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The Honey Witch - Sydney J. Shields
Title: The Honey WitchAuthor: Sydney J. Shields
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 368
Date read: January 2025
Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who’ve tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a price: No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.
When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn’t believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can’t resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.
I have very mixed feelings about this book - making it hard to review!
I absolutely adored the first ~250 pages. This seemed like cozy fantasy at its best, and I loved reading about Marigold becoming a Honey Witch. I was ready to give it 4 ... possibly even 5 stars!
Alas, it seemed like Sydney Shields wrote herself into a corner. She very obviously knew where she wanted to go, but not necessarily the best way to get there, making for some ... interesting choices along the way. Most of them were minor nit-picks. I might not agree with them, they might grate on me, but they worked. Unfortunately the final show-down did not.
The actions surrounding the consequences of the curse pretty much came out of nowhere, and set the tone for the rest of the confrontation. It was far more vicious and violent than I had expected from a cozy fantasy (but that might be my bias showing - I don't actually know if it was intended as such), and worst of all - it was far too sudden. The writing - which had flowed nicely until then - suddenly became choppy and rushed through events with lots of telling and very little showing.
A shame - if she had allowed herself enough page-space for a proper resolution, this could easily have become a favourite read for 2025.