this book will serve you well.
What follows is a breakdown of why it wasn't really what I wanted, in the end.
------
Firstly, and primarily, I wasn't impressed with the overall writing. The pacing is not very good. Events are supposed to take the course of a few(?) weeks, but it's hard to tell what is happening relative to when, because a lot happens and evolves in the relationships of the characters that really feels like it should have evolved slowly over a long period of time. Especially the romance--rushed to the point that I kept wondering *why* these two characters feel the way they day about each other. I feel like I read the cliffnotes version of a longer romance story instead of actually getting to enjoy the entire story. Overall I'd say the romance has the same feel and depth as a Hallmark movie.
The erotic scene + the sexual tension also feels a bit strange in this book. For me, personally, it pulls it out of the Cozy Fantasy genre--too explicit for that. But it was also just one scene. I feel like if the author had wanted to go in that direction, then commit! Draw it out, make it extra steamy! Throw in a couple others! It could have transformed the meh, lukewarm romance into something more interesting and complicated; the characters didn't like each other at first, but make them attracted to each other sexually, and *acting* on it, while the emotional development is still struggling, and bam, you've got some pretty standard erotica tension to work with.
It also loses marks for the prose, which has some amateurish weaknesses in spots. Some sentences simply do not flow how they should; some, the word choices are questionable (using 'primly' and 'Primrose' in the same sentence really rubbed me the wrong way.) The inner monologue of characters gets repetitive--a lot of people's mouths seem to run away without conscious input from the characters and it's invariably followed by some kind of inner mortification of the fact. And yet, it keeps happening.
The child characters frequently don't feel like children. Their ages are given to us but I can't remember for the life of me what they were because everyone talks like a young adult, even though I'm fairly certain all the kids are supposed to be under the age of ten.
Some of the writing feels, again, kind of rushed. We get brief overviews of activities instead of being allowed to sink in and experience them slowly and leisurely. There's a bit too much telling over the showing. Scenes feel very short. Instead of being tight and snappy, they feel lacking as a result. This is a book that should have either been cut down to novelette length or allowed room to grow so each scene could be marinated in detail.
There are some good, important themes and morals in this book but I kept feeling like I was being bludgeoned with them repeatedly. It circles back to telling more than showing. The same statements get repeated by the same characters, over and over. By the end of the book I was exhausted with it. I was also kind of exhausted with that Hallmark feel I alluded to. Nothing really felt earned enough, so the saccharine ending was just And Then They Lived Happily Ever After.
For me this book started really strong, but ended with a whimper. I think it could have benefited from being cut in half.
"The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches" is an amazing story I absolutely loved!
It begins with the story of a solitary witch who receives a mysterious job offer that leads her to a place unlike any she’s ever known. The job is against her rules to find out what happen grab the book and delve into the story.
If you're into cozy fantasy with found family and feel-good stories you should definitely read this one.
"The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches" is an amazing story I absolutely loved!
It begins with the story of a solitary witch who receives a mysterious job offer that leads her to a place unlike any she’s ever known. The job is against her rules to find out what happen grab the book and delve into the story.
If you're into cozy fantasy with found family and feel-good stories you should definitely read this one.
