The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches - Sangu Mandanna

I choose this book for our 2024 list and had planned on using it for our October book. Unfortunately, life got in the way and we had to delay until this year. I was looking for something a bit lighter and a bit cozy and when I saw it involved witches, it was going to be ideal for a Halloween theme. But it also worked great for a cold and dark February.

This book follows Mika Moon, a quirky witch looking for connections in her lonely world. Through Mika's story we learn more about the world of witches. Somehow all witches seem to end up as orphans. Often older witches step in to help the young witches, but they are strongly discouraged from forming family bonds. Mika was taken in by Primrose, an older witch who is essentially the head of Britain's witches (Mika has dubbed them the Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, something Prim dislikes very much!). Primrose and the other witches meet a few times a year in different locations to avoid suspicion. But being forced to stay isolated is hard on Mika, so like any other young person, Mika creates a following on social media where she alludes to witchcraft. It's through her social media that she finds what will become her family.

Mika receives a message offering her a job teaching three young witches. At first Mika ignores the message, but soon she becomes curious and answers. Knowing it was time to move on from her current life, she packed up and headed to an isolated farm, sure that there won't be any witches there. But to her surprise, there are three young witches in need of help. Mika is hired to help the girls learn to control their magic. Taking care of the girls are four mostly delightful characters, Ian and Ken are a wonderful couple who take care of the garden and help with the cooking and the girls. Lucie is the housekeeper and Jamie is the librarian. Jamie is the dark, brooding, but lovely man that you know Mika will fall for as soon as he is introduced.

As Mika works with the girls to control their power and gain their trust, she also finds a family, but it all comes crashing down as a secret is revealed. Can Mika help the girls in time? Will Mika and Jamie ever fall in love? Will Prim change her opinion on keeping witches apart? You'll have to read the book to find out!

Jen and I both enjoyed this cozy read. We were both surprised by the amount of spicy scenes in the book, but they were well done. We loved the characters, especially Ian. And even though some of the plot is fairly obvious, there were a few little surprises here and there to keep it interesting. If you're looking for a nice easy read with some great characters, and a little bit of spice, this is the book for you!

Susan - 📘📘📘📘

Jen - 📘📘📘📘

Until next time, have a drink, read a book, and be happy!