This will be my second post in a row that is about a book but which I’m not calling a “review,” mostly because in the case of Sydney J. Shields’ The Honey Witch I’m not convinced I know how I feel about it yet. It is also the second book in a row where the thing about it that grabbed me was the title. I don’t know what a honey witch is, or at least I didn’t before I picked the book up, but for some reason I found the idea immediately intriguing– so intriguing, in fact, that I decided to overlook the fact that nearly everything else about it indicated that it was likely to be something I wasn’t necessarily going to enjoy. I mean, take a look at that pull quote. Those of you who have been here a while– have you ever heard me recommend a book with the phrase “sweet feast”? “Tender longing”? Okay, I’ve been reading a fair amount of romantasy lately, and I’m pretty sure if I went through my books in the last couple of years and counted up the ones with gay relationships in them versus the ones that were primarily hetero, the gay stack would be quite a bit taller. But everything about this just kinda feels like Not Me. I mean, this is the blurb:

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn’t believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

(And see that “deliciously sweet” bit there again? All the pull quotes have honey- or tea-related puns in them and they’re excruciating.). But yeah. Honey Witch. The concept sold the book. Fuck it, I got it on sale for nine bucks. Who cares about nine bucks? I don’t care about nine bucks.

The first 80% was, indeed, sweet and whimsical and I might be starting to overuse this word lately but delightful and also, I dare say, cozy, another word that is maybe a sign of Not for Me sometimes. And it’s a fast read; 340 pages and I was reading about a hundred pages an hour while going through it.

And then after that first 80%, it gets really dark going into the ending, and I don’t want to spoil anything but I either loved this book or the ending ruined it, and as I’m sitting here I honestly can’t tell you which it is yet. I five-starred this and even put it on my shortlist for the end of the year, and it’s either going to end up at, like, number nine or something or it’s going to be a book that I quietly pull off the list in October. And it’s really going to depend on whether the first part of the book sticks with me more than the ending.

(At this point, I’m changing the title to my standard “Review” template, because screw it, this is a review. “I loved it up until the ending and I’m not sure about the ending” is a review. #myblogmyrules)

(And it occurs to me that, while this feels pretty standalone and as far as I know is not intended to be part of a series, but if a sequel were to come out, I’d pick it up, mostly because I like the characters so much. That, in and of itself, may seal the “review” part of the review.)