The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer
Thank you to Meg Shaffer, Ballantine Books, and NetGalley for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own. Commissions may be earned on links in this article.
Book Recap: Rainy March protects books from the evil Burners who try to destroy classic reads and new world fiction alike. Her job as a Book Witch is to defeat the Burners no matter what book they hop into, but this job comes with a few rules: 1. Fictional characters must stay in the fictional work and real people must stay in the real world and 2. You cannot eat, drink, or sleep in a fictional world. Sounds easy to follow, right? As a third-generation Book Witch, Rainy had no problems living by the rules, that is until she fell in love with her favorite fictional character, The Duke of Chicago.
Top Tropes/Themes:
Books-about-Books
Forbidden Romance
Literary Magic
Spice Rating: 🫑 (glimpses and kisses)
Overall Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5 stars)
Let’s Talk About It…
Witches and books-about-books are my absolute favorites in a story so when I saw that this book had both, I immediately hit the “Request” button on NetGalley! Thankfully, I snagged a copy and I am so happy I did. The Book Witch is officially one of my new favorite books. (Honestly, can I give it 6 stars? Is that allowed?) I felt so many emotions while reading this story. There was joy, nostalgia, sadness, followed by love. While the title and premise may make it seem like this book is light and full of whimsy (which is some sections it is) this book goes so much deeper than I expected.
The Book Witch hops into stories that are considered classics: The Great Gatsby, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Nancy Drew, and more! Even if you haven’t read all of these books, the author does a great job of covering the basics of the story to help bridge the gap for readers. While I would say there are “spoilers” for the books I hadn’t read yet, all it did was make me want to read these books for myself.
I haven’t stopped thinking about this book since I finished reading it. The prose was great throughout. It was easy to read, but also conveyed a vast amount of emotion when necessary. The characters in this book, both the primary and secondary, were incredibly loveable. The twist at Chapter 23 was one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Meg Shaffer pulled one out of left field, but yet it still made perfect sense for the story and the plot.
Overall, this is one of the best books I’ve ever read in the books-about-books subgenre and I would highly recommend it to readers of classical works, lovers of whimsical witches, or proud book protectors. I can tell you that I will be sharing this book with anyone who will listen and since this is my first book by Meg Shaffer, I can’t wait to read her other works.
