Review: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna ★★★

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life.

As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously.

But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.

As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for...

Review:

This was a very cosy and quaint witchy tale featuring a grumpy/sunshine, slow-burn romance. 

Our main character is called Mika Moon who I'm totally casting as Simone Ashley for the great movie in my mind.

And then the love interest was grumpy librarian, Jamie, who has a Northern Irish accent so if you can read this without picturing Jamie Dornan… then you're a better woman than I. 😜

Now in this world that the author has created, witches are advised not to congregate together because their magic will “build up” and that could draw attention of the unsuspecting population of non-witchy folk. 

Naturally, then, Mika is really surprised to find out that there are three young witches living together in the same house who are not only unknown to her coven’s leader, but who also have had precisely no training whatsoever. A very dangerous combination.

And this is, of course, where Mika comes in. 

Now, I did really enjoy the characters in this book. It was quite an eclectic bunch and they were all really quite charming. The storyline, however, was a little bit too tame for my personal taste. It was more of a cosy fantasy vibe whereas I tend to prefer action, explosions, chases etc., and if there's going to be magic there should be MAGIC, you know? This was more like… let’s make a magical potion or a cup of magical tea, that kind of magic.

For the romance element, the slow burn was good but its culmination didn't burn very brightly if you know what I mean.

This book did manage to make me cry at one point, however, so it's not like the storyline didn't affect me at all. it’s simply that, overall, this was just a little bit too cosy and quaint for my particular tastes. 

I settled on three stars but I still do really recommend this book because it was very sweet and might be just the sort of feel-good cosy fantasy vibes with a dash of romance that someone is looking for.

3 stars ★★★

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