Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - La Société très secrète des Sorcières extraordinaires

There’s an all-round lovable cast, found family (my favourite trope), and a cute little romance. I thought the couple matched really well, though I could’ve done without

the smut scene

- too much of a tonal shift in my opinion. There are also a few “plot conveniences“ and the end was somewhat bizarre, but neither bothered me too much. This book was comforting, cosy, and overall just a good time.

Content Warnings

embersbooknook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was an absolute cozy dream read. It has everything you could want - witches, ✨magic✨ vibes that are immaculate, found family, diverse characters, characters dealing with their childhood trauma, and a lovely wrap up in the end. It’s also very romantic😍 I …am obsessed. I will definitely return to this as a cozy autumn read often.

Sangu’s writing was absolutely wonderful - very easy to read, with an excellent ebb and flow to the story that never left more bored and always left me eagerly reading more. Ian’s character won my heart instantly, as did Ken’s and their beautiful love story🥹
All the characters felt believable, and three dimensional - and don’t even get me started on Jamie and Mika…they are perfect and I love them so much. Rosetta, Terracotta, and Altamira were just so well written - their personalities, dreams, quirks, quarrels- I just wanted to scoop them all into a hug and go on adventures with them🥹
Also I really fucking want some of Mika’s tea!!!🫖

Cannot recommend this book enough! A completely charming read.

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chrisb913's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was absolutely brilliant. I loved the found family, the grumpy-sunshine, the characters, the setting, the magic system, everything worked in this novel for me.

I think the kids were my favorite part. The way she wrote them to be open and honest and just express themselves was a joy to read. I also adored Ian as this lovable grandpa of this little family that just inactive these crazy plans and is constantly being brought back down to earth by his sweet mellow husband in Ken.

I will definitely be checking out some of Sangu's other works as this was just a delight to read.

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libellumartinae's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Alrightie, before going forward with the actual review of the book, I'd like to actively make two disclaimers: I have this book through the spawn of weeks and definitely not in the most brilliant of ways, alongside this, I have come to the conclusion that I am unable to fully enjoy cozy fantasies as it is not my thing.

With this being said, I can't deny that to me the major flaws of this book was that at time the book felt dragged along and plot incosequential, gaining acceleration only when the the thing passed the halfway mark and even there I'd like to state that I think that this book could have been plotted better. Alongside this, as always in the world where everybody is good and nice, I felt distrustful at traits of many characters and I felt a once too bonary air around it. Generally I don't think it's a problem of the book as much as my own preference. I also caught ontly a few plot twists.

Otherwise, I'd say it's a lovely and cute found family book (definitely heavy on that trope if it's your thing) and I am not going to lie but I did resonate often with the main characters and her ragtag family although at times they didn't feel relatable. Either way it's a very cute book if you ever been a breather from reality.

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frenchpants's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

This book is the epitome of the word "cozy". If you're a sucker for found family like me, then this is the book for you.

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anelya's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

More notes to self than review:

You know, I really, really loved this novel. Except for the end. That kinda sums up the whole thing.

I loved most of the characters, especially the kids, and their relationships, especially the kids with Mika. I really, really loved the world-building, especially the way the magic works. What a delightful description; what a wonderful idea. I find myself jealous that I didn't think of it first.

However, the pacing and emotional tension were a little off.

The two big examples are the (inevitable) way everything had to fall apart at the end, and the reveal of Jamie's tragic backstory.

Jamie first: For such a cozy, comfy novel, Jamie's horrific backstory came absolutely out of nowhere and was atrocious. I definitely experienced whiplash, and because of my own history, was immediately triggered, almost thrown into a flashback, and had to take a long break from the book. I don't know, it just came out of nowhere and really didn't match the emotional level of the rest of the book. I also, personally, feel like it wasn't the best approach to talking about that kind of trauma. I've seen other novels approach dark topics like that with more... not nuance, but... like... awareness? More sensitivity? I dunno, it just felt like a weird scene overall, just the way it was handled and the aftermath and how the conversation went down. It made me uncomfortable. *shrugs* Especially since this is like marketed or advertised or categorized as cozy fantasy, I would've needed a much softer approach to that kind of exploration of trauma.

The end: There's actually a lot to unpack here. Firstly, the pacing. So, obviously, due to the whole "five stage structure of storytelling" thing, there was clearly going to be a crisis at the end of the novel. And typically for novels with a romance element, there was going to be some crisis that came between the love interests. Considering how well-written other aspects of the novel felt, the crisis felt so contrived. It felt really weird. Like we see Mika as she grows, learns to trust, and learns to find a home at Nowhere House, and then... I dunno, her whole running away schtick which I thought she had kinda gotten past with, you know, all her supposed growth in the novel, shows up and I was just like... *sigh* Again, it just really felt so contrived, and kinda just... everything was going really well, but not in the way of just the characters being blind to issues that are simmering beneath the surface, like legitimately, things were going well. So when she all of a sudden runs away, it just didn't make sense with where her story had gone so far.

And then the actual end. Oh... Oh... : So the kids animate the bones of their dead guardian, whom they had just found out was dead. They don't cry. They just found out she's dead, they dig up her skeleton, and they animate it and... It's supposed to be this silly scene, but it did not at all match the emotional tension of the rest of the novel, which tried to take mental health and trauma very seriously. I know these kids had a complex relationship with their guardian, but still. She's dead. They should've had some kind of reaction, and for that whole thing to be played for laughs was just... really fucking weird.

I will forever hold this novel in my heart for the magic system. I think I'll honestly read it again, especially with the content warnings I now know (so I'll be better able to protect myself), and since I'll know what to expect from it, I think a reread would be lovely to properly appreciate the magic system. Because, again, it's such a wonderful and lovely idea. Such... It's so amazing. I honestly cannot do it justice, so if you wanna read about a beautiful description of magic and how it works with these witches, honestly, just read it. It's definitely to most enchanting way magic works that I've ever read, and it's honestly such an inspiration.

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meremeth's review against another edition

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lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Very light hearted easy read, would recommend to anyone looking for something cosy and low stakes.
The romance was a bit whatever for me personally, but the found family aspect was really sweet :-)
Read like a YA book almost? Even though the lead characters are over 30. Because of that the main characters felt much younger, like early 20s almost? Not a bad thing, just something to note

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creative_cactus's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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