Scan barcode
A review by delllannney
The Witchwood Knot by Olivia Atwater
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Victorian era romance meets haunted house meets light fantasy! Olivia Atwater has a super engaging writing style that I absolutely love. It is so descriptive and I very much enjoy how she uses it to develop her world building. As usual in her books, there’s a light and airy magic system and characters with tons of personality, but this one touched on some more serious topics that I really enjoyed. I wasn’t 100% sold on the romance and it felt a bit rushed, especially in the last quarter of the novel, but overall it was cute and I did enjoy the connection between Winnie and Quincy.
Winnie is a wonderful character. Her internal monologue is hilarious and she has personality and spunk in spades. She really developed as a person throughout this book by learning more about herself, overcoming difficulty with intimacy due to past trauma (men suck tbh), and trusting others and herself enough to let them in and really care about them. Mr. Quincy was a bit of a dark horse to me, honestly. Besides the… uhm…. tail?…. he seemed great, but his character just felt a bit flat. He really came into his own when he and Winnie are making their way through the Witchwood Knot, but for the first half of the book I just really was not getting the vibes. Robert was a great character growth piece for Winnie — as she gets to know him better she goes from begrudgingly putting up with him to genuinely caring for him and trying her hardest to save him from a life within the Witchwood Knot. Winnie’s familiar Oliver (Ollie) was a super fun addition to the story as well!
Plot wise, looking back, I don’t really think much happened? It was a fun story that I enjoyed while reading, but there are only two plot points that I can really recall as being important. The first half is dedicated to character specifics that, in my opinion, could have been integrated with other areas of the story to make it more cohesive and exciting.
Holy CROSSOVERS! There were soooo many callouts to Olivia Atwater’s Regency Fairytales series which was a fun surprise as well.
Winnie is a wonderful character. Her internal monologue is hilarious and she has personality and spunk in spades. She really developed as a person throughout this book by learning more about herself, overcoming difficulty with intimacy due to past trauma (men suck tbh), and trusting others and herself enough to let them in and really care about them. Mr. Quincy was a bit of a dark horse to me, honestly. Besides the… uhm…. tail?…. he seemed great, but his character just felt a bit flat. He really came into his own when he and Winnie are making their way through the Witchwood Knot, but for the first half of the book I just really was not getting the vibes. Robert was a great character growth piece for Winnie — as she gets to know him better she goes from begrudgingly putting up with him to genuinely caring for him and trying her hardest to save him from a life within the Witchwood Knot. Winnie’s familiar Oliver (Ollie) was a super fun addition to the story as well!
Plot wise, looking back, I don’t really think much happened? It was a fun story that I enjoyed while reading, but there are only two plot points that I can really recall as being important. The first half is dedicated to character specifics that, in my opinion, could have been integrated with other areas of the story to make it more cohesive and exciting.
Holy CROSSOVERS! There were soooo many callouts to Olivia Atwater’s Regency Fairytales series which was a fun surprise as well.