A cozy, witchy story is the perfect description of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches!
If you are looking for a cozy magical romance story with quirky characters, this bewitching tale is perfect for you.
Keep reading to see our full book review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches.
This is a book blog post featuring our book review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna, with our full book review and discussion, plus book recommendations for other books we think you might enjoy.
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Slowprose Review Format
Generally speaking, we don’t think of ourselves as “serious” reviewers, so our format may be a little different. Here is what to expect when you are reading Slowprose book reviews:
- Cover Review – doing the cliche of judging a book by its cover.
- Book Blurb – we share the book jacket or Goodreads blurb about the plot.
- Intrusive Thoughts – these are the general thoughts and feelings we have about the book while reading it.
- Book review – our overall review and star ranking of the book
- Book aesthetics – this is how gorgeous we thought the pages of the book were, or how easy/hard it was to read, or how good the narrator was if it is an audio book.
- Book recommendations – we talk about the author’s other books or other books that remind us of this book in some form or fashion. Basically, this is our catch-all to talk about anything else that we want to.
To see our full review system, including our method of assigning and weighting stars, go here.
COVER REVIEW – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches gets 3.5 stars for this cover.
This cover is good in terms of portraying the vibes of this book. That is, cozy and cute vibes with a witchy spin. It does a good job with this messaging.
I like that it has Nowhere house in there along with Nika and Jamie and love the color scheme.
So, it’s cute. Not groundbreaking but does what it intends to do. 3.5 cover.
BOOK BLURB – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Given our extreme irrational fear of ever being a spoiler of an epic plot twist, we will just share the book insert or book blurb found on Goodreads to provide the information in terms of the plot:
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention.
And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules…with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos “pretending” to be a witch.
She thinks no one will take it seriously.
But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic.
It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only the three little girls who are her three charges, but also several endearing characters, including an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie.
The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat.
As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility.
But magic isn’t the only danger in the world, and when peril comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for….
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches – Intrusive Thoughts
Love diving into a world of magic!
Cute, love this.
Wonderful characters.
Love the depiction of magic.
Ok, would love something to happen.
Still would like something to happen.
Romance!
Unnecssary angst, but I will give her a pass.
Swoon!
A bit of sexy time.
Oh nice little drama and twist.
BOOK REVIEW – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Slowprose Star Rating – 4.0 Stars
My first thoughts about this book was about how wonderful it was to be surrounded by a world of magic. It was enchanting and adorable. Initially, my thoughts were that this would be a wonderful book for a young girl to read. I would have adored it! I adore it still! I guess you don’t outgrow that.
Loved the magic system, and Nika was a likeable main character. The introduction of those at the house was also so fun, loved the characters. They felt like real people to me – I could absolutely picture that group living there.
There was a drama point raised early on, something that the characters had to overcome, and they started to work on how they were going to address the problem.
One thing about this book that I adored was how it portrayed a witch in such a wholesome and healthy way. Very much mother earth being in tune with a witch, how magic loves to be used, and how Nika’s actions with her spell casting, potions and caldron are so natural and normal. Absolutely loved this whole vibe.
One criticism is that the middle of this book dragged for me. A good solid chunk of the middle just seemed like a lot of talking and not a lot happening. A little heavy handed in some parts. I think it could have used a good edit in this section.
A wee bit of romance was injected into the story, which then lead to a bit of a light steamy chapter. I wasn’t expecting a sex scene as much as I was expecting more of a reference to sexy time, based on the vibes of the book up to this point. It was a cozy story that has one chapter that is a bit spicier than expected.
I liked how the main confrontation happened – I wasn’t expecting what happened when Nika and Jamie met up with the kids, and thought it was clever and funny. There was a nice little twist. I liked the ending.
Cozy, witchy vibes is the perfect description of this book!
Slowprose Star Rating – 4.0 Stars
BOOK AESTHETICS – The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
We listened to the audiobook of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and loved it.
The narrator’s voice was very aesthetically pleasing. We don’t know about y’all, but sometime we will shut an audio book off immediately if the narrator’s voice doesn’t work for us.
Here, it elevated the story. Definitely recommend it in audio book form!
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Two books came to mind when reading The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches – The Invisible Life of Addie Larue and The House on the Cerulean Sea.
It reminded me of Addie Larue based on the themes of lonliness and wanting to share your life and experiences with someone. Mika struggled with the same issues as Addie regarding the profound sense of lonliness one feels when they are not remembered.
In the 1700s, Addie LaRue makes a deal with the devil—she will live forever, although her immortality comes with the curse of being forgotten by everyone. Addie moves through time and across continents; she learns to survive and even leave her mark on the world. Then one day she meets a man in a bookstore who remembers her name, and suddenly everything changes.
The House on the Cerulean Sea also came to mind because of the quirky, adorable and cozy household that both books have.
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world. Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
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Book Review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
We hope you enjoyed our review of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. If you pick it up, let us know what you thought of it once you read or listened to it!
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[…] A popular book with witch stories to read for something light between heavier reads. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches with the main character of Mika Moon, is a fun and funny witchy book! The very essence of a cozy, witchy story. We loved it – check out our full review here. […]