A review by judeinthestars
Coven Be Charmed by Caitlin Ryan

mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

There’s no right way, I guess, to find out you’re a witch and your new coven needs your help to fight demons and warlocks and whatnot before you learn to do more than light a couple of candles.

I really like the gallery of characters and the never-ending twists and who wouldn’t want a sweet sausage-stealing goat as their familiar? One minute I want to say it’s a cosy witch story, the next it ups the ante and it’s not so cosy anymore. Rose, the main character, is a life coach who absolutely definitely doesn’t believe in anything magic. Rude awakening doesn’t even begin to cover what she feels when her whole life falls into the paranormal. She goes from judgy and disbelieving to determined and steadfast as she realises how little control she has over what’s happening. I liked the older witches, Alice and Lottie, a lot but the two younger ones, animal-lover Hayley and wonderfully sarcastic Serena, stole my heart.

However, there were too many editing issues for the reading to go as smoothly as I would have liked and way too many mentions of JKR’s wizards’ universe for me to enjoy fully. The author explains in a note at the end of the book that “the inclusion of these references is not intended as a support of the author”, which feels a bit naive to me. I will, nevertheless, keep an eye on these witches and hope they grow into themselves. There were witches before HP, there will be witches after, and this particular coven has a lot of potential. Also, did I mention the goat?