3 Stars

One Liner: Could have been better!

 1885

A young woman is on the run from authorities for the murder of a young man. She plans to escape to London but collides with a stranger and ends up breaking her ankle. The stranger claims she is his wife and saves her life. The young woman is thankful and agrees to act as his wife. However, she soon realizes that the stranger's wife was branded a witch. 

Being the mistress of Ravenswood Manor is not easy, with strange events happening around her. Whom should she trust? Did she end up in a worse place than before?  

The story comes in the third-person POV. 

I enjoyed the author’s previous two books (No. 23 Burlington Square and At the Stroke of Midnight) and had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, the terrific premise was given an average execution. 

Firstly, what I liked about the book – 

The setting delivers the Gothic vibes it promised. It is dark, dirty, and suffocating. There’s a bit of animal cruelty as well, though the mentions are limited to what is necessary for the plot. The atmosphere is spot on. 

Bran is such a terrific pet. The crow ends up with more personality than some of the characters (take what you will from this statement). 

The beginning is great and hooks the reader right away. It establishes the conflict and sets the stage for drama and intrigue. 

The romance is not explicit or excessive. While I still wish for a few more interactions between them, it doesn’t overpower the plot most of the time. 

However, things started to go downhill pretty soon. Here’s why – 

We get extensive snippets about the past from another character’s third-person POV. This could be the young woman or not. While I was initially curious, by the halfway mark, I had enough of it. All this is filler content and unwanted. 

A better approach would have been to provide the backstory in three chapters – one to establish the details, the second to deal with the conflict, and the third for the reveal. That way, we would have saved around 50 pages (or more). 

Marcus and Real Luna could have gotten a chapter or two each to add depth to their arcs. Except for being the brooding, handsome, heartbroken man, Marcus doesn’t do much. The real Luna is worse since we don’t even get to see her. 

A lot of space has been wasted on a character that pretty much went nowhere. Not to mention the repetition that weighed down the pacing and made this move slower than a snail.  

The side characters like Mr. and Mrs. Webber also could have gotten some detailing. A couple of more scenes in the village would have made it easier to support the sudden developments at the end. Right now, it sounds strange and out of character. 

For books with paranormal and witchy themes, it is better to go full into the vibe. Going this way and that doesn’t help much. Sustaining the effect is important, irrespective of the characters’ opinions. 

To summarize, The Ravenswood Witch has immense potential but ends up underwhelming and slow, with more fluff than substance. However, it will suit your needs if you want an atmospheric read for the season. 

Of course, I will read the author's next book. 

Thank you, Rachel's Random Resources and Boldwood Books, for eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. 

#NetGalley