I wish I was a book witch…
Hi reading als, gals, and pals!
This is my first blog post and I’m super excited to be reviewing The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer.
I was in love with the premise of this book and was so happy to have received an eARC for this book via NetGalley (let me know if you want a separate post on an intro to NetGalley)! What is an ARC you may ask? ARC stands for Advanced Reader Copy and refers to a copy of a book (either digital or print copy) that is sent out to readers before the official publish date. The purpose of ARCs is to generate buzz around an upcoming book and get reviews published for the book (to encourage others to read it when it releases). ARCs are typically given in exchange for an honest review of the book, so that’s what I’ll be giving here.
The Book Witch invites you into a cozy adventure story following a female main character (Rainy), her fictional love interest (Duke), and her cat familiar (Koshka). Book witches are able to hop in and out of books in order to help protect the storylines from “Burners” who seek to destroy certain published works. Rainy’s mother was also a book witch, who mysteriously disappeared when Rainy was a few months old, leaving Rainy to be raised by her grandparents. With Duke and Koshka as quirky sidekicks, Rainy must work to find out where her grandpa “Pops” has mysteriously disappeared to, uncover the truth behind the absence of her mom, and try not to break any of her Coven’s rules (like falling in love with a fictional character…oops).
As we follow Rainy on her mission to protect all books, the authors love for all things literary is evidenced by references to various book tropes, plot arcs, and famous books. The writing is self-actualized, whimsical, and above all else bookish. This book is an ode to readers and almost feels like reading a love letter written to us, the bookgirls. There is a surprising amount of character depth for a relatively short, standalone book, while leaving the fictional love interest, Duke, as a fairly 2-dimensional character (he is only made of ink, after all). While the world building isn’t deep (we aren’t Sanderson level here), it is unique and able to draw you in within the first few pages. The plot kept twisting and I really enjoyed how the book ended.
It’s been a long while since I’ve read a book that I would rate a 6 star book! This book just hit all the high notes for me and I’ll be thinking about it for a a long while. Some books just hit. When I was 20% into the book, I went to the bookstore and immediately bought some other books of Schaffer’s.
If you are interested in pre-ordering this book, please check out Meg Shaffer’s site. The book is set to be released April 7, 2026 and I can not WAIT to buy the physical copy!
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