⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 3 stars

Witches Steeped in Gold is about two rival witches forming an alliance to take down a common enemy.

I loved the Jamaican influence, diversity and representation that give the story its power and the world building was stunning albeit a bit lacking. I would’ve loved to explore the world and its magic system more. The orders and some terms didn’t make much sense to me until the latter half of the book. Maybe if a glossary was added that wouldn’t have been a problem.

The writing was okay, but I had issues in the beginning keeping the POV’s apart. Maybe this was one of the reasons this book was such a slow read. I sometimes had trouble concentrating and had to reread pages more times than I can count. The plot was also so slow, and a lot of chapters felt like fillers. I’d expected more action and twists throughout the book, not only at the end, which felt rushed.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending. The twist made no sense to me, and the characters seemed to act out of character. It was very confusing for me. It almost made me wonder if they acted like that on their own or “had help”.

I liked how the characters were more like antiheroes and mortally grey. I can’t help but root for Jazmyne. Ira was a bit annoying and made many decisions I didn’t understand. I would’ve liked to see more of them working together or even being in the same room and conversion together, as that didn’t really happen.

Overall, it was an average book for me that I had more hope for. I will be picking up the sequel and see where the story goes.