Book Review: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

I read my first book on my Halloween-y tbr, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna and I loved it so much.

I had heard great things about this cozy fantasy since last year so I knew I wanted to read it this fall and I’m so glad I did because it was so good.

The novel follows Mika Moon, a young woman and witch in England. Because of a bad spell or curse years ago, all witches are always orphaned. Soon after they are born, their parents die one way or another and they are raised by relatives, friends, or in Mika’s case taken in by a powerful, older witch and raised by nannies. Primrose, Mika’s guardian, raised her to believe that it’s not safe for witches to gather except for short amounts of time because having too many witches together is dangerous. So the Secret Society of Witches (Mika’s name for the group much to Primrose’s dismay) only meets on the third Thursday of every third month.

Aside from those brief meetings, Mika doesn’t get to interact with other witches and she doesn’t really have any friends since never stays long anywhere. That is until she gets an email asking her if she’d be interested in teaching 3 young witches magic. Intrigued by the offer and also shocked that three young girls with magic are living together, Mika goes to meet them at their home called Nowhere House. There she meets the three young girls – Rosetta, Terracotta, and Altamira and their guardians. They were all adopted by a witch named Lillian who is off traveling and never around so the girls are left to be taken care of by Lillian’s employees – a retired actor (Ian), two caretakers of the house (Ken and Lucie), and a grumpy but protective librarian (Jamie). Mika immediately gets along with a few of the Nowhere House inhabitants, but has to work a little harder to win over two of them. Can Mika teach the girls how to use and control their magic safely? Will the Society learn about the girls and make them separate? Will Mika and Jamie admit they like each other?

This was such a good cozy fantasy and just made my heart happy reading it. There were some emotional moments especially because of Mika and Jamie’s pasts – Mika growing up alone and Jamie with family issues – but them confiding in each other and the joy this found family finds with each other will make your heart happy. The girls are adorable and funny. Altamira cursing all the time is hilarious and Terracotta plotting Mika’s death is lol funny. There’s one scene early on when Terracotta shows up at breakfast wearing a nice black dress and when Mika compliments her she’s like thanks I might have a funeral to go to later haha.

Anyway, I loved this book and it might possibly by my favorite of the month, we’ll see!

Read this book if you want a cozy fantasy with witches, found family, and a touch of spice.

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