Elle ☾'s Reviews > The Honey Witch

“ —Yes, she is a grown woman, and is that not magical in itself? To have survived this long, despite the world’s penchant for beautiful dead girls? Marigold has grown up surrounded by the poets who propel the narrative — how romantic to die young, unstretched, unsullied, without ever outgrowing the part of ingenue. But what happens when the girl keeps living, when she ages proudly and defiantly, without abandoning imagination, or stories, or that secret wish to find magic wherever it hides? Well, then the poets would call her a witch.”

₊˚⊹☆ 4 Stars ₊˚⊹☆

The Honey Witch is a sweet, cottagecore story with beautiful prose and descriptions. We follow Marigold, a 23 year old who moves to the island of Inisfree to follow in the footsteps of her grandmother, Althea, who is the Honey Witch. Marigold trains under Althea to learn the ways of this magic so that one day she can take over the cottage and the customers that come with it.

*Spoilers ahead*

🐝:¨·.·¨: `·..·‘ Marigold is our main character who has never been good or successful at anything in life, until she discovers she has honey magic. Through the help of her grandmother, she masters the way of the honey witch, and learns all she must to protect the isle from the Ash Witch, Versa.

🐝:¨·.·¨: Althea isn’t in the story for long, but she reminded me in many ways of my own grandmother. When Althea passed in the story, I had a really hard time and had to stop reading for the day. If you have recently lost your grandmother, please consider this a possible trigger warning.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆🕯⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ Lottie is the love interest in this story who had a very hard past. She lost her parents (which she later finds out was because of Versa) and does not remember anything from her childhood. She has a hard exterior that Marigold softens over time.

If you have been seeing my updates, you know very well why this is not 5 stars. There were moments where the romance was just too cringy for me, and it ruined Marigold and Lottie’s relationship for me. By the end, I wished that their relationship was more of a blossoming friendship than anything romantic because I struggled with the way the author wrote the love story. We MUST boycott the use of the saying “Easy, tiger” under all costs.

The worldbuilding was absolutely impeccable. I was completely able to imagine the world in my head.

🌼🌞🍯I absolutely adored the magic system in this book (being bees and honey). It was such a unique take, and I think it shows that normal things in our every day life can be quite magical. The small things that we take for granted often become the most important.

With that said, I was quite disappointed with the ending. The main plot point that we built up to the whole 350 pages was very quickly done, and I was left wanting more.

However, I am a sucker for beautifully written books, and this was that for me. It is not your fast-paced fantasy, so do not go into this expecting that! If you enjoy being along for the journey, savoring wonderful prose and descriptions, and cottagecore delights, this might just be your cozy fantasy to end the summer!

Let’s please not suck any more honey off of people’s fingers!